It seems we may soon have the possibility to edit the 3D models of Aces of the Deep after all!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X47...ew?usp=sharing
This archive contains all the .DTS files found inside SHAPES.VOL in Aces of the Deep. I extracted these files from the SHAPES.VOL archive using the program 3Space Studio. This program promises to also be able to edit and save these 3D model files in the future. According to the developer on GitHub, progress is already underway for supporting this.
https://github.com/3space-studio/3space-studio
Following is a description of the format found on
https://github.com/3space-studio/3space-studio/wiki/DTS.
Quote:
DTS File Format
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DTS is short for "Dynamix 3Space Shape" and is the most commonly used 3D model format across most of Dynamix's games, and the primary format for the Torque game engine. Common with these formats is a node graph which represents the skeleton of the model, and a series of objects which connect meshes to those nodes.
Each iteration of the 3Space engine also led to variations of the DTS file format, each with their own binary layout. Here is a (shortened) list of the variations of the DTS format:
3Space 2.0
DTS files with the { 0x08, 0x00, 0x14, 0x00 } tag are present in:
Aces of the Deep.
DTS files with the { 0x03, 0x00, 0x1e, 0x00 } tag are present in:
Earthsiege
Earthsiege 2.
DGS files contain DTS data, starting with the tag { 0x01, 0x00, 0xbc, 0x02 }, present in:
Earthsiege
Earthsiege 2.
DCS files contain DTS data, starting with the tag { 0xf8, 0x01, 0xbc, 0x02 }, present in:
Battledrome
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After extraction I have tried several methods to open or edit these files myself, in various programs that express support for the .DTS format. There are converters for various programs that can convert between .DTS and newer formats, even 3ds, json, etc. Unfortunately those programs seem to only support the newer DTS format found in later Dynamix titles as well as the Torque 3d DTS format. I hope that there are someone out there who can figure out how to open and edit these files. If we only could open, edit and save back to the same format, we could possibly improve most of the 3d models. Fingers crossed that 3Space Studio will support this soon!