QuakeMap Explorer

Add-ons



What is a QuakeMap Add-on ?

This document explains the principles of using QuakeMap add-ons and creating your own. It assumes that you know the basics about the QuakeMap Explorer.

For QuakeMap, an Add-on is nothing more than a standard .QME file. The only difference is that the file is not supposed to be run directly. For example, it usually won't contain any map. Instead, it can be reused in any other file. For example, an add-on file may define a new monster, and if you want to use this monster in your own maps, you will need to store your maps in a .QME file with a Link to the monster file. It can also contain no information used directly in Quake, such as a brush library.


Using an Add-on

It is not complicated to use an Add-on, either made by yourself or found on the Internet - look for Add-ons for QuakeMap at Derrick's QuakeMap Page.

Let's start with the example of brush libraries. In the map editor, when you open the New item window, you will find an Open button. Clicking on it will let you select the Add-on file(s) you want to use. Just select the file that contains your brush library. Note that you must put all the files within the same directory.

The same works for any Add-on type - brush libraries, new monsters, and so on. If the Add-on is some enhancement for your maps, they will appear in the New item window, under the normal choices.

In general, to use information from an Add-on, You need to create a File Link to the Add-on file from your file. This is what the Open button does. The same command is available from the QuakeMap Explorer, in the New menu, command Make File links.

Either way, after having made the file links, QuakeMap will automatically rebuild your file. The rebuilding process is the same as if you had clicked on Extract files but don't GO, and this includes the linked files. In the case of brush or texture libraries, you need not worry about the rebuilding process, because a brush library is not used directly by Quake. But in most other cases, the Add-on contains information required for Quake to work : new monster's Models or sounds, and/or QuakeC code patches. The rebuilding process prepares it all and recompiles the code patches, so you should do it whenever you re-open the map you made using Add-ons, as explained in the QuakeMap Explorer introduction.


Creating an Add-on

Creating an Add-on only means creating a standard QuakeMap file. The only difference is that it is not supposed to be run directly, but instead is used as a "linked" file by you or other people.

In the map editor, in the New item window, besides the Open button, there are two other buttons :

Open brush library : this button opens the file in which QuakeMap found the currently selected entity or polyhedron. Select something in the hierarchical list in the window, then click on this button to edit it.

Create new brush library : this button creates a new, empty file and prepares it so that you can immediately start filling it with your new fixtures. In fact, it creates a new, special map; anything you put into it will appear in the New item window.

This special map is, in fact, a special QuakeMap Explorer entry type. It's the only one you're about to use in an Add-on and not in a stand-alone file : "New entities". It is only used by QuakeMap to complete its New item window.

Also, clicking on this Create new brush library button will create the special map in a separate file. You will have to put a link to it from the file that contains your map, as explained above.


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Date: 21.01.97, by Armin Rigo