Welcome Thread

AusRED5 · 2013-12-26 17:22:45

Howdy!

This project looks awesome!
So glad to see another Descent like game in the mix again!

Can't wait to give it a try!

Smaragdadler · 2013-12-26 17:47:45

Hello all. I played mostly single player Descent 1-3 back in the 1990s.
I re-bought Descent 1-2 some days ago at gog.com, and while checking the internet for mods I somehow found the Talon-Demo and really liked it.
When I read about the full version 1.0 here yesterday I instantly bought it.
At the moment I train with the bots and hope that some real online action starts soon.

Scott · 2013-12-29 01:27:14

Hello PPski, AusRED5, Smaragdadler! Good to have you here!

Yes, it's fairly quiet online right now. Things should pick up as I begin to advertise the game. Owning to my current situation, however, I have very limited time and energy, so I am going to be taking things slow for the time being.

master · 2013-12-29 01:40:38

wheres everyone at i wana play real people!

CommandoRash · 2013-12-29 02:09:16

im starting a game right now

Dglider · 2014-01-16 10:13:55

Hello! I saw this game on descentforum.de and I must say I'm excited to see where it goes. ^.^ I've played Descent 1 since I was a kid, so I was happy to see that this game was heavily influenced by that. Then I read that you used Torque to create it! And that just sent tingles down my spine.

See for the past 4 years I've been playing and modding this lego-ish brick building game called Blockland that is based off of the same engine. So to see a game similar to Descent pop up using an engine I'm familiar with editing, well.... it just makes me happy.

I'm sure there's alot for me to learn, but I look forward to making maps for this game.
Speaking of which, I wonder if you could release some of the more advanced tools you're using to make content for Talon. It's been a while since I've used it but I remember Torque Contructor being...

special.

Do_Checkor · 2014-01-16 14:55:16

Welcome Dglider! Great you found Talon through Descentforum.de ;-)

Details about tools and map building can be found on the map building forum of this board: http://forum.talongame.com/viewforum.php?id=5

You appear to be from Montana and I can't seem to recognize you, but if you are German: We desperately need a German tutorial on how to create maps for Talon *hint* :-) (Smaragdadler made a great approach to this already)

Dglider · 2014-01-16 19:49:17

Ah. Thank you. It appears this answered my questions on what the developer used.
Aside from that I seem to have an advantage on you guys. >.< ie. in order to create new checkpoints or do any super-advanced editing you can modify the mission file at Talon\talon\data\missions\blahblah.mis Terrain still has to be done ingame, as far as I know.

And sadly I am not German. I would loved to have taken german in school but the teacher retired before I got the chance. I found the game by just browsing around and using Google Translate.

Scott · 2014-01-17 05:56:32

Welcome Dglider! Good to see another Torque fan.

Dglider wrote:

I wonder if you could release some of the more advanced tools you're using to make content for Talon. It's been a while since I've used it but I remember Torque Contructor being...

special.

LOL, yeah. It's a bit special. There were a few updates made to it after the initial release, and it improved slightly, but it's still buggy and very crash happy. I hate it. I can't tell you how much I want to build my own in-game geometry editor; but alas, that is *a lot* of work, far more than I can afford right now. It's definitely something I want to address if I get to do a Talon II; at the very least I will incorporate some of the new Collada geometry support from the more recent Torque engine. But for now I'm stuck with Constructor.

I was working on an OBJ-MAP converter, but I never used it. sdfgeoff tried it, and apparently, it needs work.

Otherwise I have an OBJ-DTS converter that I wrote to get the ships from Wings3D to Torque, and an ambient occlusion map generator for OBJ files that I used when building the ship skins. I'll be happy to make both of those available, but neither will avoid the need for Constructor for map building.

sdfgeoff · 2014-01-18 00:40:25

I use blender for map building, and then export to the .map format from within blender. With careful planning and only using cubes or triangular prisms, the whole affair works really well. I haven't tried texturing in blender yet, and lighting doesn't import into Torque Constructor properly, so there is still work that needs doing in Torque Constructor, but it means that making complex geometry is a lot easier (particular when you want symmetry, like in the one I'm currently building, it is a spiral staircase, which would take hours in TC, but took <5mins in blender). Interestingly, it is in this geometry editing that TC seems to be most unstable.

I did start working on another exporter for .blend to .map, but misunderstood some of the .map file-specs and so had to start over.

(Keen for Collada support in Talon 2, I know the exporter for that from blender works nicely with textures as well.)

Dglider · 2014-01-18 04:55:18

Scott wrote:

Otherwise I have an OBJ-DTS converter that I wrote to get the ships from Wings3D to Torque, and an ambient occlusion map generator for OBJ files that I used when building the ship skins.

That's great. Currently my only method of making DTS involves an exporter for Blender 2.49b.

I'll be happy to make both of those available

Please do.

sdfgeoff wrote:

I use blender for map building, and then export to the .map format from within blender. With careful planning and only using cubes or triangular prisms, the whole affair works really well. I haven't tried texturing in blender yet, and lighting doesn't import into Torque Constructor properly, so there is still work that needs doing in Torque Constructor, but it means that making complex geometry is a lot easier (particular when you want symmetry, like in the one I'm currently building, it is a spiral staircase, which would take hours in TC, but took <5mins in blender). Interestingly, it is in this geometry editing that TC seems to be most unstable.

You'll have to show me that .map exporter. And possibly how to use it. It sounds like a much better method than TC, though i've gotten good enough at avoiding glitches that I can get by.

Splotchie · 2014-01-19 21:01:24

I still have to try and find out whether the Radiant .map format works...

sdfgeoff · 2014-01-19 23:59:56

The very basics to using the blender .map exporter is this:

File -> User Preferences -> Addons -> Import Export -> Export Quake .map
Check the checkbox on the right of it. (It's small) Also make sure you checked the export rather than the import addon.

Make your mesh. Keep any quad-faces flat, model most things in either Cubes or Triangular prisms if you want exact control over how things look.
If you want twisty turny passages, model them as one object, invert the normals (ctrl+n), and then the script will automagically turn them into 3D geometry (thin cubes). Most of the time it works fine.
If you're importing another file format, some cleanup and remodeling will be necessary. When I started remaking Minerva, I ended up remodeling everything except the passageway under the level.

File -> Export -> Quake .map format
(If it isn't there, then you didn't enable the addon)

Torque Constructor uses a different light object, so imported .map lights don't work.
I have not tried importing textures for a whole map yet, as I am unsure how the .map exporter decides on how to name the textures. I'm hoping it's based on material name, in which case it should be easy, but I fear not.
I'll have a look into the exporter code later today, and maybe do some tests.

Dglider · 2014-01-20 16:51:56

Thank you very much. ^.^

Announcement

#81 2013-12-26 17:22:45

Re: Welcome Thread

#82 2013-12-26 17:47:45

Re: Welcome Thread

#83 2013-12-29 01:27:14

Re: Welcome Thread

#84 2013-12-29 01:40:38

Re: Welcome Thread

#85 2013-12-29 02:09:16

Re: Welcome Thread

#86 2014-01-16 10:13:55

Re: Welcome Thread

#87 2014-01-16 14:55:16

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#88 2014-01-16 19:49:17

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#89 2014-01-17 05:56:32

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#90 2014-01-18 00:40:25

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#91 2014-01-18 04:55:18

Re: Welcome Thread

#92 2014-01-19 21:01:24

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#93 2014-01-19 23:59:56

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