I'm sorry, but writing a documentation is an arduous task and not as much fun as programming. This text should still offer some insight to those new to BIN editing, so I keep it in the ZIP.

Take a look at "Bin-Masta's MTM and MTM2 Custom Designs Page" at http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Garage/5527/ for some Tips and Tricks on BIN editing.

BINs are the three-dimensional models used in the Microsoft/Terminal Reality games MTM, Hellbender, CART and MTM2. This program was developed with MTM (and MTM2) in mind, but should work with the other programs, too.

BINedit is a utility for editing the BIN files (aka boxes, models, or props).

Unlike my normal beta programs which tend to be quite stable,this one is REALLY BETA! I do my best to release only fairly stable versions, but I won't take any responsibility for lost BINs and similar stuff 8-)

Please report any bugs you find or send me some general suggestions.

Improved versions will be released in irregular intervals

Because the program is still under development, this readme file will not yet discuss the functions in greater detail.

BINedit is POSTCARDWARE. If you use it and have not sent me a postcard yet, please do so. See POSTCARD.TXT for details.

BINedit will only work if you did use the "First Time Setup" feature of TRI's TrackEd (or some similar procedure that extracts BIN files and the appropriate textures to your hard drive).

Simply copy the files
  BINedit.EXE
  opengl32.dll
  glu32.dll
to a directory of your choice.

The Program should be ready to run.

*****************************************************************
WHEN YOU ARE USING BINEDIT v0.907 (or higher) FOR THE FIRST TIME:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The first thing you have to do is use the "Preferences" command in the "File" menu and select the default color table (for MTM it is the file "METALCR2.ACT" in the ART subfolder of the MTM folder), the default BIN model directory (for MTM it is the MODELS subfolder of the MTM folder), and the default .RAW and .ACT folder (for MTM it is the ART subfolder of the MTM folder).
*****************************************************************

BE SURE TO USE A SCREEN MODE WITH AT LEAST 64K COLORS! 256 COLORS ARE NOT ENOUGH!

////////////////////////////////////////////
// The basics of BIN editing:

A BIN file describes a three-dimensional model for MTM (and Hellbender, and CART, and MTM2, and...).  The basic structure of a BIN consists of 3D points. I will usually call them vertices (singular: vertex).  A vertex is not visible in MTM.

  1 +               + 2
 
 
 

  3 +         + 4

Three or four of these vertices can be used to form a visible surface. I will call these polygons faces. A face has only one visible side.  The faces is visible from the side where the vertices seem to be defined clockwise.

  1 +--------------+ 2
    !             /
    !            /
    !           /
    !          /
  3 +---------+ 4

This face will only be visible from your side of the screen, if it is defined as 1,2,4,3 or 2,4,3,1 or 4,3,1,2 or 3,1,2,4. Reverse the order, and the face is only visible from within your monitor 8-).

Each face uses a RAW file (a MTM texture file) for the rendering of its surface. Several faces can share the same texture.

  1 +--------------+ 2
    !xyxyxyxyxyxyx/
    !yxyxyxyxyxyx/
    !xyxyxyxyxyx/
    !yxyxyxyxyx/
  3 +---------+ 4

////////////////////////////////////////////
// Keyboard commands of BINedit
 

Keypad +	: zoom 3d view in  (SHIFT to zoom faster)
Keypad -	: zoom 3d view out (SHIFT to zoom faster)
Cursor Keys	: rotate 3d view (SHIFT to rotate faster)
TAB/SHIFT TAB	: cycle through vertices (forward/backward)
Space/SHIFT Space	: cycle through faces (forward/backward)
CTRL-X	: delete current face
X/SHIFT X	: move selected vertex in positive/negative x direction
Y/SHIFT Y	: move selected vertex in positive/negative y direction
Z/SHIFT Z	: move selected vertex in positive/negative z direction
N	: cycle through vertices of selected face
SHIFT N	: select first vertex of selected face
F	: Tag (mark) selected face (still without real function)
I	: information on model/selected vertex/selected face
T	: toggle display of current vertex' texture  (the colors are not correct)  The red outline shows which part of the texture is used for the face. Press N repeatedly to see which vertex corresponds to which point of the red shape.  Point and click with mouse to move current vertex to new texture coordinates, or use X/SHIFT X and Y/SHIFT Y.
SHIFT T	: Select new texture for current face. Select the new texture from the texture pool.
V	: Tag current vertex. Some trasformations can be restricted to tagged vertices only, like the TRANSLATE command.
CTRL-V	: Set vertex Coordinates
CTRL-A	: Select all Faces

////////////////////////////////////////////
// Menu commands of BINedit
 

FILE
New	- Clear current BIN
Open	- guess...
Save As Model...	- save the current BIN as normal model NOTE: For future storage of additional BIN infos, BINedit will create a file <binname>.BIN.info for every saved BIN!
Save As Backdrop...	- save current bin as a backdrop model. This will only work if the model was already a backdrop when it was loaded. NOTE: For future storage of additional BIN infos, BINedit will create a file <binname>.BIN.info for every saved BIN!
Save as Hellbender Bin...	- Save the current file as a hellbender model
Insert...	- Load new model into current one. Use this function to combine two BINs
Import Truck...	- Import a truck(.trk) into BinEdit. You may need to extract files from the Game and Truck pod files in the System directory to view the trucks.
Import Wavefront...	- Insert a file in Wavefront/Digital Arts format (See Appendix A)
Export Wavefront...	- Export a model to Wavefront/Digital Arts format (See Appendix A)
Export as VRML...	- Export the current file as a usable VRML file. If you have the right software you can view the VRML file as well.
Play	- auto-rotate current model
Preferences...	- displays a dialog were you can set some basic file and path names
VIEW
Zoom To Fit	- will zoom the model view to fit the 3d window.
Change Background Color	- Select the color of the background of all the views.
Wireframe, solid untextured, and textured	- Changes 3D view.
Follow Current Face	- When checked the 3D view will center to the selected face.
Show only 3D view	- guess...
Show Axes	- When checked the location of the Axes is shown in the 3D view.
Show Vertices in 3D view	- When checked it shows the vertices in the 3D view.
High Quality 3D textures	- When checked if you are in textured mode the 3D textures are brought into a higher quality.
Toggle Vertex Status	- Toggle the small window with vertex info on and off.
Toggle Browse Window	- Toggles the browse window for selecting bin files. Double click on one to open it.
MODEL
Rotate x,y,z	- rotate model around selected axis
Center x,y,z	- Center the model on the selected axis
Center all	- Center the model on all axises
Resize	- resize model (values are in feet, one foot equals 256 editor units)  Old size is displayed in left column. Enter new size in right column.  To keep the proportions, check the "keep proportions" box before changing a value on the right hand side. The other values will be calculated automatically.
Translate	- move the model (values are in editor units, 256 editor units equal one foot)
Normalize Texture	- select ONE new texture for ALL faces.
Write textures to textfile	- will write the names of all textures that are used by the model to a text file. Useful when creating response files.
VERTEX
Set Coordinates	- change the coordinates of the current vertex
Add	- Add a new vertex. A dialog box will prompt you for the coordinates.
Delete Current	- Delete current vertex (if it is not used by any face).
Delete all unused	- Delete all vertices that are not used by any face.
Merge close vertices	- Merges vertice within certain distances that you specify.
Select all vertices	- Selects all vertices.
Deselect all vertices	- Deselects any selected vertices.
Jump to Vertex #...	- Jumps to the vertex # you specify.
FACE
Add	- Add a new faces. Write down the vertex numbers of its corners before entering the dialog box. The faces will get the first texture in the texture pool. To change texture, select the face and press SHIFT T to select a new texture from the pool.
Delete current	- delete the current (selected) face.
Flip Face	- Flips the direction of the face.
Flip and rotate texture	- as the name says. Flip doesn't work for triangles.
Select all faces	- Selects all faces
Deselect all faces	- Deselects all selected faces
Select by facing	- Selects the faces which are facing along the selected axis or it's negative, or up to a certain degree away.
Properties	- view/change properties of current face (vertex numbers, texture type and texture image)
Jump to face #...	- Jumps to the face # you specify.
TEXTURES
Load	- load one or more new textures into the editor's texture pool.  Only loaded textures can be used for faces.
Define Animation...	- define a new texture animation. You will have to specify a name, the number of frames per second and the textures for the frames. The new animation <name> will appear as "ANIM:<name>" in the texture selection dialog.
GROUPS
When you press F or V, the current "F"ace or "V"ertex will be marked as selected.  With "Define ???? Group" you can assign a name to the current selection of faces or vertices. With "Restore ... Group" you can either restore a previously saved selection group, or - by selecting the unnamed group - clear the selection.  Vertex selections are in use only in "MODEL/TRANSLATE". The selections will be saved to and restored from the .BIN model's .INFO file.

Ok, let's build a hay pyramid to get a feeling for the program 8-)

Start BINedit. Do not load an object! (Or use the FILE/NEW function)

Our pyramid needs a square base and four triangular sides. To add a face, we need vertices first. Let's start with the base. We need four vertices. For simplicity's sake, we will insert them at a y-coordinate of 0.

Add the first vertex at  x= 1000, y=0, z= 1000
Add the second vertex at x= 1000, y=0, z=-1000
Add the third vertex at  x=-1000, y=0, z=-1000
Add the fourth vertex at x=-1000, y=0, z= 1000

Press the keypad "+" key a few times to see the vertices in the 3d view.

Viewed from the top (from the positive y-axis), they would look like this:

                /\  z-axis
                !
                !
        3 +     !     + 0
                !
                !
----------------+---------------------> x-axis
                !
                !
        2 +     !     + 1
                !
                !

Press TAB a few times to see the 3d cursor cycle through the vertices.

Before we can add the base face, we need to load the texture. Select the menu option TEXTURES/LOAD... and load HAYSTACK.RAW.

Now we can add the face. It should be visible from beneath the pyramid (negative y-axis), which means that the vertices of the face will have to be defined clockwise when looking from the negative y-axis. My sketch of the vertices is from the positive y-axis, we need to use a counter-clockwise order:

3, 2, 1, 0 will do. Select the menu option FACES/ADD and enter the values in the edit fields. The new face will appear in the 3d view (well, it will, if you rotate the model with the cursor keys until you can see the pyramid from below). Since there is only the haystack texture in the texture pool, it will already be assigned to the face. We can test it by changing the FACES/PROPERTIES to "textured". The 3d view will now display the face with its texture.

The pyramid still needs the four sides. First, we have to add the last vertex, the one at the top of the pyramid.

Add the vertex (it's # 4) at 0, 1000, 0. This is 1000 units above the center of the base face:

                /\  z-axis
                !
                !
        3 +     !     + 0
                !
                ! (4)
----------------+----------------------> x-axis
                !
                !
        2 +     !     + 1
                !
                !

Now we can add the four sides. Defined in clockwise order, they are
 4, 0, 1 (face nr. 1)
 4, 1, 2 (face nr. 2)
 4, 2, 3 (face nr. 3)
 4, 3, 0 (face nr. 4)
   (the base is face nr. 0)

To add triangles, leave the last vertex value at -1.

That's it! We've just built a (simple) MTM BIN model...

Select FILE/SAVE AS to save the creation (I called it haypyra.bin). You will be warned that the model is not centered along the y-axis and asked if BINedit should center it vertically. Unless you are editing a truck shape which is usually floating above the ground, the left button ('Ja' is German for 'Yes') is the correct one. The pyramid will be lowered a bit.

Now fire up the track editor and use the new BIN!

The pyramid is about 8 feet wide and about 4 feet high. To change its dimensions, use the menu option MODEL/RESIZE.

To move a single vertex, select it with TAB/SHIFT TAB and use the X/SHIFT X, Y/SHIFT Y, Z/SHIFT Z keys to move it in 100 unit steps. Or use the menu option VERTICES/SET COORDINATES.

Now let's change the texture of two opposite faces. First we need to add the new texture to the texture pool. Select TEXTURES/LOAD and load the GOLFGRAS.RAW texture.

Press SPACE or SHIFT SPACE until one of the side faces is selected (tinted purple). Now press SHIFT T. You will see a list with all textures in the pool. Select golfgras.raw. Now select the opposite face and do the same.

Voila! Now we have a pyramid with two different textures.

Experiment!

---------------------
5. BINedit homepage
---------------------
http://members.tripod.de/oliverpieper/

------------------------
6. The author of BINedit
------------------------
Oliver Pieper
Student of Computer Science at the
Philipps-University of Marburg, Germany.

email: [email protected]
WWW: www.ViaRegio.de/pieper

Wavefront/Digital Arts is a very simple format that stores three dimensional models as ASCII files. BINEdit implements only two Wavefront/Digital Arts commands:

One. v #x #y #z  defines a vertex at coordinates #x, #y, #z
 Examples:
  v 0.34445 -12 133.4
  v 1 1 1

Two.  f #1 #2 #3 or f #1 #2 #3 #4  defines a face using the vertices #1 #2 #3 (triangle) or #1 #2 #3 #4 (rectangle)

NOTE 1: Wavefront numbers the vertices 1, 2, 3... but BINedit starts with vertex 0.
NOTE 2: Wavefront supports faces with any number of vertices, BINedit only 3 or 4.

 Examples:
  f 12 33 4
  f 1 2 3 4
  f 0 1 2 3 is invalid (vertex 0)

I use this format to define my model shapes "off line". Its easier than using the menu commands to add each vertex and face. I've included the BARREL.OBJ that I've used to define the orange barrels for Derailed. View/Edit it with Notepad.

To convert other formats (Autocad DXF, 3D Studio 3DS, ...) to Wavefront OBJs I use

Pixel 3D
1996 (c) Forward Design
http://www.wavetech.net/~pixelboy

The shareware version is limited to a certain number of program starts. Make certain that Pixel 3D has access to your Windows directory. It needs to modify the file C:\WINDOWS\WINSYS.DLL every time it is started.  Strange DLL, by the way. It is definitely no Windows system DLL.

Resale of this product is strictly prohibited unless given explicit permission by the author. Distribution on CD-ROM is strictly prohibited unless given explicit permission by the author. All material contained with the ZIP file is considered copyrighted by the author.

©1997 Oliver Pieper

**********************
DISCLAIMER - AGREEMENT
**********************

LIMITED WARRANTY

THIS SOFTWARE AND MANUAL ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS.  THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES RELATING TO THIS SOFTWARE, WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NEITHER THE AUTHOR NOR ANYONE ELSE WHO HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN THE CREATION, PRODUCTION, OR DELIVERY OF THIS SOFTWARE SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE SUCH SOFTWARE, EVEN IF THE AUTHOR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES OR CLAIMS.  THE PERSON USING THE SOFTWARE BEARS ALL RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE.

(sounds professional, doesn't it? 8-) )