Dungeon Builder 1.9

[Windcatcher]

There is only one change, but it's a big one that should allow a lot more variation in the types of dungeons you can create. Version 1.9 has a redesigned polygon generation core that lets walls be something other than perfectly flat (and vertical). This version allows support for rounded walls.

When you select a corridor, a series of drop-downs will appear for the ceiling, floor, left, and right walls, respectively. For each wall, you can set it to either flat or round, where round walls bulge outward along an arc. The default sweep angle is 90 degrees (so if you made all four walls round you'd get a perfect circle), but next to each drop-down is a configuration button that lets you change the angle in 5 degree increments between 5 and 175 degrees. A 5 degree sweep would look almost flat, while a 175 degree sweep would create a high arch.

Eventually I want to expand this to support irregular walls for a natural cavern look, but this is a first start. I also will need to add support for pushing side corridors in from the wall edge (at the intersection point) so vaulted ceilings become possible.

The end walls (front and back) still have to be flat for now, and rooms haven't changed in that their walls are still all flat. In future versions I'd like to expand those as well, but the current feature is now perfected so there's no reason to sit on it.

Dungeon Builder 1.9 is available here, and I'd like to remind everyone that it isn't tied to EQ in any way (it exports standard .3DS files). If you want to use it for any other projects, feel free (and feedback is, of course, always appreciated).

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=88515&package_id=128908&release_id=358220

[Belfedia]

Yeahhh nice :))))

[JrFaust]

I was playing with 1.9 this weekend and I found an issue. I can make two corridors and all things look fine. When I make any more corridors all the textures in that corridor and all other after turn to the predominant color of the texture last chosen. Some times I can walk through the walls of thoes corridors but I'm not sure if the two are related.

[Windcatcher]

The collision avoidance code in Dungeon Builder isn't perfect...it's just an approximation of "real" collision avoidance code. The real thing would use a movement sphere and check it against every polygon that intersects it...I have code elsewhere for that, but for something like Dungeon Builder it isn't really necessary. When you export your zone to .S3D the client will use its own collision avoidance code and you should be fine.

If you have any walls where the texture wasn't set yet, Dungeon Builder's engine tends to use the last texture loaded. It has to do with the way the 3D engine was implemented, and basically it doesn't unbind textures if there is none: it merely uses the one that was last bound. When I build dungeons I usually first click Edit...Set all dungeon textures to make sure that every wall has something assigned to it. There is a checkbox in the dialog box that pops up that will preserve any existing assigned textures so you won't lose any that you have already set. Once I've done that, I then click Edit...Set individual textures (or just click the toolbar icon) to change walls one at a time.

When you export your dungeon, Dungeon Builder will warn you if there are any walls that don't have any assigned textures and will color them either red or blue in the .3DS file (it's red for walls or blue for ceilings and floors, or vice versa -- I forget which). When you import the dungeon in OpenZone, they will be apparent. I should probably get Dungeon Builder to do the red/blue thing when you are walking around your dungeon to also serve to tip you off about unset textures. I'll take a look and see if it's possible for 2.0.

[JrFaust]

Well at first I didn't fully follow what you meant but none the less I did get the other corridors to show textures correctly using the "Set all dungeon textures."

Thanks for the help

Oh this is a lazyness question but is there a way to change the elevation that corridors start and finish at?

Thanks again.

[Windcatcher]

You can move any handle up or down by holding down the Shift key as you move it. And yeah...it's in the help file by the way :D