"Eck" Status Update
by Andy Wright · in Torque 3D Professional · 06/11/2011 (5:33 am) · 24 replies
Hi All,
Some know that Im making an environment pack, but times a bit tight with other commitments which is why its been dragging a fair bit... however here is where i am currently at with the pack, and looking for some ideas of what you guys would like to see included with it too.
Currently there are 163 terrain materials, set up with 1024x diffuse, detail, normal and parallax. all are drag and drop with the materials.cs already set up for you to just pull up the material and start painting.
There are 20 large Rock shapes completed, and some Cliff face shapes, though these are still being worked on. Some tree's set up for wind effects. There are alot more shapes I intend on including, however im thinking of releasing this as an early adopter for some more input as to what would be useful/nice to see included with the pack.
I'm currently working on setting up some precipitation effects for the various levels such as duststorm, Light Snow and Heavy Snowstorm as only a HeavyRain one is included with stock 1.1. And will also be looking at creating a small selection of ambient sounds at some point too.
I Also have 17 example levels made, these are currently plain textured terrains with the scattersky, clouds, etc etc set up. included are the heightmaps and diffuses for the zones. There are heightmaps included for about 8 other terrains. I Can also add to these if there are different styles that would be more useful to the pack.
Here is a wall of the basic preview pics for each level from the loading gui for an idea of the terrain styles included.
Anyways, what im looking to find out, is would anyone be interested in this pack at somepoint as an early adopter still being heavily worked on as the core texture and terrain part of it is about complete, its mostly adding to the shapes etc.
Some know that Im making an environment pack, but times a bit tight with other commitments which is why its been dragging a fair bit... however here is where i am currently at with the pack, and looking for some ideas of what you guys would like to see included with it too.
Currently there are 163 terrain materials, set up with 1024x diffuse, detail, normal and parallax. all are drag and drop with the materials.cs already set up for you to just pull up the material and start painting.
There are 20 large Rock shapes completed, and some Cliff face shapes, though these are still being worked on. Some tree's set up for wind effects. There are alot more shapes I intend on including, however im thinking of releasing this as an early adopter for some more input as to what would be useful/nice to see included with the pack.
I'm currently working on setting up some precipitation effects for the various levels such as duststorm, Light Snow and Heavy Snowstorm as only a HeavyRain one is included with stock 1.1. And will also be looking at creating a small selection of ambient sounds at some point too.
I Also have 17 example levels made, these are currently plain textured terrains with the scattersky, clouds, etc etc set up. included are the heightmaps and diffuses for the zones. There are heightmaps included for about 8 other terrains. I Can also add to these if there are different styles that would be more useful to the pack.
Here is a wall of the basic preview pics for each level from the loading gui for an idea of the terrain styles included.
Anyways, what im looking to find out, is would anyone be interested in this pack at somepoint as an early adopter still being heavily worked on as the core texture and terrain part of it is about complete, its mostly adding to the shapes etc.
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#2
06/11/2011 (5:59 am)
yep, looks good - throw in a donkey and some sadle bags full of gold and you've got yourself a sale :) only joking about the donkey.
#3
Will it have more than simple precipitation, or are you saving tornados for a "nature's revenge" type pack? ;)
(Seriously, that would also be very cool. Scriptable disasters!)
06/11/2011 (9:59 am)
This looks great. Is it going to be a mega-pack of terrains, putting everybody else out of business? :PWill it have more than simple precipitation, or are you saving tornados for a "nature's revenge" type pack? ;)
(Seriously, that would also be very cool. Scriptable disasters!)
#4
06/11/2011 (2:53 pm)
I would certainly be interested.
#5
06/11/2011 (3:47 pm)
Hi guys thanks for the feedback. Im getting a clean repo together now from the game directory down that can just be copied into your project/game folder. will have an EA up sometime soon that will have all updates included. 
#6
06/11/2011 (4:29 pm)
Some nice looking terrain. Might I ask what terrain package you're using to generate the heightmaps and texture masks? I've had some pretty nice results from GeoControl, though the texture pipeline is a bit messy.
#7
takes a bit of getting used to the texture generation. I will be updating a tutorial i did a while back on gc2 over the next week or so. Try setting your masks/selectors on the terrain before you texture it, gives you alot more control over it
06/11/2011 (4:37 pm)
Geocontrol2takes a bit of getting used to the texture generation. I will be updating a tutorial i did a while back on gc2 over the next week or so. Try setting your masks/selectors on the terrain before you texture it, gives you alot more control over it
#8
Also have some various ingame shots posted there
OK Ingame shot of each terrain material is available here
06/11/2011 (4:54 pm)
Updating the BAG Facepalm page atm with ingame screenshots of each terrain materialAlso have some various ingame shots posted there
OK Ingame shot of each terrain material is available here
#9
06/11/2011 (8:00 pm)
I'm keen for this and an early adopter... 
#10
08/07/2011 (5:58 pm)
Yes, I am interested in being an early adopter, this is great work! 
#11
Is it possible to be a late adopter?
*Just poking ye bro, but very interested in 'da material work :P
02/07/2012 (1:12 am)
Andy, hows the pack coming along?Is it possible to be a late adopter?
*Just poking ye bro, but very interested in 'da material work :P
#12
Seems like its taking years... oh shit wait a moment... it is...
:/
I'm still tinkering away at it, and i feel its close to enough or pretty much there now for a beta/EA release. Mostly just populating the included heightmaps, added a couple new ones in a different environment and got everything over to dds (Apart from normals) however life has that habbit of throwing shit in my direction and inn the run up to christmas/new years I ended up splitting with my wife, and im currently stuck on a mobile internet connection with a data allowance that's costing a fortune :/ and have my daughter at weekends so has my full attention there but hopefully by end of feb ill be back on a fibreoptic when the paycheck comes in and will be able to start packaging something together
Honestly, as a beta/EA, I mostly need some fresh eyes on it, some extra input, ill see if its possible to set up a private svn for this before a full release.
02/07/2012 (6:47 pm)
Hey Christian,Seems like its taking years... oh shit wait a moment... it is...
:/
I'm still tinkering away at it, and i feel its close to enough or pretty much there now for a beta/EA release. Mostly just populating the included heightmaps, added a couple new ones in a different environment and got everything over to dds (Apart from normals) however life has that habbit of throwing shit in my direction and inn the run up to christmas/new years I ended up splitting with my wife, and im currently stuck on a mobile internet connection with a data allowance that's costing a fortune :/ and have my daughter at weekends so has my full attention there but hopefully by end of feb ill be back on a fibreoptic when the paycheck comes in and will be able to start packaging something together
Honestly, as a beta/EA, I mostly need some fresh eyes on it, some extra input, ill see if its possible to set up a private svn for this before a full release.
#13
Those textures look great! We might be interested as an (early) adopter for our indy project: James D. Ant.
Take your time, but you're doing a great job!
02/09/2012 (10:19 am)
Hi Andy,Those textures look great! We might be interested as an (early) adopter for our indy project: James D. Ant.
Take your time, but you're doing a great job!
#15
02/09/2012 (7:37 pm)
I'd be willing to do EA if/when you offer it. Been waiting for this kit for a long time. =D
#16
People here are not unfamiliar to early adopter packs which grow towards real release, so just do it! Should net you a little money too :)
02/09/2012 (11:48 pm)
Damn, Andy :(People here are not unfamiliar to early adopter packs which grow towards real release, so just do it! Should net you a little money too :)
#17
I'm having a proper internet connection installed on wednesday 29th, Once thats connected, ill be able to start using the svn again and planning for an EA release.
Currently the pack has:
163 terrain materials shown here, primarily dds format, but the normal/parallax maps are still as png's. Im happy with all of them, although open to suggestions and a fresh pair of eyes couldnt hurt in seeing any problems with them that may require changing
18 Terrains, Their all painted, but only some have 'content' ie grass, precipitation, placed items
20 Rock shapes, im still in two minds about redoing these due to the way i was reusing the stone texture's from the terrains, a couple things bug me with the uv maps. Some of the cliff/rock/tree's are shown here
16 cliff shapes/planes, these are useful however I want to add more in a different style
about 6 tree's that honestly im not happy with and plan to redo, leaving them there for now as placeholders.
a whole load of individual grasses and grass sheets, some im happy with, others need a bit of work, and some im going to completely redo.
Once im back on a proper connection instead of a crappy pay as i eat gigs dongle ill tie up with Jon what the best way to deliver this would be, aswell as a pricing/payment method.
02/19/2012 (4:35 pm)
Hey all,I'm having a proper internet connection installed on wednesday 29th, Once thats connected, ill be able to start using the svn again and planning for an EA release.
Currently the pack has:
163 terrain materials shown here, primarily dds format, but the normal/parallax maps are still as png's. Im happy with all of them, although open to suggestions and a fresh pair of eyes couldnt hurt in seeing any problems with them that may require changing
18 Terrains, Their all painted, but only some have 'content' ie grass, precipitation, placed items
20 Rock shapes, im still in two minds about redoing these due to the way i was reusing the stone texture's from the terrains, a couple things bug me with the uv maps. Some of the cliff/rock/tree's are shown here
16 cliff shapes/planes, these are useful however I want to add more in a different style
about 6 tree's that honestly im not happy with and plan to redo, leaving them there for now as placeholders.
a whole load of individual grasses and grass sheets, some im happy with, others need a bit of work, and some im going to completely redo.
Once im back on a proper connection instead of a crappy pay as i eat gigs dongle ill tie up with Jon what the best way to deliver this would be, aswell as a pricing/payment method.
#18
02/20/2012 (9:02 am)
Thats some pretty fantastic news Andy! Thats a whole lot of content too. Cant wait to see it released and pick up a copy :)
#19
I'm gonna throw Konrad's sahara into my build this weekend if I get the time, to see how well the shapes work using the grass texture from that map as an accumulation map on the rocks.
02/24/2012 (12:47 pm)
Well, started a new map for the hell of it, slightly different style, not using a base diffuse for the whole terrain, but the 'standard' way of using a tiled texture for the diffuse, and come up with this, currently only has 2 textures on the terrain, but happy with how the rock shapes match in with the matching terrain texture. Its not as detailed as the other terrains are, but it does run lighter on the system as its not chugging a 4096 base texture through each terrain layer.I'm gonna throw Konrad's sahara into my build this weekend if I get the time, to see how well the shapes work using the grass texture from that map as an accumulation map on the rocks.
#20
Message me on IRC nick skipper
skipper@orb.uk.net
04/10/2012 (4:40 am)
Andy, how much to buy what you got already?Message me on IRC nick skipper
skipper@orb.uk.net
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