Epifire

Yeah that would probably be fine. Is there any other way I can reach you just for general questions and chat about the map? I'm trying to think how the units translate from D3 to my modeling app Softimage. Best thing really is just to be able to reference the map itself from the editor and see where it's going and what it's being paired up with. If that's all good with you, I can get stuff grid aligned and turn out a lot of customized assets that way. Doesn't look like that particular section of the map uses any stone work but I'm dying to try and sculpt out some stone and mortar walls/supports to go in one of these Missions. I recall a lot of the models in TDM folders having tiled world textures for BSP. So I'm really excited to see what some baked meshes are gonna look like in-game. I love how powerful the normal maps in the DooM 3 engine are, over the shader that Source relies on. I also like to use a lot of baked ambient occlusion in structural meshes. Since the engine doesn't actually have any HBAO/SSAO rendering capabilities, it's a fun way to get around that.

What I had in mind was seeing some of the popular existing maps and try to detail areas that were plain or overlooked (things of the blocky BSP nature). Otherwise I'm cool with doing some stuff on request but I would definitely like to collaborate with an experienced mapper and see what details I can help him/her out with. I'm a big fan of landmark assets or things designed with very specific singular usage. Basically running up the detail pass while the experienced mapper (who know's the ins and outs of the game) could manage the layout and more game play specific stuff. I was doing this on the Steam game Double Action, but my other buddy got tied up with stuff irl and we had to set it aside. Reason I'd rather work on a specific map is then I'd know exactly where these assets are intended to be used. Makes for a real personalized space when there are models being used for very direct purposes. I can do either method but it's really cool to work directly with the mapper on said map.

EDIT: As I also realize there was more forum to post in than I'd thought, I may have put this thread in the wrong spot. Hey guys, long time no see! So at some given point a long time ago I was just dabbling with this game, it's editor and modeling but now I'm really tempted to take a stab at this again. At this point I've still been heavily involved with modeling and mapping within Source mods and Unreal Engine 4 but somehow the Dark Mod (being so totally Thiefy) just keeps coming back in my mind. So while I'm still working on some old Star Wars Battlefront map (for legacy support commemorating release of the new one) I'm gonna be wrapping that up soon. I'm not sure if I would be able to work a ton on another project right away but I'd seriously love to try my hand at some dark gritty models for people around in this community. So I guess what I wanna know is, who's still workin on stuff (fan missions and so on)? Cause while I really don't know a whole lot about the particular workflow in this editor (scripting, entities and so forth) I absolutely love the style. Now I figure I'm asking, are there any ongoing projects I might be able to help people with in the future? At this point I'm just thinking art, but I've been adding more to my workflow recently as I've been getting into Sculpting high-res assets for getting some really intense details into my textures. I figured (if it were alright with the community here) it would be a fine place to start getting more experience, while hopefully providing some slick looking assets. If anyone was wondering what some of my prior work looks like, here's some out of the Source mod Double Action: Boogaloo ~ Art Test in Unreal 4 ~ So while it might be a while before I could dive into additional work but I'm really interested in pitching in around here if ya'll would have me. Either way I still love playing all the new fan missions and I think this also went standalone since I last played.

Makes sense. I'm used to working more with Source where if you have the model compiled and working in the editor that it will work the same way in the engine. That does take one other bit into account and that would be, is compressing stuff into a pk4 as easy as renaming a zip file or do I need a tool for that?

Wait, you say the pk4 where it was used... U'm I wasn't informed it was supposed to be in one. I didn't know if that was an engine requirement, I just thought it was a convenient way to ship assets in a smaller file size. Would have helped had I tackled this a couple months back when all this was fresh in my memory.

Whoa, wait a second. People actually make maps in TDS? I thought that modkit was supposed to be unusable?

Well I got one. I have taken a long break from the project but I was going to submit a good cellar window prop I made a couple months ago. Problem is that my other mod project picked up again and I ran into a dead end where the model wouldn't render in-game. Not sure why it wont but the thing will appear in the editor fine and dandy but it wont render at all after compiling and running the test map. Thought there might be a quick answer to this one so I decided against making a separate thread over it. Not sure what to look for in the console for errors but I read the log and it didn't look like there were any model related issues. Would help if I knew what to hit for copying the compile log though too so I could post it here.

Well if they can get compiled fine I am good with giving them to the community since that was my prime purpose for them anyway. @Baddcog I could whip up some LODs for those easy since XSI has a poly reduction tool built in. Would it be alright if I friended you on Steam so I could PM you the details and questions on them?

Hey all. I hope this is the right place for this (since there were none in the models section) for posting work on modeled assets. Been really getting into working with the Dark Radiant and have recently been wanting to make some structural props. So I spent yesterday getting these modeled up and got the textures done today... Got another that is solid, for those of us who may want the blocked view as an option... With Bars rests at 378 triangles (for model) and 602 polys total for shadow/collision. Without Bars rests at 266 triangles (for model) and 434 polys total for shadow/collision. Source being my only engine I have made models for makes this experience a lot of fun. Looking forward to getting both of these in-game cause I have yet to compile them and get them running.

Well unless I start having weird issues I think I will start putting screenshots of project items in the, "what are you working on thread" as I think that is the appropriate place for them. Thanks for all the great tips though guys.

Well after getting what should be the correct measurements in Dark Radiant I set out to construct my first model for the Dark Engine. So here is a preview of the 1st of two meshes (one with bars one solid) that can be added as a structural prop for general uses along low areas where building foundations meet the pavement... Should be working on the texture and the second version with the variation of the solid middle tomorrow. Maybe with some quick and easy normals I will see how they look if I get them to work.

Well currently I got some ideas for some grates and vents to go along floors and such. Good news is after importing those meshes for measurement I found to my delight that they were sized within my grid. So that is a definite plus.

Some useful information. Def files sound a lot like ODF files from my modding back in the Zero Engine (aka Star Wars Battlefront) or just like post-compile QC files (Source related). So I take it ASE files can be used directly with the engine and no further compiling is needed? Seems a good deal simpler then Source's backward export to this version just to compile that to this version that the engine can use. So yeah, it looks like I will be visiting the modeling specifics page a lot when trying to make some meshes. Since I mainly work with levels only, I would likely just be making static architecture props or some physics props. The one thing that really concerns me now is the measurements from Radiant units to XSI units. In Source each unit is the equivalent to one XSI grid square so that is made easy for that line of work. Last time I was exporting ASE files (working in Unreal) I managed to make jar sized props out of my stuff I tried to make so that doesn't bode well for me when I look at how this could end up. Doesn't help that I seem to be the only XSI user here.

Well the good news is I believe the ASE file type is widely used cause I already have an installed plugin that can support that in XSI. I will find out if I am wrong but I think it should work. Thanks for the links btw. Also nice to hear some one else plays TF 2 here besides me.

Hey guys just wanted to know the ins and outs of what is done differently for making models in the Dark Mod. It looks very straight forward but there are some things I had been wanting to get out of the way before starting. 1: Are there support plugins for Softimage XSI to be able to export to ASE? If there are what versions of XSI are supported? 2: If XSI is not supported is there a third party exporter that can do the job instead of a plugin? 3: Where can I find a guide listing a full setup of exporting info (like making collision models, shadow etc)? I come from a background of making models and levels in Source so I imagine it can't be all that different. Maybe even a little easier depending if you guys have as many problems in the development pipeline as us Source modders do. But just a general walk through on what to expect and run into, whether LODs are that necessary for static models and what kind of poly limit ceilings there are. Thanks in advance.

Some really great tips here guys. I really wish I had my PC with the tools right about now so that I could look into these points right now but I am stuck with just reading a lot for now. So just looking at this from a brief perspective seems to look to me that all rendered/un-rendered sections of the map are manually triggered by area_portals that the designer sets up? I have worked with some area portals in Source but they were really when I just needed to chop off some expensive sections that still managed to render when they should not have. Source at current is like the late Cousin of Id so many of these things were either replaced, or improved but pretty much the same general system. Things that so far are still out of my knowledge is how to send commands from map entities to others in the same map (like triggers to a area_portal). In Source we have the Input/Output system, that is he glue of our in-game commands. So I guess you can say I am looking for the alternate systems used for the Dark Engine. Oddly enough some things that trip me up are things like the texture application system, since it seems I can only select a whole world brush rather then just a single face. Or like trying figure out how to move individual vertexes of brushes, over just the simple scale option. Beside those points there, most of it is coming along pretty well and there were no leaks either so that was a plus.

I wondered about changing that stone to something else since it was originally supposed to arch in the middle of the room. Not exactly squared away on everything either, cause I had the intention of adding in scorch decals for the torch and so on but litterally had not gotten that far as to know where to go for applying decals. I have been working and doing nearly all my mod work on my current Ravenholm mod for Half-Life 2. For a long time I have been studying the architecture and design of it (which by the original ispiration) had been inspired by the Haunted Cathedral mission from TDP, cause I guess one of the lead devs at Valve was a major Thief fan. Current work from Source is in this project I hope to see finnished... http://www.moddb.com...ravenholm-world While I am waiting for things to fall into place so that I can do more work in my current project, I think there should be well enough time for getting a better working knowledge with Radiant so that I can start to work on a good mission. I am sure that the Dark Engine has it's limitations and I want to learn them as well, but it should all just take some time in researching things. I think maybe figuring out the static model development pipeline would help a lot though since Radiant appears to work very well with pre-modeled assets for heavily detailed structures. Thanks for a very warm welcome though guys, it's really appreciated coming from the more harsh communites I am used to. Looking forward to getting some more stuff down when I get back from vacation (where I reside typing this currently) so I'll talk more with you guys then!

Hi all! Being a Stealth game fan (especially Thief) although I hadn't had a copy of Doom 3 for quite a while I made sure to swing back here and pick up the Dark Mod when I did. Been stunned at how well this Mod has been supported and couldn't help but want to try my hand at building something in it. I am familiar with BSP mapping and working with brushwork from my work in the Source Engine but the Id 4 Radiant Editor usually struck me as a more difficult clunky sort of program after many tries to work with it myself. I was persuaded to want and try it when I read about the Dark Editor, because I know when an Editor gets support, it's serious. Not even Valve really supports the Hammer Editor anymore so I was stunned. Anywho after spending a big chunk for the better part of two days, I think I managed to get hooked on building in it. Just getting started but wanted to hear some critiques on a little test map/wine cellar I built in the period of two days... Really loving this editor and how well things have been improved since previous versions I had tried to use before this one. I hope after I come back from vacation here I will be able to dig into refining my knowledge of entities and AI more so that I could plan a mission at some point. Between work on my current mod (which has been really slow lately) I hope to really get into this game and this community. Thanks for reading my post and I am looking forward to getting to know people here.

Well I ran the updater twice and it still is doing the same thing. I notice though that even with the training mission it kicks me from the loading screen and I have to start it again. The thing is the training mission loads, where as the other ones just give me the error. Gonna just remove all of the files and re-download the whole thing just in case I have an invalid file some where. I'll tell you how that goes if I manage to fix it or get the same results. EDIT: Doing some crazy fast searching of your guys' Wiki and found this which totally sums up a bunch of issues I was having... Game freezes for several seconds when opening doors The following problems : A) "game freezes and loads some data from hard drive while opening doors" "while loading mission you are returned to the menu and need to restart loading" are often resolved by disabling EAX 4.0 HD in the Audio Settings menu. I figured having a good EAX card would help in the line of better sound so I had that running. I think I am just gonna go without though, since this seems to look like the core of my problem. Okay that is fixed and now I knocked down two birds with one stone. Really thinking about picking up the editor and trying my hand at a mission since I am loving this game so much.

Hey guys I have been drooling over this mod for quite some time and after finnally picking Doom 3 up on steam I downloaded the installer and got going on the training mission. With the only performance issue being the entering of new areas this problem started up a couple days after I got the mod installed. I was just starting to play the Saint Lucia mission when all of a sudden my game went back to main menu. Now I was already playing the mission just yesterday but when I went to load my quick save it would throw me back into the main menu with my sound volume cut out as well. If I try and reload it doing this from total mission start (through the intro and starting gear menu) I get this error popping up after the game fails to load... "Joint 'Hips' not found for attachment position 'hip_stealth_l' on entity 'eman1' Not sure what is causing this but I figured I would post it and see what may be the answer to fixing it. EDIT: Had to make sure but I also found out after restarting my PC that it also effected my PC's brightness level to the screen. Had to restart to get it back to normal otherwise it was really dark after encountering this problem. Alright even later on, after some more testing I found that only the training mission works and all other missions have the same loadfail problem.