BinEdit 2.3.1

[Fila]

https://binedit.com/downloads/BinEdit231.zip <--- updated 8/21

https://www.mtm2.com/~mtmg/misc/MATERIAL_GUIDE.pdf <--- Helper with what the material parameters do

As per the main thread, these are the updates to BinEdit.

- added the aforementioned materials (glass, foliage)
- you can now click on a face to select it!
- it has an "export to blender" option. There are actually two places for this. The normal export, and an animated model export. They need slightly different things, so it appears in both cases.
- BinEdit is .png/.tga aware.

One thing that I deviated from the mtm2 engine and traxx, binedit will NOT automatically load a .png file if you have both .raw and .png/tga on the disk. I tried doing that during testing and it was very very confusing. So if you load a .raw/act file, BinEdit will hold that and when you create the .bin, it will do so using the .raw/act reference. But as before, if you have the HD alternate in the art folder or you build the .pod with the HD alternate, the game will automatically load the HD version instead of the .raw/act.

You can however load the .png/.tga texture in BinEdit and work using that instead. And when you save it, it saves using the .png. If you export to Blender, it IS the recommended way.

As mentioned, any texture that has the same name and then _N.png is going to be treated as a normal mapping. For trucks, this comes at zero performance cost. Just toss that texture in the pod file and the engine will do the rest. It works whether the truck is authored with .raw or with .png/tga.

You can add normal mapping to objects too. Glass material is what breaks a model and sends it to the mid tier performance, normal mapping does not. So normal mapping again comes at either free or minimal performance cost. Feel free to add it to whatever objects you want. Just like with trucks, the normal mapping can work with both original .raw files and .png/tga files.

I do want to re-iterate the following that I mentioned in the main thread.

- Added the transparent/reflection glass. Originally talked about as shiny/transparent texture, the end result is that this is not a new texture type. From now on, this is seen as a material which can be added to any pre-existing face. So you can load a truck and just throw the material setting on the existing texture and voilla, you end up with glass. Magic i tell you. There is a Glass Preset button, please use the glass preset only. You are free to play around with the parameters to get it to look to your liking but do not touch any of the flags.
- Likewise, using the same concept there is a "foliage preset", which basically is an attempt to simulate translucent leaves. You select which faces you want to be translucent, select the foliage preset and then play around with the parameters, leaving the flags untouched.

The reason you must leave the flags untouched is because the updated game engine orders the models into certain caches for performance reasons. There's a static cache which is the fastest, a mid tier cache which is for moving objects including trucks which is semi-fast and a "per frame" drawing. If you play around with the flags, the game engine will not recognize the face and move the whole object to a "per frame" drawing and too many of these objects and it will kill the fps. Per frame hits FPS very hard.

Likewise, you CAN add glass material to static models if you want to make them look nicer but you have to understand the cost. Almost all static models are in the static cache (fastest), adding a glass material to them will move them to the mid tier. Again, too many of these and performance will start hurting. This is another thing where a way to fix this would involve a complete rewrite of the rendering engine and I just don't want to. If you really want to add fancy uses of glass to static models, use different scenery levels to allow people to use them or not if they have a strong system.

[OG_RuDeE]

I'm back! Got it to crash within first 60 seconds of use. I'm cursed!

Anyway, after setting Glass material type on a group of faces, I went to verify (see what changed) under Face >> Edit current and ran into an immediate crash. I know I can verify using set group material type, but it would be nice to see that info in a couple of other places, e.g. Face >> Edit Current and in the Bin Mapper.

Click to select is very nice and intuitive.

Is any additional shading planned for BE that mimics what the engine is doing in game for these different material types?

Other QOL potential features:

Face selection stuff:
-Box select for faces, verts.
-In wireframe mode, box select selects all faces / verts in a rectangular 3d box of infinite length in the direction perp to the face defined by the selection box.
-In Bin Mapper, the ability to select a group of UVs with box select, then select the corresponding faces in the main 3d window. This will make editing material types much easier.

Navigation stuff:
-Mouse wheel zoom
-Holding mouse wheel clicked and moving mouse rotates object about the BE origin
-Holding shift+center click (mouse wheel) allows to drag the view

[OG_RuDeE]

Truck editor needs some updates (will update as I find things):

-Won't load models with names longer than 8 chars.
-File >> Import >> Truck works fine, and everything looks right
-Tools >> Truck editor has wheels, axles, etc... out of place now.
-Seems to have broken my BinEdit2.2.8.exe as well. Moving your version and the BinEdit.bcf out of the folder let 2.2.8 open, but the truck editor crashed when trying to use it. (Was going to see if it still worked for edit .trk files.)

[Fila]

Redownload the file. I fixed your crashes and the truck editor and the 8 char limit.

[Fila]

I don't know when I will have the time to work on doing extra improvements. Suddenly working on the game, binedit, traxx and the website all at the same time is cray cray

[OG_RuDeE]

No worries. Just putting ideas here for the record.

[Fila]

https://www.mtm2.com/~mtmg/misc/MATERIAL_GUIDE.pdf

[OG_RuDeE]

I don't see anything about the channels of the normal map in that doc either. In some engines, blue controls the "roughness" and alpha the "specular" or vice-versa. I can experiment and let you know if you need me to.

[Fila]

When I load the truck I downloaded it shows already displaced.

[OG_RuDeE]

It says I don't have permission to view the files attached to this post. I'm going to try in the beta thread.

Is this one also displaced? https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OcYcL5 ... sp=sharing

I changed the .trk since uploading those first examples.

[Fila]

Try now. I think this is a binedit issue not a game issue.

[OG_RuDeE]

Still don't have permission (can't attach screenshot). What am I trying?

[Fila]

This one is even more off.

[Fila]

The truck body itself seems to be off center when you import it in binedit.

[OG_RuDeE]

I'm sorry Fila, I am stupid. I was grabbing the body model from the wrong folder when updating the pod (one of the old ones from the zips I shared hours ago). Fixed on my end now.

Edit: Been at it too long today, I think!

[Fila]

Tell me about it. lol

Can you upload pictures now? I swear I don't know how these forum permissions work. lol

[OG_RuDeE]

Yes, I can, and with that, I'm retiring for the night.

Screenshot 2026-08-21 191215.png

[Fila]

Btw, I think I might have a solution for your mesh window. Working on it right now.

[Fila]

Going the material way has absolutely been the right choice instead of adding new faces. I'll keep you updated.

[OG_RuDeE]

Sweet!