Hefty Update to Originator Released

You asked for more options to hack into Prophecy, Secret Ops and Privateer 2 - and AllTinker has delivered! The latest update to Originator add support for extraction of the more complex models in the later Wing Commander games. There's also better support for alternate disc formats such as the 3DO, recognition of P2's xmidi music format and much more. You can grab the latest version of the tool here!

Version 0.3.00 is a fairly broad update.

Support has been added for Prophecy/Secret Ops and Privateer 2 models. The former took longer than I thought - I forgot many models included polygonal faces, which required triangulation - the details of which are quite complicated and probably not that interesting. :D

Prophecy models are quite modular; eventually I may add a specific Ship Viewer, which combines the various models for viewing - also handling things like the WC3/4 hangars. A task for another day! I've added a "Global Search" mode (under Tools -> Global Search), which allows searching for hex or text strings across all loaded game files. Double-clicking on a result will jump to the IFF or raw hex where the instance was found.

I noticed there was some confusion about what disc image formats could be used for games (e.g. ports) which expect images. Originator will now search for .iso or .bin extensions, in addition to .img. Most PC (and 3DO) disc images should be detected and loadable, regardless of extension. Some proprietary formats (e.g. .nrg) aren't supported; nor are Mac images. Support for Mac images might happen eventually, but probably not any time soon.

I realised I could hook up Bioforge model viewing with minimal effort. :) Animations aren't currently viewable.

Summary of major changes:

• Added support for Prophecy / Secret Ops models, including triangulation of polygonal meshes.
• Added support for Privateer 2 textures/models.
• Added "Global Search" mode, which allows searching for text/hex across all loaded game files.
• Disc images will be detected with .iso or .bin extensions, in addition to .img.
• Added support for Pacific Strike text content decompression.
• Fixed the solid backdrop scaling for VGA aspect mode.
• Fixed 3DO STR container support.
• Improvements to FLX container support.
• Better support for partial palettes (mostly for Strike Commander).
• Some palette hookups for Strike Commander (work in progress).
• Fixed texture coordinates for OBJ export.
• Improved generation of normals for 3D models.
• Added support for Privateer 2's XMIDI music.
• Fixed terrain elevation export for WC4; more general terrain support will happen later.
• Some UI improvements, e.g. showing what's selected in tree navigation panes.