J.A.C.K. editor has been in development for a long time. However, in recent years, all updates and bug fixes were kept in beta status, and were only available to those who opted in the beta program. And now the time has come to publish a major update for all our users!
New Development Platform: macOS
In addition to Windows and Linux, J.A.C.K. now fully supports macOS. Moreover, the editor comes with native map compilers for Quake and Quake II, as well as with an option to download native map tools for Half-Life. Unfortunately, recent macOS versions (e.g. Big Sur) don't support 32-bit apps. This means that, although J.A.C.K. and the compilers will work, to run the old game you will probably have to install a custom 64-bit port. On older macOS versions (e.g. Mojave) everything should work out of the box.
Improved Auto-Configuration Tool
The automatic J.A.C.K. configuration tool has got much more functions, minimizing user intervention. For intance, the editor now automatically unpacks all the necessary resources from the packages, extracts textures for Quake and Hexen II (there was a plugin for those purposes, but not everyone knew it was available), creates a "maps" directory, sets the correct parameters for compile and launch, and much more!
Export Geometry to OBJ Format
Now you can export your level to OBJ format, which can be imported to many modern 3D editors, converted to other formats. Thus your levels can be exported to game engines which are not directly supported by J.A.C.K.. You can export the entire level, only selected objects, or objects within the bounds of the Cordon Tool. Faces with a NULL/caulk texture will not be exported.
Improved Cordon Tool
Now the cordon bounds are initialized not with a point, but with a 128x128x128 box, which makes them easier to edit. In addition, the "Enable Cordon" button now restricts rendering of the objects in the 2D and 3D views - you can see in the realtime which objects are going to be exported. This behavior can be disabled in the config using the parameter: ApplyCordonInViews = false.
User Profile System
J.A.C.K. now supports separate configurations for multiple users (including Steam library sharing mode). Settings are no longer lost after running cache integrity checks.
Creation of an Unwanted Primitive
How many times did you decide to create a block in the Block Tool mode, diligently painted the brush with the mouse, pressed Enter... to discover the unfortunate fact that the selected primitive was actually a cylinder? This is such a common problem that we decided to mention it in the list of major improvements! Now it is possible to undo the creation of the primitive while preserving the selection frame: just hit Ctrl+Z, select another primitive type, and press Enter again.
Xash Engine Support
There are certain improvements that facilitate working with this popular open source engine. For example, there is an option to turn off the studio model pitch inversion (also known as "Stupid Quake Bug"), which is not needed in Xash. In addition, J.A.C.K. now correctly renders studio model files with vertex weighting.
Lots of Improvements and Fixes
The editor code has been ported to Qt 4.8.7, and has been significantly revised. Here is a list of the major changes in version 1.1.2800; many of those were requested by the community:
- The Entity Report window has been improved: now it is possible to search by value without specifying a key, as well as sorting by clicking the column headers.
- Pointfile display in editor now uses RGB gradient.
- Display of the rotation angle value in the Vertex Manipulation mode.
- Holding the Alt key during Vertex Manipulation snaps to a one-pixel grid instead of the current grid.
- FGD enhancement: specify the extension of the model and sprite format for specific entity fields (e.g. "studio: mdl" instead of "studio").
- Introduced a new tool texture filter for AAS (Quake III specific).
- Added the ability to automatically remove "angles" keyvalue for those objects where it was not explicitly specified in the FGD (you need to edit the config: PreserveImplicitAngles = false).
- Added physical synchronization when writing files (reduces the chance for damaged maps after sudden reboots).
- Added hotkey display in context menus.
- Brackets in "Draw Sizing Info" mode now use dashed lines and made dimmer; you can disable them at all (edit the config: DrawSizingBrackets = false).
- The editorcloses much faster.
- The editor loads maps with a large number of models much faster.
Many bugs have also been fixed; here are some examples:
- Fixed a bug with incorrect unloading of textures, sky and archives.
- Fixed a bug with incorrect model rendering distance in 3D views.
- Fixed ASE format support, added vertex colors support (Quake III specific).
- Fixed non-working right Alt in Russian keyboard layout (e.g. to open Object Properties window by Alt+Enter).
- Fixed a bug with expert-mode compile configs not saved after renaming or deleting them.
- Fixed a bug with incorrect "unmatched target field" error detection (if a target is a path created with the Path Tool).
- Fixed a bug with exporting empty brushes (for example, if the map contains Quake III curves, and it is exported to Half-Life, Quake or Quake II formats).
- Fixed a bug with loading JMF files with UV-Lock enabled.
- Fixed a bug with the default room lighting.
- And much more - this is not a complete changelog!
As always, we welcome your feedback and suggestions on the Steam Community discussions.
Thank you so much for making levels for classic games, and for using J.A.C.K. for that!
