Nexus Skirmisher

Nexus Modding => Modding Tools => Topic started by: Arparso on February 01, 2011, 13:19:41

Title: Modding tools overview
Post by: Arparso on February 01, 2011, 13:19:41
This list should present to you a (hopefully) complete listing of all available modding tools and important ressources. If I missed anything you think should be included here, comment here or send me a message.

Official tools:
Nexus Mod Tools (http://www.moddb.com/games/nexus-the-jupiter-incident/downloads/nexus-mod-tools) by Mithis Entertainment
... also supplied with the game
... includes modding manual, a model viewer, model converter (Lightwave to Nexus), texture converter, solar system editor and mission editor
... also includes Excel spreadsheets to make tacticstypes and effects editing easier

File extraction and/or packing:
datool (http://www.moddb.com/groups/the-nexii/downloads/elfartos-datool) by ElFarto
... able to extract and create Nexus' .dat- and .dap-archives, except the movie files (nexus_01.dat, nexus_02.dat, etc)
nexus tool (http://www.moddb.com/groups/the-nexii/downloads/new-nexus-tool-created-by-socarr) by Socarr
... able to decrypt Nexus' movie files to bink format (nexus_01.dat, nexus_02.dat, etc.)
DatXTract (http://arparso.de/nexus/forum/index.php/topic,129.0.html) by Arparso
... GUI-enabled tool for extracting .dat and .dap-archives, except the movie files

File conversion:
model converter (http://arparso.de/nexus/forum/index.php/topic,155.0.html) by Arparso
... converts Nexus' models (.msh) to Wavefront .obj format
texture converter (http://www.moddb.com/games/nexus-the-jupiter-incident/downloads/nexus-texture-converter) by Arparso
... converts Nexus' textures (.tex) to Targa .tga format

Importer:
Milkshape 3D importer plugin (http://www.moddb.com/games/nexus-the-jupiter-incident/downloads/nexus-mesh-importer) by Rainman
... imports Nexus' models (.msh) in Milkshape 3D

Miscellanous:
Tacticstype tool (http://www.moddb.com/groups/the-nexii/downloads/tacticstype-tool) by Mularac
... detects free shipclass/devicetype/shiptype IDs and can also assign each item a new number in numerical order
OpenOffice spreadsheets for tacticstypes.ini and efx.ini (http://arparso.de/nexus/forum/index.php/topic,74.0.html) by Arparso
... spreadsheets with attached macros to make creating/editing tacticstypes.ini and efx.ini easier (scroll down for the efx.ini sheet)
... this is mainly a conversion of the Excel sheets included with the official modding tools, but with new macros to make it work in OpenOffice

Modding ressources:
dynamic lighting (http://arparso.de/nexus/forum/index.php/topic,83.msg739.html#msg739) by jstubbles/Arparso/GeoModder/Mularac
... describes a method to achieve dynamic lighting in your mod (e.g. from weapon fire), also including a sample patch for the vanilla Nexus campagin
Pack of suns (http://www.moddb.com/groups/the-nexii/addons/nexus-pack-of-suns) by DreamorCZ
... contains blue, red, white and yellow stars for use in Nexus mods
HD Asteroids pack (http://www.moddb.com/groups/the-nexii/addons/hd-asteroids-pack) by DreamorCZ
... new asteroid models with much higher detail