Polytron32 Manual - written by Steve Klinger

Welcome to the Descent Manager Polytron32 manual. Polytron32 is a Polymodel editor for creating and editing Descent2 robots that are used in player created levels.

In the summer of 1997, Heiko Herrmann started a research project to study the Descent2 robot data files. The goal of this project was to learn what was needed in order to create a polymodel editor. This project was known as the IDTA project. There were a number of people that participated in the research but four people stood out in this effort. Luke Schneider, Garry Knudson, Myself and Heiko Herrmann. Heiko provided a very important tool to aid the research. This program was called "The Descent Manager".

The Descent Manager was able to manipulate the robot data and, by its use, we were able to modify existing Descent2 polymodels. By experimenting in this fashion, we soon were able figure out what we needed to know. The result of this was a number of editors that did a variety of things for robot editing. From the Descent Manager came Haxmedit/DOS. Haxmedit/DOS was the result of The Descent Manager becoming too big for its own britches. Heiko decided that each of the main sections of the Descent Manager would be separated into separate modules, Haxmedit/DOS being the module for editing robots.

Eventually, Luke Schneider started programming Polytron and released it in early December. Very shortly after Polytron's initial release, Luke was hired by Outrage Entertainment to work on Descent 3. Luke then passed the coding torch to Heiko who then decided to incorporate Polytron into the Descent Manager suite of tools. This meant that Haxmedit would not need to become a graphical editor. Heiko began revising the interface and released Polytron32 Beta 03 on January 21, 1998.

In late February, I asked Heiko if he would consider allowing me to view the Polytron32 source code in an effort to learn more about Visual Basic programming. Earlier I had been writing the Polytron Tutorial, so my programming curiosity would naturally lead me to want to understand how this program was written. Heiko agreed and eventually asked me to join the Descent Network team as a second programmer. I've been busy with Polytron ever since.

Much earlier than this, however, Garry Knudson had provided a tool of his called PMview to the Descent community. PMView is a very handy utility that displayed Descent2 robots. Upon Heiko's request, Garry provided a special version of PMview for use as part of Polytron32's interface. The result was that Polytron32 could now display robots in a WYSIWYG view. Garry had also been extremely helpful in sharing his wealth of knowledge about robot editing and has contributed greatly in this effort.

From the Descent Manager to Haxmedit, and now Polytron, this project has been more than just the creation of a polymodel editor. It is an example of what can be accomplished through cooperation, selflessness and perseverance. It is also an example of what the World Wide Web has brought to us. Polytron is an International project in the literal sense of the word.

So, with thanks to the numerous alpha testers, artists and most importantly, the users, I dedicate this manual to the world of Descent. I hope you find it both informative as useful.

Steve Klinger
July 20, 1998

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