does anyone know any directx 8.0a rpg pc games with out of game level editors like gtk radiant? i searched id tech 3 games but most if not all of them only supported fps games from gtk radiant. i couldn't find any unreal engine 1 level editors, although i probably wouldn't use unreal engines in general as i don't really like the look of them, though i looked up mobile forces, pc game of 2002 and it didn't look bad, despite using the unreal engine, it doesn't have a level editor and i'm looking for a rpg game level editor anyways. that being said, there is one game in particular that looked really nice but only the 2nd release had a level editor, this was project igi: im going in, it was only a directx 7.0 game but looked similar to directx 8.0 / 8.0a games with pretty good graphics and artwork.

the reason i specifically want a directx 8.0a game engine / level editor is because the game i would like to make or if it's an existing game, i want it to be able to work on windows 95. the only decent looking rpg game i found that works apparently on windows 95 is dark age of camelot but i don't think they have a level editor for that as the game isn't a normal rpg, it's an mmo rpg like world of warcraft. i wanted a game engine like the one used in project igi: im going in but which could allow up to pixel shader 1.3 support which i think is what directx 8.0a supports up to. something that would allow creating reflective water or realistic looking water which was not existing in project igi: im going in but only in the next release, project igi: covert strike.

the closest level editor i found for a rpg game with the aspects i would want is the warcraft 3 world editor but warcraft 3 isn't even an rpg, it's an rts game, so although the level editor is really really nice, the genre and environment of the game is the limiting factor, if the level editor was simiar but made for a rpg game where all you had to really do is add doodads, etc, that would be the best thing someone can ever make, but i haven't found anything like that yet.

the closest level editor i found for a rpg game with the aspects i would want is the warcraft 3 world editor but warcraft 3 isn't even an rpg, it's an rts game, so although the level editor is really really nice, the genre and environment of the game is the limiting factor, if the level editor was simiar but made for a rpg game where all you had to really do is add doodads, etc, that would be the best thing someone can ever make, but i haven't found anything like that yet.

This shows that you hadnt take a closer look to it. Warcraft 3 is one of the most supported games in its era. There is a huge community out in the internet at http://www.hiveworkshop.com/ with thousands of additional models and icons that you could use in it. WorldEdit is also capable to turn the basic game into anything you want even an RPG with multiple levels with or without the build up strategic part as shown in the link I posted. There are also thousands of RPG maps with millions of lines of custom scripts.

The reason why there might be games but hard to find is the disc space of the DX 8 era. Even such great (not RPG) games like Might and Magic 7 running on DX 7 or 8 I dont remember currently were shipped with 2 Discs. If shipping the editor with the game you would have had another disc and this was cost saving and related to the non popular or not wanted modder community also a factor the pubs/studios dont wanted to pay for.

Games I also know from the early days that have shipped or provided for download an editor were Unreal/Unreal Tournament (and related), Spellforce 1 (for download in the forums), Earth, Age of Empires/Mythology but I dont know if you are able to run an RPG with them or even if they are DX 8 compatible. Otherwise take a look at Sacred where I know that it is able to reprogram the game (modding it) by adding a file into the main directory, the game will load that file instead of the original game world and you are able to add items, characters ... in it then. Isnt Win95 but 98 compatible so take a look

the closest level editor i found for a rpg game with the aspects i would want is the warcraft 3 world editor but warcraft 3 isn't even an rpg, it's an rts game, so although the level editor is really really nice, the genre and environment of the game is the limiting factor, if the level editor was simiar but made for a rpg game where all you had to really do is add doodads, etc, that would be the best thing someone can ever make, but i haven't found anything like that yet.

This shows that you hadnt take a closer look to it. Warcraft 3 is one of the most supported games in its era. There is a huge community out in the internet at http://www.hiveworkshop.com/ with thousands of additional models and icons that you could use in it. WorldEdit is also capable to turn the basic game into anything you want even an RPG with multiple levels with or without the build up strategic part as shown in the link I posted. There are also thousands of RPG maps with millions of lines of custom scripts.

The reason why there might be games but hard to find is the disc space of the DX 8 era. Even such great (not RPG) games like Might and Magic 7 running on DX 7 or 8 I dont remember currently were shipped with 2 Discs. If shipping the editor with the game you would have had another disc and this was cost saving and related to the non popular or not wanted modder community also a factor the pubs/studios dont wanted to pay for.

Games I also know from the early days that have shipped or provided for download an editor were Unreal/Unreal Tournament (and related), Spellforce 1 (for download in the forums), Earth, Age of Empires/Mythology but I dont know if you are able to run an RPG with them or even if they are DX 8 compatible. Otherwise take a look at Sacred where I know that it is able to reprogram the game (modding it) by adding a file into the main directory, the game will load that file instead of the original game world and you are able to add items, characters ... in it then. Isnt Win95 but 98 compatible so take a look

thanks for the info, but now a different question, do you or anyone know of books that explain and / or give examples to specifically directx 8.0a pixel shader 1.3 and vertex shader 1.1. these two pixel and vertex shader versions are the ones i would use if i was ever to apply them to the development or contribution to a pc game. i bought two books that i thought would give examples of each pixel shader or pixel shader, specifically pixel shader 1.3 and vertex shader 1.1 but it was more of examples of pixel shader 1.4 which is only provided through directx 8.1 and the game i would like to create possibly would be limited to directx 8.0a which uses max ps 1.3 and vs 1.1.

again the reasoning to why i wan't to use directx 8.0a and not 8.1 or newer is because i would want the created game to work on windows 95 and 95 only supports up to directx 8.0a. there is another option of course to use opengl but i'm not sure if that would be "better" or "worse" for what i want to do. also i don't really know how it works, as a beginner to all this, from what i looked at, opengl is universal and not depedent on the os really. so in other words, if the graphics driver supports a certain opengl version, lets say opengl 1.2 and the game you created uses up to opengl 1.2, then it should work as intended? so even though w95 osr 2.5 has opengl 1.1 by default, it can still use newer versions provided by the gpu, so you can make a opengl 2.1 game and have it work at it's max settings and quality at opengl 2.1 using a gpu like the geforce 6800 on windows 95 since the 6800 supports opengl 2.1 and w95?