Making my first custom weapon

[Omny]

I'm currently working on modeling a pirate cutlass to put into Fallout 3, using Autodesk 3D Studio Max. I have a few questions I want to ask, as well as any opinions and advice.

 

First of all, is there a limit to how many polygons my model should have? It's not a terribly huge or complex weapon; it's just a plain cutlass. I don't want it to look blocky, but at the same time I don't want it to drop the framerate either.

 

Second, is 3DS Max the program I should use? I've seen a lot of people talk about building models in Blender, but I'm more used to 3DS Max. I don't think it would really matter, but I'd like to hear from the more seasoned modder crowd.

 

Lastly, if I do succeed in making this pirate cutlass and sticking it into the game, would anyone be interested if I were to post it on the Nexus for download? I've been thinking about making a whole pirate pack of weapons and gear sometime in the future, but I'd like to start small and build up from there.

 

 

All answers, opinions, advice, and meatloaf recipes are welcome. Thanks again!

[Moraelin]

I think generally the best tool is the one you know the best. So if you're good with 3DS Max, I'd stick with that.

 

About polygons, I don't think most modern graphics cards have major problems with that. Unless you want to have an invasion of 1000 pirates wielding those cutlesses, I doubt that a sane model can even come close to the kind of polycount that would make the graphics card grind these days. Most of the speed problems in FO:NV have been about face animations, rather than simply polycount.

 

As a comparison, according to NifSkope, the assault carbine in NV has almost 4000 vertexes (3992 to be precise) and 6259 triangles without the magazine, bolt, etc. Just the basic gun mesh. The magazine alone adds over 250 vertexes and almost 450 triangles, the trigger is another 50 triangles or so, the suppressor (if you add one) is over 350 triangles, etc.

 

The assault rifle is over 2500 vertexes and just short of 4000 triangles, and again that's without the magazine, bolt, casing, etc, meshes. The service rifle is over 4000 triangles for the basic gun mesh, plus again, bolt, casings, magazine, and so on.

 

The laser tommy-gun pushes over 4200 vertexes and almost 7500 triangles, and that again, isn't including a few extra bits that are separate meshes.

 

Etc.

 

And those aren't even the worst offenders. it's pretty much just loading some random meshes into NifSkope and looking at whatever numbers they have.

 

I don't think anyone saw their frame rate go to heck because of a squad of NCR soldiers with service rifles.

 

I suppose as a simple test, you can drop a hundred cutlasses somewhere outside and see the frame rate before and after. If you're worried about slower graphics cards, well, most can be underclocked a bit for such a test.

Edited August 1, 2011 by Moraelin

[Omny]

Thanks a lot, man! That was one of my major concerns.