New / .x files

[Guest]

I’m new to this engine, was playing around with the tutorials and managed to change it, to load in other Q3 .bsp maps that I got from the internet. I downloaded the demo version of Cartography Shop, I like the interface and find it easy to create maps, but the demo version doesn’t let you save, I also downloaded the sample (.x) file from its site.

I have a couple of questions, How would I go about importing .x files, is it much different than the example tutorials for importing .bsp files?

And what other package would people recommend for creating levels, free or open source is preferred, but I don’t mind using a commercial application (cost, within reason), although I would like to try it out before spending any cash.

Thanks.

[Electron]

Well, the traditional level editor is of course radiant, made by id for quake. Free for noncommercial use, if you want commercial then they charge you an arm and a leg ($5k I think). Quark is a mapping tool many find easier to use, but only exports .map. You need a seperate program to compile to .bsp. Free and easy to use is Deled 3D editor. It only lets you create geometry, not entities, and it exports to .x. Irrlicht doesn't read entities anyway and treats .bsp just liek another geometry format. .X might not have lightmaps though, I forget. Google for any of these programs and you should find them.

Loading a .x mesh is just like .bsp. Only use an octree for your geometry though (.x or .bsp) use a regular IAnimatedMeshSceneNode for characters and such

[vermeer]

x format support 2 uv channels. So, it supports lightmaps. Perhaps not in irrlicht. I never know bout the coding part.