How do I make a custom texture?

Get an image editor, create a bmp, then use the program called MatMaster (http://www.codealliance.ca/download/cadl.dll?id=25) to convert it to a mat file.

My custom texture looks fine in my image editor, but when it gets converted, the colors are all messed up.

When you create a custom texture, you need to make it for a certain colormap. Choose the colormap you are creating the texture for, and extract it to a folder using JKGob (http://www.codealliance.ca/download/cadl.dll?id=22) or Conman (http://www.codealliance.ca/download/cadl.dll?id=4). Also extract any .mat file that is in that colormap. Use MatMaster to convert that texture to a BMP file, and load the bmp file into Paint Shop Pro (there are other image editors, but this is the only way I know to get the palettes correctly). Go to the Colors menu, and choose "save palette" - then, open your custom bmp file, go to colors, and choose "load palette" - choose the palette you just saved. This will convert your bmp to that colormap. Some of your colors will be changed, but you have to work inside the boundries of the colormap you are using. If you are not happy with the color choices, try a different CMP.

I have a .mat file from one colormap, but I want to use it with another colormap.

To do this, you will have to use matmaster to map it to a different colormap. Warning: this can mess up your colors, and you will have to fix them yourself. Extract the CMP file you want to convert it TO. Then, in MatMaster, click the Map to Colormap button, and choose the colormap you just extracted, then convert it.

How do I rotate/scroll my textures to different angles/directions?

This is done using keyboard commands in the 3D preview. Click on a surface, and press the comma [,] and period [.] keys. This will scroll your texture. To scroll the other way, hold down [Shift] and press the same keys. You can use [Shift + arrow keys] as well. To rotate it, hold down [Ctrl] amd use the same keys. After you have rotated/scrolled one texture, you can stitch it to other surfaces, and it should line up. See

How do I get certain parts of my textures to be clear (see-through)?

Assuming you want something like the grate textures, where you can see through bars, etc, to a different area, do the following: First, learn how to correctly implement an LEC see-through texture. You must put it on an adjoin. This means: there has to be a sector on the other side to look INTO. If you don't have a sector on the other side, you will get HOM (Hall of Mirrors) - which is bad. So, take two sectors, adjoin them, select the adjoin, then press enter. Change the GEO-mode to 4, draw textured. Now, a texture should show up on one side of the adjoin. You will still be able to walk through it, however, so set the adjoin flags to "impassable." Now, press [Shift+F] to select the other side of the adjoin. Follow the same steps to make the texture visible and to make that side impassable. Now, texture both sides with an LEC see-through mat.

Once you have that working properly, it's time to create your own mat. Use a SOLID BLACK color anywhere in your mat, and it should show up as clear in-game.

I want black in my custom mat, but for some reason it always shows up as clear.

This is because most JK/MotS CMP's use black as their transparent color. If you want a black color in your .mat, just use a color that's off-black, like a really really dark gray (it looks just like black).

How do I make my texture translucent (like the water surface in Canyon Oasis)?

As with the transparent (grate) type surfaces, this has to be applied to an adjoin. This will work with any texture. Set the GEO-mode to 4, and then apply the texture you want to the surface. Click on it, press enter, and double click in the "face flags" area. Choose translucent. That's it, you're done.

 

How do I animate a texture?

For the default LEC textures, JED will tell you whether they are multi-celled mats. You must use a multi-celled mat. Add the texture, then use the matanim.cog from the placed cogs (F7) menu. Enter the required mat names and you are done.

What's the easiest way to create an adjoin?

Adjoins are accomplished by placing two surfaces directly on eachother, then cleaving each so they match up. You then select the part that overlaps, and press the [a] key. Newer versions of JED also have a "join" function. Just place two surfaces so they overlap, multi-select both surfaces, and press the [j] key. This will join the overlapping areas. What are the disadvantages of this? You don't have control over where the surface cleaves go, and sometimes the lighting/texturing can end up looking a bit funny.

I placed a small square sector inside a large square sector, but when I play, the small sector won't show up.

The Jedi Knight/Sith engine does not let you place a sector inside of a sector. Obviously you are a beginner at this stuff, so please visit the Massassi Temple (http://www.massassi.net) and read their Basic Editing section. After that, read the cleaving tutorial in their tutorials section. If you still need help, ask a question on one of their message boards.

How do I make a ramp/stairs/beams/etc?

The Massassi Temple (http://www.massassi.net) has numerous tutorials on all kinds of architecture, please go take a look.

How do I make an elevator/door/slashable grate/breaking glass/force field/etc?

The Massassi Temple (http://www.massassi.net) has tutorials on all of those, plus more.

I followed the tutorials, but I still can't seem to get it right.

Please re-read the tutorial carefully, looking for something you may have missed/done wrong. If you can't find anything, feel free to visit the Massassi message boards and ask your question.

How do I make a beam fall/piece of architecture move?

In Jedi Knight/Sith, architecture cannot move. You must create a 3DO and make that move.

What is a 3DO and how do I make one?

3DOs are 3D objects in Jedi Knight/Sith such as the characters, elevators, doors, enemies, ships, etc. Anything that MOVES in Jedi Knight is probably a 3DO (with the exception of sprites, which are 3D animations, and a few other things). To make one, please follow the tutorial at the Massassi Temple (http://www.massassi.net).

I just downloaded/created a custom 3DO, how do I insert it into my level?

All 3DOs must have an entry made into a template file (master.tpl for JK, mots.tpl for MotS) before the game will recognize them. Please see the Templates Tutorial at the Massassi Temple (http://www.massassi.net).

How do I rotate my 3DO to face different directions?

Mess with the Pch, Yaw, and Roll values in the item editor.

Why does my 3DO disappear sometimes?

3DOs that cross sectors will often disappear. Just move it so it is contained in one sector, and it should be fine. Make sure parts of it aren't extruding out into space, either.

Why does my 3DO show up as a small yellow box?

This is because of an error in your 3DO. If you have solid color mats, make sure the GEO-mode of that surface is set to 3. If that doesn't work, try re-making your 3DO from scratch.

How do I make a new enemy?

Enemies are 3DOs that have pup and key files for their animation. Since there is no good 3DO editor/animator yet, it is not feasible to create a new enemy from scratch. You can, however, re-texture existing enemies, and modify certain parts of them. This is called Skinning.

How do I re-skin a 3DO?

There is a Skinning Tutorial at the Massassi Temple (http://www.massassi.net).

How do I make a new weapon?

Weapons are 3DOs and cogs put together. There is a tutorial for the 3DO part of new weapons at the Massassi Temple (http://www.massassi.net), but as of yet, there is no weapons-specific cog tutorial. Check out Darkness Falls (http://www.jediknight.net/darkfall) for a cog tutorial (it is in the back issues).

What is cog?

Cog is a scripting language used in the Jedi Knight/Sith engines. It is similar to C in basic structure. All dynamic aspects of Jedi Knight/Sith are controlled by cogs.

I want to learn cog.

There are not many in-depth tutorials out there for cog. Please learn everything you can about implementing cogs before you try to create your own cogs. Darkness Falls (http://www.jediknight.net/darkfall) has a cog tutorial that should get you started in learning the language. Unfortunately, cog is so in-depth and complicated that most people don't want to spend the time writing the book that it would take to teach non-programmers how to use cog.

I don't think I can learn cog, is there some place that will make my cogs for me?

Not like that. If you join an editing group, or make friends with some coggers, they will often help you out. Otherwise, you are forced to ask for a cog on message boards, but those posts normally go un-answered. Best thing to do is make friends with a cogger, or learn simple cogging techniques.

How do I make water?

Select a sector, press [Enter] if you do not have the Item Editor on-top, and change the sector flags to "underwater."

How do I make the surfaces show up as water?

Select the adjoin above your water, change the GEO-mode to 4, and give it a water texture. If you want to make it see-through, check the texture section of this FAQ.

I have my water, but now I want it to flow.

This is done through sector thrust. Please read the sector thrust/vector tutorial at the Massassi Temple (http://www.massassi.net).

Now that my water is flowing, how do I make the surfaces scroll to match?

This is done with a surface scrolling cog. You will have to enter the vector (direction) the surface will scroll in, the speed, and the surface number.

I want my room to be colored red/blue/whatever color.

This is done by setting the sector tint to a certain color. Just select the sector you want colored, and press [Enter]. Go to the tint area, and choose a color.

I've tinted my sector, but you can't see the color unless you are in it.

That is correct. If you want to be able to see the sector tint from outside the sector, you must trick it out. This is done by selecting the adjoin you want colored, setting it's GEO-mode to 3, and applying a colored mat to it. Now it shows up as a solid color - to get it see-through, just select the surface, press [Enter], and change the face flags to "translucent." If you're using 01narsh.cmp you can use 01yellow.cmp or 01redmap instead of the translucency method

What's the difference between lag and bad framerate?

Lag is created when packets in a network game either don't reach their destination, or are so slow that it impairs network play. If you have a ping of 300-400 ms, this is pretty good, and you should't see much lag. When you do get lag, the other players often jump from one point to another, and are impossible to kill. Framerate, however, is dependent on your computer/graphics card/etc. If you have a very complex level, with tons and tons of surfaces and adjoins and whatnot in view at the same time, the framerate will drop, and the level will be very choppy in those areas. To fix the framerate problem, work on making your architecture and cleaving more efficient, tone down the detail level, or put architecture in area's that will block the view of some of the more complex architecture.

What's the relation between bad framerate and a laggy multi-player game?

If your computer is running at less than 30 frames per second, it can be causing laggy games. Why is this? A packet comes to your computer, your computer is busy chunking away at the slow graphics. Since it is busy, the reply to the packet in a network game can often be placed in a queue, for processing when the processor gets to it. If your computer is running at over 30 FPS, it shouldn't make much of a difference, since the computer has time to process all the incoming/outgoing packets.

How do I test my framerate?

Press [T], then [Tab] then type the word "framerate" - this will display a number at the top of your screen. Watch it for a little while to notice the things that cause it to drop (huge firefights, translucency, complex architecture, etc).

How do Lights work?

In JED, switch to light mode and place lights in sectors. Be sure not to place them directly on an adjoin/thing/surface. When a light is selected, press [Enter] to invoke the item editor. Here you can change the lights properties. The most important values are the range and the intensity. You will have to experiment to get the lighting correct, but as common sense will tell you, the range dictates how far away the lights will be seen, and the intensity is the brightness. After you place your lights, press the tools/calculate lighting button. Then, your lighting should show up in the 3d preview and in the game.

 

I have a light in a sector, but when I calculate it, everything turns black.

Lighting data is stored in the vertices. If you have a sector that is larger than the range of the light, the light won't reach the vertices, and therefore no lighting data will be stored. Try raising the range and intensity.

 

I calculated the lighting, and most of my sector is now lighted, however, one surface is totally black.

This is because your light doesn't have the range/intensity to reach the entire surface. This problem normally happens on surfaces that are very long with no vertices. There is a very easy way to fix this, just select the surface and add a small amount of extra light (like 0.1).

 

I calculated the lighting, and now my whole map is black.

You didn't place enough lights to show up, read the above question, and if that doesn't help, go to the 3d preview/options menu and click "fully lit." This won't change it in the game, but in your 3d preview, everything will show up again.

 

How do I do colored lighting in Mysteries of the Sith?

First, go to the 3d preview/options menu and turn on colored lighting. Make sure you have started a MotS level, and then read the colored lighting tutorial at The Massassi Temple (http://www.massassi.net/tutorials/mots_color/).

 

Are there other ways to do lighting?

Yes. You can use surface lighting, which will add/subtract extra light to the entire surface. This is good for darkening or brightening an entire level or group of sectors. Just select a (or multiselect a group of) sector(s) and press [Enter]. Now change the extra light value at the bottom of the item editor.

 

How do I make a blinking light?

This is done by adding a dynamic light (in thing mode) and adding a cog to it. There are a couple of lights/cogs you can use, to find the correct one, enter *light into the mask box of the cog and thing selection screens.

 

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