Thats groovy,  Phobos Developer.

This is very early in it's development, so it might go through rapid changes.
Every month or so sounds like a good update timeline.

It isn't quite usefull yet, but randomly posting screens at the bottom of the notes thread wasn't helping me track it's progress.

I don't know if anyone has thanked you for keeping track of and updating your Encyclopedia.
Thats no small task, and really helps, having all that info in one place.

SWBF_MSH_INFO
v0.05 alpha

This will eventually become a tool for tweaking and modifying MSH files outside of a model editor.

Currently it is simply a viewer of raw data with no editing capabilities.
If you want to 'see' how the tags fit together in a msh, this will do it.

The plan is to make it into a full-on, MSH file tweak and edit tool. With advanced chunk swapping, attribute managment and vertex/polygon manipulation features.

It doesn't do any of that right now.
Currently, it displays raw and translated information contained in a MSH.
Once this program can display the information correctly, I'll start making things editable. (very alpha right now.)

I have been on this for several months and it is now stable enough to get it into the hands of the curious.

FEATURES:

-32 and 64 bit versions (I can't test 64 bit on my end)
-Open SWBF1 and 2 MSH files
-Tag and Tag Chunk export
-Displays MSH Tag information in readable format (for known tags)
-Displays MSH Tag information in hex format (for unknown tags)

KNOWN PROBLEMS:

-The GUI is not displaying properly on Win7 64 bit. (this one may cause me to change languages)
-It is written in AutoIT, so the initial loading of the file is a bit slow (several min for the AT-AT.)
-Size validation is broken. Don't use it.
-Fix Sizes is broken. Don't use it.
-A lot of the descriptions are messy, missing and/or inaccurate. These will be fixed.

PLANNED FEATURES
in no particular order

-Better display of tag data
-Import Tag and Chunk files
-Import/Export txt or xml of all data
-Possibly save as Obj or other 3d formats (don't count on this one)
-Validate Skeleton Names and Heirarchy
-More Translated tags
-Move Tags or Chunks, up or down the heirarchy
-Tag specific controls for editing data
-Overall Scalling of geometry
-Insert/Delete Vertexes and associated normals, uv's, ect
-Switch between HEX and translated data display
-Display the bone heirarchy
-Move MODLs around the bone heirarchy
-Merge Geometries (for shadow volumes)
-A help file and or proper documentation.
-MSH Summery/Report (Poly counts, Textures used)
-.option and basic ODF generation
-Very Basic projection of Geometry (for visualizing vertex placement)
-User Notes and calculator(s) for planning edits to achieve certain goals

WISHLIST FEATURES:
these will probably never happen.

-Rendering a MSH
-Convert MSH to XSI source
-Munge / Un-Munge a MSH

For an idea of what this program is showing you, my MSH Notes are here: [info].msh structure notes
And Ande's MSH research here: Star Wars: Battlefront MSH File Information

DOWNLOAD HERE: SWBF_MSH_INFO_v0_05_alpha.zip

There are 2 versions in the archive. The 32 bit version is marked with 'x86' and the 64 bit version is marked 'x64'.
There may still be issues with the 64 bit version. If the issues can't be nailed out, I will port over to another language that doesn't have issues.

Any questions, suggestions, corrections, ideas, flames, or comments are welcome.  I'm not a programmer, but I will try.

This post can be found at the following forums:
www.swbfgamers.com
gametoast.com

History:[spoiler]
01/31/2012 v0.05 alpha
          -Moving forward on this release as I am seeing a dentist soon and that
           may interfere with the programs progress.

          -[new bug]something in the way I'm decoding FWGT is breaking the
           'validate tag size' function so I'm disabling it for now. Also
           disabling the 'save msh' till I am confident with the size issues.

          -Customizing the data display for each tag is getting annoying from my
           end. I'm switching to a generic [line number] [data] format till I
           get past the translation hurdles.

          -Started implementing tag definitions again. Got a bunch showing, and
           they look correct. (so far) Time to catch up on the known MSH tag
           translations.

          -Started working on a 'Move Tag UP/DOWN' feature. Initially it works,
           but hoses up the parent structure. I'll probably make it a
           'Move Chunk'feature and limit movements to valid positions. Maybe
           only allowing MODL chunks to be moved since that's all it would be
           good for anyway.

          -[resolved bug] - The loading slowdown is caused by resizing the arrays
           on every entry. So I just need to resize the arrays before my loops
           begin. (initial tests show a 1600% increase in tag conversion speed)
           'THE' fix so far is to split up how I save data during conversion
           into 3 functions, instead of one.

          -the upshot of the following 3 is that the determiniation of sizes for
           each tag are now correct, that chunk exporting is reliable, and the
           summery display of tags within a chunk no longer bleeds into the next
           chunk or to the end of the parent chunk.

          -[resolved bug] - It's truncating 4 bytes off of some tags during
           load. This one trumps everything. I was guessing at the chunk size,
           now I'm actualy measuring. Doesn't slow it down much. (+/- .001 sec)

          -[resolved bug] - CLTH's size in dummy.msh, was including SWCI (16 bytes)
           Corrected size. It was probaby caused by the last child error below.

          -[resolved bug] - The last child tag is not being calculated
           correctly for (a lot of tags). This affects is what summery info is
           displayed for it. And it IS affecting how chunks are saved. Just
           re-wrote the hole function to explicitly define end tags.

01/25/2012 v0.04 alpha
          -[note] - The difference in this version is subtle on the outside, but I
           promise you, a lot of code got moved around.

          -Some 3rd party MSHs have MTYP misspelled as MYTP. For now, I am
           silently correcting but not saving. It's only 3 or 4 models, so I
           think it was a typo on the modder's part and not a tool issue. In
           the future the program will offer to save if this change is made.

          -Adding some column labels.(this will continue until all tags have
           sensible labels)

          -re-organizing line labels.(this will continue until all tags have
           sensible labels)

          -[unresolved bug] - When opening a MSH while one is already loaded, the
           program 'remembers' the selected tag and selects the same tag # on
           the tree.
          -[unresolved bug] - Some of the tags have an extra blank line in the
           display. This doesn't affect saved files, but still needs to go away.

          -[fixed bug] - The order I was assigning variables in the MSH parser was
           causing incorrect offsets to be read in some fixed length, multiline
           Tags. (like BBOX, DATA)

          -The reason some tags take so long to convert is not the way I'm
           converting them, It's the way I'm juggling variables and arrays. The
           'fix' is to get everything passed as pointers instead of copying
           values in memory. A rewrite of the parser is happening, but won't be
           implemented until it is 100% working.

01/21/2012 v0.03 alpha
          -Cleaned up debug menu. Added array descriptions

          -increased the selected tag box height. It might be to big, but thats
           better than to small.

          -started organizing column descriptions (not yet complete)

01/20/2012 v0.02 alpha
          -Greyed out disabled menu options.

          -Disabled chunk export when a chunk is not selected.

          -Validate Tag Size now asks if you want to repair an invalid size
           field or not.

          -Fix_AllTagSizes removed. It was redundant.

          -still experimenting with different tag data displays

          -added 64-bit build

01/20/2012 v0.01 alpha - released as is.
[/spoiler]

Here is the same file in a zip.
You should be able to open it with windows.
Inside is a .reg file.
Just double click on it and agree to merge it into your registry.
It adjusts some settings for BF in the registry.

Digging the lightning.
Good Job, Phobos Developer.

Haven't worked with you, but your efforts will be missed.
I am sure that your creativity and diligence will serve you well in whatever you do.

A shot in the dark, could override texture support be an issue?
(I'm not set up to test, just throwing in my first thought)

I was wondering the same thing.

I set mine up last night (with the 9999 ping) but in gamespy Arcade, (the stupid app that installs with my DVD BF1) it showed up with a ping of 1ms.

No way am I bypassing the router or firewall.

Being a know but ignored issue with GameSpy doesn't surprise me.
If it's not on the recent best seller's list, they don't have any motive to fix it.  (other than pride in workmanship)

I'm waiting for an adapter for my dualshock.
But the mouse/numpad has a better feel.
I'll probably do both off and on.

heh, the auto aim. Sometimes it wont let go of a target and you can't turn (ps2.)
Best to just aim for heads.


Regarding the update:
Is there anything special that needs to be done to get the update into the dedicated server?
And can folks without the update join if it's hosting a common map?

(I got another machine that hosts my ps2 server and thought I'd put the PC server on it for good measure.)

-edit nm. it dawned on me that this is beta, and the answers I seek are obvious. (no and no)
Please forgive my tired.

Today was my first time on a PC server and my greeting was a flying droid and a welcome rocket from Dbiz.

I use the same name as on PS2, just tirpider.

I'm still getting used to the mouse and keyboard again.

DVD version of Battlefront on Windows XP(sp3)
No problems logging onto servers.

(was not ready for flying driods though.. heh)

That Was Awesome.

I always hated Dagobah because it was so unplayable. (to dark, and so much foliage I would just fire blindly as my reticule went red)
Now I realize, I just hate BF2.
Totally playable and the trees are sick.

Great conversion.

The Children's Crusade.
I love that book. Haven't read it in a cpl of decades though. This is what I got out of it.

Most all of the story is implied and told through a cynical lens.
"So it goes" being a sarcastic refrain to the stupidity of our self destructive societies and the people that haunt/create/perpetuate them. Big decisions are made by men with great power, but other men are the ones left in the wake of these decisions. Being a man caught in the wake of others myself, I understand the sarcasm perfectly.

Billy may represent a piece of Mr Vonnegut, but probably in nothing more than a metaphorical sense. (Could wiki his name and see what he was up to during the war.)

I'm guessing the 1st and 3rd person perspective changes were Vonnegut trying to get the reader in and out of Billy's mind.

I don't believe he was suggesting actual travel to Trafaldmore, but it was a place Billy's mind was diverging to in order to protect his psyche from the rediculous horrors of war he was surrounded by.  Perhaps trying to escape or explain it through fantastical dream like metaphore.  It's never stated, but one could imply that Billy was a victim of post tramatic stress.  Or he could have been laying in a cold field dying (Poo-tee-weet).  Or a hospital bed near a window (Poo-tee-weet).  Mr Vonnegut never says, and war is hell.  The convulsions of death or mind wrecking trauma could definately send your mind reeling from memory to fantasy without warning.

In a nutshell, the book tells us that anyones life can be turned upside down through the stupid actions of others at any moment.  Wars happen, minds and lives are lost alongside the societies, cities, and mistakes they create.  Sometimes you can do something about it.  Sometimes you are powerless against it.

So it goes.

My desktop, it is messy.

Simpe layout with default settings.
I prefer the practical, non crashy features of the classic layout. Always seemed like when I tried to get fancy with it, things started breaking.
Sometime I'll have a picture of a cat as the wallpaper, but only if it's a good lol.

Good day!
Welcome aboard

Not sure about the particulars of Cinema 4D, or much about softimage. (don't even have it installed at the moment)
I know folks have been using a prog called 3dConverter to export to obj then re import that into Soft Image.

( the fine print is that it also loses uv texture mapping, envolope rigging and I can only guess what else, so unless it is a really fantastic model, it might be easier to start over in soft image. )


A great place to digg for info is here and here.

If Cinema 4D can export obj then I don't see why it wouldnt accept it.

Peppreroni

With those groovy bannana peppers on the side.