I'm Le Celticant, officially mapper on AVP2 since 2004 and I'm here to share my hobby the 'Mapping'.
Happily for us fan of Alien & Predator, Monolith was enough wise to publish a SDK with Sierra and Fox interactive agreement to allow the community to take care of his lovely game.
1) Information:AVP2 is using a very old engine, existing long before the game AVP2 was made called 'Lithtech' (home made engine) which version was called 'Talon'. The current version of the Lithtech is known as Lithtech of Jupiter Extended 2.0 (Used for FEAR 2).
What you need to know about this engine is that it's a very old one, there's the basic but it's kind of a pain to use it for a first time that's why I'm explaining here how to make your first level (SP).
Requirement: Original AVP2 game installed with 1.0.9.6 version installed (you can get it on file front).
2) Install the ToolThe level Editor that you need to download: DEdit (
http://aliensvspredator2.filefront.com/file/AvP2_Toolkit;8784 )
Also, you need to know that this version of the level Editor is called 'DEdit of Lithtech'.
If you have Primal Hunt (expansion) installed, you can directly get it from the folder ../Fox/Aliens versus Predator 2 - Primal Hunt\Tools
You can also notice if you have Primal Hunt that you have two Update, I advise you to install both of them. The version of the Editor will be switch to 'DEdit Of Talon'.
If you don't have Primal Hunt, it's not that difficult, both Talon and Lithtech have the same thing, the only difference is minor and unnoticeable, it's just better to install the lastest update which was built especially for AVP2 and will prevent some crash but to tell you the truth, I almost never had any crash with this software, it's pretty stable even for a 9 years old software, no matter the version of your comp (32 bit / 64 bit, XP, Vista, 7).
When you've got the tool installed, go check your 'Aliens Vs. Predator 2' directory (../Fox/Aliens Vs. Predator 2).
You'll notice a new folder called 'Tools'.
Open it.
You'll notice several files in it, here is a description of each:
-DEdit (Map Editor)
-ModelEdit (Model Compiler, node maker for the models, proprieties of the animations.)
-Unrez.bat (Extractor of the source of AVP2)
-Docs (A documentation for both ModelEdit and DEdit with a list of every object.)
-Exporters (Plugins for Maya 4.0 or 3DS Max 5.0 for importing model into ModelEdit or import model into DEdit by converting them as Brush... Yeah yeah, that probably doesn't make much sense for now
)
-Processor.exe (Use for DEdit, it's the software that compile the map and translate it from .ed to .dat file.)
-Several other files that you won't have to use or to know their existence, they are mostly useless, just don't touch them.
Ok, now open 'Unrez.bat', you'll see a command executor that work. Let him do his job, you can take a coffee, smoke a cigarette or whatever you want but don't touch your computer! Wait until the file close from itself.
What da hell did this file?
It's easy, it has extracted all the source file of the AVP2 game from the files 'AVP2.rez', 'Sounds.rez', and has putted them in appropriate folder into a big one called 'AVP2' into your 'Aliens Vs. Predator 2' directory.
You can check it out if it worked and if yes, you're ready to use the editor for the first time!
3) Prepare the EditorFirst of all, launch DEdit (Tools folder) and then go to 'Edit' and then 'Options' like in the following picture:
A new window opened, then go from the tab of the top of this window to 'Run' and set the following things:
Executable: Find the path to the file 'Lithtech.exe' located into your Aliens Vs. Predator directory (Use the browse commend).
Working Directory: Put the access to the Aliens Vs. predator 2 directory. Mine for example is D:\Program Files\Fox\Aliens Vs. Predator 2
Program arguments: -rez AVP2 +runworld %WorldName%
Just copy / paste what I wrote.
To explain you a bit, when you'll test your own map, it will use as source the AVP2 folder into Aliens Vs. Predator 2 where all the sources are located + the argument of the map (it will load it automatically by choosing the .dat file compile from the WorldName of your .ed file.)
A bit complicated, just type it this way, it'll work fine.
Press OK and the window close.
Ok, you've done the biggest part and you won't have to re-do it, it automatically save the options.
Now go to 'File' tab of the main window and choose 'Open Project'.
As you can see in the picture there are two circle.
The red one show you what I told you to do (Open Project) the Blue one show the project (It won't be there the first time but once you opened it, it stay still here and so you won't have to browse it everytime).
So now you have to locate a file. The one you're seeking for is called 'avp2.dep'
To do so, find the AVP2 folder into your Aliens Vs. Predator 2 directory and you should find into it a file called 'avp2.dep'.
(..\Fox\Aliens Vs. Predator 2\AVP2\avp2.dep)
You Opened a Project, you're ready to start your first map!
4) First steps to mappingFirst of all to map, you need to create a new map.
To do so see the 'workspace' tab located at the left of the screen.
Go to 'Worlds' > 'Multi' > 'DM' and in the lower window press right click and 'create a new world' like in the following picture:
Name your world the way you want.
You should have 3 window open in the main one like in this picture:
Remember about it:
- Top left = 3D Space
- Top Right = View from above
- Bottom left = View from a side
- Bottom Right = Front view
2nd Part of the tutorial : Coming Soon.
