Loathing: Myth II tool (nonfiction)

Loathing is an editing tool for use with Myth II: Soulblighter.

See also Fear: Myth II tool (nonfiction), a companion tool.

Description

Loathing is a special, stripped down version of the Myth II engine that allows you to modify a mesh with considerably more accuracy than is possible with a couple of dwarves and wights. In tandem with Fear, it can be used to create entirely new and unique netmaps, limited only by the imagination and skill of the map maker--as well as a few limitations in the Myth engine that you'll eventually bump into.

The mesh comprises those tags which contain information about the organization, layout, and structure of a Myth map. Important elements such as scenery/unit placement, as well as ground elevation, terrain type, and more are kept in the mesh.

Tags are Bungie's own platform-independent data format capable of storing everything from the units in the game and their behavior to the graphics and textures you see in a level. Creation of a map is simply the creation and careful integration of numerous tags.

Installation

Loathing must be placed in the same folder as your Myth II application. That is, it should be placed in the same folder as your tags and local folders, which contain the information Loathing will need to edit maps. If you are using a small install, make sure your Myth II CD is in the drive when you run Loathing.

On both the PC and Mac platforms, you will need to do a "Custom Install" to install Loathing onto your hard drive. See the "Read Me" text on the Myth II CD for more information.

Tags

Myth uses a syntax known as tags. Tags are Bungie's own platform-independent data format capable of storing everything from the units in the game and their behavior to the graphics and textures you see in a level. Creation of a map is simply the creation and careful integration of numerous tags.

Here are some of the tags:

• Collection - The collection tag is one of the most universal tags in the game. Collections store all of Myth's two-dimensional graphics. All interface elements, all textures, all monster and player graphics, and all scenery are stored in collection tags.
• Collection Reference - The collection reference is, as you might expect, a reference to a collection tag. Some collection tags have colors in them that are treated as "transparent" by the Myth engine. For each of these colors, the collection reference can substitute in its own colors. This is very helpful in creating one object of many different colors. As an example, a tree could appear as a summer tree with a collection reference featuring shades of green, and then be used again later as an autumn tree with a collection reference containing orange and red as its colors. Collection references also contain a "tint" which can be used to give an object a dark feel appropriate to a night map.
• String - String tags are relatively simple tags, but they play an important role in developing a map. They contain text strings for use in maps, units, and other places. As an example, the name of a map and the description of a unit are kept in string tags.

Projectiles and Projectile Groups - The projectile tag is a very interesting part of the Myth engine. It can take the form of flaming arrows, a warrior's sword swing, or a dwarf's bottle. These are one of the only things in the Myth engine that can actually cause damage to units. Projectiles can call other tags such as Lightning or Projectile groups. Projectile groups are, as you might expect, groups of projectiles. Each projectile can call a projectile group, which in turn can call as many as 15 more projectiles. This is a powerful and useful feature, but be careful what you create. If you overuse this, you will slow the engine down, and create unusable maps. Local Projectile Groups - These are special groups of particles that react to special physics models, and are responsible for such special effects as smoke, fires, magical effects, and all sorts of other strange things.

• Mesh - The mesh is by far the most important piece of a Myth map. Basically, the mesh contains all information about the organization, layout, and structure of a Myth map. Important elements such as scenery/unit placement, as well as ground elevation, terrain type, and more are kept in the mesh.

The Mesh

The Mesh tag contains numerous critical sub-tags:

• Submeshes - Every mesh is composed of one or more submeshes. A submesh is a 256x256 pixel section of the mesh. This is the basic unit of size for mesh tags, and as such, all meshes must have dimensions that are a multiple of 256 pixels.

Object placement - All objects that exist on a map, including 3D models, player-controlled units, non-player characters such as villagers, monsters, scenery, ambient sounds, projectiles, and weather are located and placed by the mesh.

• Color Map (Texture map) - The color map is the actual texture that the player sees. All map details such as grass, dirt, walkways, paths, and any other details not added through models or scenery must be painted onto the color map.
• Displacement Map (Elevation) - One of the most important factors in determining the quality of a map is the elevation of the terrain. The displacement map in the mesh contains all information about where hills, valleys, and stream beds exist in the map.
• Shadow Map - The shadow map determines where shadows appear on the map. It is important that the shadows are placed in the shadow map and not in the color map so that shadows from units and projectiles display correctly.
• Reflection Map - This data determines which areas of the map show reflectivity because of the presence of media. For media to reflect correctly, it must be marked as such in the Waterfx map.
• Terrain Map - Similar to the slope map, passability is determined by data in the mesh. Dwarves, for example, cannot get to all the areas that ghols can (their legs are just too short). They cannot pass through medium depth water or climb steep hills. Some places are so steep that only flying units such as soulless can reach them.
• Media - The presence or absence of media such as water or lava is determined by its selection and placement in the mesh.
• Slope - Myth has a very sophisticated physics model. Balls and heads roll downhill when sent in the right direction. The slope is the way a map determines what areas are steep enough to warrant such behavior by the Myth engine. The steepness of all areas of the landscape are kept in the slope information of the mesh.
• Collection - While the mesh does not contain any collection tags, it does contain references to the tags it needs. A mesh needs a collection tag for the texture map, and another one for the overhead map. If the map is a multiplayer level, then a pregame collection tag is also necessary.
• Map Actions - Map actions are one of the most interesting and powerful aspects of Myth maps. They are the programming behind the computer's actions on a solo or multiplayer map. They determine what causes a win or loss of a game, and how all non-player characters behave.
• Other Data - There is a lot more data stored in a mesh as well. Game types, references to text strings, next/previous level information, and more is stored in the mesh.

Fiction cross-reference

• Fear: Myth II tool (nonfiction)
• Gnomon algorithm
• Gnomon Chronicles
• Myth II: Soulblighter (nonfiction)

External links

• Loathing @ Project Magma

• Myth II: Soulblighter @ Wikipedia