Wacky Wheels level editor

Malvineous · 08-27-2011, 06:21 AM

@Phil: Am I making you jealous?? ;-)

Interestingly the computer players drive straight through the obstruction, so I'll obviously have to add support for editing their paths before custom Wacky Wheels levels will be practical.

But anyway, the map file was edited directly inside the .dat so I'm just about ready to publish the source.

Rigelatin · 08-27-2011, 06:33 AM

You're making some good work here.
Sorry if I go offtopic but.. are you adding GOT editor when you release Camoto? I read your comment at RGB Classic Games forum.

Phil Carter · 08-27-2011, 08:25 AM

Haha, you're making me a little jealous.

Of course, moving tiles around on Wacky Wheels maps is the easy part. I don't know how to make the computer players change their course. One time I swapped maps in the game by swapping the file names of two of the maps. If I remember right, the computer players behaved pretty erratically, before all driving into the corner of the map and eventually jumping the wall and driving off into the sunset. I should try it again though, because I didn't work on it for very long. I think the map I used may have been one of the death match maps, which would have had no finish line... maybe that confused the computer players.

Sooner or later, I want to change the appearance of the tiles to turn a course into a winter-themed level (snow instead of grass, ice instead of shallow water, etc). I haven't worked on it in years, but I recall having trouble with the 256-color palette, which I think changes between races so sometimes my graphics were displayed with the wrong colors.

Anyway, nice work. What OS are you running the level editor on? Linux?

Malvineous · 08-27-2011, 05:38 PM

@Rigelatin: Unfortunately only the music is supported with GoT (the map format still needs to be reverse engineered, keep an eye on GoT at the ModdingWiki for any progress) but it's definitely high on my list. It is still some time away before I will "release" Camoto, though. Hopefully within a week or so I will make the source code available for people like Phil who can compile it themselves, but there's still a lot of things I want to finish off before I make a normal download available. At the moment if someone were to download it they would give up in disgust after only a few minutes because everything is still so basic.

@Phil: According to the info on your website, the .rd file is used to build up a path for the computer players. It looks relatively straightforward, I should be able to implement it in the same way I have defined "paths" to control Dangerous Dave monsters. Of course the UI for viewing and altering paths is one of the many things that don't exist yet...

I haven't tried changing palettes, but it doesn't surprise me they are set per-level. Hopefully this is something Camoto will eventually allow you to edit though, as soon as I find out where the palette data is stored (assuming it's not using the one stored in the .pcx file where the tiles are.)

And yes, this is all running under Linux, using wxWidgets. I have had huge problems trying to get anything to compile under Windows (even the command line apps like 'gamearch' mostly just crash immediately) but that's a low priority anyway until I'm happy enough with everything to make the first non-beta release. I'm hoping you'll be willing to try out the git version though, because I think you're one of the few who can actually compile and run it!

Phil Carter · 08-28-2011, 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Malvineous

@Phil: According to the info on your website, the .rd file is used to build up a path for the computer players.

Whoa, I need to check my website more often.

I guess I never looked too closely at page—it’s some information that someone else figured out years ago, and he sent it to me.

I think it’s time I tried my hand at level editing again. I’ll do it the old-fashioned way with gamearch for now, but I would definitely like to take a look at Camoto once you make it available.

Malvineous · 08-29-2011, 06:03 AM

If you are going to do some level editing the old-fashioned way, don't spend too much time on the map tiles - because the format is fully described and Camoto can already edit that. But the other files still have some unknown fields which may have to be figured out before Camoto can edit them, so if you are able to fill in a few of the gaps in the info on your website that would be very useful.

Darkman 4 · 09-02-2011, 03:47 AM

Any progress on editing the other driver's paths?

Malvineous · 09-03-2011, 07:47 AM

Unfortunately not yet - I don't really have the time to work on it much during the week, so it's only weekends when I can get anything done. It looks straightforward enough though, so I don't think there'll be any problems implementing it. Still not sure of the best way to present it in the GUI though - perhaps a bunch of little squares or arrows at each target point, joined together by lines. Dragging each point around would change the path. You'd have to be able to select multiple points to drag though, otherwise it would be very tedious...anyway I'm open to suggestions on that one.

On another note I've published the source for Camoto Studio now so anyone running Linux can start playing around with the GUI as it stands currently, or perhaps someone experienced with cross-platform stuff can see if they can figure out how to compile a Windows version. Maybe by the time someone can get that working the GUI will be ready to use ;-)

Malvineous · 09-05-2011, 06:17 AM

@Darkman 4: I had some success with the computer player paths, it looks like they all follow a slight variation of a central path. Here is a screenshot of the path overlaid on top of the first level.

Phil Carter · 09-12-2011, 12:08 AM

Malvineous is still working dutifully on his level editor, and I've been figuring out some of the file formats used by Wacky Wheels. I just found out how to set your lawnmower to drive at whatever speed you want, up to 32,767 mph. See the Wacky Wheels ModdingWiki page for details. No user-friendly editor for it yet, though...

Malvineous · 09-12-2011, 04:38 PM

Your edit summary for that change really made me laugh: "32,767 mph lawnmowers. Wikipedia says that's faster than escape velocity".

Let me know if you figure out what that unknown UINT32LE is for in the .rd file, I'm not sure whether it's needed to be able to modify the computer path.

Darkman 4 · 10-02-2011, 03:14 AM

Looking good so far. Being able to make my own levels for a classic Mario Kart-style game like Wacky Wheels is always something I thought would be cool.

Malvineous · 10-02-2011, 05:45 AM

Yes progress is slowly but surely being made. The path editing (for the computer players) is now done, it looks like this.

I still have to add a tile view, so you can pick which tiles to place into a map - at the moment you can only copy and paste the tiles that are already in the map. Once that's done it will hopefully be enough to properly make your own levels.

I have just added support for exporting as well as importing full-screen graphics through the GUI too, so they can now be modified. I still have to do the same for tilesets before it will be possible to change the graphics that appear in levels, but that should be a fairly small job.

If anyone is interested in progress, I am experimenting with posting updates to a Twitter account so you can follow @CamotoModding to see how things are going, if that's your sort of thing ;-)

Nemesis 01 · 10-04-2011, 11:21 PM

I always dreamed of a Wacky Wheels level editor when I was a kid! Good luck with the AI paths!

Wacky Wheels was such a great game... No, it _IS_ a great game! I still have my CD and played it on DOSBox last time a year or so ago. I hope it gets added on Good Old Games someday.

08-27-2011, 06:21 AM	#1
Malvineous	Wacky Wheels level editor @Phil: Am I making you jealous?? ;-) Interestingly the computer players drive straight through the obstruction, so I'll obviously have to add support for editing their paths before custom Wacky Wheels levels will be practical. But anyway, the map file was edited directly inside the .dat so I'm just about ready to publish the source.

08-27-2011, 06:33 AM	#2
Rigelatin	Re: Wacky Wheels level editor You're making some good work here. Sorry if I go offtopic but.. are you adding GOT editor when you release Camoto? I read your comment at RGB Classic Games forum.

08-27-2011, 08:25 AM	#3
Phil Carter	Re: Wacky Wheels level editor Haha, you're making me a little jealous. Of course, moving tiles around on Wacky Wheels maps is the easy part. I don't know how to make the computer players change their course. One time I swapped maps in the game by swapping the file names of two of the maps. If I remember right, the computer players behaved pretty erratically, before all driving into the corner of the map and eventually jumping the wall and driving off into the sunset. I should try it again though, because I didn't work on it for very long. I think the map I used may have been one of the death match maps, which would have had no finish line... maybe that confused the computer players. Sooner or later, I want to change the appearance of the tiles to turn a course into a winter-themed level (snow instead of grass, ice instead of shallow water, etc). I haven't worked on it in years, but I recall having trouble with the 256-color palette, which I think changes between races so sometimes my graphics were displayed with the wrong colors. Anyway, nice work. What OS are you running the level editor on? Linux? __________________ Phil's Wacky Wheels Site

08-27-2011, 05:38 PM	#4
Malvineous	Re: Wacky Wheels level editor @Rigelatin: Unfortunately only the music is supported with GoT (the map format still needs to be reverse engineered, keep an eye on GoT at the ModdingWiki for any progress) but it's definitely high on my list. It is still some time away before I will "release" Camoto, though. Hopefully within a week or so I will make the source code available for people like Phil who can compile it themselves, but there's still a lot of things I want to finish off before I make a normal download available. At the moment if someone were to download it they would give up in disgust after only a few minutes because everything is still so basic. @Phil: According to the info on your website, the .rd file is used to build up a path for the computer players. It looks relatively straightforward, I should be able to implement it in the same way I have defined "paths" to control Dangerous Dave monsters. Of course the UI for viewing and altering paths is one of the many things that don't exist yet... I haven't tried changing palettes, but it doesn't surprise me they are set per-level. Hopefully this is something Camoto will eventually allow you to edit though, as soon as I find out where the palette data is stored (assuming it's not using the one stored in the .pcx file where the tiles are.) And yes, this is all running under Linux, using wxWidgets. I have had huge problems trying to get anything to compile under Windows (even the command line apps like 'gamearch' mostly just crash immediately) but that's a low priority anyway until I'm happy enough with everything to make the first non-beta release. I'm hoping you'll be willing to try out the git version though, because I think you're one of the few who can actually compile and run it!

08-29-2011, 06:03 AM	#6
Malvineous	Re: Wacky Wheels level editor If you are going to do some level editing the old-fashioned way, don't spend too much time on the map tiles - because the format is fully described and Camoto can already edit that. But the other files still have some unknown fields which may have to be figured out before Camoto can edit them, so if you are able to fill in a few of the gaps in the info on your website that would be very useful.

09-02-2011, 03:47 AM	#7
Darkman 4	Re: Wacky Wheels level editor Any progress on editing the other driver's paths?

09-03-2011, 07:47 AM	#8
Malvineous	Re: Wacky Wheels level editor Unfortunately not yet - I don't really have the time to work on it much during the week, so it's only weekends when I can get anything done. It looks straightforward enough though, so I don't think there'll be any problems implementing it. Still not sure of the best way to present it in the GUI though - perhaps a bunch of little squares or arrows at each target point, joined together by lines. Dragging each point around would change the path. You'd have to be able to select multiple points to drag though, otherwise it would be very tedious...anyway I'm open to suggestions on that one. On another note I've published the source for Camoto Studio now so anyone running Linux can start playing around with the GUI as it stands currently, or perhaps someone experienced with cross-platform stuff can see if they can figure out how to compile a Windows version. Maybe by the time someone can get that working the GUI will be ready to use ;-)

09-05-2011, 06:17 AM	#9
Malvineous	Re: Wacky Wheels level editor @Darkman 4: I had some success with the computer player paths, it looks like they all follow a slight variation of a central path. Here is a screenshot of the path overlaid on top of the first level.

09-12-2011, 12:08 AM	#10
Phil Carter	Re: Wacky Wheels level editor Malvineous is still working dutifully on his level editor, and I've been figuring out some of the file formats used by Wacky Wheels. I just found out how to set your lawnmower to drive at whatever speed you want, up to 32,767 mph. See the Wacky Wheels ModdingWiki page for details. No user-friendly editor for it yet, though... __________________ Phil's Wacky Wheels Site

09-12-2011, 04:38 PM	#11
Malvineous	Re: Wacky Wheels level editor Your edit summary for that change really made me laugh: "32,767 mph lawnmowers. Wikipedia says that's faster than escape velocity". Let me know if you figure out what that unknown UINT32LE is for in the .rd file, I'm not sure whether it's needed to be able to modify the computer path. __________________ ModdingWiki \| Camoto \| @CamotoModding \| RGB Classic Games modding forum

10-02-2011, 03:14 AM	#12
Darkman 4	Re: Wacky Wheels level editor Looking good so far. Being able to make my own levels for a classic Mario Kart-style game like Wacky Wheels is always something I thought would be cool.

10-02-2011, 05:45 AM	#13
Malvineous	Re: Wacky Wheels level editor Yes progress is slowly but surely being made. The path editing (for the computer players) is now done, it looks like this. I still have to add a tile view, so you can pick which tiles to place into a map - at the moment you can only copy and paste the tiles that are already in the map. Once that's done it will hopefully be enough to properly make your own levels. I have just added support for exporting as well as importing full-screen graphics through the GUI too, so they can now be modified. I still have to do the same for tilesets before it will be possible to change the graphics that appear in levels, but that should be a fairly small job. If anyone is interested in progress, I am experimenting with posting updates to a Twitter account so you can follow @CamotoModding to see how things are going, if that's your sort of thing ;-) __________________ ModdingWiki \| Camoto \| @CamotoModding \| RGB Classic Games modding forum

10-04-2011, 11:21 PM	#14
Nemesis 01	Re: Wacky Wheels level editor I always dreamed of a Wacky Wheels level editor when I was a kid! Good luck with the AI paths! Wacky Wheels was such a great game... No, it _IS_ a great game! I still have my CD and played it on DOSBox last time a year or so ago. I hope it gets added on Good Old Games someday.