DTS File Format

#1 Hi Lisa -

the DTS format is a bit notoriously complex,
so it might be worth your while seeing if you can export to some other format and then convert that to DTS,
perhaps via milkshape.

that said,
the traditional place to start writing a DTS exporter is with the "dtsSDK" source code which comes with a TGE license.

#2 Thank you very much, Orion.

I have TGB Pro\Commercial with source. Do you know if any equivalent to dtsSDK is available for TGB or as a stand-alone package? I found tsShape, etc, in the source and I assume that to be the code for loading a DTS--haven't absorbed it all yet :) --but as you mentioned it's a bit complex and going to take some work to unravel. Do you know what dtsSDK includes that's different\beyond what is in the engine source?

I have an existing art pipeline I'm trying to integrate with, so writing an exporter seems worth the trouble for the long-term time savings.

#3 Hi,
i'm not sure if the TGB pro/commercial license comes w/ the dts sdk.
i'd search in the installation root for something like "ms2dtsExporter" or "dtsSDK".
if it's not there, you might ping garage games,
since if you've got source for TSShape it would make sense to have source for the other stuff as well.

or depending on your rush & budget, a basic TGE indie license comes with it, and is about $150.

#4 ...

#5 Thanks, both of you! That gives me at least something to go on.

#6 All this is ok...

But if you like upset result of your bussiness try to work whit 3dS9. Exporter script is accessable and working properly, like the max2dtsExporter. Do you like to add something else to exporter?

#7 Mostly I just want an exporter that works with our existing tool chain.

We automate our builds, art as well as code. This saves a ton of time that's otherwise wasted having artists stare at status bars while lighting is rendered, billboard LODs are generated, files are exported to game format, etc. It's also a life saver the first time you make some kind of mistake or had some great idea and realize you need to re-export *everything*.

If re-exporting everything is as easy as pushing a button and waiting a few minutes, you'll do it. If it's not, then you'll hesitate to make sweeping changes and the game will suffer. I'm a huge believer that easier, faster iteration makes better games. No one gets it right the first time.

In any case, we have a small render farm running a combination of proprietary tools and AC3D in TCP\IP mode to achieve this. AC3D is pretty extensible so I can add more file formats and shoehorn custom lighting and that kind of thing into it, so that with the remote scripting capability makes it an exact fit for what we need... we've used it on several games already and it runs like a champ. Max can be setup to do this too, but it's about 10x the cost per node to achieve exactly the same thing.

Anyway, so that's my rationale in writing an exporter. I'll use one of the existing ones and export my files by hand in a pinch, but if I can hook into the render farm I've already got access to, well, then, it just makes a lot more sense.

I'm really surprised the DTS format isn't better documented? Coding from source\example is certainly doable, but it's far from ideal. Written standards prevent mistakes and reduce bugs by improving understanding. The DTS format should have one.

#8 Request for enhanced DTS documentation noted by doc team. I'm posting a link to this thread in our official doc feedback thread for future reference.

#9 Many thanks, Michael!

#10 Hello all. I'd like to take this opportunity to invite anyone who wishes to discuss documentation for artists to a recently created thread:

Official Artist Documentation Feedback.

Make sure you read the first post, as it fully explains the purpose of the thread.

See ya there =)

#11 http://www.garagegames.com/community/forums/viewthread/48429
This thread has some information on the DTS format. He actually spent a lot of time deconstructing the file format.