Many new features have been added to D3Edit since it's initial release. I highly recommend that you download the latest version. The best place to get D3Edit is the Descent Forum. In the 'English Embassy' section, go to the topic 'D3 Editing tools'. Yeah, yeah, it says beta, never mind that, just grab it, it's miles better than the outrage version that kinda came with Merc.
Ok, now you've got an editor that mostly does not crash, instead of one that mostly does. And the added features will be greatly appreciated. However, there is still no autosave and undo is limited to a few areas. The advice to save and make backups often is still valid!
After you unzip it, there are just a few things to set up before you can start building levels. Under 'File', go to 'Settings'. This will pop open a window entitled 'Editor Settings'. For now, we only need to set 'Descent 3[tm] Directory' to the directory that you installed Descent 3 into, by default it would be 'C:\Games\Descent3\'. Click OK.
Optionaly, set up 'Tools' so you can launch external tools and files from within D3Edit. Click 'Tools >Customize >Add' then surf to your tool's executable (exe) file, the gam file for your level, your favorite tutorial, any filetype that is associated with the appropriate program. You could even create a links page in html to link to your favorite Descent sites! (You will need to select 'All Files' to see any files other than executables.) Click Open >OK. If you are not sure which file opens your tool, right click the shortcut to view it's properties.
You could start building your level now, but... don't open your level yet, I suggest you set up Quicktest first.
Now we can set up Quicktest, a great utility that comes with, and is run from the latest version of D3Edit. Open Quicktest by pressing the 'Q' button in the toolbar. First set up a profile: click 'New' and enter a name.
The filename of the mission goes under 'MN3 Name'. The name that shows up in the mission browser goes under 'Mission:'. If you have custom files, such as textures, objects, etc., you can load them, click 'Insert>>'. You may choose to load individual files, hog files, or the contents of a folder.
Click 'Data> Tablefile Manager'. The 'Base Tablefile' should be 'Table.gam'. This will enable you to use the stock D3 textures, objects and other goodies in your level. If you have a custom gam file for your mission, load it as a 'Mission Tablefile'. If you don't have a custom gam, make sure none is listed... click 'Remove' if there is.If you have already created a mn3 for this level, you can load it now: 'Data> Configure a Mission Hog> Mission Hog File:'. If you have not already saved a mission hog, leave this blank for now.
Now you can open your level, or create a new one. Save the level with a short filename. Letters and/or numbers only, please!
Back in Quicktest, make sure 'Generate MSN' and 'SP' are checked, click the 'Anarchy' checkbox and then you can choose keywords from the list... unless you want it to be singleplayer only. Save your level, and click 'Save MN3'.
Congratulations you've created a mission! And we are almost done; there are just a few more steps to do.
If this is a new mission you will need to load your mn3 as a Mission hog. First, close your level. Go to 'Data> Configure a Mission Hog'. Hit the button 'Change". Browse to your 'Missions' folder under 'Descent 3' and select the mn3 you just made and click OK. If you loaded an existing mn3 in step 2, skip this.
Now you can open your level again. Select 'World View'. Open 'Level Settings' under 'Files', and fill in the fields that are under the 'Level Info' tab. Switch to the 'Game Files' tab. You can now check 'Load Mission Hog', (and check 'Load Mission Tablefile', if you have one) then check 'Load Quicktest Profile' and select your profile from the drop-down list. (Still in the 'Level Settings' dialog.) Now this may seem like a lot of steps, but we usually only need to do this once.
When you want to test fly your level, first make sure you have saved it then hit the 'Quicktest!' button. Quicktest will update your MN3, and launch D3. Select your level from the level browser.
When you want custom textures, music, robots, etc. in your level, they need to be included in the MN3. Click the 'Insert' button; you can load them one file at a time or a whole folder. (Inserting a new file of the same name will overwrite the old one... but take note; you will get no warning of this!) Once you've inserted your files and clicked 'Save MN3', close your level and reopen it to load the updated MN3.
From time to time when building your level, you will want to make changes to the files you have inserted into your MN3. For example if you add another entry to the gam file, or change the animation of a door. Your files do not need to be re-inserted after you make changes to them. Just save your gam file with the same name, or hit save in DALLAS to compile an updated .dll, etc... If you inserted them previously, they will be updated! For textures and objects, save the .mn3 and close your level, then reopen it again to see these items in the respective browsers. (Note: You will need to convert your .tga image file to a .ogf texture file, or .orf room file to .oof object file after altering them.)
The 'Level Setup/Ordering' window will facilitate adding additional levels, a loadscreen, music or an intro movie to your mission. It is also used to add levels and to setup the order of your levels within the mission. Any files used here must first be loaded under 'Files:' with the 'Insert >>' button.
At the bottom of the Quicktest toolbox, there is a tab labeled 'Editor'. Editor allows you to directly edit an mn3 or hog file. (Caution: if you alter the mn3 of any mission, that mission may not play correctly. D3.hog contains all the stock files that most levels use, it is strongly recommended that you do not alter it. Instead, extract the elements you want to customize, alter them and reload as custom. A custom element with the same name as the stock item will overide the stock item.) If you want, you can extract files to a folder; this will not alter the hog file. If you insert or remove a file, and save, save as, or 'Quicktest!'... the open hog or mn3 will be altered. You can also edit your msn here, just open your mn3 and click on 'Edit MSN'. Fill in the blanks, the url refers to the autodownload feature, leave this blank unless you are hosting the file for download by others, or know the url it will be hosted at. If you plan to upload your mission to a DescentiaPedia page you can add a url for autodownload from Vortex. The method used for downloading files that you upload here does not seem to work in Vortex, so I will move the files to another folder. The url will be "www.prepare4descent/d3/missions/yourlevel.zip", please name the zip the same as the mn3 so it's easier to identify.
If, like me, you like to switch between working on different missions, for each new mission you will need to run through the procedure of setting up a profile, loading tablefile, level settings etc. But once this is done changing levels just a matter of opening a level. And saving a mission is just as easy... just click 'Save MN3' or 'Quicktest'!
"I opened my level...
"I changed the name of my level...
"I restored a back-up of my level...
"Edit crashed, or my computer crashed...
...and now...
...my custom textures, objects, etc are gone, replaced with stock."
Do not save your level or mn3 like this, instead close it, selecting 'No' when prompted to save. Now, check under 'Data' and make sure the mission tablefile is correct. You may have to go through the Quicktest setup procedure again.
"I can't find/ see my custom textures/ objects/ doors in the D3Edit"
First of all make sure your custom file is in the 'File' window of the Quicktest toolbox and that it is an appropriate file format. Check to make sure your gam file is there also. Now, double check, even triple check that the file name in the gam entry matches the one in the Quicktest toolbox 'File' window. And make sure you have saved your gam file after creating or correcting the gam entry. Close your level and look under 'Data' to make sure the mission tablefile and mission hog are loaded.
A number of times, after I have made alterations to objects, I open the object browser and there is no visual representation of my object... even though the name is there. Same effect when I drag it down to my customs folder. The first time this happened to me, I tried in vain to get it visible. Finaly I put it in my level anyway. After that, it then showed up in the browser. So don't fret if you don't get a visual of your object in the browser, if the name shows up, it's there.
"I can't get my loadscreen/ music/ breifing/ branch to/ intomovie to work."
To make a loadscreen, create a 640 X 480 bitmapped image, save it as a 24 bit uncompressed .tga. Use 'Ogftool' or 'D3 Imagetool' to convert it to .ogf, with one mipmap. In the Quicktest toolbox, click 'Insert >>' and insert the file. Now you should be able to doubleclick 'Loading:' and select from the dropdown.
To create a briefing, use 'Breifs 32'. Insert the file as described above.
Music is a bit more complicated, you cannot just load your favorite mp3 or wave file. This subject will be for another tut!
I have not played with 'Branch To' or 'IntoMovie' enough to write a tut yet... any volunteers?
