Okay, I am probably a complete stranger to most of you. I pretty much have most of my reputation in the Freedom Force community, where I m a mesher, object creator, and so forth.
A fellow member of that community, by the name of "catwhowalksbyhimself", mentioned that some of you were planning to use the Freedom Force NIF exporter to try to create custom content for Civ 4, but didn't know where exactly to start. So, without further ado, allow me to list what you would need to produce custom content. This list applies to nearly any game, not just Civ 4.
1 ) Scale.
Before any object, building, character, or any such thing can be created, one must know how large (in a virtual sense) to make it. For example, if you create a custom version of the SR-71 spyplane, but do not have a previously existing example (of anything) to use as a guide, it might show up in game the size of a hummingbird, or the size of an ImperialStar Destroyer. The best way to get the scale of a game is with official files from the game's creator. For example, in Freedom Force, Irrational Games released tons of MAX files of their original characters.
2 ) Polygon limits.
Also before modelling, one needs to know what limits there are on the number of polygons in the mesh. The oldest 3D games would churn along with maybe 150 polygons, ones from 4-5 years ago could pass by with 2000 polygons, and current "next-gen" games can handle as many as 10,000 polygons. As would be obvious, increasing thenumber of polygons adds plenty of detail, but also consues more and more resources. A game geared to 2,000 polygon "hero" meshes would slow to a crawl with a single figure with twice that number. On the other hand, putting a 900 polygon mesh in a game with 10,000 polygon potential means that it may be very light on the polycount, but it also looks incredibly crude in comparison to the in-game models.
3 ) Types of maps available
Every 3D mesh needs a skin, or texture map - like the paint job on a tabletop wargame figure. For the most part, most only need what is known as a Diffuse map, which is simply the basic color of the model, and any details it would need (like painted-on wrinkles, facial textures, stone divets, and so on). However, there are also maps that define a model's reflectivity, shininess, glow amount, and so on. The Gamebryo engine gives options for both normal maps and bump maps, which are not supported in Freedom Force. If they are supported in Civ 4, it would be VERY good to know. Both kinds of maps can add vitual detail in an otherwise low polygon mesh, but a given mesh must be prepared to work with them before it's exported.
4 ) Internal tags needed
These are elements of a mesh that define how it is to be treated in the game. In the example of a terrain map for Freedom Force, different areas of terrain need to be tagged by their terrain type - grass, concrete, metal, water, and so on. For a characte mesh, they also need additional hidden elements that need their own geometry, like a bounding box or "scene root". In Civ 4, I have no clue what tags would be needed where. This is something that can ONLY b answered by the company.
5 ) Animation types needed
In the case of, say, troops, you probably need a minimum of walk, run, idle, fight, and die animations. However, their order, length, and so on is something else whose details are needed from the company directly. And because some animation tags may not read properly except from an exporter designed for the game, they may not work with any other games' exporter. So using the Freedom Force exporter may not work with Civ 4 models. Then again, it might - we won't know until the company says something.
6 ) Object versions
For buildings and objects, we also need to find out if partially constructed or partially destroyed incarnations require separate meshes, specific frameworks within the existing mesh, or what.
7 ) Export settings.
This is the last thing needed. Specifically, settings for a given exporter may be different for a character mesh, a building mesh, or an object mesh. Some mesh types requirekeyframes that are part of the core .nif (such as seagull environmentals, that do nothing but fly around and cannot be interacted with), while others might require the keyframes to be exported as a a single file, or even as a single file for each and every animation type. Once again - we cannot know until we find out from thecompany.
These are the primary bits of information required before one can even BEGIN to make meshes for the game. HOWEVER, until the information is available, you can still make the basic model itself and its diffuse skin. I would reccomend you keep it as low-polygon as possible, as closeto or under 1000 polygons as you can. It's easier to add more polygons and detail than it is to remove polygons and detail without getting a "messy" geometry. Then, when we learn scale, you can simply size it up or downuntil it matches what you need.
So did this help? If it did, cool, because I'm off to go see if any of this information is forthcoming about Civ 4, and if I find out, I'll report right back here with the news. Cheers!
A fellow member of that community, by the name of "catwhowalksbyhimself", mentioned that some of you were planning to use the Freedom Force NIF exporter to try to create custom content for Civ 4, but didn't know where exactly to start. So, without further ado, allow me to list what you would need to produce custom content. This list applies to nearly any game, not just Civ 4.
1 ) Scale.
Before any object, building, character, or any such thing can be created, one must know how large (in a virtual sense) to make it. For example, if you create a custom version of the SR-71 spyplane, but do not have a previously existing example (of anything) to use as a guide, it might show up in game the size of a hummingbird, or the size of an ImperialStar Destroyer. The best way to get the scale of a game is with official files from the game's creator. For example, in Freedom Force, Irrational Games released tons of MAX files of their original characters.
2 ) Polygon limits.
Also before modelling, one needs to know what limits there are on the number of polygons in the mesh. The oldest 3D games would churn along with maybe 150 polygons, ones from 4-5 years ago could pass by with 2000 polygons, and current "next-gen" games can handle as many as 10,000 polygons. As would be obvious, increasing thenumber of polygons adds plenty of detail, but also consues more and more resources. A game geared to 2,000 polygon "hero" meshes would slow to a crawl with a single figure with twice that number. On the other hand, putting a 900 polygon mesh in a game with 10,000 polygon potential means that it may be very light on the polycount, but it also looks incredibly crude in comparison to the in-game models.
3 ) Types of maps available
Every 3D mesh needs a skin, or texture map - like the paint job on a tabletop wargame figure. For the most part, most only need what is known as a Diffuse map, which is simply the basic color of the model, and any details it would need (like painted-on wrinkles, facial textures, stone divets, and so on). However, there are also maps that define a model's reflectivity, shininess, glow amount, and so on. The Gamebryo engine gives options for both normal maps and bump maps, which are not supported in Freedom Force. If they are supported in Civ 4, it would be VERY good to know. Both kinds of maps can add vitual detail in an otherwise low polygon mesh, but a given mesh must be prepared to work with them before it's exported.
4 ) Internal tags needed
These are elements of a mesh that define how it is to be treated in the game. In the example of a terrain map for Freedom Force, different areas of terrain need to be tagged by their terrain type - grass, concrete, metal, water, and so on. For a characte mesh, they also need additional hidden elements that need their own geometry, like a bounding box or "scene root". In Civ 4, I have no clue what tags would be needed where. This is something that can ONLY b answered by the company.
5 ) Animation types needed
In the case of, say, troops, you probably need a minimum of walk, run, idle, fight, and die animations. However, their order, length, and so on is something else whose details are needed from the company directly. And because some animation tags may not read properly except from an exporter designed for the game, they may not work with any other games' exporter. So using the Freedom Force exporter may not work with Civ 4 models. Then again, it might - we won't know until the company says something.
6 ) Object versions
For buildings and objects, we also need to find out if partially constructed or partially destroyed incarnations require separate meshes, specific frameworks within the existing mesh, or what.
7 ) Export settings.
This is the last thing needed. Specifically, settings for a given exporter may be different for a character mesh, a building mesh, or an object mesh. Some mesh types requirekeyframes that are part of the core .nif (such as seagull environmentals, that do nothing but fly around and cannot be interacted with), while others might require the keyframes to be exported as a a single file, or even as a single file for each and every animation type. Once again - we cannot know until we find out from thecompany.
These are the primary bits of information required before one can even BEGIN to make meshes for the game. HOWEVER, until the information is available, you can still make the basic model itself and its diffuse skin. I would reccomend you keep it as low-polygon as possible, as closeto or under 1000 polygons as you can. It's easier to add more polygons and detail than it is to remove polygons and detail without getting a "messy" geometry. Then, when we learn scale, you can simply size it up or downuntil it matches what you need.
So did this help? If it did, cool, because I'm off to go see if any of this information is forthcoming about Civ 4, and if I find out, I'll report right back here with the news. Cheers!
