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Post by ryokan on Mar 22, 2021 5:58:16 GMT -5
Considering that this game is a MMORPG obviously, how would creating mods work in the first place. I mean can anybody host another server and it will show up on Thunderspy manifest list and then the player can join with the same client to the modded server and all the files get automatically downloaded? I know with Zandronum there is Internet Doom Explorer and Doomseeker which have their own program that seeks custom pwads being used by the server which gets downloaded first before the player joins the server, so it is not something that Zandronum itself handles it.
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Post by Bubble Wrap on Mar 22, 2021 10:05:57 GMT -5
There are two distinct types of mod that can be made. Client side mods let you replace any textures or sounds in the game with alternatives - vidiot maps is a good example of this, where it replaces the map textures with more useful ones. Client side mods are broadly compatible with all servers, though there will likely be some issues with specific servers, especially between the I24 and I25 branches.
Server side mods, on the other hand, consist of entirely new assets, such as the insect and skeleton parts from OBH, new maps, new missions etc. Some work on these can be done just through regular asset editing programs (any image editor can make textures, 3DS Max or Blender can produce models), though full testing will require your own server setup. Anyone with a server can also produce new missions, new maps, new enemy groups and so on, which can then be offered to server owners for implementation.
There is no way to download a copy of the thunderspy branch itself, however you can download the ourodev I24 Issue 2 Volume 2 server which is the base from which Thunderspy, Rebirth and a number of other servers are derived. Anything built using this ourodev server will be easily portable to other I24 derived servers due to this common heritage.
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Post by ryokan on Mar 22, 2021 10:33:35 GMT -5
There are two distinct types of mod that can be made. Client side mods let you replace any textures or sounds in the game with alternatives - vidiot maps is a good example of this, where it replaces the map textures with more useful ones. Client side mods are broadly compatible with all servers, though there will likely be some issues with specific servers, especially between the I24 and I25 branches. Server side mods, on the other hand, consist of entirely new assets, such as the insect and skeleton parts from OBH, new maps, new missions etc. Some work on these can be done just through regular asset editing programs (any image editor can make textures, 3DS Max or Blender can produce models), though full testing will require your own server setup. Anyone with a server can also produce new missions, new maps, new enemy groups and so on, which can then be offered to server owners for implementation. There is no way to download a copy of the thunderspy branch itself, however you can download the ourodev I24 Issue 2 Volume 2 server which is the base from which Thunderspy, Rebirth and a number of other servers are derived. Anything built using this ourodev server will be easily portable to other I24 derived servers due to this common heritage. >clientside mods lets you edit sounds and texture That's great, then I'd would be able to edit change the sounds of the firearms then and replacing it with something else. >server side mods I am kind of experienced with Blender and have some experience also with Python/GDScript so making hardsurface models is for me not much of a problem, though I wouldn't be able to create new character stuff as those are too complex for me to make so I'm mostly limited to structures, vehicles and weapon modelling. I can vaguely recall that DrBrain once mentioned a very powerful server is needed for to host CoH servers, is that also the case with local only servers? My computer is quite old and doesn't has all the modern processing powers that CPU like ryzen offers. >ourodev I24 Do I have to keep anything in mind when I plan to edit those files to make it as easy as possible for porting? As in can I just create a separate text file which does inheritance/patch based editing? There is this nyan text format which has this feature where values can be patched and they dubbed it as "meta-meta modding" i.e mod of a mod
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Post by Bubble Wrap on Mar 22, 2021 12:33:30 GMT -5
You can run a local server on any desktop PC really, the main demand on the server is maps and depending on what you're testing the number you need to have running can be as low as zero.
If you want to get started with modelling, Yikes (on discord, not sure if he's on the forums yet) is the best person to talk to. He's only done character models so far, but he should be able to get you started on the process, and then we can work out the final import for static objects.
I've never used nyan, but we have a tool which does something similar, but i suspect in a more limited fashion, called modmaker. It is mainly used for costumes currently, but can be used for any files in theory. Other than that, git diffs can be imported easily as we have git repos for the server, so you can make your mod as a branch on the ouro git, or just make a diff and throw it at people. Worst case, we've made changes in the past based on instructions in a text file, it all depends how complex the changes needed are.
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Post by ryokan on Mar 22, 2021 14:17:25 GMT -5
You can run a local server on any desktop PC really, the main demand on the server is maps and depending on what you're testing the number you need to have running can be as low as zero. If you want to get started with modelling, Yikes (on discord, not sure if he's on the forums yet) is the best person to talk to. He's only done character models so far, but he should be able to get you started on the process, and then we can work out the final import for static objects. I've never used nyan, but we have a tool which does something similar, but i suspect in a more limited fashion, called modmaker. It is mainly used for costumes currently, but can be used for any files in theory. Other than that, git diffs can be imported easily as we have git repos for the server, so you can make your mod as a branch on the ouro git, or just make a diff and throw it at people. Worst case, we've made changes in the past based on instructions in a text file, it all depends how complex the changes needed are. >You can run a local server on any desktop PC really, the main demand on the server is maps and depending on what you're testing the number you need to have running can be as low as zero. Alright that's good to know. >If you want to get started with modelling, Yikes (on discord, not sure if he's on the forums yet) is the best person to talk to. He's only done character models so far, but he should be able to get you started on the process, and then we can work out the final import for static objects. is Yikes only available on discord? I don't use that program for various reason and I rather prefer using IRC or Element/Matrix instead as those are open source. >I've never used nyan, but we have a tool which does something similar, but i suspect in a more limited fashion, called modmaker. It is mainly used for costumes currently, but can be used for any files in theory. Other than that, git diffs can be imported easily as we have git repos for the server, so you can make your mod as a branch on the ouro git, or just make a diff and throw it at people. Worst case, we've made changes in the past based on instructions in a text file, it all depends how complex the changes needed are. Hmm I checked that modmaker repo and it looks like it needs Visual Studio which is quite demanding on system resource at least on HDD space, so there is no other option to use it outside from Visual studio? For the other part it is good then that the source code supports git though I don't know much how to use git apart from using the gitk interface to push changes. I guess in this case I will later learn by doing. If Visual Studio is the only option to work with this program then I suppose I have no other choice and try to get it running under Linux. For now the mod ideas I have for this game will have to wait as I am already busy with 2 other projects. What I have in mind for this game in mind is mainly to add several new power sets that related to Firearms and energy weapons, so that players can recreate characters from Half Life, Unreal, Doom and couple others such as UAC Marine, HECU soldier, C&C Renegade weapons and others. Does the game also allow for a custom movement code when the player is "morphed" to a different character? Since there is a few missions where the player gets different power sets and has a forced costume style and some power sets that does that which makes me wonder if it's possible to add support for vehicles, preferably with working turrets system because the maps in this game are quite big and have a vehicle friendly layout at least for the outside maps. Maybe some code from Quake 1 Airquake mod or Blades of Agony GZDoom mod could be ported over somehow, the first mod adds various vehicles such as tanks, airplanes and turrets for the player to use and the latter has a drive able Sherman tank. The Quake 1 mod could be a better starting point as its modding language is QuakeC which is similar to C while GZDoom uses ZScript that has various aspect of C++/OOP patterns.
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Post by Bubble Wrap on Mar 22, 2021 15:02:08 GMT -5
You only need visual studio if you want to compile modmaker yourself, the actual program itself doesn't require it, however it is a windows program, so I don't know how well it will work under linux (via wine or whatever?)
I've pinged yikes and asked him to get in touch.
When the player is turned into an animal, for instance, an animation flag is set that causes animal animations to play instead of humanoid ones. In theory you could do the same process for vehicles. The main issue is making sure attack animations work for the morphed form, so it's potentially a lot of work to set a new one up.
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Post by ryokan on Mar 22, 2021 15:28:44 GMT -5
You only need visual studio if you want to compile modmaker yourself, the actual program itself doesn't require it, however it is a windows program, so I don't know how well it will work under linux (via wine or whatever?) I've pinged yikes and asked him to get in touch. When the player is turned into an animal, for instance, an animation flag is set that causes animal animations to play instead of humanoid ones. In theory you could do the same process for vehicles. The main issue is making sure attack animations work for the morphed form, so it's potentially a lot of work to set a new one up. >You only need visual studio if you want to compile modmaker yourself, the actual program itself doesn't require it, however it is a windows program, so I don't know how well it will work under linux (via wine or whatever?) Ah, I'll check it out soon. Wine nowadays is more usable as it is now backed by Valve so it should support even greater set of programs. I've already got various programs to work with it such as Ultimate Doombuilder, OS Palette Editor (C&C tool), SHP Builder (C&C tool). As long the program doesn't rely on .NET framework it shouldn't be too difficult to get it to work, I already play CoH for a while with the lutris installer provided and it works much better then my previous attempt as it was more prone to bugging such as keyboard input not getting registered. >I've pinged yikes and asked him to get in touch. Nice, thanks for pinging him. >When the player is turned into an animal, for instance, an animation flag is set that causes animal animations to play instead of humanoid ones. In theory you could do the same process for vehicles. The main issue is making sure attack animations work for the morphed form, so it's potentially a lot of work to set a new one up. Hmm it is something worth to try, from the sound of it a turreted vehicle might not work well so for ground vehicles only fixed casemate vehicles would look correct, for airborne vehicles it isn't a issue I think. A vehicle attack animation is done via scripts only so for a turreted vehicle the turret points towards the target and spawns a muzzleflash effect from the gun barrel, a fixed casemate vehicle such as Stug III rotates the chassis and has a limited gun rotation by swaying to the left <-> right and elevation/depression though this part is not really needed and can be skipped. Airborne vehicles such as helicopter just rotates its chassis towards the target and spawns muzzleflash effect, for jet/propeller aircraft its slightly different as it needs a minimum amount of velocity for it not to crash. So the easiest starting point would be a vehicle that has no turret.
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Post by ryokan on May 11, 2021 6:23:14 GMT -5
Well did you pinged yikes? It's been a while, or is the thread which has a link to the google documents custom costume pieces a result of his? Also which makes me wonder, will DrBrain accept new classes when I get around on making those? That is assuming if I manage to get the stupid server to work correctly under Wine.
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