Looking at the diferences between the PS2 and PC version
ps2 has an elf instead of an exe
ps2 lvl files are tiny compared to PC fles.
there is a TEST folder containing TEST.lvl, and TESTH.lvl on the PS2 disc. Not in my PC BF1 folder.

Speculation:
If we could extract the files from the lvl, they would be munged, but still useable to a degree.
Could just lower quality graphic and model assest acount for the diff in side lvl file size? what else could it be?
imp.lvl 
PS2  4,774,568 bytes
PC  68,195,284 bytes


re bf2 tools and filefront. I've noticed that you have to refresh or go back to the page periodicaly. It tells you it can't find it, then you go back and it's there. (sometimes)
http://www.gamefront.com/files/4794395/swbattlefrontiimodtools.exe (worked just now)
When I took an intrest in this I got everything I could find and piled it onto a work drive. The file hoarding was spurred by watching the id1 folder on public ftp's shrink and disappear altogether, so I thought I'd better do it now than end up in a "where is this asset" thread with my hand out later.
Turns out I was already to late for a lot of the early BF mod stuff.

I do play on the PS2 quite a bit. (love my old games)

I do remember about 5 years or so back, trying to get MAME running on it and ran into the usual disc swap / mod chip troubles. (I don't do/use either so it was basicly a road block.)
During that time I did prowl around some discs and was able to discover/rip/copy some sounds and images, nothing fancy.

I'll pop BF1 in and see what I can find real quick. But I am certain that the console models will be of a lower quality if they are diferent at all, and even at that, you would still have the same issues with pulling the models out of the lvl files and decoding (un munging) them. (hex editor and scripting language)

Might be cheaper (time wise) to learn to use xsi.


-------edit--------

Yeah... that was my first look inside a lvl file, and it looks like some kind of library file.. all the file names and strings in one place and the rest is mangled code.
Unless a person would want to follow up on the lvl extract.exe that's already out, I don't see much comming out of it.

regarding the dx model ripper. they are right. and even on an emulator that uses hardware 3d rendering, you would still have to do the modeler software stuff I don't understand to it.
(uv - skin - light - weight -reticulate it's splines and what not) basicly everything but draw the geometry.

on a side note, the ps2 lvl files are suspiciously smaller than the pc version. I hadn't noticed before, but perhaps all the factions draw upon a common pool of models to reduce the size?

Got it.
Just replacing the name in place, without adding or removing bytes isn't a problem.

I was hoping for a method of taking more control over the names in the msh so my texture names would be more consistant and easier to find. As it is now the names are all over the place (identical assets in multiple sides/lvls but with diferent names) and I haven't even approached using 3rd party models/textures yet.

I know that what really counts is the final product, I just like to keep my folders neat.

Thank you.

There is so many corners for a suprise crash to hide, this just seemed like one of those places.

I'll keep the 'weap' and 'inf' in then.
(Hadn't thought about the 'inf'. Thanks for that)
That doesn't leave much room for meaningfull names in some places, but as long as it's localizing correctly and not crashing, then it's a step forward.

The main point for changing the names is to accomodate future edits without tripping over overriding assets from the stock ( or other mod) assets.

As for hexing...
I got the exact number of characters part down, but I am itching to get proper names in there somehow. And eventually I would like to make some fancy changes.

I found the TX0D? where ? describes the length of a 0 terminated string for the tga's.
Simply changing ? to the corrected length renders it unviewable in the viewer.
I'm guessing there is a spot somewhere that describes how large the file is, or a pointer to the addresses for all the entries and that would need to be corrected as well.

You are very right about needing advanced knowledge to get it right. The last time I tried to modify(at a binary level) a game file was D&D Pool of Radiance (on a friend's 386). I thought I had made "Gloves of Piercing", but actually made "Dwarves of Hornet's Nest". It seems there were modifiers to the lookup table offsets that I didn't know about. Didn't crash, but was humorously unplayable.

The point being, offsets and hex make me cross-eyed.
I'll learn a bit more about hex before messing with string lengths and fancy changes.

Regarding the names of assets.

Through the process of learning how to localize weapon and unit names, I learned how important it is to stick with a naming convention.

faction_weap_inf_WeaponName
faction_inf_UnitName

It gets confusing real fast if you don't.

My question is: Is the "_weap_" in weapon names connected to anything in the game other than as part of a naming convention?

I've hexed the tga entries on some BF1 stock models and have found the number of characters to be limiting.  So I overcame this by using a shorter string in place of "_weap_".  I know you can use whatever name and get it working as long as it's referenced correctly. I'm just worried about breaking something I haven't learned about yet.

A second (and probably better) question.

Is it possible to hex the tga entries(and adjust the file/entry size/offsets) in a msh without lossing the msh?

I actually have a decent rank on the old ps2 leaderboards... of course there are only about 30 or so people still showing up there anymore. It's still fun though.

Shame we can't map for the PS2 without exploiting the console itself.

I really dig the way the engine for SWBF acts/moves. Mercenaries and Destroy all Humans as well.
Quake 1 has a good feel to it and the editors seem easy enough, but it gets a bit quick and jerky when the action heats up. And it's kind of blocky.
The unreal engines are beautiful but again, everything in unreal runs at light speed and that makes it unplayable for me.  Besides I  like the idea of a ready made environment, already tailored to the Star Wars universe without having to redesign everything from the physics up.

re zippers: Thrift stores are the only way to go for long zippers. Retail is just way to expensive and they rarely have the right length/color.
I once cobbled together an emergency guitar case using a giant auto shop "red rag" and the zipper from a garment bag. Only had a leather needle, a pocket knife and a ball of thick cotton utility string.
I think I voided the waranty of everything but the guitar on that one.

Thanks, Buckler.

The transition to playing on the PC was pretty quick due to way to many years on Tribes.

BFBuilder (pro) and ZeroEdit are working like a champ. I still don't understand the munge batch files, but they work. Thats good enough for now. Only a few of the maps I've tried crashed on me, but I suspect it was how the were loaded.

I've spent the last few weeks going over forums (here, gametoast, secretsociety) and digging through asset files (I love grep but hate regex), and learned that I don't really want to play with BF2.  Some of the models in it's mod tools look good for the map I have in the works , but thats about it.

GameToast doesn't like my email, so I can't register (and therefore search) there.  So they are only as usefull as their topic titles till I contact 'em about joining. (I still read it daily though.)

I have to say, the way this thing (BF) is structured is daunting. You guys that have stuck with it have not only an incredible amount of knowledge, but patience as well.

Nothing but impressed with everything I've seen so far.

Long time player (ps2) first time mapping.

Hope there is room for one more.