Why Early Access?

“Siege Studio started several years ago as a reverse engineering effort of several mech simulation games.

As time went by, it was felt that making an application to view and edit the reverse engineered files was more useful than merely writing some conversion scripts.

Thus, Siege Studio was born (though originally known as 3Space Studio).

In order to broaden the reach of the tool and to streamline its distribution, Steam was chosen as the most logical place to put the app.

However, because some of the reverse engineered file formats still only have partial support and a few other features still need development to get the best user experience, Siege Studio is in early access.”

Approximately how long will this software be in Early Access?

“Siege Studio will likely be in early access for several more years, especially to fully support the majority of Dynamix titles and to have key features which makes modding those games possible.

Siege Studio will be considered complete when every game made by Dynamix using the 3Space engine has support and when a reasonable amount of file-format support is complete for each game, especially 3D model formats, textures, palettes, materials and game scripts.

Other non-Dynamix games are already partially supported and full support isn't necessary for completion.”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“Our plan is to continue working on file format support such that the final version supports more games and has more robust features for editing those files.

In the case of 3D file formats, for example, there is currently only rendering support for one variant of DTS and converting that specific variant to OBJ. However, the goal is to support rendering all known variants of the DTS shape format and converting them with other formats which have similar features, besides just exporting the models to a static frame in the form of OBJ.

For archive files, work will continue to allow support for either creating the same formats that it can currently read and extract; or editing the contents of those files in-place. This includes the likes of VOL, ZIP, RMF, TBX and potentially more.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“Siege Studio can be used to browse the contents of certain supported games, like Starsiege and Earthsiege, though browsing is also possible for other games based on file-format support.

This includes composite files, like ZIPs, VOLs, TBVs and more, which can be viewed and opened and extracted. Embedded files within these files can be opened and viewed if those files themselves are supported. Being able to create a new composite file and populate it with external files still needs to be implemented.

On top of that, BMP, PNG and JPG files can be opened and previewed on screen. Features such as dithering, changing palettes and cross-conversion to other formats still needs to be implemented.

PAL and other game-specific palette files can be opened and previewed on screen. Converting the PAL file to an image or to other supported palette files still needs to be implemented.

EXE files and DLL files can be loaded and only some of the embedded contents can be viewed (specifically string tables and the names of top-level menu items). Features such as previewing, extracting and updating embedded contents still need to be implemented.

Certain game EXE files can be launched with compatibility fixes and enhanced controller support. Currently support is highly limited, but Starsiege, Anachronox and Soldier of Fortune have some enhancements. Configuring input devices and expanding game support still need to be worked on.

Certain game configuration and script files can be opened, but more comprehensive editing support should be implemented. For example, a CFG file from Quake-based games can be opened, but it cannot be edited and updated yet.”

Will this software be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“Siege Studio is currently free and will remain free once it is officially released.

It is also open-source and has been built as a labour of love and respect for the works that inspired it.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“Some features, such as launching games with enhanced input and controller support can benefit from having a dedicated space to discuss improvements and/or broader game support.

Using the Community Discussions feature as a central place for talking about such improvements is a great way for the community to give feedback and test games they have an interest in.

The community can reach out to us about features and/or game support through our Steam forums, especially to discuss how to improve Siege Studio for games which are already supported as well as to discuss supporting new games which have minimal support.”