Reply With QuoteNICE FIND!!Hope this leads to something good for the community. One less hurdle.
There must be someone from ION lurking about that would know about this.
I managed to get the game to generate IBT files somehow... I just experimented with user.ini and default.ini. What I did is:
1) I added the following lines to user.ini (under [BlockLoading]):
WriteResourceBlockFiles=True
WriteBlockFiles=True
2) In default.ini, I set the following line to true:
WriteResourceBlockFiles=True
Then, after starting the game and quitting it I noticed the file Autoplay.ibt appear in the ROOT Thief 3 editor's folder (not the Maps folder).
Unfortunately, I don't have the time to experiment with that right now, but maybe someone else can tinker with this some more and figure out what option (exactly) allows the ibt generation and whether these ibt's are actually playable...
Later!
- Agetian
NICE FIND!!
There must be someone from ION lurking about that would know about this.
By the way, there's also a lot of extra stuff appearing in the root folder of the Thief 3 Editor after you turn on those options, and I don't know what all that crap is for and whether it also appears with the options I wrote above turned off, e.g.:
Kernel_GFXALL.ibt
Kernel_PHYALL.ibt
Kernel_TSDALL.ibt
And a lot of log files...
The IBT files generated by the game seem playable (at least I tried turning ON the blockloading and playing the map that consists of both the gmp and the ibt file and it worked)... I can't test it on the real Thief 3 installation because it got corrupt somehow and I don't have the time right now to reinstall...
Later!
- Agetian
Last edited by Agetian; 2nd Mar 2005 at 14:18.
I've just tried this and can confirm that at the very least I've generated IBT files , however mine appear in the Thief - Deadly Shadows folder in My Documents.
Time to test on a non-editor install.
Hmm, weird... For me it always generates the IBT stuff in the root of Thief 3... (Not that it made any difference...
Just tested the IBTs on a non-editor installation (clean install, both v1.0 original and v1.1 patched), it worked PERFECTLY for me. For example, my map files were called:
AgetianMap.gmp
AgetianMap.ibt
So, I typed in:
t3main AgetianMap
And it loaded the map up just fine, no glitches, no crashes. So, the thing works for me!
As I recall, the Kernel IBTs are those shared by every map.
If changes are made to the gamesys (new actor/weapons) will they be built into the level .IBT? Or will that be in one of the Kernels? Or is the gamesys loaded totally separately?
I've customized my gamesys, and the changes load with the map, but I'm wondering what will be required as far as distributing those changes with a finished FM. Thanks!
ResultOriginally Posted by Agetian
no glitches, no crashes. So, the thing works for me!
Do you see a load bar when loading the map from your IBT file you created? and does it still load if you move the .gmp file out of the Maps directory? This is cool if you can create the blockfiles and load them easily into the game, that will make custom map distribution much easier. A word of warning though, I believe it can take a while to build block files from full maps. It will probably take even longer for custom maps than it did for the ones in the game since people will probably load them up with tons of unique textures and meshes and such.
If you can load maps from either the IBT or the GMP alone, why are there two files at all?
I have to say that I'm really happy about this discovery.
Well, I don't know the intricacies of the blockloading system, but my understanding is that the block files are a means of optimizing the load process. The GMP file just contains the level geometry and the locations of all the assets in 3d space, such as textures and meshes. When you load a GMP, it has to load each asset individually from the seperate directories and files they are contained in. The IBT file is a compiled version of the map that contains everything the GMP file has, plus all of the assets used in the map all in one file. All of the assets are arranged in a certain way that allows it to load faster, plus it places it all together in one file instead of spread out in a hundred different places.
As Krypt says, the block files are for faster loading. They're also complete distributions for the level. You should be able to just release a set of Kernel blocks and the custom ones for your map and people will be able to play them. You won't have to release all your custom meshes etc (or custom gamesys)
I don't recall where individual things are stored. But the gamesys is also, I believe, loaded with the block files. Easy to test:
If you're loading from block files, you'll get a progress bar on load. If you're not, you won't.
See if gamesys changes show up on a block file load.
What's IBT Generation, precious?
It's like Generation X... only everyone in Generation IBT is a thief.
Agetian, if you can post your map so we can see how you set all of the level properties, that will help us all immensely. Zip it up with all the other files you modified and that would be even better.
Ricebug
Hmm... Someone, please tell me how to attach a file to a reply on this forum...
Other than that, I haven't changed much at all, just made a brush, added a PlayerStart and a light, built it all (using the "Build All" option), entered the playtest mode and quit it to generate the IBT file. Then, I've copied the GMP and IBT files to the regular T3 installation (under Content\T3\Maps) and typed in:
t3main AgetianMap
By the way, I saw a progress bar during the load process. Everything appeared perfectly normal (as if I loaded a regular game level).
I would be glad to send y'all a zip file of my level if I knew how to attach files
I just got to be missing something about this forum.
Later!
- Agetian
Last edited by Agetian; 2nd Mar 2005 at 22:02.
Another find about IBT files (I'm posting this since there are many debates on why IBT files are needed): I think they simply include all the resources (textures, scripts, etc.) in one file so you don't have to distribute the whole thing with the release version of the map. GMP files are still needed since they contain the level structure itself, which IBT files don't (as far as I understand it).
I might be wrong, though. That's just an educated guess.
By the way, from what I get out of what the documentation ("editor setup information", or something like that) says, you still need the GMP file even if you have the IBT - that's what made me think that IBTs don't actually contain the level geometry.
Later!
- Agetian
Last edited by Agetian; 2nd Mar 2005 at 22:19.
Hmm... Someone, please tell me how to attach a file to a reply on this forum...
Other than that, I haven't changed much at all, just made a brush, added a PlayerStart and a light, built it all (using the "Build All" option), entered the playtest mode and quit it to generate the IBT file. Then, I've copied the GMP and IBT files to the regular T3 installation (under Content\T3\Maps) and typed in:
t3main AgetianMap
By the way, I saw a progress bar during the load process. Everything appeared perfectly normal (as if I loaded a regular game level).
I would be glad to send y'all a zip file of my level if I knew how to attach files
I just got to be missing something about this forum.
Later!
- Agetian
You can email it to me (sherlock at sherlockholmesarmy dot org) and I can host it on one of my servers.
OK here is Agetian's file he sent to me. I haven't tested it (well, beyond a virus/trojan scan.. nothin personal, Agetian) so if this makes your computer start spewing forth any kind of nonsense, hey.. sucks to be you.
P.S. .htaccess is enabled, so if you have problems downloading from this link, say so and I'll fix it.
http://www.sherlockholmesarmy.org/ibt_generation.zip
The file shouldn't cause any problems, but it might be wise to make backups of user.ini and default.ini before trying to apply the modifications anyway, cause no one knows how it'll work on your pc...
Anyway, I don't take any responsibility if that file does any damage to your brain or burns your PC.
Hmm, doesn't work for me with the standard version of Thief3 - it seems to take no notice of the map name as a command line argument, and just goes through the intro movies and to the main menu screen as normal.Just tested the IBTs on a non-editor installation (clean install, both v1.0 original and v1.1 patched), it worked PERFECTLY for me. For example, my map files were called:
AgetianMap.gmp
AgetianMap.ibt
So, I typed in:
t3main AgetianMap
And it loaded the map up just fine, no glitches, no crashes. So, the thing works for me!
Are you sure you were using a clean install of Thief3 with no trace of the editor ?
On the other hand, using T3MainReleaseVersion.exe AgetianMap in my editor install version of the game DOES run the map properly. If I try to run it with only the ibt file and not the gmp file, I get a crash dialogue that say:
"Microsoft Visual C++ runtime library - Runtime error...." blah blah.
If I have both the gmp and ibt files present then the game loads, but the mouse movement is *VERY* jerky even though its a small cube room, and yet I can tell from walking that the frame rate is very high.
Someone else mentioned this very jerky mouse movement problem in another thread.
If I delete the ibt file and leave only the gmp file the map STILL runs (presumably because the neccessary resources are being loaded from the original game ibt files) but the jerky mouse movement problem is GONE.
Copy the ibt file back again and the mouse movement is extremely jerky.
What gives ?
I think this still needs a lot of work
Edit: forgot to mention, I'm just using the gmp and/or ibt files, I'm not touching my ini files in any way or using the supplied ones...
I think that IBT files won't save us from adding some additional files to a mission archive. IBT may contain some resources like static meshes or textures, but we still have to ship Conversations, Flags, .sch files and so on.
I interview Irrational
Yeah, I tried it with clean install of Thief 3 (the editor itself was deleted at the moment). I tried launching the map with version 1.1. I think I also tried with 1.0, but I'm not positive about that.
For me the movement is smooth both on GMP only and on GMP+IBT (but maybe it's just my specs? I have P4 2.8Ghz/512 MB RAM/GeForceFX 5700 128MB, so I think it can handle an empty cube room fairly well ;-)
Version 1.1 took notice of the map name as a command line parameter ONLY when launched like this:
t3main MapName
If I launch it like this (with EXE added to the executable name):
t3main.exe MapName
It has no effect.
Later!
- Agetian
Last edited by Agetian; 3rd Mar 2005 at 07:57.
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