200 lines
10 KiB
Markdown
200 lines
10 KiB
Markdown
# LlamaMod Level Editor – user guide
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A 3D level editor for *The Emperor's New Groove* (PC, 2000; German: *Ein Königreich für ein
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Lama*). It is part of **LlamaMod**, the mod manager: levels you make are installed and played
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as LlamaMod mods. Everything is built from **your own copy of the game** – a level project
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contains only your changes, so it can be shared freely.
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* [Getting started](#getting-started)
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* [Moving around](#moving-around)
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* [Creating a new level](#creating-a-new-level)
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* [Editing an original level](#editing-an-original-level)
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* [Objects, waypoints and zones](#objects-waypoints-and-zones)
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* [Importing meshes](#importing-3d-models)
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* [Textures](#textures)
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* [Play-testing](#play-testing)
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* [Sharing levels](#sharing-levels)
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* [Shortcuts](#shortcuts) · [Troubleshooting](#troubleshooting)
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## Getting started
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1. Install LlamaMod and let its wizard set up the game from your CD or ISO (Windows or Linux).
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2. Click **Level Editor** in LlamaMod's header (or start `LlamaMod --editor`).
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3. **Help → Getting started** (Shift+F1) shows a five-step tour inside the editor;
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**Help → Shortcut sheet** gives a printable page with every key.
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The window: menu and toolbar at the top, the **Outliner** (everything in the level as a tree)
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on the left, the **Inspector** (properties of the selection) on the right, the **viewport** in
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the middle and **Assets / Textures / Problems** at the bottom. Panels can be moved to another
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side through their tab's context menu and reopened under **View → Panels**.
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## Moving around
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| Input | Action |
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| right mouse button held + **W A S D**, **Q / E** | fly (Shift = faster, wheel = fly speed) |
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| middle mouse (or Alt + left) | orbit around the selection or the point under the cursor |
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| Shift + middle mouse | pan |
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| mouse wheel | zoom towards the cursor |
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| **F** / **Home** | frame the selection / the whole level |
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| numpad 7 / 1 / 3 / 5 | top / front / side / perspective |
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Click selects, Shift+click adds, Ctrl+click toggles, dragging in empty space draws a box
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selection. **W** move, **E** rotate, **R** scale (brushes), **Q** select; **G** toggles grid
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snapping, Ctrl while dragging inverts it. Every change can be undone (**Ctrl+Z**); **Edit →
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History** lists all steps.
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## Creating a new level
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**File → New level** asks for a name, the **base level** and a template:
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* **Empty** – nothing but the base level's sky, fog and music,
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* **Flat floor** – a 16×14 grass floor with a start and an exit,
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* **Island** – a grass island with trees in the sea.
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The *base level* (default: Village chapter 1) supplies the object types, textures, sounds,
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sky, the start zone (fog, music) and the directional lights. Its teleport zones, point lights,
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paths and visibility regions are not taken over. New levels live in the game's hidden **TestLevel** world (world 9); each project gets one
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of its 49 chapters (shown in **Level → Level settings**).
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Build the level from **brushes** (Assets → Brushes: floors, boxes, platforms, ramps, stairs,
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fences, trees, sea, kill planes …) and the base level's **tile models**. Drag them from the
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Assets panel into the viewport. Brush parameters (size, textures, collision material) are in
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the Inspector.
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Every level needs
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* a **Llama** – the player start (Assets → Objects → Player & start),
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* an **exit**: a **LevelDoor** on floor with collision material **16** (the templates have one),
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* floor with collision under the start. **Level → Check for problems** lists what is missing.
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## Editing an original level
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**File → Open original level** shows all chapters with their loading pictures. You can move,
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add and delete objects, tiles, waypoints, zones and lights. The project stores only the
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differences to the original, and building it with the same CD gives the same file every time.
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Tip: prefer moving or hiding original tiles over deleting them – some object scripts address
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tiles by their number, and deleting shifts those numbers.
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## Objects, waypoints and zones
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* **Objects** (Assets → Objects) are the base level's object types: coins, collectibles,
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checkpoints, enemies, villagers, moving platforms … Their parameters and flags are in the
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Inspector. Only types that exist in the base level can be placed.
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* **Waypoint chains** belong to objects (paths of enemies, camera paths). Select an object to
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see its chain; duplicating an object copies its chain.
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* **Zones** set fog, colours, music and respawn/teleport targets; **lights** colour the level;
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**visibility regions** decide which parts are drawn from where (View → Layers shows them).
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## Importing 3D models
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**File → Import mesh** reads OBJ (with MTL and textures) and glTF/GLB. The model becomes a
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*mesh brush*: it is cut into the engine's 1×1-cell tiles at build time, gets collision (choose
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the material in the Inspector) and lit vertex colours. The engine has no free texture
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coordinates – each triangle shows one half of a texture rectangle – so simple, rectangular UV
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layouts look best.
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## Textures
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The **Textures** panel (bottom dock, Ctrl+Shift+T, or **Window** for a large separate window)
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is the texture manager:
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* **Pages** (left): the level's 256×256 texture pages with their blend class.
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* **Atlas** (middle): the selected page with every texture rectangle – white = used, red =
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unused, cyan = animated, orange = selected. Drag the selected rectangle to move it, drag its
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handles to resize it, mouse wheel zooms.
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* **Table**: number, name, page, rectangle, blend class, how many faces/models use it, animation.
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Filter by *used / unused / animated / imported*; double-click a texture to paint with it.
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* **Texture** tab: name, position and size, blend class, usage, *Duplicate*, *Select users*.
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* **Animation** tab: flip-books (a sequence of frame textures, frame delay, back and forth) and
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vertical scrolling (rivers, lava), with a live preview.
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**Import…** adds PNG/JPG/BMP images:
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| Option | |
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| Size | longest side in pixels; the aspect ratio is kept |
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| Blend class | **Opaque**, **Cut-out** (fully transparent pixels: leaves, fences), **Semi-transparent** (50 % blending: glass, water), **Additive glow** (light, fire), **Darken** |
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| Transparent below alpha | pixels less opaque than this become invisible |
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| Keep half-transparent pixels | for semi-transparent/additive textures |
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| Transparent colour | magenta or the top-left pixel for images without alpha |
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| Dither | smoother gradients in the game's 15-bit colour |
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| Pack into free space | uses unused areas of existing pages of the same blend class before adding pages |
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The preview shows the image as the game will show it. **Replace pixels…** puts a new image into
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an existing texture's rectangle (all faces using it change), **Export PNG…** saves one; the
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page list's context menu exports or replaces whole pages.
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**Paint texture** tool (**M**): click a face of a tile to give it the current texture (the
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*scope* box paints the face, all faces of that model with the same texture, or the whole
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model). Clicking a brush sets its top/side/bottom texture by the side you click.
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**Shift+click** or the **eyedropper** (**I**) picks the texture of a face. For the selected face:
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*Rotate* turns the texture, *Mirror* flips it, *Other half* shows another half of the texture
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rectangle. Tiles often share one model – tick **Unique** to give the clicked tile its own copy
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first, otherwise every tile with that model changes.
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## Play-testing
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**Play** (**F5**) builds the level, installs it as a mod and starts the game **directly in the
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level** – no intro, no menus, no map. **Play from camera position** (**Shift+F5**) puts the llama
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on the ground in the middle of the view, facing the way the camera looks (the editor checks that
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there is walkable collision there – trees and roofs often have none).
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In the game, **Escape** quits straight back to the editor. When the game has ended, LlamaMod
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switches your normal mod selection back on (the level itself stays installed as a mod).
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Options in the **Level** menu: *Play boots straight into the level* (off = the game starts at the
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main menu with the map cursor on the level) and *Escape quits the play-test*. The save slot used
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for play-testing (default 3, backed up first) is set in **Edit → Preferences**.
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## Sharing levels
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Projects are `.llamalevel` files (saved by default in LlamaMod's `levels` folder). They contain
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your changes, imported meshes and textures and a thumbnail – **no game data** – and are usually
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only a few kilobytes. To share a level:
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1. **File → Save** and send the `.llamalevel` file (forum, Discord, e-mail).
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2. The receiver uses **Mods → Levels → Import level…** in LlamaMod (or copies the file into the
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`levels` folder), ticks the level and clicks **Play**. LlamaMod builds it from their own CD.
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3. New levels appear on the world map as **TestLevel – chapter n**; edited original levels replace
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that chapter while the mod is on.
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If two level mods use the same TestLevel chapter, change the chapter in the mod's options.
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## Shortcuts
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| Keys | Action |
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| Ctrl+N / Ctrl+O / Ctrl+S | new / open / save |
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| Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y | undo / redo |
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| Ctrl+D, Del | duplicate, delete |
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| Q W E R | select, move, rotate, scale |
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| T, I | paint texture, eyedropper |
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| G, X, C, H / Alt+H, L | snapping, local space, collision view, hide / show all, lock |
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| Ctrl+B, F5, Shift+F5 | build, play, play from camera position |
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| Ctrl+Shift+T | texture manager |
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| F1, Shift+F1 | shortcuts, getting started |
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## Troubleshooting
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| Problem | Solution |
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| "OpenGL 3.3 is not available" | update the graphics driver; in a VM enable 3D acceleration |
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| Play: "The game is still running" | quit the game first (level files cannot be replaced while it runs) |
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| The llama falls through the floor (play from here) | point the view at walkable ground; check collision with **C** |
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| Windows Defender warns about groove.exe | play-tests change groove.exe (boot to level); see LlamaMod's antivirus notice |
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| A level does not load / the game crashes | **Level → Check for problems**; keep tiles inside the grid; one player start |
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