C/C++ coder wanted - Terrain Rebuilder tool project

[Snake Man]

The SPTInstall.exe is ancient and requires original Falcon 4.0 registry key to work. LxNormalFix.exe is not very suitable for 128 theaters as it bogs down your computer, its required for F4AF normals but I'm not completely sure on RV/OF terrain.

Now we need a brand new tool to rebuild the terrain which will work without any existing Falcon registry settings, ie standalone. Also it would be best if the normals fixing was implemented in this one tool, with code that dont hog 780mb worth of memory etc.

There is quite big problem on the NSIS theater installers now as they wont work if user only has F4AF installed, also its complete killer to run the theater rebuild process with the utils we have now. So this new util would become very very handy.

I have the basic file structs for the theater L2 file.

So is there any C / C++ coder (what ever works) out there whos looking for small project to code on?

[Sherlock]

Just a word of warning that the terrain normals are different in Allied Force than they are in RV or OF. In AF they are a value between 0 and 255. In OF and RV I believe they use the original range for F4 of 0 to 63. This may or may not be a problem when implementing this terrain building tool

[Snake Man]

Well of course the tool is supposed to work on RV/OF and AF, using the proper calculations.

[ranger822]

Baldeagle updated SPTinstall - have you seen FFTinstall.exe. I think the main difference is that it is able to handle more terrain tile sets in the bin (>255). Also, perhaps it is my imagination but FFTinstall works for all theaters and seems to run rather quickly. I have not tested FFTinstall on anything but ITO2 and our Falklands128 work in progress.

I agree that SPTinstall is rather slow, and so it LxNormalFix and the SeasonSwitcher. However, even my dinosaur PC can crunch thru 64x64 in about 20 minutes for all three. I don't recall how long it took for Falklands128 but maybe an hour and a half? That isn't too bad if you only have to do it once. As far as I know there is no change to terrain for RV other than the tiles the Rippy is updating for Korea. So, I think the terrain installer has no new requirements.

I guess I would also make one other suggestion - given the ability to compress files quite a bit - and the ability to upload large files would you consider building the terrain once, package the built terrain and totally skip the SPTinstall.exe, LxNormaFix, and SeasonSwticher process? I agree that it doesn't allow the use of HiTiles. Perhaps something special could be done in that case?

[Snake Man]

have you seen FFTinstall.exe. I think the main difference is that it is able to handle more terrain tile sets in the bin (>255).

That was never an issue, ODS has 127 tile-sets right now.

Also, perhaps it is my imagination but FFTinstall works for all theaters

But the issue is to have terrain rebuilder without registry requirement and to fix normals without making the computer to freeze.

So, I think the terrain installer has no new requirements.

As I said, yes we need new one without the registry requirement.

given the ability to compress files quite a bit - and the ability to upload large files would you consider building the terrain once, package the built terrain and totally skip the SPTinstall.exe, LxNormaFix, and SeasonSwticher process?

No.



I mean the compression of files would be quite impressive to put all the L0-L5 and fartiles.raw with the rest of the stuff like that into a small download. I'm currently living in 1mb ADSL and 500mb quota http server world and I'll adjust my work according to that. Perhaps I'm too oldschool but I think my goals are quite good for the whole community in mind, more bang for the small download buck so to speak.

The whole point of the new tool would be to get rid of the registry requirement in SPTInstall.exe and to include the normals calculation into the same tool.

[ranger822]

Well I can't argue with any of your points - - lets hope we can find a code writer.

[Couby]

If no code writer for that work, I think the best would be to preprocess all that stuff and get it directly in the installer.
Installers would be bigger, but install process for end user faster.

That's what we experienced with OF conversions I made. I made more particularly that choice because of the lxnormlfix problem.

For theaters release and diffusion, p2p is working fine. I think the FF/RV exemple is proving that.


Just and idea. If we can find a code writer for that stuff, that's cool also .

[T_Rex]

Yeah, I think that's something theater devs should consider. Granted, I'm not sure how big something like ODS would be with all the pre-generated L*/O* files.

I have a non-scientific feeling that anything up to about 400 or 500 mb is about as much as people would comfortably do, even on p2p. If something is under that, I think people will do it.

[Couby]

Granted, I'm not sure how big something like ODS would be with all the pre-generated L*/O* files.

I can give you an idea .
The ODS installer I made for OF with all preprocessed was 311 Mo big. And the 7z compression was just at normal. With ultra I went under 300 Mb if I remember well.

Maybe with a complete new DB, that would make something around 400 Mb.

[Sherlock]

Another option (I know SM doesn't want to hear this but...) is to ask Tom Waelti for permission to use his HTTI.exe terrain installer. As Khronik already pointed out it doesn't have the old F4 path problem that sptinstall.exe had.

[Snake Man]

Okay this is the last time I'll say this; we are not going to put all files into the installer.

[Snake Man]

Since you guys so eagerly posted news/info on the theaters to other forums, how about posting a call for help about this topic. We really need to get this thing done to fully proceed with theater installers.

Feel free to post C/C++ coders wanted and link to this topic to anywhere you like/can.

[Couby]

Done at Globalfalcon and frugalsworld.

[Malc]

The SPTInstall.exe is ancient and requires original Falcon 4.0 registry key to work.

Have you considered using the TI that was written for AF? That doesn't look for F4 registry entries. That said, I don't know if it would work with RV and OF...

[Sherlock]

The SPTInstall.exe is ancient and requires original Falcon 4.0 registry key to work.

Have you considered using the TI that was written for AF? That doesn't look for F4 registry entries. That said, I don't know if it would work with RV and OF...

Yes Malc, he did but see my post above suggesting that and Snake Man's answer just below it.

What SM really wants is a SINGLE utility that will include the following functionality:

1. SPTInstall / HTTI for ALL three types of exec RV, OF and AF.
2. TexCompress (or whatever it's called) for RV (and OF if it uses something like this).
3. LxNormalFix (for AF terrain normals--they are different than OF or RV).

[Snake Man]

I was just about to bump this topic today but I thought to give it few more days, thanks for bringing it up

Anyways my point was that I feel kind of, well surprised or disapointed that absolutely nobody has came forth for coding this (did I mention we already have the data struct so it would be only to put together 1 exe with good memory handling/whatever). Who knows what is the ultimate reason nobody wants to help, I think this topic has been here and on the other forums long enough to catch every capable C/C++ coder by now.

Ok about the terrain rebuilder, yes if we use the modteam ODSAF tinstall, or what ever htti or AF tinstall is out there (I have no clue about them) we can fix the current PMC theater installer which fails for AF only users. But that still leaves us outta luck with the completely unacceptable performance of lxnormalfix.

So we are either taking the high road and just maintaining our goal to code new single util, or take the new tinstall and go with that method which still is causing peoples computers to pretty much freeze during the install and long time after that until win recovers.

Btw Sherlock, actually I wasn't referrig to the seasonswitcher specificly, but now that you mention it... it would be superb to have ALL that stuff in one single exe. I just have no data struct or even hints of info how to do the pcx to dds conversion with the new RV/OF fartile system (if there is such thing, I assume so).

[BaldEagle]

The SPTInstall.exe is ancient and requires original Falcon 4.0 registry key to work.

Have you considered using the TI that was written for AF? That doesn't look for F4 registry entries. That said, I don't know if it would work with RV and OF...

Yes Malc, he did but see my post above suggesting that and Snake Man's answer just below it.

What SM really wants is a SINGLE utility that will include the following functionality:

1. SPTInstall / HTTI for ALL three types of exec RV, OF and AF.
2. TexCompress (or whatever it's called) for RV (and OF if it uses something like this).
3. LxNormalFix (for AF terrain normals--they are different than OF or RV).

I'm working on the utility (Tinstall + LxNormalFix (optional))..

I think the latest version of Terrainview has a corrected Normals Calculation function. If this is correct, then L2's using the TV function do not need LxNormalFix. I'll check the code to see if I fixed it. If not, then I will fix it.

[Snake Man]

I think the latest version of Terrainview has a corrected Normals Calculation function. If this is correct, then L2's using the TV function do not need LxNormalFix. I'll check the code to see if I fixed it. If not, then I will fix it.

Any news on this?