[Tool] ToEE WorldBuilder 2.0.5b

The latest version of the ToEE World Builder, the tool that was used widely in creation of the latest Circle of Eight Mod Pack releases and Keep on the Borderlands mod.

NOTE: Please download and install the following patches after you have installed ToEEWB:

a. http://www.co8.org/community/index.php?attachments/patch-binaries-204-to-205-zip.4350/

b. http://www.co8.org/community/index.php?attachments/patch-all-205-to-205a-zip.6381/

c. http://www.co8.org/community/index.php?attachments/patch-all-205a-to-205b-zip.7617/

d. http://www.co8.org/community/index.php?attachments/patch-source-204-to-205-zip.4351/

e. http://www.co8.org/community/index.php?attachments/splitter-zip.7614/

For more information, see http://www.co8.org/community/index.php?forums/toee-worldbuilder.48/

1. Disclaimer.

ToEE World Builder is a third party editor for the computer game Temple of Elemental Evil. It is in no way supported by Troika and Atari. The authors of this program take no responsibility for any possible damage this tool can do to you or to your computer. The authors of this program take no responsibility for the content that modders may include in the game using the program. If either Troika or Atari wants this program to be removed from the Circle of Eight community forums, it can be done at any moment.

2. What is the ToEE World Builder?

The Temple of Elemental Evil World Builder (ToEEWB) is a unified editing environment for Troika’s Temple of Elemental Evil (ToEE). It is a collection of game modification means that aims to provide a modern interface for all the latest inventions in ToEE modding.

3. What do I need to use ToEEWB?

First of all, we want you to understand that ToEEWB is not a tool for novices, so unless you have a definite understanding of the basic game mechanics you may want to stay some more at our forums (http://www.co8.org/forum) and read some posts in Temple of Elemental Evil General Discussion and Temple of Elemental Evil General Modification sections regarding the basics of game modification.

In order to launch ToEEWB you need to have the following things (please read carefully):
- Temple of Elemental Evil version 2.0 or higher
- Microsoft .NET Framework version 2.0 or higher
- A Temple of Elemental Evil DAT file extractor (get one from www.co8.org/forum)

You are free to choose any folder for the ToEEWB, but I wouldn’t recommend you to copy it to the game folder since you take a risk of an accidental change of one of the game files. Just DON’T install it to the same folder as ToEE and you should be safe.
ToEEWB doesn’t directly modify game files (the ones in your game folder) unless explicitly told to do so. Therefore, it is mostly safe for usage (it shouldn’t corrupt your ToEE installation by itself). However, you are encouraged to make backups of all the files you modify using ToEEWB before making any final changes. We don’t take any responsibility if you corrupt something in your ToEE installation or in your computer while using ToEEWB.
Before you can launch ToEEWB you need to extract and put the following files into ToEEWB installation folder:
PROTOS.TAB
DESCRIPTION.MES
LONG_DESCRIPTION.MES
If you didn’t understand the last step you probably need to visit our forums and read some additional information about game functionality before proceeding.

NOTE: ToEEWB should be compatible with any custom TAB/MES files. So far it has been tested with ToEE Patch 2.0 official files, as well as with Circle of Eight v4.0.0 and v4.0.1 custom files and Livonya’s Mod 1.0, 1.5 and 1.5.1 custom files.

After you have copied the above-mentioned files into your ToEEWB folder you can launch the editor. Note that currently the loading scheme is not optimized and it may take a quite long time (about a minute) to load everything. This is a known issue and the loading scheme may change in the future.

4. A list of ToEEWB features.

The current version of ToEEWB has the following features:
- An object editor with support for both mobile objects (MOBs) and static objects (sector-embedded).
- A sector editor, with ability to modify passability information, lights, and sector visibility blocking data.
- An editor for jump points (useful to set up teleport destinations and whatnot).
- A prototype editor with integrated support for descriptions and long descriptions.
- An interface for external script and dialog editors.
- A temple.dll editor that allows you to modify max PC count and change start maps for different party alignments.
- A 2D map splitter/recombiner that allows you to recreate an editable image of a 2D game area and then convert it back into format understandable by game.
- An editor for map properties file (map.prp and global.lit), with an area cleaner.
- An ability to make certain changes directly from the game (interoperability).
- Much, much, MUCH more.

5. Configuring ToEE World Builder.

You can specify the following parameters in the “Configuration” tab of ToEE World Builder:

External dialog editor – an editor that you use to edit dialog (.dlg) files.
External script editor – an editor that you use to edit python script (.py) files. I can recommend something that supports Python syntax highlighting (like Notepad++).
Path to Dialog files – a path to .dlg files that you edit. If you specify a path here you could use the automated interface for navigating and editing dialogs.
Path to Script files – same, but for Python scripts (.py files).
ToEE-to-WB Bridge – the folder used for interoperability. Please check the Interoperability documentation for more information (“readme-interoperability.txt”)
Don’t save and remove empty SVB and HSD files – in case SVB (sector visibility blocking) or HSD (negative height) files store no data, they will not be saved to disk and removed if present. You may want to leave this parameter disabled (if you work with original maps), since that will make tracing changes and copying files back into ToEE folder a lot easier (you won’t have to worry about files you have forgotten to remove).
Enable extended backward compatibility with original ToEE mobile object files – allows saving MOB files with extra precision as to the object positioning in game memory using different identifiers. Recommended.

6. Extra tools distributed with ToEE World Builder.

The following tools can be found in the “Tools/” folder of ToEE World Builder installation:

TOEEFE 3.80 Professional Edition – the latest version of the professional edition of ToEE Front-end with the multi-module support.
Editor’s Assistant Script – an in-game script utility that allows you to simplify modifications, and actually make certain changes directly from the game.
Dialog Creation Template – an Excel template that allows you to create dialogs (.dlg files) rather easily.
DAT Tool – a small utility that allows you to create and extract ToEE .dat files.

Each tool has a manual included with it, either as a text or as a rtf file.