Hard Light Productions Forums
Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => The Modding Workshop => Topic started by: Thrilla on April 23, 2005, 07:47:35 pm
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I was looking at the Aeolus and started adding things here and there to give it more detail, but then I looked at it once more, and without really going off cannon it is kind of hard to just ad details from the textures. What do you guys think should be on the Aeolus to keep it cannon?
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Err. Raptor and Vasudan Admiral have already done this. ;)
Do a search for it. :)
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But is it completed? Textures and everything?
This has a UV map with it, but did sombody finish it?
It not I will try do work with it.
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I believe it is completed, but Vas Ad is waiting to finish another model as well, and release them together. :) So you really needn't waste your energy, unless you want the practice. :)
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I think I'm going to practice on it since I don't have to UV map it and it doesn't use tiles. I hate tiles.
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Yeah, the Aeolus is fully completed and working in-game. :)
I'm just waiting to finish the HTL Lucifer before releasing the set. (wips here (http://www.sectorgame.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1639) - but I think i killed the thread over there. Again :sigh: )
If you'd like something similar to work on that AFAIK hasn't been attempted yet, i'd reccomend either the Hippocrates, Argo or the Zephyrus.
Good luck! :)
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The Triton, Mara, Ulysses, Erinyes all have hi-poly models (in progress) but I haven't heard anything from anyone about them for awhile. :sigh:
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Um, the Triton is in VA's intended HTL pack, along with the Aeolus, Lucifer (WIP shots available in THIS (http://www.sectorgame.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1639) thread) and I think one other, but I can't remember. Also, Nico released the HTL Mara some time ago, to mixed reviews.
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Triton's done, but again waiting for the Lucy. ;)
(http://www.geocities.com/vasudanad/HTLedShips2.txt)
(http://www.geocities.com/vasudanad/HTLedShips3.txt)
Ah, TP beat me to it. :o
And the other ship would be the re-release of the Fenris - with merged maps and numerous other bugfixes and optimisations. (including map merged versions of Lighty's pair) :)
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I miss shinemaps. :( I love that anuket.
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Yay! At least I got people to bring out screenshots! :D
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VA, do the old Triton containers still fit? Maybe it would look better if someone remodelled the containers to look less glaring next to your amazing Triton model.
This is the first time I've seen your Aeolus - and it's amazing. The Terran fleet is starting to actually look like a natural progression now :)
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Yes, the containers still fit (i don't change any dimensions of the ships - just add lotsa detail to them)
but that is indeed a good point. I'll whip up a HTL TC-Tri to match for the release. :)
And thanks. :) Once the entire FS fleet is done... wow. :D
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Why do the screenshots have the ending TXT???
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Geocities doesn't like remote linking of images - so it prevents it. We get around that by pretending they're text files. :D
This board allows it (ie, recognises .txt as a valid candidate for the [ img] tag), but others may not - which is why all my pics on Sectorgame are just links.
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The Aeolus looks really smart
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So.. pretty... release!
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*drools*
Damnit post more screens! >(
...
... *drools*
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Did I miss it, or is there truly no HTL Ravana? That's gotta be a sin... :p
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I'm guessing that's cause there's not much detail to work with...it could just be smoothed, but what'd help it most would be bumpmapping.
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I like the Lucy!
It's still the best destroyer!
I hope that the HTL-Versions will be finished somewhen...
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Check the link VA gave to see in progress pictures of the model.
(http://www.sectorgame.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1639)
You should d/l - the txt files and rename them jpg.
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Originally posted by Vasudan Admiral
Triton's done, but again waiting for the Lucy. ;)
(http://www.geocities.com/vasudanad/HTLedShips2.txt)
(http://www.geocities.com/vasudanad/HTLedShips3.txt)
Ah, TP beat me to it. :o
And the other ship would be the re-release of the Fenris - with merged maps and numerous other bugfixes and optimisations. (including map merged versions of Lighty's pair) :)
Those screenshots will look even better with the new turret code.
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What, this turret code? Well, animation code anyway.
(http://www.duke.edu/~cek6/raynor_ingame1.jpg)
EDIT: Levelshot for the love of god.
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Originally posted by Flaser
You should d/l - the txt files and rename them jpg.
Doesn't just clicking the links open them in a new browser?
Oh - dang. Just discovered that firefox doesn't do that :\
Uh, my apologies to anyone who had to d/l them and manually change the extension just to see some lousy screens. :sigh:
Here's some more up to date ones (sorry any 56kers :nervous: ):
http://www.geocities.com/vasudanad/HTL-luciferWIP10.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/vasudanad/HTL-luciferWIP11.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/vasudanad/HTL-luciferWIP12.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/vasudanad/HTL-luciferWIP13.jpg
Just got the tail to go now.
edit: changed to links - see below for the non-bandwidth exceeded ones. :)
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Wow. The jaw smily just wouldn't do that justice. However, I will ask why you indented the front; that change seems detractive as the panel that was there before looked better planer mapped than an inset ever will.
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Well, two of them worked before, and after a refresh, none do... :(
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i clicked on em....:sigh:
Sorry, this site is temporarily unavailable!
The web site you are trying to access has exceeded its allocated data transfer. Visit our help area for more information.
Access to this site will be restored within an hour. Please try again later.
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Oh dear:
"The web site you are trying to access has exceeded its allocated data transfer. Visit our help area for more information.
Access to this site will be restored within an hour. Please try again later.
http://www.geocities.com/vasudanad/HTL-luciferWIP10.txt"
:nervous:
*wishes we had sectorfiles back up* :\
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Well, here's a second set anyways. I'll edit the previous to be links.
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y184/VA--Twisted_Infinities/HTL-luciferWIP10.jpg)
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y184/VA--Twisted_Infinities/HTL-luciferWIP11.jpg)
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y184/VA--Twisted_Infinities/HTL-luciferWIP12.jpg)
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y184/VA--Twisted_Infinities/HTL-luciferWIP13.jpg)
Oh, and the indented front is there because the original high poly lucy we see in the cutscenes had that - i thought it looked cool and so replicated it. :)
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Dude! that is one nice HTL Lucifer! have you tried putting it in game? Also what ship are you goin to HTL next?
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Unbelievable. :eek: I don't even want to think about how much trouble my system will have managing it, but at this point, I'm still drooling over that. :D
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oh dear god:shaking: :jaw: wow
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Originally posted by Mongoose
Unbelievable. :eek: I don't even want to think about how much trouble my system will have managing it, but at this point, I'm still drooling over that. :D
It's not the polies that cause FPS hits, it's the textures. The more textures - and the larger those textures are - the slower the computer is.
I can vouch for this in working with the interface. Initially, displaying bitmaps individually, I could not go over about 30 instances of an image shown at a time without significant slowdowns. (ie it got to be virtually unusable past that point.) That was using the same 16x16 image for every instance. Once Bobb provided me with a new function that told the video card to specifically use the same texture for all the instances of the image, things were basically as responsive as without any images being displayed, although the same number of polies were being shown.
This is why it's important to use as few different textures as possible on ships.
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Hmm...
I really need more RAM soon...
512 MB are too less...
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I'll be cutting the texture count on the lucy down to a single 2048 res map - which should be a great help to performance, and i'll also be making a mid-range version with about .... 2000 polys - at a guess. This high poly one will probably come in at about 8000 ish.
Oh, and for which ship to do next, i'll be doing up old TI ships for a while after this, but the Poesidon is next on the list, possibly followed by the eleysium, iceni (and thus the breakable-asteroid-station-i-won't-even-try-to-spell), medical frigate and argo in something approaching that order. :)
Actually - the ravana does sound like a good challenge.
*adds to very long to do list* ;)
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HOORAYS @ THE HTL LUCY!!!!
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Way to go. Far beyond what I was expecting.
Are the Maps gonna be the Animated sort?
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Originally posted by Vasudan Admiral
I'll be cutting the texture count on the lucy down to a single 2048 res map - which should be a great help to performance, and i'll also be making a mid-range version with about .... 2000 polys - at a guess. This high poly one will probably come in at about 8000 ish.
Oh, and for which ship to do next, i'll be doing up old TI ships for a while after this, but the Poesidon is next on the list, possibly followed by the eleysium, iceni (and thus the breakable-asteroid-station-i-won't-even-try-to-spell), medical frigate and argo in something approaching that order. :)
Actually - the ravana does sound like a good challenge.
*adds to very long to do list* ;)
Using a single 2048² map should be no problem at all.
It won't need much memory as soon as it's compressed to DDS.
Just make sure it uses a compressed shine and glow map too.
The landscape in the SF mod has several 2048² maps and it still runs smooth on low-end PCs. (As long as you don't try to use uncompressed maps ;) )
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I suggest you use 16-bit TGA for the glowmaps. Lightspeed was using 8-bit pcx for his glowmaps, but its well known that 8-bit pcx is loaded into memory as though it was 16-bit. So, we could get better quality with no performance loss if the glowmap is 16-bit tga. Main map and shine-env maps should be 32-bit DDS though.
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this looks goooooood....
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Wow. That kicks arse. Nice work on the shells too BTW - good compromise between smoothed and angular. Can blender do smoothgroups for areas like that?
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What the fudge? Holy fudge!
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:yes:
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Originally posted by Trivial Psychic
I suggest you use 16-bit TGA for the glowmaps. Lightspeed was using 8-bit pcx for his glowmaps, but its well known that 8-bit pcx is loaded into memory as though it was 16-bit. So, we could get better quality with no performance loss if the glowmap is 16-bit tga. Main map and shine-env maps should be 32-bit DDS though.
I'd use DDS for the glowmap too. It's still four times smaller than 16 Bit TGA and the quality should be very good at this high res. :)
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Wow, i really wasn't expecting anything near this level of response - thanks a million all. :) Very much appreciated.
Originally posted by Black Wolf
Can blender do smoothgroups for areas like that?
It can do the smoothgroups - but they'd get lost in the Blender-Truespace conversion. But i can pretty easily do them in TS once the textures are complete. :)
Texture formats: So far i've been following Lightspeeds lead with using dds for the main map and shine map, and 8bit full size pcx's for the glowmaps - mainly due to the tiny filesize:quality ratio i saw when testing formats.
Basically, there was so little in it:
- 8bit pcx gave me great quality at 172kb {2048 res glowmap too!}
- 16bit tga came in at 10kb bigger same quality
- While dds came in at a whole 5.24 megs bigger with much worse quality (tho i think that could be the settings i use :\ - any advice here would be much appreciated)
that i decided to go with LS' pre-established format.
Does anyone know of a more efficient setup for textures?
Oh, and here are two more Aeolus pics with something that probably hasn't been well spotted yet. ;) (ok maybe the second pic is a little too obvious, but meh - they're not great shots anyway. :D )
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y184/VA--Twisted_Infinities/Aeolus/AeolusPic2.jpg)
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y184/VA--Twisted_Infinities/Aeolus/AeolusPic3.jpg)
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What´s the most "hi-polytised" Orion out there? We need a good Orion for the cutscenes. With a new texture would be even better, since the canon textures are fugly...
We will also need a hi-poly Lucifer and the Iceni. That Lucy looks mighty fine...
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Do thosse peapole have to look at windows ( in model texture ) it sily and look aful:ick:
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Originally posted by Swamp_Thing
What´s the most "hi-polytised" Orion out there? We need a good Orion for the cutscenes. With a new texture would be even better, since the canon textures are fugly...
We will also need a hi-poly Lucifer and the Iceni. That Lucy looks mighty fine...
3.6.6 mv_models. I think GalEmp also made a reskin version, but I'm not sure if that's the one in mv_models or if it's just the high-poly Orion with the old textures.
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I can see an 'old fleet meets new fleet' Pride Of Terra splash image in our future... an Orion/Fenris/Apollo group being superseded by the Deimos/Aeolus/Perseus group... :) With lots of lighting. :cool:
And yes, I left the Hecate out. It looks like arse.
OT, is it possible to randomly choose the splash from a pile of availible images? Cycling through T/V/S ship comparisons (even cutscene-style wireframe comparisons) and glory shots and dynamic close shots would be better than the current method, where at least 50% of everyone hates whatever gets chosen :)
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Originally posted by c914
Do thosse peapole have to look at windows ( in model texture ) it sily and look aful:ick:
They're the right scale, the windows are there, crew are aboard, it gives the ship some 'life' rather than just bright windows with nothing visible inside, and they're only visible if you fly up to them - what's wrong with that?
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Originally posted by Vasudan Admiral
Basically, there was so little in it:
- 8bit pcx gave me great quality at 172kb {2048 res glowmap too!}
- 16bit tga came in at 10kb bigger same quality
- While dds came in at a whole 5.24 megs bigger with much worse quality (tho i think that could be the settings i use :\ - any advice here would be much appreciated)
Don't look at the filesize of PCX files. It doesn't reflect the ammount of memory used when loaded into ram. (TGA may also use a lossless compression, which won't work in-game!)
No matter what, each DXT format takes up less memory than a PCX at the same res.
I'd suggest to use S3 DXT1. Which looks better for effects than Nvidias DXT1.
The quality will be lower than the PCX one though. But I think that doesn't matter much for this high res.
A 2048² DXT1 DDS takes up exactly 2 MB in-game.
An uncompressed TGA takes up 12 MB in-game.
A 16-bit TGA and a PCX need both 8 MB in-game.
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Save it as DXT5 ARGB (Interpolated Alpha)
That's usually good for fighter maps.
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Meh, you won't need an alpha channel for the main map. (Unless it has to be partly transparent...)
Unsing DXT5 is usually a waste of memory. S3 DXT looks almost exactly as DXT5. (A bit different, but not worse...)
While Nvidia's DXT1 looks a lot worse than DXT5...
I can take care of conversion stuff for you. I'm quite used to texture compression by now. :)
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Originally posted by Vasudan Admiral
They're the right scale, the windows are there, crew are aboard, it gives the ship some 'life' rather than just bright windows with nothing visible inside, and they're only visible if you fly up to them - what's wrong with that?
They don't look like three-dimensional people standing inside. They look like black shapes in the shape of people painted on the window.
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yeah, i think they could use some work, too.
but it's a good start. :)
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Actually, that's pretty cool... You gotta make one animated, though, where he gets up, walks around a bit, and sits back down :lol:
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I want the Iceni complete with man in silly hat ;)
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I'll have to second that. :D
Welcome to moderatorship, Flip. ;)
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Cool. I kinda like the people. Gives a real sense of scale that wasn't there before.
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Originally posted by Raa
I'll have to second that. :D
Welcome to moderatorship, Flip. ;)
LOL Thanks, though, of course, that means I have to start being responsible :nervous:
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Yeah, that was one of the things that irked me, but look at my latest posts... ;)
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Originally posted by Flipside
I want the Iceni complete with man in silly hat ;)
Ever played Messiah? A shover scene...
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T3h Ravana is mine! ^_^
Oh, and the Hecate != ugly anymore. It = perdy. Granted, Lightspeed hates it, but neh...
(On that note, it's not forgotten :p )
VA! I noticed those people long ago -__-;
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Originally posted by Grimloq
T3h Ravana is mine! ^_^...
The villagers are restless! They want progress! And by progress they actually mean pics, regardless of progress!
Originally posted by Grimloq
Oh, and the Hecate != ugly anymore. It = perdy. Granted, Lightspeed hates it, but neh...
Eh. The villagers want more pics! ph34r! ;)
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Grim - that would be because i sent you a pic of the darkside clearly showing them long ago. :p
Uhh, no updates on this, but DaBrain has been a big help with texture formats and compression via PMs, so the result should be the optimal blend of performance and quality - thanks mate. :)
*gets back to work*
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Same. For creating these great models. ;) :yes:
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Don't forget my work on the Aeolus! I started it all!
And that Lucifer....:eek2::eek:
:jaw:
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:yes2::D:yes:
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Oh hey - you're back again! :D Now go finish the Hera!
Oh wait - being the originator - what's your virdict on the little people in the windows? (i tried to improve them and also upgraded the glowmaps :) )
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y184/VA--Twisted_Infinities/Aeolus/AeolusPic4.jpg)
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y184/VA--Twisted_Infinities/Aeolus/AeolusPic5.jpg)
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Originally posted by Pnakotus
OT, is it possible to randomly choose the splash from a pile of availible images? Cycling through T/V/S ship comparisons (even cutscene-style wireframe comparisons) and glory shots and dynamic close shots would be better than the current method, where at least 50% of everyone hates whatever gets chosen :)
i wouldn't think that would be too painful to do.
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I demand room furnishings be shown in those windows! :D
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Originally posted by Vasudan Admiral
Oh hey - you're back again! :D Now go finish the Hera!
Oh wait - being the originator - what's your virdict on the little people in the windows? (i tried to improve them and also upgraded the glowmaps :) )
I never left..:drevil:
...I'm just as regular as before...
The Hera will be a while... had to restart the texturing (again :sigh: ). Working on that single super map was killing my PC.
As for the little people... Perfect! Now you see just how big these ships are!
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Yeah, people are better now. They were too sharp before.
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I knew that'd bring Grim out of the woodwork again! :)
If the Triton and the Hecate get replaced, that only leaves the Colossus as 'ugly'. And there really isn't a lot you can do with THAT.
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Jonathan_S47 has made a start in that direction actually, in this thread at Game Warden. (http://www.game-warden.com/forum/showthread.php?t=329)
And i think Karma began work on one a long while ago, but i haven't seen anything about it since.
Raa: I'll look at furnishings after i finish animating all the cockroaches running around in the galley. :p
Raptor: I'd reccommend using a 4096x4096 res map for the main hull. It's about the max that most graphics cards can support anyway - and it should give you more than enough area to put the details on at decent in-game res. :)
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hey, VA, while you're at it maybe add some crewman's quarters, a mess hall, and the bridge. :D
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Originally posted by Vasudan Admiral
Raptor: I'd reccommend using a 4096x4096 res map for the main hull. It's about the max that most graphics cards can support anyway - and it should give you more than enough area to put the details on at decent in-game res. :)
I started working with a 5120x2560 map (which would b reduced down to 4096x2048 for in game), but it was killing my PC.
Now I've got 2 2560x2560 maps. They'll be reduced to 2048x2048 once done.
And to honest, it's not the details that are the pain (though doing all those viewports...:shaking: ). It's doing the main hull texturing that has me struggling...
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Originally posted by Vasudan Admiral
Jonathan_S47 has made a start in that direction actually, in this thread at Game Warden. (http://www.game-warden.com/forum/showthread.php?t=329)
And i think Karma began work on one a long while ago, but i haven't seen anything about it since.
yes, I'm making a (very) high poly colossus.
I got some problems which stopped my work in the last months but now thanks to a new pc I'm back at work. Nonetheless It'll take some months to finish it, I may post some wips later, but not before there'll be enough stuff to give an idea of the overall look since some parts taken alone are mmmmm a bit strange:p
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Will the hi poly Lucifer still be able to have animated glowmaps? I thought they made the original look a lot better.......
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I've also have started on a HTL Aeolus, but like what Karma's doing, it's probley gonna have the nickname "computer killer", not to metion the fact that I'm gonna break cannon in a whole lot of ways.But, it is mostly an experiment, for a Mod I'm thinking about starting.:)
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Originally posted by Kosh
Will the hi poly Lucifer still be able to have animated glowmaps? I thought they made the original look a lot better.......
Once Bob gets this new materials system of his implemented, everything (that needs them) will be able to have engine generated animated glowmaps (well, the engne will generate the animation, if not the glowmaps themselves).
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Engine generated animated glowmaps with only one frame! :D
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Yay! :D
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Hmm, have you tried varying the lighting color in the windows (some oranger, bluer) Might look nice, mabye do it to a small section to see.
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Hmm, have you tried varying the lighting color in the windows (some oranger, bluer) Might look nice, mabye do it to a small section to see.
Did try that actually - unintentionally through Bobs material build. ;)
Yellow was...decent, but white was still by far the most suited for it, and it looks vaguely similar to the windows on the fenris. :)
Will the hi poly Lucifer still be able to have animated glowmaps? I thought they made the original look a lot better.......
Yes, the Lucifer should have 'animated' (material system :D ) glow maps. Exactly what way they are to be animated in i don't have a clue yet tho. ;)
I'll go with whatever looks best i guess, though backward compatability is still of absolute importance. :)
Oh, and the lucifer is now into the lithunwrap stage.