Looking for fellow modders to join a modding project

[DiodeLadder]

I mean like this :

 

You see how the road is not made of continuous asphalt pavement? You can make the brick part as a separate piece to sit slightly higher than the asphalt, and cover up the imperfect connection below. The edge of bricks can be blocks of stones or something, to make the transition clean. Unless you come up with a strategy like this for kit pieces, you'll end up with a lot of unique pieces which get used only once.

[RoNin1971]

 

 

The biggest obstacle really are just the road models. I could do everything else by myself but those roads are so pesky and complicated.

 

 

You might want to think about how you can break up the roads, and identify how much can be done with reusable assets and which parts need to be unique. In real life Harvard Sq., you'll find roads aren't just asphalt, and some parts are old style bricks. Parts made of bricks can be used as in-between pieces to cover up road pieces that don't have perfect matching connection, and perhaps that can make it easier to reduce the number of unique pieces needed.

 

Good luck with your project! :smile:

 

Those 86 models are just one type of road ... There are many more. (& indeed, a retexture would get you a long way for that)

All kinds of TY & X crossings, with various widths.

 

For a new area you could reduce it to an absolute minimum of 4 (albeit straight & dull etc.), but not as replacements.

[RoNin1971]

I mean like this :You see how the road is not made of continuous asphalt pavement? You can make the brick part as a separate piece to sit slightly higher than the asphalt, and cover up the imperfect connection below. The edge of bricks can be blocks of stones or something, to make the transition clean. Unless you come up with a strategy like this for kit pieces, you'll end up with a lot of unique pieces which get used only once.

If I got it right, he wants to replace the existing broken pieces, by 'fixed' ones.

 

Which is a bigger problem as it may seem. The developers didn't account for this and didn't care for stuff to perfectly line up. Even the models are wacky on close inspection. (pieces which don't 'fit' and/or are extending further as the road could have.)

Not sure about the city, but no doubt heaps of rubble will break your roads and no piece will fit. (edit: The proposed 'brickroad piece' as cover might work in this case)

 

I know this is true outside in the wasteland. You would probably need to redo those roads completely.

Edited March 26, 2023 by RoNin1971

[WhyThoOofmas]

 

I mean like this :You see how the road is not made of continuous asphalt pavement? You can make the brick part as a separate piece to sit slightly higher than the asphalt, and cover up the imperfect connection below. The edge of bricks can be blocks of stones or something, to make the transition clean. Unless you come up with a strategy like this for kit pieces, you'll end up with a lot of unique pieces which get used only once.

If I got it right, he wants to replace the existing broken pieces, by 'fixed' ones.

 

Which is a bigger problem as it may seem. The developers didn't account for this and didn't care for stuff to perfectly line up. Even the models are wacky on close inspection. (pieces which don't 'fit' and/or are extending further as the road could have.)

Not sure about the city, but no doubt heaps of rubble will break your roads and no piece will fit. (edit: The proposed 'brickroad piece' as cover might work in this case)

 

I know this is true outside in the wasteland. You would probably need to redo those roads completely.

 

 

 

I mean like this :You see how the road is not made of continuous asphalt pavement? You can make the brick part as a separate piece to sit slightly higher than the asphalt, and cover up the imperfect connection below. The edge of bricks can be blocks of stones or something, to make the transition clean. Unless you come up with a strategy like this for kit pieces, you'll end up with a lot of unique pieces which get used only once.

If I got it right, he wants to replace the existing broken pieces, by 'fixed' ones.

 

Which is a bigger problem as it may seem. The developers didn't account for this and didn't care for stuff to perfectly line up. Even the models are wacky on close inspection. (pieces which don't 'fit' and/or are extending further as the road could have.)

Not sure about the city, but no doubt heaps of rubble will break your roads and no piece will fit. (edit: The proposed 'brickroad piece' as cover might work in this case)

 

I know this is true outside in the wasteland. You would probably need to redo those roads completely.

 

This is actually true, its not like NV where the roads were pretty much intact. However I had decided that such sharp edges wouldn't be too much of a problem especially considering that there's no vehicles in the game.

[DiodeLadder]

 

I mean like this :You see how the road is not made of continuous asphalt pavement? You can make the brick part as a separate piece to sit slightly higher than the asphalt, and cover up the imperfect connection below. The edge of bricks can be blocks of stones or something, to make the transition clean. Unless you come up with a strategy like this for kit pieces, you'll end up with a lot of unique pieces which get used only once.

If I got it right, he wants to replace the existing broken pieces, by 'fixed' ones.

 

Which is a bigger problem as it may seem. The developers didn't account for this and didn't care for stuff to perfectly line up. Even the models are wacky on close inspection. (pieces which don't 'fit' and/or are extending further as the road could have.)

Not sure about the city, but no doubt heaps of rubble will break your roads and no piece will fit. (edit: The proposed 'brickroad piece' as cover might work in this case)

 

I know this is true outside in the wasteland. You would probably need to redo those roads completely.

 

 

Well, I was posting with an assumption that he's making all new pieces, as I know Bethesda roads won't work. :laugh: I was suggesting making "connecting pieces" which would cover up whatever is underneath, so that "close enough" reusable road pieces can be used without exact match, just as you interpreted. Otherwise, you'd have to create the exact matching pieces, like you say.

 

In this context of Harvard Square, there is something from real life which can be used for "connecting pieces" = those brick parts in the photo.

 

Anyway, if you want to make the exact pieces :

 

1) Load the cell in CK, and select all the object refs which can help as a guide for modeling, such as sidewalks.

2) Hit F2 and export the selected as an FBX.

3) Make note of the cell coordinates (like X = 2, Y = 6 for example)

4) Open Blender and set the unit system to Metric, unit scale to 0.01, length to Centimeter.

5) Import the FBX with orientation -Y forward, -Z up (this reversed orientation is to counter the 3DS Max specific modifier present in CK export).

6) Calculate the offsets by multiplying the cell coordinates by 4096. So, if the Cell coordinates are (2, 6), the offsets would be (8192, 24576).

7) Select the top most object of the hierarchy (the parent) of the imported FBX, and hit "G", and subtract the offsets. If the offsets are (8192, 24576), you'll enter "G" + "X -8192" + "Y -24576).

 

Now the imported cell should be centered in your blender project screen, and you can model the new road pieces using that as the guide. (I'm going by memory on this, but hopefully I got the instructions right.)

 

Modeling it should be straightforward enough if you are familiar with the software, I think.

 

I still think it's better to use "connecting pieces" and "close enough" pieces as a reusable kit, though. Call me lazy, lol. :tongue:

 

 

(Edit : If you are doing the hills and such, of course you'll need exact pieces. I didn't think that was the kind of thing he's working on, but maybe I misunderstood the context.)

Edited March 26, 2023 by DiodeLadder

[WhyThoOofmas]

I could just import a vague road shape and then import the road marking as separate objects and place them accordingly. That might work a lot better.