Derspegn on 4/11/2014 at 02:11
Okay, I been trying to rely on the tutorials and postings, but this one has me perplexed.
Using Blender 2.72 its associated exporters, I have divided a small mountainous .3ds landscape into .bin files. In DromEd, I intend to make a very large cylinder air brush for the environment (I got errors when trying to put air brushes into the solid by means of subtraction method). So I'm thinking the .bin objects should be placed and reassembled inside the air brush. Now, I understand about Object Hierarchy, and I have included the name of one of the .bin files within it. However, I am unable to open the DromEd .Mis like the FM .zip files because it is in an unknown format. I have tried renaming extensions as well as permitting their association, and still no luck So to get to the "obj" "txt" and "txt16" in the DromEd, would I need to perform Hex editing? Sorry if I'm missing something obvious here. :confused:
LarryG on 4/11/2014 at 02:37
Non-AI bins go into your OBJ directory. Their associated textures go into the TXT16 sub-directory. AI bins go into the MESH directory. And Their associated textures go into the MESH/TXT16 sub-dir. Once you have them in place, you refer to the bins in the Shape>Model Name property of the archetypes you define. Take a look at what is already there and how it is put together.
You are aware that your huge bins will not be something that your AIs and the player can actually walk on, right? You have to use the native DromEd geometry for that. Bins can only be objects that you manipulate (pick up, frob, etc.) or objects that are scenery which you can't reach or interact with. In either case there really are only three physics models that you can assign to them: OBB (essentially rectangular solids), Sphere (ball shaped), and Sphere-hat (ball shaped with a platform on top that you can step onto, like crates and barrels). That's it. You can't create step objects and be able to walk up the steps. If you create a flight of stairs as an object, it will be a huge rectangle in the game. Not good. Use the brushes tools that DromEd provides to create your world geometry, and leave the objects for just objects in that world.
My advice is to put this modeling you are doing on the back burner and build a small mission just using the stock resources. Get that figured out first. Then later try out new stuff. If nobody has done it before, odds are that there are valid reasons, and it is non-trivial. Become competent at the standard stuff before you try to do something different.
Derspegn on 4/11/2014 at 08:31
Quote Posted by LarryG
Use the brushes tools that DromEd provides to create your world geometry, and leave the objects for just objects in that world.
I think that is good advice, and I did consider using stock resources as an alternative to the newer tools. Right now I have two missions in mind. One will take place in a small mountain village (like the small mission you mentioned). The other is set in the mountains beyond the village - requiring terrain manipulation and tunneling.
My other question concerns dark.cfg. When I try to max out objects (obj_max 9999, obj_min -30000), and polygons (max_polygons 99999), DromEd gives me errors. If I'm supposed to max things in order to get a large map, would I also max out refs (max_refs) as well?
The small mission idea is ever the more appealing! :D
fibanocci on 4/11/2014 at 08:51
This is the maximum setting
; object counts
obj_min -18192
obj_max 8184
max_refs 47740
I've never seen that 'max_polygons' line. Where did you read that?
Xorak on 4/11/2014 at 09:08
I'd leave dark.cfg for later as well. You can increase the size of things later on as you go, if you need to and until you get the hang of things a little more. What dromed offers as basic limits will allow you to build a very large level as it is. But there are also limits to those things you're trying to increase in dark.cfg (for example the object maximum is 8192). I wouldn't mess around with the polygons. Also, regarding your initial post, I wouldn't make the starting airbrush be a giant cylinder. You're just asking for trouble.
PinkDot on 4/11/2014 at 11:18
Besides what others have said - be aware that Dromed is not the best choice engine for vast open spaces. It just treats an open space like a giant room. There's no specific optimizations going on under the hood to allow rendering of long distant objects etc. like the modern engines do. And polygon wise, a giant 6 sided cube can take dozens if not hundreds of polygons on its own, due to the subdivisions happening. (because of the lightmap size limits).
Personally, I do like challenging this engine with open spaces, but it can be something frustrating and needs a compromise between your vision and Dromed's capabilities. On the other hand - we can now achieve much more with the New Dark than with the old Dark Engine.
Also - have a look at the King's Story FM, if you haven't yet. The first mission takes place in mountains and has a nice distant view on a castle. And that was done with the old dark engine.
ZylonBane on 4/11/2014 at 15:05
Quote Posted by Middoth
Beginner's World Troubles
Surely you meant to say, "First World Problems".
Renault on 4/11/2014 at 15:36
@Middoth - there's a contest going on, check the details (
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=144639) here. Contests are great places to start for first-timers due to the restrictions and time limits. It forces you to focus your efforts on the basics (at least somewhat).
Derspegn on 4/11/2014 at 23:32
Quote Posted by PinkDot
Also - have a look at the King's Story FM, if you haven't yet. The first mission takes place in mountains and has a nice distant view on a castle. And that was done with the old dark engine.
I've played the King's Story FM, and now I'm trying to wrap my mind around shaping terrain within an open air brush. However, LarryG and Brethren have sort of convinced me to wait until later for that.
