PW ElementEditor

[thatako]

Official map creation tool for PW

 

[Bola]

how efficient is working with this tool ? from my knowledge they used basedata files previously to generate the final files, i guess some reverse engineering have been done for this to happen, i'm curious how much good does this work.

 

[thatako]

how efficient is working with this tool ? from my knowledge they used basedata files previously to generate the final files, i guess some reverse engineering have been done for this to happen, i'm curious how much good does this work.

Basically, I had to reverse-engineer the process to create the base data; it’s not perfect, but it works fine and generates functional maps. The tool is a bit quirky due to the sheer number of parameters, and I’ve mostly only tested it with maps from versions 152–155. I haven't ported the random maps or login maps yet, and there’s an issue with the cloud import—it’s not quite right. Loading `elements.data` via the tool is very slow, and you can only work on one tile/block at a time; while you can see adjacent blocks, only the terrain is visible. Improvements are definitely needed, but overall, the tool doesn't crash like MapEditor does, since it operates on its own proprietary files rather than the exported binaries. Another issue is that it’s currently impossible to compile it for x64 because of the NVIDIA libraries; they are only available in x32, and there is no x64 version or source code available for recompilation—NVIDIA never released them.

 

[jv90]

One technical challenge right now any map editor is loading the maps from W2I for Eastern Continent which are 9x12 instead of maximum 8x11.



Unsure how we can even work with these files overall for the most part.

Its awesome you got the ElementsEditor up enough to edit maps though for sure.

 

[thatako]

One technical challenge right now any map editor is loading the maps from W2I for Eastern Continent which are 9x12 instead of maximum 8x11.



Unsure how we can even work with these files overall for the most part.

Its awesome you got the ElementsEditor up enough to edit maps though for sure.

The size isn't fixed, so importing maps wouldn't be an issue since there's no fixed dimension—loading a 1000x1000 block map would be possible(if not consume more 4gb ram). The real issue lies in the block size; there are various sizes, and if you aren't careful, you'll get it wrong (PW uses 512x512 + 1). I did encounter a problem converting `npcgen.data`, which consumed 2GB of RAM while creating the 1.5.5 world map base data. If a game's world `npcgen` file is larger and exceeds 4GB, you'd have to switch the NVIDIA SDK to another 3rd party sdk to compile the tool in x64. However, I find it unlikely that anything would exceed that limit, based on existing server packages for various games. Of course, this applies to rebuilding the base data; porting a map from a newer version to an older one would require creating an `npcgen.data` file from scratch, resulting in zero consumption.

The real major issue lies in the clients' `Common` folders; they have diverged significantly—specifically regarding precincts, regions, `npcgen`, and buildings. Even though version numbers might match across some games, the underlying structure changes. Consequently, each game requires its own specific tool within the client source code.

 

[thatako]

Implemented a walker to test things directly within the tool: collision, flying, swimming, distance perspective, etc.
I think I'm done for now; I just need to test things one by one, which is a real drag, and I can't be bothered to set up a pwserver.