User Guide

Welcome to the VulkanW3DViewer user guide. This section covers everything you need to know to effectively use the viewer.

Overview

VulkanW3DViewer is a modern 3D model viewer for the W3D format used in Command & Conquer: Generals. It provides:

• Real-time 3D visualization
• Animation playback
• LOD (Level of Detail) inspection
• Material and texture viewing
• Debug skeleton visualization

Sections

• Loading Models

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  How to open and load W3D files

  Loading Models

• Navigation Controls

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  Camera controls and viewport interaction

  Navigation

• User Interface

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  Understanding the UI panels and windows

  Interface Guide

• Command Line

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  Command line options and batch processing

  CLI Reference

Quick Reference

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Esc	Exit application
F11	Toggle fullscreen

Mouse Controls

Action	Control
Rotate	Left drag
Zoom	Scroll wheel
Pan	Middle drag

Supported File Types

Extension	Description
.w3d	W3D model files
.tga	Texture files (TGA format)
.dds	Texture files (DDS format)

Features at a Glance

Model Viewing

• Load any W3D model from Command & Conquer: Generals
• View static meshes with materials and textures
• Inspect skinned meshes with bone weights

Animation

• Play skeletal animations
• Adjust playback speed
• Scrub through animation timeline
• Loop or single-play modes

LOD System

• View all LOD levels
• Manual LOD selection
• Inspect LOD switching thresholds
• Compare detail levels

Debugging

• Skeleton visualization
• Bounding box display
• Console output for diagnostics
• Mesh hover detection

Getting Help

If you encounter issues:

1. Enable debug mode with --debug flag
2. Check the console window for error messages
3. Review the troubleshooting section