[Release] TileData Editor

[Klofkac]

Hi!

I looked into TILEDATA.BIN file (which is located in Dune2000\Data\bin folder) and found out that this is the file where the mapping "Special Value" -> "Building/Unit type" is stored. For example it tells that Special value 4 is Atreides Wall, 715 is Mercenaries Starport and so on. The file format is pretty simple so I made a simple editor for it:

TileDataEditor.zip

 

You need to place TILEDATA.BIN inside the editor folder and then you can open it and edit whatever you want.

By editing TILEDATA.BIN file you can do things like this:

- Place a building/unit for a side which doesn't normally own that building/unit on your map (like Harkonnen palace for Atreides, Devastator for Ordos and so on)

- Place buildings/units for 8th player (Sandworm) for which you could not place anything

 

 

In Map editor you need to manually set the Special Value which you want to place (and activate "Show unknown specials" setting).

I will most likely add support for placing all possible buildings/units into Map editor, but not now because it will be a bit of work.

 

And one more thing - The best thing to do is to make some new "Standardized" TILEDATA.BIN file which would support all possible buildings/units for all players and which would be distributed with Dune2000 patch. So that everybody can make and play maps with these new possibilities. That wouldn't be so easy because some unused specials ale already randomly placed in several Vanilla maps so it could cause these maps to be broken.

 

Enjoy!

[FunkyFr3sh]

Yea I found that out some time ago, Map editor value * 4 and you get to internal game id, there is a lot of -1 (enough space to add all the missing stuff)

[Klofkac]

Yea I found that out some time ago, Map editor value * 4 and you get to internal game id, there is a lot of -1 (enough space to add all the missing stuff)

Oh yes, I remember you mentioned something like this.

In TILEDATA.BIN, Thin/Thick spice are -1's and some miscellaneous objects (player start, spice blooms) are stored as "Harkonnen Sandworm". So probably these things are hard-coded in the game. Could you possibly find out/look into code if some unknown values used in some maps (see http://forum.dune2k.com/topic/26949-unknown-special-values-740-and-higher-found-in-official-maps-research-needed/) have any meaning/function?

[FunkyFr3sh]

yes, for spice it is not looking up the id table, it sets a bit instead, probably does the same for the spawns

 

I will check these other values out tomorrow, maybe I can find out what it is

[Adriano]

Cool!

 

Does somebody knows what is concrete tiles? Is this possible to place them on a map before game?

[Nuclear_harvester]

the 8th side is nice but still map editor  allows only to place buldings for 7 houses   to use 8th house  have to  add ai on it and   reinforcement dropping MCV so he can start up.

[Adriano]

For example it tells that Special value 4 is Atreides Wall, 715 is Mercenaries Starport and so on.

(...)

That wouldn't be so easy because some unused specials ale already randomly placed in several Vanilla maps so it could cause these maps to be broken.

Can you advice any safety range for new values? I try to use 10, for example.

[FunkyFr3sh]

1, 2, 3, 23, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45

 

are all these numbers known?

[Klofkac]

1, 2, 3, 23, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45

 

are all these numbers known?

Yes.

1,2 = Spice

3 = SuperDense spice error

23 = Player start

41-45 = Spice blooms

[FunkyFr3sh]

well, those are the only hardcoded ones. All other values are stored in TILEDATA.BIN, if the value in TILEDATA.BIN is -1 then it's unused. So I guess all these random special values you found are unused

[Klofkac]

Can you advice any safety range for new values? I try to use 10, for example.

That would need to check all official maps and reject all numbers which are placed in them. For example, open A6V2 and activate "Show unknown specials" and then you will see a big mess with randomly placed values. None of them can be used. But I believe there will be still enough free values we can use.

[Klofkac]

well, those are the only hardcoded ones. All other values are stored in TILEDATA.BIN, if the value in TILEDATA.BIN is -1 then it's unused. So I guess all these random special values you found are unused

Ok, nice to know. I personally also thought that they had no function because I was a bit experimenting with AI behavior and did not see those specials affected it at all.

But I still wonder why they are placed quite systematically in enemy bases. Maybe it was some planned or later-removed feature.

Btw do you think you could add support for static crates?

[FunkyFr3sh]

Not sure, might run into some problems to get that working in online games (out of sync). Need to test it

[Adriano]

I try some things.

 

Choam frigate makes several rounds (near 3 ¾ ) and after that game is crushing.

 

It is funny to place alone ornithopter. It “feels” enemies only when they very close to him (to ornitopther shadow on the ground). After that ornitopther starts to bombs BUT for long distance! Much longer than needed.

 

So it is possible to use ornitopthers for unexpected (but not very dangerous) traps.

 

And thanks for your answers!

[Adriano]

I cannot understand logic of alone "death hand missile". It flies and explode then. Where? May be in the centre of the map?

 

Added.

Yes. It looks like "death hand missile" explodes every time at the same place.

[Nuclear_harvester]

add  missile launcher weapon o carryal and  put some carryals on map. carryals  will follow the enemies

[Adriano]

add  missile launcher weapon o carryal

What do you mean? I cannot understand.

[Klofkac]

So I created a program which opened and read all official maps and found out which values were ever used and which were not used at all:
values.txt

 

Values marked with X are already placed in some map(s) and cannot be used for new buildings/units, the other values are free and can be used.

[shai]

This is some very cool and useful stuff! 

[Nuclear_harvester]

What do you mean? I cannot understand.

open tibed  look at carryal ,  set primary weapon   missile tank pri and save . now put those carryals  around your base. 

[Adriano]

open tibed  look at carryal ,  set primary weapon   missile tank pri and save .

My game is crushing. :(

 

There are two carryals in Tibed: simply "carryall" and "carryall2".

If I play Atreides, then if I choose simply "carryall" nothing happen. If I choose "carryall2", then carryall really starts fire. But when first time harvester needs carryall (green arrow on harvester), then game is crushing immediately.

 

I test it in Multiplayer game (practice), Atreides.

 

But this thing works very well with alone ornithopter!

 

Added.

I used only Tibed and Map Editor for carryalls. Not THIS program "TileData Editor".

In TileData Editor, Atreides Carryall is 192. and in Map Editor it is 192 too. I cannot see difference so.

[Nuclear_harvester]

well what message u get during crash  maybe theres workaround to  fix it so we could have   ai controlled  airbornes.   ornithopters cant hurt   they  will shot at long range if they step under it.  tis inpractical .   

[Adriano]

Nuclear_harvester, excuse me, I suppose this is off-topic, because, how I can understand, you don't use the program "TileData Editor" to create Carryalls.

 

 

well what message u get during crash

No messages. Black screen and return to OS.

 

I specially install new copy of game today to test your proposition. Gruntmod Edition rev.9.

Actually this is not problem for me, but it is just interesting, -- have you ever done this successfully? I mean, do you really create Carryall with rockets? Does it successfully work?

 

Or are you just talking about theoretical idea?

[Nuclear_harvester]

i did carryal with  missile launchers .before and  was   working as intended but couldnt workout how to make the carryal  ability to be controlled by player . so i gave up  it was eventually crashing with this message after while

 

trying to access side out of range  [11]  it crashs when carrier is built. tried with different weapons  but same error code [11] so i assume carryal has no hardcoded  weapon slot

 

as for tiledata editor   it lacks of crate editing i.e placing them in missions  in red alert 1   crates were under destroyed buldings   wondering if  we could place static crate  one-use 

[Klofkac]

OK, so I made modified TILEDATA.BIN file with support for all building/unit types for all sides as well as support for 8th side.

I tried not to use any special value which is used in any mission so this should be safe to use with all Vanilla maps. And this will probably become a "standardized" file which would be distributed along with D2k Patch or D2kEditor so that anybody can making maps using the new features.

tiledata.zip

Here is download. There is also a test map - template.map, which is a showcase of all supported buildings/units. I need to make a picture from the whole in-game map screen and use it in D2kEditor as a new "structures.bmp" file. The only problem are stealth units which are not visible on the map at all. Carryalls will be placed under ornithopters. Anybody willing to help me with this?