Chapter 1

Introducing GIANTS Editor

In This Chapter

Understanding the GIANTS Editor interface

Opening 3D objects and scenes in the editor

Moving around within a 3D scene in GIANTS Editor

Moving, rotating, and scaling objects

All modding for Farming Simulator starts and ends with GIANTS Editor. If you want to make a quick change to a map or a vehicle, you can open its file and edit attributes in GIANTS Editor. If you've created a full mod from scratch, you pull all the pieces together and prepare them for inclusion in the game in GIANTS Editor. Think of GIANTS Editor as your modding dashboard.

You don't need to do a lot in order start working with GIANTS Editor; it ships with Farming Simulator. So if you've been playing the game, you're good to go with the editor; you just need to install it. You can find the install file in the sdk folder wherever you've installed Farming Simulator on your hard drive. (On a Windows computer, it's usually something like C:\Program Files (x86)\Farming Simulator 2015.) Of course, going to the GIANTS Developer Network website (http://gdn.giants-software.com) and checking for updates is still a good idea. That way you can be sure you get the latest features and bug fixes. Updated versions of the editor are free to download after you've registered on the site (which is also free).

This chapter serves as your jumping-off point into the world of creating mods for Farming Simulator by making sure you have firm footing when it comes to using GIANTS Editor. Regardless of how simple or complex your mod may be, it needs to come through GIANTS Editor, so this chapter is relevant, no matter your general modding experience.

Knowing the Editor's Parts

When you first launch GIANTS Editor, you'll see a Getting Started splash window that provides you with a hotkey reference and a set of buttons that links you to a number of useful resources to help quickly get you on the road to modding. You can toggle whether this window appears every time you launch it by clicking the Show at startup checkbox in the window's lower-left corner. These resources are certainly valuable, but you also have this book, so you can comfortably close this window for the time being. You can always bring it back from the Help menu in the editor (Help?Getting Started . ).

After you move past the splash window and actually get into the editor, you may think it looks rather stark, consisting of a set of mostly empty panels. Not to worry, though, those panels will fill up pretty quickly. Figure 1-1 shows GIANTS Editor with the default interface and a scene already loaded.

Figure 1-1: The GIANTS Editor default interface.

You can see four main panels when you first load GIANTS Editor:

• Scenegraph: You can find the Scenegraph on the far left of the editor window. The Scenegraph gives you a hierarchical view of the 3D scene, including all models, lights, and cameras. Think of it as an outline for your mod. In complex scenes, the Scenegraph panel is incredibly useful for selecting the object you're interested in editing.
• 3D Viewport: The 3D Viewport is the large panel at the center of the editor window and is where the majority of your work takes place. Here you can select and manipulate objects in your mod; the 3D Viewport also provides a decent preview of what you can expect your mod to look like after you load it into Farming Simulator.
• Attributes: The Attributes panel on the far right of the editor window can show different settings and parameters, depending on the object you currently have selected. At the very least, any object you select will have Transform attributes for controlling how that object is positioned and oriented in 3D space. From there, depending on what the object is and what it does, it may have a wide variety of potential other subtabs available in the attributes panel. For example, in Figure 1-1, the selected building in that scene has a separate tab labeled LOD, for level of detail.
• Scripting: The Scripting panel is across the bottom of the editor window. This panel gives you a log and basic feedback on what's been done in your scene, such as loading external textures. It can also give you warnings if you have missing assets or if you've formatted something incorrectly in your mod. When things go pear-shaped in your mod, the Scripting panel is your best friend for troubleshooting what happened. And, of course, you can use the Scripting panel to type commands and make large automated changes to objects in your scene. Chapter 12 discusses scripting in greater depth.

With the exception of the 3D Viewport, you can move around any panel in the GIANTS Editor interface by clicking and dragging the panel's header bar. Doing so allows you to place the panel in another location or leave it as its own floating window. Being able to customize your interface is especially useful if you're working on a computer with multiple monitors. You can keep the 3D Viewport as big as possible on one monitor and move the other panels to your other monitor. Also, you can close any panel by clicking the little X on the right of the panel's header. You can bring back any closed panels from the Window menu.

Loading Assets

The file format that GIANTS Engine uses is the I3D format. I3D is an eXtensible Mark-up Language (XML) file format. That means, in part, that you can open it with a plain text editor and make changes to it. Chapters 6 and 11 discuss I3D and XML more.

For the purposes of this chapter, you just need to know that an I3D file encapsulates or references all the necessary data for a 3D asset in GIANTS Engine. That also means I3D files are what you load and modify from GIANTS Editor for your Farming Simulator mod. This section explains how to open full maps as well as individual assets that may appear on a map.

Opening an existing map

The easiest asset to open in GIANTS Editor is the default map that comes with Farming Simulator. Go to File?Open in GIANTS Editor and navigate to the maps folder within the folder where you've installed Farming Simulator (typically C:\Program Files (x86)\Farming Simulator 2015\data\maps) and choose the file named map01.i3d. You should see the familiar original map in the 3D Viewport after it finishes loading. Figure 1-2 shows the default Farming Simulator map loaded in GIANTS Editor.

Figure 1-2: The default Farming Simulator map (map01.i3d) opened within GIANTS Editor.

Do not save or overwrite the default Farming Simulator map, especially if you've made any changes to the file. At the very least, doing so may change the default behavior of the game. At worst, it may cause the game not to load and force you to reinstall it. Although Chapter 2 covers exporting the original map for modifications, right now your main focus should be on loading the map in GIANTS Editor and poking around to familiarize yourself with the interface.

Using this same basic method you can open any map scene. If you have any map mods installed, you can try opening up the map scenes from them as well.

Previewing objects

A Farming Simulator map is really a compilation of different 3D assets, including props, terrain, buildings, and so on. Suppose you're not interested in working with a full map, and you only want to have a look at one of the objects that appears on the map. You don't have to open the map in GIANTS Editor and hide everything except what you want to see.

You just need to follow the same basic steps for opening a map in GIANTS Editor. Find the I3D file for the object and open it from the editor. Figure 1-3 shows a mailbox from the default Farming Simulator map loaded in GIANTS Editor.

Figure 1-3: A mailbox object opened in GIANTS Editor.

When you first load an object in the editor, you may notice that the object may be really small in the 3D Viewport or out of view entirely. Fortunately, you can easily fix it with the following steps:

1. If you can see the object in the 3D Viewport, you can select it by clicking on it.

   If it's too small to select that way or if it's not visible in the 3D Viewport at all, you can click on the object's name in the Scenegraph panel and select it that way.

2. With the object selected, you can frame the 3D Viewport on it using the F hotkey.

   Doing so brings the object into view. However more than likely, the view will be too close to see the entire object. Using the scroll wheel on your mouse, you can back away from the object in the 3D Viewport and make it more visible. For more ways to navigate the 3D Viewport, refer to the next section.

You may also notice that your object appears really dark. Most objects don't emit light, so most object I3D files don't include any light in the scene, which can make previewing an object difficult.

To see the object clearly, you may want to add a light using the Ctrl+L hotkey combination. You can also add a light from the Create menu (Create?Light).

If...