The tutorial thread can be found here: CLICK (
http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?p=2582171#post2582171)
Hello again!
What a bump and thread necromancy! Har har har!
I'm back with a new set of tutorials about area modelling and everything envolved around it. Looking back these old vids just don't do it anymore.
As to be expected my own skill has grown a bit and I discovered a lot more about area modelling.
Therefore I decided to make some new vids about the whole thing. Hopefully this will help people or give more experienced modders some tips. Mind this tutorial thing, just shows how I do things. Its my own personal style on how to handle the area modelling... eh.. thing :lol:
What I want to say is that, this isn't what you MUST do. It just worked ok for me so far. If by chance you know better ways of doing this, then by all means enlighten me and your fellow modders! This is all made to send you on your merry way and create awesome new areas to explore in the game.
Anyway to business; I'll keep the links to my old tutorial vids untill everything is covered again in the new vids. After that I'll "kill" them off, so no one can get confused. Cause, well, I'm quiet chaotic :lol:
Well, here's the first new batch of vids; these first six parts deal with making and setting up a walkmesh. Now six parts sounds a lot, well there's a lot to show and talk about, cause walkmeshes are a very important part of your model. Just watch ;)
Walkmesh tutorial:
First 4 parts are in 3Ds Max, how to create your walkmesh and how to work with it in Kaurora.
PART I (
http://www.mediafire.com/?pj3qaguq87a5jek)
PART II (
http://www.mediafire.com/?kfqwcj4fme3r2k6)
PART III (
http://www.mediafire.com/?nhl1u45781u60og)
PART IV (
http://www.mediafire.com/?5mrn40ylal21qjl)
Last 2 parts are about several key files: .vis and .lyt files and the .are, .git and .ifo files.
PART V (
http://www.mediafire.com/?zk1731bxxg9cle7#2)
PART VI (
http://www.mediafire.com/?sa5333licgnem06) => This one is now uploaded!
Texturing and UVWmapping:
Vid-tutorial in 4 parts, all about how to UVWmap and texture your area.
PARTI (
http://www.mediafire.com/?7izju8445i5vbpu)
PARTII (
http://www.mediafire.com/?dr50i37lojry4mb)
PARTIII (
http://www.mediafire.com/?h29ysq2etwkrz0z#1)
PARTIV (
http://www.mediafire.com/?xi4gzjty9fn2mqz)
--------------
OLD STUFF
--------------
EDIT: This where you ask questions about my tutorial.
Hello,
The last few days I've been writing down a tutorial on how to model a new area.
This thread is also made to put all the info together I made on this subject.
Last year I made some videos about this aswell. You'll find them all here.
Though these vids are a bit older they should still be very usefull and should complement my writen tutorial.
Though my new written tutorial overrules, there some silly thing I do in my video, mainly about converting the Editable Poly to Editable Mesh as one of the last steps.
That was wrong, convert to editable mesh before you start texturing is my advice now. You'll have less trouble with stretched and ugly textures.
The videos are perhaps more detailed all the way. So if you feel you need to know more look up a video part on that subject. If there is any :lol:
Now the written tutorial also comes with a .mod and a .lyt file.
This is so you can quickly test out your own modelled results.
For more and better detailed info on .mod files for an area have look at this tutorial by my friend Marius Fett:Custome Module (
http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=185199)
After that peek into my .mod file and laugh :lol:
Okay the link to my tutorial: CLICK (
http://www.mediafire.com/?lmymfumdodo)
Links to my videos about modelling an area:
Part 1-4: Starting and all about modelling:
PART1 (
http://www.mediafire.com/?n2jgmmpn0nm)
PART2 (
http://www.mediafire.com/?guxauzf2gx5)
PART3 (
http://www.mediafire.com/?cuyt2cnp4f4)
PART4 (
http://www.mediafire.com/?mx9mpijz1b2)
Part 5-8: Texturing the model:
PART5 (
http://www.mediafire.com/?b24o1l3uzvb)
PART6 (
http://www.mediafire.com/?mjqzy5x2jum)
PART7 (
http://www.mediafire.com/?yyp4ym4i2qp)
PART8 (
http://www.mediafire.com/?z04jjtzmmnz)
Part 9-11: Aurorabase, AuroraLight and exporting.
PART9 (
http://www.mediafire.com/?n0fcmsddynz)
PART10 (
http://www.mediafire.com/?onoxlzaytkm)
PART11 (
http://www.mediafire.com/?11j3rgmu4cm)
Part 12: The .mod file:
PART12 (
http://www.mediafire.com/?tnfddtey11b)
Part 13: Last details and test run:
PART13 (
http://www.mediafire.com/?mb1mpbzmvz9)
Have fun and good luck with the modding ;)
Nice I'll be checking it out. By the way is it 3ds max only? Or can you use gmax?
^Half and half.
It's alot easier to do in Max, but as Sithspecter demonstrated in the past, it's possible to come with some pretty nice results in GMax too...
It's just a matter of adapting the instructions you receive to fit GMax...
GMax is just a heavily edited version of Max 4 (it had a lot of features removed) but it's still possible to most things that you'll need for KotOR. :)
^Half and half.
It's alot easier to do in Max, but as Sithspecter demonstrated in the past, it's possible to come with some pretty nice results in GMax too...
It's just a matter of adapting the instructions you receive to fit GMax...
GMax is just a heavily edited version of Max 4 (it had a lot of features removed) but it's still possible to most things that you'll need for KotOR. :)
Is there any way to do rings around the poly(room) in gmax as the option isnt there unlike 3ds Max.
Is there any way to do rings around the poly(room) in gmax as the option isnt there unlike 3ds Max.
I fear this one of those things that got implemented in later versions of Max.
Gmax users will have to do some thinking as you don't have the options to easly change things on the fly.
I'll be honest, newer Max versions will give more speed, though it should be possible to do same stuff.
Though I can't really show you myself, I've been pampered by these modern 3D modelling stuff. It'll require practice to get something out of GMax.
And lately I'm real lazy :lol:
Still the important parts, about the Walkmesh, Aurorabase... etc are the same regardless of what program you use.
Nice of you to document all this. I've been meaning for a while now to get into modeling. :P
sweet!!!! cant wait to see what you got when i get home from work :dozey:
I have a question, Q. I worked out a little room, using your tutorial, and everything went well until I warped to it in the game. It's all dark, I can only see the PC.
I, personally, think it's something to do with the .lyt file. The fact that I've created a new .mod file means I need a new .lyt file (right?). Changing the name of the .lyt file to the name of my .mod file doesn't work. I tried HEX editing, but I'm not sure I did it right. When I do, though, the game crashes when loading the module.
I must say I haven't textured anything. I skipped that part for now, just to see a first result. Don't think that should've been a problem.
Any idea what's wrong here?
Milt, did you set a SunAmbientColor in the .are?
I, personally, think it's something to do with the .lyt file. The fact that I've created a new .mod file means I need a new .lyt file (right?). Changing the name of the .lyt file to the name of my .mod file doesn't work. I tried HEX editing, but I'm not sure I did it right. When I do, though, the game crashes when loading the module.
Euh.. hexedit ??? the .lyt file is just a textfile, you can open it with notepad.
There isn't much info in the file.
Milt, did you set a SunAmbientColor in the .are?
Yes, setting the SunAmbientColor and Diffuse in the .are
might help :lol:
To get good numbers for the color use Glovemasters 3 Byte RGB Code Calculator: v1.6 (
http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=180708)
Though it is possible to light the area without setting those. I did it all the time, but SilverEdge had troubles aswell to light the area... odd.
Milt, did you set a SunAmbientColor in the .are? *sigh* No, I didn't. :p
Euh.. hexedit ??? the .lyt file is just a textfile, you can open it with notepad. Doesn't really matter what program I open it with, I think. Since I used your .lyt file, it has a reference to your module. But maybe editing it with notepad will give better results. But I should first try to set the SubAmbientColor...
Thanks, both.
hello everyone
:waive1: :waive1:
I have another question...
when I want to model more than one room/area,
what must I put inside the .lyt and .vis files
for the module to work... it's kinda confusing :nut:
and I'm german... so ignore all mistakes... :D :D
I have another question...
when I want to model more than one room/area,
what must I put inside the .lyt and .vis files
for the module to work... it's kinda confusing :nut:
Welcom to the forums !
To answer you're question.
I guess the whole room/ area thing is confusing.
An area is made out of several rooms most of the times, in my tutorial its just 1 room. As I just want to show the basics how to create such a thing.
Now lets say, we have an area made out of 3 rooms:
- Left room (1)
- Corridor/ hallway (2)
- Right room (3)
Its best to model this in one go, then cut your model up. Then export each part out seperatly, so that you would have 3 rooms.
To let the game now, you're using 3 models/rooms you need to mention that in the .lyt file.
An example:
the comments inbetween the brackets shouldn't be in the real .lyt.
#MAXLAYOUT ASCII
filedependancy QGMTest.max
beginlayout
roomcount 3 ( this here says, how many rooms make up the area)
QGMTest_01a 0.0 0.0 0.0 ( Rightroom)
QGMTest_01b 0.0 0.0 0.0 (corridor)
QGMTest_01c 0.0 0.0 0.0 ( Leftroom)
trackcount 0
obstaclecount 0
doorhookcount 0
donelayout
On the .vis; honestly I never bothered and used this file.
Most of my areas are small compared to Biowares and Obsidians.
The .vis tells the game what is visible from where.
example:
In the Righroom you can only see the corridor.
In the corridor you can see both rooms.
In the Lefroom you only see the corridor.
That is, very simply said, what a .vis does.
Again I never used one... so its still a bit of a mystery for me to :)
Ok...
no .vis file...
thing less to care about... :D
and thx for the quick reply
I'll try it and maybe ask some more silly questions... :D
Out of curiousity, is there an easy way to make a hole in a wall for a doorway or door?
Other than that, it seems like a great tutorial. :)
Ferc, what I usually do, (which is probably the long, hard way knowing my luck) is import the door model I want to use, get rid of everything except the bits you see ingame, position it where I would want my doorway to be on a wall, and do the boolean object thing to make she shape.. :)
Fantastic tutorial Q! I checked it, and I think it's great and very noob-friendly!
Ferc, what I usually do, (which is probably the long, hard way knowing my luck) is import the door model I want to use, get rid of everything except the bits you see ingame, position it where I would want my doorway to be on a wall, and do the boolean object thing to make the shape..
In layman's terms, please? (Sorry; I don't understand the bolded phrase.) I understood what to do up until that point, though. :)
:p
I don't have Max on this machine atm, so I can't give you any screenshots or anything i'm afraid...
Hmmz, you use GMax, right? I'm not sure if you can use Booleans in GMax..
In layman's terms, please? (Sorry; I don't understand the bolded phrase.) I understood what to do up until that point, though. :)
Boolean object is a function in Max.
:p
I don't have Max on this machine atm, so I can't give you any screenshots or anything i'm afraid...
Hmmz, you use GMax, right? I'm not sure if you can use Booleans in GMax..
I'm using a trial version of Max at the moment and have GMax also. :xp:
Ahem, Boolean is a somewhat EVIL function.
You'll be able to use like twice before you'll get crap.
Let me try to explain how I do it.
First get a door from the game you would like to use. Lets say a door model from Nar Shaddaa.
You'll need to get that model out of KotorTools. Then using the import of NWmax bring the door in a new empty scene.
One door model of Kotor is made out of lots of parts, just select the whole bunch.
Then in the top menu, go to Group.
Save that scene with door.
Open your room model, then in the top menu, go to File=> Merge...
Look up your saved scene with the door.
Pick that one and hit open, you'll get a new window: listing all the 3D objects in that scene. There should only be one: Group 1 == your door.
Hit OK and the door should now be in your scene with your room model.
Position that door where you want it.
Then its a matter of connecting edges to setup the "hole" where the door needs to go.
Hmmz... I better put this in a tutorial aswell, guess some helpfull tips are in order for the bigger more complicated models :p
Okay you chumps, I recorded a piece, on how I do holes for doors... most of the times :p
tha link: CLICK MEH YEAAAAAAAAHH (
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?ikjgkzwjnmy)
Its without audio, I've added some text pop-ups here and there, just look, m'kay. :lol:
just a question to area lighting...
my problem:
a new module with 3 rooms - each with a different lightcolour (just for testing :D)
when I set SunAmbientColor and Diffuse to 0 then it's all dark and else the whole
area has one lightcolour...
is it possible to change that so each "room" got a different colour as it's set in gmax??
just a question to area lighting...
my problem:
a new module with 3 rooms - each with a different lightcolour (just for testing :D)
when I set SunAmbientColor and Diffuse to 0 then it's all dark and else the whole
area has one lightcolour...
is it possible to change that so each "room" got a different colour as it's set in gmax??
Hmmm, how weird you guys get dark areas... without setting the Sunambient/ diffuse thing...
Thought to anwser you're question, try to put on the Ambient flag in the AuroraDlight.
So you need to put "on" three things:
Fading Light
Ambient
and last one;
Is Dynamic light.
Let me know if that works ;)
I'll have to do some tests to see where this odd problem of darkness comes from...
still dark...
but thanks anyway...
have to try till it works... :D :D
but it's odd that some have problems and some not...
That is, very simply said, what a .vis does.
Again I never used one... so its still a bit of a mystery for me
That's odd; I couldn't get the tutorial module to load until I made a .vis for it.
After looking at it for a bit, I think I understand exactly how it works.
<room's model name> <number of rooms visible from that room>
<list of the rooms visible from that room>
It seems to have you list those 3 things for every room, corridor, etc., in your area. For me, it seems pretty self-explanatory. :)
In the case of the tutorial module, I just did this for it and it seemed to work:
QGMTest_01a 0
In the case of the tutorial module, I just did this for it and it seemed to work:
QGMTest_01a 0
Thanks to clear that up.
I'll have to add that extra information to my Tutorial thread.
Its still strange o_Q
I made 4 modules for Silveredge, each without a .vis... without setting a Sundiffuse or Sunambient...
Made 3 modules for Exile007, again without .vis or Sunambient/ Diffuse.
Hmmz, must have a magic PC or something... :p
The vis file is really just to lighten the load on the game engine by limiting the amount of rooms needed to render; there's no point rendering a room you can't see. It's especially helpful on older computers, or ones without snazzy a graphics card...
If your having problems with a blackness then the problem is usually with you not setting light in the module's SunAmbient/Diffuse structs. The alternative is of course to use lightmaps.
To help my friend Disbeliever I wrote up a little piece about texturing your area, its short though, but it has some helpfull tricks in it.
Here's the link: CLICK ME (
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?kztyt4mmqh4)
Whats in the .zip?
- My 3Ds Max file
- The textures I used for the area
- The word.doc
I have Max 9, so if you got an older version I'm not sure if it will open :(
Though Max 2008 or 2009 should be save I believe.
If it opens and whines about the textures, use the browse button and redirect it!
Nice tuts Quanon. Just recently got 3DS Max 2009 myself, so might give this a whirl - well we all gotta learn somewhere! Lol.
Great tutorial! But if I were not put a texture on it, would it just show up black?
EDIT Because mine just becomes black
Hmm it should look black on the outside( faces are flipped, so they only show on the inside of the box room), but when you move the camera into you should normally get grey or white meshes.
Could you have changed a setting in Max ? Most things are open to be set by the user.
I might finaly learn how to model areas! Yay!
hm... I don't think I changed any settings, I will just re-try this, and see what I get.
hm... I don't think I changed any settings, I will just re-try this, and see what I get.
What version of 3Ds Max you got ?
I'm not sure how well files from differant version work in other versions... -_- sounds complicated :lol:
this might be a bit late to ask but where do you get Aurora Editor? and is there a NWmax for the newest 3d max?
this might be a bit late to ask but where do you get Aurora Editor? and is there a NWmax for the newest 3d max?
I am using max 9 and nwn works for me
this might be a bit late to ask but where do you get Aurora Editor? and is there a NWmax for the newest 3d max?
Here is the updated thread on all the tools we use to mod the game:
CLICKY (
http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=152392)
Kaurora is in there, aswell a link to NWmax plugin => there are 2 versions a Gmax one and one for 3Ds Max.
Good luck ;)
Thanks for the tutorials Quanon. I'm starting to learn how to use 3dsmax9 and they are very helpful.
Just so you know I will probably be asking you a bunch of questions from know on...
=P
Thanks for the tutorials Quanon. I'm starting to learn how to use 3dsmax9 and they are very helpful.
Just so you know I will probably be asking you a bunch of questions from know on...
=P
No problem, that's what this thread is for ;)
Q hates answering questions ;)
^Which is why he has a thread dedicated to doing so. :xp:
As was my reply. :p
Thanks for the tutorials Quanon. I'm starting to learn how to use 3dsmax9 and they are very helpful.
Just so you know I will probably be asking you a bunch of questions from know on...
=P
If you went out and got Max just to mod KotOR, you must be rolling in cash... :p
I know:)
Q is the man, and has greatly helped me in learning to mod for kotor. I am sure he will guide you. The tutorials here do come in handy though
If you went out and got Max just to mod KotOR, you must be rolling in cash... :p
I wish. It's my brother's(hes the one with the REAL cash). We split the money to buy a new laptop and he installed it on it. I know its better than gmax but I haven't fooled around with it enough to figure out the differences. Looks pretty cool, especially the startup screen ^^.
Nice to see you're still around by the way...
Related to Modding: I've never really modeled in my life before(with the exception of a little of Maya in a course I took bout 2 years ago). I've seen there are many tutorials around...is there one in particular that's recommended for a beginner like me?(besides them tutorials about learning interface n all that). Perhaps a recommended good book?
If your interested in moddeling strictly for KOTOR, download Q's 12-13 part how to videos.
If you want to really get into the inner workings of 3dsm, try doing their free tutorials on their site
imo
Perhaps a recommended good book?
3ds Lax Bible! o_Q *Max
There is like a book for each version of the program, it comes with cd/ dvd packed with small tutorials to teach you about the differant tools and gizmos in the program.
I'll be fair, it takes time and practice to get a good grasp of the modelling... thing... to find your work flow :)
It took me a serious 2,5 years to get to a point where I'm sort at "ease" to model small objects.
I got a sort of "click" moment when I did a tutorial on modelling a car.
Its a good way to get to know all the extruding, connecting etc...
Anyway, you can't rush art ;)