The World Editor

The World Editor

FWsim allows you to create your own 3D worlds, with 3D models that you find on the internet. You can launch the world editor via the “Tools” menu in the FWsim main window.

Using Real Locations (Google Earth)

FWsim can load any location in the world in 3D using Google Earth data.

  1. Open Google Maps and find the location for your show. Right-click and copy the coordinates.
  2. In FWsim, open the Scenery menu and select “Real Location”. Click “Paste Coordinates from Clipboard”.
  3. Use the orientation slider to rotate the environment so that the audience perspective is correct. Make sure the rotation is set before you start placing firing positions.
  4. If your location has a lake or river, click “Add Water” and adjust the water level with the slider to match the real water surface.
  5. Place your firing positions — they will automatically snap to the height of the terrain, including rooftops and other structures.

Tip: Before loading a location into FWsim, preview it in Google Earth to check how good the 3D data is at that location. Click here to open Google Earth in your Browser

The “Objects” Tab

Here, you can import and arrange all your 3D models.

To find new 3D models, please read “How to find free 3D Models for FWsim” on the FWsim website.

To import a 3D model, click “Add” and then “Import”. FWsim supports a wide variety of file formats. You can either select a 3D model file directly, or a ZIP archive containing your model.

If your 3D model does not work with FWsim, please contact us and we will help you find a solution.

The “Settings” Tab

Here, you can change the settings for your show.

Display of Lines

You can enable or disable the display of lines. Many 3D models on the internet contain both solid objects and lines. Sometimes these lines are an important part of the model (for example, they might represent power lines, ropes or cables). But often, these lines are a visual distraction and the object looks better without. Starting in FWsim 3.1.1, the display of lines is disabled by default.

Changing Ground

You also have the option of changing the ground texture. If you want to add your own ground textures, please open your FWsim installation directory (normally at c: → “Program Files (x86)” → “FWsim”). Look for the folder “Resources” and then “ground_textures”. You can add your own ground textures here. Make sure your texture is quadratic and no bigger than 4096x4096 pixels. You can use JPG, PNG or DDS files - but the file ending must always be “.dds”. So, for example you might want to use your own file called “my_ground_texture.jpg”. Simply rename it to “my_ground_texture.dds”, and put it into that folder. Then, re-start FWsim, and you can now select your texture from the list.

Water

When using a Real Location (Google Earth), you can add water by specifying the height at which the water surface appears. All regions below that height will be underwater.

In some cases this floods areas that should remain dry — for example, low-lying ground next to a river. The Water Removal Tool lets you erase the unwanted water:

  1. Move the camera so that the entire area of spillover is visible.
  2. Click “Restrict Water Area” in the menu.
  3. Use your mouse to erase the water. Scroll the mouse wheel to change the brush size.
  4. Close the window — the changes are saved automatically.

Changing the Sky

The ground texture is stored per 3D world, however, the sky background is stored as part of the show file and can be changed by clicking Show → Scenery in the main window.