Gamedata Build Pipeline¶

The gamedata build pipeline consists of a set of scripts, with the ultimate purpose of automatically bringing together your assets and leveldesign data into packaged client datafiles, as well as building all the data as required by the game services.

Projects¶

The asset pipeline is divided into three major project categories, each containing one or more independent projects that depend on the previous category. The possibility exists to build multiple projects per category in parallel on multiple physical machines. A project has it's own configuration set, allowing multiple independent landscape lighting models or character armor color texture generation.

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Processes¶

Each project may run one or more sequential build processes. A process defines the data which needs to be built, and which tools need to be run for the process to run successfully.
The following processes are currently part of the gamedata build pipeline:

• map: Export copies tga, dds and png files from MapSourceDirectories to MapExportDirectories, and tga and png files from UncompressedMapSourceDirectories to UncompressedMapExportDirectories. Builds texture color variations according to panoply.cfg, compresses tga files in MapExportDirectories down to dds file format, and builds hls whatever that may be.
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Commands¶

There are four basic commands which run a specific portion of the entire gamedata build pipeline.

• Setup (0_setup.py): This script allows you to configure the directories used by the automated pipeline, and creates all the subdirectories required by the available projects and their processes.
• Export (1_export.py): The main task of this portion is to bring all the assets into a format that can be read by NeL, as well as compressing large file formats down to a more manageable filesize. For instance, it exports all the .shape, .zone, .anim, .skel, .veget, etcetera from the 3ds Max files, and compresses .tga files specified by specific processes down to .dds file format.
• Build (2_build.py): Processes all the content for ingame usage. Welds and lights landscape zones, generates new sheet ids, and builds packed sheets, and sample banks for sound effects.
• Install (3_install.py): Grabs together all the files required by the game client, and game services, ready into an installable file structure.