rctmaniac
07-27-2006, 09:44 AM
Well, seeing as Phil announced he will not be updating his guide I thought I would have a crack at explaining it all.
The tutorial can be downloaded from sebar.com/rctman
It contains:
List of Programs Needed.
Tutorials on:
Exporting to .obj
Biturn-obj to ase
How to Create Icons in Photoshop
UV Mapper
Recolourable Textures
And how to put all of it into the importer.
Below is a version I copied from my Microsoft Word-It has none of the pics and no formatting, I recommend downloading the word file from my site.
Hope this helps, any problems just post
rctmaniac’s Custom Guide
1. What You Need to Make and Import Custom Scenery
• The Importer-http://sebar.com/jonwil/ (Top Link)
• A 3D Modelling Program. These Include:
o Milkshake ($25)- http://www.swissquake.ch/chumbalum-soft/
o Anim8or (Free)- http://www.anim8or.com/
o Blender (Free)- http://www.blender.org/cms/Home.2.0.html
o Wings 3D (Free)- http://www.wings3d.com/
• Biturn- http://mirex.mypage.sk/index.php?selected=1
• An Image Editor. These Include:
o Photoshop (£59)
o The Gimp (Free)- http://www.gimp.org/
o Picasa 2 (Free)- http://picasa.google.com
• Optional:
o UV Mapper (Free-Make Sure You Download the CLASSIC version)- http://www.uvmapper.com/
What Are They?
Importer-Used to ‘Insert’ objects into RCT3, without this Custom Scenery would not be possible
3d Modelling Program-Used to create the objects for the Importer
Biturn-Converts your .obj files from the 3D Modeller into .ase for the Importer
Image Editor- Used to make .png files for your icons, can be used for textures.
UV Mapper- UV Maps your object with a texture-used to make textures ‘fit’ objects in the correct way.
2. Making a Custom Scenery Object and getting it Into RCT3
• 1. Making Your Model. I am not the best modeller-here are some tutorials that may help you. (A Google Search will give Good Results also)
i. Milkshake: http://www.modstothemax.net/games/ultimateride/tutorials/coastercar101/wf00.html
ii. Anim8or: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/w.watson3/tutorials.html
iii. Wings 3D:
http://www.wings3d.com/tutorials.php
iv. Blender: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro/Blender_Interface
• 2. Once your model is finished You need to:
i. Save it as your Modellers file (EG: For Milkshake save it as a .ms3d file)**
ii. Export your object as a .obj file. (Usually Click File>>Export>>Wavefront obj**
iii. **Optional: If your program is capable then you can add your Texture to your object.
• 3. Optional-UV Mapper. If you didn’t UV Map your object in your Modelling program (Step 2. iii) then open up UV Mapper then hit File>>Load Model, and locate your .obj file you saved in step 2. ii. It then shows you all the statistics of your file, like this:
Click OK then click: Edit>>New UV Map>>. You then need to choose a map, depending on your object. If you are not sure choose ‘Box’.
When that dialogue (below) appears leave all values alone accept ‘Map Size’. In that enter 256.
Hit OK. You then get a 2D net of your shape:
Next you need to:
• Click File>>Save Model, and overwrite you .obj file.
• Click File>>Save Texture Map, then make sure in the dialogue Height and Width are both 256, then save it.
Now you need to add a texture to this UV Map. Open the texture map .bmp you saved in the last step in your image editor. You can then put different colours, etc onto different parts of the UV Map, therefore changing the objects appearance. Once done Save the .bmp, overwriting the old .bmp. You are nearly there!!
Note: Recolourable Textures:
Make a small true blue colour bitmap that is 12x12 and add a blue colour of R-0 G-0 B-255, and set the OVL with one recolourable in the Importer (Later).
3. Icons
• You know when you select an object in RCT3 there is a picture of that object? That is an icon. This tutorial shows how to make a very very basic one in Photoshop.
o 1. Open up Photoshop, and Click File>>New.
o Enter these values in the dialogue:
Width: 64
Height: 64
Background Contents: Transparent
o Enter a Name for the icon and click OK.
o Press Ctrl and + 3 times to Zoom in to 400%.
o Click Layer>>New>>Layer
o To add text click the T on the toolbar and type, and so on. Remember for each separate item to add a new layer.
o Once finished hit File>>Save As and in the box with the arrow select .png.
4. Biturn. OBJ to ASE
• Once you have exported your model as a .obj you need to convert that into .ase. This is done using Biturn. Open it up and on the left you see all your files and folders on your PC. Find the folder which your .obj is in, and click on the folder. In the middle of the screen appears all the items in the folder you have selected. Click on the .obj file then done the bottom in ‘Destination Format’ under the drop down menu select ‘.ASE’. Now click convert, and there you have it.
• NOTE: If you get a warning about converting the source don’t worry.
•
5. Putting it All Into the Importer.
• Note: Before reading this tutorial check out Klinn’s excellent one- http://www.iceatcs.co.uk/rct3/TutorialForUsingJonwilsRCT3ImporterProgramV111.htm
• And Jonwil’s Tutorial- http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=486388
• Ok, first things first. Decide on a name for your theme. Call it ‘rctmaniacs stuff’ or something similar. First click on:
o Icon Textures: This is where you load your .png icons and give them a name.
o
o A new box comes up called ‘Texture Manager’. Click ‘Add’ (Right Hand Side).
o Enter a Name for your texture eg-for a box it might be box1
o Click ‘Load Texture’ to locate your .png.
o Do this for all your icons-you need at least 2-one for the theme and another for an individual object.
• Now Click On:
o Text Strings: Enter the text that appears with objects in the game.
o
o A new box comes up called ‘Text Manager’. Click ‘Add’ on the right hand side.
o Enter a Name for the Text String, and then below that enter the text that will display in the game (It is best to keep both fields the same).
o EG-One of my text strings might be:
Box (Large)-Both the ‘Name’ and ‘Text’ fields would be the same
o Do this for your overall theme as well-eg-One of my strings would be ‘rctmaniac’s stuff’.
o Once done close the text manager.
• Now Click On:
o Icon References: This is where you position your icons for in the game.
o
o Again a new box comes up called ‘Icon Manager’
o Click Add.
o On the right hand side all the .png files we added earlier are displayed. Click on one of them. In the ‘Name’ box enter the same name as the object.
o In the ‘Top’ and ‘Left’ enter ‘0’
o In the ‘Bottom’ and ‘Right’ enter ‘64’.
o Do this for all of the .png files displayed on the right and click ‘OK’
• Now Click on:
o Scenery-At last you can add your objects to the game!!
o
o Again a box comes up, click Add
o Then click ‘Create OVL’ (Top middle)
o Click ‘Open ASE File’ and choose the one we converted using Biturn earlier in the tutorial.
o On the right hand side click ‘Add texture’ and locate that .bmp we made earlier., and give it a name.
o NOTE: If you made a recolourable texture then in the texture box at the bottom set ‘Number of Colours Player Can Change’ to ‘1 Colour Set’
o Under ‘Mesh List’ there should be some names. One is ‘root’, leave that alone. The other will be your object. Select that mesh and click ‘Mesh Flags’
o Under ‘Texture Style Name’ choose ‘SIOPaque’.
o Under ‘Texture Name’ choose the texture we added 3 steps ago.
o Then click ‘OK’
o Now Click File>>Save Scenery File, and save it.
o Then Click ‘Save Scenery OVL’ at the bottom, and save it as ovl_myobject or something similar.
• Now close that dialogue and then click ‘Select OVL’
o
o Find the OVL you just saved.
o ‘Location within the Theme’ is the name of the folder all the object’s OVLs will be put in. Enter a name corresponding to your item eg Box2.
o Group Icon: Select the .png file that is for your group-eg-rctmaniac’s stuff’
o Group Name String: The Text String that will display as your group name in RCT3.
o Scenery Icon and Scenery Name String: The same has the Group Icon and Name String but for a separate object.
o Scenery Type: Choose ‘Small Scenery’ from the drop down list
o Supports Type and Extra Parameters: Choose ‘None’ for both.
o Position: Enter X, Y and Z as 0
o Size: Enter X, Y and Z as 0
o Size in Squares: Enter X and Y as 1
o Size Flag: Choose ‘Full Tile’
o Cost and Refund, choose a cost and refund for your item.
o On the right hand side there is a list of ‘Unknowns’. They should be as follows:
Unknown 1: Unknown 1
Unknown 2: Unknown 2
Unknown 3: 0
Unknown 4: 0
Unknown 5: 0
Unknown 6: 0
Unknown 7: 0
Unknown 8: 0
Unknown 9: 0
o Leave the ‘Flags’ alone, do not check any boxes.
o Click ‘Save Sid’ and save your object’s sid.
o Then click ‘OK’
o Congrats! You have just finished your scenery item.
• Now, on the main page enter a theme name, and select it’s genre on the left hand side from the selection.
• Click File>>Save Theme File and save it.
• Now Click ‘Install Theme’. Then open up Style/Themed and see if you theme is there. If not, click Install Theme again and again until it appears. That’s it!!
Any questions, queries, or problems post in my thread on the Atari forums or email jack.franklin AT yahoo.co.uk
The tutorial can be downloaded from sebar.com/rctman
It contains:
List of Programs Needed.
Tutorials on:
Exporting to .obj
Biturn-obj to ase
How to Create Icons in Photoshop
UV Mapper
Recolourable Textures
And how to put all of it into the importer.
Below is a version I copied from my Microsoft Word-It has none of the pics and no formatting, I recommend downloading the word file from my site.
Hope this helps, any problems just post
rctmaniac’s Custom Guide
1. What You Need to Make and Import Custom Scenery
• The Importer-http://sebar.com/jonwil/ (Top Link)
• A 3D Modelling Program. These Include:
o Milkshake ($25)- http://www.swissquake.ch/chumbalum-soft/
o Anim8or (Free)- http://www.anim8or.com/
o Blender (Free)- http://www.blender.org/cms/Home.2.0.html
o Wings 3D (Free)- http://www.wings3d.com/
• Biturn- http://mirex.mypage.sk/index.php?selected=1
• An Image Editor. These Include:
o Photoshop (£59)
o The Gimp (Free)- http://www.gimp.org/
o Picasa 2 (Free)- http://picasa.google.com
• Optional:
o UV Mapper (Free-Make Sure You Download the CLASSIC version)- http://www.uvmapper.com/
What Are They?
Importer-Used to ‘Insert’ objects into RCT3, without this Custom Scenery would not be possible
3d Modelling Program-Used to create the objects for the Importer
Biturn-Converts your .obj files from the 3D Modeller into .ase for the Importer
Image Editor- Used to make .png files for your icons, can be used for textures.
UV Mapper- UV Maps your object with a texture-used to make textures ‘fit’ objects in the correct way.
2. Making a Custom Scenery Object and getting it Into RCT3
• 1. Making Your Model. I am not the best modeller-here are some tutorials that may help you. (A Google Search will give Good Results also)
i. Milkshake: http://www.modstothemax.net/games/ultimateride/tutorials/coastercar101/wf00.html
ii. Anim8or: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/w.watson3/tutorials.html
iii. Wings 3D:
http://www.wings3d.com/tutorials.php
iv. Blender: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro/Blender_Interface
• 2. Once your model is finished You need to:
i. Save it as your Modellers file (EG: For Milkshake save it as a .ms3d file)**
ii. Export your object as a .obj file. (Usually Click File>>Export>>Wavefront obj**
iii. **Optional: If your program is capable then you can add your Texture to your object.
• 3. Optional-UV Mapper. If you didn’t UV Map your object in your Modelling program (Step 2. iii) then open up UV Mapper then hit File>>Load Model, and locate your .obj file you saved in step 2. ii. It then shows you all the statistics of your file, like this:
Click OK then click: Edit>>New UV Map>>. You then need to choose a map, depending on your object. If you are not sure choose ‘Box’.
When that dialogue (below) appears leave all values alone accept ‘Map Size’. In that enter 256.
Hit OK. You then get a 2D net of your shape:
Next you need to:
• Click File>>Save Model, and overwrite you .obj file.
• Click File>>Save Texture Map, then make sure in the dialogue Height and Width are both 256, then save it.
Now you need to add a texture to this UV Map. Open the texture map .bmp you saved in the last step in your image editor. You can then put different colours, etc onto different parts of the UV Map, therefore changing the objects appearance. Once done Save the .bmp, overwriting the old .bmp. You are nearly there!!
Note: Recolourable Textures:
Make a small true blue colour bitmap that is 12x12 and add a blue colour of R-0 G-0 B-255, and set the OVL with one recolourable in the Importer (Later).
3. Icons
• You know when you select an object in RCT3 there is a picture of that object? That is an icon. This tutorial shows how to make a very very basic one in Photoshop.
o 1. Open up Photoshop, and Click File>>New.
o Enter these values in the dialogue:
Width: 64
Height: 64
Background Contents: Transparent
o Enter a Name for the icon and click OK.
o Press Ctrl and + 3 times to Zoom in to 400%.
o Click Layer>>New>>Layer
o To add text click the T on the toolbar and type, and so on. Remember for each separate item to add a new layer.
o Once finished hit File>>Save As and in the box with the arrow select .png.
4. Biturn. OBJ to ASE
• Once you have exported your model as a .obj you need to convert that into .ase. This is done using Biturn. Open it up and on the left you see all your files and folders on your PC. Find the folder which your .obj is in, and click on the folder. In the middle of the screen appears all the items in the folder you have selected. Click on the .obj file then done the bottom in ‘Destination Format’ under the drop down menu select ‘.ASE’. Now click convert, and there you have it.
• NOTE: If you get a warning about converting the source don’t worry.
•
5. Putting it All Into the Importer.
• Note: Before reading this tutorial check out Klinn’s excellent one- http://www.iceatcs.co.uk/rct3/TutorialForUsingJonwilsRCT3ImporterProgramV111.htm
• And Jonwil’s Tutorial- http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=486388
• Ok, first things first. Decide on a name for your theme. Call it ‘rctmaniacs stuff’ or something similar. First click on:
o Icon Textures: This is where you load your .png icons and give them a name.
o
o A new box comes up called ‘Texture Manager’. Click ‘Add’ (Right Hand Side).
o Enter a Name for your texture eg-for a box it might be box1
o Click ‘Load Texture’ to locate your .png.
o Do this for all your icons-you need at least 2-one for the theme and another for an individual object.
• Now Click On:
o Text Strings: Enter the text that appears with objects in the game.
o
o A new box comes up called ‘Text Manager’. Click ‘Add’ on the right hand side.
o Enter a Name for the Text String, and then below that enter the text that will display in the game (It is best to keep both fields the same).
o EG-One of my text strings might be:
Box (Large)-Both the ‘Name’ and ‘Text’ fields would be the same
o Do this for your overall theme as well-eg-One of my strings would be ‘rctmaniac’s stuff’.
o Once done close the text manager.
• Now Click On:
o Icon References: This is where you position your icons for in the game.
o
o Again a new box comes up called ‘Icon Manager’
o Click Add.
o On the right hand side all the .png files we added earlier are displayed. Click on one of them. In the ‘Name’ box enter the same name as the object.
o In the ‘Top’ and ‘Left’ enter ‘0’
o In the ‘Bottom’ and ‘Right’ enter ‘64’.
o Do this for all of the .png files displayed on the right and click ‘OK’
• Now Click on:
o Scenery-At last you can add your objects to the game!!
o
o Again a box comes up, click Add
o Then click ‘Create OVL’ (Top middle)
o Click ‘Open ASE File’ and choose the one we converted using Biturn earlier in the tutorial.
o On the right hand side click ‘Add texture’ and locate that .bmp we made earlier., and give it a name.
o NOTE: If you made a recolourable texture then in the texture box at the bottom set ‘Number of Colours Player Can Change’ to ‘1 Colour Set’
o Under ‘Mesh List’ there should be some names. One is ‘root’, leave that alone. The other will be your object. Select that mesh and click ‘Mesh Flags’
o Under ‘Texture Style Name’ choose ‘SIOPaque’.
o Under ‘Texture Name’ choose the texture we added 3 steps ago.
o Then click ‘OK’
o Now Click File>>Save Scenery File, and save it.
o Then Click ‘Save Scenery OVL’ at the bottom, and save it as ovl_myobject or something similar.
• Now close that dialogue and then click ‘Select OVL’
o
o Find the OVL you just saved.
o ‘Location within the Theme’ is the name of the folder all the object’s OVLs will be put in. Enter a name corresponding to your item eg Box2.
o Group Icon: Select the .png file that is for your group-eg-rctmaniac’s stuff’
o Group Name String: The Text String that will display as your group name in RCT3.
o Scenery Icon and Scenery Name String: The same has the Group Icon and Name String but for a separate object.
o Scenery Type: Choose ‘Small Scenery’ from the drop down list
o Supports Type and Extra Parameters: Choose ‘None’ for both.
o Position: Enter X, Y and Z as 0
o Size: Enter X, Y and Z as 0
o Size in Squares: Enter X and Y as 1
o Size Flag: Choose ‘Full Tile’
o Cost and Refund, choose a cost and refund for your item.
o On the right hand side there is a list of ‘Unknowns’. They should be as follows:
Unknown 1: Unknown 1
Unknown 2: Unknown 2
Unknown 3: 0
Unknown 4: 0
Unknown 5: 0
Unknown 6: 0
Unknown 7: 0
Unknown 8: 0
Unknown 9: 0
o Leave the ‘Flags’ alone, do not check any boxes.
o Click ‘Save Sid’ and save your object’s sid.
o Then click ‘OK’
o Congrats! You have just finished your scenery item.
• Now, on the main page enter a theme name, and select it’s genre on the left hand side from the selection.
• Click File>>Save Theme File and save it.
• Now Click ‘Install Theme’. Then open up Style/Themed and see if you theme is there. If not, click Install Theme again and again until it appears. That’s it!!
Any questions, queries, or problems post in my thread on the Atari forums or email jack.franklin AT yahoo.co.uk