Essentials Series/Editing Assets: Difference between revisions

The archive editor is the main way to edit HIP/HOP archives in Industrial Park. You can open any amount of Archive Editors you want to, and each can have one HIP and/or HOP file open. Also, opening a third one with the boot.HIP file will allow you to view the objects whose models are contained there (such as spatula, underwear and shiny objects). You also can drag a HIP/HOP file into Industrial Park's window to open it in a new Archive Editor. The Archive Editor has many functions and operations it can perform on a HIP/HOP archive, all of which are listed below:

HIP archives are composed of multiple layers, and each layer can contain many assets. Assets can be of various types, and each type should be in a layer of appropriate type (for example, texture assets should be in a TEXTURE type layer). They are the main thing that we'll be messing with when modding the game (you could say modding BFBB is basically editing assets). The assets contained in HOPs are usually textures, models, sounds and animations, which are the "resources" used to form levels, while the assets in HIPs are usually the data that composes the actual level. Nothing stops you from putting any kind of asset in either the HIP or the HOP, but I advise you to stick to the division the original game uses (the only thing you really cannot do is have sounds in both the HIP and the HOP, as that will glitch the game). For custom levels you created yourself, you have the option of keeping things simpler and not using a HOP file at all: the game will run happily if there's no HOP and all necessary assets are present in the HIP

'''Note''': although you can add new layers and use the arrows to order them in any way you want, the game expects them in a specific order and might not be able to find the assets if that's different. Using the Collapse[[#Other Archive Editor Functions|Organize Layers]] function (explained at the bottom of this page) will automatically order the layers.

* '''Template Focus''': click on this to activate [[../Asset Templates/|template]] placement focus for this Archive Editor.

* '''Paste''' (Ctrl + V): pastes the assets from clipboard. You must have previously copied assets. If the asset already exists, it'll be given a new name and asset ID. If the asset was originally from a different game or platform, Industrial Park will try to convert it to the new format if needed. The '''Replace Assets on Paste''' option, available from the Options tool strip menu in the main form, will cause existing assets to be overwritten on paste instead of given new names.

* '''Edit Data''' (Ctrl + G): displays the [[#Asset Data Editor|Asset Data Editor]], allowing you to edit the selected asset's internal data. This editor is only available for [[Industrial Park (level editor)#Asset Types|somemost of the assets]];interesting forstuff the others, you must exportin the rawselected data and edit it externally in a hex editorasset. Pressing Ctrl + G on the Archive Editor or just G on the main form is a shortcut to this button.

* The '''Update References on Copy/Paste''' option, available from the Options tool strip menu in the main form, enables references between assets to be automatically updated on Duplicate and Paste. This means that, if you copy assets A and B together and A has a reference such as a [[../Links/|link]] or a field with B's asset ID, the pasted assets C and D will have these references updated to match each other.

* '''Asset Type''': the type of the asset. IfYou youcannot change this, beon sureexisting to import new asset dataassets.

This window has different properties for each asset, and sometimes looks completely different as it's adapted for each individual asset types's needs. We will talk about the editor for different types of assets further in the series. Not all of the assets' attributes are known, meaning you'll find a lot of fields labeled as unknown. ThisFor editorsome isof notthe availableless for alldocumented asset types, andthis youwindow canwill finddisplay thea list forof whichthe itasset's doesdata workunlabeled, [[Industrialeither Parkas hex numbers or floats. I only recommend editing assets like this if you're (levelan editor)#Assetexperienced Types|here]]user.

Now, you know the basics of editing assets. This page might seem like it has a lot of information, but you don't have to remember everything right now, and you can always come back to it to review or find a function you need. Continue to the [[../Asset Templates/]] page for the best way to place new assets.

* '''CollapseOrganize Layers''': This will merge all of the archive's layers in a way that there is only one layer of each type, keeping all assets. Layers will be ordered by type in the same order the game originally does.

* '''Import HIP/HOP Archive''': Choose a HIP, HOP or Settings.ini file (from HipHopTool-style exported archive) to import. All layers and assets from the selected file will be added to the current one. Layers will be ordered by the CollapseOrganize Layers function. If an asset with the same ID is already present, you will be prompted whether to overwrite it or not, except for [[COLL]], [[JAW]], [[LODT]], [[PIPT]], [[SHDW]] and [[SNDI]], all of which will be merged into one single asset. This is useful for [[Asset porting]].

* '''Import Multiple Assets''': Choose any amount of files to use as external data for assets and import them. This is useful mostly for assetssound which are commonly from external editorsfiles, such as textures, models and sounds. Importedimported sounds will automatically be sent to the [[SNDI]], but can also be useful for assets such as models and textures (if they are already in native DFF or TXD format; if not, use Import Models and Import Textures as detailed below).

* '''Import TexturesModels''': see [[../Custom Models#Import Textures|Custom Textures/]].

[[Category:Modding]] [[Category:Tutorials]]