Chilibird

I think we need an update 'patch' for Generic

Alright. Reading the tutorials leaves me somewhat confused still. I have my AFV designed. Using the Chassis part of the model (Does not have the turret or gun), I created the Front/Back/Left/Right/Top/Bottom collision .obj files. Now then.. how do I tell my Ramses.physicalobjectgroup file that "hey, this one is the front for the chassis" "hey, this one is the left side for the chassis". I also presume I basically repeat the steps and create the 6 collision models for the turret and gun as well? Or should I have created my 6 models from the complete AFV (Turret/Chassis/Gun)? Heh.. sorry if these seem stupid. I can't seem to find a .physicalobjectgroup file that uses the .obj collision model method for reference. As far as I can tell, I use the <collisionmodel> tags (what is the real tag, anyway?) in place of all of those "collisiontriangle" tags. Which would mean that I need 6 .obj files for each of the 3 parts of my AFV? Basically, I'm also stuck as to what to do with my model files, as well. I've got them all seperated into their own parts, but I'm stuck as to what to do with them after that. Do I save them out as .kmz files, open em in blender, and save them as .cob files? [ September 10, 2006, 02:36 PM: Message edited by: IcemanUSA ]

Sounds good. Is there a way to import the Sketchup model into Blender/Wings 3D (I haven't used Wings before)? Or am I gonna have to do this whole thing over again? Second-> How do I go about making the model line up. I see that we are supposed to have the point of rotation for the turret on the x/y axis, ect, but I'm confused as to how this is implemented. Do I make all of the objects (Turret/Gun/Chassis) in one file, or do I need to have 3 seperate sketchup files to do this? And if it is in one file, do I just select the given part of the model I want to export and export it, or do I need to define it somehow "this is the chassis" "this is the turret"? Last.. I have a few lines that don't line up too perfectly. Is there a way to easilly make them match edges?

Howdy all, I decided to start using sketchup for making the Ramses, and in 2 days I got done what took me 2 weeks in Blender. Needless to say, I like what I see. Now then, I have 2 questions. 1- Texturing. How do I do that? Is there a way to output the model for painting, or do I have to manage a decent texture using sketchup's tools? 2- How do I export the model into .cob format? I see the export menu, but I don't see .cob (or truespace) as an option. Same goes for .obj (though I understand that's only doable using Sketchup Pro)

hahaha I was using it for a bit with Posel last night. The thing is, it usually came through garbled/distored, to the point that we couldn't understand each other. It became more effective just to use chat. It might've been our mics/connection, but we aren't sure.

Awesome work This is just great news. The grid will make things much easier to coordinate, instead of typing "sw" "ne" "s" in the chat box

Basically, to have a game sell thousands upon thousands of copies, it has to be a game that a 10 year old can play. And unfortunatly, they do. And noone likes it when they do. A lot of the arsehats I ran into while admining a server on MOH, or just playing BF1942, make me much happier this game doesn't attract those sorts.

Maybe, instead of having it change colors, just have it defined in the scenario's victory conditions using a tag. That way, a certain side could have a single point to defend, but no reenforcments, whereas the attackers liveship is in optimal drop orbit, and they have as many units as they need. It would be more useful in the single player though, as noone would want to be on the underpowered team in multiplayer.

Well, here's a few ideas... I'm not aware of a screen-filming program for mac, but I know there are a few out for PC. Basically.. two ideas. 1- Follow in the steps of Halo/RvB. Create a short comedy film using DT. Between the Tanks and Infantry, I'm pretty sure you could come up with something funny. I know that we could get a cast/crew from here, and I would certainly be more than willing to help, myself. And think about it, someone comes, particularly a demo player, and sees that we love having fun, and created a funny video, they would be that much more likely to buy the full game. And as people buy the full game, they tell others, and those people buy it, then they tell others, ect ect. 2- An ad. There are all sorts of free video sites out there. Google Video, You Tube, ect ect. On the same principle as above, we could create a video for DT, and since the cast/crew would all be from here, it would be free-of-cost to the team. 3- Those of us who already own the full game should go out to forums and advertise. I visit Macologist, and several gaming clan websites, including PMOH/Planet Medal of Honor, which I am a member of ([PMOH]Iceman). I'm sure once the WW2 mod is out, it would be easy to talk them into it. Basically, I think we all need to do our part to start hyping this game. Advertisement may have failed in the first few weeks, but the game is by no means dead in the water. We can still advertise it on our own.

Oh.. heh. Wow, I must've misread. I thought you were talking about all assets coming like that. *reads it again* Wow.. heh. I do like that. Instead of one team being stuck with a bunch of cutters or vipers, this would at least allow some assets to be scrambled last-resort. Maybe, instead of waiting for the call to deploy, reenforcements are sent to orbit to wait as the existing units are depleted? Still though, for initial delivery, I stand by my 'crash pods into the ground' stance. At least, make it so for stuff that already uses pods...

It's a cool way of looking at it, but if you think about it, times for drops just aren't feasable. Do you really feel like waiting 5 minutes for your ship to show up? Personally, I would like to see an alternate form of AFV delivery. Basically, drop pods. But the current way that they do their drops won't work. I think something more like a drop pod that crashes and unfolds. This has several advantages, I think. 1- Speed. Simple enough, you want to get your unit down, and so you catapult it out of a launcher on the LiveShip and crash it right into the target. 2- Game balance. Well, the random dropship drops are nice, elimating the abililty for point-drops, but it added the issue of dropships dropping their cargo in a less than opportune place. So here's what I think. Basically, all battlefield assets are delivered via drop pods. These are ejected at high velocity from the liveship in-orbit. They then crash into the battlefield (I mean crash, as in imbed into the earth/crater sort of thing, not like the drop pods are now), unfold, and out comes the AFV. That way, it's less likely that you will drop with your rear end towards danger. Of course, one would think 'well, then people can point-drop again'. Not quite. Since these things are ejected at high velocity from an orbitting ship without the time to determine exact trejectory, there is no guarentee that it will land exactly where you intend. It could land hundreds of meters away from where you intended, which might be good, might be bad. Due from the sheer force of these pods hitting the ground, it makes a small crater, so that it's less likely you will slam into the ground where you can't get any traction. (Of course, when I say fast, I mean fast. Kinda like *click* 1...2...3...4...5... *WHAM*) And of course, dropships are still used to get damaged vehicles out, since drop pods can't do that. That way, a team can continue to drop units into the battlefield no matter what, so maps don't quickly become a reenforcement-zone fight. However, things can become messy if all of the dropships used for retrieval are lost. Anywho, I don't know how easily something like what I suggust is implemented, but I think it would make things much more futuristic, and possibly easier to avoid battles leading to pinning an enemy against the reenforcement zones. As much as that is realistic, it's also not very fun when it happens. Anywho.. how about thoughts on my drop delivery idea? Better, worse?

a little more like this one, maybe? (I wasn't having much luck with the integrated turret. Prooved to be too restrictive.

aye, I agree. I'm one of the very few who actually drop these things, and also one of the few who can pilot it with any reasonable sucess. The thing is, I usually get blown out of the air before that happens.

aittam- Are you saying the gun should be part of the chassis? I didn't think of that, but I like it.. might need to look into that. I'm not sure if the gun can rotate without a turret, though... Still.. I'll spend some time with that. I like that idea. And I'll get that tutorial done soon. Just need to get off my lazy butt and do it Squid- I agree, looking at it now. I'll probably change that if I don't integrate the gun into the chassis.

Alrighty. Here's a render of the Ramses plus the turret. I'm not too sure how much I like it, but so far, so good, I guess.

lol, that's the thing I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing myself I have the chassis created, but I'm still lost on other matters.

I know we don't want to do anything by having defenders have more/different units than attackers, but here's my thoughts. If I ever figure out what I'm doing with the Ramses, that would be an effective point/side defense weapon. (ya know, a modeling tutorial would be really nice ) The 120 MM cannon firing AP rounds, if stationed on one side of the defending teams' base.. let's say raid in this example.. could effectivly help control the mad rush to make things point-blank, since it would have a large kill-range. Granted, they'd be slow, so you have to have your defences in place before the mad rush begins, but it would at least allow the defenders to slow things down a bit, if properly deployed. Personally, I'm happy with how the game is, at the moment. It's like real combat.. well.. with dropships. The only thing I would say is to make erecting defenses (I.E- the cutter's trenches) easier.

Adding new things in isn't too hard if you think about it. It took some thinking on my part, but I managed to get King of the Hill into my scenario. All ya need to do is set the victory conditions up to match what you're looking for. I personally like the way some are now. Granted, a LITTLE variety would be nice, but it's nice to not have to think about what you are trying to do. (I.E- "Oh, this map. Now what exactly is a good idea here?)

Howdy all, I'm sure we all agree that the HE rounds don't exactly have much use right now. That's why I decided to do something about it. I went in and started to mess with the 120MMHE.physicalobjectgroup file. And here's what I've come up with.. Alrighty.. instead of a High Explosive round, we have Antimatter Slugs. These babies have a very small amount of antimatter loaded in their tips, which, upon crushing into a target, ahhnialate. This causes armor burn, and, in the case of a penetrating shot, will almost certainly wipe out everything inside. I've tested it on ATGM's (usually 1 shot kills) and Hurricanes (No internal damage, though the armor was weakened). The round also shows up as "120 MM Antimatter Slug" when it kills something, though it still shows "HE" in the weapons bar. I only did this to the 120 MM shell, since smaller ones seemed too insignificant to warrent the use of Antimatter. Anywho, It's only some minor changes. Feel free to check it out, just don't overwrite your existing 120mmHE file. http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4JGRXNFY Thoughts? Comments? Anything I should change?

Alright, I went and flattened that front end out, and also had a name hit me. I'm thinking this is the M9 Ramses Long Range Battle Tank. Or of course, Ramses for short **edit** Now some renders. Of course, any input is appreciated (Clay, any say on this?). I'm hoping to get to the texturing part of things before long. I'm trying to figure out how to combine multiple polygons into 1 in blender so that I can reduce the polygon count somewhat near the wheel tread wells, ect. One question, though. Do I want to create my treads in the same model as the chassis? It would appear as though my turret should be a seperate model file, but I can't tell with treads. What about animations? Does DT render those, or do I have to do it somehow in Blender? Anywho, here's the new renders... I've still got those weird artifacts, which is something I hope to solve via combining some polygons, if it can be done. [ August 30, 2006, 08:13 PM: Message edited by: IcemanUSA ]

Yeah, I think i'll prolly go and change that front armor. I was never too sure how much I liked it.

Howdy all, I've spent some time in blender, and after much tweaking, I think I've got something that looks at least somewhat like a tank. It's based loosely on the M1A2 Main Battle Tank, and the M109 Howitzer Cannon. The very back flat section is obviously going to be where the turret will end up. There are weird lighting artifacts showing up near the front, which I'm going to mess around with. Other than that, lesse... A brief description of where stuff is, and the whole idea.. First of all, it is, like I said, a Main Battle Tank. Well.. sort of. It's more like long range LOS artillery. So it's a Artillery Battle Tank (ABT) More like the Howitzer I suppose. It will have the armor of a thor, as well as it's inherant slowness. However, it will have a very powerful 120 MM gun, though only loaded with AP rounds. HEAT rounds will explode upon leaving the barrel due to the high muzzle velocity. It will be treaded, not wheeled, as a wheeled chassis would flip under the sheer velocity of the shot. Finally, the Ammo will be stored under the turret, near the crew compartment. Obviously, this will make either a shot through the crew window, or through the ammo boxes most likely fatal. As for physical stuff... The gun, once created, will be mounted on that rear flat section, and its muzzle will extend to near or past the nose. That front bulge, kinda where those lighting artifacts are showing up, will be the engine. It is mounted behind those sloped plates, as to minimize the chances of a penetrating shot. Behind that, kinda where the triangle is, is the battery/fuel. The raised section leading to the flat area is the crew area. Like howitzers, it will be a windowed cockpit, and the crew will be its most vunerable aspect. Treads are not in yet, but they will go in the sides there. The general concept is going to be many sloped sides, as to minimize the chances of penetration. I'm not too sure how this works into the .physicalobjectgroup file, so that may be more complicated that I'm thinking, but we'll see I guess. If it is a problem, it wouldn't be too hard to flatten things out a bit. I know at least a few of you are going "Hey, that's not very fair. A gun like that will be able to pulverize anything". Not quite. It's AP, not HEAT, so you still need to hit the correct subsystems. Second, the turret will rotate very slowly, like the howitzer, so it won't be too good in close combat. Also, it will only be able to rotate maybe 30 degrees to either side, not the whole way around. (Can this be done?) Of course, even if it can't be restricted, the back is going to have very weak armor, as that is the crew entry/exit doors, so leaving your behind exposed will most likely result in you getting your behind kicked. Lastly, it will move very slowly, due to the weight of its gun, so it's not like it can immediately get to the optimal position. BTW, dropping it onto mountains, ect, wouldn't work because the cannons velocity will either overshoot the target, or send you rolling down the mountain. Well, anywho, that's the general idea. Any comments, questions, or concerns? The one thing I'm not too sure about are those raised areas to either side of the Crew windows. (It appears dark black in the render). I'm thinking I might just shrink those back to be flush with the crew window.

I'll say! I've been working on making my own model using Blender, and a technical drawing of the M1A2 Abrams tank, and it's been an entertaining effort 0.o

I think that was something that was discussed, but was decided that the performance hit after a while would be just too great. Same with the server crash problem. I also had a problem where when manually setting the range, I would get noises other than the normal sounds. Stuff like the gun firing noise, burning chassis, the infantry 'owww' noise, ect. Jung said the same thing happened to him, but it went away on its own eventually.

It's cool man. We love you too