Moo Mapper Basics

[Andrew]

 

Vice City - Basic Moo Mapper Tutorial

 

 

 

Introduction
I've written a tutorial showing you how to get custom objects into Vice City. Yet I've not showed you the basics of Moo Mapper. I breifly touched on the subject in the custom object tutorial, but not in detail. Thats what I aim to do in this Tutorial. It shouldn't be too hard and theres only one program needed. Moo Mapper.
What Do I Need?
Moo Mapper Beta 0.90 Which can be obtained from Here
Moo Mapper The Basics - Part 1 - Selecting The Correct Mode
Moo Mapper 0.90, is a mapper for Grand Theft Auto 3 and Grand Theft Auto Vice City. Its quite easy to use, for those expirenced its a breeze. Like the name suggests its a beta, yet is very stable. Moo Mapper supports 3 levels of details.   •No Models - This will only show cubes as models, useful if all you are doing is IPL/IDE related (Very Fast) •Just Models - This will load just models with no textures. (Fast) •Models + Textures - This will load everything, depending on the speed of your computer, it can either be fast or slow.   I always use Models + Textures. My system is average 1.6ghz and it runs it fine, but it depends on the system and memory you have.
^^ The Select Level Detail Screen ^^
The rest pretty much explains itself. Choosing which game, in this case we want Vice City. On first run it will ask you were your Vice City directory is, just tell it where and it will load.
Moo Mapper The Basics - Part 2 - Moo Mapper Main Window
Once Moo Mapper has loaded you'll be presented with a window similar to the one below. At the top you'll see a group of buttons.   •Item Editor - Opens the Item Editor box, which you'll come to use alot •Secondary Display - If an object is selected, clicking this will open another view with the object in. •Texture Display - If an object is selected, clicking on this will open a box telling you the name and a preivew of each texture in the TXD assosiated with that model. •Dat Editor - Opens the .dat editor which displays the contents of gta_vc.dat. •Validate All Files - Will check all files for any errors, duplicated files, IDE errors.   Below them and to the right, are the IDE, IPL and IMG tabs. Which select which file you are working on. And the display box below that shows the current IDES and IPLS which will load when Vice City starts. Below that is another box that displays the contents of the IPL or IDE.   Directly in the center, is the 3D view which will display, the maps, models and textures.   Over to the left is the current IPLS, which will load with Vice City. Various options to use textures, blend alphas and other things. Zoom, co-ordinates and what FPS you are running at.
Click on image for a bigger size - The main Moo Mapper Screen
Moo Mapper The Basics - Part 3 - The Item Editor
Since you will be using the Item Editor quite a bit, I'd thought I'd explain it in a bit of detail.
^^ The Item Editor ^^
Its quite straight forward, once you've gotten the hang of it, you'll be able to do it with your eyes closed.   •ID Number - Every object in Vice City is assigned an ID. •Model Name - The name of the DFF •Interior - Tells it weather its an interior object •Rotation - Explains itself •Position - The co-ordinates of the object in Vice City (Note - These are not always accurate.) •Rot X,Y,Z - Rotate the objects on either of chose axis. •The 3 sets of arrows below position. - Move the object along X,Y,Z Axis •Validation - Checks weather the DFF, TXD are correct and exsist.   Thats about it for Item Editor.
Moo Mapper The Basics - Part 4 - Loading/Moving Objects
Now I'm going to show you how to load an map into the 3D view, and how to move an object about the map.   You see the left side, where is lists all the IPLS, and it says all the tick boxes? Choose the one that says Oceandn.IPL and tick the box in front of it. A bar will come up telling you the progress of it. Once thats done you might not be able to see anything. Double click on the oceandn.IPL not the tick box. And the 3D view should change to Ocean Drive, Something like the picture below.
Click For Bigger Image
Lets just go over the basics for moving about in 3D View. Using the right mouse button, rotates. Using the left mouse button to move about the 3D view, and the scroll wheel will zoom in and out. Practice with that for a while until you've got the hang of it.   Done that, good. Ok now find the white building in the picture below. We're going to move some trees.
Click Image For A Bigger Picture
Don't you find it annoying that when you try and do the PCJ misson, that as you line up for the ramp, the trees get in your way? Well lets move them to another location.   Double click a tree, and hold down control key and left mouse button, to move the tree drag it to its new location just over the road at that gas block jump. As shown in the picture below
Click Image For A Bigger Picture
Repeat that for each tree in that patch of grass, and you'll end up with a clear area, Now go to File ---> Save, and save it. Now run Vice City and it should be clear. Congrats you've just moved your objects, have a play about with that. And then move onto the next part.
Moo Mapper The Basics - Part 5 - Adding A Object
Whilst the title may assume we're adding custom objects, we're not. We're going to be using the IDEs and secondary view to locate an object we want. Then using the name and ID put that object into the Oceandn IPL. Sounds confusing? Its not really.   Ok lets begin, first switch to the IDE tab and click on generic.IDE like in the picture below
Click Image For A Bigger Picture
Sroll down until you find Tall Fence Its ID is 308. Now once we've found that and clicked on it, click on secondary view, and it should display the object, rotating around. The object will appear white, because its been Alpha blended, which Secondary View doesn't support. Make a note of the object name and ID. Then double click on oceandn.ipl again. Now change from IDE to IPL and in 3D view, guide your self to the Police station, lets stop those pigs from leaving. Find the entrance, and press the ADD button the Item editor box should come up. Enter the ID and Name. And then move it into posistion. So it blocks the access to the police station.   Congratulations you've just finished this tutorial. Practice moving and adding things, and you'll soon be a pro.
© Copyright gansta killa 2004 || Vice City and Grand Theft Auto are trade marks of Rockstar Games.

 

Edited September 28, 2004 by Gangsta Killa

[silver007]

cool tutorial gansta killa, however i have a problem with Moo mapper, and it sucks cause i cant see a thing

 

basically Moo Mapper dosent load in the textures even when i set it to load in textures and models, it makes all the textures white, and all i can see is this

 

all the buildings and everything blend in with eachother, the only way i can see anything is to turn off the textures

 

but can you help me?

[flitcroft101]

cool tutorial gansta killa, however i have a problem with Moo mapper, and it sucks cause i cant see a thing

 

basically Moo Mapper dosent load in the textures even when i set it to load in textures and models, it makes all the textures white, and all i can see is this

 

all the buildings and everything blend in with eachother, the only way i can see anything is to turn off the textures

 

but can you help me?

Im having that problem aswell

[Suction Testicle Man]

cool tutorial gansta killa, however i have a problem with Moo mapper, and it sucks cause i cant see a thing

 

basically Moo Mapper dosent load in the textures even when i set it to load in textures and models, it makes all the textures white, and all i can see is this

 

all the buildings and everything blend in with eachother, the only way i can see anything is to turn off the textures

 

but can you help me?

Im having that problem aswell

I used to have this problem, until I changed my gfx card. What gfx card have got atm, as it may not be good enough to support this mode in Moo Mapper?

 

 

[flitcroft101]

Im not sure what gfx card i have. It can play half life 2 with no problems so its pretty good

[Suction Testicle Man]

 

Im not sure what gfx card i have. It can play half life 2 with no problems so its pretty good

I have no idea then; it could just be a bug with your current hardware setup. The Moo Mapper project has been taken up by delfi of this forum, so if you wait a bit for a new release, it should be more likely to work on your system (this copy is only a beta, after all).

 

 

Edited May 10, 2005 by Suction Testicle Man

[flitcroft101]

Thanks for the help

[Prince Zemek]

how do i create areas you can save and store vehicles in...aka garages?

[Big-Bear]

I have deleted, 1 object, how do i get it again, and add it, so my crash is away

[dertyjerzian]

You can't big bear, you will unfortunately need to reinstall. Sorry Backing up is very important with moo mapper, I am told (I dont use it, I mod SA)

[buzbegone]

how do i save my files so they play on VC?

 

i'm going crazy trying to save them

[yoPhilly528]

Moo Mapper wont open, how do i fix this?

[Phat Fingers]

buzbegone what do you mean how do you save your files so you can play them on vice city. If you are trying to save your files but getting an error messege try going to your Vice City folder, Right clicking and untick the Read Only box. this will allow you to save it in moo mapper without the error messege been displayed

[sasan1900]

I made a building with zmodeler2 without collision and import it to moo mapper

and in airport.ide & airport.ipl save it.

and its appeared without texture.

anyway im saved this but in vice city and in loading menu its error

what can i do? its occured because of my moo mapper or my own model?

Thanks for reading but great thanks for answering.

[mrgypsie]

Nice guide, good work.

 

But I have one problem. I get up the building and all but it's all white, no textures. I've checked the box 'Model+Texture'.

[Sketchupmaster]

Phat Fingers im having that exact problem but what u mean by ur vice city folder.

 

 

 

 

ERROR: The following files failed to save:

These could be read only or in use by another

Program!

 

DATA\MAPS\oceandn\oceandn.IPL

 

 

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated thanks

Edited September 9, 2008 by Sketchupmaster

[sasan1900]

You can delete an object in airport.ipl or another .ipl .but make sure that you have a back up of this object then back deleted object and all ipl will save manually

[younis kh]

thanku very much

but please help me

my moo mapper

the map is white and without colors

please help me

 

[jahangirkhaniiui]

hello guys. i am new here. my question is:

how can i add a new item to gta vc from outside not from the existing map