SparkEdit Version 2.5 created by Grenadiac www.halomods.com SparkEdit 2.5 (12/22/03) ----------------------------------------------------------- Since I'm going on vacation for 2 weeks, I thought I would release SparkEdit before I left. Have fun! ...and please report all bugs to the www.halomods.com sparkedit forum. IMPORTANT README: SparkEdit.ini no longer exists. All program options are now set in the Tools->Options menu and are stored in binary form in sparkedit.dat. You set all options in the GUI now. Performance Tweaking: In the options dialog, there are several draw distances you can edit. If your sparkedit is running REALLY slow, or if you want to optimize it, adjust these distances to smaller values. The model draw distances tell the renderer to enable high-detail (ie, model drawing) at this distance from the camera. If the object is farther away, it will be drawn as box. Adjusting these distances will reduce the number of polygons that SparkEdit has to render and will boost performance. ----------------------------------------------------------- New Features: -Added new tab-based tool interface -Added Mesh info to edit tab; click on a mesh, get info -Added model rendering to sparkedit -Added frustum culling for BSP and models -Moved options out of ini file; all options are done in the GUI -Added Look Mode (right double mouse click to toggle) -Added object rotation editing (NOTE: some object only rotate in yaw) -more complete texturing (most textures load now) -Added XBOX mapfile compression (for LAN parties, tutorial coming soon by Zipl0c) -Added "View Info" for selected objects to show that object's properties (bitmaps, models, meta info) -Added support for viewing new tags (bipeds, devices, equipment, weapons, etc) -Added framerate display ----------------------------------------------------------- Controls - see the Help menu. Coord Finder - Upon entering a x,y,z coordinate into the edit boxes and clicking the "Find Coord" button, SparkEdit will paint a blinking green box at that coordinate. It may be easier to put the rendering mode into point or mesh to make finding the coordinate easier. Object selection - On the Edit Tab, Select the edit mode you want to use. For BSP Mesh Info, clicking on a world mesh will list the mesh properties (triangle count, textures, etc). Other modes allow you to move and rotate objects within the map, and also to view their properties. To view the selection properties, click on the "view info" button. This is a modeless dialog, meaning that you can continue editing with this dialog active. The dialog will update every time you click on a selectable object. New object movement controls: <PAGE UP> Move selected object along +Z axis <PAGE DOWN> Move selected object along -Z axis <LEFT ARROW> Move selected object along +X axis <RIGHT ARROW> Move selected object along -X axis <UP ARROW> Move selected object along +Y axis <DOWN ARROW> Move selected object along -Y axis Mouse + Double Right Click - toggle look mode on/off (behaves like a 1st person shooter) Y - adjust yaw rotation of selected object P - adjust pitch rotation of selected object R - adjust roll rotation of selected object NOTE: some objects can only be rotated in Yaw. For those objects, pitch and roll editing will have no effethanksct. ----------------------------------------------------------- KNOWN BUGS: -Some models are not rendered properly (the AR in BG for example). -On higher end video cards the framerate displays 16 fps all the time, even though max framerate is currently set at 20fps. -Small memory leak of about 100k occurs for every map loaded. -some objects that are rotated are not properly culled -Banshee model is not perfect -Not all textures work; some textures will be wrong, especially transparent ----------------------------------------------------------- DESCRIPTION: Sparkedit is a map viewer and editor for Halo (xbox and PC). It was created to give modders insight into how the maps were constructed by the original developers. ----------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: make backups of your map files!!! If you open a compressed file, it will write changes to the existing cache.tmp file in the working directory. ----------------------------------------------------------- ***Changelog***: ----------------------------------------------------------- Version 2.0 (10/25/03) New Features: -added HPC map loading functionality -added multiple BSP loading (SparkEdit now loads all the bsp sections) -added sparkedit.ini file -redesigned the BSP loader Known Bugs: -Doesn't load all shaders ----------------------------------------------------------- Version 1.1 (10/15/03) New Features: -Added camera location tracker -Added camera location reset -Added a "close file" feature -Changed file permissions so that "cache.tmp" could be copied during editing -Fixed a camera bug where tip/tilt would be limited -Editing teleporter ORIGIN AND destinations -Editing scenery positions -Editing weapon, vehicle and powerup spawn points -Editing rally waypoints -Editing player spawn points -Editing king of the hill point -Shows a description of selected object -Mesh export to a .obj file (still buggy, doesn't work on all maps) Fixes: -changed Flat Shading to include polygon lines drawing -improved zbuffering problem on low-end video cards -Fixed dark rendering when textured mode isn't selected during map load Known Bugs: -Doesn't load all shaders ----------------------------------------------------------- Version 1.0 (9/25/03) Fixes: -Changed version numbers to release version Known Bugs: -Zbuffering problem on certain videocards (MonoxideC) -Mesh dislocation problem (MonoxideC) -Doesn't load all shaders ----------------------------------------------------------- Currently supported levels: All of them ;) ----------------------------------------------------------- For support or technical issues, and for making suggestions or reporting bugs, go to the sparkedit forums, or come to our irc channel. Forums located at: www.halomods.com/forums Irc channel: (server in transition) | #sparkedit-beta (betatesters are voiced (+v)) ------------------------------------------------------------ Special thanks to PfhorSlayer and the guys at #halo-dev. Thanks go to kornkob for his help with the scenario structs. Special Thanks to MonoxideC and tjc2k4 for their help on model and tag issues. Thanks to the beta testing team: SourceGuy, MonoxideC, Boll, N-, Gil222, Aztec, icanttype, Ma_Say_Gac, Stefander.