Gametoast has launched the first real modding tool for SWBF , the Bviewer. Everything in game is extractable and now the application has a more user friendly environment.

...DOWNLOAD BVIEWER 1.45 (http://www.gametoast.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Downloads&file=index&req=getit&lid=9)

Always check for newer versions.

Information on Bviewer:

Bviewer Official Topic (http://www.gametoast.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=42)



Bviewer can extract load files, map level files, any .lvl file and simply lists the available textures in that file in order and it now extracts the the 2nd face textures that we previously werent extracting, this will allow for mods to be seen at all video settings in the game. It is recommended to have a 2.0 Ghz or better with 512 ram for faster processing results while using Bviewer.

Bviewer allows full extraction . Then using applications (I used adobe photoshop with .dds extentions to edit my mod from the bviewer) then hex edit it back into the game.

http://www.gametoast.com/files/screenshots/bview.gif) Bviewer but this is older Build...now has newer interface...

New Pics from Friday Oct 23rd. These are not new skins , these are swapped skins that simply replace the existing with another skin from elsewhere in the game.

Darth Jawa? Nah its all black...
http://www.gametoast.com/files/screenshots/oc23/jedijawa.gif)

Army Man Jawa!
http://www.gametoast.com/files/screenshots/oc23/desertjawa.gif)

More nice camo shots!
http://www.gametoast.com/files/screenshots/oc23/camo.gif)

Here are some rep skins , lightsaber parts, spider skin, red guard skins and tie-bomber from imps.
http://www.gametoast.com/files/screenshots/oc23/fridayprogress.gif)

Casper has a new friend (lol the halloween mod)
http://www.gametoast.com/files/screenshots/oc23/ghost.gif)

The jawa would most likely wear this if they were in the desert all the time....I call is snow camo (it's made from hoth snow)
http://www.gametoast.com/files/screenshots/oc23/jawawhitecamo.gif)

NO skin , naked jawa alert...
http://www.gametoast.com/files/screenshots/oc23/noskin.gif)

There will be multiple faqs with this tool - check the site as its released. It's nice to know we can mod SWBF with more than hex swapping alone.

http://www.gametoast.com/files/screenshots/textures.gif)

Nice Shots , more coming ... These show skins for Units such as jawa, ewoks, tusken and weapons. The Textures/Skins for SWBF are cracked... on the texture level.

http://www.gametoast.com/files/screenshots/exractunits1.gif)


Hoth has many various textures here are some from the lastest build results.

http://www.gametoast.com/files/screenshots/hothskins1.gif)

This tool will extract in easy format and instantly save a .dds of the extracted image into any directory you specify in the preferences.

The upcoming Bcompiler tool will allow for the swbf dds format to be placed on your modded dds for replacement back into the game, look for updates on that as well...

This is for skins only, right? Textures and stuff like that?
No 3D rendering?

Hope it works well. Looking forward to seeing it. Thanks for the screenshots. You truely do your part for the SWBF gaming community.

Vinny

Our mod requires just this sort of thing...
Guru, you know how much we need this, you have my e-mail... ;)

Cheers,

These are the kind of tools thats are needed if MODs are going to be succesful in BattleFront, *cough* Level Editor *cough* Developers :)

There is no 3d rendering in this app. It does not pull models from SWBF. This application will allow you to extract any skin/texture from anything in the game , it has worked on all maps tested as so far.

This will allow you to scroll through the files for SWBF and open them to select the textures available in that file. In the case of Hoth there are over 70 textures used. Many floor tiles which are layered over each other, the rest are everything from the way the mist appears in the tunnles, to the falcon skin , the turrets and tons more textures. I extracted them all , some appeared to have clear areas such as the hoth_mist. These are animated.

Remember models are models and the skin they have is the coloring or shell appearance they have , I think soon we can edit models but for now you can change the way any model looks :

Opening Bviewer and selecting for instance Load/hot1.lvl
displays 3 textures: once opened they are each saved (where you want on your hardrive) as .dds.

From there you can use the viewer tool from Directx called Dxtool to view the skins. (link will be added its a wopping download)

If you want to edit them you will need anything that sees .dds format, in my case I used an old version of Adobe Photoshop that has a .dds format extention I downloaded. (will make the plugin available on release)

In photoshop I managed to copy Nimlots idea and alter the load screen on hoth to say Kingguru over the planets.

The Bviewer requires VirtualRuntimes which are included in release.

Good luck with that.

Wow, this brings back memories of the early JK community with people whipping up tools virtually from scratch!

Oh yes the good old JK & MotS modding days... After a while this game could be easily TCd :) Hope the same will be true for SWBF.
The tool is very handy, for .DDS editing is known to most texture modders :)

We have gone many builds deeper just to update everyone on teh status , based on the new shots above you can see the entire skins/texture for SWBF is moddable and cracked. We are looking forward to a release date of Monday/Tuesday.

Tools that will help those wanting to mod from Bviewer:

MSpaint or preferably Adobe Photoshop. (edit your mods)

The Adobe Photoshop .dds plugin (save them as proper files)

The SDK DIrectx tool DXtool (view teh exracted files from Bviewer and resave them)

Bcompiler. Due out in a few days as well.

These tools are crucial to modding the textures. Many of you already know of these tools but I wanted everyone to be on the same page.

Hex editing will still be required even with these tools to make YOUR mod appear in game but do not fear, anything you make can/will appear in game.

There first actual mod edited and tested was Sunglasses on Ewok! Yes big elton john shades on a poor helpless endorian. And just last night the grey ewoks were turned into giant lemons.

More Pictures and pre-release talk... (http://www.gametoast.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=26)

Official Topic for Bviewer (http://www.gametoast.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=42)

With these tools, what exactly are the possibilities for modding SWBF? Entirely new maps? models? textures? skins?

This tool combined with the hex modding can allow for total changes in skins and textures for everything in game. Models will not be affected until a future tool is released but location of models and the appearance of their skins are now totally moddable!

Oct 23rd update :

9 new pics added above and file to download in the top of topic!

The Bviewer is nearing release....

How can i open .dds with Photoshop?

Originally posted by Darth_ToMeR
How can i open .dds with Photoshop?


Ta Da!

http://developer.nvidia.com/object/nv_texture_tools.html)


...

On the nvidia link there is also a dds plugin for 3ds max.

Does this mean we can import the BF files into 3ds max too?

Rends

PS: Good work with the texture tool!

Thanks!!! Now after i changed the skin-
1. Where do i put the file?
2. What file do i need to edit if i want the skin in-game?

code notes for .dds amd skin extraction info so far:

the game uses dds of 512x512, 256x256 etc.. for textures..the largest being the backdrop and skybox textures which are 1200's x 512

here are some other sizes and what they are in game...
All vehicles = 512x512

all units+robot (player) skins (which are just clothes = the models are hard coded generic humans reused on all inf_basic units) = 512x 512

All natives =ewoks , tusken etc.. 256x256 (every single file is exaclty 219052 for the body of the natives , meaning you can replace any other 256 x 256 in the game by pasting its hex over the current hex.

Most building textures, trees , objects are 256 x 256 such as wall tiles , floor tiles etc. I used this to wrap the skin from the shield generator around a jawa and it made a nice camo jawa!

everything else is 128x128 or smaller 64x64 etc.
This includes tunnel decals, map icons, animated bird skins etc..

You can 'hex swap' before the Bviewer comes out by getting the hex for anything of similar value. i.e. if you hex the code for 256x256 or 512x512 on anything of the same value it will work. I have wrapped atst around X-wings etc.. you can still enter the ships but they look insane.

After self learning this I also found it already computed and done here :



http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/directx9_c/directx/graphics/reference/ddsfilereference/ddstextures.asp)

looks promising, i think this is the tool that the whole community has been waiting for, maybe next u could design a tool that allows u to edit weapon and character parameters more easily, might add a whole new dimension to the game

I just downloaded the tiebomber texture and i want to ask where is the bumpmap?
Ok i donґt know that much about bumpmapping esp. how it works in SWBF but i thought that there was at least a second texture needed to create the bump effect?

Confused

Rends

Your correct Rends...I removed the tie-bomber .dds as although it allowed for viewing and editing (and could be used to make mods if you know where to paste) it was extracted using an older version of bviewer that did not make a complete .dds. There was 1 byte missing from each mipmap and the 2nd chunk of textures for each skin face wasn't being extracted as until now the code was un-decipherable.

We have figured into Bviewer to make the following changes by release :

CHANGES :In addition another tool Bcompiler will be out just following Bviewer that will allow you to reformat the dds into swbf format. The bviewer process now rips the dds out of the game format and into a perfect .dds. (so by the time you all get your mits on the tools they will do what they are supossed to)

From there you will edit in Photoshop, your editing tool of choice...etc... and then open your modded dds into bCompiler to re-format it for pasting into SWBF.

Once these are all out we will most likely put this all into one application with more options and everything streamlines to make 1 mod right out of the app, but for now....We would like to release this and see what others can make form the tools :)

Bviewer now Extracts an exact copy dds of what the Developers were looking at. (Which now loads and all dds appears to be made in 3dmax)

(note: in the tie dds there is a black background and 9 mipmaps but the second texture layer is missing, these both have to be modded to show as 1 texture layer is for low end graphic cards while the seconds is for all users. High end users will actually use both texture layers so to see any mods we will all be pasting our hex into both sections .

So in retro just toss that old dds and by the time I can get you another .dds you will have the tool :)

Also :

Nimlots Update...
Quick update, first Thank You to Riley for helping Mr. Obvious with the texture format info. I also was on your site, but didnt scroll down. With that information I was able to reskin an ewok, well not really skin but soak.

www.gametoast.com/files/screenshots/yellow_ewok.JPG)

As for BViewer, I added full MIP Map level support, so you no longer only see the top level but can get to all easily. Along with this, BCompiler was started, which will reformat these MIP Maps back into Battlefront format which can be hexed back in. BCompiler will be released a couple days after BViewer, and then a combined version of both will be released after that. As for the release of BViewer, I only need to get the second texture face or format support for vehicle/player skins added, and it should be ready for testing. It does look like Hex editting will be the only option at release time to add the edited pictures back into game, but dont worry, we will create many FAQs to help you with all of this.

--Nimlot

...DOWNLOAD BVIEWER (http://www.gametoast.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Downloads&file=index&req=getit&lid=9)

The file has been officially released as build 1.45 . Be sure to read the included README file in the package. And check links for updated versions.

There is a file to be installed previous to running Bviewer that places the VB runtime r(equired dll) files on your pc. Once this is installed click the little jawa to jump to lightspeed with bviewer!

Your feedback is appreciated and encouraged here and in the official forums. I would like to see your creations , as would others so share your extraction/mod/skin experiences.

SWEEET ITS FINALLY RELEASED!!!!!, im an admin at swbffiles.com, did u want me to post it there too?

sure please be sure to check links for newest version, any site most post links or the file itself:)

Also Bcomplier makes putting the mods back in about 20 minutes less work so look for its release in the next few days.

Good to see a mod like this, Im just hesitant to use anymod until they patch the hell out of this game. Too many hiccups with it in MP for me to justify altering what I bought. Still great effort though.

Man I know this is only for PC right ??? :confused: :confused:

Originally posted by v_munster_v
Man I know this is only for PC right ??? :confused: :confused:

Duh... only the PC version can be modded.

so i dont get what to do i extraced and edited in photoshop the files i wanted...now how do i put them back into to the game