UWE (UnderWorld Editor) file

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               -=-=  UWE  =-=-
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By Jonathan Rimmer

1 - UWE?
2 - What can UWE do?
3 - Why isn't object & NPC placement editing included?
4 - Any bugs?
5 - I want to make my own editor!
6 - Is it safe?
7 - I've made a modified level, can I distribute it?
8 - What next?
9 - Whats the point in making an UW editor?
10 - Will it work for UW2?
11 - Its crap!
12 - Contact info

Disclaimer - I am not responsible in any way for any damage, data loss
or other consequences brought about either directly or indirectly of
the use, installation or any other form of contact with this program.
By running this software, the user accepts this agreement.
This software can be freely distributed as long as all the contents of
the Zip file is maintained, I am given full credit and the software
is not sold for profit.

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1 - UWE?

UWE stands for (U)nder(W)orld (E)ditor, it is as the
name suggests a level editor for the game "Ultima Underworld"
created by Looking Glass software.  The editor is currently
at a pre-beta state and I releasing this version to get
feedback and bug reports and hopefully so you UnderWorld fans
can have some fun with it.

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2 - What can UWE do?

At the moment UWE is in quite an early stage, when it is
finished I hope it will be able to edit every level of the
game and allow texture editing.

Currently the editor only allows editing of level 1 and object
editing support is not included.  So what can it do?  Well first
a little bit of info on how the game works:

Each level is a grid of 64 by 64 squares or cells, giving 4096
cells in total on each level.  Each cell has an individual wall
texture, floor texure, height and shape.  UWE can edit any of
thses attributes for any square on the level.

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3 - Why isn't object & NPC placement editing included?

Simple.  I don't know how it works.  Each cell in the level
appears to reference to an entry in an "Objectlist".  The
"Objectlist" seems to be a large block stored after the map data
of each level.  So far, I havn't spent much time examining the
Objectlist, but it seems to be quite complex, possibly split up
into separate blocks for 2D and 3D items, it may even include
some kind of scripting for manipulating map data (for instance the
4 towers puzzle on level 1, where the height of the four cells is
adjustable).

Since my file format decyphering skills are too hot, if you make
any progress in working out the data structure I'd appreciate any
info you could give me.  

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4 - Any bugs?

Possibilly, or rather probably.  Theres a lot of file accessing
and some odd litte hacks in the source which I put in to avoid
dealing with file structures I don't understand yet.  It does
crash occasionally when I use it with the usual allegro crash
message, but this may be due more to the hacked state of my LEV.ARK
than the program itself.  Something that seems to cause it is scrolling
around quickly, so try not to hold down the arrow keys, repeatedly
press them instead.

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5 - I want to make my own editor!

Go ahead, the sourcecode is available on the webpage.  I'm sorry
if it isn't very clear, but this is the first "real" utility I've
made in C++, so I've had to learn a lot as I went along, I'll try
to clean up the code for later releases.  Feel free to use part of
the code or make extensions to it, just remember to credit me
appropriately!

If you want to make an editor, but the sourcecode isn't much help, I'm
planning to put together a document explaining the structure of the
LEV files eventually.  The actual level structure isn't so complicated
really, just get a hex editor and mess around with a savegame LEV.ARK
file.

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6 - Is it safe?

It should be.  Theres no way to know what it could do to your
LEV.ARK file if you do something strange.  Have some common sense
when running the program, edit the LEV.ARK contained in a savegame
directory, NOT in the DATA directory.  Also, don't edit your last
level, minutes from finishing the game with full skills, gold etc.
savegame.  Before you run it, start a new character and save it into
one of the save points then edit that.  

If for some reason you want to edit the template LEV.ARK stored in the
UW\DATA directory (I would NOT recomend this), make a backup of it
first!

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7 - I've made a modified level, can I distribute it?

Good question.  My knowledge of computer law is sketchy to say the
least.  As far as I know, it is illegal to distribute data files that
came with the original game, modified or otherwise.  However, it is legal
to modify and distribute files created by the game itself (i.e. savegames).
So where does this leave UWE?  Well when you start a new game, it makes
a modified copy of UW\DATA\LEV.ARK in the UW\SAVEX (where X is 1 to 5)
directory.  Although this file is created by the game, it is based on an
orignal file, so it may be legal or not.  If you want to distribute a
modified LEV.ARK, then you could ask Looking Glass if its legal, I don't
know what they'd say.

In the next release, I hope to include a save facility that allows saving
into a new UWE only level format which can then be loaded into the LEV.ARK
file by the person who downloads it.

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8 - What next?

I do plan to continue with UWE, but I tend to work on programs rather
erractically, stopping and starting over time.  At the time of writing
I have some exams coming up and will probably have to suspend most work
on UWE until after them.

Although I don't want to start promising things I may not deliver, I
hope to include full support for editing all levels and texures, and full
object placement editing.

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9 - Whats the point in making an UW editor?

Hmmm, well I suppose its two things really:

1) Nobody else, apart from Looking Glass has done so (AFAIK).
2) Because I can!

I'll confess, I've never actually completed UnderWorld, memory problems
meant I couldn't play very easily for a while, and after that a harddrive
accident wiped out my copy of UW.  When I came back to UW, I became quite
interested in editing it, but since nobody had produced an editor, I had
to make one myself :)  I hope to complete UW at some point in the future,
but for now exams and programming takes up most of my time.

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10 - Will it work for UW2?

Erm, maybe, but probably not.  Since I don't own Underworld 2,
theres no way for me to know.  Hopefully I'll save up enough cash to buy
up the huge RPG collection which includes UW2 at some point in the future.
If you want you can test it on UW2 and email me with the results.

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11 - Its crap!

Hopefully this will avoid some flame emails from fanatical Underworld
fans wanting to tell me how dissapointed they were :).

This release of UWE is not supposed to be a "true" release, it is a
test version which will hopefully provide me with some feedback and
maybe provoke some activity in UW "community".

If it doesn't work, I'm sorry, send me a description of the problem
by email and I'll do my best to fix it.  If your annoyed because you
can't edit the objects or NPCs on the level, sorry, but since I don't
know how to do this, theres not much I can do immediately.  If your
desparately upset over this ommision, then either make your own editor,
or failing that, load up LEV.ARK in a hex editor and work out how the
objectlist is stored then email with an explanation, I'm waiting ;)

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12 - Contact info

Want to threaten/flame/abuse/praise my hard work?
Drop me a line at:

  jon@rimmer.demon.co.uk

and say your piece.

My UWE page is at: http://skyscraper.fortunecity.com/memphis/670/

where you can download the source code for UWE.