BfMeshView — Battlefield Mesh Viewer (archived)

Preservation archive. This repository reconstructs the release history of the original freeware tool. See ARCHIVE-NOTES.md for what this is and isn't. Original author: Martijn (bytehazard.com).

BfMeshView is a 3D model viewer for the Battlefield series, and has evolved to provide many useful editing features for modding. It supports virtually all BF1942, BF2, BF2142, BFH and BFP4F mesh files.

BfMeshView is Free Open Source software! The source code is included in the download. Keep in mind that this program is a work in progress; new versions may include experimental features that are unfinished and not thoroughly tested.

Feature highlights

• Viewer for BF1942, BF2, BF2142, BFH and BFP4F mesh files (.staticmesh, .bundledmesh, .skinnedmesh, .collisionmesh, BF1942 .sm/.tm, plus OBJ and .samples).
• Texture loading from configurable search paths, DDS/TGA, suffixed texture loading, uncompressed DDS.
• GLSL shader emulation for BF2 materials; bump/normal-map lighting, env maps.
• BF2 animation playback (skinnedmesh + .ske skeleton + .baf animation), 1P preview.
• Editing tools accumulated over the releases: material editor, UV editor, sample generator/fixer, mesh edit mode (vertex/face/element selection), vertex normal weld/flatten, tangents fix/generate, texture bake & mass-rename.
• Workspace (.bfmv) files that bind a mesh + skeleton + animation together.
• Runs on Linux via Wine.

Usage

• Viewing — run BfMeshView and use File > Open, or enable file-type association under Options > Preferences to open files (and meshes inside ZIPs) by double-clicking them in Explorer. Drag-and-drop is supported for all file types.

• Textures — add your mod directory to the texture path list under Options > Preferences. Since 2.2.0, suffixed texture loading is supported; edit config.ini to add suffixes and toggle them via Options > Texture Suffix.

• Animation — load a player model (.skinnedmesh), drag the skeleton (.ske) onto the window, then the animation (.baf).

• Workspace files — create a .bfmv text file to bind mesh/skeleton/animation:

  ; BFMESHVIEW WORKSPACE FILE
  ske=flag_setup.ske
  mesh=flag_us.skinnedmesh
  anim=flag_idle.baf
  ; END OF FILE

  Both relative (to the workspace file) and absolute paths are supported.

• On Linux — runs under Wine and is fully functional; install/update your GPU drivers for GLSL shading, and disable v-sync if you see viewport corruption when resizing. If the app won't start, drop the bundled (or docs/runtimes.zip) DLL/OCX runtimes next to the executable.

Screenshots

BfMeshView viewing Battlefield meshes, materials, UVs and animations — screenshots from the original bytehazard.com page.

Release history

Version	Date	Summary	Tag
1.0.0	2008-02-09	First public release: loads most BF2 .staticmesh/.bundledmesh files with same-folder DDS textures.	v1.0.0
1.1.0	2008-02-15	More robust mesh loaders; texture search paths and a config file.	v1.1.0
1.2.0	2008-05-17	BF1942 .sm support, experimental collisionmesh/OBJ export, anisotropic filtering.	v1.2.0
1.3.0	2008-10-09	Fuller .collisionmesh loader and an object->tangent-space normal map converter.	v1.3.0
1.4.0	2008-10-28	Hierarchy tree view and richer geometry info in the status bar.	v1.4.0
1.5.0	2008-12-04	Vertex-order coloring, proper BF2 textures, approximate BF2 shader rendering.	v1.5.0
1.6.0	2009-04-17	BF2 vehicle/weapon collisionmesh support and new file loaders.	v1.6.0
1.7.0	2009-04-19	Full skinnedmesh support and 'version 4' BF2 mesh fixes.	v1.7.0
1.8.0	2009-08-14	Texture reload tool, session view memory, .obj/.samples info display.	v1.8.0
1.9.0	2010-08-06	Major update: material editing, UV editor, and a sample generator.	v1.9.0
2.0.0	2011-03-14	BF2 animation playback, workspace files, overdraw viz, debug console.	v2.0.0
2.1.0	2011-05-15	Battlefield Play4Free mesh support plus stability fixes.	v2.1.0
2.2.0	2012-10-04	Full BF2 shader emulation, suffixed textures, integrated animation tools.	v2.2.0
2.3.2	2017-01-11	UV-channel copy tool, OBJ export options, quality-of-life fixes.	v2.3.2
2.4.0	2018-02-12	Large beta: BF2 mesh editing tools, toolbar, tangent/normal tools, UV tools.	v2.4.0
2.5.3	2019-02-02	Bug-fix release: F12 screenshots, locale warning, GDI overlay toggle.	v2.5.3

Tag vX.Y.Z reproduces the exact shipped files of that original release (see ARCHIVE-NOTES.md).

Building from source

BfMeshView is a Visual Basic 6 project, Windows-only.

• The VB6 project is source/bfmeshview.vbp (plus bfmeshview.vbw), shipped inside source.zip in the v2.5.3 release. Extract source.zip and open the .vbp in the VB6 IDE.
• The release zips also bundle the runtime DLLs/OCXs the compiled exe needs (msvbvm60.dll, comctl32.dll/COMCTL32.OCX, comdlg32.dll/COMDLG32.OCX, glext.dll). docs/runtimes.zip holds the additional system runtimes.
• The viewport uses OpenGL via glext.dll + GLSL shader sources under shaders/.

Attribution & original home

• Author: Martijn — martijn@bytehazard.com
• Original project page & downloads: http://www.bytehazard.com/bfstuff/bfmeshview/
• This is an unofficial, community-run preservation archive; no affiliation is implied.