Audacity
Tomb Raider 2 - Getting rid of the music bug in TR2 Custom levels with Audacity
TREP
TREP is the Tomb Raider Engine Patcher. It is a program which can be used to patch the original (or XP-patched) tomb4.exe so you can use new features in your levels.
It can not be used with the TRNG tomb4.exe!!!!
Ledge Climb control with TREP
Making Guns And Ammo, and Other Items
Making pistol ammo limited
TREP Flipeffect Editor and Timer Editor User Codes
TREP Exploding patch - What works
Using TREP's custom patch editor to give Baddy1 unlimited ammo
FLEP
FLEP is kinda like TREP, but unlike TREP it can be used with TRNG. It has less features than TREP, but that is mainly because a lot of the TREP features were already incorporated in TRNG itself.
FLEP development thread
Note: the
"Clear Background" patch should NOT be used. It is not compatible with TRNG and its own clear background + background image feature.
FLEP - Particle emitters reference
- With FLEP you can customize the smoke-emitters, both white and black, to emit other particles. This tutorials shows you how.
Animation and cutscenes
The tutorials listed below are about animating objects (including Lara) and making cutscenes.
Creating Custom Animations
Creating Cutscenes
Lara's animations - the complete list
Meshtree editing - When to "pop" and when to "push" when building a meshtree.
- Each animating object has a meshtree. A meshtree determines the order in which the meshes are placed and how they are connected.
Meshtree editing - Using TRWad Reorganizer to change position of gunflash
- Custom baddies often have their gunflash connected to the worng mesh. In this thread you can find out how to reorganize the baddy's meshtree to reposition the gunflash.
TRW Editor: mirroring and transferring animations
- A tutorial on how to use TRW Editor to mirror and transfer animations.
Metasequoia
Metasequoia (Meta for short) is a program used to edit meshes.
So you can use this program to make your own custom objects for your levels, including new outfits and inventory for Lara.
Metasequoia - the Basics
Metasequoia - Building Basic Blocks
Metasequoia - Creating a lantern
Metasequoia - Creating a simple Bench
Creating objects with Metaseqouia
Creating a horizon
Metasequoia Tutorial
Creating new outfits
Combining moveables in Meta
Meta - several video tutorials of making objects.
Meta - How to "draw" an object in 3D
Metasequoia - Turning an object Upside Down
UV Mapping - How to texture objects in Metasequoia
How to make custom plants
- This tutorial is not really a tutorial on how to use Meta.
It is more of a "tips and tricks" tutorial on how to make natural looking plants, using Meta and STRPix.
How to apply textures in Meta
Meta2TR
Meta2TR can be used to enhance the graphics of your level by exporting all rooms and objects with meta2tr.exe. You can then edit the extracted .MQO files in Metasequoia after which they can be converted again to a new playable tr4.
The Meta2TR Homepage has been taken down, but here's an offline version of it.
Meta2TR Homepage - offline version
Meta2TR - An advanced workflow using Metasequoia as an editor
Meta2TR - Tip on how to animate tree leaves fastly
Meta2TR - UV Mapping
- A tutorial on how to texture objects using the UV Mapping (wrap a texture around an object) method.
Sound Editing
The sounds in a wad can be edited with a number of programs:
- Screamer
- SFX Manager
- TRLE Sound Editor
Screamer - The Basics
Screamer - Advanced
SFX Manager
STRpix
STRpix is a program used to texture objects, give them lighting (only possible on static objects) and to export/import DFX files for editing in Meta.
STRPix is also used for "remapping vertices" which is often needed to make Lara's joint meshes connect to her skin meshes properly.
Another feature is the possibility to adjust collision on static objects.
STRPix - Basic Texturing
STRPix - Changing a Shatter Object to a Static
A guide to remapping outfits
- Have you made a new outfit for Lara and now her joints are stretching into infinity? Remapping is needed! But there'smore to it than just renaming vertices. Here's guide about which rules you should take into account.
Outfit Remapping ATLAS
- When using detailled outfit it can be very useful to remap all the vertices to fit the original number.
Remapping vertices with Strpix
- A simple remapping example.
The Light Editor
- Flat looking statics? Add highlights and shadows to your statics using the Light Editor.
COLLISION - Adding collision to statics and animatings
- Oops... Lara can walk straight through your new objects? Here's a tutorial on how to add collision to them.
EditWAD
Editwad tutorial: Merging 2 Objects without retexturing
- With Editwad you can export meshes as .MQO files. They won't be textured when you open them in Meta but the textures do stay intact, unlike with .dxf files.- This tutorial shows how you can merge two objects without having to retexture the entire object.
WADMerger
Wadmerger allows you to add and remove objects from your levelwad, as well as adding sounds to a wad/object.
Wadmerger also has a
Sound Manager,
Animation Editor,
Sprite Editor,
Switch Manager and
AI Editor.
WADMerger - Basics
WADMerger - Intermediate tutorial
WADMerger - Advanced tutorial
COLLISION - Adding collision to statics and animatings
- Oops... Lara can walk straight through your new objects? Here's a tutorial on how to add collision to them.
Adding a custom mesh to your wad
- The basics on how to get an edited object into your wad using WADMerger (to get it into the proper slot) and STRPix (for importing/exporting and texturing the mesh/object).
- Note: This tutorial is a bit old but the workflow still applies for the newer versions of WADMerger and STRPix.
When using the latest STRPix you can however import textures directly into the wad using STRPix. WADMerger will nto be needed for that part anymore. Also, STRPix can now import/export .MQO files. The texturing on MQO files stays intact when importing/exporting, so you won't have to retexture from scratch each time you make small changes to a mesh.
Image editing and objecttexturing
These tutorials show you some tips and trick when it comes to editing images, like textures and fonts, and how to prep textures for use on objects.
Custom Font Tutorial
- This tutorial shows you how to make new font images for use in Leikurri, using Photoshop.
Creating Fonts Using Leikkuri & GIMP
- This tutorial shows you how to make new font images for use in Leikurri, using GIMP.
Texturing Tutorial part 1
Creating Textures with Photoshop
NGLE - How to create HD textures
Setting up for making custom UV textures via Metasequoia
Seamless scrolling waterfall object texture
Teme9's texturing & modelling method for enemies and complicated objects
Texture Rendering - Seamless textures IN-GAME [Border Issue]
TEXTURES - creating textures - tutorial video series
- A couple of video tutorials on creating textures in Photoshop. The tutorials cover:
- Seamless textures part 1 and 2
TEXTURES - How to create transition textures
UV Mapping - How to texture objects in Metasequoia
Room texturing
Using ImageMagick to create a Texture Atlas from multiple images
TextureAdd
TextureAdd is a program which can be used to add new textures to your wad.
TextureAdd Tutorials
Blender
Faster texturing in Blender
Exporting objects from a TRLE Wad with texturing to Blender for conversion to OBJ
The Basics of Blender (2.8)
Creating a 3D model of the Tomb Raider Logo in Blender 2.8
Transition texture creator - Blender
Blender to Tomb Editor - Custom Objects
Blender to Wad2: HQ object workflow (Advanced)
3dsmax
In-Depth 3D Animation Tutorial