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So, what are you working on right now?


Springheel

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I'm assuming most high tech stuff in TDM would be commissioned directly to the Builders so that's why I was steering clear of elaborating on company signage.

 

http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Inventor%27s_Guildmentions a Guild Symbol, though I don't know whether there's actually a design for it.

Some things I'm repeatedly thinking about...

 

- louder scream when you're dying

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From the wiki:

 

Builder monks occasionally dabble in invention and mathematics, but they are not engineers. If they want complicated machinery built, they must hire the appropriate guild like anyone else.

 

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Thankyou! I'll definitely see what I can do as I've already baked down a lowpoly and am getting ready to paint in the details. Do you guys usually modify based by a shader color override? Or is it customary to use a separate texture sheet entirely? I kinda wanted to make one rusty derelict version and a clean city version. Maybe a more ornate one for a place of royalty (or religious zealot adornment?). At first I wanted to establish brand names on readouts, but I realized this isn't based in an age of industrial enlightenment. I'm assuming most high tech stuff in TDM would be commissioned directly to the Builders so that's why I was steering clear of elaborating on company signage.

 

The three versions you suggest would be excellent.

 

It would be better not to have standout guild symbols or iconography on them (although, for example, some of our dials read "Dark Engineering Guild", IIRC), since then they can be used in many different contexts by mission authors. They can add their own signage if they want to.

Come the time of peril, did the ground gape, and did the dead rest unquiet 'gainst us. Our bands of iron and hammers of stone prevailed not, and some did doubt the Builder's plan. But the seals held strong, and the few did triumph, and the doubters were lain into the foundations of the new sanctum. -- Collected letters of the Smith-in-Exile, Civitas Approved

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I've never made a LOD model, Springheel has so I imagine he is the best person to help/advise on that. but as a guess I would imagine its a case of making couple of lower poly/tris version of the main model, with the shadowmesh being the lowest of all of them.

 

Had a look on the wiki but there isnt a specific guide -

 

- http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Special%3ASearch&profile=default&search=LOD&fulltext=Search

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I'm getting ready to go watch the new Star Wars here (so I doubt I'll be able to start tonight) but this all sounds very promising. Bookmarked that wiki page too.

 

Also just something to note, I left the lever and release handle as floating geometry. So basically it was left open to be easily animated, that is if anyone feels up to making a lever anim in the future (may ship the source files in that case). ;) I'm just trying to grasp basic things with the D3 workflow. Also given how much this engine seems to hate my Softimage|XSI exporter for basic static meshes, I really don't want to push anything complex like that. Though you know I would if I could.

Edited by Epifire

Modeler galore & co-authors literally everything

 

 

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As I'm feeling pretty uninspired with where I am in my current map I've been tinkering about with them modular facades to make me feel more productive. I'm doing a grid of 64.

 

xPdhD1p.jpg

 

What you're not seeing is the half a day of figuring out how to align the pieces to the grid so there's room for sealing geometry and making sure the tileset can loop on itself. Gotta say it's made me think a lot more about the grid and being mindful of powers of two, so it's actually great to split from mapping for a bit. I've been poring over the walls in the Boyle Estate in Dishonored to see how Arkane did it and it's opened my eyes to the repetition and little tricks they do to hide their modular panels. I've already got edits for the corners of these planned but that's for tomorrow.

 

I may do a post on the MBT thread at some point later summing up some of my experiences with the method after I get some more mileage out of it.

Edited by Spooks
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My FMs: The King of Diamonds (2016) | Visit my Mapbook thread sometimes! | Read my tutorial on Image-Based Lighting Workflows for TDM!

 

 

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One thing I'd recommend spooks is looking at joint/filler supports for breaking things up too. Basically so you can encase the main sections in and seal things off for a separate underlying mesh. What's nice about relying on secondary models for that (besides breaking things up) is overlap. Because if something is just a bit too long for your needs often you can shift the underlying (flat) wall a bit into out of bounds or unplayable area. Since if you break it up into two layers it gives you just a bit more to work with. Another way of looking at it is moveable seams to your walls. Lend an eye to this fine representation I've conjured!

 

Wall_Thingy_zpsb7oo31mo.png

 

Now I'm not suggesting you map everything like that as that'd be a pretty sloppy mapping suggestion. Buuuut in a pinch it gives you flexibility without having to go in and edit existing assets, just in case. ;)

Edited by Epifire
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Modeler galore & co-authors literally everything

 

 

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@Spooks, speaking of the Boyle mission in Dishonored, you don't need to say "they." Purah built the bulk of that, the same guy that made the legendary Calendra's series of Thief FMs. He's one of us. (Another one of ours, Digital Nightfall built the Flooded District.)

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What do you see when you turn out the light? I can't tell you but I know that it's mine.

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One thing I'd recommend spooks is looking at joint/filler supports for breaking things up too.

 

 

+1

 

speaking of the Boyle mission in Dishonored, you don't need to say "they." Purah built the bulk of that

 

 

Cool! I studied every inch of that map for the mansion modules.

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@Spooks, speaking of the Boyle mission in Dishonored, you don't need to say "they." Purah built the bulk of that, the same guy that made the legendary Calendra's series of Thief FMs. He's one of us. (Another one of ours, Digital Nightfall built the Flooded District.)

Got a source for this?

You can call me Phi, Numbers, Digits, Ratio, 16, 1618, or whatever really, as long as it's not Phil.

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Here is one, straight from the horse's mouth. (Inasmuch Purah is a horse. :ph34r: )

Come the time of peril, did the ground gape, and did the dead rest unquiet 'gainst us. Our bands of iron and hammers of stone prevailed not, and some did doubt the Builder's plan. But the seals held strong, and the few did triumph, and the doubters were lain into the foundations of the new sanctum. -- Collected letters of the Smith-in-Exile, Civitas Approved

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"There are game projects that end more like train wrecks than births. There are ugly stories in the industry better left unsaid."

 

Wonder if that was directed at the train wreck that copied them....

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I guess I'll be using this thread to unveil my first mod for TDM: I'm working on making a set of anthropomorphic / furry AI's, based on a quality model for Blender that was made freely available. I've been planning to give this a go for a while, since I'll want to create missions that have such characters. It's currently in VERY early stage, and I only have a partially finished model and base texture. As with everything I do, I plan to release it after I've finished all the basics and have something final. They should be quite different from the existing characters, and allow for creating new types of stories and levels. Opinions welcome!

 

Notice: The current model contains nipples and overall realistic anatomy, which I censored in these screenshots but spoilering anyway. They're part of the original mesh and texture, and since I didn't want to hack it more than necessary I left them for the time being. I haven't decided what I'm going to do about this yet, and hopefully it won't get the mod hated rather than enjoyed. Since TDM has a community of cool and level-headed people, I'm assuming a nude 3D model won't be getting anyone angry.

 

 

aJmwpjB.jpg

ZFqyaGe.jpg

 

 

Edited by MirceaKitsune
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What is it with Thief fans and Furry fetishes?

 

http://i.imgur.com/itazJLx.jpg

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What is it with Thief fans and Furry fetishes?

 

Erm... this isn't for any fetish though. A bit confused someone would bring this up, fandom stereotypes or the "detail" of the base model aside. Though to answer the question, it's a widespread fandom, and inevitably there will be fans of different things everywhere.

 

In any case, I'm only making a set of characters meant to be used like all other characters throughout missions, which I'm hoping to be playable and that they'll allow for some unique stories / places / etc. Hopefully people won't get typical bad ideas just because it's furry characters, which unfortunately seems to happen a lot. Hopefully the finished mod will present this better, when if will be eventually ready.

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Don't get me wrong, it's an impressive technical achievement.

 

Was just a bit disappointed that that would be the first and only thing to pop in someone's mind, especially one of the best model artists here... considering I certainly wouldn't use the model for anything stupidly inappropriate in TDM, while I'm hoping this will be an interesting contribution that artists can appreciate and make funky new missions with. Anthro characters are something I need for some of my own planned missions, plus a thing I've certainly wanted to see in a project like TDM. As there aren't many freely licensed models of quality available, I decided to pick this one for the job... mainly since it's very realistic, and I figured its appearance would work best with TDM's theme. My goal is to achieve the same quality and feel as the existing character models, but we'll have to see how well that works out.

 

[EDIT] Just noticed the actual image in your last post... lol! That's certainly something that would make the player stop mid-mission and be a little confused :)

Edited by MirceaKitsune
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Here is the last preview image from Penny Dreadful 3. Why the last? Because there have already been many, and because I am reasonably close to wrapping up major architecture work. Why a preview image then? Because I have surpassed 10,000 brushes, and because it is Christmas!

 

Therefore:

erasing07_zpsrp85isf9.jpg

 

Nice work. The use of many different textures Its an inxpiration that was looking for.

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Finally managed to make the head and tail of the wolf model work with existing bodies in TDM (depending on clothing). Currently only tested this with the guard, but quite happy with how it looks! Main problem is that the hands are still human (skin rather than fur) which obviously looks off, so I'll have to either use custom skins either stick to bodies that also have gloves. Here are some screenshots, which give a better idea of what I want to have compared to last night's plain model... opinions are again welcome:

 

 

EmJPf4Y.jpg

 

 

 

t7A1OEV.jpg

 

 

 

WGjBkFI.jpg

 

 

 

rjuWNCE.jpg

 

 

And yes, the map is also something I'm making... but that remains secret until later on :) These characters won't be on it, but it was the easiest option for a test map.

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