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[IkeKrull]

I'm writing a minecraft visualiser/editor, and I thought it would be interesting to see how minecraft would look and run on an engine like Sauerbraten.

Of course I need to get correct textures assigned to the blocks, and things like torches should really be modelled as well, but the basic level data is being exported happily enough.

currently it works on a 128x128x128 block of alpha data.

[Grickit]

Nothing useful to say except that that is amazing. Here's hoping it turns out to be cross platform! (looks like you're on mac or gnome).

(Any plans to go in reverse?)

[IkeKrull]

Cross-platform is a bit tricky as it is all written in Objective C on OS X at the moment.

The plan is to replace the main '3D view' in the editor app with a renderer that uses OGRE which is cross-platform, so it is possible i could do a Linux version. I don't have a Windows machine, and have zero interest in that OS.

Really it's just a bit of a playpen for ideas at the moment though,and the OS X tools let me get everything together really quickly.

As for the reverse (Sauerbraten to Minecraft), that would definitely be possible in a limited way, although i'm not sure existing sauerbraten maps would make any sense as minecraft worlds, mapping face-based textured geometry in Sauer to minecraft blocks would probably be suboptimal, and  many sauerbraten features ( height fields, 'curved' surfaces, features smaller than 1 minecraft block etc.) would get dropped.

Also, sauerbraten edits don't 'cut' or 'add blocks' into the world either, rather they 'extrude' selected faces. Visually, it might work just fine though, which would let you use sauer's interactive 3D editing tools to modify a minecraft world. It's not really a priority for me at this point, however I have thought about it.

I'm kind of more interested in eventually putting a different twist on things, maybe even making a different game - using the Sauer engine but set in the minecraft 'universe'. Sauer allows a lot of interesting possibilities regarding world geometry and visual effects, while being very closely aligned with minecrafts 'world of blocks' design.

But who knows, I was really just curious about Sauerbratens level format and thought it would be an interesting exercise.

[IkeKrull]

some quick n dirty texturing in sauer itself (not yet generated by exporter) with a single sunlight - looks kind of cool

[IkeKrull]

And textures are now assigned based on blocktype - though many blocktypes are not assigned and use the 'default' texture, as seen on the tower.

Next up is a custom set of textures to match the minecraft blocktypes.

[Fireshock]

This looks incredible, I can see myself using it when you finish it. It'd be great if you could increase the size of the chunk that's rendered.

[Talmanaze]

Wow... That looks incredible!
can't wait to see it when you're done!

[IkeKrull]

Increasing chunk size shouldn't be too difficult - One of the interesting things about Sauerbraten is that it's entire world  is stored inside a cube - since the minecraft alpha world is 128 blocks high, it was easiest to just use 128x128x128.

However, another interesting feature of sauerbraten is that it will write out its (visibility-processed, so you don't get the full world structure, just the shell around the 'air' areas)level geometry as an .obj file for import into a 3D app.

This means it would be easy to export 128x128x128 chunks and align/stitch them together (i use blender), and use them as polygonal geometry which is a lot less heavyweight than the original voxels - this would be quite useful for wallpapers etc.

[mrkite77]

IkeKrull said:

The plan is to replace the main '3D view' in the editor app with a renderer that uses OGRE which is cross-platform, so it is possible i could do a Linux version. I don't have a Windows machine, and have zero interest in that OS.

You could try Unity3D too.

[IkeKrull]

Unity3D isn't really a graphics engine with an API I can use from my code - its a game engine with an integrated authoring environment. Its a cool product, but won't really work for this application.

[ranger10700]

if you could make this windows, dues will be indebted to you good sir

[Nobbins]

That's actually pretty bitchin'. You should add a feature for the textures used in Guacamole!

[IkeKrull]

I have no idea what you mean by 'Guacamole' - the textures are easily replaceable, when done they will be packaged in the sauerbraten map as 1.png, 2.png etc. - the number will correspond to their decimal minecraft block id.

Also, sauerbraten water is now supported, as opposed to the solid texture i was using before:

[DarkNemesisV2]

Oh man. This would be more epic if BloodFrontier hadn't gone under. =(

This is epic though.

[IkeKrull]

OK, i generated some adjacent tiles in my viewer/exporter, exported to sauer, and used sauer to export .obj

Then I loaded up the .objs in Blender, added a water plane and a few lights, turned on ambient occ. and rendered.

Kind of time consuming, but the result looks quite nifty.

[adventuress]

I understand now, but as I open the map in minecraft in sauerbraten?

[IkeKrull]

I dunno, when it's more or less done?

[th3psycho]

AMAZING! I actually thought about this before!! I always thought that the cube engine would be perfect for minecraft. Of course I have very little coding skills so I had only imagined. Thank you for doing this. Please keep up the good work.

[Lilyo]

I've also been using Sauerbraten to play around with a minecraft them/ world, but I don't understand how to import maps into it though :/

Here's some old shit, just using HD Defualt Tiles (click for fullsize)

[Grickit]

When I asked about going in reverse I didn't mean take maps made for sauer and use them  in minecraft. That wouldn't work well as you said. What I was thinking was that we could then use sauer as a minecraft map editing tool. It'd be much easier than any tool out there.

As for textures->minecraft blocks just use the texture that's on top to determine what block type to make it.