HowTo:Edit XMESH files

Editing BFXM files (format spec)

HowTos

Add Levels Of Detail

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You can find a list of all tags supported in xmesh in this file. (though it's very cryptic for non-programmers)

Syntax of a xmesh file (examples are plucked from here and there, for full description see below):

<Mesh texture="texturename.png" sharevertex="1" scale="1.0">
<Points>
  <Point>
    <Location x="-0.000000" y="0.330000" z="1.500000"/>
    <Normal i="-2302.996338" j="-5663.045410" k="-1926.291382"/>
  </Point>
  <Point>
    <Location x="-0.000000" y="-0.330000" z="1.500000"/>
    <Normal i="-2302.996338" j="5663.045410" k="-1926.291382"/>
  </Point>
  .......
</Points>

<Polygons>
  <Tri>
    <Vertex point="2" s="0.500000" t="0.500000"/>
    <Vertex point="1" s="0.000000" t="0.500000"/>
    <Vertex point="0" s="0.500000" t="0.000000"/>
  </Tri>
  <Quad>
    <Vertex point="35" s="0.564706" t="0.282353"/>
    <Vertex point="37" s="0.627451" t="0.501961"/>
    <Vertex point="39" s="0.462745" t="0.498039"/>
    <Vertex point="41" s="0.231373" t="0.278431"/>
  </Quad>
  <Trifan>
    <Vertex point="35" s="0.564706" t="0.282353"/>
    <Vertex point="37" s="0.627451" t="0.501961"/>
    <Vertex point="39" s="0.462745" t="0.498039"/>
    <Vertex point="41" s="0.231373" t="0.278431"/>
    <Vertex point="39" s="0.462745" t="0.498039"/>
    <Vertex point="41" s="0.231373" t="0.278431"/>
  </Trifan>
  ......
</Polygons>

<Logo type="5" rotate="0.000000" size="0.500000" offset="0.010000">
  <Ref point="3" weight="1.000000" />
  <Ref point="2" weight="1.000000" />
  <Ref point="9" weight="1.000000" />
</Logo>
.......

<LOD meshfile="asteroid.lod2.xmesh" size="300"/>
<LOD meshfile="noroids.xmesh" size="25"/>
.....

<Material reflect="0.5" LightningOn="0.5" >
  <Diffuse red="1.00000" green="1.00000" blue="1.00000" alpha="1.00000" />
  <Ambient red="1.00000" green="1.00000" blue="1.00000" alpha="1.00000" />
  <Specular red="1.00000" green="1.00000" blue="1.00000" alpha="1.00000" />
</Material>

</Mesh>

Description of the XMesh file syntax

<Mesh ...> </Mesh> - Marks the begin and the end of the mesh(file)

• Scale - Sets the scaling of the mesh in the game. Values > 1 make the object bigger.
• texture0 - filename of the texture map for the mesh
• texture1 - (optional) like 'texture0', except that it is a reflectivity map. It should look fairly similar to the actual texture, just with different colors. See also VsHowtoAddPerPixelLighting.
• texture2 - (optional) like 'texture0', but this it the damagemap
• texture3 - (optional) like 'texture0', but this is the glowmap
• alphamap - (optional) This is the map to be used to set the transparency with blendmode="SRCALPHA INVSRCALPHA". It should be in the same format as the alp files (256 colour greyscale) and is used in the same way, with white solid, and black transparent
• alphamap2 - (optional) same as 'alphamap' except for reflectivity.
• alphamap3 - (optional) same as 'alphamap' except for glowmap.
• sharevertex - (optional) ???????????????
• blend - (optional) This is the transparency of the mesh.
  • "ONE ZERO" - The mesh will be solid.
  • "ONE ONE" - The mesh will be 50% transparent
  • "SRCALPHA INVSRCALPHA" - The mesh will use the alphamap file to set the transparency.
• animation - (optional) Allows texture animations. (eg animation="test.ani") See VsHowtoMakeAnimatedTextures. If used it replaces the texture tag and connected tags.
• animation2 - (optional) Same as animation except for reflectivity. See VsHowtoMakeAnimatedTextures.
• animation3 - (optional) Same as animation except for glowmap.
• <Points> </Points> - Marks the begin and the end of the point entries.
  • <Location .../> - Location of the point.
    • x,y,z - Three coordinates of the point in space.
  • <Normal .../> - Normal values
    • i,j,k - the belonging Normal - Values of the points.
• <Polygons> </Polygons> - Marks the begin and the end of the polygon entries. Polygon points must be specified in counter clockwise order.
  • <Tri> </Tri> - (optional)(repeatable)
    • <Vertex .../> - 3 of this to form a Triangle
      • point - Point number (from Points section)
      • s - texture coordinate (horiz.) at this vertex
      • t - texture coordinate (vert.) at this vertex
  • <Quad> </Quad> - (optional)(repeatable)
    • <Vertex .../> - 4 of this to form a Quad
      • point - Point number (from Points section)
      • s - texture coordinate (horiz.) at this vertex
      • t - texture coordinate (vert.) at this vertex
  • <Trifan> </Trifan> - (optional)(repeatable)
    • <Vertex .../> - 4 or more of this to form a "fan" of triangles with one common vertex (1) in the following way: Tri 1,2,3; Tri 1,3,4; Tri 1,4,5 etc..
      • point - Point number (from Points section)
      • s - texture coordinate (horiz.) at this vertex
      • t - texture coordinate (vert.) at this vertex
  • <Line> </Line> - (optional)(repeatable) - Will draw the face as simple lines (wireframe) without a texture map.
    • <Vertex .../> - an even number of this form seperate lines
      • point - Point number (from Points section)
      • s - N/A
      • t - N/A
• <LOD .../> - (optional)(repeatable) Level Of Detail entry.
  • meshfile - alternate mesh file to be used for this level of detail.
  • size - number of pixels used by the ship at which this LOD cuts in.
• <Material ...> </Material> - (optional) ?
  • reflect - reflection of environment ('0'=no, '1'=yes). results in a glassy look.
  • ~LightingOn - ?
  • ~UseNormals - (optional) Define if Vegastrike should use the normals defined in the <Points> section (can be '1' or '0')
  • <Diffuse ... /> - (optional) base color
    • red,green,blue - 0.0 to 1.0
    • alpha - 0.0 = transparent to 1.0 = opaque
  • <Ambient ... /> - (optional) base color in shadow
    • red,green,blue - 0.0 to 1.0
    • alpha - ?
  • <Specular ... /> - (optional) color of reflection (requires reflect='1')
    • red,green,blue - 0.0 to 1.0, high values result in high reflectivity
    • alpha - ?
• <Logo ... > </Logo> - (optional)(repeatable)
  • type - Logotype
    • 0 - faction logo
    • 1 - squad logo
    • 2 - (2 or higher) internal use
  • rotate - How many degrees the logo is rotated.
  • size - Size of the logo.
  • offset - Offset of polygon of logo.
  • <Ref ... /> - (optional)(repeatable) The order of the points is supposed to be clockwise. Reversing the order should flip it.
    • point - Insert the point numbers here(the reference points that the logo is weighted against).
    • weight - The weight of the points in weighted average of reference points.

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Editing BFXM files (format spec)

HowTos

Add Levels Of Detail