TOEE world editor discovered in official Polish patch

Discussion in 'The Temple of Elemental Evil' started by Heinous_Hat, Apr 30, 2015.

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  1. Heinous_Hat

    Heinous_Hat Member

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  2. DeusEx

    DeusEx Member

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    Sorry if this was already posted ( and also in the wrong section ), but I had to let everyone else see this.
    This was posted @rpgcodex site: Temple of Elemental Evil world editor discovered hidden in game's official Polish patch

    So, what do guys think? :)
    I would request the Co8 modders to please check into this reveal, and let us know, whether this sounds some good news for the future plans, or not much of an importance?
     
  3. WinstonShnozwick

    WinstonShnozwick Established Member

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    My face when.

    [​IMG]

    This is an amazing discovery if it means what I think it means.

    I downloaded the patch and followed instructions. I'm getting this error and I have no idea what it says, it won't install. Panic!
     

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    Last edited: Apr 30, 2015
  4. Agetian

    Agetian Attorney General Administrator

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    Re: Official ToEE WorldEd discovered in Polish patch?

    This is indeed an interesting find from our fellow member. It's also interesting that in twelve years it is the first time someone experimented in this unusual way (installing a Polish patch on top of an English game) and came up with the least expected results.

    The existence of an accidental leak of this tool was known to us for some time, but unfortunately, we were unable to release it publicly before. We had an opportunity to obtain a copy of WorldEd before from a limited collector's edition (or maybe not - see note below) Polish release of the game that shipped on two CDs plus a bonus CD. For the reasons of: a) it being proprietary software [that we are not allowed to freely share]; b) being a possible oversight affecting only a particular limited game release that was, in essence, an internal NDA violation within the game release team; c) us not knowing the extent of this oversight and the possible legal implications for us if we released the tool openly, we were unfortunately unable to release the tool here and share it publicly on the Circle of Eight website.

    Now, however, that it was found lying openly in a different location, I can say I am glad to see that the program is now public knowledge and, moreover, can be downloaded from a public location on the Internet without anyone having to worry about the shady aspect of potentially releasing it to the public otherwise.As for the tool itself:
    a) I can confirm that it definitely works.
    b) It's a quirky and crashy and somewhat limited tool compared to what you may expect - while it does indeed open up additional modding possibilties and can speed up the process of map development, do not expect it to work miracles. To get it working, make sure you have the game module .dat file (toee.dat, for memory, though I don't have an active game installation at the moment to test) extracted. Otherwise, you won't be able to load any maps. Also, do not expect the "New Module" button to work properly - that feature is actually left over from Arcanum and does not work correctly for ToEE. Ditto the "Multiplayer" button and many other things. Navigating the map in WorldEd can be a little bit tricky too - the program has no mouse scrolling support and you can only use the numeric keypad to navigate (you have to have Numlock on). The program also likes to crash a lot, especially if you click the wrong things, so make sure you make backups and save often if you work on anything serious in it.

    I'm not sure if WorldEd will make a world of difference in ToEE modding due to its quirky and limited nature, but I will only be happy to see new modders come along and use this program to contribute to what ToEE has to offer.

    EDIT: Some Polish users inform us that the game release Worlded was a part of was standard Polish three-CD release, not a limited release. While I can't personally confirm or deny that, if it is indeed so then it's all the more ironic that no Polish user ever deemed it relevant or important to notify anyone of this interesting find.

    - Agetian
     
  5. Shiningted

    Shiningted I want my goat back Administrator

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    You'll probably need to learn Polish. I take it the problem (if it's expressing in Polish) is in the unzipping? I just tried it following the instructions of the OP and had no problem - WorldEd stands out like a sore thumb, too, but I guess people don't normally install to an empty folder.

    To get it going, follow Agetian's instructions in THIS thread: and be aware, guys, we will doubtless merge the two threads at some imminent point.

    Edit: OEwotyniea Pierwotnego Zazwodonu (or whatever that said) is 'Temple of Elemental Evil" in Polish. I suspect you didn't navigate to your new blank folder ;) I'd suggest:

    - make blank folder
    - copy address line (mine was C:\Users\Ted\Desktop\Polish, yours won't be ;))
    - run the patch and paste that address into the relevant box when the moment comes.

    Let us know how it goes because you won't be the only one trying!
     
  6. Heinous_Hat

    Heinous_Hat Member

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    I had a few trials where I got some cryptic (i.e. Polish) error messages, but that was the result of running it in a sandbox and botching the folder path. And possibly (small chance) not entirely reading the directions :roll:

    It does work sans panic. Stay calm, remember that Polish can't harm you (unless you invite it inside) and make certain to create an empty changelog.txt file inside an otherwise empty folder, with that folder's path specified in the patch installer dialogue.

    It should dump a data folder (patch contents), along with the following:

    WorldEd.exe
    MsgCheck.exe
    V2Brute.exe
    zlib-1.2.1.dll
    tio.dll
    temple.dll
    ChangeLog.txt
    mt19937ar.txt

    All you need then is to move WorldEd.exe into a ToEE installation with extracted assets, so it has access to what it expects in a dev environment. I'd recommend a separate installation for using this tool, or modding in general.

    What you don't want to do is to try to actually apply the patch to either an existing or new installation. That will produce errors, in all likelihood.
     
  7. Arem

    Arem Member

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    Re: Official ToEE WorldEd discovered in Polish patch?

    Basically, you have been using the editor for God knows how many years without any word because what? Its release might have been an accident? How considerate of you.
     
  8. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    Merged threads from GM and ToEE Discussion.

    Let me state this now, emphatically and clearly: neither this thread nor any thread here at Co8 is going to be allowed to devolve into bashing. Discuss it all you want, but nothing less than civility will be tolerated.
     
  9. marc1967

    marc1967 Established Member

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    Two quick questions:

    1) Is this really going to add any significant functionality that the World Builder doesn't already allow you to accomplish? I know Agetian already answered that question above, but I just don't see anything I can't already really do in the World Builder or by hand, except for maybe laying out clipping stuff more efficiently.

    2) If I may be so bold, could anyone be slightly more specific on the phrase "this tool was known to us for some time". This is out of pure curiosity. Are we talking days/weeks, or has this been know for many years?
     
  10. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    1. In my experience, the improved functionality lies in more precise sectoring tools than WB has to offer. Also the DAG stuff, but the limitations there are profound in that you can't create new clippers, only use existing ones. That makes some degree of hacky DAG work possible with enough effort, but no more than that. The interface is pretty poor as well - no way to 'audition' clippers, etc.

    It's also better for positioning mobs and scenery, etc.

    WorldEd is by no means a complete solution, or even a tool that really approximates most modding tools people are familiar with, like with NWN. I mean, it doesn't have a proto editor, you don't create scripts or dialogues from within it, you don't 'build' maps, etc. Most of that side of ToEE modding would be untouched by it, and anyone modding without it won't see much difference except in the ways mentioned above. It's not the holy grail of ToEE modding by any stretch.

    2. We've known about it for a very long time. It's essentially irrelevant though, because for the reasons Agetian stated above, we've never been at liberty to share it. A little dose of reality here - ToEE itself is not a game that ever had modding 'authorized' for it, so we've always actually been on thin ice legally just releasing modpacks. Taking the liberty of publicly distributing proprietary development software would just be reckless beyond the pale, and it would jeopardize the very existence of the modpack and all the hard work that's gone into it over the years so that people can play a better version of the game.
     
  11. maggit

    maggit Zombie RipTorn Wonka

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    Sigh, and of course the Codex is being a-grade a-holes about the Co8 not sharing this earlier. I would have leaked the WorldEd way sooner if I hadn't assumed it was present in every version of the game ever, only basically useless.

    In any case, I'd just like to add I'm not the anonymous guy who left the message at RPGC nor that I may have been the first guy to let Co8 know of the existence of those files.
     
    Last edited: Apr 30, 2015
  12. WinstonShnozwick

    WinstonShnozwick Established Member

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    So if I'm understanding correctly, no this is not the holy grail for TOEE. It simply serves as a nice tool to help existing modding and maybe encourage new people into the game.

    The real heroes have been with us for years. The real heroes have been co8, turning this into my second favorite game of all time.
     
  13. maggit

    maggit Zombie RipTorn Wonka

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    Basically. Apart from one person who was here somewhere in the beginning, I was the only (to my knowledge) Pole in the community who did some modding and frequented the forums regularly.

    When I came in, Co8 modders already had WorldBuilder, a very basic model viewer and KotB was already in the works. They already had better tools than anything that was on disk. Tools, that are freely available, mind you so if the Codex wanted to build something, they were already able to.

    Nevertheless, the problem why this hasn't leaked sooner was that a user doesn't normally assume to find dev tools on the disc, especially ones that are EXCLUSIVE to their version of the game.

    Since we're crossposting through forums, I'll answer this bit.
    No 'arcane' steps ever were needed to access the WorldEd in the Polish version of ToEE. If you bought the version I had it was in the game's root directory straight from the install, just like Arcanum.

    Typical Codexer.
     
    Last edited: Apr 30, 2015
  14. WinstonShnozwick

    WinstonShnozwick Established Member

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    You would be surprised what you find looking in game files. I was part of the age of mythology community years ago on aomheaven, and the modders there seemed to find a new hidden feature in the game files every year or so. Some old games have a ton of unused assets hidden.
     
  15. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    Thanks for the sentiments guys, but let's avoid making this bashy in any direction. Basically we can have a productive discussion or not about the actual topic, inasmuch as anyone's legitimately curious or needs help, and we'll leave it at that. :)
     
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