actual modifications of buildings possible, with Blender and Niftools!

[AngryPants]

Please tell me that Firaxis had nothing to do with Star Wars Galaxies... I thought that was just Lucas Arts (which is stupid enough to do the aforementioned idiocies)

I am happy to inform you that Firaxis had nothing to do with that MMORPG debacle. SOE did and LucasArts did. I could go off on a giant rant about it, but I'll try not to.

 

[Neomega]

TIP:

If you are going to use one sided faces, make sure they face the ground. The gamebryo engine will cull away any face whose normal is facing away from the camera.

Basically, floors and plants can be designed with only a plane, facing up. anything else would need to be 3d.

Also:

When modelling, you are allowed to cheat quite a bit. Some engines really do not like anything but box modeling. (meaning the model is pretty much one big mesh, with a hollow inside, like a chocolate easter bunny)


Also:

I have noticed that they really like to overlap when texturing. I myself am not going to do this, because I want better lighting tricks, which require the whole of the model, but if you intend to hand paint your textures, and keep the same look as the engine, layering UV islands over eachother should be fine.

(meaning modelling one half the face, and then mapping the other hallf to the same section of the UV map)

 

[Kael]

mmmmm.... chocolate easter bunny......

 

[Neomega]

http://niftools.sourceforge.net/tutorial/blender/mwtut_chair.php

at the bottom of this page, is a screenshot in blender of what is currently exportable. I have tested color, and it definitely works.

Specularity, (I also tested) however, does not at the moment.

 

[AngryPants]

mmmmm.... chocolate easter bunny......

<bites the chocolate easter bunny's head off>

 

[Haarbal]

if it's possible to create buildings to appear on the map, isn't it possible to create static units? static units are not the best, but there prob. better than all of the skinned ones (yes, we really need more models for the colonization of the moon )

haarbal

 

[Neomega]

if it's possible to create buildings to appear on the map, isn't it possible to create static units? static units are not the best, but there prob. better than all of the skinned ones (yes, we really need more models for the colonization of the moon )

haarbal

no. Units require a .kf and .mkf file. I tried to make a unit without one, and it CTD, gave an error it was missing a .kf file.

 

[Neomega]

testing the alpha.... note the ugly "blue spruces" One of them rendered poorly, allthough they all were just duplicates of eachother... odd.

EDIT:
Upon further testing, I was surprised to find that my "palace", (posted here) which contains 436 triangles, is about half the size as the civ IV palace.

Also, "set smooth" in blender will cause the game engine to render the building smooth, and turning off "double sided" will reduce the poly count by half.

 

[The Great Apple]

By "half the size" do you mean half the visual size, half the polygon size, half the file size, or some other halved size which I haven't thought of?

 

[Neomega]

By "half the size" do you mean half the visual size, half the polygon size, half the file size, or some other halved size which I haven't thought of?

half the file size. But half the file size is a good indication it has less triangles... (I should have been more clear, sorry)

 

[Kael]

half the file size. But half the file size is a good indication it has less triangles... (I should have been more clear, sorry)

So size does matter!!!

 

[Neomega]

from what I can tell, the other palaces have anywhere from 250 - 370 triangles, allthough in one part, (using nifskope) where my model said 436 triangles, under the textures, the asian palace has 722.


To me, 1000 triangles is kind of high for a game with this many models on the screen at one time, but I think that is what the .nif format is optimized for. The archer has around 200, the knight has about 550.

 

[Haarbal]

another question.
is it possible to create terrain models?
i think we really need some rocky ground for the colonization of the moon project

 

[Neomega]

another question.
is it possible to create terrain models?
i think we really need some rocky ground for the colonization of the moon project

Yes, but you can do that without any .nif tools. Terrain is a heightmap, where white = mountain peak and black=ground, so all you really need is a 2d editor... (in theroy, I have yet to test it)

 

[EdCase]

from what I can tell, the other palaces have anywhere from 250 - 370 triangles, allthough in one part, (using nifskope) where my model said 436 triangles, under the textures, the asian palace has 722.


To me, 1000 triangles is kind of high for a game with this many models on the screen at one time, but I think that is what the .nif format is optimized for. The archer has around 200, the knight has about 550.

May I humbly suggest you check out Dawn of War...then you will see just how many triangles a good NON-.nif 3d engine can handle..the basic units run at around 1500 and up..some special characters run at around 7000 triangles..and there are usually a lot more on screen than in any game of Civ, plus its an RTS meaning constant motion.
The gamebryo engine is ok, but it sure isn't great.

 

[Neomega]

May I humbly suggest you check out Dawn of War...then you will see just how many triangles a good NON-.nif 3d engine can handle..the basic units run at around 1500 and up..some special characters run at around 7000 triangles..and there are usually a lot more on screen than in any game of Civ, plus its an RTS meaning constant motion.
The gamebryo engine is ok, but it sure isn't great.

I've played the Dawn of War demo about 8 months ago.

There are not a lot more models on the screen however. In Civ IV every unit displays 3 models, and forest and jungle has anywhere from 10-15 models, all of them animated.

Dawn of War had a much closer, isometric camera so you could not see the entire picture in the same way as civ IV.

 

[Haarbal]

I've played the Dawn of War demo about 8 months ago.

There are not a lot more models on the screen however. In Civ IV every unit displays 3 models, and forest and jungle has anywhere from 10-15 models, all of them animated.

Dawn of War had a much closer, isometric camera so you could not see the entire picture in the same way as civ IV.

i got the game, and there were a lot more units on screen then i've ever seen in civ. My main strategy was very simple. just build the maximum squads (pop=20, so i could build 4 squads+some builders) and max them up, till squads of 9+weapons and build some strong vehicles. with this army i had to attack an even bigger army of orcs (they could increase their squads dramaticly, not sure to how much, but it's around 15 i think, and they had multiple squads running around) in their main base. in this situation, i think that their are a lot more models being animated than i ever saw in civ4.

 

[woodelf]

Neo - I'm taking the plunge and trying to learn Blender solely to add resources, terrain improvements, or buildings to CivIV, but I'll be honest that you're scaring the hell out of me with some of this! Obviously after 6 hours of mucking around I know jack, but will I be able to make simple stuff and add it into CivIV without going nuts?

 

[Neomega]

Neo - I'm taking the plunge and trying to learn Blender solely to add resources, terrain improvements, or buildings to CivIV, but I'll be honest that you're scaring the hell out of me with some of this! Obviously after 6 hours of mucking around I know jack, but will I be able to make simple stuff and add it into CivIV without going nuts?

You'll have to do some of the tutorials for Blender first if youreally want to use it. It is very difficult to just hop in and start making game art from knowing scratch. Some things you'll need to learn are UV mapping and the difference between objects and meshes.

Honestly, I would say if you have never done any 3d programs, it would take at least 3 weeks learning before you come close to something usable. Took me alot more than that.

in this situation, i think that their are a lot more models being animated than i ever saw in civ4.

I'll say I disagree, but I really don't feel like discussing it here.

 

[woodelf]

I don't expect to be able to do anything for weeks, months, ect. But, I do want to be able to add whatever I eventually make into CivIV. I only hope it isn't hard.