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    The MThe ovThe Page 1

    19/14/2007

    100% Unofficial | Rob Ashton (AKA Derobrash)

    DC

    MODDING

    FOUNDATION

    THE MOVIES EDITORUSERS GUIDE

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    The Movies Editor and related tools/documentation have in no way been created with the

    coordination of Lionhead or Activision and as such they cannot be held liable for any negative

    consequences caused by the use of this software. Neither can anybody else, for the record.

    Saving .................................................................................................................................................... 21

    Saving to Workspace ......................................................................................................................... 21

    Committing To File-system ............................................................................................................... 22

    Miscellaneous Dialogs ........................................................................................................................... 23

    Texture Selection Dialog ................................................................................................................... 23

    Mesh Selection Dialog ....................................................................................................................... 24

    Settings Dialog .................................................................................................................................. 25

    Services ............................................................................................................................................. 25

    Workspace ........................................................................................................................................ 25

    Python Console ................................................................................................................................. 26

    Support ................................................................................................................................................. 27

    Credits ................................................................................................................................................... 28

    Programming .................................................................................................................................... 28

    Research ............................................................................................................................................ 28

    Graphics ............................................................................................................................................ 28

    Testing ............................................................................................................................................... 28

    Honourable Mentions ....................................................................................................................... 28

    Contact Information .............................................................................................................................. 28

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    The Movies Editor and related tools/documentation have in no way been created with the

    coordination of Lionhead or Activision and as such they cannot be held liable for any negative

    consequences caused by the use of this software. Neither can anybody else, for the record.

    The Movies Editor User Guide

    Introduction

    Why?

    Because we can, because we thought it would be a good idea, because we thought people might

    want to make content for The Movies that wasnt originally included with the game. If we hadnt

    done it, somebody else probably would have.

    Who?

    Many people, contributions to the current codebase have been made by both (Rob Ashton) and Glen

    Rickey. Research however has been carried out not just us, but by Mark Andrews and non-

    programmers too numerous to list.

    When?

    Over the course of the past two years; contained within the current branch of The Movies Editor is

    code that was written before The Movies even came out.Development of The Movies Editor stopped

    for a year when Rob went to work in the real world, but the research never really ended.

    Where?

    All over the world; The Movies Editor team has over the past couple of years been comprised of

    members from the Americas to Israel and everywhere in-between. Some of us have never even met

    (yet).

    You can find us over at the DC Modding Foundry (www.dcmodding.com).

    How?

    With a hex editor and compiler you can achieve pretty much anything you want to on a computer.

    Most of us started out with no knowledge of how to perform data analysis at all and had to learn as

    we went along.

    Some of us had programmed for many years and some of us had only just started. It doesnt matter

    because providing you work as a team you can work off each others strengths and weaknesses and

    learn as you go along.

    http://www.dcmodding.com/http://www.dcmodding.com/http://www.dcmodding.com/http://www.dcmodding.com/
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    The Movies Editor and related tools/documentation have in no way been created with the

    coordination of Lionhead or Activision and as such they cannot be held liable for any negative

    consequences caused by the use of this software. Neither can anybody else, for the record.

    Pre-Requisites

    .NET Framework 2.0

    The .NET Framework is required to even run The Movies Editor. You can get this from the Microsoft

    website here:http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=0856eacb-4362-4b0d-

    8edd-aab15c5e04f5&displaylang=en

    If you have automatic updates turned on for Windows XP SP2 or if you have Windows Vista you

    should already have this installed.

    DirectX 9.0c

    You might think you already have the latest version of DirectX installed, but to run The Movies Editor

    youll need to have the latest point release installed.

    Every few months, Microsoft releases a runtime containing new libraries for .NET which The Movies

    Editor requires. These havent actually changed for a year now, but if you havent updated DirectXrecently you should run the web installer from here just to make sure:

    http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=2da43d38-db71-4c1b-bc6a-

    9b6652cd92a3&displaylang=en

    The Movies

    It goes without saying that youll need The Movies installed in order to use The Movies Editor.

    Optionally you can have Stunts and Effects installed and The Movies Editor will function as normal

    and use the extra data provided.

    Notes for Windows VistaIt is necessary to run The Movies Editor with elevated privileges (Right-click and run as

    administrator) under Windows Vista, as it makes changes to your The Movies installation

    directory. The Movies Editor will not crash if it is not run with elevated privileges but will instead

    silently fail and no changes will take place.

    http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=0856eacb-4362-4b0d-8edd-aab15c5e04f5&displaylang=enhttp://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=0856eacb-4362-4b0d-8edd-aab15c5e04f5&displaylang=enhttp://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=0856eacb-4362-4b0d-8edd-aab15c5e04f5&displaylang=enhttp://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=0856eacb-4362-4b0d-8edd-aab15c5e04f5&displaylang=enhttp://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=2da43d38-db71-4c1b-bc6a-9b6652cd92a3&displaylang=enhttp://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=2da43d38-db71-4c1b-bc6a-9b6652cd92a3&displaylang=enhttp://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=2da43d38-db71-4c1b-bc6a-9b6652cd92a3&displaylang=enhttp://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=2da43d38-db71-4c1b-bc6a-9b6652cd92a3&displaylang=enhttp://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=2da43d38-db71-4c1b-bc6a-9b6652cd92a3&displaylang=enhttp://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=0856eacb-4362-4b0d-8edd-aab15c5e04f5&displaylang=enhttp://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=0856eacb-4362-4b0d-8edd-aab15c5e04f5&displaylang=en
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    The Movies Editor and related tools/documentation have in no way been created with the

    coordination of Lionhead or Activision and as such they cannot be held liable for any negative

    consequences caused by the use of this software. Neither can anybody else, for the record.

    Getting Started

    Start-up

    When you start The Movies Editor it will ask you for a workspace directory. This is where The Movies

    Editor will save the resources you are working on until you are ready to committhem to The Movies

    installation directory.

    By saving the files to this directory, you can choose the same directory at a later time and carry on

    working on the same mods without changing The Movies until you are ready to test them.

    After doing this, it will perform a scan on

    your The Movies installation and calculate

    information about what

    costumes/props/sets/scenes you have

    available. This can take half a minute or so,

    so be patient while it does this.

    Doing this on start-up means that The

    Movies Editor has all the information at its

    disposal when it needs it. This makes

    loading costumes/props/sets fast as it

    already knows where to find everything.

    Once its finished doing this, The Movies

    Editor will be ready for use.

    The Workspace

    The concept of a workspace is analogous to one of a project. For every new project you wish to

    work on, select a different folder for your workspace.

    When loading resources such as props/sets/costumes, The Movies Editor will always load the

    version from the workspace, and any work you wish to do on these manually from outside of The

    Movies Editor should be done on the versions in the workspace before committing the resources.

    If you modify the versions of those files found in the The Movies file system, and then commit a

    version from the workspace, your changes will be overwritten and your data lost.

    The Movies holds all the game data in pak files,

    which are like zip files but built especially for the

    game. Inside the paks there are folders and files just

    like youd expect to find on your hard drive.

    If you place folders and files in the data directory in

    your The Movies installation, these have the effect

    of overriding the files found in the Pak files.

    In the same way, placing folders and files in your

    workspace will have the effect of overriding the data

    found in The Movies installation directory.

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    The Movies Editor and related tools/documentation have in no way been created with the

    coordination of Lionhead or Activision and as such they cannot be held liable for any negative

    consequences caused by the use of this software. Neither can anybody else, for the record.

    Where to go next

    Once finished loading, a screen should appear that looks something like Figure 1(This is going to

    change, so Ill try to remember to update the documentation when it does)

    Figure 1This screen can be accessed again at anytime by going to the file menu and selecting New Action

    An overview of these initial functions can be found in the following pages.

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    The Movies Editor and related tools/documentation have in no way been created with the

    coordination of Lionhead or Activision and as such they cannot be held liable for any negative

    consequences caused by the use of this software. Neither can anybody else, for the record.

    Modify Existing ResourceUsing the dialog in Figure 2 - Browsing for an existing resource , it is possible to open an existing

    resource and edit it before saving the modified item as something entirely new.

    Figure 2 - Browsing for an existing resource

    It is possible to filter all resources by whether theyre being loaded directly from the pak files, as a

    mod from The Movies directory or from the workspace as a yet to be committed mod.

    If a resource exists as a workspace prop, it overrides the file system resource and thus will not

    appear as a file system resource even though it potentially exists as one. The same goes for

    resources existing as file system props and pak-based props.

    Selecting a Prop

    With props you get the option to filter by whether a prop is set dressing or a meta-prop. That is,

    whether theyre meant to be placed in the scene or actually interacted with by an actor respectively.

    After selecting this, a genre needs selecting from the checklist and then the props will appear in the

    right-hand window. Selecting the prop and clicking finish will open the prop in the editing window.

    Selecting a Set

    Just like in the game, when selecting a set there are no filters.

    Selecting a Costume

    Again, just like in the game all you need to do is select the category of clothing and the entire list willbe presented for that category.

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    The Movies Editor and related tools/documentation have in no way been created with the

    coordination of Lionhead or Activision and as such they cannot be held liable for any negative

    consequences caused by the use of this software. Neither can anybody else, for the record.

    Extract Mesh for External EditingWith increasing rarity as The Movies Editor gains functionality, sometimes it becomes desirable to

    export a mesh so it can be modified in another program such as a hex editor or specialised editing

    tool. There are also importers available for Blender so existing The Movies meshes can be used as

    a reference for creating new ones.

    The wizard (Figure 3 - Extracting a mesh) will extract the mesh and all its associated textures so it can

    be easily loaded up in an external program and modified there.

    Figure 3 - Extracting a mesh

    Multiple meshes can be selected by checking the boxes next to the mesh filename and each meshcan be previewed by highlighting it in the list view.

    The target directory is where the mesh and all the associated textures will be extracted and whether

    or not any files already present in that directory will be overwritten can be controlled by checking

    the appropriate box.

    Once the desired meshes have been selected, click finish to commence the extraction of the meshes

    to the selected directory.

    They can then be re-imported in the import mesh dialog at a later time after the desired

    modifications have been made.

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    The Movies Editor and related tools/documentation have in no way been created with the

    coordination of Lionhead or Activision and as such they cannot be held liable for any negative

    consequences caused by the use of this software. Neither can anybody else, for the record.

    Extract Individual Files for External EditingOccasionally for advanced users, it becomes necessary to extract particular files for either research

    or manual modification, and this is what this dialog (Figure 4 - Extract Files Wizard) is for.

    Figure 4 - Extract Files Wizard

    The view can be filtered so it only shows files from the pak/file-system/workspace. Checking or un-

    checking the box on a folder will select or de-select that folder and all files and folders in that folder

    recursively.

    Once all the files/folders needed have been checked, they can be extracted by clicking the finish

    button. Depending on how many files/folders have been selected this might take a while.

    For this reason, you should be careful only to extract the files that you actually need or you will be

    there all night.

    The list of files can be filtered using the textbox provided. Wildcards can be used here.

    For example, cake*.msh will find any meshes with cake in the filename.

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    The Movies Editor and related tools/documentation have in no way been created with the

    coordination of Lionhead or Activision and as such they cannot be held liable for any negative

    consequences caused by the use of this software. Neither can anybody else, for the record.

    The EditorThe editor changes depending on what kind of resource is loaded, but the functionality attempts to

    remain consistent across all of the activities.

    The editor is shown in Figure 5

    Figure 5 - The Editor

    There are three main sections to the editor and these are outlined in the following pages, the Mesh

    Editor, the Viewer and the Resource Editor.

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    The Movies Editor and related tools/documentation have in no way been created with the

    coordination of Lionhead or Activision and as such they cannot be held liable for any negative

    consequences caused by the use of this software. Neither can anybody else, for the record.

    Mesh Editor

    The mesh editor is present on every kind of resource on the left hand side of the main window and

    has two main levels to it.

    Texture Selection

    Using the drop-down box at the top of the mesh editor,

    the appropriate node can be selected and usually a

    helpful name is given so it is known what resource and

    what part of that resource is currently being edited.

    When selecting a texture in the list, the areas on the

    currently selected mesh where this texture is used will

    flash for two seconds. This acts as a hint as to the use of

    the texture in the currently displayed mesh.

    Each mesh has a set number of textures which arereferenced from the

    materials covered in the next

    section.

    If you intend on modifying a

    texture you are advised to

    rename it by first selecting it

    in the list, typing in the new

    name and clicking Commit

    Rename.

    This will create the newly named texture in the

    workspace where it can be modified and the changes

    previewed in The Movies Editor.

    To load an entirely new texture, click Change Texture

    and follow the instructions found in the Texture

    Selection Dialog.Figure 6 - Texture Selection

    Textures have a naming convention

    for their purpose, or if there are

    multiple textures to be selected from.

    You should therefore be careful when

    renaming textures, as the wrong

    name can have unintended

    consequences.

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    The Movies Editor and related tools/documentation have in no way been created with the

    coordination of Lionhead or Activision and as such they cannot be held liable for any negative

    consequences caused by the use of this software. Neither can anybody else, for the record.

    Material Editing

    Texture Usage

    Materials control how the textures are used in the mesh.

    When selecting a material using the spin button, the

    areas on the currently selected mesh where this material

    is used will flash for two seconds. This acts as a hint as to

    the use of the material in the currently selected mesh.

    There are 4 possible uses for each texture:

    Diffuse

    Diffuse controls the actual colour of the material and is

    the most commonly used type of texture in a mesh.

    Specular

    A Specular map determines how much light a material

    reflects back when the light hits it at a certain angle.

    Shiny

    This is possibly a glossiness map, no idea.

    Light Map

    The light-map is an advanced use of a texture whichcontains the brightness of the surface, in effect

    simulating the effect of a local light source.

    Attributes

    Enable Alpha

    This determines whether the game allows transparency to come from the diffuse texture.

    Enable Alpha Testing

    When alpha drops below a certain level, this means the game engine wont draw the pixels. This

    means an extra test so it slows down things a bit, but it means it will look better when those

    transparent sections are drawn over other geometry.

    Movement

    Each of these represents how much the material will move over the course of a frame either

    vertically, horizontally or in a rotational manner. Valid values are between 0 and 1.

    Advanced

    These are advanced settings, if you dont know what they do then dont touch them.

    Figure 7 - Material Editor

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    The Movies Editor and related tools/documentation have in no way been created with the

    coordination of Lionhead or Activision and as such they cannot be held liable for any negative

    consequences caused by the use of this software. Neither can anybody else, for the record.

    Viewer

    The viewer contains the model(s) currently loaded for editing as part of a resource and can be

    manipulated using the mouse.

    Left clicking and moving the mouse around will rotate the model in the direction the mouse is

    pulled.

    Right clicking and moving the mouse around will pan the camera in the direction the mouse has

    been moved.

    Using the mouse-wheel will zoom-in/zoom-out depending on the way the mouse is scrolled. Holding

    down both the left and right mouse buttons and dragging the mouse up/down will achieve the same

    effect

    If the view becomes obscured or you lose the view at all, the view can be reset by going into the

    View menu and clicking Reset View.

    Resource Editor

    The resource editor can be found on the right hand side of the main The Movies Editor window and

    contains contextual information about the resource currently being modified.

    IE, if you are editing a costume, information about the costume will be found here where it can be

    modified if necessary or wanted.

    A detailed description of how to use the resource editor for each type of resource follows in the

    coming pages.

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    The Movies Editor and related tools/documentation have in no way been created with the

    coordination of Lionhead or Activision and as such they cannot be held liable for any negative

    consequences caused by the use of this software. Neither can anybody else, for the record.

    Editing a Prop

    After loading a prop, the prop editor should appear in the right hand pane of the main window.

    Core Details

    Display Name

    This is the name of the prop as it will display in the

    game when being selected. It does not have to be

    unique.

    Unique Identifier

    Each prop loaded into the game has a unique

    identifier associated with it.

    This will control the name of several important

    configuration files and care should be taken not to

    overwrite existing props.

    The Movies Editor warns the user via the warning

    triangle if the name has already been used in a

    resource.

    Mesh

    This is the single mesh that the prop will save, and is

    the mesh opened for editing in the viewer. If themesh is modified in any way using the Mesh Editor it

    is advised that the saved name of the mesh be

    changed here by typing a new name and clicking the

    Commit Rename button.

    Alternately, an entirely new mesh can be loaded by

    clicking Change and going through the steps

    outlined in the Mesh Selection Dialog. This will load

    a new mesh, so only do this if any changes made to

    the currently open mesh dont need keeping.

    Thumbnail

    This is the thumbnail that will be shown in-game when selecting the prop; a new thumbnail can be

    selected using the Texture Selection Dialog or alternatively a snapshot of the viewer can be used to

    create a thumbnail using the button provided.

    Other

    Everything else is just how the prop interacts with the game itself and can remain safely unchanged.

    Figure 8 - Prop Editor

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    The Movies Editor and related tools/documentation have in no way been created with the

    coordination of Lionhead or Activision and as such they cannot be held liable for any negative

    consequences caused by the use of this software. Neither can anybody else, for the record.

    Editing a SetAfter loading a set, the set editor should appear in

    the right hand pane of the main window.

    Core Details

    Display Name

    This is the name of the set as it will display in the

    game when being selected. It does not have to be

    unique.

    Unique Identifier

    Each set loaded into the game has a unique identifier

    associated with it.

    This will control the name of several important

    configuration files and care should be taken not to

    overwrite existing sets.

    The Movies Editor warns the user via the warning

    triangle if the name has already been used in a

    resource.

    Mesh

    This is the single mesh that the set will save, and is

    the mesh opened for editing in the viewer. If the

    mesh is modified in any way using the Mesh Editor it

    is advised that the saved name of the mesh be

    changed here by typing a new name and clicking the

    Commit Rename button.

    Alternately, an entirely new mesh can be loaded by

    clicking Change and going through the steps

    outlined in the Mesh Selection Dialog. This will load a

    new mesh, so only do this if any changes made to the currently open mesh dont need keeping.

    ThumbnailThis is the thumbnail that will be shown in-game when selecting the set; a new thumbnail can be

    selected using the Texture Selection Dialog or alternatively a snapshot of the viewer can be used to

    create a thumbnail.

    Figure 9 - Set Editor

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    The Movies Editor and related tools/documentation have in no way been created with the

    coordination of Lionhead or Activision and as such they cannot be held liable for any negative

    consequences caused by the use of this software. Neither can anybody else, for the record.

    Scene Editing

    Yes ok, so I load the scenes. Thats because once this version of The Movies Editor is out were going

    to start plugging the scene editor in and allow some rudimentary scene editing.

    Be patient, Rome wasnt built in a day.

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    The Movies Editor and related tools/documentation have in no way been created with the

    coordination of Lionhead or Activision and as such they cannot be held liable for any negative

    consequences caused by the use of this software. Neither can anybody else, for the record.

    Editing a CostumeAfter loading a costume, the costume editor should appear in the right hand pane of the main

    window.

    Core Details

    Display Name

    This is the name of the costume as it will display in

    the game when being selected. It does not have to be

    unique.

    Unique Identifier

    Each costume loaded into the game has a unique

    identifier associated with it.

    This will control the name of several important

    configuration files and care should be taken not to

    overwrite existing sets.

    With costumes, they must start with m_, f_ or g_.

    Best to leave this prefix the way it started off unless

    youre feeling brave.

    The Movies Editor warns the user via the warning

    triangle if the name has already been used in a

    resource.

    Thumbnail

    This is the thumbnail that will be shown in-game

    when selecting the costume; a new thumbnail can be

    selected using the Texture Selection Dialog or

    alternatively a snapshot of the viewer can be used tocreate a thumbnail.

    Figure 10 - Costume Editor (Core Details)

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    The Movies Editor and related tools/documentation have in no way been created with the

    coordination of Lionhead or Activision and as such they cannot be held liable for any negative

    consequences caused by the use of this software. Neither can anybody else, for the record.

    Appearance

    This editor should look familiar to anybody who

    has used Marks Costume Editor, and this has

    been done intentionally.

    Enable HeadDo you want the head to show when the

    costume is loaded up in the game?

    Enable Skin Texture

    Do you want the actor to be rendered

    underneath the clothes youve chosen?

    Base Mesh

    This is the mesh that everything will overlay.

    Pretty much any mesh can be selected,

    experiment and find out. If you want the mesh to

    animate along with the movement of the actor it

    needs to have bones.

    If the mesh is modified in any way using the

    Mesh Editor it is advised that the saved name of

    the mesh be changed here by typing a new name

    and clicking the Commit Rename button.

    Selected Element

    If you want to modify any of the textures or

    meshes in an external program or the Mesh

    Editor, their names can be changed here so as

    not to overwrite existing files in The Movies.

    Move Up/Move down

    When a texture element is selected in the

    costume editor, it can be moved up or down in

    the rendering order. Textures are overlaid onto

    the costume from top to bottom as displayed in

    the list.

    Add Mesh

    Meshes can be added to the costume here using

    the Mesh Selection Dialog. If you want the mesh

    to animate along with the movement of the actor

    it needs to have bones.

    Figure 11 - Costume Editing (Appearance)

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    The Movies Editor and related tools/documentation have in no way been created with the

    coordination of Lionhead or Activision and as such they cannot be held liable for any negative

    consequences caused by the use of this software. Neither can anybody else, for the record.

    Add Skin

    Texture overlays can be added to the costume here using the Texture Selection Dialog.

    Delete

    Elements can be deleted from the costume here. Care should be taken not to delete mesh elements

    if they have been modified in the Mesh Editor as all changes will be lost by deleting it.

    Slider Name

    When a costume element is named with the _v00 suffix, it means there are alternate selections to

    be made in-game. This is the name of the selector found in the wardrobe for switching between

    these alternate configurations.

    Slider Height

    This is the height of the slider in relation to the other sliders when switching configurations in the

    wardrobe.

    Anchor

    This is the anchor point of the mesh element on the costume, the location on the costume to which

    all movement is calculated from.

    Specular Map

    Some texture overlays are to be used primarily as a map for the shiny points on the costume. These

    tend to have the _a suffix but need enabling using this checkbox.

    Always On

    No idea.

    Limit

    No Idea.

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    The Movies Editor and related tools/documentation have in no way been created with the

    coordination of Lionhead or Activision and as such they cannot be held liable for any negative

    consequences caused by the use of this software. Neither can anybody else, for the record.

    Saving

    When working in The Movies Editor, resources can be saved to one of two locations.

    The file-system is where The Movies loads resources from and should only be committed to

    once a mod is ready for testing within the game itself.

    The workspace is where The Movies Editor stores textures and meshes that have been imported as

    part of the modding process. In addition to this, resources that are currently being worked on can be

    saved to the workspace too meaning The Movies Editor can be closed and the resource can be

    worked on at a later time just by selecting the same workspace and re-opening the resource.

    Saving to Workspace

    To save the current resource to the workspace, the option can be found in the Actions menu to

    Save to Workspace.

    This action will not modify the game in any way.

    This action is immediate and nothing else need be done. This only saves the currently open resource,

    so bear that mind before closing MED and potentially losing work.

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    The Movies Editor and related tools/documentation have in no way been created with the

    coordination of Lionhead or Activision and as such they cannot be held liable for any negative

    consequences caused by the use of this software. Neither can anybody else, for the record.

    Committing To File-system

    This actually commits the mod to The Movies meaning it will be available when playing the game.

    On clicking the Commit option found in the Actions menu, a dialog will be presented showing

    every single modification and action about to take place.

    Figure 12 - Action Confirmation

    (TODO) It is possible to see at this screen whether any files are currently overwriting existing files in

    either the file system or pak files.

    As the pak files contain original game data, it is highly preferable that no files overwrite anything in

    them. It should always be possible to prevent this by renaming the individual components in a

    resource.

    Clicking on Finish will both committhe resource to the file system, and save it to the workspace for

    future modification.

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    The Movies Editor and related tools/documentation have in no way been created with the

    coordination of Lionhead or Activision and as such they cannot be held liable for any negative

    consequences caused by the use of this software. Neither can anybody else, for the record.

    Miscellaneous Dialogs

    Texture Selection Dialog

    Using the Texture Selection Dialog, an existing texture can be selected for use from The Movies

    installation directory, or an externally edited/created texture can be imported into the correct folder

    in workspace directory.

    Figure 13 - Texture Selection Dialog

    Existing textures appear in the right hand tree-view and can be previewed in the viewer by clicking

    on it there.

    The list of files can be filtered using the textbox provided. Wildcards can be used here.

    For example, cake*.dds will find any textures with cake in the filename.

    Importing a new texture is a simple matter of browsing to the texture and selecting it. The texture

    will be imported to your Workspace Directoryready for committingto The Movies when youve

    finished creating your mod.

    It must be a valid DDS texture in order for the import to succeed and the Texture Selection Dialog

    will attempt to verify the validity of the texture before taking any actions.

    You will be warned if the texture is about to overwrite anything currently existing in the Workspace

    Directory before any actions take place.

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    The Movies Editor and related tools/documentation have in no way been created with the

    coordination of Lionhead or Activision and as such they cannot be held liable for any negative

    consequences caused by the use of this software. Neither can anybody else, for the record.

    Mesh Selection Dialog

    Using the Mesh Selection Dialog, an existing mesh can be selected for use from The Movies

    installation directory, or an externally edited/created mesh can be imported into the Workspace

    Directory along with all the relevant textures.

    Figure 14 - Mesh Selection Dialog

    Existing meshes appear in the right hand tree-view and can be previewed in the viewer by clicking on

    it there.

    The list of files can be filtered using the textbox provided. Wildcards can be used here.

    For example, cake*.msh will find any meshes with cake in the filename.

    Importing a new mesh is a simple matter of browsing to the mesh and selecting it. The Mesh will be

    imported to your Workspace Directory, ready for committingto The Movies when youve finishedcreating your mod.

    The mesh must be a valid model capable of being loaded in The Movies, and the Mesh Selection

    Dialog will attempt to verify the validity of the mesh before taking any action.

    You will be warned if any of the textures or the mesh itself is about to overwrite anything currently

    existing in the Workspace Directory before the actions actually take place.

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    The Movies Editor and related tools/documentation have in no way been created with the

    coordination of Lionhead or Activision and as such they cannot be held liable for any negative

    consequences caused by the use of this software. Neither can anybody else, for the record.

    Settings Dialog

    Services

    This dialog can be found in the Tools menu.

    Check for updates on Start-upThe Movies Editor will attempt to query a web service for the current version and notify the user if it

    is out of date.

    This will not slow the start-up of The Movies Editor at all as its done in the background while loading

    resources. No personally identifiable information is sent (Its just checking a web-page effectively) so

    its best just to keep this on.

    Send error reports

    When The Movies Editor encountered an unexpected error, it will do its best not to lose any data

    and keep running. Optionally, it will send any errors it gets to a web service and therefore notify the

    developers about what happened.

    No personally identifiable information is sent as part of this request, just the minimal amount of

    information about what version of software and hardware the user is running and the error itself.

    If this is kept on, it is more likely that bugs will be fixed in future versions of The Movies Editor.

    Workspace

    A default workspace can be set up if the user is to be working on the same project over an extended

    period of time. The Movies Editor will simply select this workspace automatically and start up as

    normal.

    The current open workspace can also be viewed from this tab.

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    The Movies Editor and related tools/documentation have in no way been created with the

    coordination of Lionhead or Activision and as such they cannot be held liable for any negative

    consequences caused by the use of this software. Neither can anybody else, for the record.

    Python Console

    This dialog can be found in the Tools menu.

    For the majority of users, this will never need to be touched, but advanced users who are capable of

    writing Python code, the console provides a unique way of querying The Movies Editor for useful

    information.

    The entire MED-API is exposed via the Python console, and thus scripts can be written for almost any

    purpose.

    Figure 15 - Python Console

    Python script can be entered in the lower half of the window and then executed by hitting Enter.

    The results of the script then appear in the upper half of the window.

    The example script shown imports the MED-API and then searches for all the costumes for any that

    have the mesh acc_chinese_holster.msh attached

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    The Movies Editor and related tools/documentation have in no way been created with the

    coordination of Lionhead or Activision and as such they cannot be held liable for any negative

    consequences caused by the use of this software. Neither can anybody else, for the record.

    SupportThis is an entirely unofficial endeavour and thus no support can be found from Activision or

    Lionhead.

    Support queries should all be posted on the relevant modding fan-sites and kept off the official

    forums, as that is not the place for them.

    Primarily, development of The Movies Editor has moved towww.dcmodding.comand support can

    be requested in the forums found there.

    The developers of this application should not be contacted directly for technical support, and it is

    highly unlikely that any direct requests for support will be acknowledged.

    Bug reports can be sent [email protected].

    http://www.dcmodding.com/http://www.dcmodding.com/http://www.dcmodding.com/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.dcmodding.com/
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    Th M i Edit d l t d t l /d t ti h i b t d ith th

    CreditsOn the highly unlikely event of anybody reading this, a breakdown of who wrote what can be found

    below in case any specific information is needed.

    Programming

    API/Architecture: Rob Ashton Application Design: Rob Ashton, Glen Rickey Application code: Rob Ashton Engine code: Rob Ashton Mesh/Lhts/Ini/Cos/Pak code: Rob Ashton Flm code: Glen Rickey Contributions by: Asaf Gartner, KidX

    Research

    Mark Andrews, Rob Ashton, Glen Rickey

    Graphics

    Rik Vargard

    Testing

    Testing: Glen Rickey, Stvndysn, Ken White, HollywoodMan, Evolchild, Rik Vargard, Aliaszim,

    Guitarscout

    Honourable Mentions

    Doc_Z for setting up The Movies Workshop all those years ago. Sam for the endless arguments about Lionheads official line on modding. Georg Backer for persuading me to pick up development again. The family, for understanding when I spent my entire Christmas locked in a room with a hex

    editor...

    Contact InformationRob Ashton

    Email:[email protected] Website:http://www.codeofrob.com

    Glen Rickey

    Email:[email protected] Website:http://www.dcmodding.com

    mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.codeofrob.com/http://www.codeofrob.com/http://www.codeofrob.com/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.dcmodding.com/http://www.dcmodding.com/http://www.dcmodding.com/http://www.dcmodding.com/mailto:[email protected]://www.codeofrob.com/mailto:[email protected]