Possibility of creating a Western Front Campaign

[norm]

Great, I will look forward to this. Since you are working on a Sherman variant, any possibility of doing a lend-lease one for the Russian campaigns?

[Stig]

Nice job!

How did you get around the .go file limitation? What did you import into the game, and what tools did you use to create the 3D shape?

[Kyth]

Is the 2km x 2km limit a HARD AND FAST limit, or just one that the original dev team used? Is there any flexibility to that (e.g., could you elect to create a map 1km by 4km, say, to create a "traverse road" type of scenario?)

Dovetailing on that question... we still need a tutorial on how to create totally new maps from scratch.

Hi,

Square maps only, I think.

Some answers in the other thread, http://graviteam.com/forum/index.php?topic=1173.0.

As mentioned, there's a quick way to get around this limitation, since the maps are supposed to 'tile'.
To elaborate further:

- Game will give a toot that you've run out of map; there's a text entry for this error message which you can blank out.

- A line of 2D trees indicates the edge of the map; the relevant texture file can be set transparent.

- The weather configuration limits the visibility; there is a haze setting which you can ease up, to let you see for miles around.

A sufficiently flat and featureless map (gentle rolling slopes, sparse vegetation) is practically endless!
Good for epic long-range battles on the steppe! 

Regards,

[norm]

but is there a limit for this square maps.

[Kyth]

Hi Norm,

Not sure where the limit is,

In missions, I've placed reinforcements in the neighbouring 'tiles' and they travel to the battlezone without a problem.
It's also possible to place air support units 10 - 20 km away, ready to strike when triggered.

(Edit)
Hmmm... I stand corrected. Something bad happens after you ignore the warnings... it's 'Mission Fail' if you wander too long outside the edge of the world 

AI Tanks don't appear to have this limitation, though.

Regards,

[WatchMan]

Slowly, but surely.

[frinik]

  Nice work Watchman!You're definitely the Man to watch!

[norm]

fantastic! Any particular reason that it was imported as German? (Just curious.)

[frinik]

  May be to make a comparison for scale with a German tank.Since the AI automatically fights any vehicle not identified by the code as a friendly if you want to put along 2 opposing vehicle you have to crew them with AI from the same side.(Just my guess probably wrong...)

[WatchMan]

Hi all! The model featured above is classified as a German unit because I'm working on a stand alone mod and had to use configurations from the basic game. As it turns out the coding for the pz4f1 was most similar to the M10, bogie suspension, similar weight, etc. And yes I included a pz4f2 in the scenario to compare dimensions, appearance and lighting. To norm, as soon as I get a fully working M10 into the game, complete with a cockpit, 76.2mm ammo specs, "Yankee sounds", meaning commander, loader, etc. sounds I will definitely start working on Sherman variants. As soon as the M10 is completely done, I'll post a down loadable test mission, so people can beta test it.


 

[WatchMan]

BTW, thanks everyone for the positive feedback, I hope with time I can create a campaign that will complement the SFK42 community.

[Kyth]

Hi WatchMan,

Keep up the good work! 

[Stig]

Very nice Watchman, very nice.

Did you use the tutorial on tank model import to do this? Can you list your toolset and a quick rundown as to your (obviously successful) production and import process?

[norm]

Looking forward to this! Will you release each Vehicle as they are completed, or as a pack?
[Edit] Just re-read your post, so that looks to me like one by one.

[WatchMan]

Hiya stig, the actual import process is based loosely on the vehicle import utility. I can't really do a decent tutorial at this point because my end goal is to have models in the game with English comment lines, accurate unit and component definitions for British, American and French forces and a host of other things.

What I can do is give a quick run down of the process I use to get test models into the game.
(This is by no means complete.)

The toolset I'm currently using is:
1) Cinema 4d for modeling and material application.
2) Photo Shop CS3 for texture conversion and other graphics file work.
3) The object and mission editor mod for SFK42 for putting models into the game.

I don't know much about 3DS Max, I have the demo but don't really use it. The reason I mention this is because the vehicle import utility uses this. The following description will use a tank as an example and references to object details will be very general due to the fact that they are defined differently depending on the 3d software you use.

1) The first thing to make note of is that your tank model will need to have object names that will work with the code scripting within SFK42. In other words your tank model may refer to the "Turret" as a Turret, but the scripting refers to it as "db_head", so name your vehicle parts accordingly.
   
    A) In addition make sure to align your axis's accordingly, most importantly your wheels.

2) When naming object parts use an existing ".go" model for reference along with the corresponding ".engcfg" file. Example: "pz4.go" file has a "pz4.engcfg" file associated with it.

   A) Directory tree:
        1) pz4.go                                       2) pz4.engcfg
         data\k42\loc_rus\go\techn\tanks       data\k42\loc_rus\levels\LEVELS\tech_cfg

3) Within the ".engcfg" files there are references to other files such as the cockpits, tread assignments etc., you'll need to adjust all these files.

4) Learn Russian, just kidding but any comments that you see in the configuration files are in Russian and it helps to convert the comments to English, just to get a better understanding.

5) Insert your model as a "MOD" and use the mod enabler to test it.

I know this doesn't do the whole process justice, but hopefully it's a start. My best advice is to mimic an existing model. In other words take a pz4 along with all the associated files and make a mod out of it, but instead of using the original "pz4.go" model make your own 3d model with the exact object names as the pz4 and insert it into the game. Example:

1) "mymodel.3ds" containing all the parts of the pz4, including crew positions and camera locations.
     A) "mymodel.3ds" converted to "mymodel.x".
     B) "mymodel.x" converted to "mymodel.go" using the object editor.


If you can do this and get a copy of the pz4 working in the game you'll have a much better understanding of how things tie together. From there you can make other models and adjust them and their configuration files accordingly.