What are conversion tools and when to use them

Conversion tools are set of binaries used to convert mid-format files to binary format files which are used by the game. They are needed for in game usage of any 3D assets exported with SCS Blender Tools.

What is included in package

Downloaded archive consists of following folders and files:

conversion_tools - conversion tools binaries and predefined folder structure
blender_addon - "SCS Conversion Helper" Blender addon for using conversion tools out of the box from Blender
README.md

NOTE: Blender addon doesn't have to be used as the addon itself is only helper for using conversion tools directly from Blender.

Installation

Before installation download current version of conversion tools from here

Installation:

To install conversion tools binaries simply copy "conversion_tools" folder somewhere on the PC where it can be found and read-write access is granted.
To install Blender addon named "SCS Conversion Helper" copy "blender_addon/scs_conversion_helper" folder to
```
< blender_version >/scripts/addons
```
within Blender installation folder (for other installation procedures please visit Blender wiki). After installing "SCS Conversion Helper" make sure that addon is enabled!

Usage

There are two options of usage for conversion tools:

Use conversion tools from Blender

Use "SCS Conversion Helper" addon. This addon actually grabs "SCS Project Base Path" property from SCS Blender Tools Global Settings and uses conversion tools binaries to convert resources with simple click of a button.

After enabling of an addon, additional panel in Blender named "SCS Conversion Helper" will appear in properties window under "Scene" tab.

File:Scs conversion helper.jpg

Panel features:

"Conversion Tools Path" property - specified path to extracted conversion tools binaries mentioned above
"Clean 'rsrc' folder" property - using this option any content in "conversion_tools/rsrc" will first be removed then conversion will take place
"CONVERT CURRENT SCS PROJECT" operator - will write current "SCS Project Base Path" to "extra_mount.txt" and run the conversion.

NOTE: This kind of usage will convert only resources which are in "conversion_tools/base" and resources from "SCS Project Base Path". After conversion is done, content inside "conversion_tools/rsrc" folder can be ZIP-ed and placed into the mod folder of the game as usual.

Use binaries directly (for advanced users)

Direct usage of conversion tools is done from command line with execution of

conversion_tools/convert.cmd

script. Running this script will take any mid-format resources founded in

conversion_tools/base

folder, correctly convert them into binary format files and place them into

conversion_tools/rsrc

folder. NOTE: Usage of

conversion_tools/extra_mount.txt

file with specified additional

base

folder paths in each line of the file may also be used. This will cause conversion tools to mount all of the paths the same as

conversion_tools/base

folder. With extra mounted directories conversion tools will convert all resources from "base" and all additional paths! After completed conversion all the content in

conversion_tools/rsrc

folder can be ZIP-ed and placed into the mod folder of the game as usual. NOTE: if something goes wrong during the conversion, you can find additional information in conversion tools log file

bin/win_x86/mass_convert.log

.

Documentation/Tools/Conversion Tools