XML:ONLV

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Custom levels that have been created so far:

• Old China
• Maze
• Arena
• Hexagon
• Junkyard
• Mini-Partenon

OCF threads about level creation:

• "Creating the Lair - A level tutorial"
• "Creating new levels"
• "Create levels with pathfinding grids"
• "More questions about levels"
• "Sketchup tutorials for making levels"
• "Modding Existing levels - Beta" ("Moveable furniture" post)

wiki pages about levels:

• AE:Levels
• AE:Lightmapping_levels
• SketchUp tutorials and tips

For praxis information see: "Creating the Lair - A level tutorial" link.

Level import with onisplit 0.9.82.0

Demo files can be downloaded here.

First put the new "OniSplit.exe" into the second "lab" folder alongside the xml files.

There's a "build.cmd" file. The imported lines are the following:

onisplit -create:level out lab.xml
onisplit -import:pc out level3_Final.dat

The first line create the *.oni files from a master.xml file, in this case "lab.xml". If final, the oni files can be put into a new AE package.

The second line creates level archives which can be used for fast tests. They don't require you to install a package.

Instead of "nosep" you can now also use "pc" for the import. Mac does still use "sep".

If the game crashes while loading (at ca. 5-10% progress), check if all textures were inside the "out" folder.

You can extract the AKEV file to xml, then search for "TXMP".

"TXMP_marker_door" and "TXMP_marker_ghost" will be missing in the demo's "out" folder.

Use placeholder files to bypass the problem.

the master xml file

The master xml file name also determine the bsl folder name and the AKEV and ONLV file name in the output folder.

shared folder

The master xml file can link to other xml files, most of them are object collections. Some resources used by those xml files can be found in a "shared" folder. OniSplit integrates 3D content (OFGA and M3GM) into the AKEV and copies the textures into the output folder. Unused resources in the shared folder will be ignored. That way the final level archive / AE package contains only necessary files which saves the end-user space.

In the demo are various subfolders in shared folder: consoles, doors, furniture, triggers and turrets. Following file types comes there without their file prefixes: CONS, DOOR, TRIG, OFGA. (Test todo: import files that have those prefixes.)

texture section

Textures become imported as they are; in the texture section you declare exceptions.

• There you can give a texture a special format, for example "bgra4444", to make it transparent.
• If the texture comes with gunkflag "NoCollision" then all objects with that texture will have no collision. Characters would fall through it.

Both makes sense, let's say, for a water-like substance. (The biolab use this for an area with green acid.)

furniture

The AKEV core geometry is more or less unique while this furniture file adds standard objects to it.

Between the <Class> </Class> tags is always a link to an OFGA file.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Oni>
   <Objects>

       <Furniture>
           <Header>
               <Flags>Gunk</Flags>
               <Position>-62.692 -29 108.35</Position>
               <Rotation>181.522 356.021 178.114</Rotation>
           </Header>
           <OSD>
               <Class>furniture/V_tctf_bigvan.oni</Class>
           </OSD>
       </Furniture>

   </Objects>
</Oni>

physics

This file is for objects with "physics". Unlike AKEV core geometry or furniture, those objects can be animated and made hidden via bsl commands and object's script id.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Oni>
   <Physics>

       <Object Name="fan1">
           <ScriptId>42</ScriptId>
           <Flags>FaceCollision</Flags>
           <Position>20 10 0</Position>
           <Rotation>0 0 0</Rotation>
           <Import Path="objects/fan2.dae" />
       </Object>

   </Physics>
</Oni>

Level import with onisplit 0.9.68.0

(This section refers to the last version of onisplit v0.9.68.0, no others.)

Levels can be created with a xml master file. The name of that file determines the BSL folder name (doublecheck this later).

onisplit -create:level onis master.xml

Onisplit can use already created *.oni files inside the classes folder, however not all file types can be used.

Ignored file types:

• CONS
• OBAN
• OFGA
• TXMP
• ?

Allowed file types:

• M3GM
• ?

The xml master file links to dae and other xml files. Its used by onisplit to create *.oni files of ONLV, AKEV, TXMP and the object collections.

example of master.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<Oni>
   <Level SharedPath="../classes">
       <Environment>
       <Model>
           <Import>level.dae</Import>
       </Model>
       <Rooms>
           <Import>level_bnv.dae</Import>
       </Rooms>
       <Textures>
           <Import>textures.xml</Import>
       </Textures>
       </Environment>
       <Sky>grimmnight</Sky>
       <Objects>
       	<Import>Objects.xml</Import>
       	<Import>BINACJBOCharacter.xml</Import>
       	<Import>BINACJBODoor.xml</Import>
       	<Import>BINACJBOFlag.xml</Import>  
       	<Import>BINACJBOTriggerVolume.xml</Import> 
       	<Import>BINACJBOConsole.xml</Import> 
       	<Import>BINACJBOFurniture.xml</Import> 
       	<Import>BINACJBOParticle.xml</Import>
       	<Import>BINACJBOPatrol Path.xml</Import>
       	<Import>BINACJBOPowerUp.xml</Import>
       	<Import>BINACJBOTurret.xml</Import>
       	<Import>BINACJBOTrigger.xml</Import>
       	<Import>BINACJBOParticle.xml</Import>
       	<Import>BINACJBOSound.xml</Import>
       </Objects>
   </Level>
</Oni>

example of textures.xml

<GunkFlags> should be AGQG flags of AKEV, also listed at "onisplit -help enums"

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<Oni>
   <Textures>
   	<Texture Name="china_lava">
           <GunkFlags>NoCollision</GunkFlags>
           <Format>RGBA</Format>
           <Image>china/TXMPchina_lava.jpg</Image>
       </Texture>
   </Textures>
</Oni>

example of Objects.xml

<Geometry> holds a OFGA file linking to M3GM file(s)

<Flags> should be OBOA flags of ONLV, also listed at "onisplit -help enums"

<Physics> should be OBOA physics flags of ONLV, also listed at "onisplit -help enums"

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Oni>
   <Physics>
	<Object Name="single_heli_rotorblades_center">
               <Geometry>heli_rotorblades</Geometry>
               <Animation>single_heli_rotorblades_center</Animation>
               <Flags>InUse</Flags>
               <Physics>Animated</Physics>
               <ScriptId>1</ScriptId>
               <Position>800 600 2420</Position>
               <Rotation>-0.07206057 0.656310439 -0.06319542 0.7483784</Rotation>
               <Scale>3.69</Scale>
      	</Object>
   </Physics>
</Oni>

additional information

• the import doesn't work with empty skybox tag; <Sky>clear</Sky> helps here (or maybe onisplit just wants a name and doesn't care if the resource really exists?)
• triangle limit: ca. 520.000 (500.000 to be on save side)
• actually this is not about the import but when the triangles are packed too tight then the cam will look at too many of them and glitches appear: the visible GQs limit is ca. 16.000, sooner or later higher numbers will cause render bugs and call BSL message "Exceeded max visible GQs number" (you can decrease the gs_farclipplane_set value to avoid that problem)
• also, keep in mind that characters are visible only within 4099|4099|4099 and -4099|-4099|-4099 world units
• geometry stops at ca. X=4228|Z=4228 and -4228|-4228 (height not tested)

ONLV: Oni Level

skybox file ONSKafternoon

file structure

• ONLV instance

<Name> - this is your BSL folder (save game slot and level number are defined inside ONLD)

<Environment> - link to AKEV file (solid level geometry)

<Objects> - link to OBOA instance (animated level geometry, sometimes particles)

<SkyBox> - link to ONSK file, originally there are 4 files in level 0: crapsky, night, sunset, afternoon

<Characters> - link to AISA file (pendant of BINACJBOCharacter file), holds character spawn collection

<ObjectQuadMap> - link to ONOA instance (maybe spawnable / function holding objects ?)

<Particles> - link to ENVP instance (pendant of BINACJBOParticle), holds particle spawn collection, door lock lights are typically stored inside ENVP

<Corpses> - link to CRSA instance (corpses consist of 19 body parts)

• OBOA instance

...

• ONOA instance

...

• ENVP instance

...

• CRSA instance

...

• M3GA

...

• IDXA

...

flags in the <OBOAObject> section

these are also used for the physics.xml file

<Flags>

InUse

NoCollision

NoGravity

FaceCollision

<PhysicsType>

None

Static

Linear

Animated

Newton

Sample code from a trimmed warehouse level.

[...] mean another Corpse code block. There are usually 20 in total. They are somehow needed to prevent bugs.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Oni>
   <ONLV id="0">
       <Name>EnvWarehouse</Name>
       <Environment>AKEVEnvWarehouse</Environment>
       <Objects>#1</Objects>
       <SkyBox>ONSKafternoon</SkyBox>
       <Characters>AISAlevel1_scripts</Characters>
       <ObjectQuadMap>#2</ObjectQuadMap>
       <Particles>#3</Particles>
       <Corpses>#4</Corpses>
   </ONLV>
   <OBOA id="1">
       <Objects />
   </OBOA>
   <ONOA id="2">
       <Elements />
   </ONOA>
   <ENVP id="3">
       <Particles />
   </ENVP>
   <CRSA id="4">
       <FixedCount>0</FixedCount>
       <UsedCount>0</UsedCount>
       <Corpses>
           <CRSACorpse>
               <CharacterClass></CharacterClass>
               <Transforms>
                   <Matrix4x3>0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0</Matrix4x3>
                   <Matrix4x3>0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0</Matrix4x3>
                   <Matrix4x3>0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0</Matrix4x3>
                   <Matrix4x3>0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0</Matrix4x3>
                   <Matrix4x3>0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0</Matrix4x3>
                   <Matrix4x3>0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0</Matrix4x3>
                   <Matrix4x3>0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0</Matrix4x3>
                   <Matrix4x3>0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0</Matrix4x3>
                   <Matrix4x3>0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0</Matrix4x3>
                   <Matrix4x3>0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0</Matrix4x3>
                   <Matrix4x3>0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0</Matrix4x3>
                   <Matrix4x3>0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0</Matrix4x3>
                   <Matrix4x3>0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0</Matrix4x3>
                   <Matrix4x3>0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0</Matrix4x3>
                   <Matrix4x3>0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0</Matrix4x3>
                   <Matrix4x3>0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0</Matrix4x3>
                   <Matrix4x3>0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0</Matrix4x3>
                   <Matrix4x3>0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0</Matrix4x3>
                   <Matrix4x3>0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0</Matrix4x3>
               </Transforms>
               <BoundingBox>
                   <Min>0 0 0</Min>
                   <Max>0 0 0</Max>
               </BoundingBox>
           </CRSACorpse>
          [...]
       </Corpses>
   </CRSA>
</Oni>

not empty OBOA - example from level 19

(exported ONLV files seem to contain 32 empty <OBOAObject> sections)

If I remember correctly this one is only an object for the cutscene. Maybe the real floor(s) (those with collision) can be tracked down with the id used by bsl.

           <OBOAObject>
               <Geometry>#347</Geometry>
               <Animation>OBANDishFloor01</Animation>
               <Particle></Particle>
               <Flags>InUse</Flags>
               <DoorGunkId>0</DoorGunkId>
               <DoorId>0</DoorId>
               <PhysicsType>Animated</PhysicsType>
               <ScriptId>204</ScriptId>
               <Position>-183 99.59154 -2501.25</Position>
               <Rotation>0.7071067 -1.545431E-08 1.545431E-08 0.7071068</Rotation>
               <Scale>1</Scale>
               <Transform>1 -4.371139E-08 -5.21253064E-16 0 1.19248806E-08 -1 4.371139E-08 1 1.19248806E-08 -183 99.5815353 -2501.25</Transform>
               <Name>object_DishFloor01</Name>
           </OBOAObject>

not empty ENVP - example from level 19

           <ENVPParticle>
               <Class>locklight</Class>
               <Tag>mainchamber_locklight01</Tag>
               <Transform>1 -4.559326E-08 1.35404189E-05 -1.354042E-05 -2.03512554E-05 1 -4.53176945E-08 -1 -2.03512554E-05 -391.790527 58.0480423 -1364.412</Transform>
               <DecalScale>1 1</DecalScale>
               <Flags></Flags>
           </ENVPParticle>

<Transform> - the last 3 values are the position (x, y, z)

<Flags>

NotInitiallyCreated

spawnable geometry

In Oni's last level, the platform of the big satellite dish can be spawned/deleted from BSL. Characters on it will fall down when the platform becomes deleted (tested long time ago).

If OBOA import is not allowed maybe we can add more such things with the physics.xml and then use the <ScriptId> for BSL?

Possible applications:

• grids in front of ventilation shafts (a little door object should be a good alternative here)
• ground/ceiling/objects for cutscenes that become partially destroyed
• destrucable walls like in Deus Ex 3 (trigger volume, replacing punch anim with punch-through-wall anim)

---

Perhaps this will help: http://oni.bungie.org/community/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=36765#p36765

In the textures.xml file you can set the environment's collision info by texture.

Also, you can add OBAN in the physics.xml file like this, though I have not fully tested this.

       <Object Name="object_Zipthing01">
           <ScriptId>71</ScriptId>
           <Geometry>M3GMZipthing01.oni</Geometry>
           <Animation>OBANZipthing01.oni</Animation>
       </Object>

If you extract the AKEV for the compound level, the big dish is part of the environment. env_show is used to show and hide the dish. However, currently, OniSplit does not support that feature.

EdT 01:11, 6 June 2012 (CEST)

Okay, i see, another thing to wait for. Will test the physics.xml a bit during weekend. paradox-01 12:08, 6 June 2012 (CEST)

breakable glass with BSL recognition

Not tested.

BSL command:

env_broken (ID_1, ID_N)

It's used in the training level and determines if glass got shot through or not. How do we set such things up?

texture exchange

Not tested.

(OBD:IDXA_AKEV_2)

BSL command supported by PC and Mac:

env_texswap ID texture

Might be useful to switch on/off static and animated textures. (News screen: running or off or smashed. Lava stream: flowing or stagnating or cooled down. Etc.)

AKEV: Akira Environment

Somehow I would like to have the AKEV and ONLV information on one page (like the sound stuff on SNDD). Let's see how this turns out.

AGQG flags - appears to be used by textures.xml <GunkFlags> (just some or all of them ?)

DoorFrame (invisible quad that uses the TXMP_DOOR_FRAME texture)

Ghost (pathfinding volume separator, see AKVA etc)

StairsUp

StairsDown

Stairs

Triangle

Transparent

TwoSided

NoCollision

Invisible

NoObjectCollision

NoCharacterCollision

NoOcclusion

Danger

Horizontal (slope > 70°)

Vertical (slope < 70°)

GridIgnore

NoDecals

Furniture

ProjectionBit0

ProjectionBit1

SoundTransparent

Impassable

(Copied from hex page. Is this still up to date ?)

Triangles

Many quads are in fact triangles: the last two vertices have the same PNTA and TXCA entries, and the ARGB color is (255, 205, 205, 205) (80% gray, 100% opaque). There is also a flag specifying that.

Ghost, StairsUp, StairsDown

These flags are used for BNV adjacencies, see AKAA. Stairs up/down are used instead of Ghost when the quad is placed at the bottom/top of the stairs. These quads are not visibile. The script variable env_show_ghostgqs is intended to control the visibility of such quads but it requires "debug" level files.

There are a couple of ghost quads that aren't referenced from AKAA. It's likely that those quads are useless.

DoorFrame

This appears to be another type of "ghost" quad (its visibility is controlled by the same env_show_ghostgqs variable). Sometimes it is used together with the Ghost flag but not always. Only the door frames that also have the Ghost flag are used as adjacencies so it's unclear if the rest of the door frames serve any purpose. In fact it appears that this flag has no effect other than making the quad invisible.

Stairs

This is applied to the invisible ramp quad that covers the stairs. In general this flag is also applied to the visible stairs geometry but there are some exceptions (errors? see level 19 stairs).

NoOcclusion

This flag tells the octtree raycaster to ignore the quad when doing ray/quad intersections. This is tipically used for small quads that are unlikely to affect the overall environment visibility.

ProjectionBit

These 2 flags can be 00, 01, 10 and 11. That means the values 0,1,2 and 3 which have the following meanings:

• 0 - No projection plane specified. One can be computed if needed. Never used in files, may slow down the game if used.
• 1 - Project quad on XY plane.
• 2 - Project quad on XZ plane.
• 3 - Project quad on YZ plane.

The projection plane is used to determine if a point is in a quad (this point is usually the result of an intersection between a ray and the quad plane).

GridIgnore

Appears to be unused. Its likely purpose is to mark quads that don't count as obstacles in the pathfinding grid.

Danger

Appears to be unused. Its likely purpose is to create danger areas in the pathfinding grids. Usually there's a trigger volume nearby that hurts/kills the character. This quads are always invisible.

Invisible

Invisible quads have a couple of different uses:

• block player access to some parts of the environment
• stairs ramp
• collision geometry (used by some "complex" furniture)
• danger quads (see above)
• some other apparently useless quads

Furniture

Set for all quads that belong to a furniture object. It doesn't appear to be used. It is also redundant since all the furniture quads have an object id.

NoDecals

Prevents the creation of decals on the quad. Set for door quads because the decals would disappear when the door opens. That's why shooting a door doesn't leave a mark.

Impassable

Probably used by forcefields and end of level boundaries (like in state archive level).

links to free texture resources

• various game textures
• skies and objects of the solar system
• skies
• skies
• CG Textures for 3D
• to be expanded

ideas to test out

seamless, individual ground textures

screenshot from Aion: individual textures side by side

Could be achieved by breaking the ground mesh into the single polygons and then 3D paint them. The amount of hand work (breaking, applying a material, UV, ...) would make everyone go crazy so some scripting would be needed to reduce the work to a minimum. Mod Tool supports VBS, python and java script. The script could be bound to two buttons: one for breaking everything, another for breaking only a selection of polygons. Mudbox doesn't seem to support any scripting so the scene would need to get transfered back to Mod Tool (easier with the retail/student version). Mod Tool seems to have a buggy texture export. I was able to get only png images and those gets their black parts as alpha exported. So here we need extra caution. A script in PS could add a black layer to each image and then do the final texture export.

A bunch of links to scripting pages:

• http://softimage.wiki.softimage.com/sdkdocs/script_editor_RunningScripts.htm
• http://www.adobe.com/devnet/photoshop/scripting.html
• http://matthiasschuetz.com/photoshop-eigene-scripts-und-panels
• http://www.tutorialized.com/view/tutorial/How-to-apply-an-action-to-multiple-images-using-scripts/75340

pathfinging on uneven ground

It would be ridicules if Oni don't allow AIs to run over a hill. If one ramp is okay, why not two ramps or more in a row/next to each other. The idea simply deserves to become double-checked.

ideas that has been tested

sky dome - it's a fail

sky box

sky dome

Maybe it's possible to create a very big sphere or dome that covers the entire level (and let Oni's skybox unused). If it's doable it could avoid ugly lines of the skybox coming from OpenGL rendering.

Update: 12 June 2012

New issues appeared that need to take care about:

• brightness:

The brightness can be somewhat influenced by BSL commands like with gl_fog_..., gs_farclipplane and must be set adequately.

• texture size:

The dome seen in the screenshot has a texture size of 512x512 and hence looks quite pixelated.

The problem might be solved by splitting the dome into sectors and giving each sector its own texture.

gl_fog_start=.99999

test level over HERE

Update: 14 June 2012

• texture boarder and distortions:

Texture boarders have darker pixels so the UV must not reach them. Also after splitting the textures inside the editor there will be little distortions but they are still noticeable enough to make the sky look odd. Fine-tuning the UVs didn't really help.

• The gs_farclipplane max value makes the size of the dome quite limited: I think that the max radius here is somewhere between 2500 and 5000 world units.

I consider this as a fail. Oni would need bigger view range and a texture support of 2096x2096.

ideas for onisplit

Neo might update OniSplit so that it is searching specific strings in object names of a dae level file.

Cutscene cams

• string "cutsceneN" (e.g. cutscene231) -> OBAN

Doors

• string "door*" (e.g. doorBlastDoorMX2000) -> DOOR + BINACJBODoor + OBAN
  • but if the string is "door*cloneN" then the DOOR and OBAN creation gets skipped (e.g. doorBlastDoorMX2000clone3), only class name, rotation and position get written into BINACJBODoor

Animated objects

• string "*_BeforeAnim": that's first static object with collision data (e.g. BlueCar1_BeforeAnim)
• string "*_InAnim": that's the animated cutscene object (e.g. BlueCar1_InAnim)
• string "*_AfterAnim": that's the second static object with collision data (e.g BlueCar1_AfterAnim)

Fake-destructible objects

• string "*_BeforeAnim": that's first static object with collision data (e.g. ConcreteWall2_BeforeAnim)
• string "*_FragmentN": that's the group of animated cutscene objects (fragments of the static object) (e.g. ConcreteWall2_Frag5)
• string "*_ColFragN": that's the group of static objects with collision data (e.g. ConcreteWall2_ColFrag5)
• string "*_NoColFragN": that's the group of static objects without character collision (e.g. ConcreteWall2_NoColFrag5)
  NoColFrag would be useful if the fragments are quite numerous and small and hence would pose a problem to the pathfinding