Files
firestorm/Gameleap/code/mw4/Code
308fe041d4 Make -help a complete command line reference
MW4.exe accepts 76 command line switches. Only 27 of them appeared in the old
-help output, that output went to the debug log rather than to the user, and it
did not stop the game from launching afterwards -- so in practice the switches
were undocumented.

-help now writes a full, categorised reference to mw4-help.txt next to the
executable, opens it in Notepad, and returns from WinMain without starting the
game. If Notepad cannot be launched, a message box reports where the file was
written. The check runs immediately after the command line is lower-cased at the
top of WinMain, before any subsystem is initialised.

A file plus a viewer was chosen over a message box because MW4 is a GUI-subsystem
application with no console, and 76 switches with real descriptions do not fit
legibly in a dialog.

The reference documents every switch actually parsed, grouped as: display and
video, audio and plasma display, pod hardware and arcade (CTCL), zoom and field
of view, multiplayer and network, logging and diagnostics, development and test
builds, and other. Each entry records the accepted value range where the parser
enforces one -- for example -tbaud 9600-921600, -armorlevel 0-4, -tmfds 0-4,
-zmfovb 0.01-0.5, and the -zmtime special case where 0 means instant.

Two switches are listed under "recognised but inactive" so their behaviour is not
misrepresented: -join, whose consuming line is commented out, and -noabzug, which
is only parsed inside a disabled code path. The LAB-only switches are marked as
accepted and ignored in Release builds.

The old partial SPEWALWAYS list in GetGameOSEnvironment was removed so there is a
single maintained reference rather than two that can drift apart. A comment there
points at the new one.

Also adds an explicit #include <stdio.h>; this translation unit previously had no
direct stdio use and relied on transitive inclusion.

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 5 (Anthropic) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Co-authored-by: GitHub Copilot <copilot@github.com>
2026-07-25 08:54:10 -05:00
..

The binaries directory is where your plugins get put when you compile them.



This is not the directory to use if you want to check in a binary of your plugin.

This directory is in sourcesafe to assist in setup of 3DSMax2 development.



Standard debug levels for 3DSMax2 are :



rel - no debug - no debug memory

hybrid - debug - no debug memory

debug - debug - debug memory



The now 3 levels for Stuff Armor and there corrilation between max are :



Release - - rel max   - Fully optimized, no debug, not LAB_ONLY

Profile - - rel max   - Fully optimized, some debug, LAB_ONLY

Debug   - - debug max - Varying level of armor, full debug, LAB_ONLY, 



When you compile the 3ds project the plugin will go into either the debug or rel directory, whichever

is apporpriote to the copy of 3DSMax you must run it under.  When you compile a plugin if it has been

built in the directory it will be overwritten by the new dll.  (IE: if you compile a Release and then a Profile 

only your Profile will exist since they share directories) 



Plugins must not be mixed.  If the plugin is for the Release version of 3DSMax2 you must not run it

under the debug version of 3DSMax2.



--------------------------------

Setup For Existing Workspaces:

--------------------------------



3DSMax2 setup:



I recommend installing max *without* the sdk ( all the sdk is included in the MW4 source control ).

I also recomend installing the debug version *next* to the regular verson of max off of your root drive.

example:

	c:\3DSMax2

	c:\Maxdbg20 



Under your release copy of max:

File|Configure Paths|Plugins Tab|Add..

{driveletter}:\mw4\Code\3DSPlugins\Binaries\Rel



Under your debug copy of max:

File|Configure Paths|Plugins Tab|Add..

{driveletter}:\mw4\Code\3DSPlugins\Binaries\Debug





Setup For project:

Project|Settings|Debug Tab



Choose the version from the "settings for" combo box



for release and profile set the "Executable For Debug Session" to:

	{driveletter}:\3DSMAX2\3dsmax.exe



for debug set:

	{driveletter}:\Maxdbg20\3dsmax.exe







Once this is done everything should work as usual for compiling and debuging.



---------------------

Adding a project

---------------------

When adding a project make sure to copy the debug levels from other projects.  Make sure to *NOT* specify 

any libries by adding them to the resource tree.  Instead type the names into the : 

	Project:Settings:Link Tab:General

		Object/Library Modules



Just type the library names in with spaces seperating them and no paths.  This way it will use the appropriate 

libraries ( debug, release ).







Here is all the info needed for creating a new project.





These are 3DSMax2, MFC, Stuff Defines



Project|Settings|C/C++|General|Processor Definitions



release

WIN32,NDEBUG,_WINDOWS,_USRDLL,_WINDLL,MULTI_PLAYER,USE_PROTOTYPES,STRICT,TEST_CLASS=50



Profile

WIN32,NDEBUG,_WINDOWS,_USRDLL,_WINDLL,LAB_ONLY,MULTI_PLAYER,USE_PROTOTYPES,STRICT,TEST_CLASS=50



Debug

WIN32,_DEBUG,_WINDOWS,_USRDLL,_WINDLL,LAB_ONLY,MULTI_PLAYER,USE_PROTOTYPES,STRICT,TEST_CLASS=50





Project|Settings|Link|General|Object/Library Modules debug build must have NAFXCWD.LIB

Project|Settings|C/C++|General|Warning level is 3 for all 3dstudio compiled programs.

Project|Settings|C/C++|General|Optimizations is maximize speed for release and profile, disabled for Debug.

Project|Settings|C/C++|Code Generation is PentiumPro for all configurations.

Project|Settings|C/C++|Code Generation Runtime Lib is Multithreaded for rel & prof and multithreaded debug for debug.

Project|Settings|C/C++|C++ Language|Enable Run-Time Type Information is set for all configurations.

Project|Settings|C/C++|Optimizations|Inline Function is set to Any Suitable for rel & prof and disabled for debug.

Project|Settings|Link|General|Generate Debug information is set for profile and debug and disabled for profile

Project|Settings|Resource|PreProcessor Definitions NDEBUG for rel and profile and _DEBUG for debug