RangerMcFriendly@Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 7:38 am :
Image

Part 1: Introduction and Setup
Part 2: Editor Overview
Part 3: Implementing Particles
Part 4: Materials
Part 5: Assets and examples

Preamble

My first tutorial. I've spent a lot of time modding in Doom 3 and I am sorry to say I couldn't have contributed something spectacular with all of it, but I did conjure up a guide that was intended to be helpful and beneficial, hopefully, to the community. I planned it to be very in-depth in many regards, but it isn't entirely complete.

I didn't expect this tutorial to be this time consuming and right now I don't have nearly as much time to devote to making it. The beginning part of the tutorial is more than complete, but the later parts are not. I will add to the tutorial in both scope and detail when I have the time and motivation, but for now here is the beginning of my tutorial. I apologize for this.

I hope you all enjoy this and find it informative, even if marginal.


Particle editor/editing: Part 1: Introduction and Setup
Guide to Particles version: alpha

1. Introduction

Welcome. Here is small introduction to the tutorial on what to expect, which will be part of a series that will cover particles and the particle editor in great depth, as well as things that relate to this subject, such as materials, texture editing and creation, and other helpful tips to help others make great particles of their own to their liking.

This first part will be an introduction on particles. Well, let us start by briefly describing what particles are. In Doom 3, like many if not all games, particles are sprites, which is a flat polygon that can be textured with a given image of choice. The image may be of a smoke cloud, which would give the illusion of smoke, or anything else you can imagine.

The idea is to give extra depth of detail to the game environment, and particles are one way to do this. In Doom 3, you will find particles everywhere. Vent steam and exhaust, dust storms, gas, fire, smoke, electricity, everywhere throughout the tight corridors of Mars City and elsewhere in Doom 3.

The folks at id obviously needed an editor to create and edit particle systems, then place them where desired to give these added effects throughout the game. Thus the particle editor, which is one of many editors included with Doom 3. Next onto Setup.


2. Setup

Before we can use the particle editor, it is important that you have Doom 3 setup differently than by default. I do not like to assume, but I will make an exception and assume that you have already ventured into editing in Doom 3 and are somewhat familiar with the editor, or at least got it to work. If you're already setup to edit particles safely, you can probably skip this section or skim through it.


I. Shortcuts

Image

Firstly, you should make a second Doom 3 shortcut and place it on your desktop. Rename it to Doom Edit (or something similar). I usually have 2 icons. One for playing Doom 3 like you normally would, and another for editing purposes. Unless you already prefer playing in windowed mode, you must somehow find a way to launch Doom 3 in windowed mode for the particle editor. It will only run in windowed mode.

Startup Parameters

Right click on your newly created Doom Edit shortcut, and go to properties. In the target field, you can add a command line that executes every time you use that shortcut. This will prove to be very helpful for not just editing particles, but for moding in general and use of the console.

Steam Users: Since past steam updates, desktop shortcuts are "Internet Shortcut (.url)" files. Right click on your shortcut, go to properties, then click the Web Document tab. In the URL line, add the command line there. That should work, or you can add the command line in the steam library. It is in properties under "Set Launch Options", but this is global.

Code:
+set com_allowConsole 1 +disconnect +r_mode -1 +r_customwidth 1280 +r_customheight 800 +r_aspectratio 2 +set r_fullscreen 0


This is an example target line I use for Doom 3, namely for the resolution I prefer to edit in and the aspect ratio of my screen since I have a 16:10 screen. Below are the commands listed in some detail:

+set com_allowConsole 1 will allow you to press the "~" (tilda) key to access the console everytime you launch the game from this shortcut.
+disconnect disables the id intro. (beating heart intro removed, reduces load time and seen enough already)
+r_mode -1 enables custom resolution. (required for the 3 commands below)
+r_customwidth #### Custom width resolution
+r_customheight ### Custom height resolution
+r_aspectratio # Custom aspect ratio. (0 = 4:3, 1 = 16:9, 2 = 16:10).
+set r_fullscreen 0 launches the game in windowed mode, which is required. The particle editor will not run in full screen mode. No arguments.

There are many more startup parameters you can add, in fact you could probably have the particle editor launch on start up, but this makes a good general use editing shortcut, in my opinion. Edit the line of code given to your specifications.

Once you are done, your shortcut should be ready to go. You can launch it to see if it worked. Note: Sometimes it doesn't work the first time, so launch from the shortcut a second time and that should usually make it fully functional from there on. If it still does not work, check in the console to see if there are any errors related to the command line. You may have a space missing or mistyped something.

Now, once you have done this, we will go into the folder where Doom 3 was installed. For those with the cd/dvd version, it should be in C:\Program Files (x86). For steam users, find C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common. Find the Doom 3 folder, right click it and select "Send to > Desktop (create shortcut)". Now all you have to do is click on the desktop shortcut to go into the Doom 3 folder.


II. (pak/pack) files

Click the new shortcut to open the Doom 3 folder. You should see a folder called base. Open the base folder and look for a file called pak000.pk4. This is a zip compressed file given a different file extension by id, I really can't explain it, but that is not the point. The point is, it is a game file and contains game data that we need to obtain safely. There are a few methods to do this.

The easiest would be to download a nifty app called pk4scape, which will allow you to open .pk4 files without harming the purity in anyway, unless you save changes within them. Here, you can view and copy certain files we will need to make particle editing safe for the core game files and much more practical as you will learn.

The second method would be to make a copy of pak000.pk4, change the file extension from .p4k to .zip, and extract it into a normal file folder. This will require more hard drive space if you do not mind and some time to extract, but it is always handy to have back up files for Doom 3 should you accidentally change core game files and need to revert the changes.

You can do both, or maybe there is another method I am not aware of that isn't quite the hassle as the second method. I am still a noob at modding, it is just I have put a lot of time in this so this is what I have come up with. Point aside, the end justifies the means (unless you broke the pak files!), as you will need all files relating to particles in your base folder. I will explain.

If you are new to modding in Doom, the engine looks for all relevant game files starting in the base folder in your Doom 3 folder. If it doesn't find them there, which it won't by default since it is empty, it looks in the .pk4 files. The benefit of this file search system is that it allows you to have another layer of files over the game files that you can edit without actually editing the game files so they remain pure.


III. Copying and placing essential files

Alright so the critical files we need are located in pak000.pk4. Open it up, or your copy of the original, and copy the folder "particles". Then, while in the base folder, paste the copy in the base folder. The particles folder contains particle files which are text files with the extension .prt. This contains all the information that handles particles for about 99.9% of them (I'll talk about the .1% some other time.).

These files are created, read, and edited by the particle editor, so it is crucial that they work or else you can break a particle system contained in them. You can edit these in a text editor safely if you know what you are doing, but this is if you are careful (it isn't overly complicated, just needing some explaining.). Use the editor for now.

Once this is completed, you now have the essential files ready to edit. It is time to launch Doom 3 with your new shortcut and begin editing particles, which will be explained in part 2 of the tutorial, Editor Overview.



RangerMcFriendly@Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 7:38 am :
Image

Part 1: Introduction and Setup
Part 2: Editor Overview
Part 3: Implementing Particles
Part 4: Materials
Part 5: Assets and examples

Preamble

My first tutorial. I've spent a lot of time modding in Doom 3 and I am sorry to say I couldn't have contributed something spectacular with all of it, but I did conjure up a guide that was intended to be helpful and beneficial, hopefully, to the community. I planned it to be very in-depth in many regards, but it isn't entirely complete.

I didn't expect this tutorial to be this time consuming and right now I don't have nearly as much time to devote to making it. The beginning part of the tutorial is more than complete, but the later parts are not. I will add to the tutorial in both scope and detail when I have the time and motivation, but for now here is the beginning of my tutorial. I apologize for this.

I hope you all enjoy this and find it informative, even if marginal.


Particle editor/editing: Part 1: Introduction and Setup
Guide to Particles version: alpha

1. Introduction

Welcome. Here is small introduction to the tutorial on what to expect, which will be part of a series that will cover particles and the particle editor in great depth, as well as things that relate to this subject, such as materials, texture editing and creation, and other helpful tips to help others make great particles of their own to their liking.

This first part will be an introduction on particles. Well, let us start by briefly describing what particles are. In Doom 3, like many if not all games, particles are sprites, which is a flat polygon that can be textured with a given image of choice. The image may be of a smoke cloud, which would give the illusion of smoke, or anything else you can imagine.

The idea is to give extra depth of detail to the game environment, and particles are one way to do this. In Doom 3, you will find particles everywhere. Vent steam and exhaust, dust storms, gas, fire, smoke, electricity, everywhere throughout the tight corridors of Mars City and elsewhere in Doom 3.

The folks at id obviously needed an editor to create and edit particle systems, then place them where desired to give these added effects throughout the game. Thus the particle editor, which is one of many editors included with Doom 3. Next onto Setup.


2. Setup

Before we can use the particle editor, it is important that you have Doom 3 setup differently than by default. I do not like to assume, but I will make an exception and assume that you have already ventured into editing in Doom 3 and are somewhat familiar with the editor, or at least got it to work. If you're already setup to edit particles safely, you can probably skip this section or skim through it.


I. Shortcuts

Image

Firstly, you should make a second Doom 3 shortcut and place it on your desktop. Rename it to Doom Edit (or something similar). I usually have 2 icons. One for playing Doom 3 like you normally would, and another for editing purposes. Unless you already prefer playing in windowed mode, you must somehow find a way to launch Doom 3 in windowed mode for the particle editor. It will only run in windowed mode.

Startup Parameters

Right click on your newly created Doom Edit shortcut, and go to properties. In the target field, you can add a command line that executes every time you use that shortcut. This will prove to be very helpful for not just editing particles, but for moding in general and use of the console.

Steam Users: Since past steam updates, desktop shortcuts are "Internet Shortcut (.url)" files. Right click on your shortcut, go to properties, then click the Web Document tab. In the URL line, add the command line there. That should work, or you can add the command line in the steam library. It is in properties under "Set Launch Options", but this is global.

Code:
+set com_allowConsole 1 +disconnect +r_mode -1 +r_customwidth 1280 +r_customheight 800 +r_aspectratio 2 +set r_fullscreen 0


This is an example target line I use for Doom 3, namely for the resolution I prefer to edit in and the aspect ratio of my screen since I have a 16:10 screen. Below are the commands listed in some detail:

+set com_allowConsole 1 will allow you to press the "~" (tilda) key to access the console everytime you launch the game from this shortcut.
+disconnect disables the id intro. (beating heart intro removed, reduces load time and seen enough already)
+r_mode -1 enables custom resolution. (required for the 3 commands below)
+r_customwidth #### Custom width resolution
+r_customheight ### Custom height resolution
+r_aspectratio # Custom aspect ratio. (0 = 4:3, 1 = 16:9, 2 = 16:10).
+set r_fullscreen 0 launches the game in windowed mode, which is required. The particle editor will not run in full screen mode. No arguments.

There are many more startup parameters you can add, in fact you could probably have the particle editor launch on start up, but this makes a good general use editing shortcut, in my opinion. Edit the line of code given to your specifications.

Once you are done, your shortcut should be ready to go. You can launch it to see if it worked. Note: Sometimes it doesn't work the first time, so launch from the shortcut a second time and that should usually make it fully functional from there on. If it still does not work, check in the console to see if there are any errors related to the command line. You may have a space missing or mistyped something.

Now, once you have done this, we will go into the folder where Doom 3 was installed. For those with the cd/dvd version, it should be in C:\Program Files (x86). For steam users, find C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common. Find the Doom 3 folder, right click it and select "Send to > Desktop (create shortcut)". Now all you have to do is click on the desktop shortcut to go into the Doom 3 folder.


II. (pak/pack) files

Click the new shortcut to open the Doom 3 folder. You should see a folder called base. Open the base folder and look for a file called pak000.pk4. This is a zip compressed file given a different file extension by id, I really can't explain it, but that is not the point. The point is, it is a game file and contains game data that we need to obtain safely. There are a few methods to do this.

The easiest would be to download a nifty app called pk4scape, which will allow you to open .pk4 files without harming the purity in anyway, unless you save changes within them. Here, you can view and copy certain files we will need to make particle editing safe for the core game files and much more practical as you will learn.

The second method would be to make a copy of pak000.pk4, change the file extension from .p4k to .zip, and extract it into a normal file folder. This will require more hard drive space if you do not mind and some time to extract, but it is always handy to have back up files for Doom 3 should you accidentally change core game files and need to revert the changes.

You can do both, or maybe there is another method I am not aware of that isn't quite the hassle as the second method. I am still a noob at modding, it is just I have put a lot of time in this so this is what I have come up with. Point aside, the end justifies the means (unless you broke the pak files!), as you will need all files relating to particles in your base folder. I will explain.

If you are new to modding in Doom, the engine looks for all relevant game files starting in the base folder in your Doom 3 folder. If it doesn't find them there, which it won't by default since it is empty, it looks in the .pk4 files. The benefit of this file search system is that it allows you to have another layer of files over the game files that you can edit without actually editing the game files so they remain pure.


III. Copying and placing essential files

Alright so the critical files we need are located in pak000.pk4. Open it up, or your copy of the original, and copy the folder "particles". Then, while in the base folder, paste the copy in the base folder. The particles folder contains particle files which are text files with the extension .prt. This contains all the information that handles particles for about 99.9% of them (I'll talk about the .1% some other time.).

These files are created, read, and edited by the particle editor, so it is crucial that they work or else you can break a particle system contained in them. You can edit these in a text editor safely if you know what you are doing, but this is if you are careful (it isn't overly complicated, just needing some explaining.). Use the editor for now.

Once this is completed, you now have the essential files ready to edit. It is time to launch Doom 3 with your new shortcut and begin editing particles, which will be explained in part 2 of the tutorial, Editor Overview.