Noob questions How to create maps??

Jolly Joker · Post by **Jolly Joker** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 6:09 pm

I'm new to Irrlicht and my team has 2 members: My friend and I.
My friend is an architect and he knows how to use 3DS Max to create models, but he never used Max to create maps for games before. Me too.

So my questions are:
-Which tools/software do we need to build a map?
-What are the steps to build a map?
-What do we need to do to get it working with Irrlicht?

Please help!
Thanks in advance.

deesine · Post by **deesine** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 6:55 pm

Hi Jolly Joker,

I know from experience that a good workflow is essential for graphics, especially for the artist(s) in question

I will outline a couple of ways from the top of my head.

1) Build your meshes(props, buildings, etc) in 3ds max and export it to .3ds.
2) Use a "level" editor for placing these meshes, for instance irrEdit. And use it to create dark(light)maps for your level. Save as .irr.
3) Load the .irr file in your irrlicht program, you can check the tutorials for more info.

Another way would be to
1) create the outline of your map, walls, streets etc in a BSP program like QuArK or QeRadiant (GtkRadiant).
2) Import (not sure it's possible) your meshes.
Or 3) save the map from the BSP modeling software and load it in, for instance, irrEdit and place the rest of your meshes.
4) Save as .irr and load in your homebrew program.

You could of course just load the separate meshes into your program and place it via source-code or create your own editor.

Hope that helps to get you started.
Someone surely has other thoughts on this as well

Acki · Post by **Acki** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 9:36 pm

with 3DMax you can do this all in one (mayor) step...

1. create all the objects with 3dmax (ground, buildings, lights and other environtment stuff) and export it to the my3d format (exporter included to the Irrlicht sdk) and simply load it eith Irrlicht like any other mesh !!!

Diego · Post by **Diego** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:15 pm

Dear friends and as and the account of collisions with .irr a map, help plz

Jolly Joker · Post by **Jolly Joker** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 1:03 am

Thanks for your quick and useful replies.
When I search google, I've found too many modeling tools and I'm so confused, some of the names are DeleD, 3D World Studio, Blitz Maplet, Freeworld,... Too many things to choose

I will try exporting my maps to bsp or my3d because I didn't find a way to set camera collision in irr files

Anteater · Post by **Anteater** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 2:04 am

DeleD is cool, but it's shareware and it's only really good for man-made environments. I use it for all my indoor scenes. Outdoor/natural environments are better suited for Blender in my opinion.

MasterGod · Post by **MasterGod** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 12:47 pm

deesine wrote:Hi Jolly Joker,

I know from experience that a good workflow is essential for graphics, especially for the artist(s) in question

I will outline a couple of ways from the top of my head.

1) Build your meshes(props, buildings, etc) in 3ds max and export it to .3ds.
2) Use a "level" editor for placing these meshes, for instance irrEdit. And use it to create dark(light)maps for your level. Save as .irr.
3) Load the .irr file in your irrlicht program, you can check the tutorials for more info.

Another way would be to
1) create the outline of your map, walls, streets etc in a BSP program like QuArK or QeRadiant (GtkRadiant).
2) Import (not sure it's possible) your meshes.
Or 3) save the map from the BSP modeling software and load it in, for instance, irrEdit and place the rest of your meshes.
4) Save as .irr and load in your homebrew program.

You could of course just load the separate meshes into your program and place it via source-code or create your own editor.

Hope that helps to get you started.
Someone surely has other thoughts on this as well

What Limitation does the .irr format have

, cause I see you recommend just saving everything as .irr and then load it..

Ico · Post by **Ico** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 4:31 pm

Irr is irrlicht's own scene format allowing you to save almost everything available within the scene - you don't have to convert anything then and loading is rather easy.

dlangdev · Post by **dlangdev** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 8:39 pm

Hi,

I just found out most of the mesh objects I created in Blender appear broken when loaded into the mesh viewer.

Someone wrote I need to setup a BSP mesh first.

So my question now is how do I setup a BSP mesh in Blender so they will not appear broken when loaded into the mesh viewer?

Thanks.