T3ED or DarkRadiant?

[perki]

Which is easier to get into to make maps and add my own custom 3D content?

[peter_spy]

Dark Radiant is easier for adding custom content, prototyping maps with BSP is also pretty fast. Some stuff is harder, like writing your scripts and materials in notepad.

[Melan]

From what I understand, T3ED is rather hard to get into - it relies on jumping through some hoops to design levels, and still carries forward some critical issues which can't be fixed. However, I have never tried to make a mission with it, so this is all based on what others have said.

 

Dark Radiant has been a very pleasant experience:

• It has a good learning curve: you can learn to make a simple, reasonably good-looking mission within a few weeks.
• It is intuitive: the editor is straightforward to use, and has seen several upgrades which make it easy to use.
• It scales up: from small, simple mission to fairly grand affairs, it can accommodate different level sizes and levels of detail. You can create BSP-based (brushwork) architecture, use premade architectural modules (a bit like like LEGO pieces), or combine the two.
• It comes with an expansive asset library. By now, the range of textures, models and AI has become fairly impressive (although it is mostly humans and undead).
• Once you understand the basic rules, asset creation is not a big hurdle (note that generally, textures are easier than models, and models are easier than fully rigged custom AI - making those require skills which few people have).

[peter_spy]

Actually, T3Ed feels like really easy to get into, thanks to UnrealEd 2 interface and tight controls. But if you dig a bit into it, that's where problems start to appear. At this point it's really inflexible when it comes to custom content (3dsmax 5.1 is a must, good luck finding a copy). Also player movement is really bad.

[OrbWeaver]

Some stuff is harder, like writing your scripts and materials in notepad.

 

 

Downloading (then learning how to use) a cracked copy of an ancient version of 3DS Max is an easier way to import custom materials than simply exporting them to open formats and writing a simple text file in the editor of your choice?

 

I guess if you know 3DS Max inside and out then this might be a more pleasant experience for you, but the ease of importing custom content into the Doom 3 engine was precisely the reason I abandoned T3Ed in the first place.

[peter_spy]

You forgot to mention that it has to be launched in win XP environment (so VMware and such) Definitely not easier

 

But, if you are coming from any other engine, like Unreal, Crytek and such, importing assets there is done with user interface. In-engine material editors and asset importers are a normal thing since, roughly, early 2000s? Same goes for scripting, which even in T3Ed is done by using simple If->Then->Else syntax and modular commands, via user interface (even if it rarely works ).

 

Editing models in notepad and writing shaders and scipts by hand is super ancient and super error prone. It can really discourage a newbie, as it takes too much time (as opposed to seconds via UI based system). But even with that it is faster and more accessible than T3Ed, there's no doubt about it.

[perki]

So there is def programming/scripting involved if I want to get my own models into the engine?

[peter_spy]

For models, nope, but you will be writing materials and editing models in notepad.

[perki]

It's pretty standard stuff?