01 - Photoshop.avi

02 – 3dsmax.avi

03 – Convert.avi

04 – Result.avi

You can find all data for MinerWars in the Content directory (inside your main Miner Wars directory).

Important: At this moment you cannot add any new models. You can only alter existing data. If you decide to share your work with other Miner Wars fans and Miner Wars development team approves, we may add your work into the next release.

All textures are stored in DDS format.

We use Photoshop and nVidia Texture Tools for Photoshop, but Photoshop is costly. Try to look for other free options and share your discoveries – so we may update this manual.

We have two main types of textures:

1. Textures for models Diffuse+Emissive (*_de.dds): Contains diffuse texture in RGB channels and emissive texture in alpha channel Normal+Specular (*_ns.dds): Contains normals texture in BGR and specular intensity texture in alpha channel. Notice that R and B channels are switched for quality reasons.
2. Textures for decals and holo objects Diffuse+alpha (*_decal_de.dds): Diffuse in RGB and alpha in alpha channel Normals (*_decal_ns.dds): Normals in BGR, alpha channel is not used

Models in the game are read from two file types, *.xnb and *.mwm. These files are created from FBX file with the use of our Convertor.exe tool.

We have three main types of models:

1. Basic objects - These objects don’t require any special care. They are just placed in the space, like some debris, old rusty space ships, large abandoned ships, cargos, etc.
2. Prefabs - These models will have defined special connection snap-points in the future, now they are same like basic objects.
3. Small-ships - Small ships are definitely the most complex objects in the game. You cannot change gameplay attributes this way, only the visual appearance of a ship and “dummy” points on the model (i.e. points from where the weapons fire etc.).

   Before you export a ship, make sure that:

   1. Model is centered in the scene.
   2. Materials are set, and each set material has a texture situated in the ./Content directory. Use _de.dds texture for material.
   3. Model has reset XForm.

   Export model as FBX (export the whole scene) and convert it with Converter.exe tool. Copy the created XNB and MWM files into the Content directory.

   To define special points on the ship, use named dummy objects (list of allowed names below) . Some of dummies are mandatory, like Cockpit. See added Phoenix ship for example.

   List of allowed dummies for small ships:

   ENGINE_THRUST_BACKWARD_LEFTSIDE,
   ENGINE_THRUST_BACKWARD_RIGHTSIDE,
   ENGINE_THRUST_BACKWARD2_LEFTSIDE,
   ENGINE_THRUST_BACKWARD2_RIGHTSIDE,
   ENGINE_THRUST_BACKWARD2_MIDDLE,
   ENGINE_THRUST_FORWARD_LEFTSIDE,
   ENGINE_THRUST_FORWARD_RIGHTSIDE,
   ENGINE_THRUST_BACKWARD_SMALL_LEFTSIDE,
   ENGINE_THRUST_BACKWARD_SMALL_RIGHTSIDE,
   ENGINE_THRUST_STRAFE_LEFT,
   ENGINE_THRUST_STRAFE_RIGHT,
   ENGINE_THRUST_UP_LEFTSIDE,
   ENGINE_THRUST_UP_RIGHTSIDE,
   ENGINE_THRUST_DOWN_LEFTSIDE,
   ENGINE_THRUST_DOWN_RIGHTSIDE,
   GUNS,
   REFLECTOR_LEFT,
   REFLECTOR_RIGHT,
   PLAYER_HEAD_FOR_COCKPIT_INTERIOR_TRANSLATION,
   DRILL,
   LIGHT_01,
   HARVESTER,
   UNIVERSAL_LAUNCHER_FRONT,
   UNIVERSAL_LAUNCHER_BACK,
   GUN_01_[AUTOCANNON,SHOTGUN,MACHINEGUN,RIFLE,SNIPER,MISSILE,CANNON],
   GUN_02_[AUTOCANNON,SHOTGUN,MACHINEGUN,RIFLE,SNIPER,MISSILE,CANNON], 
   GUN_03_[AUTOCANNON,SHOTGUN,MACHINEGUN,RIFLE,SNIPER,MISSILE,CANNON], 
   GUN_04_[AUTOCANNON,SHOTGUN,MACHINEGUN,RIFLE,SNIPER,MISSILE,CANNON], 
   GUN_05_[AUTOCANNON,SHOTGUN,MACHINEGUN,RIFLE,SNIPER,MISSILE,CANNON], 
   GUN_06_[AUTOCANNON,SHOTGUN,MACHINEGUN,RIFLE,SNIPER,MISSILE,CANNON], 
   GUN_07_[AUTOCANNON,SHOTGUN,MACHINEGUN,RIFLE,SNIPER,MISSILE,CANNON], 
   GUN_08_[AUTOCANNON,SHOTGUN,MACHINEGUN,RIFLE,SNIPER,MISSILE,CANNON],
   

Voxel material textures are stored in folder ./Content/Textures/Voxels/

You can’t add a new material, but you can alter an existing. Some materials have a different texture set for XZ and Y axes (e.g. Ice_01) whereas some have only one (e.g. Gold_01_ForAxisXZ). This is here to have asteroids with a larger visual diversity, where pixels close to horizontal polygons get more of Y texture, and pixels closer to vertical polygons get more of XZ texture. These textures also have diffuse, specular, normal map and emmisive components. The coding is same as for model textures.

GUI textures are stored in folder ./Content/Textures/GUI/

You will need to use our Converter.exe tool to convert them from PNG/TGA/etc format to XNB to be usable in Miner Wars. Again, you can’t add a new texture, you can only modify existing. Most of these textures use alpha channel, but not a regular alpha-blending. They use pre-multiplied alpha. More info here.