Mod creators: How do you handle WIP modding?

[Ryno917]

I'm always down to talk about cars

Thanks for the kind words! That shot is from a similar realtime engine as the game itself. The livery is all one texture for the colour/pattern, with a sort of specular texture as well. Still a *lot* left to do on it, but I'm nearly done with the actual 3D modeling work. A few more cockpit details to add, still, and then I need to do the final UVs for everything except the paintable bodywork, which I did a while back because seeing it in a proper livery helps motivate me to finish

Volvos were super boxy, but the insane 850 Wagon in the BTCC in the 90s made me fall in love. It was just so stupid. Then the previous gen S and V60 models I found to be quite attractive. Their newer design language, in my opinion, is even better even if I think they've gotten a little too big. Overall I find that Volvo's styling approach is far more nuanced, measured, clean, and disciplined than any other brand right now. Everyone else is over styling everything and adding all kinds of cheap trim and stuff to try to stand out, and it all just looks terrible imo. Volvo exercises discipline in their styling and, as a professional designer myself, I really appreciate that. Audi used to be similar, but since the late 2000s/early 2010s they've started to get more kitschy like everyone else has, sadly.

That all notwithstanding, I loathe the current automotive industry for a number of reasons. Canada is a much smaller market than the US or Europe, so our selection is more limited, but even then there's literally one car on sale here that I actually want (which I used to own, but had to let go of last year. Hoping to acquire a new one in the next 12 months). Only a handful of other cars I'd even consider purchasing, and even then they're mostly driven by utility than desire. Sad state for someone who's been a lifelong car and diehard racing fan.



On the subject of FO4 weapon modding, I'm almost ready to do the final UVs for the gun. I could use a little input from some more experienced on the intricacies of FO4 modding, though. I've seen mention of having, say, all the barrels and stocks in one UV, and the receivers and scopes in another UV set. Does that strategy shift at all if I want to go with a palette-driven colour setup? I have parts for scopes, receivers, barrels and stocks that I want all to be setup on the palette system. Should I just group those into their own UV, and then put everything else on a second one? Also, how do I setup the scopes properly. Looking at a reference file I see that the reflex scopes have a full "interior" behind the clear bits, but the sniper scopes do not. Is there anything special I need to do in the weapon's setup to get the transparency in the reflex scope working properly? Does it need to be on its own texture, or can it share with other components?

At a brief overview, I've got:
- 2 barrel varients
- 3 muzzle brake/suppressor variants
- 2 stock variants (debating a third, but might not)
- 2 scopes
- A bayonet attachment
- A cosmetic barrel wrap attachment

Any insight is greatly appreciated Also, if there's a better place to ask these questions, or a particular modder who knows this stuff and is willing to help out a noob, that would be appreciated as well