Utilities
From AlephWiki
Many people wish to explore the opportunities created by Marathon: Infinity's editing tools, but do not know how to get them, or if they do know, can't use them for various reasons. This page is an attempt to collect all knowledge about such tools, for any platform possible.
For solutions to the Linux (and sometimes Windows) conundrums, see section
Contents |
Mac
Macintosh, the original platform of the Marathon series, has the most tools available. They range from map editors/creators to physics/shapes editors to Marathon Markup Language editors.
Map Makers
Map-making is probably the most popular non-gaming pass-time for Marathon junkies. It allows them to create new scenarios and, most importantly, new netmaps. There are the stable, old tools from the pre-OS X days, and there are OS X applications, too.
OS 9 and lower
Forge: the tool that Bungie itself created and used. This is the most popular map maker because of its stability, relative feature-completeness (including the ability to place textures while walking around the map), and the ability to 'merge' maps (add terminals, physics, and speed optimizations to the map file).
Pfhorte: The editor made by fans 'before' Forge was released. It can do a few things that Forge can't do like edit Marathon 1 maps, and in the modified "Benad" version, it can create Rugby and Capture the Flag maps. Unfortunately, it's not very stable, and its development has stopped. Benad version
Chisel: Less of a map editor and more like a feature editor. Chisel allows you to add tons of stuff to your map that Forge (and probably Phforte) can't. There are tons of plugins for it, to name a few: auto-staircases, multiple texture sets, and combining the maps of two levels. The "enhanced" Chisel pack includes many of the plug-ins. Also see JUICE for a more modern, cross-platform utility with similar features.
Bloodhound: This was a very rough editor, and I only found it in source code form, meaning that you need CodeWarrior or something to build it in "classic" OSes. Source is available from CVS.
Apparently a new Sourceforge project has taken over the name but you can still read about it at archive.org and possibly link to an active cvs:
Hammer: Older versions are still available of OS 9
More utilities are certainly available.
OS X (and higher?)
Pfhorge:(dead link) Now also available on Lh'owon Ar'khives (dead link?) and Simplici7y. A controversial choice. It is gaining usefulness as it approaches a 1.0 release, and is definitely the most complete OS X map application, but many people prefer Forge to it for stability and because texturing can be a nightmare. Pfhorge has tricks up its sleeve that Forge doesn't, like in-program Terminal editing, the benefit of Aleph One's unlimited polygon power, increased viewing distance & map heights, and the ability to make Capture the Flag and other new map types. It can merge map files into a scenario, but it has yet to support merging physics and terminals (the term editor works on already-merged terms). Pfhorge also uses its own level format, which requires export to Aleph One format, which can often cause problems.
Hammer: A now-dead(?) map editor that requires assembly in Project Builder. Hammer is nice, but it also has its own level format and I have not been able to get it to work after building it. The source code is open, however, so this project might benefit from a programmer picking it up and dusting it off for some revamping.
Bloodhound: see Bloodhound above, in OS 9-.
Other editors?
Physics, Sound, and Shapes editors
These editors are also fun to play with, and necessary for Total Conversion scenarios. You can make your own weapons, monsters, sound effects, and graphics. Classic Mac OS holds the monopoly for most of these.
OS 9 and lower
Anvil: Bungie's own tool. It is the standard, and perhaps the only, editor for non-map files. It edits physics, sounds, and shapes files, allowing you to completely customize your game.
Wail: a sound editor for Marathon. Source code is also available.
Insert other such utilities here
More tools listed here.
OS X ( ?)
ShapeFusion is a multiplatform Shapes and Sounds editor released under the GNU GPL. It's currently under development, but many features already work. Compiled binaries for MacOS X are released with each version.
Anything else?
Misc.
OS 9-
Marathon Map Splitter: Allows you to un-merge maps so that you can examine the physics, terminals, and everything you can think of that might be included in a merged scenario.
OS X
macbinconv: a program that encodes and decodes MacBinary files, among other things. You might use it to create Unimap scenarios.
Insert more useful miscellaneous tools here.
Model Editors
OS X
dim3 Animator: a part of the dim3 game engine suite that produces animated 3D models, which are stored in XML files. Aleph One can display some dim3 models, but the 20070527 release of Aleph One does not understand the files created by version 2.1 of dim3. The following script can be used on Unix-like systems to convert new-format mesh.xml files to the old format. Save the script in a file named "fix-mesh", make the file executable, then use it in a command-line window like so: cp mesh.xml oldmesh.xml; ./fix-mesh <oldmesh.xml >mesh.xml
#!/bin/sh
sed -e 's/ c3="\([-0-9]*\),\([-0-9]*\),\([-0-9]*\)"/ x="\1" y="\2" z="\3"'/ \
-e '/<Materials>/d' \
-e '/<\/Materials>/d' \
-e '/<Material>/d' \
-e '/<\/Material>/d' \
-e '/<Meshes>/d' \
-e '/<\/Meshes>/d' \
-e '/<Mesh/d' \
-e '/<\/Mesh>/d' \
-e '/<Fills>/d' \
-e '/<Fill/d' \
-e '/<Triangles>/i\
<Fills><Fill>'
dim3 Inspire: a modified version of an earlier release of dim3 Animator. Aleph One 20070527 can use the files that it creates without modification.
Windows
Windows only has map editors for now, and since the only Marathon game to come out on Windows was Marathon 2, there are limitations. The M2Shaper program might count as something else, but it is nowhere near as powerful as the equivalent Mac tools.
ObEd:
The "official" Marathon 2 map maker. It is good for its existence as the only known functional Windows map editor, but because it is often compared to Forge, few see it as good. If you must have Windows nativity, Obed is the only way to go. It also has a terminal editor.
Bloodhound:
Available only as source code. See I.A.2.Bloodhound for details.
The Windows/SDL map editor for Marathon made by HogePiyo of Japan. Development is continued by the open source by SourceForge.jp.
Linux
ShapeFusion is a multiplatform Shapes and Sounds editor released under the GNU GPL. It's currently under development, but many features already work.
Linux has no other utilities at the moment. However, as with Windows, one may install a Macintosh emulator and install all of the classic tools in the emulated Mac OS. Most people who take this path run BasiliskII.
Java-based
JUICE, "a Java-based editor for taking care of simple aspects of map-editing. It is under very active development and is expected to grow rapidly." Should run on any system with an up-to-date Java installation. See full article for more details.
