File Conversion Graph
- Matt Raykowski
Owned by Matt Raykowski
Explanation
3DSMAX
Used to create all 3D meshes and animations (Avatars,Weapons,Trees,Buildings EXT...).
Used to create The landscapes.
Used to paint the landscapes using the NeL Painter plugin.
Used to create some of the particle data for spells EXT...
Used to create tree wind deformation with the NeL Tree Painter plugin (Think weight painting).
tile_edit_r
Used to create the tile banks that hold all the texture data for displacements,blending and diffuse, Needed by 3DSMAX to paint your landscapes.
object_viewer
Used to create vegetsets from .veget files exported from 3DSMAX.
Used to create and edit particles.
Used to view .shape (meshes) and .anim (animations).
Build_Gamedata_Pipeline
In 3DSMAX you use the NeL "Node" plugin tool to define how your .max file will be treated by the pipeline.
For example if you have made a flat plane with a grass texture you would check the vegetable node so the pipeline knows to export as a .veget.
Input (Editable developer files)
| 3DSMAX | tile_edit_r | object_viewer | Image editor |
| .max | .bank | .ps | .tga |
| .vegetset | .png |
File Converter
Build_Gamedata_Pipeline |
Output (Engine runtime files)
| .anim | .clodbank | .dds | .farbank | .gr | .ig | .pacs_prim | .rbank |
| .shape | .skel | .smallbank | .swt | .veget | .zonel | .zonew | .zone |
FileExtensions
Terminology
- build_gamedata: Automatic fully incremental batch process that produce final compiled data from top most working data.
- WK: Working Data - This data is a file edited by the artists. It will not be in client final data. This data is an input data for the build_gamedata process.
- RT: Runtime Data - This data is generated by build_gamedata. It is not edited by the artists. It will be included in client final data.
- WK/RT: Working and Runtime Data - This data is a file edited by the artists but it will be included in final data. build_gamedata will only copy it.
- TP: Temporary Data - This data is produce by build_gamedata to build another kind of data. This data is not edited by the artists and not included in final data.
File Extensions
File extension list is in alphabetical order.
| Extension | Type | Comment |
| anim | RT | NeL 3D animations. Contains several named animation tracks. Generated from .max files by build_gamedata. It is readable by NeL and viewable in object_viewer. |
| bank | WK | NeL tile bank. Bank of bitmap tiles used by the landscape. Edited by the artists with tile_edit.exe. build_gamedata generates .smallbank with it. Only one bank file per landscape. Readable by NeL. |
| cfg | RT | Configuration file used by NLMISC::CConfigFile class. Used to set user parameters for NeL applications. |
| clodbank | RT | Character LOD bank using 3d sprit objects (quake 1 like) to be quickly draw and animated when far away. Generated from .max files by build_gamedata. Readable by NeL. |
| cmb | TP | Simple geometry dump used by build_gamedata to compute surfaces for interior collision meshes. Exported from .max files. Not readable by NeL. |
| dds | RT | Microsoft DirectDraw Surface (DDS) format is used to store textures and cubic environment maps with mipmaps. It compress textures in a hardware friendly format. Generated from .tga files by build_gamedata. Readable by NeL. |
| farbank | RT | NeL far bank. Bank of bitmap used by the landscape to map patches when far away. Generated by build_gamedata from .tga tiles and the bank file. Only one farbank file per landscape. Readable by NeL. |
| gr | RT | Instances of local retrievers. Used for NeL 3d collisions. Readable by NeL. |
| ig | RT | NeL 3d Instance Group. Contains a list of instanced stuffs in a landscape (a shape reference with a matrix) (optional), a list of lights (optional) and a cluster system description (optional). It is generated by build_gamedata from .max files. Readable by NeL. |
| land | WK | Add text here. |
| lr | TP | Temporary landscape zone surface file produced during by build_gamedata from a .tessel file. Used to build .gr and .rbank files. Not readable by NeL. |
| max | WK | 3dsmax file format. Used to produce .anim, .clodbank, .cmb, .ig, .pacs_prim, .shape, .skel, .swt, .zone files. NeL can't direclty read it. build_gamedata exports those files using 3dsmax scripts and plugins. |
| ovcfg | WK | Scene configuration file for the Object Viewer. It's used to save your work to be opened again in Object Viewer. |
| pacs_prim | RT | Set of PACS primitive (Box or cylinder description with size, radius, height, position and PACS properties). Generated from .max file by build_gamedata. Readable by NeL. |
| png | WK/RT | Portable Network Graphics file format. Edited by artists. Format RGBA 16 and 32 bits compressed, RGB 24 bits compressed readable by NeL. This file format is used by build_gamedata to generate .dds files. It is used to as runtime data for bitmap that doesn't need to be 'dds' compressed. (Like displacement tiles). |
| ps | WK/RT | NeL 3d particule system. This file is edited with object_viewer.exe. Readable by NeL. In fact, .ps are .shape files. |
| pws | WK | Particle Workspace. Used in Object Viewer to manage particle sets and save workspaces. |
| rbank | RT | Retrievers Bank. It is the bank of collision zones used by NEL::PACS. Generated by build_gamedata from .lr files. Readable by NeL. |
| shape | RT | NeL 3d object used to store a 3d mesh. It can be a simple mesh, skinned mesh, a multilod mesh, a lensflare, a remanence mesh, a water mesh, a particul system. Generated by build_gamedata from .max files. Readable by NeL. |
| skel | RT | NeL 3d skeleton description used to deform skinned shapes using .anim. Generated by build_gamedata from .max files. Readable by NeL. |
| sln | Microsoft Visual Studio solution file. | |
| smallbank | RT | Same file than .bank but some informations have been removed to get a smaller runtime file. Generated by build_gamedata. Readable by NeL. |
| swt | RT | NeL 3d file that contains weight for skeleton animation. Generated by build_gamedata from .max files. Readable by NeL. |
| tessel | TP | Temporary landscape zone tesselation file produced during the build_gamedata process with a .zone and its neighbours. Used to generate .lr files. Very huge zone tesselation dump. (at 0.5 meter). Not used in final data. Not readable by NeL. |
| tga | WK/RT | Targa Truevision Graphics bitmap file format. Edited by artists. Format RGBA 16 and 32 bits uncompressed, RGB 24 bits uncompressed readable by NeL. This file format is used by build_gamedata to generate .dds files. It is used to as runtime data for bitmap that doesn't need to be 'dds' compressed. (Like displacement tiles). |
| vcproj | Microsft Visual Studio 7 and above project file. Same as .dsp for Visual Studio 6. | |
| veget | RT | Vegetable file. This file is a simple mesh with only few polygons used like a blade of grass by a vegetset. Generated from .max files by build_gamedata. |
| vegetset | WK/RT | Vegetable set file. This file describe a micro-vegetation material. It can be edited with object_viewer.exe. It can be assigned to a lanscape tileset (in bank file) using tile_edit.exe. |
| zone | TP | NeL landscape zone made of patches of 160 x 160 meters generated by build_gamedata from .max files. Used by build_gamedata to produce .zonew files. Readable by NeL. |
| zonew | TP | Same file than .zone but welding informations with neighbours has been computed by build_gamedata. Readable by NeL. |
| zonel | RT | Same file than zonel but lighing informations have been computed by build_gamedata. Readable by NeL. |