ACViewer: Assassin's Creed games viewer

[fullinu]

I have on-going memory optimizations that should reduce the memory footprint, but that's going to take a bit of time. But for now, Unity or later game are definitively pretty expensive on large maps.
I should have an update later today or tomorrow fixing AC Rogue and Syndicate that broke at some point in recent changes, as well as texture improvements.

I actually impressed that your program load maps just fine.
I tested only ACU as this is the only game I have installed right now and interested in, my spec are 2GB of video RAM and 8 GB of RAM,
with those specs I can load and fly through Paris map with stutters, but it loads! You did a big work with managing game LODs and draw distance

[fullinu]

For export, there is a program called ACExplorer, it able to export a small parts of game in a form of chunks.

viewtopic.php?t=20061
In general, it export successfully Notre-Dame and few streets near it, giving errors on other maps or streets far away from Notre-Dame even within single map.
P.S. But yeah, as it was said previously, that exporter is still wip and maybe abandoned at all

[mono24]

For export, there is a program called ACExplorer, it able to export a small parts of game in a form of chunks.

viewtopic.php?t=20061
In general, it export successfully Notre-Dame and few streets near it, giving errors on other maps or streets far away from Notre-Dame even within single map.

Unfortunately is unfinished and lots of missing assets due to un-reversed/unknown formats.
And yes that is a good example how its exported in its cell_blocks sections as its loaded incrementally during game play, this project could easily do the exact same thing

[forgeMaster]

Stutter are due to loading more data in a single threader way. This should improve over time. On very demanding games (syndicate and later due to the way they handled some stuff differently compared to earlier games), it's better to toggle "Freeze Camera" as it stops all loading and keeps LODs as they were when you froze the camera. Just unfreeze it when you reached where you wanted to go.

I'm aware of some of the other projects yes, and I was surprised anyone else bother with the chunked format of ACU. It's pretty good work!

Unfortunately is unfinished and lots of missing assets due to un-reversed/unknown formats.

The format is annoying, I try to do the same guesswork approach early-on, but it's just too much stuff. ACViewer actually support a lot of things behind the hood that are not displayed yet, gameplay entities, triggers, animations, cutscene data,... My interest goes a bit beyond the graphical stuff.

Regarding the export, my current thinking is to write an USD exporter, as it's meant for very large dataset, seems flexible enough and is supported by multiple editor.

[fullinu]

On very demanding games (syndicate and later due to the way they handled some stuff differently compared to earlier games), it's better to toggle "Freeze Camera" as it stops all loading and keeps LODs as they were when you froze the camera. Just unfreeze it when you reached where you wanted to go.

Thanks, I will give it a try and try to load further regions of Paris now!

[mono24]

...Regarding the export, my current thinking is to write an USD exporter, as it's meant for very large dataset, seems flexible enough and is supported by multiple editor.

I like the fact your considering a option to export as it is in-game, nice. Not only that this USD is relatively new to the public though, no native support to any of the editors we currently use, such as:
3ds Max, Maya, Cinema4D even the horrible Blender (and others), neither of them support this format currently, i hope it will be a good decision in the end.

[forgeMaster]

Mmm, I'm pretty sure there is USD plugin for Maya and Max. Blender support is in development. Unit and UE4 already support it. Might not be full support, but what I need is pretty simple mesh/material/texture.
The advantage of USD is that you can load on demand the assets, so you could have a whole city, and only load the bits you care about, while still sharing all the instances.

[cire992]

If you add USD support for bringing chunks of AC maps into Unreal then I'll build a temple in your honor that puts the parthenon, pantheon, notre dame and all the others we've scrambled up top of in these game to shame. Or... I'll throw some generous tips toward your patreon for your efforts. Playing these games is fun, but making stuff with them is a blast. If nothing else, I want you to know how much I appreciate what you've done with this program. I especially love the widget you put on there that shows the id of whatever entity is under the mouse. Having spent all this time rooting around the game files in blacksmith, it's nice to finally be able to clearly see how these worlds were assembled together.

[erik945]

Do you plan support characters (bones, skin) e.t.c?

[forgeMaster]

Do you plan support characters (bones, skin) e.t.c?

Correct. It's actually already in there, but in a broken state right now.
Here is a screenshot of the tool when character loading was working (this is early 2013). I've been working at restoring character loading so hopefully sometime soon.

[forgeMaster]

I also had animation working around the same time, albeit with busted skinning in this screenshot.

[erik945]

Ok, thanks, Do you plan support last games - Origins, Odyssey?

[forgeMaster]

It already does support them, although it's a bit broken, and map only. Haven't looked at characters in those, but there is nothing that would prevent me from implementing it given time.

[erik945]

Thanks for answers. Will waitt.

[cire992]

Damn, you're an absolute madman.