Help me to understand: Creating a map

[anewlyfe]

hi, i'm quite new on irrlicht and game programming. I want to know the basics of creating a level (a world or a map, a scene).

Can you tell me any good tutorials around the web? I've tried freeworld3d, irrEdit, GTKRadiant but iam too confused :/

If you give me the steps, i will be appreciated. Any tutorial with explanations like: what's lightmap, heightmap, how to export map files and gather resource in a pak file etc. Which 1 have to be used (heightmap, .bsp file or something else.) will be great.

Can i use some 3ds model as map? If i, what is the difference between it and a .xml, .bsp, .x map ? fps drop ? bad way ?

The simple question is, how can i create my own map, where can i start?
tnx 4 any help and sorry about my eng.

[dejai]

Can you tell me any good tutorials around the web? I've tried freeworld3d, irrEdit, GTKRadiant but iam too confused

Developing a world in 3d games generally relates to a process of first creating the models you wish to have within the scene and their respective textures (images) and then stitching these models and textures into a scene with a world editor. This process has the benifit of saving a lot of space which would otherwise be redundant data. A very popular sophisticated free tool for creating models is Blender, (if you want quick results try misfit models) and a popular tool for creating textures is GIMP.

So once you use a tool such as Blender(or some similar tool) to design the model of the "doodad" whether that be a house or a character in the game, you export that to a standard format such as an md2, obj, 3ds you can find a full list of supported formats on the features page. You then open a world editor and Irrlicht supports irredit (you could make your own if you wished and support it yourself). You then import these models and create your scene. When you are done IrrEdit generates a .irr file which is actually a specially crafted xml file that the engine can read and you load that in and you are good to go (see the respective tutorial for exactly how to do that).

[serengeor]

Can i use some 3ds model as map?

From irrlicht main page features section:

Currently supported mesh file formats:

Animated objects:

B3D files (.b3d, r, skeleton)
Microsoft DirectX (.x, r) (binary & text, skeleton)
Milkshape (.ms3d, r, skeleton)
Quake 3 models (.md3, r, morph)
Quake 2 models (.md2, r, morph)
Static objects:

Irrlicht scenes (.irr, r/w)
Irrlicht static meshes (.irrmesh, r/w)
3D Studio meshes (.3ds, r)
Alias Wavefront Maya (.obj, r/w)
Lightwave Objects (.lwo, r)
COLLADA 1.4 (.xml, .dae, r/w)
OGRE meshes (.mesh, r)
My3DTools 3 (.my3D, r)
Pulsar LMTools (.lmts, r)
Quake 3 levels (.bsp, r)
DeleD (.dmf, r)
FSRad oct (.oct, r)
Cartography shop 4 (.csm, r)
STL 3D files (.stl, r/w)
PLY 3D files (.ply, r/w)

Lightmap:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightmap

A lightmap is a 3D engine light data structure which contains the brightness of surfaces in a video game. Lightmaps are precomputed and used for static objects.

Heightmap:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heightmap

In computer graphics, a heightmap or heightfield is a raster image used to store values, such as surface elevation data, for display in 3D computer graphics.

If i, what is the difference between it and a .xml, .bsp, .x map ? fps drop ? bad way ?

These are just different fromats for different kinds of data to store.

.bsp map files are used by several engines tough the data in them can be very different and unusable if you would try to open it up with lets say irrlichts mesh viewer.

Try to google more before asking next time

[anewlyfe]

IrrEdit generates a .irr file which is actually a specially crafted xml file that the engine can read and you load that in and you are good to go (see the respective tutorial for exactly how to do that).

What about my imported models?
Do i have to put them on the same path with .irr file ?

tnx for answer, well explanation.

Try to google more before asking next time

Aya, i wilil, tnx 4 your time

[Brainsaw]

It's not necessary to have the models in the same path as the .irr file. IrrEdit uses relative paths, you have to set the game's working directory in the options menu of IrrEdit.

[anewlyfe]

It's not necessary to have the models in the same path as the .irr file. IrrEdit uses relative paths, you have to set the game's working directory in the options menu of IrrEdit.

k now i understand, ty.

one more question, how can i use heightmap bmps or -
- can i raise up any part of terrain with irrEdit ?

[anewlyfe]

It's not necessary to have the models in the same path as the .irr file. IrrEdit uses relative paths, you have to set the game's working directory in the options menu of IrrEdit.

k now i understand, ty.

one more question, how can i use heightmap bmps or -
- can i raise up any part of terrain with irrEdit ?

k i've solved it. Understanding slowly