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List of Tools to Mod Legacy |
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This Page has been viewed 14,874 times
Recommended Software and Tools to Mod Star Trek: Legacy
This is just a compiled list of software out there available. You may disagree or agree with some of the pro/con statements but this is only a guideline..If needs be it is best to try out as much as you can to find the one that best suits you.
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Software
- Milkshape 3D
- Pros - Required to export to Legacy's M3D format. Also needed to hardpoint models to work in Legacy
- Cons - Not Free. 30-day free trial though.
- 3DS Max
- Pros - Very popular and easy to use. many tutorials out there for 3DS Max
- Cons - Not Free. 30-day free trial though.
- Blender
- Pros - Free. Open source, has some pre-defined models and common shapes to use.
- Cons - Interface difficult to use at times but easy to get the hang of after a while.
- Wings 3D
- Pros - Free. Open source, has tools to increase/decrease bump mapping, bevel and manipulate shapes easily.
- Cons - Very basic interface. Interface is hard to navigate.
- LightWave 3D
- Pros - extremely powerful and professional.
- Cons - Not Free. Difficult to develop proficient skills in using. almost too professional
- Gmax
- Pros - Free. Easy to use interface.
- Cons - A pain in the backside to install, due to registration. Not as good as other free 3d modelling software.
- AutoQ3D
- Pros - Free. Command line support
- Cons - Doesn't have some of the tools and features of the aforementioned tools
- Art of Illusion
- Pros - Free. Open Source. Very powerful and has many features of the market-based programs
- Cons - very few file format plugins available although can import/export in .obj format
- Anim8or
- Pros - Easy to use. has some very good tutorials on modelling.
- Cons - Not the best of the freeware programs but still has some nice features and model primitives
Exporter (Required)
Tips: There are tons of more 3D Modelling Programs out there, whatever you feel comfortable using will be the best for you. Don't overlook the free or open source software. They might not have a shiney GUI but they are still effective. No matter what program you use you will have to use Milkshape 3D to hardpoint the model and export it to Legacy's M3D file format.
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Graphics Software
- Adobe Photoshop
- Pros - Easy to use. Quite powerful. Has .dds plugin.. doesn't have some of Corels features but has more capabilities with .dds files.
- Cons - Not Free but does have 30 day trial.
- Corel Paintshop Pro
- Pros - Easy to use. Quite powerful. Quite alot of filters and features.
- Cons - Does not have a workable .dds plugin. need to use a dds converter in tandem with Corel. Not Free but does have 30 day trial
- GIMP
- Pros - Free. Easy to use. Has a DDS plugin
- Cons - Not as powerful as Corel or Adobe raster graphics editors
- Paint. NET
- Pros - Free. Easy to use.
- Cons - Does not have a .dds plugin. Not as powerful as Corel or Adobe raster graphics editors
- MS Paint
- Pros - native to Windows OS. Can have it's uses with editing small features in a texture pixel for pixel
- Cons - Basic.. extremely basic. does not support .dds file format.
DDS Converters
- DDS Converter 2
- Pros - Free. Extremely easy to use. No watermarks. Allows user to convert .dds into .tga or .bmp and vice-versa.
- Cons - Very little.. It only converts to and from .dds format, it doesn't allow modifying of the texture.
DDS Plug-ins
- Adobe DDS plugin
- Pros - Allows adobe user to open and save .dds files with several different save type options.
- Cons - Does not work with Corel (tried it but it is only adobe specific)
- GIMP DDS plugin
- Pros - Allows GIMP user to open and save .dds files.
- Cons - Not as good as the adobe dds format plugin.
- Paint.NET DDS plugin
- Pros - Allows Paint.Net user to add bump height to texture and allows user to change alpha masks
- Cons - Not as good as the adobe dds format plugin.
Nvidia Mip-Map tools- Pros - Will work with Corel. Allows for creation of proper bump mapping and mip-maps
- Cons - None. It is the only official plugin to do what it does.
Best Combination to Use: There are two.. Either grab Adobe Photoshop and the plugins. Or use the DDS Converter to convert from .dds to .tga and open the converted .tga in Corel or GIMP. Then when finished modding the texture convert back to .dds. Personally and many will agree, Corel is by far the easiest one to use and in my opinion is far superior for texturing than adobe which is difficult to get used to.
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Editors
- Notepad
- Pros - native to Windows OS. Easy to open any script files in Legacy
- Cons - black text. No indentation or colour-coding to sort out comments from variables etc. But Free!
- Wordpad
- Pros - native to Windows OS.
- Cons - Same as Notepad but not as pratical as notepad.
- Exchanger XML Lite V3.2
- Pros - Free. Possibly one of the best free xml editors around.
- Cons - Might overcomplicate modding xml files
- JCreator
- Pros - Free. Can open and save .xml files. Colour codes xml files to make it easier to mod them.
- Cons - Is a java compiler but is better than notepad!
- Bloodshed Dev C++
- Pros - Free. Copy and pasting .odf files into bloodshed will result in the code becoming colour-coded. makes modifying ODF's much easier.
- Cons - User will have to copy and paste odf code in and out of odf files to modify them but worth it for the coloured-code
- Hex Editor
- Pros - Excellent.. This allows you to make mulitple copies of the same ship and change the naming system so any modified stock ships you make won't overwrite the originals.. It is handy and it is extremely useful.
- Cons - None.
Which ones to use?: Basically any half -decent text editor will do the job but some compilers are extremely useful for their colour-coded properties
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Map/Mission Editors
- Map Editor
- Pros - Only Map Editor available. Fantastic if you are patient enough to use it!
- Cons - Difficult to use.. awkward but still does the job!
- Mission Editor
- Pros - Allows you to create Missions that have objectives. Only Mission Editor available.
- Cons - Where do we begin? Difficult to install (needs .Net Framework, C++ compiler). Difficult to use and does take some time to become proficient in...but ends justify the means
Where do I get the Map Editor?: - How to Unlock the Map Editor
To unlock the Map Editor, you need to have patch 1.1 installed firstly. You need to create two files in your Legacy root folder, called "unsupportedextension_mapedit" and "ATVI" (both without quotes). They need to be empty files so create two empty text files and get rid of the .txt extension from their filename. Then edit the properties of your Legacy desktop shortcut by right clicking on it and selecting properties. Add to the end of the Target line;
"/edit myfirstmap.sol"
Without the quotation marks.
Change "myfirstmap" for the name of your new map and start up the map editor by clicking on the desktop icon you just edited.
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That is it. Any questions post below. If you find any other software on the net that you think could be useful then let us know.
Good luck modding! |
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