Multiplayer BOD mod in a new engine.

Argoon · Post by **Argoon** » Thu Jan 13, 2011 12:36 am

Ok here is the dedicated thread for the Multiplayer mod.

Sir Random yes i want the Barb mesh for test, and yes level editing in the NeoAxis engine is based on meshes (like the majority of the new engines) and not BSP geometry like used by LED the idtech 4 and Source engines. This as the benefit that if you already know a 3dapp like Max, Maya or Modo very well, them you can make your whole map on it.

I must say even though i recommend NeoAxis i don't know it very well, i work mostly with Unity3D engine. I would love to use Unity but the free version has no real time shadow support, and so is not really a option for a BOD mod. I like NeoAxis because is based of Ogre a opensource engine, and the free SDK uses the full engine, you can't sell your game with it though, but that is also out of the question for this mod.
To test the map creation and look in the Neo map editor i made a small test map, using some BOD textures that i have here, and unfortunately found some problems in the collada to .mesh conversion (I use Modo501 and neoaxis has no exporter for it), one of them is that textures become upside down in the Map editor, i will need to work more on this to find out what is causing it.

I will also try to grab Max2010 if necessary.

Sir Random · Post by **Sir Random** » Thu Jan 13, 2011 1:23 am

Afaik, you can export maps from LED to the version of 3DMax on BigTruck's site.

If you can get Barb + anms into Neo, I can create a barb 'type' for testing. Linking a weapon to his hands could be a problem, I don't see any way of linking to anchors, just to a mesh?

Argoon · Post by **Argoon** » Thu Jan 13, 2011 1:55 am

If is possible to export the LED geometry them is possible to export the original Arenas, nice.

I will try to import the animations but first need to get up to speed with 3DMax again.

I also don't know how to link a weapon to a character in NeoAxis ( maybe using the hand bone) but by what you said it seams similar to Unity, in it is just a matter of grouping the weapon mesh to a empty game object that is placed on the character hand.

Bellow is a tut to import animated meshs to NeoAxis taken from the official forum, and posted here for future reference if necessary.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Hi.

It took me quite some time to figure this out, even though it's rather simple. Hopefully, after this tutorial nobody will have to mess around for hours so he could get a animated model into NA.

What do we need?
3ds Max and the NeoAxis Exporter for it. The exporter comes with the engine, so all you have to do is navigate to the SDK/Tools/Exporters folder in your NeoAxis installation folder and run 'NeoAxisEngineExporterInstaller_3dsMax.exe'.

You also need a model which has animations (and keyframes corresponding to those animations).

Okay, let's do it!
1) Open 3ds Max and import/load your model. Now, navigate to the 'Utilities' submenu in the toolbar. Click on 'More' and select NeoAxis Engine Exporter.

2) Click on 'Settings' and press the plus button on the upper-left. Ignore all the bone(s) and select your mesh(es). Then click on the mesh name in the list (the root/parent is 'Objects) and search for the 'Animation' submenu on the right.

3) Under the animations menu, make sure that 'ExportSkeleton' is 'true'. Then click on the 'Animations (Collection)' and there you can add all your animations. Here's what all that stuff means after you've clicked 'Add'.

_Name - the name of the animation. Each name must be unique.
Format - the format of the animation. Leave it at 'Skeleton' for now.
FrameBegin - the starting frame of your animation.
FrameEnd - the ending frame of your animation.

4) Export. Oh, don't forget to enjoy.
I hope this tutorial helped.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

esfumato · Post by **esfumato** » Thu Jan 13, 2011 10:47 pm

The multiplayer part of the idea is the one that I like most.

Sir Random · Post by **Sir Random** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 1:37 am

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by esfumato

The multiplayer part of the idea is the one that I like most.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Yeah, it could be quite radical...

Multiplayer in Neo wouldn't be confined to 2 players. We could have deathmatch, "defend the castle", "capture the virgin", etc. [:D]

Argoon · Post by **Argoon** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 3:40 pm

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Sir Random

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by esfumato

The multiplayer part of the idea is the one that I like most.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Yeah, it could be quite radical...

Multiplayer in Neo wouldn't be confined to 2 players. We could have deathmatch, "defend the castle", "capture the virgin", etc. [:D]

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

That are very good ideas, they have my vote.

Argoon · Post by **Argoon** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 10:45 pm

Hey guys sorry for not replying often but i'm without net for a while, (i,m using a free wireless net on a coffeeshop to make this reply.) is not a excuse, i will not give up on this ever and i hope you guys neither.

About the mod, i finaly put my hands on a 3dmax2010 copy and so i will start training and refining the Modo to max to NeoAxis art pipeline.

Argoon · Post by **Argoon** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 4:46 pm

Hey guys i finally have net on my house again so i will be able to participate more on this idea, please guys don't lose faith on this. i will ask again if someone can send me a max scene of the Barbarian mesh and also is bmp texture, i use Windows7 now so i can't do that my self.

Sir Random · Post by **Sir Random** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 5:07 pm

Hi Argoon,
What can you not do with Windows7?

Argoon · Post by **Argoon** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 8:05 pm

I use Windows 7 x64 and max2.5 will not install on it even if i use the compatibility options, it gives a error about not being a valid program for my version of windows, i have installed 32bits apps before and they work, but i think the max2.5 setup is a 16bits application or something.

Sir Random · Post by **Sir Random** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 8:30 pm

I'm using Win7 32bit, but I set my desktop to 16bit for the 3dsmax installation. Then I added -h to the shortcut Target so I can run it in OpemGL. I don't know if that will work with 64bit but it's worth trying.

Argoon · Post by **Argoon** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 11:30 pm

How do you do that, set the desktop to 16bit?

Sir Random · Post by **Sir Random** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 3:26 am

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Argoon

How do you do that, set the desktop to 16bit?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Right-click the desktop and select the graphics control panel (Nvidia or ATI).
For Nvidia, click on "Change Resolution" and you should see an option box for "Color Depth".

I'm not sure about ATI, but it should be easy enough to find.

Argoon · Post by **Argoon** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 7:41 pm

Oh! is that 16bit's, i knew that, what i didn't knew was that color fidelity add anything to do with the 16bits of a program code.

I will try that right away.

edit: Nope it didn't worked i still have the not compatible error.

.

But no problem i found the mesh pack that harrison posted on the animations thread so the barbarian mesh i already have i just need to extract is texture, (if the texture tool works on my W7 x64 that is).

prospero · Post by **prospero** » Sun Feb 13, 2011 12:27 pm

Argoon. have you access to an XP machine where you can install max2.5?

I had it working on my old XP machine and when I got the win7 one I just copied the entire max folder and it worked with no fiddling about whatsoever.