Tools 'n Tips
 
     Creating Genesis3D Maps with a Quake2 Level Editor
I won't state my true feelings about the Genesis3D level editor since I try to keep the content of this site clean. :)  It does have one very nice feature though: the ability to import Quake2 .map files.

Preparations: Make sure you have the latest tpack.exe, and Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop installed with the WAL plugin (just copy it to the plugins directory).  If you have any troubles during this tutorial, scroll down to the "Note..." at the bottom.  It might answer your questions.

The first thing you need to do is open up your .txl file with tpack.exe.  Extract all of the textures:

This will put all of the textures in .bmp format in the directory the .txl was in.  Open them all with Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop (I'm using PSP):

Now for the time consuming part.  I tried to do this with a batch conversion, but PSP's batch conversion doesn't have an option to load palettes, so the textures look all messed up :(  I guess this just has to be done by hand.  For each of the images, you need to load the Quake2 palette (Colors | load palette in PSP, check my Photoshop texture tutorial for details on how to load palettes with Photoshop).  You can grab the Quake2 Palette for PSP here, and the one for Photoshop here. NOTE: Make sure the textures are right-side up!  I made the mistake of not noticing all of the .BMPs were upside-down until I finished converting them all.

You will likely have some massive loss in graphics quality, but that doesn't really matter as long as you can make out what it is.  The next thing you need to do is save the images as wal files.  If you need the WAL plugin, you can get it here.

When it asks for the full texture name, just hit [OK].  Repeat this with all the textures, and close Paint Shop Pro/Photoshop (if you want) when you're done.  I developed a nice key stroke pattern to complete this quickly.  Shift+O, "quake2", Enter, F12, Tab, W W W (till it hits WAL PLG), Enter, Enter, Ctrl+F4.

Create a directory in your Quake2\baseq2\textures\ directory called "gen3d" (The name doesn't actually matter).  Open up the directory where you saved all the .wal files.  You can probably delete all of the .bmp files, if you so desire.  Arrange the icons by type (makes selecting easier).  Select all of the .wal files and move them over to the gen3d directory.

Now fire up your favorite Quake2 level editor (I prefer BSP) and load the textures in the gen3d directory:


Build your level and save it in .map format:

Open the .map in the Genesis3D level editor:

*Whew* I think that covers it.

     Note...
- The .BMP's might export upside down.  Make sure you flip them before you save as a .wal if they are!
- In the Genesis3D level editor, you might have to make a brush before anything shows up.  Go into template mode (hit the "T" button), then hit enter, to create a brush.  Click the arrow button, then click on the brush you just made and hit delete to get rid of it.
- You can save a lot of time by making .WAL files as you go when creating textures for Genesis3D.
- If you are having trouble converting the textures to .WAL's, check out my texture tutorials for Paint Shop Pro and Photoshop.

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Created Jan. 6, 2000.
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