Recommended Editors

[$lave]

This guide covers all the current necessary Editors/Utilities.

Mapping

Weland
A cross-platform forge like map editor. No built in visual mode, maps must be textured using another tool such as Visual Mode Lua.

Visual Mode Lua
Texture maps from within Aleph One.

Atque
A cross-platform utility for merging and splitting map/image files.

Physics, Shapes, Sounds

Shapefusion
I'd recommend Shapefusion for editing Shapes, Sounds and Physics files. Largely replicates the functionality of Bungie's original tools, with a simple interface.

Physics Editor One
A cross-platform but limited physics editor written in Java.

Emulation

Redundant Robot
A tutorial for setting up a classic Mac OS emulator such as bassilisk or sheepshaver, with links to those emulators.

Textures

Aorta
A cross-platform utility for creating DDS textures for use in Aleph One.

GIMP
A cross-platform image editor.

Other Links

SBO Utilities Page
Another list of editors/utilities, some of which are not listed here.

Infinity Utilities
A list of older utilities and forge/anvil updates, most of which requires Mac OS 7 - 9, or an emulator.

Trilogy Release
Forge, Anvil and the Marathon Infinity Manual, which has instructions for using both those editors. Since Weland is very similar to Forge, reading the Infinity Manual should help with learning to use Weland.

[goran]

Physics Editor One has a limited physics editing functionality.

[$lave]

Physics Editor One has a limited physics editing functionality.

Thanks, I've updated the first post.

[RyokoTK]

Yeah I would not recommend PEO unless you had no alternative.

[MoppyPuppy]

You forgot Obed for mapping tools.

[CryoS]

why use obed when there's weland?

[MoppyPuppy]

Circle tool, bend tool, stair tool, elevation editing in 256, 512, 768, and 1024 WU instead of the whole 5.34404 etc. WU you get with other map editors.

EDIT: Oh! And my absolute favorite. The ability to select polygons via a specific criteria. Whether it be height, type, or other.
Say your making a landscape style map, with a river moving through it.
The river has obstructions in it, to make it more like a river. But then you realize it should be deeper.
Instead of individually editing every polygon, you can just select the polygons via they're floor height, to select only the river you've made for editing.

[CryoS]

perhaps, but please register kinda kills it.

[RyokoTK]

elevation editing in 256, 512, 768, and 1024 WU instead of the whole 5.34404 etc. WU

Editing in 1024ths is more convenient than 1000ths? News to me.

[MoppyPuppy]

I admit you need the other tools to finish things. But Obed can lay the ground work with ease.

[Wrkncacnter]

perhaps, but please register kinda kills it.

It's not something you'd want to use to name the map anyway. I've found it very useful for cutting down the time it takes to draw out geometry in certain situations. This is the typical scenario for when I end up using Obed for something: I start the map with Weland and draw out the majority of the map, load the map in Obed to make create/fix some geometry quickly, and then go back to Weland to finish up the map.

I'm not sure how I'd describe Obed, since it's certainly not useful as a full map editor, but it sure is nice to have.

[CryoS]

perhaps addon is the word.

[RyokoTK]

Basically Forge:Chisel::Weland:Obed.

[NXF]

Chisel? Is that for Windows?

[RyokoTK]

Chisel? Is that for Windows?

No, it was for classic Mac. It's not actually a map-making program, it's just a menu-based utility that could change and add things Forge couldn't do. The one tool that I've found useful was its circle generator.

[$lave]

Okay, Obed was added.

[effigy]

IIRC another issue against Obed is it'll trash textures that are not in the set specified by the levels environment setting; and it was designed for M2, so there's not a SMG object, nor Jjaro textures.

[MoppyPuppy]

IIRC another issue against Obed is it'll trash textures that are not in the set specified by the levels environment setting; and it was designed for M2, so there's not a SMG object, nor Jjaro textures.

I usually defend Obed to the death, but this is correct. Once you start texturing your Obed map, there is no turning back.

[goran]

How functional is Obed without registering?

[effigy]

AFIAK the only restriction is that map names are saved as "Please Register."

I haven't taken the time to learn Obed, but at a glance I think it's the most advanced editor for geometry.

--------

Another modern editor I think is worth a mention is the MarathUp plugin for Google SketchUp. Though, I've never been able to get it work fully in WindowsXp (no Mac to test) due to some issue that prevents setting parameters for anything, it think it's fun to rough out levels in a 3d perspective.

[Drictelt]

MarathUp

[NXF]

There's a problem with that download, 7zip doesn't recognize the TAR file and won't extract it.

[$lave]

If anyone feels the MarathUp is a valid alternative to Weland, I'll add it to the list. I've never actually made a map with it, so I don't know how pleasurable it is to use. As is I don't mention it directly, but I do link to the SBO utilities page where it's mentioned.

[effigy]

I've only heard of one other user (jessenator) using MarathUp to make maps other than the one that results from it's included tutorial. That said, I'll point out the following:

The best circumstances I'm aware of where MarathUp > Weland is when a user can run SketchUp v6+ on MacOS but can't run Weland (i.e. Mono requirements); or when the user prefers SketchUp's interface.

The only disadvantages MarathUp users have (that I have seen) are:

1) MarathUP doesn't import the map format (though a map's geometry can be converted to .3ds or .dxf with older tools, and imported in to SketchUp/MarathUp). This bothers me because I enjoy using VMLua.

2) Depending on how you utilize Sketchup's drawing functions, you will likely have to split some poly's twice (at the floor and ceiling).

3) You need to set up the textures and place holders for objects (not hard, but may be time consuming during the first run with it).

For it to be comparable to Weland running on Windows we need someone that knows enough about Ruby scripting and who would also be willing to take a stab at solving it's issues here.


Regarding Obed, would it be worth noting in the list above that Obed is a M2 editor, also? IIRC you can't use other shapes with it, or place the smg.

[MoppyPuppy]

I've only heard of one other user (jessenator) using MarathUp to make maps other than the one that results from it's included tutorial. That said, I'll point out the following:

For it to be comparable to Weland running on Windows we need someone that knows enough about Ruby scripting and who would also be willing to take a stab at solving it's issues here.
Regarding Obed, would it be worth noting in the list above that Obed is a M2 editor, also? IIRC you can't use other shapes with it, or place the smg.

Marathup is the shnaz because you can make components.
If you have 2 of anything in a map, you can just copy and paste.
Complicated things like rooms that are meant to look like something. Things like the personality cell rooms in Marathon Infinity. How long did that take to map? I don't know, but if they had Marathup, it would have taken like 2 seconds.

Or simple things like stairs.