NeoN NationS

[Tjong]

Hi there,

I'm currently working again on my NationS gamemode, which I started in 2009, but then lost interest in it.

NationS is basically a gamemode which aims at the goal to combine the good ideas of: Minecraft, World Of Warcraft, The Sims, The Settlers, Grand Theft Auto, Battlefield and Command and Conquer

The first unique feature it got, is the complete new map, which is generated by a map-generator that uses the normal GTA Objects and creates a huge new landscape which is exact as big as the whole San Andreas Map. The map already got four different landscape types: beach, sea, forest and deep forest and in addition there are several mountains covering the map.

As you may guess, a map as big as San Andreas needs alot of objects (actually talking about more than 100.000) and therefore I had to write a work-around, which does unload the MTA Streamer, because loading the whole map into the streamer, just leads to a game-crash, so I wrote a streamer for the streamer (yo dawg...)

which I uploaded about a year ago, shows the map generator in a very early state, a new video will be uploaded soon, but in the moment I can't really record anything, as ATI graphic-cards are just a huge huge huge huge mess when using Linux...

Anyways here are a few screenshots, showing the new kind of map:

I hope you like my idea

There is just a problem, as I can't really find good modelids for the bottom that fully meet my desires and I also tried to make my own custom models, but failed very hard (and yes I watched the custom-models-video), so if anyone has a little bit of time and knowledge how to create these custom map objects, I would be really thankful if he could help me out with this problem

Videos

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Tjong

Edited January 19, 2011 by Guest

[eAi]

Sounds interesting - what do you mean by "for the bottom"?

[Oz.]

SketchUp + Sandbox tool is your friend, you can make simple landscape objects very easily.

I do a fair bit of modelling/custom objects for my server, don't really have time (or motivation ) to make more stuff for other servers. But happy to offer some advice if you keep trying yourself and get stuck.

You have an interesting idea though, best of luck with it

[Tjong]

Sounds interesting - what do you mean by "for the bottom"?

Well everything from the map is build up with GTA objects and also the bottom is just a (small) piece of object lying somewhere in San Andreas. But the first problem is, that it is way way too small (41 x 31) and as you've to move along into the GTA limitation of 255 objects, a huge object would be perfect. The problem with huge objects is that they look extremely ugly (basically because they're used underwater in San Andreas) and they're mostly just flat, the model I'm currently using has little hills which is way more realistic

But both have the same disadvantage: they've edges, which look very unnatural und ugly, a round corner would be better, so I think the best way would be to create an own model which meets all the features

SketchUp + Sandbox tool is your friend, you can make simple landscape objects very easily.

I do a fair bit of modelling/custom objects for my server, don't really have time (or motivation ) to make more stuff for other servers. But happy to offer some advice if you keep trying yourself and get stuck.

Well if you give some advices and maybe tips I would also be very thankful

My first question would be which exact tools and programs do I need? Something like 3ds max or is there something alternative?

You have an interesting idea though, best of luck with it

Thanks.

[eAi]

Try SketchUp, as Oz says.

[Oz.]

I use a combination of SketchUp Pro + 3DSMax. I think GMax would also work as an alternative to 3DS, which is free, while 3DS is not. I do most of the modelling and texturing in SU, it's a much more visual approach to modelling which I find helpful for this application. I'm not sure whether SketchUp (the Free one) has .3ds export ability or not - it's kind of necessary to get your model into 3DSMax/Gmax. I was using SU long before Google bought it and made a free version, so frankly I've never used it. But perhaps if it can't export to .3ds, it has an export to another friendly format (eg .obj).

Once you've got it in 3DSMax/Gmax, you can do whatever manipulations you need to do in there (radiosity for DFF, applying a col material if you're doing a .col) and then export it using Kam's Scripts. If you google Kam's Scripts you should find what you need. You'll also need to make a .txd using something like TXDWorkshop.

Aside from that it's really just a matter of practice and experience, trial and error :3

There's also plenty of good resources for additional information if you get stuck, at the GTA Forums.

[Tjong]

I uploaded the promised new video, which is showing the new map and the first functions

You can find it in the first post.

[Oz.]

Any luck with the custom models?

I liked the radar showing your actual map, nice touch

[Tjong]

Well actually, creating custom models takes too much time, which I don't have at the moment...

I was able to replace the .dff but creating an own .col didn't work at all and .txd is also a mess

So at first I will be heading to code other important functions and maybe deal later with the custom models again...

[Tjong]

Uploaded again a new video which shows some of the functions I'm currently working on

Link is again in the first post.

[GodFather]

Nice. Cool destruction! I really like it. Good job.