User:SirYodaJedi/Porting IdTech 3 maps to Source/en

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This page attempts to document the fiddly process of converting a map from a id Tech 3 game to a Source game. This guide will demonstrate it by porting the  Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory map "Würzburg Radar" to Day of Defeat: Source, as the two games core game modes are similar, the original map sources are officially publicly available, and most of the necessary auxiliary assets are provided with GTKRadiant.

Getting started

Skills required

This article assumes some familiarity with the following skills:

• Mapping
• Basic 3D model editing
• Image manipulation and conversion
• Audio conversion and looping a sound
• The command-line interface

Installing tools

Required tools:

• The original game (duh)
• J.A.C.K. - Can convert the Id Tech 3 map files to GoldSrc format, as well as export as VMF
• GtkRadiant - has a lot of models and material information that aren't present in the games' files, due to being baked into the BSP. It also includes Q3MAP2, which can decompile maps you don't have the source MAP files for.
  • NetRadiant-Custom - it's fork of Q3MAP2 may be preferred for decompiling maps, as it supports Valve220, allowing for more accurate texture mapping. Additionally, it can convert IdTech 3 maps to OBJ, instead of only MAP or the ill-supported ASE.
• Blender - Can do necessary fine-tuning to the converted models, as well as do the conversion itself with the proper plugins. The following plugins are used:
  • Blender Source Tools - SMD import and export support
  • RtCW:ET Blender Model tools - MD3, MDC, MDS, and MDM/MDX import and export.
• GIMP - Assorted texture manipulation. Photoshop can also be used, but this guide focuses on the free option.

Additional useful tools

• TrenchBroom - Can export the unconvertible patch meshes to OBJ, which can be used as a prop_static.
• Noesis - Can open most relevant models, except MDC. SMD export has flipped UVs and lacks animation; use FBX instead.
  • Half-Life Quake3 Map Converter - can allegedly be used instead of Jack for map format conversion, but is older and untested, and creates a MAP instead of a VMF (not to mention, is Windows-only).
•  7-Zip (or WinRAR) - Preferable for extracting PK3s. Much faster than using Windows's built-in ZIP extractor, and doesn't require renaming the file extension.

Preparing workspace

To start, it will be necessary to decompress the PK3 archives containing the game assets.

• Create a new folder which will house the assets. This should be separate from the game installation, for example D:\Applications\IdTech 3 Modding\Wolfenstein Enemy Territory\.
• Inside the newly-created folder, create a folder with the same name as the game's PK3s are contained in. For example D:\Applications\IdTech 3 Modding\Wolfenstein Enemy Territory\etmain\. This will be henceforth referred to as the source asset directory.
• If the game has any subfolders inside the folder containing the PK3s, copy those folders to the source asset directory.
• Extract all the PK3s from the original game to the source asset directory.
• In the GTKRadiant folder, navigate to the installs subdirectory. This contains the "game packs" which have the necessary auxiliary assets.

Note:GTKRadiant 1.6 is missing the Jedi Outcast game pack. This will need to be downloaded separately; it can be found in GTKRadiant 1.4.

• Todo:

Decompiling maps

It is preferable to work from source map files, when available. Compiled id Tech 3 maps don't (usually) have lighting entities, and lightmapped models are embedded into the map's mesh data. When a map is decompiled, the embedded models are removed, no lighting data is available, .

Note:While the lighting entities can't be used in Source 1, and should be recreated anyway, their placement can be handy when determining where to place the Source 1 lighting entities.

Nonetheless, map sources are frequently not available, leaving no other option. Fortunately, Q3MAP2, the same compiler used to compile id Tech 3 BSPs, can also decompile them! The following command will decompile the map into a format that can be properly edited:

q3map2 -game xxxx -convert -format map mapname.bsp

Note:xxxx is the game abbreviation, as defined in games.cpp.

As this doesn't include embedded models, it often is also necessary to convert the BSP to a 3D model. NetRadiant-Custom's Q3Map2 supports converting the BSP to OBJ, as such:

q3map2 -game xxxx -convert -format obj mapname.bsp

Note:For other versions of Q3Map2, replace obj with ase, and use Noesis to convert the resulting file to OBJ or FBX (Noesis's SMD exporter results in flipped UVs).

Tip:This can also be used to bake the vertex coloring and texture blending into megatextures for terrain models, as id Tech 3 uses a much different method for blended textures compared to the displacements used by Source.
Keep static prop lighting limitations in mind if doing this; consider prebaking lightmaps into the $basetexture or a Modulate overlay if not using .

Note:Neither setting includes patch meshes; a Quake III BSP importer for Blender should be used to recreate these.

Todo: Provide such an importer.

Note:Q3Map2 does not support BSP files from Call of Duty, which uses a slightly modified version of RtCW's BSP format. CoD BSP Decompiler can decompile CoD 1+2 BSPs. Unlike most IdTech 3 BSP formats, CoD BSPs don't embed static prop geometry in the compiled map.

Converting uncompiled map files

Todo: Cover stuff:

• Using Jack to create a VMF with the brushes and entities, and a MAP file with just the patch meshes
• Using Q3Map3 from NRC to convert the patches-only MAP directly to OBJ (which does work, unlike BSP to ASE/OBJ)

Converting materials

Tip:Having the Quake III Shader Manual at one's fingertips is essential to ensuring the converted VMTs are as accurate to the original Quake III "shaders" as possible.

Converting textures

Choosing the right image format

Todo: Discuss a bunch of stuff

• IdTech 3 supports texture compression, but not all versions used pre-compressed textures, instead using JPG, TGA, and sometimes PNG.
  • Not all GPUs supported texture compression back in 1999, so it was done on-the-fly and is able to be disabled. Most people disable it nowadays, as VRAM is much more plentiful.
• Some games used DDS. If it is necessary to use a DDS texture as a source, use the same image format as the original texture if possible.

Selecting material parameters

See User:SirYodaJedi/Porting_IdTech_3_maps_to_Source/Shader2VMT

Converting models

Todo: Use the RTCW Blender tools instead when possible.

• Use Noesis to convert the MD3 and ASE models to FBX.
  • Noesis can export directly to SMD, but the UV map will be flipped.

Confirm: Do animated props need to be converted via a different method?

• Import to and export from Blender. Editing can be done, if necessary.
  • For static props in Source 2013 Multiplayer, it may be desireable to redo the model's UVs so that everything is on one texture, and no UVs are overlapping or tiled. This allows model lightmapping to be properly used, as model lightmaps use the same UVs as the $basetexture.
• Write QC files.
• Compile.
  • Crowbar can be used as a handy frontend for compiling.

Converting sounds

For the most part, sounds from id Tech 3 games can be used in Source without much hassle as long as they are converted to a compatible format (if they aren't already). The exception, of course, is looped sounds. Unlike id Tech 2 and Valve's engines, id Tech 3 does not require WAV cue points for looped sounds. This means that cue points must be added, and non-WAV sounds that are looped must be converted to WAV, which greatly increases file size.

Converting map content

Entities

A few common engine entities in IdTech 3 have analogous entities in Source 1.

id Tech 3 entity	Source entity	Notes
func_group	N/A	Func_group brushes should be untied from entities and returned to worldspawn, as VBSP lacks func_group support.
misc_model	prop_static	Unlike prop_static in Source 1, misc_model in IdTech 3 can be lightmapped in the same way as brushes. This is done sparingly, via spawnflag 2 "force meta", as it basically converts the model into trisoup brushes. Most small or medium-sized misc_models are lit about the same as prop_static (with Q3Map2 doing bounced lighting on them like CSGO). Workaround: There are ways of improving lighting, depending upon the engine branch. These are more expensive, however, and should only be done if the default vertex lighting is unsatisfactory. (in any branch) - Subdivide each convex face of the mesh, being careful not to change the overall topology (don't add verts to "curved" edges). Lighting is done per-vertex, so increasing the number of vertices results in more accurate lighting, and a dense enough mesh can be more accurate when vertex lit than when lightmapped. If $lod is available for the engine branch, consider having two versions of the subdivided mesh: one with heavy subdivision for the default close-up mesh, and one with much less subdivision for further away. For example, a simple rectangular prism (ex: fence post) could be subdivided on the long sides with 12x3 faces for the close up mesh, and 7x2 faces for the $lod 50 mesh (potentially using loop cuts, so that the short sides are subdivided evenly). (in and ) - Make all of the model's UVs fit onto one material with no overlap or tiling, then use a static prop lightmap. (in any branch) - Do the same UV edits as above, but pre-bake the lighting in Blender (possibly onto a $detail texture or Modulate mesh). (in any branch) - Use OBJ2MAP or similar to convert the model to brushwork (only if the model is simple enough!). This can work around the lack of bounced static prop lighting on pre- versions of VRAD.
misc_gamemodel	prop_dynamic	Source 2013 doesn't completely support arbitrary vertex animation, so animated MD3s or MDCs will need to be re-animated with a skeleton.
info_notnull	info_target	Works the same way; Valve decided to rename the entity in GoldSrc.

Terrain

Patch meshes

Todo: Three main methods:

• Use models
• Recreate as displacements (if possible)
• Convert to brushwork, using OBJ2MAP or similar (if practical)

Note:Patch meshes are always vertex lit, not lightmapped, except in Call of Duty. Nonetheless, it may still be desirable to use lightmaps for better lighting on the Source Engine ports of the geometry, as Source doesn't support the tessellation that IdTech 3 uses to smooth out curves, which will result in less smooth lighting. Patch meshes generally have UVs that are very suitable for lightmapped props.

External links

• Porting Quake 3 Maps to Source on the Momentum Mod documentation (only covers map geometry and textures; does not cover patch meshes)
• Pcpie' tutorial on porting Quake 3 Maps to Source on GameBanana (only covers map geometry and textures; does not cover patch meshes)
• Q3Map2 manual - Discusses how to compile a model from a MAP; essential for porting patch meshes, which cannot be ported directly, and instead need to be either recreated as displacements (when possible) or static props.