
               POD View 0.1

    Copyright (c) 1995 Olivier Montanuy

     A Viewer/Editor for Terminal Velocity


This utility will let you view some of the entries
in the POD files of TERMINAL VELOCITY.
I could manage to guess a few thing, but don't expect
me to get all the 3D models right on first attempt!

PodView also enables you to replace entries in POD
files in a somewhat secure way (all modifications
are reversible... if there is no bug :)
No data is deleted or overwritten, and the original
entry can be restored at anytime.

Currently you can view, export and import:
- the textures (pictures and palettes)
- the level maps 
- the level definitions (text file) mission description,
  navigation points and various level stuff
- the 3D model files (well... view only some of them)
- the sounds (Wave)
- the musics (MOD)



-----------------------------------------------------

   EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM. USE AT YOUR OWN RISKS.
  (There may be lots of bugs left. Keep a backup
   of all the files you want to modify)

   DISTRIBUTION ON CD IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED.
  (This is FreeWare, not SuckerWare. got it?)

   3D REALM DOES NOT SUPPORT THAT UTILITY.
      DO NOT BOTHER THEM ABOUT THIS.

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There is no manual, no explanations yet. In fact, there
could hardly be any, because I don't know enough about
TV's internal format yet. Use PodView to find more
about TV, and... send me back your findings, so that
I incorporate them in the next PodView!


---------------- Installation ----------------

No automatic installation. but it's easy anyway:
 - You need VBRUN300.DLL in your system directory.
 - the COMMONDLG.VBX and THREED.VBX should also be put in
   the WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory.
 - podview.exe and lb4pods.dll should be in the same directory.
   (well, you could put lb4pods.dll in WINDOWS\SYSTEM but...)

 lb4pods.dll is the C code that does the job. The Visual Basic
 part, podview.exe, is just here to deal with the user :)
 I wouldn't rely on VB for anything serious!
 

----------------Technical Info-------------------

The level Maps:
  these are entries in the DATA\ section, with extension .RAW.
  they are just a lump of data, 256x256 in size, with bytes 
  indicating the altitude from 0 to 255.
  For convenience, PodView saves those lumps as greyscale
  pictures (the color table is meant for index 0=black, index
  255 = white). you can extract, modify an later import those maps
  but BEWARE TO USE THE SAME COLOR PALETTE otherwise the result
  will be unpredictable. Use PaintShopPro 3.0 to save/reload the palette.

The Textures:
  these are the entries in ART\ with extension .RAW
  these are raw set of bytes (color index), which are only meaningful in 
  association with a color palette. Unfortunately, there is no sure
  way to choose the right color palette among the ones available.
  So PodView let you choose the one you prefer. They are similar...
  and sometime the name of the RAW file corresponds to a name of 
  a color palette (.ACT) so it's easy to guess

The level definitions:
  these are text files, with plenty of extensions.
  I have no precise idea how to modify them. Try, and see what
  happens. It's fortunate that PodView modifies *reversibly* :)

The sounds and music:
  the sounds are valid .WAV files. better respect the settings if
  you wanna modify them (same sample speed, same number of voices).
  the music files are .MOD. I don't have a SB, so I dunno how to 
  play them. I don't even know if they are valid .MOD files.
  
The 3D models
  these are entries in the MODELS\ section, with extension .BIN.
  I've managed to guess that they were made of a serial of concatenated
  lumps, and later managed to guess the general structure of the
  VERTEX and FACES lumps, but don't ask too much. I didn't find the
  precalculated structure to accelerate the rendering, but my wild
  guess is that there *must* be one :-)
  Is there any BSP like in DOOM or Descent? I dunno yet...
  The only sure thing is that the models are *very* heterogeneous 
  structures.
  Oh, BTW, the format of coordinates is 16:16 fixed point. As usual.
  (it's a long integer divided by 0x10000)

The rest
  Oh, my... too much of it. Someone helps me!
