QUAKME10.TXT for QUAKME10.ZIP

     Quake utility for viewing and editing .MDL files

     Version 1.0

     Windows 3.11, Windows 95 and Windows NT

Author : Rene Post (renep@xs4all.nl)
Date   : 13 mar 1996

Note: 
(a) The software is supplied free of charge.
(b) The software is experimental and not guaranteed
to work in your particular setup.

1.  Description
2.  Files
3.  Installation Instructions
4.  Working with QuakeME
5.  Credits
6.  Known Bugs and Limitiations



1. Description

QuakeME is MS-WINDOWS viewer and editor for .MDL files contained
in the ID1.PAK file that was part of the QTEST.ZIP quake test 
distributed by ID software. MDL files contain definitions 
of e.g. monsters and weapons. 

QuakeME can:
- Show bitmaps (object textures).
- Show point mapping of the vertices.
- Edit the point mapping of the vertices.
- Show the triangles.
- Export the bitmaps to a windows .BMP file.
- Import the bitmaps from a windows .BMP file. Bitmaps are 
  pruned or expanded to fit the expected bitmap size.
- Show 3D wireframes and 3D solid models of all the frames contained in 
  a .MDL file.
- Rudimentary 3D animation; you can create a frame loop and play it at
  different frame rates.
- Show contents of the header, vertex list, triangle list and all frames
  contained in a .MDL file.
- Remember the .MDL file you were last viewing, and will show it 
  automatically when you run quakeme again.



2. Files

QUAKEME.EXE
QUAKEME.PAL
QUAKEME.TXT



3. Installation Instructions

As long as you put the executable and the palette in the same directory
you can install it anywhere. When you get a "file not found" error, this
means quakeme cannot find your palette file.



4. Working with QuakeME

You have to unpak ID1.PAK first, in order to get access to the .MDL files.
There are several utilities that can rip apart a PAK file, get one of them.

To start working with QuakeME, select the menu item "File|Select Progs 
Directory..." and select the directory that contains the quake .MDL files.

Now listbox at the left of the QuakeME window is filled with all 
available model files. Selecting one of them will open it and show 
its contents.

Click on the tabs to show different information about the model file.

a. Skin tab

To view the vertices, check the "on seam" and/or "off seam"
check boxes. You can select and drag the vertices by selecting
and dragging them with the left mouse button.

If there are more than one bitmap in a MDL file, you can select what
bitmap to view, by changing the current bitmap spinedit.

To change the percentage of zoom, change the zoom spinedit. Then 
doubleclick inside the spinedit control to zoom the bitmap.

b. Wire Frame tab

The wireframe shows the 3D representation of the model in its bounding 
box that is part of the frame definition and it also shows the origin.

To rotate the wireframe use the right mouse button and rotate the 
wire frame by dragging it. 

With the left mouse button you can move the position of the wireframe.

You can change the distance to the wireframe by using the left mouse
button and the CTRL key. Moving the mouse upwards will zoom-in and
moving the mouse downwards will zoom-out.

If you really screwed-up your wireframe view, there is a button to 
reset the view at the right bottom of the wireframe window.

To see a different frame use the current frame spinedit to select
it.

You can switch between wireframe and solid model view by selecting 
the wire or solid radiobutton. 

There is a rudimentary animator that you can configure to play 
a frame loop. Its handy for figuring out how a frame sequence 
has been constructed.

c. Header

Contains all the information found in the header of the .MDL file.

d. Vertices

Contains the 2D vertices that are show and can be edited in 
the skin bitmap.

e. Triangles

Contains the triangles that are show in the skin bitmap.

f. Frames

Contains the frames that are show in the wireframe.



5. Credits

I got most of the ideas from the MedDLe v0.1 viewer by Brian Martin
but I was bloody annoyed that it was a DOS program, so I wrote it
myself for windows.

Along with my own analysis I used the Quake Spec 3.0 extensively
to build the program, so a lot of credit goes to the authors of 
this spec. Great work ! 



6. Known Bugs and Limitations

I ran the program on 50 mhz 486SX with 8 mb and Windows 3.11,
on a 90 mhz pentium with 16mb and Windows 95 and on a 
90 mhz pentium with 32 mb and Windows NT 3.51. Although it
ran ok in all three environments, performance is best on
a Windows 95 system.

The Z-buffer I use to show a 3D solid model sometimes doesn't
get the Z order right. In those cases, triangles are incorrectly
painted in front of other triangles.
