History of the Tomb Raider Level Editor
Of course, the history of the level editor begins with the very original software, the 'Room Editor'. It was Gavin Rummery who helped program a tool which allowed the level designers to create 3D worlds using a grid system, where squares are raised and lowered to create boundaries or architecture. In 2000, an official level editor was released with PC copies of Tomb Raider Chronicles, the last game in the series to make use of this type of engine. A manual was produced by the Gold level creators Gary LaRochelle and Rebecca Shearin. But the idea of a level editor dates much earlier.
For fans who were familiar with Quake (1996), Duke Nukem 3D (1996) and other games which offered out a level editor, they wanted to create their own worlds for Lara to explore but couldn't understand why Core Design and Eidos Interactive never released a proper level editor. After contacting them and receiving a 'no' in response, fans took it into their own hands to find a way to make their own. This didn't always go so smoothly.
For fans who were familiar with Quake (1996), Duke Nukem 3D (1996) and other games which offered out a level editor, they wanted to create their own worlds for Lara to explore but couldn't understand why Core Design and Eidos Interactive never released a proper level editor. After contacting them and receiving a 'no' in response, fans took it into their own hands to find a way to make their own. This didn't always go so smoothly.
1997:
Pat Mccomack's TrlEd
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Tomb Raider has been released for several months now.
On a Croft Times article [here], dating 20th July 1997, fans had already begun trying to understand and decompile the Tomb Raider 1 levels. Here, Pat McComack was working on a program called 'TrlEd'. By the 5th of October 1997, he was able to show off a screenshot. He created a [website] which can be viewed thanks to the Web Archive, however the captures are a little too late and his progress is now lost but we do know from his website that "it is very unfinished and is probably only useful for learning about the level structure, interface ideas, etc." It seems that by 1998, Pat decided to end his project but he did offer out the source code for it for those interested in taking up the challenge. If one is familiar with the officially released TRLE, we can see that Pat had the 2D room view almost accurate to the official TRLE. |
1998:
1998 saw an increase in interest, in fact, quite a few projects pop up, including various sound and texture extractor tools. Often, these extractor tools are the beginnings of editors.
FastByte's project began in the second half of 1998, with research into file formats and rendering, with help from fellow project creators Anthony Sims and Pat McComack. By the 11th of October, Fastbyte was able to release a basic viewer tool, allowing fans to view the levels. Check out his website [Cape Canaveral] to see his progress on both the viewer and the level editor. We'll come back to Fastbyte's level editor in the next year.
Anthony Sims took on the work of Pat McCormack and put on his [website] the work of understanding Tomb Raider 1's PHD file. It seems that this is as far as he got.
Loren Petrich's 'Data Raider' is another extractor tool, which at the time could extract 8 bit and 16 bit textures either as separate tiles or as one strip but there were plans to export geometric objects and even Lara. However, we've been unable to find any further progress.
G3 Power began working on 'MacMyLaraUp', a Tomb Raider 2 level editor for Apple Mac. There is very little information and no website.
A fan called Chris faced the legal wrath of Core Design in 1998, being demanded to cease work on his Level Editor project. Sadly we've not been able to find any work on his level editor but his [website], the correspondents with Susie Hamilton and his issue with owning the website tombraider.net can still be read on Web Archive. What's interesting is how others didn't receive a Cease and Desist letter, but it emphasises the risk that fans were willing to face, just to get a Level Editor. Chris' troubles were widely felt and reported across the Tomb Raider community with many sites such as Tomb Raider Sanctuary reporting on how damaging this was on the fandom but were sympathetic to Eidos for protecting their property.
FastByte's project began in the second half of 1998, with research into file formats and rendering, with help from fellow project creators Anthony Sims and Pat McComack. By the 11th of October, Fastbyte was able to release a basic viewer tool, allowing fans to view the levels. Check out his website [Cape Canaveral] to see his progress on both the viewer and the level editor. We'll come back to Fastbyte's level editor in the next year.
Anthony Sims took on the work of Pat McCormack and put on his [website] the work of understanding Tomb Raider 1's PHD file. It seems that this is as far as he got.
Loren Petrich's 'Data Raider' is another extractor tool, which at the time could extract 8 bit and 16 bit textures either as separate tiles or as one strip but there were plans to export geometric objects and even Lara. However, we've been unable to find any further progress.
G3 Power began working on 'MacMyLaraUp', a Tomb Raider 2 level editor for Apple Mac. There is very little information and no website.
A fan called Chris faced the legal wrath of Core Design in 1998, being demanded to cease work on his Level Editor project. Sadly we've not been able to find any work on his level editor but his [website], the correspondents with Susie Hamilton and his issue with owning the website tombraider.net can still be read on Web Archive. What's interesting is how others didn't receive a Cease and Desist letter, but it emphasises the risk that fans were willing to face, just to get a Level Editor. Chris' troubles were widely felt and reported across the Tomb Raider community with many sites such as Tomb Raider Sanctuary reporting on how damaging this was on the fandom but were sympathetic to Eidos for protecting their property.
1999:
The year where progress was made.
Around January 1999, Fans Eep and Loren Petrich got in contact with Core Design and Eidos, asking for the level editor. They had managed to get a promising reply from Susie Hamilton, where she said that "We've been talking about the editor again this morning... We would love to give something back to the TR community." You can read a little more [here].
On the 12th of February, Fastbyte announced on his website that he had been hard at work. His program was now called 'TEdit' and it could load, modify and save TR level files but only on a one room basis and it couldn't work with textures. He uploaded imagery of his work (see below).
Around January 1999, Fans Eep and Loren Petrich got in contact with Core Design and Eidos, asking for the level editor. They had managed to get a promising reply from Susie Hamilton, where she said that "We've been talking about the editor again this morning... We would love to give something back to the TR community." You can read a little more [here].
On the 12th of February, Fastbyte announced on his website that he had been hard at work. His program was now called 'TEdit' and it could load, modify and save TR level files but only on a one room basis and it couldn't work with textures. He uploaded imagery of his work (see below).
Here is a familiar name to those from the TRLE community. In 1999, Turbo Pascal announced his 'TREditor', a program that allowed players to alter TR1 and TR1 Gold levels. Prior to this, Turbo had released patches for the Gold levels and also a room viewer. The tool allowed for the extraction of a room's geometry into .dxf file, which could then be altered in 3D editing software and then using the TREditor, it would be saved back into the .phd format. This altered level would have to replace a level already in game (it had to bear the name of a level already in-game. It couldn't create standalone levels as we are now familiar with). You can view the webpage of his tester Vagrant [here], as they list the tools needed and other details.
On 31st December, Turbo Pascal had received a boost for his work; a tip-off from an anonymous mailer in a newsgroup, who had leaked a HTML document that contained the internal details of the .TR2 file formats. It can be viewed on a website called the TRosetta Stone.
As we know now, it didn't take much longer for a Tomb Raider Level Editor to appear...
On 31st December, Turbo Pascal had received a boost for his work; a tip-off from an anonymous mailer in a newsgroup, who had leaked a HTML document that contained the internal details of the .TR2 file formats. It can be viewed on a website called the TRosetta Stone.
As we know now, it didn't take much longer for a Tomb Raider Level Editor to appear...
2000:
In 2000, with the release of 'Tomb Raider Chronicles', Core Design and Eidos Interactive gave out a modified version of their level editor on an extra disk with every PC copy of the game. Here is the offical news article as seen on the Tomb Raider Chronicles website.
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"Eidos Releases PC Level Editor
The PC format of Tomb Raider Chronicles includes a free version of Core Design's level editor that will allow fans to create and play their own Tomb Raider adventures. Designed by the original Tomb Raider team and modified for each Tomb Raider game, the editor software is unique to Core Design and Tomb Raider. Having received numerous requests from fans for the release of this tool, Core Design has designed a modified version suitable for consumer use. The resulting system allows users to create levels using the same tools that the Tomb Raider programmers use themselves. The software includes a tutorial, allowing users to familiarize themselves with each tool before designing their own levels. Core Design and Eidos plan further support via dedicated web pages offering advice, troubleshooting and download updates such as new textures and enemies." |
As well as the editor, a guide, some TR4 levels and objects were given out:
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"A tutorial level and documentation cover the basics (making rooms, connecting rooms, lighting, placing pick-ups and objects, etc.), with subsequent chapters covering more advanced skills and concepts. In addition to the tutorial level, 6 different levels from TR:TLR are available for 'inspiration' and 'reverse engineering.' Users can open these projects in the editor to study how things were put together. They can also use the objects, enemies, textures, etc. in their own levels. If the editor is well received and people crave more, we hope to make additional level sets available for download."
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And indeed they did offer out more goodies, as a gift for fans for the New Year. On Friday 12th January 2001, there were new textures - 20 TGA files - which featured textures from TR2, TR2 Golden Mask, TR3, TR3: The Lost Artefact, and TR: The Last Revelation, new WADS, TR4's 'Lost Library' & 'Guardian of Semerket' levels, plus and a variation of the CITY.WAD, and lastly some revised WAD files of the 6 originally available levels found on the TR Editor disk. At some point, TR4's 'Angkor Wat' Project and WAD Files were released too. It has been mentioned in a few interviews around the time that the developers would play some of the fan made levels, and they were impressed with the creativity of fans.
Since then, fans have gone on to create their own modified versions of the Official Tomb Raider Level Editor, as well as programs to support it, a wide selection of texture and sounds files, thousands of models for objects and Lara, and thousands of levels too. The Tomb Raider Level Editor sector of the community is just as popular as it was back when it was released in 2000, perhaps even more so, and it is truly astonishing what can be created today with the technological advances of the modified editors.
Sources:
Image - Pat Mccormack's TrlEd
http://web.archive.org/web/19991010072452/http://www.cubeit.com/ctimes/news0080.htm
Images - Fastbyte's TEdit
http://web.archive.org/web/20010816013236/http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/lab/8572/sshots3.html
Website - eep's Tomb Raider Level Editor website
http://web.archive.org/web/20010204185800/http://tnlc.com/eep/tr/editor.html
Official Press Release in 2000
http://web.archive.org/web/20001109092300/http://www.tombraider.com/trchronicles/press0001.html
Tools Released With the Official Editor
http://web.archive.org/web/20010517061356/http://www.tombraider.com/trchronicles/lefaq.html
New Official Items Given Out
http://web.archive.org/web/20010902231546/http://www.tombraider.com/trchronicles/lewad.html
http://web.archive.org/web/19991010072452/http://www.cubeit.com/ctimes/news0080.htm
Images - Fastbyte's TEdit
http://web.archive.org/web/20010816013236/http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/lab/8572/sshots3.html
Website - eep's Tomb Raider Level Editor website
http://web.archive.org/web/20010204185800/http://tnlc.com/eep/tr/editor.html
Official Press Release in 2000
http://web.archive.org/web/20001109092300/http://www.tombraider.com/trchronicles/press0001.html
Tools Released With the Official Editor
http://web.archive.org/web/20010517061356/http://www.tombraider.com/trchronicles/lefaq.html
New Official Items Given Out
http://web.archive.org/web/20010902231546/http://www.tombraider.com/trchronicles/lewad.html