Modding, Mission Design, and Coding > FS2 Open Tools

Pof Tools v1.5.3 - Freespace Model Editor

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Asteroth:
Pof Tools is a program for Windows and Linux which let's you edit properties of Freespace's model format .pof as well as convert them to and from .dae that is meant as a successor to PCS2. If you're familiar with PCS2, this program will feel largely similar.

Download here

The github is here. I'm more than willing to accept any code contributions, and if you have any bugs or feature proposals you can post an issue on the github, post here in the thread, PM me, or @ me on the discord.

This is still a work in progress and including some of the features I've posted to the github, this is a brief list of features I intend to eventually implement that are not yet done:

* Importing subobjects from other .pofs Done in version 1.5!
* Importing/Exporting only geometry from/to a pof Done in version 1.5!
* Displaying Textures (basic stuff only, use the lab for something visually representative) Done in version 1.2!
* Blender-like movement/rotation handles on 'lollipops'
* Display of turret fovs and adding the additional turret fov parameters in .pof
* Adding several other table-only data structures to .pof (contrails, maneuvering thrusters, etc)


Wait, What's Wrong With PCS2?

Not all that much really, it's still fundamentally capable of 99% of what modders need as is. However there are 3 main advantages to starting again:

1. PCS2 will totally let you enter all sorts of invalid states, and put in bad data all over the place, which makes for a lot of nasty surprises when used in FSO. There are a lot of avenues for aiding the user, presenting data in more intuitive ways, and warning them about potential issues, which are primary goals of Pof Tools.
2. The .pof format has been basically frozen since our only .pof authoring tool has not been maintained, preventing new features from being added and any that are added basically require hex-editing in order to do. This has also resulted in a lot of features that should have been in the .pof get put in the table instead, and nobody likes tweaking positional or directional vectors in text form.
3. There is still that 1% you can't do, like the new features added that PCS2 doesn't support, and the various bugs it has accrued over the years.

mjn.mixael:
Wait, you want to move things from the tables to the pof data? I thought we were trying to get away from that so it can be more easily modified.

My experience building a mod is that as much data as possible should be in a table and not the POF because otherwise I can't change it downstream without carrying a brand new version of that POF. Unless we get modular POFs somehow.

Asteroth:
Not as a replacement, as an optional way to provide the same data. As you said, there are still times when you want to override things on a ship-by-ship basis (the table data would take precedence), but certain things like maneuvering thrusters are a nightmare to make when you only have text and can't actually see what you're doing. Most things involving positional vectors or normals should have a graphical interface to show you them directly instead of guessing and checking in FSO.

mjn.mixael:

--- Quote from: Asteroth on March 15, 2022, 11:39:38 am ---Not as a replacement, as an optional way to provide the same data. As you said, there are still times when you want to override things on a ship-by-ship basis (the table data would take precedence), but certain things like maneuvering thrusters are a nightmare to make when you only have text and can't actually see what you're doing. Most things involving positional vectors or normals should have a graphical interface to show you them directly instead of guessing and checking in FSO.

--- End quote ---

Aha, ok then. In that case I propose passive lightning as well.

Colonol Dekker:
Oooh,  I'll give this a solid look when next I get the chance

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