meshcarver

Damn, back from the real world at last..! :) Something a bit different this time to whet any Stalker fans appetites out there... This one's an action shot of a couple of my structures in game to give an idea of the kind of aesthetic and atmosphere I'm after with this project. You can imagine the sirens blaring from these huge towers to signal an oncoming Emission... Obviously all the foliage and general lay of the land will be completely redone to fit in with Nova Zona too... no sunshine and gorgeous beaches there lol... I am having a lot of fun modelling different types of Radio Mast (Roughly "Radio Masts", they're basically huge antennae type things that'd you'd find in a wasteland like Nova Zona...), and will be doing about 8 variations in all, as there's some pretty freaky looking ones out there to reference from, and that's always the best place to start from. You can see it with a little description at my blog: http://meshcarver.blogspot.com/ Or you can see it from my website: http://www.meshcarver.com/screenshots/INGAME_05.png I'd like to thank both Mikero and [EvG] Kiory for their massive help with me setting this object up- I had a lot of annoying problems and their patience was amazing- cheers guys. Also, all the peeps on the modelling channel for their constant input, it really does help! ;) Oh yes, the only slight retouching was the very top of the lightning strike as I missed it in Splendid Cam, and also there's the slightest vignette around the outside to focus the attention a bit more but that's all. Everything else in all in game- the lighting in ARMA3 is FANTASTIC!!!

Sometimes this is crashing out on loading (Not Responding...) then other times it works fine... normally every other attempt..? Anyone else have this problem?

I'd kill and eat someone to get these skins into ARMA3... nom noms... :D

damn, Gnat- thanks man..! :D

Hi, Is it possible to have two ladders in a single tower? One to get to the first floor, then another to get to the second floor? Thanks, Marc

cool, cheers!

...well, I've got it working to all intents and purposes now. I just made the geolods thicker and extruded the roadwaylod out a bit more. If this is working, as in, I'm not falling thru the floor etc then does that mean we can have structures larger than 20 meters no issues? Or are there other consequences..?

Hi Stalkers, here's another type of Radio Mast or Transmission Tower I'll use to populate NOVA ZONA. I am planning to do about 7-8 different kinds of towers like these as they look so good against the sky, or silhouetted at night when lightening strikes- they add a lot of atmosphere. I will be adding some form of light to the tops of these towers too. I know there's the whole power situation, but some could have lights and others not. This one is a sort of experimental tower- who knows what kind of wavelength it transmitted on when it was functional... maybe it was transmitting something else entirely... MuuuuuuuahahahahaHAHAHAHAHA..! :couch: Anyway, this one has got two floors for the player to traverse via two long service ladders. The top floor has a missing floor panel with another also at an angle, so be sure to watch your footing if you dare venture up there for overwatch. And who knows- maybe once you're up there you'll trigger an Anomaly... MuuuuuuuahahaahAHAHAHHHAHH..! http://www.flickr.com/photos/86890612@N02/9350272597/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/86890612@N02/9353054024/

Hi FreakJoe, hey thanks man, nice of you to say that. At the moment, I've got quite a bit or real life work on, so I'm whittling away at this still in the wee hours to keep it ticking over. I'm currently working on another form of Radio Mast (Well, more an outlandish type of STALKER transmission tower) that when finished I'll see if I can get it fully working ingame and post a few more shots and possibly a video of it in location (Well, on Stratis!) with a few OPFOR trying to kill me on it or something similar so you can get more of an idea of what all these objects all look like ingame.

No problem LonghshotAU, hey man, I forgot this aswell- basically the unit dimensions for ARMA2, is more or less the same for ARMA3 I reckon: http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Soldier_model_proportions @Brain- lol, tbh mate, I really hate not getting a days work in on this project, really bugs me..! But alas, money is needed..!

...damn, just to give a heads up, I was about to release another update and possible video (Dunno about that yet, might be too early!) but RL calls- got some other work on so it's gonna be a few weeks I reckon before next blog post. :( I need to put bread on the table.

Damn, so I should put the ladder on the "south" facing part of the tower upto the first floor where it'll end, then put another ladder on the "north" facing part from the first to the second floor... Cheers anyway Gnat

Hey Scorch_052, cheers man, nice one. My only big concern is that once it all starts coming together I'll find out I've done something fundamentally wrong in the whole process and EVERYTHING will basically be unusable lol..! Like too many textures or something like that... Jeeeez... I really hope not though..! :pray:

Hi LongshotAU, With things like grids etc, I change mine on the fly always, depending on what I'm modelling. Basically, as a rule I've given myself for this project and going from some info from some sources in these forums I use doors that are 2:20 meters high and 1:10 wide. Just search these forums and you'll now get most answers you're looking for, as I went through a phase of asking every question I could conceive that I thought I'd run into at some point and hadn't been asked before.

Hi Polygon! :D No mate, I'm not planning to right now. This is simply an island I'll be making for people to play on. I'll just be releasing this map as a map- it's not something I'm concerned with right now thinking about releasing all the individual assets etc. I hope you're cool with that, and thank you for your comments too man. ;)

Hi lads, aye, I'm fully aware that large projects are more swiftly handled with larger teams, but I'm not doing this as a project to get out the door asap. I look at it like this- if I was just releasing buildings packs and objects, then I'd have quite a few to release already, it'd be quite a substantial pack, so in that respect it's going quite swiftly... But, as I'm planning to put them all together in a form then it's just simply going to take longer- factor in the size of the map I've decided on and that gets longer still. These are all choices I've made, and I know they could turn around and bite me on the arse and if that happens there's always compromise to fall back on. The main obstacles I think would be length of time and/or motivation and simply having enough free time at all to do it. I'm treating it as a few things- experience of doing entirely my own work for an existing game (Which happens to be fantastic!), portfolio work which will always help / to create a world I've always wanted to play exactly as I imagined it and to immerse myself in the process as I go along as I know I keep mentioning it but I'm really enjoying doing this. It gives me a lot of satisfaction. It's also new to me in the sense that for the first time I'm getting all this great feedback from an open and active community- I've never had that before as I've been in a closed office environment which can be a bit confining at times, but necessary yes. I find this new environment to be really motivating- something which I really didn't realise how much I'd lost with being in the industry for roughly 15 years now. It can be VERY draining at times... but that's another story..! ;) In the end, it either comes down to saying "Yeah, ok, I'll get some other people involved in all this, making houses and objects etc.." and then I'll be in the horrible position of having to tell people what I want them to do, and not really wanting to tell them if their work is not up to snuff, or leaves mine looking like crap lol..! There'd be a visible difference in style/standard I think- and continuity also helps immersion so that's not irrelevant. And, I'd be spending a lot of time having to designate work out which could cancel any progress made by myself in the meantime anyway... ...or, I could just continue as I am, happy and content in trying to make a good Stalker inspired map for ARMA3 for you peeps to explore, with no stress or hurry... Anyway, thank you for all your ongoing feedback, and it is appreciated. :239: I'm just spending a bit more time replying to it as I've had a few comments like this now and I'm getting PMs and emails also regarding me "getting this out there faster" or simply some cheeky sods asking for me to literally give them my objects as they're created..!? "Hi, I would like you to send me your objects you are making for ARMA3 Nova Zona"... beggars belief..!!! :icon_rolleyes:

@Rian and Adumb, hi guys, aye, I also think ARMA3 is the perfect vehicle for creating a STALKER inspired map. With its new volumetric clouds and updated lighting etc there's so many great opportunities here... ;) It is a big project yes, and I've been toying it around in my head for years to be honest and so I sort of just waited to see what ARMA3 would bring, and as soon as I saw some previews of what it would include I just started to eek away at models for it and it's just gone from there. I've a sketch pad FULL of scribbles and notes, folders full of real world ref and some ingame STALKER shots too to keep me on track. I try to not think about the scale of what I'm doing- I'd freak if I did! You could spend a whole day just running things through in your mind and almost waste it... it's best to just treat each model as its own entity and finish it to a good degree, then forget about it and move onto the next. Again- most of these are not ingame yet, there's no point. It breaks the flow of creating them all. I've done a few test pieces to get them ingame like House_01 for example, and they work fine. So I know the process now and with that in mind I'm just churning out all the possible objects I need to create a full database. Also, waiting longer to get them all ingame has the bonus of seeing whether BI come up with more mod tools etc, and also it'll be like Xmas morning for me one day getting everything in and having an explore of them on a stormy night..!!! :) Thanks for your comments- it all helps with my motivation as I'm sure any modder for ARMA will tell you it's great to get feedback.

Hello again, good to have these forums up and running again..! Well, I'm planning to do a few of these kind of radio masts/antenna, as they're quite quick to do and will lend a lot of atmosphere to a scene, especially at night, when their silhouettes break up the skyline and with little lights flashing on and off etc... This one is a straight forward tall thin mast, but some of the others will be more sinister in shape, taking cues from old Soviet forms, and of course the Brain Scorcher. http://www.flickr.com/photos/86890612@N02/9269548110/ I've tried to keep the metal structure rusty and worn, and also added a few metal "plates" and grills at various heights to break up the form and add variety. For me, little touches like radio masts and old dis-used radars dotted around really put a location into the Stalker mindset.

Hi Adanteh and Kraun, some good feedback there guys, thanks! Yes, I am working on this alone. It's been something I've wanted to do for years tbh- to have a huge freeroam STALKER inspired map to play around in with creepy unsettling atmosphere in a fantastic engine... I want to stay solo for a much of this project as I can, as I know from experience that as soon as more people come on board that it could/will lose it's initial direction and become a compromise of everyone's own vision and wants. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but as this is very much a personal undertaking I really wouldn't like that to happen. Of course, I will have to bend the ear of many a modder out there at various points and already have, but won't be actively taking anyone on for helping me in actually producing content for this. I've already been given so much help and advice with loads of ARMA modders behind the scene- the community here is amazing. The only reason for forming a team would be to get this out sooner- but while I'm working on this as much as I can, I'm not in a rush, I'm just enjoying the process. In regards to the island layout, yes, I've got a vague plan in my head and yes multiple "little" islands will also feature and I'll be constructing one off bridges etc to link them were necessary. There will be the central island which will be very big, then all these little islands dotted around its coast. I'm seriously toying with the idea of using the topographical data of the isle of Anglesey for the template of the terrain, and obviously heavily editing the satmask to fit in with an Eastern European look. And talking of swamps- I've already mentioned plans to have them feature hugely in NOVA ZONA! They're a massive part of the Stalkers world imo. I'm not really planning on having huge "cities" so to speak, more large towns and smaller villages and hamlets, but I will be having huge Industrial Complexes and Research Areas etc, you get the idea. I can't really see a huge city fitting into this aesthetic much... The feeling I want to try for is barren/desolate/unsettling/bleak/irradiated etc. Anyway, I hope that clears a few things up for you lads!

@Kraun and Adanteh- thank you for your comments and suggestions guys. Aye, it is pretty fun doing this project, but I'm trying to stay chilled, take it an object at a time etc and not think about rushing it out for a certain time because then I'd be so stressed I'd implode lol. Just trying to make the most of it while I'm doing it and enjoy the process..! :D Yes, right now as ARMA3 still isn't finalised I'm working solely on objects/assets so when the time comes for creating the terrain process I've got loads of resources to populate the island with, and also by then HOPEFULLY there'll be some damn good terrain tools out, fingers crossed. It was a conscious choice to approach this island in that manner, as I'm aware that I will need LOTS of buildings and objects if this is to be convincing and so that's another reason to go for the "modular" construction approach too- to lighten my own workload. Also yes, I'd personally much rather have simpler buildings if it means all enterable rooms etc, as I hate covering doorways with plastic sheets or wooden boards nothing will get through. If I do have to do that kind of thing, I'll at least try to make it convincing like a huge concrete slab filler or bulkhead. Hopefully everything will be enterable though. ;)

Hey Broad, Cheers man, and yeah, I'm always tempted after finishing a model to fully LOD it up and get it working ingame, but it'd take me out my stride in churning all the models out for the time being..! ...was really tempted with this one though, just to see AI on the first floor defending or something... ;)

Hi Blu3sman, thanks for your clarification, I've PM'd you mate! :D

Hi guys, as title said, windows Data Execution Prevention crashed ARMA3 out whilst I was playing in the editor with calling in arty strikes? I have not had this happen before, and wondered if anyone here knows why it would happen? Cheers, Marc

Hey up, finished this large generic Brick Warehouse 01 at last..! It's quite a basic shape this one, big and blocky, but it was quite difficult to do as I need to bear in mind that this model/texture set will be reproduced in various forms for variety again. So bearing that in mind I tried to come up with a structure that allows for different layouts and floors without being too recognisable each time, so little details are kept to a minimum and can later be added as other models/props like barrels/electrical junction boxes etc to spice it up. It's a take on the many plain brick buildings that are to be found across the STALKER games, but I wanted to make a bit more of it, hence the brick ledges and trims etc. Also, running through all these buildings it's a good idea to keep the roofing as basic as possible, as it allows for knocking holes out and letting the sunlight stream in to cause lovely shadowing! Also, this goes for night time too when there's an epic lightening storm... ;) Anyway, here's some shots: http://www.flickr.com/photos/86890612@N02/9228934412/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/86890612@N02/9228938490/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/86890612@N02/9226156431/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/86890612@N02/9226155513/in/photostream/ The last one is an internal shot of the small back entrance into the main warehouse area, and you can just see the concrete stairs that lead upto the room at the top. Oh yes, the large painted writing on the front is Ukrainian- as NOVA ZONA is set in an undisclosed area of that country so I'll keep the continuity going with that language. "Ñклад" means "warehouse", and I'm trying my best to get the spelling correct and am being helped in this by Soul_Assassin/Alex Vorobiev and also by the reliable Google Translate, so if any Ukrainian speakers out there could vouch for me that it does indeed translate well between English and Ukrainian I'd be most grateful..! ;) A tip for anyone else trying to model buildings etc is to make sure the overall shape has a strong silhouette, and even if you extend a few polys out here and there to break up the outline it'll help add complexity to it without adding too many polys. Anyway, hope you guys like it and I'll start my next one now- a radio mast in the STALKER aesthetic..! :D

Jeez... Just reading this is freaking me out as I've committed to about 2 years dev time for my island lol..!!! Hopefully we'll have better tools soon with the release of ARMA3 though? daringd, how is your project coming along anyway mate?