Porting tSxtruder for tS 6.6...

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Fenerit
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Porting tSxtruder for tS 6.6...

Post by Fenerit »

Well, being the first post in this area, there is always the possibility that one doesn't do the right thing...
However, like the title says, the question concerns the port of the Bendy's tSxtruder tSx from tS3 version to 6.x. I'd downloaded the plugin with the source from the Bendy' site:
http://www.bendys.com/3d/tsxtruder/tsxtruder.html
and while the tSx doesn't worked in 6.6. its source shown why (tS3 API's constructors for the MFC classes doesn't match with the versions above). After the changes the port is working. My further changes are:

- deactivated all the non-triangular tassellation (buggy with SDS subdivision, tS crash when one does attempt for);

- hidden all the bumps and textures' options in seat of extrusion (still buggy with the SDS); it's best to do that applies after the extrusion (stable);

- rebuilt the interface (no longer "extruded") and more friendly to understand;

- added the windows' position settings;

- added a new button ("Heightfield") as shortcut to the own favourite heightfield map generator, configurable through an INI file;

A BUG STILL REMAIN
The only occasional bug which I'm unable to solve is the tS 6.x crashing when the render visibility is set as "raycast" and when one does render the scene in such a mode while play with its own TGA files. No problem with "scanline" and Dribble. Doesn't matter whether the raytrace is on or off as well, in these latters visibility/renderer, tS 6.x is stable. The "raycast" visibility must be used only with a saved scene. If someone knows how to do to set the visibility through the tSx API, a workaround could be that of forcing the visibility' switch in seat of plugin's loading, otherwise mind at this.
tSxtruder66.png
The zip for testing (extract inside the "..\tsx\" folder and set the INI path for one of the your favourite heightfield generator: >Terragen, Wilbur, GIMP, Photoshop and so on, otherwise the button will do nothing):
tSxtruder66.zip
remember: DO NOT set the visibility as "raycast" while play with it. Before using raycast, do save the scene (once satisfied of your extrusion) .
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BNG
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Re: Porting tSxtruder for tS 6.6...

Post by BNG »

Thanks for doing this. I installed it and tried it on a cube and it seems to work as intended. Leroy.
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Fenerit
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Re: Porting tSxtruder for tS 6.6...

Post by Fenerit »

BNG wrote:Thanks for doing this. I installed it and tried it on a cube and it seems to work as intended. Leroy.
With the raycast's crash, too? :D Thanks, however.
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Re: Porting tSxtruder for tS 6.6...

Post by BNG »

Fenerit wrote:
BNG wrote:Thanks for doing this. I installed it and tried it on a cube and it seems to work as intended. Leroy.
With the raycast's crash, too? :D Thanks, however.
Huh? The only error I see is when I hit the height map button and it gives an error about some missing file other then that I can only report about it complaining about about some tga's I tried using are not 16 or 24 bit versions; I guess the one's TS 6.6 uses must be 32 bit versions. Sounds like the plugin just needs some tweaks to work better. Leroy.
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Re: Porting tSxtruder for tS 6.6...

Post by Fenerit »

If you can specify which files are you missing, I can post it (supposed then a right path be specified whitin the INI. I wonder why Micro$oft doesn't add the files about its developing programs onto its operating system. Win XP has such files; after it not. Just this fact says a tad of things, because for the user several of the files further added onto the new Win OS version are irrelevant respect to the formers.
For the rest, I wonder more about the non-crash with the raycast visibility (which I consider a bug) rispect to the non-32 bit depth of the TGA engine, since I couldn't solve the first like I can solve the second.
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Re: Porting tSxtruder for tS 6.6...

Post by BNG »

The popup error doesn't specify a file name, it just displays "Missing File." I'm using Windows XP Pro with service pack 3. Sorry, I don't a clue what to check for on the error. Leroy
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Re: Porting tSxtruder for tS 6.6...

Post by Fenerit »

Below there is a patch for the hfgen.exe. Do replace the old one to see if the error persist.
tSxtruder66_patch.zip
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Re: Porting tSxtruder for tS 6.6...

Post by BNG »

Fenerit wrote:Below there is a patch for the hfgen.exe. Do replace the old one to see if the error persist.
tSxtruder66_patch.zip
I can't help but wonder if maybe the problem is not with the plugin itself but that I don't have Terragen installed on my system. Is the plugin dependent on having it installed?
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Re: Porting tSxtruder for tS 6.6...

Post by Fenerit »

Absolutely not. Within the INI you can add: path=calc.exe and the calculator will start. This is could be a try. As for heightfield maker, you can specify the path pointing to whatelse program did the same. I.e:

path=C:\your_program_folder\your_program.exe (even though the path has spaces, do not add the quotes).

The VB exe loader doesn't include any references to OCX controls, it is just system DLL's dependent, so it doesn't requires further dependencies.
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