Using Moo Mapper

[Andrew 53]

 

 

 

 

 

Hello all, Welcome to version 2 of my moo mapper tutorial. I've decided to remake the tutorial because the layout wasn't very good in the old one, it got spammed up and it needed updating. Enjoy V2 ~GK~

Part 1
You Will Need:
Zmodeler 1.07B
Moo Mapper Beta 0.90
Steve M's Col maker 1.0

You can find Zmodeler here
You can find Moo Mapper Beta 0.90 here
You can find Col Maker 1.0 here

 

lets Go Shall We?

Vice City Col Files Do Not Support Col Files Above 2000 Polys, In Zmodeler there is the double face problem when exporting as .X file. To avoid this make models with no more than 1000 faces

When you have your model in Zmodeler. Export it as DFF (File ---> Export and choose Grand Theft Auto 3 DFF/COL in the drop down box)
Then Export It As Direct X file (.X) (file ---> Export Choose Direct X (.X) in the drop down box)
Thats Zmodeler finished with

Now On To The Colfile

First open up Col Maker
We need to mirror the X axis, so go to options---->mirror and tick the X axis box
We now need to load that .X file we created, so go to file load text and load the x file we just made
Now name the Object, the same name as you called the object in Zmodeler
Now press `Make Collision File, wait till its finished, then it will ask you to save it.
Save it and we are now finished with Col Maker so we can close this now

Onward to part 2

Edited September 3, 2004 by gansta killa

[Andrew 53]

 

 

 

part 2

We are now into Moo Mapper, So fire up Moo Mapper and choose the mode you want it to run in
Click the Object Definition Tab and choose new
If it asks you if you want to add data to the gta_vc.dat choose yes
Now give your IDE a name
We are now going to add a object into your IDE, so on your new IDE, click add
This box should now pop up

We now need to load the DFF that you created with zmodeler
Click on the ... next to the Model box, if these are greyed out then make sure gta3.img and gta3.dir are not read only
And now the txd, I assume you already have the txd, if not then just for testing type in generic
After that you should get something like this
Do not worry about the ID number, Moo Mapper will automaticly assign this to your new object, Also where i've ringed the lod value, change it from 0 to 250 this enables you to see the object in game

Shall we check that the object has loaded properly in moo mapper?
Click on Secondary Display
And you should get something that resembes your object
Its a pipe!

Onwards to part 3

Edited August 20, 2004 by gansta killa

[Andrew 53]

 

 

 

Part 3

Its time we made an IPL
Click on Item Placement and click new
If it asks you if you want to add data to the gta_vc.dat choose yes
Now lets add your object to the Ipl so we can put it in Vice City
On the Ipl click add
After clicking add you should get a visit from the Item Editor Box again
This time you need to enter in the ID number which can be found in the IDE and the model name

Now lets position it on the map
First we need to load the the map where we want to put it
Find where all the tickboxes are and tick a box next to the area you want to load
When you've ticked it double click on the name next to the tick box to bring you to that area in 3D view
Also don't forget to tick your IPL so you can see your object
To select your object double click on it in 3D view
Lets move your object up into the air, to do this Use the left mouse button and hold shift and ctrl at the same time and drag the mouse up
The result, a floating building!
Now lets move the building some where else
To do this use the Left mouse button and hold ctrl at the same time and drag the building where you want it to go
The result, a new location!
Once you've finished moving your object to where you want it. Save it and close Moo Mapper

We now need to add the entry lines to gta_vc.dat so that the game loads your IPL,IDE and COL

To do this open up any text editor notepad will do fine, and open Gta_Vc.dat it should be located in your data folder

## Load IDEs first, then the models and after that the IPLs## everything is loaded on a per directory basis and in alphabetical order # to improve the speed of loading## Object types#IDE DATA\MAPS\generic.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\littleha\littleha.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\downtown\downtown.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\downtows\downtows.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\docks\docks.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\washintn\washintn.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\washints\washints.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\oceandrv\oceandrv.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\oceandn\oceandn.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\golf\golf.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\bridge\bridge.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\starisl\starisl.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\nbeachbt\nbeachbt.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\nbeachw\nbeachw.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\nbeach\nbeach.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\bank\bank.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\mall\mall.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\yacht\yacht.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\cisland\cisland.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\club\club.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\hotel\hotel.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\lawyers\lawyers.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\stripclb\stripclb.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\airport\airport.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\airportN\airportN.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\haiti\haiti.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\haitin\haitin.IDESPLASH loadsc2IDE DATA\MAPS\concerth\concerth.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\mansion\mansion.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\islandsf\islandsf.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\stadint\stadint.IDE#collision dataCOLFILE 0 MODELS\COLL\GENERIC.COL# have to load map.zon before any of the IPLsIPL DATA\MAP.ZONIPL DATA\NAVIG.ZONIPL DATA\INFO.ZON## Scene information#IPL DATA\MAPS\littleha\littleha.IPLSPLASH loadsc3IPL DATA\MAPS\downtown\downtown.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\downtows\downtows.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\docks\docks.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\washintn\washintn.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\washints\washints.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\oceandrv\oceandrv.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\oceandn\oceandn.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\golf\golf.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\bridge\bridge.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\starisl\starisl.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\nbeachbt\nbeachbt.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\nbeach\nbeach.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\nbeachw\nbeachw.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\cisland\cisland.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\airport\airport.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\airportN\airportN.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\haiti\haiti.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\haitin\haitin.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\islandsf\islandsf.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\stadint\stadint.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\paths.iplIPL DATA\MAPS\cull.iplIPL DATA\occlu.ipl##  Interiors#SPLASH loadsc4IPL DATA\MAPS\bank\bank.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\mall\mall.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\yacht\yacht.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\club\club.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\hotel\hotel.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\lawyers\lawyers.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\stripclb\stripclb.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\concerth\concerth.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\mansion\mansion.IPL

 

 

 

That is the Gta_vc.dat
This tells the game what to load and what not to load this # symbol tells the game not to load something
Add this line IPL DATA\Maps\your ipl file name.IPL below this line IPL DATA\MAPS\stadint\stadint.IPL (replacing your ipl file name with what you named the ipl)

IPL DATA\MAPS\airport\airport.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\airportN\airportN.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\haiti\haiti.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\haitin\haitin.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\islandsf\islandsf.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\stadint\stadint.IPLIPL DATA\MAPS\Your ipl file name.IPL

 

 

 

Like that
Now for IDE, add this line DATA\MAPS\your ide file name.IDE below IDE DATA\MAPS\haitin\haitin.IDE (replacing your ide file name with what you named the ide file)

IDE DATA\MAPS\hotel\hotel.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\lawyers\lawyers.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\stripclb\stripclb.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\airport\airport.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\airportN\airportN.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\haiti\haiti.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\haitin\haitin.IDEIDE DATA\MAPS\your ide file name.IDE

 

 

 

Like that

And Thats it!
Don't forget to add in the colfile line otherwise it won't work
#collision dataCOLFILE 0 MODELS\COLL\GENERIC.COLCOLFILE 0 mypath\myfile.COL

 

 

 

 

Edited August 20, 2004 by gansta killa

[Halfscan 0]

Thanks for the tut, finally able to get my custom content into the game... one problem though:

 

You neglected to mention that a line in the gta_vc.dat that points to the users new .col file needs to be added (skipping this step will cuase VC to crash on loading... took me a few hours to figure out what I was missing).

 

 

#collision dataCOLFILE 0 MODELS\COLL\GENERIC.COLCOLFILE 0 mypath\myfile.COL

 

 

-Half

Edited August 11, 2004 by Halfscan

[mouldy_punk 0]

Very helpful tutorial. Thanks alot. Unfortunatly none of the images work

[Andrew 53]

After too many times of the tutorials, images failing for reason or another. There finally back up. I've not had much look with the image hosts for this.

 

• First host Free Pic Hosting Had an account limit and plastered an acount over credit over them

• Second Host Maltastart Died Completely, didn't even get a chance to recover the images or files on the server.

• Third Host photobucket Its still going, currently hosting my sig, atavar, other tutorails, its still going hopefully. Although the account is due for a prune soon...

 

Anyways its done, finally. Good luck and happy mapping.

[Eclipse_nl 0]

I've follow this tutotial correctly but i've still a problem

 

my object is in VC invisable

 

Who kan help me

[[email protected] 0]

Impossible. Your object wouldn't be invisible if you have followed the tutorial correctly.

[jcab42 0]

I'd be willing to bet that it's a TXD problem. Invisible models happen when there is no TXD by the name of the one identified in the IDE. For instance, let's say your IDE looks like this:

 

 

objs4800, example, example, 1, 250, 0end

 

 

then you must have a TXD in the IMG by the name of example.txd, otherwise your model will be invisible. If you do have example.txd present but the texture names don't match then the model will be white.

[Eclipse_nl 0]

This do i've in my .ide file:

 

 

objs4794, xsc_looping, xsc_textures, 1, 0, 0end

 

 

The names are correctly with my files..but what mean that numbers ???

Edited September 20, 2004 by Eclipse_nl

[jcab42 0]

your numbers go like this: 1, 0, 0

 

that middle number is 0 which means it has 0 visability. That is why you can't see the model. The middle number should be above 50. The maximum is 300 (LOD maximum is 3000 but LODs don't have collision). Your ide should look like this:

 

 

objs4794, xsc_looping, xsc_textures, 1, 300, 0end

 

[Eclipse_nl 0]

Thanks mate it works!!!!!!!!

[Mouzerball1000 0]

Tnaks for this tutorial, but when I click on the "..." by the model name, nothing comes up because it is grey, not black. Why is it like this?

[Mouzerball1000 0]

Nevermind... I found out. Here's a cookie for writing this!

[aad 1]

I still have the problem my model stays black but i have done everything right everytime i do this my model works/colfile works but the textures doesnt work

and its not the Visability thing i setted that one to 250 but its really weird everytime it shows up black PM me how to solve this problem plz

[legg3r 0]

My model doesnt appear on the second view

Please someone help

[Widge 0]

When i try to export the file from ZModler to the .dff format i get an error message that says:

 

Error importing/exporting file: Can not open the specified file.

Possible caused by: invalid file attributes or share violation.

 

Anybody know how to fix this?

Thanks

[legg3r 0]

You have to add .dff after your file name something.dff.

[timmy2004 0]

Thanks, nice guide, this tought me a fair bit.

[djjack 0]

Thanks BIG FULL tutorial

[Impulse101 0]

Hey, I just did this tutorial and its awesome. But i have a question because of an error I made the pipe etc. and did everything how it said, using all the tools it said and when playing mta i can see the pipe (which is outside the mansion)..i can shoot it, look at it but when i goto touch it, it crashes.

the first time i just tried to jump on it and instant crash, the second time i slowly side stepped towards it and touch it without crashing, then about 5 times later it crashed...and it keeps crashing when i touch it. then in single player i cant even get within 100m of it without it crashing. any suggestions or solutions?

 

thanks in advance,

Impulse101

[[email protected] 0]

I'm guessing you forgot to set the LOD value under 300.

[Sodisna 0]

how do I make a txd?

[chaIned 0]

hey, I am trying to add a small island to VC, but after doing the tutor, I cant see my object, and when I approach it, my game crashes...

this is my .ide file, textures and models exist in the archive:

 

objs4794, CI_base2, CI_base, 1, 250, 0end

 

 

[mickarrow 1]

make a lod for your model, put it ingame as well, and I think it'll work

[68K 0]

Hey guys.

 

I've downloaded MOO Mapper and it's a fine product, especially considering the price.

 

I decided to get started by creating a new road from the first savepoint in GTA3. I've used road pieces from the area near the savepoint and created my own IPL file to house them. I've saved the IPL and it's linked from GTA3.dat OK.

 

However, when I try and load the game the progress bar gets about 75% of the way through and then freezes.

 

I read about .COL files and whatnot in this game but I'm unsure if I need one (I've not added any new models, textures or anything - just used the road pieces already declared in the game). I wouldn't know how to construct one for the road pieces on the new map I've created.

 

I've been doing some reworking on the road today and maybe when I tried it last night I didn't give the duplicated objets any names. That might have been why it was crashing last night. I'm going to give it a try when I get home and see if the duplicated-objects-now-with-proper-names might work better.

 

I guess I might have already fixed the problem, but I figured I'd throw this out there in the hope someone can confirm or deny something that I'm doing wrong before I get home.

 

Cheers,

~S

[68K 0]

Hey guys.

 

I've downloaded MOO Mapper and it's a fine product, especially considering the price.

 

OK, so that didn't work.

 

All I've been able to do at this point is move an object that's already on the map. Whenever I try and add a new one, whether it's a duplicated road piece into one of the existing IPL files, or creating a new IPL and adding it to that, the game won't load.

 

Any ideas? I've checked the help file and added the piece by 'add instance' within the object definitions (IDE) to create the instance. Still doesn't make any difference.

 

Any ideas?

[OG_GhostDog 8]

after u create example.col from example.x, what do u do with the col file?