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LogicAndTrick / sledge

An open source alternative to Valve's Hammer Editor for the Goldsource engine. (No longer in development)
https://logicandtrick.github.io/sledge/
BSD 3-Clause "New" or "Revised" License
302 stars 81 forks source link

Sledge as a dynamic editor solution? #250

Open NCC-Lykos opened 6 years ago

NCC-Lykos commented 6 years ago

We've been working on Sledge for a bit adding 3DT support for a Genesis project we are working with lately.

The Genesis engine supports BSP, so we are able to build a map using Sledge, save it as the map format and import it into the Genesis editor and then make the necessary Genesis modifications to make the map compile and work in game.

We have recently added support for the entities using a FGD file, and we have added some native support for the 3DT map format in Sledge so that we can open the Genesis map files directly in Sledge.

I see your simplification project is going to support plugins for other engines... why not make Sledge a plugin based editor? With support for different engines added via plugin, it could become a great base for many games that use BSP maps with their engine supported via plugin.

Our current editor that we are using (rfedit) and Sledge look a lot alike, they have a lot of the same brush manipulation tools with rfedit lacking in slicing of brushes, and vertex editing. rfedit is also clunky when it comes to camera movements etc. but it gets the job done for the most part.

Using Sledge as a modern geometry editor, then adding the special functions that Genesis requires via a plugin and the entities via a FGD file would be the optimal solution for us.

The overall question is, I've read over the simplification project issue you've posted here and I'm wondering is that kind of the direction you are going? I hope you have not lost interest in the project as it has been a few months since any word has been spoken around here :( and we would love to be able to use Sledge for editing and creating new maps for the revival of the game we are working on.

LogicAndTrick commented 6 years ago

It's cool to see someone extending Sledge, thanks for sharing! To answer your question directly: I haven't lost interest in the project, but I have struggling for motivation and I haven't been able to make any progress in the last few months.

The simplification project will definitely get Sledge to a point where adding engines with plugins will be extremely easy. The whole project is a series of plugins with extension points for custom engines, map formats, rendering widgets, tools, settings, UI panels and everything else. All the Goldsource tools in the simplification project are implemented as plugins, so you can definitely add other engines as well.

The problem for me is that the redesign is very very close to completion - like almost 95% or so. But that last 5% sapped all the energy from me and I am finding it really difficult to rediscover the motivation I need to get it completed.

NCC-Lykos commented 6 years ago

I totally get running out of motivation. We are working on breathing life into a 17~ year old game and it is proving to be challenging. We had to take a month off just to do other things before coming back and getting back to work.

I found our motivation in the people just chomping at the bit to play the game again, and who actually tried to help (though they can't because of agreements) by offering to do content and world design.

I hope you find your motivation again :) we would be your first official plugin for a new supported engine in Sledge. We have run into our own issues, we tried to apply the changes on top of your simplification project but see that textures are no longer rendered. I haven't looked any further into it to see if it was an issue on our side or Sledge side but it would be great to see things moving along again.

Thanks so much for taking time to reply! Means a lot!

Cheers!

LogicAndTrick commented 6 years ago

Thanks, I can't make any promises but hopefully I can make some more progress in the next few months! Hearing that there are people waiting to use and build on the updated editor is always a good motivation boost.

NCC-Lykos commented 6 years ago

Awesome! Yeah, I can't wait till I can see textures in this again :P image

ghost commented 6 years ago

@LogicAndTrick

Thanks, I can't make any promises but hopefully I can make some more progress in the next few months! Hearing that there are people waiting to use and build on the updated editor is always a good motivation boost.

Like me. Merry Christmas!

LogicAndTrick commented 6 years ago

@NCC-Lykos: the new release out today supports plugins for new texture and map formats, but there's still a lot of documentation I have to write, as well as a plugin manager of some sort. I'll leave this issue open until I have written more documentation on how to write a plugin.

At the moment making a plugin involves implementing some interfaces and them adding the plugin DLL into the Sledge folder.