[Guide] Mina Rabbit's Browedit and Bromedit Guides

[Mina-chan]

Soon: Post revamp!! ["Not Browedit 3" ]

The old guide can be found here:
 

Spoiler

Hii! 
I'm Mina Rabbit, and I've been in Borf's Discord channel for quite some time now, since I made my first map, to learn from everyone and provide help whenever it's possible.
After having promised these guides for a long time, I've finally started to make them!

The guides will include:

• Frequently asked questions or doubts that I've seen are common in Borf's server.
• Things to do and things to avoid when making maps and modifying models in Browedit and Bromedit.
• Things I've learnt about Browedit, Browedit 2 and Bromedit, that aren't present in any other guide that already exists.

For now, I'm going to start with Bromedit, because it's something that has been requested often in these past few months.
So far, I've only made a guide for a basic use of Bromedit, which is a program that Borf made for models and model animations.
However, the animations part, while usable to an extent, is still difficult to understand, and I won't be able to answer that part properly for now.
If I get to understand it well, I'll add it to the guide! So please be patient. Still, please post anything you've learnt and be constructive!
If you want the official link to the latest Browedit 2, or if you have any questions, leave them here or in Borf's Discord: https://discord.gg/PUy6DWh
Also, please avoid DMing me, ask the questions here or in the server for everyone to read! Thank you!

= BrowEdit 2 =
What is BrowEdit 2?
Borf simply calls it Browedit, but this is a newer version that he made from scratch. So, it's completely separate from the classic BrowEdit 1 versions (586 and 620) that most of us know.

What can I do with it?

I. What you can't do and have to pay attention to and consider first:
As it is right now, BrowEdit 2 is not capable of making a complete map. BrowEdits 1 have many more tools, that are completely necessary for us in order to finish a map.
Particularly, it can't save a map with the Quadtree properly, so you're going to see "Transparent Boxes with missing models and textures" appearing and disappearing randomly all around the map as you walk (please read "Saving a Map Properly" below for more info!).
Additionally, it's buggy in certain aspects. Problems known so far are:

a. Major Problems:

- If you're not careful, slow and patient when adding walls so you add them on the necessary places only, saving the map afterwards can break it, and it will nor be recoverable. (Or simply avoid adding walls at all).
- NEVER ADD models to the map using Browedit 2. After a certain (unknown) number of models on the map, Browedit 586 won't be able to read it. Unless you can track back your steps and add/delete until you go back to the number of models the map had, you won't be able to use it. And Browedit 586 save is a MUST for the Quadtree.
- Other unknown bugs can also break the map. So, ALWAYS have a backup of your map!!

b. Minor Problems:

- Moving models around can be very easy or very difficult, depending on what you want to do. Save before moving models around or it can be difficult to bring them back to where they were.
- It can't use the "Lightbulbs" of Browedit 586 or 620 properly. If you're going to add interior lights, don't add the lightbulbs before using Browedit 2, or Save a Copy and use Browedit 1's "Import - Export" functions in a smart way.

II. But then, WHY EVEN USE BROWEDIT 2? ; A ;

Well, this is the good part x3 Actually, if you have a backup of your map before using Browedit 2, you can do very amazing things with it that aren't possible with Browedit 586 or 620, such as:

- Browedit 2 can make a very astounding "Sky Lightmap", which simply means the light from the Sun or the Moon. You can also call it "Shadowmap", as it casts the "light and dark" layer of lightmap (the other two layers being "Colored Lightmap" and "Color map"). It's very smooth and detailed, as in plenty of the official kRO and jRO maps, and not edged and rough as it occurs with Browedit 1. It doesn't need any "Lightbulb", you need nothing other than the Main Light's angle in the Map Properties.

- It can paint or erase Color on the ground (Color Map). This is something very common in official maps, but it's rare in custom maps, because Browedit 1 didn't have this feature! And if you place a texture on the groundin Browedit 2, it will not erase the color, unlike what happens when you do so in Browedit 1. This can also be used to add smooth black edges around the map or areas of the map, for a very neat final presentation.

- With it, you can edit and paint the Shadowmap itself (which is the shadows from the "Sky Light"). So, if you want to add a single model, but it doesn't have a lightmap, you don't need to recast it all over the map again, you can just paint it! Likewise,if you removed a model, you can simply erase its shadow, and voilà!

- Its manner of placing textures on the ground is very neat, it doesn't look bad or stretched depending on the resolution, and you can "Mirror" or "Flip" parts of the textures that would usually look very distorted if you tried in BrowEdit 1. (It doesn't rotate rectangular selections very well yet, though).

- Its Height Edit tool is veeery useful to make natural looking and random looking landscapes, and you can even randomize the ground with a single key! This tool will save you a ton of time, even when compared to its equivalent tool in "fast mode" in BrowEdit 1.

- It can choose and move Groups of Models or rotate them very fast, and this is very useful to save time if you have certain features on your map. But be careful, as this can also be a "Minor Problem" if you're not careful and didn't save / have a backup ^^;

- If you're a fan of the Effect Tool (the Effect #974 that triggers a .lub file that has the map's name), BrowEdit 2 is your friend! x3 It will tell you the number of the effect according to its number in the lub file.

- It can edit an effect's size! Which will save you from tons of crashes in BrowEdit 1 (from copying effects from different maps) and headaches.

- As long as the map is created perfectly square (40x40, 100x100...), Browedit 586 will be able to make a quadtree properly for it. So you can make a map from scratch with BrowEdit 2, and it will be filled with the black texture already! You only need to make it, and immediately after (before adding models) save with BrowEdit 586, then Accept upon being asked to create a Quadtree.

 

As you can see, it has its pros and cons, but basically, it can be said that BrowEdit 2 is like an "extra tool" that can't do many things that BrowEdit 1 can, but it has additional features that Browedit 1 doesn't have and will make your map look every more beautiful.

Now that you're read all of this, you can more safely go directly to the guide:

Link to post: How to configure Browedit2

= BromEdit =

This program was made by Borf. It comes alongside BrowEdit 2, and it's used to modify models and their textures, including the animations themselves. Personally, I prefer it much more over RSM Editor, as you don't need to add textures to rotextures.txt to use it.

Rabbit's Bromedit Guide (drive document)

But but, me brave! >:3 tell me where can I download BrowEdit 2 NAO.  
You can find the link in Borf's Browedit Discord: https://discord.gg/BHDkKT8 , and also this same Discord link in Borf's Browedit FB: https://www.facebook.com/browedit/
I don't put the direct link to the download, because it tends to trigger false flag alarms with some antiviruses. So you can visit the channel and be sure that the pinned link is actually Borf's link.

The next guide is going to be How to configure Browedit 2 properly. 
Stay tuned~ >:3

Frequently Asked Questions
(This is important to read whether you use Browedit 2 or not)

Saving a Map Properly 
Only Browedit 586 (not 620, nor Brow 2) is capable of saving a map properly, as long as it has the proper height. Which means that Models, Textures and their Quadtree/Bounding Boxes have to necessarily be "above 0" in RO map terms. For instance, the water's height should be above 0, such as having a height of -20, -50, -80, -100 and so on, and never 20, 50, 80 and so on. Negative numbers mean above, positive mean below.

It's preferable to have a proper height for the map before adding sounds, effects and lightbulbs/light emitters, or you may need to increase them one by one!

Personally and from experience, I find it's way better to have a proper height for the map and saving it with BrowEdit 586 at the very end, instead of using the "Hex Edit". The hex edit produces disappearing stuff on the edges, although it can be used in case the Quadtree got bugged and needed a reset, for whatever reason!

 

Model's Polygons /Triangles Faces Limit 

RO models have a limited amount of triangles they can work with. I'm currently not certain if said number is 1700 or 2000, but I've always tried to make it below 1700. Still, the less faces a model has, the less laggy a map will be, so if you can make a model have 300 sides only, even better!

 

My map is lagging! * panics * 

There can be a number of reasons why a map becomes slow. This even happens with original maps from the RO developers, specially with towns and some of the relatively new fields and dungeons! ><

A map can have 9000 models and not be slow. But it can also have 900 models only and be slow! How is it possible? Well, as mentioned in the previous point, there are models that have too many sides or that are too complex for RO. They can be official models, such as some of the plants from Malangdo. If this lagginess is a problem for you, you should test by removing the models and see which one is causing you more trouble.

Sometimes, it's not the map becoming slow, but the camera movements instead (rotation, scrolling up/down). If this is the case, there are likely too many faces or sides of models overlapping one another. The solution is to separate the models a bit. If it's a custom model, make sure that they don't have a "double face" (as in a side produced twice between the vertices in the 3D making program, NOT as in a texture showing from both sides, this is unrelated!), or make a version of said model without the sides, so you can add them side by side one next to the other.

 

 

Edited December 22, 2022 by Mina-chan
21/12/2022: Start of plannification for revamping this topic, for what lies ahead!

[MrGaD]

Spoiler

 

Great topic!

[Mina-chan]

How to configure Browedit 2 (this will be inclided in the guide above later on)

Before we start, do not open browedit 2 before making this file

Step by step
1. Go to
browedit 2\assets\configs

2. Make a file called config.customname.json (where custonname is whatever you want!)

3. Copy and paste this into the file:

Quote

{
    "resolution" : [ 1920, 1080 ],
    "data" :
    {
        "ropath" : "d:/ro/",
    "grfs" :
        [
               "d:/ro/data.grf",
               "d:/ro/rdata.grf",
               "d:/ro/custom.grf"
            ]
    },
    "moveconsole" : true,
    "hideconsole" : false,
    "defaultmap" : "prontera",
    "skiploadingscreen" : true,
    "threadedrendering" : true,
    "backgroundworkers" : true,
    "fov" : 45.0,
    "vsync" : false,
    "stupidolrox" : false
}

4. Customize your grf paths! But be careful to use "/" and not "\", and also that the last grf line doesn't have a comma "," at the end. Then, save the file

5. Finally, the first time you open Browedit 2, it will ask you to type a file name. Introduce the file name of your config file, config.customname.json or config.customname, and press Enter.

Voilá! It's done \o/
Congratulations! You can use Browedit 2 now.
But please, please read the first post.
I strongly recommend you to read it entirely! Specially  "What you can't do and have to pay attention to and consider first"
Also, always make a backup of your map each time before you use Browedit 2! This is mandatory, not a sugggestion ùwu; or your map may break and it will all be sad and horrible.

[Mina-chan]

Hii! This is from a guide that I posted somewhere else in rathena, but a newer version of it 

Adding several texture or model files in group to your Browedit custom texture and model text files list 

1. In GRF Editor, go to a texture or model folder. Select the first texture or model in the list, press Ctrl + A to select them all, and then Ctrl + C to make a copy of the list.

2. In Notepad ++, with the Replace function, and "Regular Expressions" turned ON:

a. For the Textures

Find what:
(\w+).bmp
Replace with: 
RO/foldername/$1|foldername\$1.bmp
or
mytextures/foldername/$1|foldername\$1.bmp

(where "mytextures" is the name of your custom main folder that will appear in Browedit)

b. For the Models

Find what:
(\w+).rsm
Replace with: 
RO/foldername/$1|data\model\foldername\$1.rsm
or
mymodels/foldername/$1|data\model\foldername\$1.rsm

(where "mymodels" is the name of your custom main folder that will appear in Browedit)

3. Finally, Simply place them in their corresponding file, be it rotextures.txt, texturescustom.txt, romodels.txt, randommodels.txt, romodels_organized.txt and so on, depending on how your Browedit configuration.

NOTE 1:
In Browedit 2 it's a bit different, you only have 2 files available and can't add extra ones:  rotextures.txt and romodels.txt

NOTE 2:
It's common to do this, but don't actually use "custom" as a texture/model folder name. Because for some reason Browedit 2 has some trouble reading a folder called "custom" ^^;
Browedit 1 doesn't have that problem, this is only for Browedit 2. If you want to use Browedit 2 at some point, you should simply avoid "custom" in order to easily copy the contents from Browedit 1's text file into Browedit 2's text file