Thinking of making a mod

[paintballmaster254]

Ya I know about baking, but I don't get how people paint these amasing textures (like the body texture for the EC/HGEC) thats what I don't know how they do that.

[paintballmaster254]

Ok if anyone was interested in what I was/ am doing here is a simple render of part of the interior with one texture applied.

 

[ihateregisteringeverywhere]

Pretty WIP-ish, wonder how it'll turn out.

[paintballmaster254]

Thanks for the comment, I just realized how crappy it looks without textures outside my program.

[ihateregisteringeverywhere]

Yeah, the lack of detail kinda ruins it - I think.

[Vagrant0]

Thanks for the comment, I just realized how crappy it looks without textures outside my program.

Yep, textures can determine quite alot, you would be suprised how many vanilla buildings have large, flat walls, don't be too troubled by it at this stage.

 

One thing I would suggest though is that rather than make the interior as a single piece, break it down into it's repetitive members, or make rooms seperate from hallways. The reason for this is so that the meshes you make can be used elsewhere beyond just the scope of your project. Good, unique tilesets are very hard to find, and those who are working on large mods always have some need of those tilesets. Not only does breaking it up allow you a bit more flexibility, and allow for modification of one part without having to redo the whole model, but your work, should you choose it, may be useful to other modders.

[ihateregisteringeverywhere]

By the way, I'll be very disappointed if you simply slap a brick/stone texture over those columns without adorning 'em in any way.

[exanimis]

I've been experimenting with creating new tilesets but haven't found any good tutorials. How did Beth make the tiles for a cave for instance? How do you make all the tiles line up? How do you know what size to make the tiles? I'm still trying to figure out these questions. If I make a tile at a certain size, in a Z shape (example). From the side it's a Z but from the front it is a square. If I change the shape so that the front has a brick, block or rock like surface the edges would be changed and the next tile wouldn't match up. If I leave the Z shaped sides and only change the center face of the tile, the finished wall would have flat seams. Anyone know how it should be done?

 

Very nicely done paintballmaster254 with the interior, I like the style of it.

[Vagrant0]

I've been experimenting with creating new tilesets but haven't found any good tutorials. How did Beth make the tiles for a cave for instance? How do you make all the tiles line up? How do you know what size to make the tiles? I'm still trying to figure out these questions. If I make a tile at a certain size, in a Z shape (example). From the side it's a Z but from the front it is a square. If I change the shape so that the front has a brick, block or rock like surface the edges would be changed and the next tile wouldn't match up. If I leave the Z shaped sides and only change the center face of the tile, the finished wall would have flat seams. Anyone know how it should be done?

 

Very nicely done paintballmaster254 with the interior, I like the style of it.

I would imagine Bethsoft had the advantage of 3dsmax. One thing you can do in 3dsmax is clone an object within a scene as an instance. When working on an instanced item, all changes you make to either instance ends up being reflected in the other. For caves, you just make one edge of the cave rough, only changing the profile, instance it so that the rough edge of one instance is along the same plane as the smooth edge, then use vertex snaps on the smooth edge to snap to the verticies on the rough edge. Now that both edges of the cave section have the same exact positioning, you can adjust the rest of the mesh so long as you don't move any of those edge points. I used the same process when preparing the large tube sections of the pit for the project mod, I have each quadrant of a ring alighed along the edges with other quadrants of the same ring. Then made a ring on the top, and the bottom which are aligned with the top and bottom edges of the ring section. It's actually much easier than you would think. The hardest part with caves is actually the rest of the mesh since you have to alter and subdivide it in a way that the mesh doesn't look too regular (I kinda failed a bit on this part). The process might be quite a bit more difficult in blender if there is no ability to instance meshes, or if blender lacks decent boolean or single face defining options.

 

Less organic tilesets, like hallways, are much easier to do since most of your work is based on just a simple rectanguar form, but again, you would probably benefit from having some ability to decorate that rectangle. But, I am able to cheat a bit on this end since I usually use AutoCAD to do my major drafting work, and 3dsmax just to handle more organic adjustments, and texturing. I could work solely in 3dsmax, but kinda like the precision that AutoCAD provides, and it keeps me from going rusty with a program I have been certified in. Working with blender, even hallways might be a considderable challenge.

[ihateregisteringeverywhere]

To get the size right - import something from vanilla. Look up some default heights, write that down as reference.

 

As far as the tile sets go, I'd personally create a starting double-tile, cut that up in half and use the profile of the cut as a base for new tiles entrances. You could also create some of the tiles to hide clipping issues.

 

I'm sure you'll come up with a trick of your own though.

 

EDIT> darn, a minute late.