hi
I would be really happy to see official plugins accessible from Lite-C for saving modified model and terrain entities (deformation, or number of skins, or internal skin-texture changes).
I know there is the SDK, but it would require too much effort from me to dig into it...
Or will something similar be published with GED source codes?

I have programmed two plugins (ackmdl.dll and ackhmp.dll) for a customer, that can do exactly these things (well, not really modified entities but that can be added easily) - especially when it comes to skin arrangement and -modifications.

If you (or JCL) are interested, you can contact me freely, I could sell you a copy.

ahh, so you are ready with it, I remember you mentioned it earlier.

I would prefer the deal with JCL and to add this feature to 3DGS (at the moment I'm spending my little money for upgrading from Extra to Commercial...)

my primary aim with it to add this feature to my free editor. I have some alternative solutions, but they are not really practical...

probably I will personally need it in future (when I'm completely ready with my game AI system), so I keep this good information in mind, and will contact you when really actual! (and if won't be part of 3DGS, and available below Pro edition too)

Nah, not ready, it is as ready as my customer needed it - the hmp.dll is relatively complete, the mdl.dll is missing some things (which my customer didn't needed). Since I have no need for it to be further developed (atm), I have no intentions to do so, until someone pays for commisional work.

okay, clear, atm I'm mainly interested in the terrain saving dll, the model version is not so essential for me (but can be in future).

Here is a full feature list, if you are interested:

ackhmp.dll feature list

• create hmp
  
  • from scratch (width/height, rows/cols)
    
  • from bitmap
    
    • engine BMAP*
      
    • file
      
  • from existing terrain ENTITY*
    
  • copy constructor
    
  • from buffer (WRS compatible)
    
• saving
  
  • save hmp to file
    
  • save modified terrain entity to file, or re-save original file
    
• heightfield functions
  
  • bicubic resizing of heightfield
    
  • lod generation
    
  • heightfield to zero or variable
    
  • copy heightfield from/to rowmajor/columnmajor matrix
    
• info functions
  
  • get lowest/highest coordinate
    
  • get vertex coordinate
    
  • get normal for vertex
    
• skin functions
  
  • create skins for internal/external skins, D3D material, embedded shader
    
  • get/set/add/remove skins
    
• entity functions
  
  • create terrain entity from hmp during runtime
    
  • transfer terrain entity shape from/to existing hmp
    
  • normals
    
    • recalculate all normals of a deformed terrain entity
      
    • recalculate normal of a specific vertex of a deformed terrain entity
      
  • get/set vertices (heights)
    
  • raise vertices by offset
    
• brushes (useful for editing terrains)
  
  • create a brush from BMAP* or bitmap file
    
  • read floating point data from brush at local/world position
    
• hulls - dynamic terrain hull with bicubic interpolation, that is faster than updating the whole terrain in-engine with c_updatehull!
  
  • Create hull from terrain entity
    
  • modify hull vertex-wise
    
  • vertical tracing (super fast)
    
  • 3D trace (very fast)
    
  • adapt entity to hull (origin or lower Bbox position) – useful for placing entities on ground
    
• bitmap functions
  
  • save BMAP* as rock-solid TGA
    
  • create mip map BMAP*'s from source BMAP*
    
  • merge 4 greyscale bitmaps as R,G,B and A channel into a variable sized blendmap
    
• materials
  
  • create MATERIAL* from scatch from float* arrays and effect char*'s
    
• seeding
  
  • generate a list of position on a hmp by a likelihood map to seed a terrain
    
  • uses average & minimum distances and relaxaxtion parameters
    

huh, this is really more than I expected with a lot of features I will really need!
can you send me a PM with an approximate price? (but it will be actual only some months later) then I can decide whether to buy your package or to do myself what I can... (first I would like to see GED source codes)

I am interested too, please send me the price for the terrain and entity dll too. (PM)
For both i need:
- saving after vertexmanipulation and / or skinmanipulation as *.hmp / *.mdl
- saving with added skins by lite-c code.

For mdls, this has to be implemented and could involve a lot of work, because the ackmdl.dll is intended for usage with mdl files atm only. Loading from an Entity can be done, but this has to be worked out.