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Star fields are included in the background HOD, which has background meshes. Star-fields are of two types:
1. STRF (Star Fields)
These are point stars, with colour, no alpha no texture. Groups are on basis of position of stars, in different parts, quadrants, etc.
2. BGSG (Background Stars)
These are stars with a texture (star image). They have alpha, and one group has a specific texture. Groups are on basis of texture.
Since they are extremely similar, the interface to edit them is the same.
Below is the interface to edit star-fields:
Group being edited: STRF Group or BGSG Group: Select the type of object you want to edit.
Star-field object number: Select the object number you want to edit.
Add: Add a new object.
Remove: Remove the selected object.
Texture Used: Texture used by the object group (only for BGSG type of stars).
Add Star: Adds a new star in the selected object.
Remove Star: Removes the selected star from the selected object.
Editing star: Star being edited
Automatically create from TGA: Automatically create stars in the selected type from a Truevision Targa (TGA) texture
Position: Opens up SIMPLe DRAW X to choose a position for this star.
X Y Z Position: Position of this star.
R G B A Colour: Colour of this star.
Size: Size of this star.
SIMP stands for Simple Mesh, and WIRE stands for Wireframe mesh. While both are same, they are read differently. This must be indicated properly in the HOD Attributes section. SIMP\WIRE is usually used in the UI. It is observed that Wireframe HODs have a single mesh group with no name. While this isn’t a hard and fast rule, you should stick to the conventions. Following is the interface to edit SIMP\WIRE meshes:
As you can see, all of the UI here is same as for “Geometry” section. Therefore, the controls in “SIMP\WIRE” section are not discussed here, as they have the same function for this data type.
Note: In case of Wireframe meshes, while importing, if they have triangles\polygons, their edges are imported (a bit inefficiently). If they don’t have triangles, then they are imported EXACTLY as they are (vertices) into the mesh (in the HOD). If this is the case (which is for all Wireframe meshes exported from CFHodEd), then the mesh should have SAME number of vertices\normals as they are used in these types of meshes. If there aren’t equal numbers of vertices\normals, then extra vertices don’t get a normal, which is NOT a good thing!
Misc. section contains all the miscellaneous information stored in the HOD like warnings, errors occurred, name of the creator\owner, etc. (former two are esp. related to export procedure from Maya. The latter, can be edited if you are creating a new HOD. Following is the interface:
Owner’s Name: Self-explanatory.
(Following are applicable only for HODs exported from Maya)
Warnings: Lists all the warnings, if any, during export from Maya.
Errors: Lists all the errors, if any, during export from Maya.
“No Geometry in HOD (!)”
There is no valid geometry for the type of HOD selected. You need to make sure that you have relevant geometry. While this is not required, in some cases it may result crashes in HW2. If you are making a UI mesh, you must have at least one SIMP\WIRE chunk, for a BG HOD, make sure you have one BG mesh (in the BGMS section) and for ‘normal’ HODs, you’ll need at least one geometry object (in the geometry section).
“Battle Scar Reference Mesh\Multi-Mesh or Goblin count mismatch (X and Y respectively). Please correct.”
“Multi-Mesh\Goblin Name and Battle Scar Reference name mismatch for object number X (<object name 1> & <object name 2> respectively). Please correct.”
[X, Y are numbers; <object name 1>, <object name 2> are names of the concerned objects]
Tough one. CFHodEd maintains geometry and BSRMs, so the cause of these errors can only be missing BSRM chunks, when the file was opened.
“Battle Scar Reference mesh number X doesn't have vertex\face data! Please Correct.” [X is a number]
BSRMs need to have some data inside them, since they are used for making scars on ships. You need to import the same LoD0 mesh for the respective object into the concerned BSRM to fix this error.
“This file has no '[x]' tag. Please make sure that you give them a '[x]' tag” [X is a number]
Textures need to have a numeric tag in their name, within square brackets. Put a number in there! (Ref: Naming conventions for textures)
“Unknown texture format: <4 words>” [<4 words> are words denoting the format of texture]
Textures either need to be in a format of:
A. Direct Draw Surface
1. DXT1 (No Alpha)
2. DXT1a (1-bit Alpha)
3. DXT3 (Explicit Alpha)
4. DXT5 (Interpolated Alpha)
B. Truevision Targa (32-bit uncompressed TGA files only!)
Any other formats will fail to work. (Ref: Preferred format for textures)
“Couldn't extract texture to temporary location for preview!”
Make sure that:
i) You temporary folder environment variable exists. (“ %TEMP%” is the variable referenced by CFHodEd)
ii) It is present
iii) You have enough disk space
iv) CFHodEd has permission to write.
“Invalid texture detected (index: X). Please remove” [X is a number]
It may be because you didn’t replace that texture entry with a proper texture.
“Geometry Object number X (name: <object name>) is empty. Please Remove.”
“Geometry Object number X (name: <object name>) LoD Y has no parts! Please ensure that geometry is present.”
“Geometry Object number X (name: <object name>) LoD Y part Z has no vertices\faces! Please ensure that Vertices\Faces are present.”
[X, Y, Z are numbers, and <object name> is name of the concerned object]
Make sure you have geometry, mesh, vertex and face data in the concerned geometry object.
“Joint #X and Joint #Y have same names! Please fix.” [X, Y are numbers]
Make sure the two joints don’t have the same name (since it will cause a naming conflict).
“Collision Mesh number X (called as <object name>) has no vertices\faces!” [X is a number, and <object name> is name of the concerned object]
Make sure the concerned CM has mesh data. Otherwise, remove it.
“BGMS part #X is empty. Please fix...”
“BGMS part #X has no vertices. Please fix...”
“BGMS part #X has no faces. Please fix...”
[X is a number]
Make sure the concerned part has mesh information. Otherwise, remove it. But you will need at least one mesh with mesh data, if you don’t want a black Background.
“SIMP\WIRE mesh #X has no vertices. Please correct.”
“SIMP\WIRE mesh #X has no faces. Please correct.”
[X is a number]
Make sure the concerned mesh part has mesh data. Otherwise, remove it. But you will need at least one mesh with mesh data to use in the UI.
.HOD Editing continued
