[FS17] GIANTS Editor 7.0.3

[Stegei]

The new GIANTS Editor 7.0.3 is now available on https://gdn.giants-software.com.

One of the most important changes, is that we now included several helper scripts, which are particularly important to create map mods.
You can find the probably most important script in the menu at "Scripts" -> "FS17" -> "Map" -> "Create Ground Collision Map".
If you select this, it will generate the map.i3d.colMap.grle, which is used by the game to define, where material can be tipped on the ground and where the walls are.
Note that dependent on the level of detail of the map and the computer, it can take several minutes to execute this script.

[Xtrememaster]

Is it possible to get a 32-bit version of the Giants editor 7.0.3 ? Iam playing on an computer for playing older games on it.. And my OS is windows 7 32-bit..
Why is getting a giants editor for my OS so hard?

[BigC92]

Is it possible to get a 32-bit version of the Giants editor 7.0.3 ? Iam playing on an computer for playing older games on it.. And my OS is windows 7 32-bit..
Why is getting a giants editor for my OS so hard?

We still have XP, yours is old school, mines old old school.

[Cajunwolf]

Thanks Stegei, been looking for that information.

I still have two workstations with XP x64 that I play and mod older games on, but I'm partial to Win7 pro x64 myself. It's kind of like good old XP, bullet proof. I'm running Win7 pro x64 on the rest of my workstations.

[Xtrememaster]

Is it possible to get a 32-bit version of the Giants editor 7.0.3 ? Iam playing on an computer for playing older games on it.. And my OS is windows 7 32-bit..
Why is getting a giants editor for my OS so hard?

We still have XP, yours is old school, mines old old school.

Windows 7 is still windows 7, so it wont be much hard to make a 32-bit version as well.. The game will never consume more then like 4 GB of memory..

Windows XP is really a different story to me.

[Zand3rs]

The new GIANTS Editor 7.0.3 is now available on https://gdn.giants-software.com.

One of the most important changes, is that we now included several helper scripts, which are particularly important to create map mods.
You can find the probably most important script in the menu at "Scripts" -> "FS17" -> "Map" -> "Create Ground Collision Map".
If you select this, it will generate the map.i3d.colMap.grle, which is used by the game to define, where material can be tipped on the ground and where the walls are.
Note that dependent on the level of detail of the map and the computer, it can take several minutes to execute this script.

I just tested this script on my map and it does nothing. Stuff still goes thru the walls for some reason. i cant tell you why tho.

[Cajunwolf]

All this script does is fix the tipper ground collision map, not the tipper interactive trigger box, which is a box enclosing the area within the bunker walls, and it does two things. First, it sets the area where you can start tipping (unloading) and you can't, you see it in your menu when unload appears just as rear of your trailer-tipper gets inside of this box, and inside the tipper collision map, but both should cover the exact same area. Second, the vertical sides of the box should be of a material so that whatever your dumping into the bunker does not fall through the walls. Now that's what I'm told, and the ground collision map works fine, it's nothing more than a mask. However, I'm not agreeing on the tipper trigger bounding box controlling, or adding a collision mask, to prevent chaffed items, or cut grass from falling through the bunker walls because the walls themselves should have the proper collision layer built into the model, and they do. Now there might be a problem with that, but I'm still looking into it.

Here are some images that will explain better what I'm talking about for those using consoles, or some who have no idea what the map looks like in the editor. Click on the image for full size.

First we have a view of the Goldcrest Bio Gas Plant with silo five's interaction trigger showing, this is the collision bounding box we are speaking of, or that's what it's being called on threads at the GDN forums. To me it's nothing more than a trigger. Anyhow you can how it fits neatly within the bunker.



Next we see the same bunker, but I have the info layer tipper collision map turned on, and you can see it as the white paint acting as a mask, and you can't dump on the white areas. You will note that the texture inside the bunker walls, and the trigger box, are darker because there is no "white paint" (for lack of a better term at the moment) under the texture. The tipper collision map is nothing more than a mask layer,



Next we see the Bio Gas Plant on Sosnovka, and I've lifted the road system model up off the terrain a bit so you can see how the tip collision map is painted.



And last here is a image of the collision object - layer for the silo bunker walls, and I have LIFTED IT UP so you can see exactly how it looks and is shaped. It wraps around the models mesh, and is what makes it solid. When you run into the wall, your running into this mesh, and it's material ID is what makes it solid. Everything in a game works by material ID interaction, and different material ID contacting other material ID's makes things happen, depending on how you have the system programmed.



So it is my theory that the problem is in the bunker wall collision, and not the trigger box, which to me has nothing to do with it.

Just my 2 cents worth.

[BigC92]

All this script does is fix the tipper ground collision map, not the tipper interactive trigger box, which is a box enclosing the area within the bunker walls, and it does two things. First, it sets the area where you can start tipping (unloading) and you can't, you see it in your menu when unload appears just as rear of your trailer-tipper gets inside of this box, and inside the tipper collision map, but both should cover the exact same area. Second, the vertical sides of the box should be of a material so that whatever your dumping into the bunker does not fall through the walls. Now that's what I'm told, and the ground collision map works fine, it's nothing more than a mask. However, I'm not agreeing on the tipper trigger bounding box controlling, or adding a collision mask, to prevent chaffed items, or cut grass from falling through the bunker walls because the walls themselves should have the proper collision layer built into the model, and they do. Now there might be a problem with that, but I'm still looking into it.

Here are some images that will explain better what I'm talking about for those using consoles, or some who have no idea what the map looks like in the editor. Click on the image for full size.

First we have a view of the Goldcrest Bio Gas Plant with silo five's interaction trigger showing, this is the collision bounding box we are speaking of, or that's what it's being called on threads at the GDN forums. To me it's nothing more than a trigger. Anyhow you can how it fits neatly within the bunker.



Next we see the same bunker, but I have the info layer tipper collision map turned on, and you can see it as the white paint acting as a mask, and you can't dump on the white areas. You will note that the texture inside the bunker walls, and the trigger box, are darker because there is no "white paint" (for lack of a better term at the moment) under the texture. The tipper collision map is nothing more than a mask layer,



Next we see the Bio Gas Plant on Sosnovka, and I've lifted the road system model up off the terrain a bit so you can see how the tip collision map is painted.



And last here is a image of the collision object - layer for the silo bunker walls, and I have LIFTED IT UP so you can see exactly how it looks and is shaped. It wraps around the models mesh, and is what makes it solid. When you run into the wall, your running into this mesh, and it's material ID is what makes it solid. Everything in a game works by material ID interaction, and different material ID contacting other material ID's makes things happen, depending on how you have the system programmed.



So it is my theory that the problem is in the bunker wall collision, and not the trigger box, which to me has nothing to do with it.

Just my 2 cents worth.

So them rectangle blocks is what holds the silage into one bunker? Or is it a collision error, i do know what your talking about, in the game i use to play still will when i get a computer, we had to deal with it, it was all gibberish, but my friends explained it to me.

[Cajunwolf]

No, I'm not saying the rectangular blocks are what holds the silage in, some others on GDN, and these forums too, seem to be implying this, but this "rectangular box" is nothing more than a trigger zone, or the area what allows you to dump the allowed "fruit" into the bunker, nothing more. What I'm saying is that the problem lies in the collision layer of the silage bunker walls, where it should be. I'm looking into renewing my Maya license, but the last one I had was ver. 6 back in 2005 when Battlefield 2 came out. I still have a valid license for 3Dmax 9, but I haven't had any luck getting the FS17 3Dmax export script to work with this version. I'm a Mechanical Engineer by trade, retired, and when I had my consulting business the license for 3Dmax and Auto Cad were not all that expensive considering the ROI with engineering services going at $500 +/hour (the old days of the oilfields). To properly determined I need to import the bunker wall models into a 3D modeling program like Maya, 3Dmax, or Blender to troubleshoot, and resolve the problem. As a legit, and legal business person I don't use cracked, or illegal software.

[BigC92]

No, I'm not saying the rectangular blocks are what holds the silage in, some others on GDN, and these forums too, seem to be implying this, but this "rectangular box" is nothing more than a trigger zone, or the area what allows you to dump the allowed "fruit" into the bunker, nothing more. What I'm saying is that the problem lies in the collision layer of the silage bunker walls, where it should be. I'm looking into renewing my Maya license, but the last one I had was ver. 6 back in 2005 when Battlefield 2 came out. I still have a valid license for 3Dmax 9, but I haven't had any luck getting the FS17 3Dmax export script to work with this version. I'm a Mechanical Engineer by trade, retired, and when I had my consulting business the license for 3Dmax and Auto Cad were not all that expensive considering the ROI with engineering services going at $500 +/hour (the old days of the oilfields). To properly determined I need to import the bunker wall models into a 3D modeling program like Maya, 3Dmax, or Blender to troubleshoot, and resolve the problem. As a legit, and legal business person I don't use cracked, or illegal software.

My dad was an oil fielder too.

[Cajunwolf]

Mine too, started with Sun Oil company in 1949 when graduating Petroleum Engineering at the University of Texas in 1949. He was a fighter pilot during WWII, and went to school on the newly created "GI Bill" at the time. Back in those days we appreciated the sacrifice our veterans made for our benefit, unlike today when we stuff on their heads.

[masseyharris]

My Ground Collision Map looks nothing like my map layout. I assume it is the image from which the blank map was made.
But if I delete the file or manually erase the white areas and use the 'Create Ground Collision Map' option it does not recognise any of the objects on my map.
No matter what I do, when I next load the map, the old image is back.
Any advice would be appreciated, it's been a long road building this map, and I'd like to make sure everything work properly.

Edit: I think I've resolved it, I've succeeded in creating a blank GCM, so I am slowly getting there.

[Stegei]

There are 2 possibilities to block the game from putting material on the ground:

1. The "tipCol" info layer. You can simply paint the areas where no material is allowed. We use this to e.g. block the water, the animal areas, anywhere where it will get hard to get the material out, etc.
2. Physics objects. If you assign the collision mask bit "19" to a physics object, it will block any material to be put on the ground beneath it. There are two modes for physics objects, either regular blocking areas (e.g. the roads), or walls which will allow filling up the material against (e.g. the bunker silos). By default such a physics object is a regular blocked. If you assign a float user attribute called "collisionHeight" with a value larger than 0, it will behave as a wall (note that the exact value is not considered yet, but to be safe for the future when this might be considered, you should try to set this to a value that matches the height of the wall).
   

[Cajunwolf]

There are 2 possibilities to block the game from putting material on the ground:

1. The "tipCol" info layer. You can simply paint the areas where no material is allowed. We use this to e.g. block the water, the animal areas, anywhere where it will get hard to get the material out, etc.
2. Physics objects. If you assign the collision mask bit "19" to a physics object, it will block any material to be put on the ground beneath it. There are two modes for physics objects, either regular blocking areas (e.g. the roads), or walls which will allow filling up the material against (e.g. the bunker silos). By default such a physics object is a regular blocked. If you assign a float user attribute called "collisionHeight" with a value larger than 0, it will behave as a wall (note that the exact value is not considered yet, but to be safe for the future when this might be considered, you should try to set this to a value that matches the height of the wall).
   

Wow, thank you Stegel! I don't usually quote post such as this (with images, once is enough for the servers, right), but did it this time for emphasis. That seems to not only be the solution, but so far, seems to work for me. Every game is different, and I'm used to the material ID interaction type of thing, but I see (or perhaps I think I do, so correct me if I'm wrong) what y'all (Giants) are doing here with the collision systems. It actually explains some other things I was going to ask about, how about that.

[BigC92]

Mine too, started with Sun Oil company in 1949 when graduating Petroleum Engineering at the University of Texas in 1949. He was a fighter pilot during WWII, and went to school on the newly created "GI Bill" at the time. Back in those days we appreciated the sacrifice our veterans made for our benefit, unlike today when we stuff on their heads.

Amen.