having said that, another thing that you might want to or already have thought about is a conversion utility from various other file formats to your own...different people have varying degrees of skill in different editors, and I've found it useful to do things in one edtior and then convert it to another.

Here's an example....All the terrain in MM9 was done in 3D max. using Lithtech's max converter, we converted the max files into DEdit files...we spent a long time trying to figure out the best way to do terrain in DEdit....to which the answer is,...use something else.

As far as max being incredibly complicated and difficult to use, you're absolutely right...right now it's still my favorite, but I doubt I could make the Lindisfarne Monastery in it yet...for me the biggest hurdle is figuring out how to do things I already know how to do...fortunately, the project I'm working on now I'm not responsible for creating the level.

One bit about the tools is it's best to try to make it as user-friendly as possible...the most important thing to pay attention to is stability. both to keep it from crashing and prevent the saved file from being corrupted. There's nothing more frustrating than losing 8 hours of work from a crash or corrupted data.

Anyawy, if you want some suggestions on level editing features, lemme know. I'll be happy to provide you with some.

Tim