gamophyte on 9/9/2019 at 20:47
Quote Posted by PinkDot
Have you tried using combination of cubes and wedges for getting these odd angles and trapezoid shapes? This way brushes can stay at right angles. To get the windows at odd angles, you could do the same - cube for most part and wedge(s) to make the openings look perpendicular to the walls. And since it's a medieval ruins, you don't need to be super precise.
The project is progressing in an interesting direction overall.
I remember there being demo with curvy hallways via wedges but I didn't make the connection at the start of the mission. Too much to walk back now... maybe... But also, I would have to go find that demo to relearn, I can't actually picture it working the way you're saying. The small openings are aren't too bad, I am already using wedges for those trapezoidal shapes, but the main walls, say like, around the courtyard is the main issue. Well let me jump in dromed right now and test something, maybe I'm not seeing it. Maybe though I should avoid using tons more brushes :/
Edit: yeah I messed around with some wedges and got some angles that could work, but then there is some joints that share space with a cylinder-made arch that cannot still be at that angle. It's seems tons more work than I am willing to commit to and lead to awkward corners to scratch my head on. I cannot duplicate portions to move elsewhere because they are too unique to clone. I will def have unique looking portions with interesting angles from wedges, but I have to square out the courtyard and the parameter to make this not a nightmare. But also I'm still keeping the obvious 45° angles that already exist.
gamophyte on 27/9/2019 at 21:31
My brush work productivity has exploded. Just have to do some technical brushwork and retexturing, and some other adjustments.
Then it's on to objects and objects for the sake of detail. I'm thinking there should be a mission two, now seeing how many objects will end up being loaded in this area you see.
I would say, the mission hit its 30%-done mark. I want to say more than that but object based detail work is going to be a slog.
Here is a spoiler free screenshot of Dromed to squint at.
Inline Image:
https://i.imgur.com/19fMD3Q.png
john9818a on 29/9/2019 at 07:57
I was going to suggest using two wedges, one solid and one air to get angles less than 22.5 °. In Bafford's Last Stand I made the outside wall that completely circumferences the castle with non-snapped brushes. I know this is the wrong way to do it but somehow dromed didn't care much.
Btw Austin has 6th street if you need a distraction and lots of live music.
gamophyte on 29/9/2019 at 19:41
Quote Posted by john9818a
I was going to suggest using two wedges, one solid and one air to get angles less than 22.5 °. In Bafford's Last Stand I made the outside wall that completely circumferences the castle with non-snapped brushes. I know this is the wrong way to do it but somehow dromed didn't care much.
Btw Austin has 6th street if you need a distraction and lots of live music.
Hey John! Thanks for the tip in dromed and out of dromed.
I saw that I can make crazy angles that way before, but like Pinkdot warned, you would still have to carve out your windows using the 22.5 angles. Which I tried and, though it is supposed to be ruins, it just bothered me. Now as you see in the screenshot I'm happy now with having "squared" out those angles. It means some areas, if you know this chateau, will be obvious fiction, but it's okay because it is a FM first, not a historical thing. But for those who do like the place will be happy to see it 90% accurate. But now with the story and gameplay planned, you will quickly find that the architecture is not the champion of this FM.
I was on 6th last night! Wooooo.
gamophyte on 10/3/2020 at 18:23
An update; burn out and new PC on the way, but this project isn't dead.
I ended up taking a long break, and maybe I shouldn't exactly say "burn out", perhaps just tired. I cranked out so many custom objects, which with my current process takes much more time than other FM authors, yet I have 100 times more custom objects than the average author.
I also took a productivity hit when my aging main PC started crashing. I sync my whole project with google drive, so I continued building on my work PC, but it has its own issues;
Like, I don't have all of my tools on it and it doesn't render light correctly (no real graphics card), so I can't feel as inspired by in-game viewing after placing a number of great looking objects in.
Which is essential, especially after taking breaks - when you can get that "whoa I made this? Let's add to it!" feeling.
These issues drove me to be frustrated enough to bite the bullet, and started ordering parts for a new system build. Plus it helps that I feel a bit more secure having moved from contractor to real employee at my job.
It will be nice to have one unified place for my data and tools, no more using adapters to mount old internal HDs. No more waiting on something to save, or old SSD bottle necks freezing Windows.
The down side for this project, is that the system will be so fast I may lose sight of keeping the mission optimized. With my old PC I could tell right away when I had done something dumb, via the subsequent immediate hitching.
The upside, is that I can crank out the custom assets faster. Not only by performance, but actually small stalls actually add to building stress, even if you're not aware of it. I know it can start to make me tired.
I also stopped trying to name every single texture file and object in my credits section. I slimmed it down to just whom I want to give credit to, and that's it. It's saving a lot of headache.
On the topic of optimization though, I will keep all I learned in mind, and take moments to test on my old PC - it gives me some time before it crashes, which will be enough walk around the mission. But also there will be some special DML files to help cut back on vegetation, which will be the biggest performance killer in this mission. Then again, perhaps not if LOD is done right.
In case you are like me, (who used to selfishly worry when a FM Author would get a new PC, because I assumed they would be having too much fun playing Triple A titles to care about FMs anymore) I want to assure that I won't lose sight of this project. I actually had the chance to test this for myself; My friend left his BF4 on PS4 here for a month, and I still wanted to jump into building for that rewarding feeling of creating a world. I still had that "flow state" feeling keeping me locked in.
Update: Forgot I wanted to post some teasers, but spoiler free. Plus area is subject to change (like window +'s are placeholders for objects later, or better stone texture for top ones).
Inline Image:
https://i.imgur.com/axzWuee.pngInline Image:
https://i.imgur.com/PIhuolD.png
nicked on 11/3/2020 at 07:27
I hope you do keep working on this. It looks amazing!
gamophyte on 11/3/2020 at 12:35
Quote Posted by nicked
I hope you do keep working on this. It looks amazing!
Hey thank you nicked!
Sperry on 11/3/2020 at 22:11
Looking great! I also like the concept. Keep it up!
gamophyte on 12/3/2020 at 17:51
Quote Posted by Sperry
Looking great! I also like the concept. Keep it up!
That means a lot, thank you. This does help me keep going.
Phantom on 21/4/2020 at 15:45
Quote Posted by gamophyte
That means a lot, thank you. This does help me keep going.
Glad you are still working on this. I know projects with this many custom assets take a long time and a lot of work.