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Quake Editor Tread 3.0 Alpha Released

Posted by timothy on from the when-you-really-need-to-shoot-things dept.

Joe Riedel writes "The alpha version of Tread 3.0, a Quake series map editor, has been released (including source code). Independent game developers and hobbyists who are looking for an editing tool may also want to check it out since it should provide a good starting point for their own tools (and it's free). This latest incarnation of the editor is unrelated source-wise from its predecessors; it is based on an in-house tool I developed a few years ago."

27 comments

  1. others by PhrostyMcByte · · Score: 4, Informative

    How is this different from other Open Source editors, like GtkRadiant and QuArK?

    1. Re:others by poopdeville · · Score: 0, Troll

      Also, who cares?

      --
      After all, I am strangely colored.
    2. Re:others by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      How is this different from other Open Source editors, like GtkRadiant and QuArK?

      This is unusable, whereas GTKRadiant is very good...

    3. Re:others by johannesg · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The difference appears to be that this one has been the subject of a slashdot submission, while the others have not. Which makes perfect sense on the part of the author.

      I would like to draw your attention to a rather crappy aspect of the website that hosts this thing: there is no clue there WHAT IT IS. Without the help of the summary you cannot even figure out that this is an editor for Quake.

      Is it so bloody hard to write a note somewhere that this is in fact a piece of software that runs on (whatever OS) and does (whatever task)? Is it so bloody hard to mention the fact that this is in fact for the ancient Quake 1/2 games, rather than a recent version?

      I've said it before, but there is only ONE company in IT that can afford to not mention their core products on their front page, and that's Microsoft. Everybody else needs to describe WHAT THEIR WARES ACTUALLY DO.

    4. Re:others by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Speaking as an experienced mapper who has used GtkRadiant years, Tread is lacking a great deal. Perhaps it will become better, but it seems like a waste to develop it when Radiant is already much better and open source.

    5. Re:others by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is it so bloody hard to write a note somewhere that this is in fact a piece of software that runs on (whatever OS) and does (whatever task)?

      This is a problem many websites seem to have, whether they are about a project/product/service or whatever. I've had to rely on Wikipedia many times to find out what some website is all about. Even if there happens to be an "About" section on the website, it's usually still easier to just find the Wikipedia article and read the first chapter there for a brief and to-the-point explanation.

      Unfortunately, this project doesn't seem to have a Wikipedia entry either.

    6. Re:others by RobDollar · · Score: 1

      A very good point, I always fail to understand why many programs and games lack a breif and concise description on their home page. Infact my custom has been lost to some companies for this small oversight.

    7. Re:others by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 3, Informative
      I would like to draw your attention to a rather crappy aspect of the website that hosts this thing: there is no clue there WHAT IT IS.

      .
      I'm assuming the page has been updated since your post, as the first thing I saw was "Tread is a Quake 1 and 2 map editor that runs on Windows XP."

    8. Re:others by ShakaUVM · · Score: 2, Interesting

      >>Is it so bloody hard to mention the fact that this is in fact for the ancient Quake 1/2 games, rather than a recent version?

      There's still an active dev community for Quake 1/2/3, with clients like FTEQuake adding realtime lighting, bloom, shaders, etc. to these clients. Quakeworld has never looked so good. =)

      Of course, I'd recommend CustomTF. =)

    9. Re:others by johannesg · · Score: 1

      I would like to draw your attention to a rather crappy aspect of the website that hosts this thing: there is no clue there WHAT IT IS.

      .

      I'm assuming the page has been updated since your post, as the first thing I saw was "Tread is a Quake 1 and 2 map editor that runs on Windows XP."

      Indeed! That text wasn't there last night. Excellent work!

      And if YOU, reader, are also running an open source project, go and check your homepage to see if you have this information somewhere! Because it really is vital that people can figure out what your software does, before they decide whether they are interested or not...

    10. Re:others by ozphx · · Score: 1

      Well played, Sir. Well played.

      --
      3laws: No freebies, no backsies, GTFO.
    11. Re:others by kop · · Score: 1

      What website are you talking about? These are the first lines on:
      http://www.joecodegood.net/tread/

      Tread is a Quake 1 and 2 map editor that runs on Windows XP.

    12. Re:others by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's also a very active player community for Quake 1. Check out www.quakeone.com.

    13. Re:others by m8nkey · · Score: 1

      I completely agree. I've played around with multiple game engines and level design apps over the last 12 years and I consider GTK Radiant to be one of the best. GTK Radiant supports significantly more games and there's a ton of reference material and tutorials available. Once Quake Live is released there could be a resurgence in mapping for IdTech3 so I could understand someone releasing a new editor for that.

    14. Re:others by GIBson3 · · Score: 1

      Speaking as an experienced mapper who has used GtkRadiant years, Tread is lacking a great deal. Perhaps it will become better, but it seems like a waste to develop it when Radiant is already much better and open source.

      I'm curious as to what is missing from Tread 3.0 *alpha* I've been playing with it off and on for the last week, and while there is a minor Learning curve, from a Q1/Q2 stand point I've found it to be Much faster to work in than gtkRadiant. Please don't get me wrong I'm not saying it's finished, however a blanket statement like "Tread is lacking a great deal." really isn't helpful. while yes Radiant is free and open source, that doesn't all of a sudden close the doors for other editors especially one that has a radically different work flow. I'm truly curious as to what features are lacking, and would love to see a list of said features.

  2. slashdot != digg by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    since when was a quake2 map editor front page news on slashdot...?

    1. Re:slashdot != digg by Akzo · · Score: 3, Funny

      Today?

      --
      Sig is for Signature, so you don't have to manually sign every post.
  3. Memories... by Penguinisto · · Score: 1

    ...wish that it was worth more than that, but seriously, I haven't touched QOOLE (if anyone remembers that one) since 1999-2000.

    Question I have is, what use would remain for it?

    Now for games out now... sure. But UT(insert year here) comes with built-in level editors, as do many other games. Odds are excellent that someone on Gamasutra has built a converter to allow a level built in .3ds/.obj/.fbx/COLLADA format to be imported and tweaked in very short order (which allows one to build levels for multiple games without the need to re-learn a new tool every time a new game comes out).

    /P

    --
    Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
    1. Re:Memories... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Two points:
      * A game level consists of more than geometry, specifically, entities. So a level editor is kind of different beast than a 3D modeler.

      * There are lots of GPL BSP engines out there without working tool chains. If this one is more easily adapted there is certainly places where it will be welcome.

    2. Re:Memories... by RedDirt · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Oh, man. Qoole was the only 3D editor that I could ever use with any success - it just worked the way my brain wanted it to. =) For a long time, back when VRML was still occasionally useful, I used it to create objects - though the whole chain of converters was terribly fragile.

      Hmm, I think I still have my two registered CDs around here someplace ...

      --
      James
    3. Re:Memories... by Pvt_Waldo · · Score: 1

      Hah! Yea I have my Qoole disk around too. I remember using Tread back around 1997 or so (?).

      So there was some question about the difference between this editor and Radiant & Quark. Tread and Qoole are/were like Valve's Hammer editor in that they presented a very standardized display of the edited content - top/left/right/3d. Quark at least uses a very very different style of showing the 3d content that isn't your typical drafting/CAD style like the others. It's like using Blender instead of Maya if you know what I mean. Some people swear (swore?) by Quark but I could never get used to it (just like I can't get used to Blender).

  4. Blast from the past by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I wonder if this was part of the Abducted engine he talked about long ago on his site. I remember him having info about lighting techniques he used in that engine. But it only looks like this is all he now has up on his site.

  5. Slashvertisement? by novalis112 · · Score: 1

    It's an alpha release of an old level editor for Pre-Quake 3 versions of Quake. How is this news?

  6. Or DarkRadiant? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See: http://darkradiant.sourceforge.net/

  7. BSP by IceFox · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Another edit, BSP a Quake level editor from the mid ninties (The BSP Homepage: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/bernier/). The application is no longer in development and has been given to me by the author to do with what I wish. The original code along with my modified GPL'd version is located here: http://icefox.net/programs/?program=Archive/BSP

    --
    Do you changes clothes while making the "chee-chee-cha-cha-choh" transformation sound?