TIMtoE usage. Shadowspawn - 4/25/2005       rsybel@adelphia.net
http://www.angelfire.com/games4/shadowspawn/
Version 1.00

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TIMtoE is a command line (Command Prompt) program which converts the ION Storm
.TIM files into a legacy LGS intermediate .E files. Why back to the intermediate
format? Well, it's easy to open (it's ascii), you can read it and find the
names of the texture files you need, and it's easy to fix minor problems with
an editor. Besides, Eto3ds is already availble, to finish your conversion to .3ds
format. There will be a full GUI TIM <-> 3DS program available at some point,
when I figure out all the conversions and data fields.

Once you have the .E file, you can use my Eto3DS program to finish the conversion
to 3DS. You can get that program in my "Free the Objects" toolkit, from my web
site as well as others.

How to use TIMtoE. Running it without any arguments gives you the
following;

TIMtoE Version 1.00 by Shadowspawn
Usage: TimtoE Infile <Outfile>

The Infile field is required, it's the name of the .TIM file. An optional
output filename can be specified. The default is to strip the extension
from the input file name and append .E to form the output name.

First, set up a folder somewhere where you will keep a copy of TIMtoE. You'll
need to move any .TIM files you want to convert to that folder.

For an example, say you copied the AuldaleBarredDoor.TIM file from
Thief3\CONTENT\T3\StaticMeshes\DOOR_WINDOW_LOCKS\Doors_DoorFrames to your
conversion folder.

The command line would be;

TIMtoE AuldaleBarredDoor.TIM

which will create AuldaleBarredDoor.e. You can open AuldaleBarredDoor.e in any
text editor to see the texture names you'll need to work on it. This program does
nothing with the textures, you'll have to dig them out yourself
(they're in Thief3\CONTENT\T3\Textures) and convert them to something your
3D editor can handle. By design, I'm calling them .bmp format. You can set them
in the final 3DS conversion (in Eto3DS) to whatever you want, using the
/e option. (See the Eto3DS readme in the "Free the Objects" toolkit)

The texture materials are set up to use only the default texture, none of the
"extensions" are used, although they are listed as comments.

For the AuldaleBarredDoor, these are the default textures;

MATERIALS{
1,"Default1",PHONG,TMAP "GENblackMED_D.bmp",100,TRANSP 0;
2,"Default2",PHONG,TMAP "STMgoodnessB.bmp",100,TRANSP 0;
3,"Material3",PHONG,RGB 255,0,0,TRANSP 50;
}
(I'll explain the last one in a moment)

These are the other available material choices which come from the .TIM file.

//2,"STM2",PHONG,TMAP "STMdoorA_D.bmp",100,TRANSP 0;
//2,"STM2",PHONG,TMAP "GENblackMED_D.bmp",100,TRANSP 0;

//3,"GENgoodnessIRON",PHONG,TMAP "GENgoodnessIRON_D.bmp",100,TRANSP 0;
//3,"GENgoodnessIRON",PHONG,TMAP "GENblackMED_D.bmp",100,TRANSP 0;

//4,"gengoodnesswood",PHONG,TMAP "GENgoodnessIRON_D.bmp",100,TRANSP 0;
//4,"gengoodnesswood",PHONG,TMAP "GENgoodnessA_D.bmp",100,TRANSP 0;

//5,"southquater2",PHONG,TMAP "STMwallB_D.bmp",100,TRANSP 0;
//5,"southquater2",PHONG,TMAP "GENgoodnessA_D.bmp",100,TRANSP 0;

//6,"SQ1ironwork",PHONG,TMAP "GENironwork_T.bmp",100,TRANSP 0;
//6,"SQ1ironwork",PHONG,TMAP "GENgoodnessA_D.bmp",100,TRANSP 0;

//7,"OQ1_CIVgoodness",PHONG,TMAP "GENgoodnessIRON_D.bmp",100,TRANSP 0;
//7,"OQ1_CIVgoodness",PHONG,TMAP "CIVGoodness_D.bmp",100,TRANSP 0;

//8,"OQ1CHRgoodnessB",PHONG,TMAP "Black_D.bmp",100,TRANSP 0;
//8,"OQ1CHRgoodnessB",PHONG,TMAP "CHRgoodnessB_D.bmp",100,TRANSP 0;

//9,"STMgoodnessB",PHONG,TMAP "GENblackMED_D.bmp",100,TRANSP 0;
//9,"STMgoodnessB",PHONG,TMAP "STMgoodnessB_D.bmp",100,TRANSP 0;

//10,"STMwallB",PHONG,TMAP "STMwallB_D.bmp",100,TRANSP 0;
//10,"STMwallB",PHONG,TMAP "STMwallB_D.bmp",100,TRANSP 0;

//11,"Auldale1_SkinA",PHONG,TMAP "CIVwallA_D.bmp",100,TRANSP 0;
//11,"Auldale1_SkinA",PHONG,TMAP "CIVGoodness_D.bmp",100,TRANSP 0;

//12,"STMwall512B",PHONG,TMAP "STMwallB_D.bmp",100,TRANSP 0;
//12,"STMwall512B",PHONG,TMAP "STMwall512B_D.bmp",100,TRANSP 0;

//13,"docks2",PHONG,TMAP "STMwallB_D.bmp",100,TRANSP 0;
//13,"docks2",PHONG,TMAP "STMgoodnessB_D.bmp",100,TRANSP 0;

//14,"Auldale_SkinA",PHONG,TMAP "GENrockB_D.bmp",100,TRANSP 0;
//14,"Auldale_SkinA",PHONG,TMAP "CIVGoodness_D.bmp",100,TRANSP 0;

The red RGB texture is used to texture the Collision hull (if any) and any
"hard points" (3DSMax terminology).

In the case of the AuldaleBarredDoor, you would see (once you converted to 3DS)
a transparent red rectangle encasing the door object itself. This is named
"Collision", and is the collision hull the game uses (provided it isn't
overridden in the Static Mesh Browser).

There are also 3 small cubes, red in color, which indicate where the "hard points"
are. The names of these points are derived directly from the TIM file, and are
attachment points for things like door handles and locks. I'm pretty sure I don't
have all the transform matrix information available from these yet, I'll change
them later in the full TIM <-> 3DS program. For now, know where they are. I'll
come up with a good way to correctly translate them from 3DS to TIM.

The AuldaleBarredDoor has 3 hard points;
hp_handle
hp_lockA
hp_lockB

In the T3 editor, I believe you will find links by these names associated with
doors, to attach the handle and locks.



