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Multi-cabinet container variations prefabs


Fidcal

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Modelling isn't very scarey to learn - if you've got access to good tutorials, and people who can answer your questions. (That's really the main thing)

 

I've been cranking out some 3D models at work recently, even though I'm hired as a programmer, hehe. My team needed more art but the company couldn't spare the artists so I just told them I could do art stuff and they let me go at it :) The artists are happy with the quality and the amount I'm helping out.

 

Obviously if you can make this cabinet, you've got good artistic skills, and the ability to learn to used tools to get what you want. So you just need the time and the info to learn the 3D modelling tools, and understand the requirements for the modelto be in the game (techniques for getting a good polycount, etc.)

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I'd love to learn lots of things and not afraid of any of them: scripting, modelling, animating, coding, but don't have the time to even do the mapping I'm trying to do at the moment because I'm bogged down trying to finish these prefabs plus assessing how to upgrade the scripting info on the wiki, plus these are some of the things on my todo list: stepladders, repair fonts, various wiki updates, test all moveable entities, trainer, and more, not counting three full size maps. Which shall I abandon to take up modelling?

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  • 3 weeks later...

Update. Possibly finished the writing bureau now but would appreciate any testing feedback before I proceed with the others as it has been a long and arduous trial and error to improve from the first rough. Map is test/cabinets.map and I've also uploaded the layer groups file in case anyone wants to examine it in detail in Dark Radiant. Ignore the other cabinets which are unfinished. The dark wood dresser on the left probably only needs the drawers and doors transferring from the writing bureau but it involves a lot of careful checking so I held off in case of negative feedback.

 

Changes:

Dark wood texture. I tried many things including cube map and finally settled on this with a high specular. At first I hated it but now I think it's reasonable though not perfect. I don't think we can truly have polished, shiny wood texture without using mirror or something.

 

Improved handles. Replaced all round brass knobs. Cupboards have tear drop pendants and drawers have grab loop handles. All animate and texture greatly improved even in ambient.

 

Drawers all redone with front frob and cut down sides to greatly improve frobbing items out of them. One problem is that it is possible to jam them with lots of moveables (plenty provided to test.) But I think that these drawers will only be used two ways: Some special items or loot the player has to get out of them or else put in (like incriminating evidence in Den.) The mapper can set this up with just one or a few items and test so be certain the drawer won't jam. If the player deliberately puts lots in before removing loot and jams it then tough. If he jams it after then it is not serious and the player is just experimenting with dark mod physics. I believe the jamming might be due to two entities lined up blocking the drawer. Not sure but I think that was tracked for possible fixing anyway?

 

Frob distances, biases, frobbox sizes, all re-explored to try to get the optimum ease of frobbing both drawers as well as contents.

 

Question: What, if any, moveables and possibly statics should be included with the prefab? Leave it all totally empty? Or include plenty of items for the mapper to delete and/or move around?

 

PS. If you run the map remember you have a lantern to examine in different lightings conditions.

 

post-400-1231535684_thumb.jpg post-400-1231535694_thumb.jpg

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Wow, that stuff is great! Especially for hiding some things the player needs to find. I can see myself throwing out all the stuff in the cabinet to find that secret letter.

 

 

Nice secret apartment, but the button that opens it can be frobbed through the drawer in front of it.

 

Also, the books in the right cabinet are too big for the space they're in. They easily get stuck

 

Question: What, if any, moveables and possibly statics should be included with the prefab? Leave it all totally empty? Or include plenty of items for the mapper to delete and/or move around?

Just include the items that are in it now :) .

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I'll recheck that button. What happens is that this whole thing is so complicated and took several re-inventions, that things that worked before might fail later, hence this testing. That button should be disabled frob control but position is critical so I'll adjust it.

 

Both those books and the scrolls in the cupboards can be a bit awkward. I'll check them again. Those scrolls look nice though. I might make the miniature globe a moveable too. I won't leave all those moveables on top - they were just for testing.

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I tested the cabinets, everything seemed to work and they look great. It was impossible to get those angled books back into the upper compartment, but that's not really the cabinet's fault. You need two hands to do that (one to hold the first book in place while you slide in the next) and our player only has one hand for the purposes of grabbing objects. :)

 

Is it my imagination, or do the drawers open slower on the rough wood cabinets in the back of the room? I remember thinking the drawer speed was all right for the fancy cabinets, but then it seemed too slow on the rough cabinets. In any case, even if they're both the same speed, they could probably stand to open a bit faster.

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Thanks Ishtvan. I'm currently adjusting the moveables. That middle cupboard is a bit tight for books so I've moved them to the larger cupboard on the left and got rid of the static mini-globe and replaced it with a static hourglass (moveable not working at the moment) Also removed one of those books.

 

Current problem that is baffling me is that the quill has stopped being frobbable enough though it has worked fine for months. Also in the same cupboard, the secret slider works but as it recedes into the back it can no longer be frobbed. It too worked fine before. Increasing frob boxes, frob distance and biases makes no difference. By making the quill immune to the frob zone it then works proving that the frob zone is disabling its frob at start up but not enabling it when the door opens - yet the bowl in the same area does work! The quill origin is well within the frob zone brush exactly where it has always been. Trouble is, these cabinets are so complex that if I adjust one thing then another may go wrong and not be noticed for a couple of weeks by which time I've forgotten half the things I've changed.

 

Only the writing bureau is finished (apart from glitches like above) all other cabinets are unfinished and can be ignored. The bureau is the standard I will apply to the other cabinets. I have had to rebuild parts so many times I don't want to have say rebuild all parts on all cabinets but get it right on one first.

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After a day testing everything from the likely through the unlikely and finally to the absurd I found the frob error was caused by a static model. I'd resized it with the rotate hack. Noclipmodel fixed that so now I'm back on track.

 

Added a little player clip so the drop down writing slope is not blocked by the player's body and added monsterclip so AI won't get blocked if the drawers are open.

 

Another day testing generally and hopefully I can make a prefab out of that bureau and test rotating etc.

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Couldn't wait to try the writing bureau in a real FM. This situation is not quite right - I plan to do a study/library but it will do for a quick look...

 

Mmmm... that desk might have the info I need but how to reach it?

Maybe I can sneak down the side... post-400-1231963931_thumb.jpg

Could be some valuables in those cupboards too...post-400-1231964145_thumb.jpg

Can't extinguish the candle without him noticing. I'll have to take him out...post-400-1231964193_thumb.jpg

Dang! Forgot my blackjack!post-400-1231964219_thumb.jpg

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The desk looks great. That nobleman makes me cringe, however. :) I can't wait to get the actual one rigged.

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  • 4 months later...

I've download some cupboard ref material. This new prefab will probably be a cross between these two but with a single door...

post-400-1244200591_thumb.jpg post-400-1244200603_thumb.jpg

Question: What were these cupboards used for? In the UK I think we'd mostly see these as wardrobes. Should I add coat pegs inside or what? I can't think what use they would be without shelving and then the player can't hide inside. I guess he could if crouched. So should I add a shelf or two at the top?

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When in doubt, why not do both? Add a shelf in the middle but make it a separate material that can be set to nodraw with a skin.

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This is what I've got so far. I finally went for double door. Door handles might need enlarging. Texture needs more thought. The cupboard depth I'll need to add an inch or two. I can get inside but not quite close both doors. We could have a whole narnia secret door in the back of this! :)

 

post-400-1244214464_thumb.jpg post-400-1244214488_thumb.jpg

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I'm not artistic in the normal sense but like sticking different things together until they look OK. Those spindles are brushes and patches I ripped off my desk and adjusted for this purpose. Same with the feet.

 

So the style is basically OK? In which case I'll proceed.

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This is what I've got so far. I finally went for double door. Door handles might need enlarging. Texture needs more thought. The cupboard depth I'll need to add an inch or two. I can get inside but not quite close both doors. We could have a whole narnia secret door in the back of this! :)

 

post-400-1244214464_thumb.jpg post-400-1244214488_thumb.jpg

 

Oh well,

you neber checked out my cupboard in the mill map, haven't you? And nobody ever answered my question why it doesn't work, either (when you close the front door, the backdoor stops working immidiately)

 

 

Btw, don't spoil the map for yourself, after reading the above spoilter don't go and check it out except if you are Fidcal maybe :)

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man." -- George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

 

"Remember: If the game lets you do it, it's not cheating." -- Xarax

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Btw, don't spoil the map for yourself, after reading the above spoilter don't go and check it out except if you are Fidcal maybe :)

Come on, you know there's always someone who has to take a look and see what's wrong. :)

 

Why the back door becomes unfrobbable when you close the front door? That's because you set it up like that. The back door is partially inside the target_set_frobbable. When the front door is open, the back door is frobbable, when it's closed the back door is unfrobbable. I assume you're using the target_set_frobbable to prevent the back door from being frobbed through the front door or something like that, I think you'll need to set it up with a trigger or a script that checks for the players position and when he is in the closet both doors are frobbable.

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