Crysis Sandbox Editor - MASTER THREAD

Cody

I think we need one of these. I'm having a hell of a time finding good tutorials, so I'm hoping people have some good ones I can add to this first post. And since Sandbox is coming to consoles, I'm sure it will start getting popular around here. Also, who is excited for CryEngine3?

Editor
Crysis Wars Mod SDK [ Sandbox Editor] - http://www.gamershell.com/download_42098.shtml
Supports up to 3ds Max 2009 [32bit]
CryEngine Installation Instructions

Video Tutorials
Interface Introduction Video - http://www.veoh.com/collection/officialSB2Tuts#watch%3Dv6582876D8xwYmKp
Short One on Starting your new map - http://www.veoh.com/collection/officialSB2Tuts#watch%3Dv6576568ReByyHfw

Written Tutorials
Getting your meshes from Max to Sandbox - http://wiki.crymod.com/index.php/Sandbox_ExportMax
Official Tutorials- Cryengine Manual and Asset Creation Guide - http://doc.crymod.com/
Community tuts - http://crymod.com/board.php?boardid=88
Tricks and How-To's - http://www.crymod.com/thread.php?threadid=10151
CryWIKI - http://wiki.crymod.com/index.php/Main_Page

Lee3dee

They weren't the only ones who used Crysis .


HP sent me this official site to learn the editor, http://doc.crymod.com/

shadows

That's quite an old screenshot you are using there ;P
Lee3dee beats me to it, we mainly used the official site for learning and random google searches.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned anywhere, is to disable the source control under preferences otherwise it might not save changes that you do to materials...etc. Took me some time to find that out . :S

OBlastradiusO

Is it possible to use the crysis demo's sandbox 2 for 3d max 2009? If anyone can answer I would appreciate it.

Cody

max 2009 does not work with sandbox at all. which sucks, i have to downgrade

OBlastradiusO

Cody wrote: »

max 2009 does not work with sandbox at all. which sucks, i have to downgrade

Damn. Thanks anyways.

|Buddy|

You guys can grab Crysis Wars trial and use Crysis Wars SDK which is somehow improved version over the original Sandbox2. So you can pretty much get CE2 for your personal shit for free

[HP]

Community tuts:
http://crymod.com/board.php?boardid=88

Tricks and How-To's:
http://www.crymod.com/thread.php?threadid=10151

Basic Tuts:
http://konakona.nbtxathcx.net/sb2/

Fan made tuts:
http://www.maxedgaming.com/

Video Tuts ( Crysis Sandbox2 Tutorials by intrepidbiped )
http://www.veoh.com/collection/Crysis-Sandbox2-Tutorials

Video Tuts ( CRYMOD Tutorial Channel )
http://www.veoh.com/collection/TutorialChannel

Video Tuts ( Official Crytek Sandbox 2 Tutorials )
http://www.veoh.com/collection/officialSB2Tuts

And the most important of them all, the official tutorials:
http://doc.crymod.com/

Asset Creation Guide for CryENGINE® 2
http://doc.crymod.com/

CryWiki:
http://wiki.crymod.com/index.php/Main_Page

Cody

Awesome! Thanks [HP].

[HP]

No problem man, I have a lot more on my bookmarks, but most of them are down now, the links I posted should be more than enough for starters tho!

I'll keep an eye on this thread if anyone needs any help with anything!

I agree on sticking this, we have one for UE3, so why don't we have one for CE2?!

Cheers

PS, updated my previous post with crywiki URL.

SnowGhost

shadows wrote: »

That's quite an old screenshot you are using there ;P
Lee3dee beats me to it, we mainly used the official site for learning and random google searches.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned anywhere, is to disable the source control under preferences otherwise it might not save changes that you do to materials...etc. Took me some time to find that out . :S

Really? OMG thats been driving me insane! I work in sandbox 2 daily and often times modifying/creating materials multiple times per day so this is actualy great to know.

I'm currently working on a concept for a multiplayer space sim in the engine so I'll post some screenshots later when I'm on break.

Its great to see others take to the engine.

fast1

thanks for the useful links guys.

glib

Cody wrote: »

max 2009 does not work with sandbox at all. which sucks, i have to downgrade

Actually MAX 2009 plugins were released a couple of weeks ago. Crysis Warhead I think?

|Buddy|

Crysis Wars SDK which i mentioned in my previous post.

Cody

glib wrote: »

Actually MAX 2009 plugins were released a couple of weeks ago. Crysis Warhead I think?

sweet! I was not aware thanks man

renderhjs

to bad max2009 is not the current release of max

Cody

Found a good link to the Crysis wars trial Buddy was talking about.

http://www.bigdownload.com/games/crysis/pc/crysis-wars-trial-single-file/

Popeye9

I have had no probs using the max 2009 plugin from the wars sdk in the crysis editor. I havent tried any animated models yet but for all statics its great.

Cody

Sweet! I'm still downloading, but glad to know that 5 gigs and a few hours aren't going to waste. It sucks I have to download this huge thing though.

Cody

Well the 5 gig download was a bust. But finally found the right thing. This is all you need -

Crysis Wars Mod SDK [ Sandbox Editor] - http://www.gamershell.com/download_42098.shtml
Supports up to 3ds Max 2009 [32bit]

morte

yay thank you!

blah for some reason i cant get this working

Cody

can't get what working?

morte

well i dont know- i mean am i getting the whole thing wrong? I thought i could download this 50 mb SDK and start to import stuff in. Or i should download the 5 gig trial?

Cody

When you installed it did you install the SDK AND the source code, I came with two installers.

whats_true

This thread could not have come at a better time. Been wanting to get into this engine for sooo long!

Cody

Okay now I can't get the cryTiff format working in photoshop. It is installed but in photoshop when I want to save the crytiff, it wants the root path to something. Help?

Also max plugin is intalled i can see it in the plugin folder, yet it to is not working and it is asking me for a root path, which i am giving them. Still deson't work..... ARGGGG!!!!

Cody

Is there someone in Phoenix or close to it that knows how to get this working, and come over? The engine used to start up, but now it is giving me an error report.

Ben Apuna

EDIT:

So I guess the patch and SDK aren't available anymore from the links I posted below.

Here are some new links if anyone still needs those files.

Crysis Wars 1.5 patch

Crysis Wars Mod SDK Package

---

Ok, first off thanks for starting up this thread Cody, and thanks to both you and HP for gathering all those links. Now here's the steps I've taken to get the editor working for me. I'm using XP32 bit if that matters...

1. Get the big Crysis Wars trial installer from here:

http://www.bigdownload.com/games/crysis/pc/crysis-wars-trial-single-file/

I originally tried to get the multipart install files at that site but the second one kept failing on me, oh well...

2. Install Crysis Wars

3. Run Crysis Wars once to authenticate it.

4. Run Crysis Wars again to make sure it works on your PC.

5. Update Crysis Wars to the 1.5 patch

Start -> All Programs -> Electronic Arts -> Crysis Wars -> Check for game updates

or get the patch manually from one of the links here:

http://www.mycrysis.com/newsdetails.php?news=41381

6. Uninstall old mod SDK Tools and Source Code. There's no need to do this step if you did not install the SDK Tools or Source Code that was posted earlier in this thread.

7. Get the new mod SDK at the bottom of this page, it seems as though we were missing the CryXML.dll file:

http://www.mycrysis.com/filebase.php?fileid=9441

8. I installed the 3 files in this order, not sure if it matters though.
a. CrysisWars_ModSDK_Tools_v1.1.exe
b. CrysisWars_ModSDK_SPMod_v1.0.exe
c. CrysisWars_ModSDK_SourceCode_v1.0.exe

9. Setting up the Photoshop CryTIF export plugin:
a. Run Photoshop
b. make a test image
c. File -> Save as -> choose CryTIFPlugin format
d. Click "OK" to the two error dialogs that popup
e. Depending on what version of windows you are on put the following as the path:

WinXP 32bit

[noparse]C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\Crytek\Crysis Wars[/noparse]

Vista 64bit

[noparse]C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\Crytek\Crysis Wars[/noparse]

- I also checked "show window" here, not sure if you need to do this...
- Then click "Ok".

f. File -> Save as -> choose CryTIFPlugin format again - now you should get the plugin save window to come up properly.

I'm hoping the other export plugins will work just fine now, I'll edit this post if there needs to be more instructions added. I think the main point was just getting the new Mod SDK files which included the missing CryXML.dll file.

Good Luck! I hope this helps

morte

huh i am also using XP32... so maybe that is why it didnt work- i will try that method later, but thanks in advance!

Popeye9

I had the problem of the editor crashing on start up and found this on the crymod forums. I have a wacom and Vista on my computer.

"Start>Control Panel>Programs and Features>Turn Windows Features on or off

Once you get in there uncheck the 'tablet pc optional components' thing, this may take windows awhile to do so be patient.

After that you will need to restart and then when you get back into windows that tab on the side of the screen for the tablet pc control panel thing shouldn't be there anymore."

Once I did this all my editor problems went away. The other thing to be aware of is if you are running vista and have UAC on then you will need to set the security on your crysis folder to be able to write to. If it is locked then you will not be able to write your assets to the object folder.

Hope that helps:)

[HP]

Very useful post Ben Apuna! it will sure help me, as I didn't installed the latest editor yet, still using the original crysis editor!

cheers man!

Cody

Must try this, thanks, ben.

|Buddy|

I haven't really encountered any problems when installing Crysis Wars SDK tbh, not sure where are the issues coming from.

@Cody, if it asks for root then give it the root, pretty obvious ey? If you did and it still don't work, open regedit and look for the sdk entries, the root path will be there as well as in the 3dsmax cryexport plugin settings.

Some people might encounter problems with Sandbox2 and Wacom (most notably when using 2 displays with wacom only on 1), the problem might be somewhat related to the windows vista tablet pc thingy.

[HP]

Yeah, wacom really need to redo their drivers for Windows Vista! Especially for the intuous tablets, I can't even play UE3 games on vista, without disabling my wacom drivers services.

|Buddy|

[HP] wrote: »

Yeah, wacom really need to redo their drivers for Windows Vista! Especially for the intuous tablets, I can't even play UE3 games on vista, without disabling my wacom drivers services.

Like i said, its more of a VISTA side issue than wacom's. I keep vista tablet services off.

EDIT: You can also use SettingsMgr.exe app located in tools\ folder in crysiswars sdk to set things like root up.

urgaffel

Popeye9, thanks for that, I will give it a go on tuesday. For me the Sandbox 2 editor is THE most crashprone program I've ever had the misfortune to use so hopefully that will help... Just clicking in the left most menu will crash it, opening the ToD view will crash it etc etc. Hell, even having the editor in focus when it's loading will cause it to crash, I have to start the editor and quickly tab to another window for it to even load. It's almost impressive...

|Buddy|

urgaffel wrote: »

Popeye9, thanks for that, I will give it a go on tuesday. For me the Sandbox 2 editor is THE most crashprone program I've ever had the misfortune to use so hopefully that will help... Just clicking in the left most menu will crash it, opening the ToD view will crash it etc etc. Hell, even having the editor in focus when it's loading will cause it to crash, I have to start the editor and quickly tab to another window for it to even load. It's almost impressive...

If you're on vista turn off all tablet pc related services, even without wacom plugged in they would crash my sandbox.

Popeye9

urgaffel wrote: »

Popeye9, thanks for that, I will give it a go on tuesday. For me the Sandbox 2 editor is THE most crashprone program I've ever had the misfortune to use so hopefully that will help... Just clicking in the left most menu will crash it, opening the ToD view will crash it etc etc. Hell, even having the editor in focus when it's loading will cause it to crash, I have to start the editor and quickly tab to another window for it to even load. It's almost impressive...

Yeah I had all those same probs with the editor. When I turned off the tablet PC preference in Vista it all works no crashes:) I was also having some problems loading other games in DX10, now with this setup no problems at all.

Ben Apuna

@Popeye9 and |Buddy|

Thanks for the info on the Vista side of things, it should be helpful as I'll be switching over to Vista for 64bit sooner or later.

Cody

Ben Apuna,
Thanks man, got it working great now!!!

Ben Apuna

Cool! I'm glad that post helped Now we can all get back to making awesome levels/mods/etc...

alexk

got the editor recently, 2 noob questions:

1) how do I replace my material when I export from max to crysis? I want it to overwrite the old one, but it says it already exists and doesn't let me replace it

2) how do I toggle the statistics on the upper right hand corner of my editor screen?

[HP]

1) just erase the old one, and save again.

2) r_displayinfo 0/1

Don't forget to go to preferences, and turn off Source Control, if this is ON, it fucks up with loads of stuff.

alexk

thanks HP.. another noob question. How do I reduce the bloom in the lighting? Especially when inside an enclosed environment and looking out a window. The bloom is so overpowering, here's an example

Justin Meisse

CryExport8 is causing Max 8 to freeze on loading, wonderful!

mikezoo

arrgg! stoopid normals and sandbox!

Anybody understand why I get these strange shadeing issues when I my props in the Sandbox Editor? The textures are dds format. The normal map is saved as a DXT5_NM, and the Diffuse AO is a DXT1.
Any help would be madly appreciated. Thanks everyone.:)

Martin Henriksson

This probably wont help you with your shading issues but you should save your textures in the CryTiff format that you get from the SDK. There you can choose if its a normal map or a diffuse/whatever.

teaandcigarettes

mikezoo wrote: »

arrgg! stoopid normals and sandbox!

Anybody understand why I get these strange shadeing issues when I my props in the Sandbox Editor? The textures are dds format. The normal map is saved as a DXT5_NM, and the Diffuse AO is a DXT1.
Any help would be madly appreciated. Thanks everyone.:)

Looks like a typical smooth-groups error to me.
Assuming you work in the 3dsmax, you should select all the faces and use the auto setting to get rid of that. I have noticed that setting all the faces to one smooth group can give you this kind of errors.

I hope that helps

mikezoo

Hey thanks for the heads up, guys.

I dont think this smoothing group issue because I have set the proper smoothing groups in max and then exported out. Looks good in max.

As far as a cryTiff goes, I'll think I will check that out. It seems like my best bet from here.:) I'll let'cha all know what happens.

Taylor Hood

Very helpful and awesome

danshewan

Ben Apuna wrote: »

Good Luck! I hope this helps

Thanks Ben - very helpful indeed. Just finished installing everything as per the instructions, and everything works perfectly. Cheers, buddy.