char selection appartment models (scenes)...

Added by siredblood almost 7 years ago

Im in the process of starting to redo them..... swaping them out seems simple enough... just overwrite old file and keep center point the same, but im confused as to where/how i edit the scene.... add my own lights/particles and such... adjust the fog settings, ambient light and whatnot....

Ive only been messing with this for a day or two now... is still greek to me..

Thanks


Replies (6)

RE: char selection appartment models (scenes)... - Added by sfb almost 7 years ago

siredblood,

It is a little hard to follow what is going on but exposure either makes you better at it or a little more insane - one or the other.

The player environments on that screen are Instance Groups. The apartment for the Matis is:

W:\database\Stuff\outgame\appart_crea\MA_appart_outgame.max

If you select the various objects in the scene and then, in MAX, go to the Tools tab, then click NeL Export, click on Node Properties and open the Instance tab you'll see the Instance Group Name. When build_gamedata runs it will export a variety of things. First it'll export all of the shapes in the scene, if applicable, by the name of the shape. Next it will export an Instance Group - which doesn't include any mesh/material/texture information. An Instance Group is just a group of shape instances. When loaded it will load them in the coordinates, world relative, in the group.

Now that we have an instance group to display we need to wire up the UI to allow you to view it. The first thing of importance is out_v2_select.xml which contains the layout for the character selection UI. First you have the definition of the grouping of UI elements. The one that is important here is the charsel box. You'll see inside it has a scene3d with an ig named env.

 1<group id="charsel" w="1024" h="768" posref="MM MM" on_active="proc" on_active_params="proc_charsel_active" >
 2        <!-- ... snip ... -->
 3        <scene3d id="char3d" x="-3" y="-3" w="815" h="762" posref="TR TR" curcam="cam" curcs="env" render_layer="-2" 
 4                                                user_interaction="true" rotz_factor="0.017" 
 5                                                roty_factor="0.005" roty_limit_min="-20" roty_limit_max="15" 
 6                                                dist_factor="0.005" dist_limit_min="3.0" dist_limit_max="3.8" 
 7                                                ambient="128 96 64" sun_ambient="0 0 0" sun_diffuse="255 255 196" sun_specular="0 0 0" sun_direction="-1.0 1.0 -1.0" 
 8        >
 9                <!-- ... snip ... -->
10                <ig id="env" name="outgame_matis.ig" pos="0 0 0.15" />

When you click on a character slot this lua script is executed:

out_v2_select.lua

1function game:procCharselClickSlot()
2        local value = getDbProp('UI:SELECTED_SLOT')
3        runAH(nil, "proc", "proc_charsel_clickslot|"..value)
4end

Thus Lua script triggers an action listed at the bottom of out_v2_select.xml - named proc_charsel_clickslot.

1<proc id="proc_charsel_clickslot">
2        <!-- ... snip ... -->
3        <action handler="set" params="target_property=ui:outgame:charsel:char3d:env:name |
4                        value=switch(@UI:TEMP:CHAR3D:PEOPLE, 'outgame_fyros.ig', 'outgame_matis.ig', 'outgame_tryker.ig', 'outgame_zorai.ig')" />

You can see here that it is looking at the 'people' UI variable and choosing the appropriate instance group.

SO! To replace it with your own custom you first need to create a new 3D scene with the correct instance group settings (you can preview instance groups in OVQT) and then, if the name differs from the one used in the UI XML you will need to modify the ig tag or the action handler.

Good luck!

Thanks,
sfb
/s

RE: char selection appartment models (scenes)... - Added by siredblood almost 7 years ago

WOW!!

Thanks for your time in writing this up for me!

So your saying the dynamic light, particle calls are stored in the .shape from Max??

RE: char selection appartment models (scenes)... - Added by sfb almost 7 years ago

siredblood,

Yes. If you open a scene in MAX and then on the Create/Geometry tab choose NeL Tools from the drop down. In here there's a Particle Sys type. Create it and scroll down to the Parameters section. There are actually two - you want the second one. In here type in the name of the particle system file. You don't need a path since all of the 3D objects will be in the CPath lookup system.

You can create particle systems themselves in OVQT. There are a few videos on YouTube showing how to do this.

Thanks and good luck!
sfb
/s

RE: char selection appartment models (scenes)... - Added by siredblood almost 7 years ago

thanks!!!

Im on it, tonights mission :D

RE: char selection appartment models (scenes)... - Added by siredblood almost 7 years ago

Thanks again for your help, ive been messing with it on/off .... i seem to have a handle on it.... took some time, as i totally didnt understand... (made sence, just didnt get it... new to this, AND to Max)

After about an hour (or 3) of trial and error with exports, finally got it.... i didnt realize for awhile, you cant just switch particles from an entity already created.... i wasted many export attempts on this.

Also, didnt realize you had to click every item you wanted instanced... again, many exports later.

But i got a handle on it now, ..... now back to this lightmap problem... i dont get that neither, not to mention, i cant get the tools to work yet..

Im sure ill post more questions on that matter tomorrow sometime :P

Thanks again!

RE: char selection appartment models (scenes)... - Added by siredblood almost 7 years ago

well, i thought i had a handle on it, seems the lights have no effect... particles work great though....

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