new art in progress

The garage is city improvement, not terrain improvement, but i guess it will work just the same.
Can you give a example how to reference a single building from a set in the XML ?

Oh, must have mixed Fury improvements up with city improvements.

In any case, here's the xml I used for the fort in my mod:

<ArtRef Name="goal:IMPROVEMENT_FORT">
<Attribute Class="Improvement">IMPROVEMENT_FORT</Attribute>
<Attribute Class="Era">ERA_RENAISSANCE</Attribute>
<Attribute Class="ArtStyle">ARTSTYLE_EUROPEAN,ARTSTYLE_RUSSIA,ARTSTYLE_VIKING,ARTSTYLE_BARBARIAN</Attribute>
<Attribute Class="Scalar">bIsPartOfImprovement:1</Attribute>
<Attribute Class="Scalar">bApplyRotation:1</Attribute>
<Attribute Class="Scalar">NIF:Art/Structures/Cities/ren_eu.nif::2x2_01</Attribute>
<Attribute Class="Scalar">bCutTrees:1</Attribute>
<Attribute Class="Scalar">fCenterCut:70</Attribute>
<Attribute Class="Scalar">fTwist:-0.7853981633</Attribute>
<Attribute Class="Scalar">bZMode_Ground:1</Attribute>
<Attribute Class="Scalar">szForceContourGeometry:shadow</Attribute>
<Scale>0.75</Scale>
</ArtRef>

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The red code is the important part. You link to the nif as normal, and then behind the "::" marks to the specific subsection of the nif file. Now that I think of it, with this way it should be possible to link to parts of single building graphics IF there are subsections with a nametag. Cityset buildings are essentially subparts of a single nif file.

As far as my research went in the past, this wouldn't work for city facilities, unless the GameEmbryo engine has been opened up some more since the last time I tested this (first patch from BtS). So if this garage graphic would need to be used as a city facility, someone should go in the ind_eu cityset, copy the specific building node, and paste in a new file.

Another question.... Do you know how the game knows where to cut trees for buildings (Like if your city has forest arjacent to it, and some of the city buildings reach into the forest plot, or when a forest is roaded - it takes away some trees to make space...)

What i actually need is to make it work on a unit (probably impossible) but for the start i need to know how it is done on building in the first place.

Is it a XML thingie ? Or something with the Model ? I think i seen something like a "cut tree" Dummy in some nifs, but i did not need it back then, and i cant find it right now...

There's an xml tag which determines wether or not a forest will be removed from a forested plot if an improvement is build on it, that's all I've ever seen. But this tag is used in the PlotLSystem file, so don't know if it would work in the CityLSystem file. But I don't think this tag is what you need.

<Attribute Class="Scalar">bCutTrees:0</Attribute>

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Perhaps if you put it in cityset references, it would allow trees in a cityplot if the city was founded on forest. Perhaps it would preclude removing trees from adjacent plots from a cityplot.
Actually, I think I'm going to test that... interesting idea.

just import the nif into blender/max and extract the building mesh you need and make it seperate nif being used as improvement?

and about treecutting:
if someone finds that out how to get it to work properly (in a controlled way), i would happily donate some money to him i could definitely need that one a lot for FfH!!!!!!

GeoModder said:

What I meant was that it is possible to let a specific building from whatever cityset to show up as an improvement in the game.

I'm talking about the garage building in the screenshot from the Ind_eu cityset.
For an example, look at the fort improvement in the second screenshot I put in my mod. This building is part of the eu_ren cityset in the main game.

Click to expand...

It is interesting to know how to peel out buildings from the cityset. However, the garage building you showed looks to need a lot of modification to look post-apocalyptic. It seems to have a chimney, and skylights, and brick. I think the chimney would need to come off, so it may be easier to start from scratch or from one of asioasioasio's industry buildings.

Refar said:

Finished the survivor - kept the hat, he sooled somehow not right without (Even after i closed the gap in hus skull ).

Also just one spear Tried to make it look mean and rusted. The only other idea i had was a pitchfork, but that might be a bit silly.

Click to expand...

Added to the game. Looks great! I agree with the poster on your download thread who said the spear looks just like the fallout spears.

I have fiddled on a few things...

First i wanted to try out that "full teamcolor" idea on the UTE. I am actually quite pleased with the results. Only those Pink and Violett ones are a bit odd - but even those do not look really wrong - some people have cars in ugly colors after all .
Still not sure if i really want to use it, so what are you think ?
If going this way i can agjust the texture a bit more, so yet more structure/dirt/decor will be visible.


Also, after trying one game with sound, had noticed that the flamer guy firing sounds like a sub-machine gun or assault rifle. Same with the Pump-gunner guardian. So fitted those anims with new sounds.

On the Guardian you need to use the animation from my archive, instead of the original BTS Cyborg anims. The NextWar_Cyborg.nif must be in the same folder as the KFM, but you do not need to do nothing to it.

On the Flamer actually only the one .KF file (StrikeA) is new. I still put the complte unit into the zip, so everything is in one place.

I think with some more rust and dirt on the UTE we could actually go with full teamcolor. perhaps desaturate it a little bit more, so the pink and violet is not too vibrant.
good stuff with the sounds!!!

Thanks for the sound stuff, there are some spoken quotes for the technologies I should really remove too.

I will be happy to go with your recommendation on teamcolor; my main concern is that some of the flag colors like powder blue, or pink, may not look very military. It is hard to ambush anybody with a bright pink truck.

Chuggi said:

I can make a pilot. Also, even if you're not good at painting (although the texture looks ok) you can enhance it a lot just by using premade textures (like rusty metal for example) and modify it to suit your motorised hang glider.

Click to expand...

thanks for tip, and would be glad if you could make the pilot, to have "somebody" i made a minor reskin of Refar survivor, so here is my final beta (linked to the fighter animation, but link to the included, made minor changes by the attack animation) - only waiting for a real survivor pilot.

had planed this as early fighter (should fit the tier of the first motorcycle - the technik of the motor should be the same and the some hobby pilots should have also survived, as late fighter i had something like a "agriculture plane converted to a warbird" in my mind, modern fighters should be to high tech for the game (or perhaps only the work of a great enginer ) - the early gunship (something like the one from the film) i think will also fit perfect. But unfortunally i at least have no idea when i have the freetime to start with this units.

@seZereth: I put in the barbed wire today. I see that in the civilopedia, the original wall art is still displayed. Do you see this too? I think this is because only the civilopedia displays "walls.nif", and "walls.nif" does not reference the wall01,02,04,post.nif files. I am not sure how that works. Any thoughts?

I looked a little bit into the files that handle two different wall styles, but I could not quite figure this out either. It is in Warlords, the Peloponnesian War scenario. The related files are in directory Warlords/Assets/Art/Structures/Buildings/Tall Wall, Warlords/Assets/XML/Art/CIV4ArtDefines_Buildings.xml.

The art you have done so far is awesome, and I appreciate it. If you have a chance to work on the fort or rusty metal walls, it would be super.

The civilopedia art is kind of "pre-prepared" like for the great wall it has a long curvy wall structure, whereas the art you see in game is made up of lots of straight and corner pieces.

Also, david or Coyote, would it be fitting for the pilot to have a motorbike helmet? because then it would serve for the motorbike rider as well, and it would probably be hard to find a special flying helmet + goggles in a post apocalyptic world.

I can see, you here doing very good work

davidlallen said:

@seZereth: I put in the barbed wire today. I see that in the civilopedia, the original wall art is still displayed. Do you see this too? I think this is because only the civilopedia displays "walls.nif", and "walls.nif" does not reference the wall01,02,04,post.nif files. I am not sure how that works. Any thoughts?

I looked a little bit into the files that handle two different wall styles, but I could not quite figure this out either. It is in Warlords, the Peloponnesian War scenario. The related files are in directory Warlords/Assets/Art/Structures/Buildings/Tall Wall, Warlords/Assets/XML/Art/CIV4ArtDefines_Buildings.xml.

The art you have done so far is awesome, and I appreciate it. If you have a chance to work on the fort or rusty metal walls, it would be super.

Click to expand...

i dont know how to set up two walls, but shouldnt it be possible to simply copy the wall entry and add that as another building?

and yes, chuggi is right, the thing in the pedia is pre-set. so i will not create a preset wall thing like that. but you can simply rename one of the wall01.nif i gave you and make it show up like that. i think it is enough to demonstrate that we have barb wire

The_Coyote said:

here is my final beta (linked to the fighter animation, but link to the included, made minor changes by the attack animation) - only waiting for a real survivor pilot. [...] had planed this as early fighter

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I added it to the game. I have made it a light scout type unit, relatively low strength, high speed, high withdraw chance. In the current version I have a system for rare units showing up in the ruins; so I thought I would make it a rare unit instead of buildable.

You have made the animation based on a fighter, using DOMAIN_AIR. This means it has to be based in a city and use air missions. This does not work for a scout unit that could move deep into enemy territory. I have based the XML on a copy of the gunship; gunships are DOMAIN_GROUND so they can operate without air missions. With DOMAIN_LAND, the ULF unit shows up mostly underground.

Is it possible to animate this like a gunship so it does not require air missions?

seZereth said:

i dont know how to set up two walls, but shouldnt it be possible to simply copy the wall entry and add that as another building?

Click to expand...

I am not sure. There is something, somewhere, which collects the wall01,02,04 nifs and actually constructs the wall around the city. I am not sure how to duplicate that part of it. But, if you make another set of wall01,02,04 I am sure I can figure out the XML part.

and yes, chuggi is right, the thing in the pedia is pre-set. so i will not create a preset wall thing like that. but you can simply rename one of the wall01.nif i gave you and make it show up like that. i think it is enough to demonstrate that we have barb wire

Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion. I copied wall02.nif to walls.nif and now a single straight segment of barbed wire shows in the civilopedia. I agree this is close enough.

@ Chuggi

at first i thought at something like this http://fp.kevinphipps.plus.com/Photographs/WW1 PILOT MARKED 1982.jpg, perhaps a bit more dirty (should look like a pilot and mechanican in one person), but than after your suggestion with the pilot with helmet, ... in short, i will like them both, so make the one you like more (in other words: the one your are more motivated to make ).

@ davidlallen

like i said, i want also to make a light chopper (more like the one in the film - but because the chopper model is "easy" the more important job is the pilot) so you would have two models for the same. Thought this would fit good as airforce, but i you don´t like the idea, it´s your mod. Simply say if you want both or only the chopper, if you prefer the last i will try to relink it to the gunship.
Unfortunally considering the other models, i have no idea when i will have time to make them (reduced time because of exams and bachelor thesis), but i hope to finish the chopper before my holiday break from modeling starts

The_Coyote said:

Thought this would fit good as airforce, but i you don´t like the idea, it´s your mod. Simply say if you want both or only the chopper, if you prefer the last i will try to relink it to the gunship.

Click to expand...

If you have time, I would prefer to have it linked to the gunship. Air power is not part of the mod yet, and the cities are far enough apart that a normal base range makes the units almost useless except in defense.

@ seZereth: I have figured out the required XML for multiple walls. It is actually in the city L-system. So I can easily cut in multiple arts for the walls.

@ Refar: regarding ute variants, you mentioned in another thread you were working on the crossbow one first. I agree, that is the base unit. Here are some variants based on the tech tree.

Weapons: crossbow, rifle, weapon mount (maybe like the humvee weapon, with a gunner shield), antitank (big f**ing gun . So four choices.

Armor: presently just "with" and "without" heavy armor. It is possible for any of the weapons to be combined with armor, which unfortunately could lead to a large number of variants. It's just disk space and a little xml right?

Custom: I have mentioned about the "wanderer" and "tankbuster" custom units. Lower priority, but an even *bigger* f**ing gun and a cool paintjob would be neat for "tankbuster". I had a random idea which may not even be possible for "wanderer". He is supposed to be an elusive scout. Is it possible that his "idle" animation could make the vehicle a little translucent? Not invisible, and not full time, but just to fade out a little and fade back in. It would be unexpected and add some "eye candy".