RavenX

Join Date 10/2008

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Modding Questions and maybe Tips

Unit Models

So far everything I've read that mentions the editors says you'll be able to edit basically the entire game with the editors that ship with it. When I say everything I mean Everything that I've seen them mention. Maps, Races, Buildings, Spells, Units.

So far for the Dragonlance Mod I have in mind I can think of some Races right off the bat that will need to be added which will involve new models. Though, at this point not having played the Beta and so far away from launch I can't say how the editors will work when it comes to units and races. It's highly possible they will allow you to scew and stretch aspects of the default human body to make different Races and units that look slightly less human. Here are some thoughts on the Races I'd like to add.

1. Draconians: Obviously this will involve a whole new model. I'm really hoping the in game editors will allow me to swap body parts in the unit editor (think Spore) or possibly let us stretch aspects of the body. For Draconians all that would need to be done is to add wings and change the head from a Human head to one that looks more reptilian. Also it would need a tail.

2. Undead: As long as there is a basic skeleton model in the game (probably as a enemy roaming monster or Beast since we know they won't be playable) I'll use that model. The unit editor I've seen so far would work fine for putting armor and weapons on it.

3. Minotaur: Again I'm hoping this one will be in the game files somewhere as a Beast NPC and all I'll have to do is extract it and figure out how to use it for a Race.

4. Elves: Shouldn't be hard. I almost figure the standard Human model with a slight color variation would be fine (though that's the lazy way out) If I don't do it that way, then all that would really need to be added is pointy ears and maybe a different hair style.

5. Dwarves: If the editors allow part shaping (like Spore) this would just be a short stocky Human. Shouldn't be hard. If not then the model would need to be made from scratch.

6. Dragons: We already know they're in the game. No work needed here as long as they have enough different colored Dragons in game already. I've already seen Green, Red, and Blue in the artwork.

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We all already know that Stardock does Amazing work allowing the players of their games to customize a lot of aspects of their games. One of my favorite things about the Galactic Civilizations games is the ship designer. Lets hope they give us such a free form editor with the Races and Units of this game as well. We already know we can use the in game editors to make our own city buildings but we don't know how far that will go with units and races.

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Yeah the game will be very modding friendly thankfully. You will have to use an external 3D program to make new unit gfx & animations however. [3DS max for example] As for the beta....modding won't get implemented 'til BETA 5.

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Modding 3D assets at this point *looks* like it's going to require either Max or Maya. The 3D assets seem to be in a proprietary format requiring some sort of exporter, and those two programs are the only ones mentioned in the Beta 5 schedule. If this turns out to be the case, I think it will limit how much real 3d modding gets done form the game, as those two programs are going to be beyond the "legal" ownership of most players.

If this is important to you, you might want to start lobbying now for an exporter for the XSI Mod Tool or Blender. Im sure there are people with all kinds of software packages out there (I myself use XSI Essentials), legal and otherwise, but one of those two could provide a "hub" for exporting that is availiable to anyone. The XSI mod tool in particular, is specifically designed for this purpose (It worked out pretty well for the Valve Half Life 2/Source Engine community).

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Indeed I do have a old copy of 3dsMax I used to use at work years ago. It might need an update to be compatible (it's a few years old) but I do own it Legally. I've done plenty of custom skins for many other games. Mostly I'm a skinner, not a modeler.

I was reading the thread where the one guy made that Excellent Baradur model and it hit me "I wonder if this guy knows he'll be able to custom build his own buildings with the in game editors?". I know somewhere I saw a pic or a vid of someone placing a building and in the side panel there were lots of pieces to make the building. The building editor looks similar to the ship designer from Galactic Civilizations 2. I'm just hoping the Race editor is just as user friendly. I'd like to avoid having to relearn a lot of 3DsMax functions but I will if I have to I suppose. I think I'll have to look into this XSI mod tool as well, thanks Bingjack.

I'm hoping half the models I mention in my first post will already be in the game as monsters. That would make my work a Lot easier. I know the Undead won't be playable but I can't imagine them not using them as monster Npc's somewhere in the game, so a skeleton shouldn't be that hard to find. My thoughts are the same on Minotaurs as well. I'm hoping they will be a wandering beast somewhere and already in the game. Then all I'll have to do is dig them out of the game files and figure out how to make them as Races. They've already mentioned the game will use Python and I do have a good bit of training at that. An example would be..

def __init__(self, width, height,
                     color='black', emphasis=None, highlight=0):
            if width == 0 and height == 0 and \
               color == 'red' and emphasis == 'strong' or \
               highlight > 100:

(This example can also be found in the Pep 8 Style Guide)

etc etc. The only thing that I'm not too good at for Python is C++ to Python Exception Translations. I get confused on those. Where did you see the Beta Schedule? I'd like to see that as well. The only schedule I've seen must be rather old because it said the game would launch in June of 2010 and we already know it should launch in February provided it's not pushed back for any reason.

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I think I'll have to look into this XSI mod tool as well, thanks Bingjack.

Well, if you're lucky enough to have a current copy of Max, it'not something you're likely to benefit from. When Valve *really wanted* people to mod their game and new Source engine, they worked with softimage to release a free version of the soft as well as export tools for the community, and it paid off well. Obviously, Valve/Half Life 2 is a high water mark in community modding.

It's basically like a free form of XSI, with limitations improsed on anything not explicitlty required for Game modding. For instance there's a polygon limitation, but it's nothing that s going to inhibit the kid of models needed for Elemental. No mental ray, obviously, but again, that would be extraneous. But you can model , animate, and texture characters and enviroment models, and export them for your game.

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/item?siteID=123112&id=13571257

Shockingly, Autodesk has actually continued it, and allowed it to be updated. It's got exporters for Unreal, Cryengine, Source, and other popularly modded game engines, exports to XNA for Xbos 360 development. It's not going to compete with a full fledged high end animation package, but the point is, it's freely availiable to everyone, technically it's all you *need* to do the work and also Lightwave, C4d, XSI, Modo, what have you can all do work in their respective applications, and bring it there to prepare for export to the game. I'd actually vastly prefer this to Blender, if for no other reason than Blender is kind of a nightmare, and also, selfishly I actually understand the software it's based on.

I think it's one thing to say, "those of you who own or pirate a specific $4000 program can mod the game". But if you *really* want to base your game around community modding, accesibility needs to be a concern.

[note: I'm only wringing my hands over the scant little that is actually know about modding at this point, I have no idea what Stardock's *actual* plans are]

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