meshcarver

Excellent explanations lad, cheers... Aye, I'll be giving all my objects multiple SHADOWlods for sure- I want NOVA ZONA to run like a beast.

@ JumpingHubert- hey, no worries mate. It's fine to ask as I take it as people just want to see this finished sooner rather than later but it puts me in an awkward position as all's I seem to be talking about lately is why it isn't out yet or why it's taking so long again and again. I think that could come across like I'm always having a moan maybe? I think what I'll do is copy and paste part of my post above into the front page of this thread in red letters or something, and from now on I'll just point people to that if they want to know why it's taking literally years. What part of Germany are you from anyway? Beautiful country- I cycled through there in 2006..!

Hi guys, It's a fair enough question but I must've mentioned this at least twenty times by now in this thread lol. It is currently just objects mate- as it's going to be a completely unique map I need to create EVERYTHING first myself, even down to fences and grass etc so that in itself is a gargantuan project if I may say so myself. Put into the mix maybe of those THREE years I've only actually worked SIX MONTHS (Tops!) of actual 9-5 dev time as my RL work is computer graphics and as you probably know that can take up entire days, sometimes 16 hours long (never again on that though!). To give you an idea of an average week spent on this if you consider RL- I'm LUCKY to get 10 hours... And that time will see me utterly knackered and bleary eyed at the end of the night when I should be sitting down zonked in front of the telly, or lying in bed waiting to sleep. If I don't grab that time for NOVA ZONA, it literally will not happen. Hope this fully answers your question dude- I know everyone who mods is in the same boat, but some people somehow have/find more free time than others but this is the best I can do. I just hope it doesn't disappoint when it's eventually born and slapped into life. ;)

Kyle..! How's it going my good sir..?! Long time to speak- I hope you and yours are doing well mate... :) I hope you've both settled down at last with those new jobs- it must've been a crazy hectic time for you with all that going on man. Aye, I'm trying my utmost to create a new take on the Stalker aesthetic, sometimes basing ideas off their creations and other times just coming up with completely new stuff myself so it's a balancing act but I'm enjoying it. I'm really happy with how the Designators came out- they remind a lot of people of a lot of different things, so I don't doubt there are inspirations galore in there but I wasn't thinking of anything in particular when I came up with the idea or developed them but must have been influenced at some point. Your ref about "The Prisoner" is spot on too, I remember those huge spheres..! That place is close to where I live, and I recently visited it with my better half- a nice little spot... As far as atmosphere, yes, I'm trying to achieve a really otherworldly feeling to NOVA ZONA, and I hope I can successfully replicate what I'm doing in those videos with the actual terrain but some scripting will be necessary I think. The way I see it, if I can do it in the Editor, then I SHOULD be able to do it in game? Fingers crossed... Yes, one of the many reasons for the Designators was to inject an uncertainty into the landscape ref other players. When you see one in the distance it is almost impossible to tell if it's really someone standing there or indeed a Designator- and this keeps you on your toes at all times when approaching villages etc... I've play tested them a few times now with the amazing "move" script Das Attorney is doing for me and it is very unnerving- if you turn your back on them, they might start to approach you... then, when you look again you can't be exactly sure if its moved or not. :) I like the fact they are really part of the historical events too- each one is representative of an actual person who lived on Border Island, Civilian or Island Authority so each one is unique in that sense and I have plans for making that uniqueness come through in game... but that's for another time. ;) As for sounds, aye I love those huge mysterious noises in the sky from some Youtube videos. Very apocalyptic. I will be having lots of that stuff and some of it will have a source and some not- the sound FX will be an important element of NOVA ZONA and help to sell the atmosphere. Thanks for the recommendation for Neo Scavenger- I took a look at a few videos of it and it does look atmospheric, but I couldn't promise that I cold give it any meaningful game time mate- I simply don't have enough free time to devote to NOVA ZONA as it is, so when I do get an hour or three I develop it further and so haven't really played anything for so long now..! I should set aside gaming time to be honest, after all, what's the point modding if I don't play the game I'm modding..!? :( Alright dude, damn fine to hear from you again and thanks for the offer of help on the history- very kind. Take it easy Kyle and drop in once in awhile, it's always good to see you here..! :) Well, here's a few shots of a new building I just finished- one of FIVE basic Factory types of structure I'll be doing. Please bear in mind that the insides of all the structures should for now be considered "shells", as I will populate the insides with machinery and piping etc once they're placed in the map, so as to increase density and variation. Anyway, I hope you guys like it: FACTORY BUILDING TYPE 02 A FACTORY BUILDING TYPE 02 B FACTORY BUILDING TYPE 02 c I've sort of decided that I'll need to create about FIVE different types of each basic structure (House, IA Housings, Factories, Research etc...) before I can FINALLY make a start on the Terrain itself. It's about creating at least a basic library of object with which to flesh out the beginnings of a layout of NOVA ZONA as a map. So, this is Factory Type 02- there will initially be 4 other Types- I hope that makes sense guys... Anyway, I'll be doing an Industrial chimney pipe next- and that's the kind of thing that I'll be able to place up against these structures for variation again. It's like making a HUGE jigsaw puzzle basically.

Thanks man- this part really puts a smile on my face: "But now they're just subject to the same vertex limit that exists for all models, so you can make them as detailed as your top resolution LOD" :) I understand to make it as low poly as possible though, I get that but sometimes you have to have a fairly extensive SHADOWlod but nothing stupid aye. It's really good to know that there's no limit though- appreciated.

Sorry to necro this thread, but is Nodunit referring to SHADOWlods yes? So we can have well over 8K tri's for SHADOWlods? Some of my structures, as they're falling apart and rotting need a bit more love in the Shadows dept so I could do with the extra tri count if possible?

Thanks again for your input HG..! Well, it seems to be good news anyway, so I'll let you know as soon as I have feedback about it...

Hi guys, I'm going to start doing sections of walls and fences soon, but apart from the height for vault animations/walk overs (Is there a guide to these heights and what they are too?) are there any other factors that need to be taken into account when creating these pieces? How for instance, if you want a lowish stone wall, would you model the LODs if you would like it to stop players from walking through it, whilst if you pushed it down into the terrain a little, then they are allowed to walk over it? Thanks

Right... Damn... another whole new world of issues to bear in mind just opened up on me I think... Damn. I did not know this. Are there ANY other things like this please? A place where keen modders would like to find absolutely relevant info? The wiki is terrible, there is no contents as far as I can tell- you have to know what you're looking for in the first place is that right? But thanks for the heads up Lappihuan..!

Wait a minute..? Does it matter how THICK you physically make the FIRElod components? I thought it didn't matter- just what Penetration Material you applied to them?

Hi guys, I'm trying to get a very simple object in the game (Think of it as basically a plain metal sheet) that uses only CO, NOHQ and SMDI textures. For some reason, I really don't think the SMDI and NOHQ textures are showing up ingame? Could someone take a look at this RVMAT setup and tell me if I've completely gone wrong somewhere please? Also, you'll notice the env_land_co at the very end- I have NO idea why this is there or what it does so I just incorporate it all the time incase it's somehow needed? Is it needed and what does it do? If anyone has a better, or more SIMPLE shader rvmat for this object could they please show me? I understand Multimats almost 100% but don't get what this shader here really does or how it works- all the stages etc? surfaceInfo = "MESH_designator_male_solid\data\MESH_metal.bisurf"; ambient[]={1,1,1,1}; diffuse[]={1,1,1,1}; forcedDiffuse[]={0,0,0,0}; emmisive[]={0,0,0,1}; specular[]={.3,.3,.3,.3}; specularPower=100; PixelShaderID="Super"; VertexShaderID="Super"; class Stage0 { texture="MESH_designator_male_solid\data\MESH_designator_male_solid_co.paa"; uvSource="tex"; }; class Stage1 { texture="MESH_designator_male_solid\data\MESH_designator_male_solid_nohq.paa"; uvSource="tex"; class uvTransform { aside[]={1,0,0}; up[]={0,1,0}; dir[]={0,0,0}; pos[]={0,0,0}; }; }; class Stage2 { texture="#(argb,8,8,3)color(0.5,0.5,0.5,0.5,DT)"; uvSource="tex"; class uvTransform { aside[]={1,0,0}; up[]={0,1,0}; dir[]={0,0,0}; pos[]={0,0,0}; }; }; class Stage3 { texture="#(argb,8,8,3)color(0,0,0,0,MC)"; uvSource="tex"; class uvTransform { aside[]={1,0,0}; up[]={0,1,0}; dir[]={0,0,0}; pos[]={0,0,0}; }; }; class Stage4 { texture="#(argb,8,8,3)color(1,1,1,1.0,AS)"; uvSource="tex"; class uvTransform { aside[]={1,0,0}; up[]={0,1,0}; dir[]={0,0,0}; pos[]={0,0,0}; }; }; class Stage5 { texture="MESH_designator_male_solid\data\MESH_designator_male_solid_smdi.paa"; uvSource="tex"; class uvTransform { aside[]={1,0,0}; up[]={0,1,0}; dir[]={0,0,0}; pos[]={0,0,0}; }; }; class Stage6 { texture="#(ai,64,64,1)Fresnel(1.3,7)"; uvSource="tex"; class uvTransform { aside[]={1,0,0}; up[]={0,1,0}; dir[]={0,0,0}; pos[]={0,0,0}; }; }; class Stage7 { texture="MESH_designator_male_solid\data\env_land_co.paa"; uvSource="tex"; class uvTransform { aside[]={1,0,0}; up[]={0,1,0}; dir[]={0,0,0}; pos[]={0,0,0}; }; };

Fantastic answers, thanks guys- just what I was after..! :)

Hi, I'm making a large warehouse right now, and it will have a large sliding metal door on it with a simple animation. The warehouse will use x4 1024*2048 textures and will be a Multimat- my question is should the textures for the doors be on one of those 4 or should the doors have their own single texture and material? What is more efficient? Cheers guys

Cheers for your input mate, really appreciated. I'm asking only to find out about saving "sections" count and texture space really. If it's possible for me to include the door textures with the building textures, and I can export them all from the same file (Possible, both doors on front of building entrance?) then this will be better than having to load in two separate doors with their textures too... I suppose I'm asking if I can export all together as a single placeable model with working doors in their correct place as opposed to three models with three sets of textures... sorry if my thinking is muddled on this one. I haven't set them up yet no, I'm waiting on a solid answer really so I can then use that method for this and future structures mate.

When I export the Factory_Building.pbo will that .pbo have BOTH animating doors in it too? Or will they be separate objects I have to "snap" to the door area later when putting my map together?

Hi guys, Does anyone know from experience about snapping together large 50 meters structures? I'm planning on making a huge vast structure so obviously it'll have to be made of 50 meter sections that I'll then snap together. What I want to know is where the ROADWAYlods/GEOlods etc snap together and meet up- will there be ANY issues/problems with players walking/stairways along them or crawling etc? Falling through floors or just not working in general? Is this an issue please? For now, AI doesn't concern me too much as I'm just thinking about it from a player perspective. Cheers guys, Marc

Aye man, I do indeed plan on sticking to Multimats (They are really easy to understand and make too!) but I still don't 100% know if the best method is to include the door texture with the 1 Multimat, or have it as a SEPARATE Tex/Mat?

Cheers guys. So, when you say AIpathlods are are the same general area, do you mean they can be "pathless" for awhile in between where the paths are then sort of "find" a path again? Shouldn't the paths be exactly snapped to each other between models if possible? Would you say 25cms is enough extra for the ROADwaylods and GEOlods to stop the falling over? Regarding the different RVMultimats for each part, I was asking because if it (I don't know if it is) IS loading in the SAME 4 textures for each different part, then you might aswell have different looking textures as it all goes to VRAM space anyway? Do you see what I mean? I know it's more work creating the textures, but I'm just trying to find out if this is in fact what would happen...

Hey, thanks man..! So, it's ok if I use a single RVMultiMaterial on the main building itself (x4 1024*2048s), then use a single RVmaterial 1024*1024 on the animating doors? Thanks for the extra knowledge about only using _CO.paa on the far away RESlods too- that is what you meant yes?

Are there any takers on this question please? It's because I really want to make it as efficient as possible and I don't know if it'll have to load in all the associated textures with a Multimat on the doors if they're included or not?

This is looking more and more impressive at it develops... amazing work. :)

Cheers dude, aye, I loved the ported Stalker Units for ARMA 2... amazing seeing them in the RV Engine. If I had the time I could easily make some HD textures to go with those as I think they're perfect design wise as they are. :)

Hey up, a bit of a deviation from updating the development of NOVA ZONA here guys as I'm getting a lot of (welcome) questions and guesses at release dates I thought I'd write an "automated response" so I can just copy and paste it from now on and save time: "Hi fellow Stalker, this is an automated response regarding a release date and/or the current state of NOVA ZONA development. Whilst I really really appreciate your interest in wanting to get your irradiated hands on the map, it is in fact a very long way off from being finished yet. I am still working on producing a library of objects/structures/models etc to populate the island with and haven't even started the actual Terrain yet..! Time is very hard to come by for me, and I am grabbing an hour here and there when I can but because of this it is a hugely drawn out process so please bear with me, try to enjoy the updates and any advice or suggestions are always welcome. Rest assured I want to put boots on the ground as much as you guys but it's taking time. I will let you all know as soon as I can see an end in sight- for the time being, I am hiding in a bunker in the Eastern Ward of NOVA ZONA working in the wee hours of the night to make this happen... Thanks very much for your interest and sorry I can't produce a release date yet, Marc" I just wanted to ask, is that sufficient do you think or does it come off as a bit dismissive at all..?

Hi Ed, apologies man, I should have mentioned that Das Attorney has taken an interest in this now and is in the process of creating a really good script mate. Thanks very much for your post all the same- all this codey stuff is very interesting for me to look at..! :)

Hi guys, my first post here in this dark mysterious side of addon making, and I'm not sure it's in the correct topic so mods please feel free to move if not. I've made some "characters" for a map I'm creating and I would like to have them move/change position slightly when the player ISN'T looking at them- ie; when they're off screen. Firstly, about the characters. They can be thought of as metal sheets- they do not animate as such and are basically cut out figures that will dot the landscape. So there's no actual animations to bear in mind, these will be static in of themselves so are simple in that regard- they could be though of as planks of wood for this topic if that helps. At this early stage if I'm to be exact about their exact behaviour I'd have to say I'd like them to have a random chance of movement (A figure I'd play with and experiment with) 2-10 meters generally towards the player but not always. This occurs ONLY when the player does not have line of sight with it- when player turns his back on it past a certain degree. This is to ensure player never sees it "materialise" or actually move across the landscape and this would also increase the unnerving factor imo. Sometimes (again randomly) a sound will play like metal dragging along concrete (dependant on surface type). Also, and this is the point- if they get too close to player, player suffers a form of health degeneration (the same as burning would be fine for now as I'll refine that part in future) and will quickly (Again I'd like this figure configurable) die unless he moves away. That's basically it. The only other thing I can think of is in what form I'd like these characters to come. I am open to advice about that, but I think it'd be best that they don't come "embedded" in the new map like this, but rather so I could place them individually or in clusters in certain areas and make them as a mission file? Bottom line is I'd like to be able to place them one at a time or a group in the editor too. Another idea I've had put to me is to make them animal AI or ambient life? Would that be a module? I don't know... so I'm asking all this here in the hopes that someone sees an interest in this and would please consider setting up a script if it's NOT too much trouble... I have no idea what it takes to make something like this happen guys, but if someone did, then be assured I'd study said script until I fully understood how it works. If this would be simply too much work for someone then no worries- I have no idea the amount of work involved in this. Thanks for your time, Marc