Draco - Sunday, 3 February 2008

Released! - Discuss progress and updates on the biggest Trespasser level endeavor ever, JPDS - a dark Tres mod by Draco and co.

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Draco - Sunday, 3 February 2008

Post by Draconisaurus »

Name: Draco Astreus
Position: Team Leader, 3D modeller, event scripter, sound design, level design, texture design
Occupation: Aspiring Game Designer, Boyfriend, Restaurant Front Worker
Age: 20
Listening to: Turok Dinosaur Hunter OST



Alright it's time for another update on my progress... Things have been moving slow, with various slow-downs like three nasty colds in January alone, but there are some things to report.

Before I talk about progress, I'll talk about my recent delay. Sometime about Monday the 21st, I disappeared. :| As I and some of my friends do often, I left my computer on overnight with just the messengers running (with away messages). Standard procedure. When I awoke in the morning, I was surprised the the monitors were still on. They showed my screensaver (a flapping flag with the JP stone logo, moving across the screen) frozen in place. The thinking light was stuck on, and the controls were totally unresponsive. There wasn't even sound of the computer thinking, lol. Anyway, I turned her off, and back on again in 10 seconds. Started loading the OS... then finally the blue bar froze in place, thinking light stuck again. Ran a drive diagnostic from system BIOS, and it passed. Soooo, I brought my computer into the shop (NO! Not Best Buy, a local store called Neo Computers) to see what they could do. He said it could be the hard drive and that the diagnostic I ran wasn't very thurough, anyway.
For one week, I was computerless. I did manage to make it to the library computers 1 time and check some of my PMs, where I replied to Shadow Wolf and apparently relayed the general idea to people here, which was nice. :D And so.. that weekend I had 4 consecutive shifts, anyway, so that took a bit of time away. For most of the rest of the time, I either hung out with my girlfiend (I talked with her on a phone a ton during this time - her computer was also out of commission, having died of old age) or spent time cataloging recorded VHS tapes in the living room, something which I've been meaning to do for a bit. That was actually a bit of fun, since I ended up watching a lot of the stuff I was cataloging. :mrgreen: I think in general, I quite enjoyed the stress relief for one week, but also it made me realize how productive I can be when I'm not always talking with my friends online, and so I've already begun a habbit of appearing offline in the messengers so that conversations are kept to a minimum.
So anyway! I got a call from Neo Computers on Monday finally and found out it was finished being repaired and ready to pick up. Apparently, there was a bad sector on the HD for unknown reasons. They had to repair the sector and then reinstall Windows XP and all the updates, as well as AVG, AIM, and I believe MSN as well. No other files were effected, thankfully! :) So no worries, it's all right where I left it.

Alright and so, now to what I was doing before (and slightly after) all that. I haven't been working on JPDS, as I may have conveyed in some posts lately. Me and my elite group of aspiring game designers ;P agreed to take up Trespassing starting in January 2008. Well, I agreed that work would begin then. Sam is still quite busy with all his stuff. Slash is uhh.. doing stuff. :P Since I'm basically the only one on the team with Crysis and the Sandbox2 editor, I took up the task of getting into the whole process of level design (always a fun adventure) and seeing how CE2 works. I have to say, it's quite a beauty. The Sandbox2 editor is a nice merge of Max and TresEd, with a bit of heaven in between. For example, instead of moving slowly across a landscape, placing copied instances of tree groups and making them fit with the terrain, manually rotating/positioning etc... I just go to Vegetation, create a vegetation group by picking out what vegetation models from a library to use, give them certain values (align to terrain, random rotate, size & size varience, density, etc. etc.), then click a button and begin painting trees and grass across the terrain with a variable radius brush... I'll tell you, I was this close to making JPDS a CryEngine2 project, but that would just be too much extra work. I'd have to redo all the models and create high-poly characters. As for the dino part, we're doing that for Trespassing anyway so it's a lesser consideration. ;) Anyway of course, Trespasser is Trespasser.. despite the frequent crashes and unreasonable limitations, it's still Trespasser and there's no other game quite like it. Despite the good object handling you can do in Crysis, I don't think crate stacking would quite work anymore? :| Can't do without that, so Trespasser it is.
Heheh anyway.. to teach myself the ways of Sandbox2, I was originally just going to make a random-terrain test island, but I decided to see how well I could use the TC_Isle terrain, the closest of any Trespasser level to a truly realistic heightmap. It was not easy getting all the settings right, I'll tell you, but eventually (with a bit of help from Matt, actually) I got it looking just right (height was the biggest problem). Then I went and painted the terrain textures on, creating a beach that very nearly matches that of TC_Isle. By this point, I had decided: This isn't just going to be a testing and learning ground, I'm turning it into a mod - "TC_Isle, Crysis-Style", aka CryIsle. It's going to duplicate the environments we all recall and love from TC_Isle, but in a hugely more realistic graphic setting, perfect for the exploration-emphasis of the original level. The lack of dinosaurs won't even effect it that much, but they'll be put in eventually. Heheh, I'd also like to make the SS Venture a drivable vehicle, we'll see how that works out. Anyway, enough with the talk, I've done terrain painting, roads, some river, and much foliage in the level. Even put some birds in. Enjoy! (all images in Medium graphics settings)

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And that's really all I have for today! At least I think that was it. Anyway, the current available ways to import new models to Sandbox2 are work-arounds while the community waits for the SDK to be released in the next Crysis patch at an unknown date. I've decided to skip the lengthy readmes, especially considering my version of Max (r5) is outdated and might create extra hassle along the way. Oh and, the Christmas Contest basically isn't happening this winter, the level TheGuy and I are working on will take such additional effor to complete that I'm just gonna say hold it until next winter, I think it's best since we're so tight for time with our other projects. Slugger insists he'll release his level whenever it's ready, rather than wait for a contest.. I have a feeling this means we still won't have much of a contest next year. Since TheGuy and I will have a head start with that one, I'll go ahead and say now that you can begin work on the next Christmas conest level at any time. Levels will be packaged up with a Christmas engine that's already been 98% finished and won't see the light of snow for almost another year.
And so, I'm finished with CryIsle for the time being and will be returning to work on JPDS immediately. With Mike back on the team, and Matt's help with videos and the like, we may actually get somewhere! :D

-Drac.


PS: I almost forgot! I've made a new video. Or rather, I conceived of (totally improv) and filmed a short movie some time ago, and just recently I gave it to Matt and he did all the rest. Have a look:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnkYY6vZ8nE
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Post by TheGuy »

Wow! I must say that your CryIsle has come along very well indeed!


It's nice that you have your computer back. :)
About this time last year I tried to update the BIOS on mine and to cut a very very long story short, I was without my computer for 3 months. As with you, I found that being without a computer was actually a very productive time. Maybe I should go and break it again. :mrgreen:
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Re: Draco - Sunday, 3 February 2008

Post by Nick3069 »

Wow! :o Great work and great idea!

I'm guessing you've made the chevy truck at the base drivable... but what is that other vehicle (the one on the left) in this screenshot?
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Will the cave and elevator be the same or will they actually be underground?

Will this work with the demo or will I need the retail for this to work when you release it?

This is great and all, but... Don't you listen to what everybody is telling you? :P You're taking too many projects at once!
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Re: Draco - Sunday, 3 February 2008

Post by Draconisaurus »

Nick3069 wrote:Wow! :o Great work and great idea!

I'm guessing you've made the chevy truck at the base drivable... but what is that other vehicle (the one on the left) in this screenshot?
Image
The left-most car is the civilian truck from this shot, the other car is the same type at the top of the hill. I haven't been able to import any new models, like I said, but I'm not sure yet if I'll be using the TC_Isle truck. I'd rather repaint the textures for the truck they already have, since it works..
Will the cave and elevator be the same or will they actually be underground?
It will actually be underground. :) Sandbox2 terrain has what's called "voxel editing", I haven't learned how to use it yet but that's what will be able to make caves and all that stuff. Should be pretty fun.
Will this work with the demo or will I need the retail for this to work when you release it?
Hmmmm, to be honest, I'm not sure. It might work with the demo, but it might not, I guess the biggest thing is if it includes the same library that the retail has, but that might not even matter?! I'm not sure how much data is stored in the level files for Crysis, eventually I'll need to know this.
This is great and all, but... Don't you listen to what everybody is telling you? :P You're taking too many projects at once!
Didn't you listen?! :P I completely agree. I pledged to Mickey several months ago, though, that I would start Trespassing when we got to 2008. This is a rather half-ass job of it, in some ways, but it's a major step forward, AND it's all I'm doing for now. I plan to put off CryIsle indefinitely until JPDS is finished - I wanted to come at least this far, with all the foliage types and all, before quiting and moving back to JPDS. Trespassing is more like an obligation, but anyway it has more important significance than I've mentioned so far.
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Post by TheGuy »

Draco asked me to do a pre-release video of his very nice CryIsle mod. You can watch it here...

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_O6QpCyuR5U

For some reason YouTube says the video is 10 mins long when it's only 2. :|

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Post by Shadow Wolf »

nice vid guys, nice p90, I was considering getting one, seems pretty stargate style, intentional? somewhere over here there is a paintball team my team beat who were all wearing stargate uniforms, guess somewhere must sell them
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Post by Draconisaurus »

Hehe, well I bought a tactical vest some time ago for a Stargate movie my friends and I were filming. Never got finished.. but that vest costed $90, not a cheapy! Heh and the P90 airsoft gun was also for the Stargate movie, so with the two of those put together in any way, it's bound to look like Stargate.... :D
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Post by Shadow Wolf »

Draconisaurus wrote:Hehe, well I bought a tactical vest some time ago for a Stargate movie my friends and I were filming. Never got finished.. but that vest costed $90, not a cheapy! Heh and the P90 airsoft gun was also for the Stargate movie, so with the two of those put together in any way, it's bound to look like Stargate.... :D
nice, how much was the P90 anyhow and where from? it might be nice to have something in the movie that didn't have a caliber larger than the barrat as featured in tres
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Post by Draconisaurus »

Honestly, I don't remember, but it wasn't that much. Something in the $20-30 range, rather cheap. There are much better ones around for more. Hmmm..

No wait, I've found the email. It was $34.49. Here is the one I bought:
http://www.hobbytron.com/AirsoftSubMach ... MD90F.html
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Post by Shadow Wolf »

hmmm not bad for an AEG, probably not that hard to do something about the orange tip, I know you can get a slightlye better one over here for about £20 (maybe about twice that in dollars)
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Post by TheGuy »

Shadow Wolf wrote:...probably not that hard to do something about the orange tip...
Disclaimer: All Airsoft guns are sold with an orange tip. It is illegal to remove the orange tip.
Not a good idea. :no:
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Post by machf »

Notice that it doesn't say anything about painting it over... ;)
Visit The Carnivores Saga - a forum devoted to modding Action Forms' Carnivores, Carnivores 2 and Carnivores: Ice Age games
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Post by Shadow Wolf »

TheGuy wrote:
Shadow Wolf wrote:...probably not that hard to do something about the orange tip...
Disclaimer: All Airsoft guns are sold with an orange tip. It is illegal to remove the orange tip.
Not a good idea. :no:
huh? all the airsofts I've ever owned have never had one, only gun I've ever had with something like that was a paintball pistol with interchangable red and black ends, and paintball guns are classed as air arms but they don't need one
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Post by Draconisaurus »

Lol, actually we were going to painted it over black but never got around to getting the paint, and the shooting schedule was tight. I've seen some airsoft sold with no orange tip. Basically, just don't go out in public with it.. come to think of it, we were filming in a public park XD Just don't let the cops see you with it, or someone else who cares to report it. As for Wolf, the laws in Europe are likely differen't.. but I think they're generally stricter on guns so I'm not sure what's up.
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Post by Shadow Wolf »

Draconisaurus wrote:Lol, actually we were going to painted it over black but never got around to getting the paint, and the shooting schedule was tight. I've seen some airsoft sold with no orange tip. Basically, just don't go out in public with it.. come to think of it, we were filming in a public park XD Just don't let the cops see you with it, or someone else who cares to report it. As for Wolf, the laws in Europe are likely differen't.. but I think they're generally stricter on guns so I'm not sure what's up.
well my second in command says that gun laws are looser over there but airsoft laws are stricter over there too :?: :mrgreen: :?: dunno, anyway we know all of this and I've never seen a policeman in any of the locations we film thankfully but we keep a look out
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