Blender DIF Export Plugin

io_dif
This is a Blender plugin to import and export MBG Torque DIF interiors and Torque Constructor CSX files. Supported Blender Versions: 2.8.0 to 4.3

Usage:
Import
File > Import > Torque (.dif).
It can't be any more simpler than that.

If you want to load a Torque Constructor (.csx) file and create a Torque DIF, use File > Import > Torque Constructor (.csx).

Export
File > Export > Torque (.dif)

Additional export options - Important!

• Flip Faces: Flip the normals of the dif, in case the resultant DIF is inside out.
• Double Faces: Make all the faces double sided, may increase lag during collision detection.
• Max Polygons: Number of maximum triangles that a DIF can have before splitting into multiple DIFs. Reduce this number if export fails.
• Apply Modifiers: Whether to apply modifiers to meshes before exporting.
• Export Visible: Export only visible geometry.
• Export Selected: Export only selected geometry.
• Use Material Names: Use Material Names instead of file names of the material textures.
• Optimize For Marble Blast: Make the resultant DIF optimized for Marble Blast. Uncheck this if you want to use this for other Torque games.
• BSP Algorithm:
  • Fast (Default): Use a sampling algorithm to determine the best splitter. This method is inherently random and may not always yield optimal results.
  • Exhaustive: Use an exhaustive search algorithm to determine the best splitter. May take longer but builds more balanced trees. Deterministic algorithm.
  • None: Do not build a BSP Tree, utilize this for fast conversion times or if building the BSP Tree fails/hangs on export.
  • IMPORTANT: If your geometry is too complex, consider using None mode as there is no guarantee that a BSP Tree can be optimally built within set constraints.
  • IMPORTANT: BSP Trees are only used for raycasts and Drop To Ground feature in Marble Blast. If you are not using these features, you can safely disable the BSP Tree.
• Point Epsilon: The minimum distance between two points to be considered different.
• Plane Epsilon: Minimum difference between values of two plane to be considered equal.
• Split Epsilon: Minimum difference between values of two splitting planes to be considered equal.

DIF Properties Panel
Located in the object properties panel

• Interior Entity Type:
  • InteriorResource: normal static interior type
  • PathedInterior: moving platform type interior
    • Marker Path: a curve object that describes the path of the moving platform
      • initialPathPosition: set using the "Evaluation Time" parameter located in Curve > Object Data Properties > Path Animation
      • totalPathTime: time it takes for the moving platform to complete the path, set using the "Frames" parameter located in Curve > Object Data Properties > Path Animation.
  • Game Entity: represents an entity in the DIF such as items
    • Game Class: the class of the entity such as "Item", "StaticShape",etc
    • Datablock: the datablock of the item.
    • Properties: a list of additional key value pairs which will be set to the object on Create Subs

Limitations

• No Trigger support: I tried but Torque was being Torque even when I successfully embedded them into DIFs.
• No Game Entity rotation support: there isn't even a rotation field for Game Entities in DIFs, and torque doesn't even use the rotation field explicitly passed as a property

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Current Version: 1.3.0