NOTE: The tutorials and editor listed on the official BF2 site are outdated, use the links found in this thread.
Official Tools and Plug-ins
BF2 Editor (Jan 04/06 version)
http://planetbattlefield.gamespy.com/View.php?view=BF2Tools.Detail&id=102Maya 6.0.1 Tools
Installation thread:
http://bfeditor.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7103DS Max Tools ( Max 5-8 plugin version)
For use with 3dsmax5.1 and higher (tested up to 3dsmax8)
http://rex3d.net/bf2/files/3dsmax/bf2_3dsmax_10Jun2006.zip3DS Max Tools ( Max 9 plugin version)
Description: Extract the contents of this .zip file to your 3dsmax directory
while keeping the sub-folders inside the .zip as they are.
http://rex3d.net/bf2/files/3dsmax/Battlefield2_Max9_Plugin.zipGMax Tools
Description: Editor plug-in for Gmax.
Download:
http://www.ea.com/official/battlefield/battlefield2/us/downloads.jsp#Lightmap Samples
Description: For those of you wanting to generate lightmaps for maps using the retail version of Battlefield 2 objects.
Download:
http://largedownloads.ea.com/pub/misc/lightmapsamples.zip---------------------------------------
Official Tutorials (by Lawrence Brown)
Note: It is highly recommended anyone new to BF2 modding complete all of these tutorials from start to finish.
Official Editor User Guide
Description: Dice's official (though incomplete) user guide to the editor. Includes a great walk-through and explanation of the UI.
Location: Pre-installed with the editor and located at C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\Battlefield 2\bf2editor\Help\UserGuide.doc
Tutorial 1: Creating a Basic Terrain
Description: The essentials of how to use the terrain editor. (Thanks to Doomlab for hosting the download mirror for this and other tutorials)
Download: Here
Wiki Entry:
http://bfeditor.org/wiki/index.php/Creating_a_Basic_Terrain (an online version of the tutorial, with large pictures)
Tutorial 2: Creating a Basic Level
Description: The essentials of how to use the level editor.
Download: Here
Wiki Entry:
http://bfeditor.org/wiki/index.php/Creating_a_Basic_LevelTutorial 3: Mod Set-Up
Description: How to properly set-up a custom mod in the editor.
Download: Here
Wiki Entry:
http://bfeditor.org/wiki/index.php/Custom_Mod_Set-upTutorial 4: Building the Bunker
Description: How to model a static object for BF2.
Download: Max Maya
Wiki Entry:
http://bfeditor.org/wiki/ (Max)
Tutorial 5: Importing The Bunker
Description: How to import the bunker from Tutorial 4: Building the Bunker.
Download: Maya
Tutorial 6: Building the Car (Updated)
Description: I've updated this tutorial with a bit of new information that I've just discovered. How to build a car for BF2.
Download: Max
Maya
Original thread:
http://bfeditor.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1260Tutorial 7: Importing and Editing the Car
Description: This tutorial covers the steps necessary to "Import" the car from tutorial 6 into the editor and make the necessary edits to get it working in the game.
Download:
http://bfeditor.gotfrag.com/BF2_Modding_Tutorial_7_-_Importing_and_Editing_the_Car.zipOriginal thread:
http://bfeditor.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1261Tutorial 8: Creating a New Team
Description: This should be considered an advanced tutorial. It documents all necessary steps for creating a new team, getting it into the editor, and then getting it into the game.
Download:
http://bfeditor.gotfrag.com/Creating_a_New_Team.zip (Maya)
Original thread:
http://bfeditor.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2515Tutorial 9: Creating New Kits
Description: This is a tutorial documenting all steps necessary for creating a new set of kits for a team and getting them in the game.
Download:
http://bfeditor.gotfrag.com/Creating_New_Kits.zip (Maya & max)
Original thread:
http://bfeditor.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=22482Collision Meshes Explained
Description: Thread is the tutorial. Suggested reading.
Original thread:
http://bfeditor.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3007Internet Mod Testing Procedure
Description: If you've created a mod and need to know the steps needed to test it over the net, such as packaging, file pruning, and so on, check out this tutorial.
Download:
http://bfeditor.gotfrag.com/Internet_Mod_Testing_Procedure.zipOriginal thread:
http://bfeditor.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=520Windowed Mode and Other Helpful Flags
Description: If your map is crashing and you don't know why, the first step is to run in "windowed mode" to see if you can get an error message. This can be tricky to do with a custom mod.
Download:
http://bfeditor.gotfrag.com/Windowed_Mode_and_Other_Helpful_Flags.zipOriginal thread:
http://bfeditor.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=519---------------------------------------
User Created/Useful Tools and Plug-ins
GMax
Description: The free, watered down version of 3DS Max, which is supported by the editor.
Download:
http://www.turbosquid.com/gmaxBF2 Mod Toolkit (Sep 29/05 version)
Description: The toolkit functionality is mainly centered around the import/export of the map files at the moment. The toolkit needs two additional applications to perform these operations, NConvert, and Nvdxt.
Download:
http://graphicreality.co.uk/grr_downloads.php?Mode=View_SubCategory&CatID=2&ID=2Alt-Download:
http://bfeditor.org/files/BF2_Mod_Toolkit_0-7_Setup.exeOriginal thread:
http://bfeditor.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2245BF2 Terrain Painter (Tpaint) (Sep 05/05 version)
Description: Texture your maps easier; this tool will create both the color map and detail map, based on height and gradient.
Download:
http://tpaint.alffx.nl/bf2_tpaint_v0.33.rarOriginal thread:
http://tpaint.alffx.nl/BF2 Ecomap (Feb 01/06 version (v0.21))
Description: Similair to Tpaint but with some additional options. This tool hasn't yet been used by much of the community, so not much feedback is currently available.
Download:
http://www.leetdreams.com/bf2ecomap/downloads/BF2Ecomap.zipOriginal thread:
http://bfeditor.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3977Nvidia DDS thumbnail viewer
Description: Allows you to view/edit .dds files in photoshop.
Download:
http://developer.nvidia.com/object/dds_thumbnail_viewer.htmlGIMP DDS plugin
Description: Allows you to view/edit .dds files in The GIMP.
Download:
http://nifelheim.dyndns.org/~cocidius/dds/Nvidia DDS Utilities
Description: This installer includes five separate utilities:
* nvDXT - convenient command-line access to nvDXTlib functionality and more
* detach - extracts MIP levels from a .DDS file
* stitch - recombines MIP levels into a single .DDS file
* readDXT - reads compressed images and writes .TGA files
* nxDXTlib - library for working with .DDS files
Download:
http://developer.nvidia.com/object/dds_utilities.htmlNvidia Texture Atlas tool
Description: A collection of tools for creating texture atlases, which can help to increase batch sizes.
Download:
http://developer.nvidia.com/object/texture_atlas_tools.htmlTerragen
Description: Terragen is capable of photorealistic results for professional landscape visualisation, special effects, art and recreation.
Download:
http://www.planetside.co.uk/terragen/L3DT
Description: L3DT is an affordable heightmap and texture generating tool
http://www.bundysoft.com/L3DT/Related thread:
http://bfeditor.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4814SourceEdit Texteditor
Description: This configurable texteditor allows BF2 syntax highlighting, search and replace in files and folders and is free. It can rename a complete map in 5 seconds and is suitable for the localization files.
Download:
http://www.brixoft.net/default.aspWindows Dump File Tool
Description: The dump ('dmp' ) files created by BF2 are just standard windows dump files, and can be read with the standard windows debug tools. (Note: You're unlikely to get any additional useful information out of these dmp files though!).
Download:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/debugging/installx86.mspx.
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User Created Tutorials
http://bfeditor.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4538
