Can the Graphics be changed?

[FrostyBoy]

I think the building graphics in the game are superb, I've always been against the 3D look of the buildings in games like AoM and EE.(I know those games have a type of '3D engine') But Crisp 2D buildings are perfect, and I wouldn't go for anything else.


Anyway, I wanted to know if those building graphics can be changed? Just in case, one day I wanted to do that.

[One_Dead_Villy]

there shouldnt be any real impediments to changing the graphics...buildings or units ..whatever

although if u want to make major changes you would have to mess with the 3D models and animation effects. I have been modding the units, and the only problem I have is that I am bounded by the 3D model mesh, and animation effects. If I just want to change the uniform's pattern or tank's color and superficial parts its pretty simple.

[FrostyBoy]

Exactly how does one change the graphics for the buildings?

Do the buildings have any animations?

[BHG_TED]

Sn00py,

I'm really glad you like the way the buildings look. I was part of the art team that worked on the building art and it's always great to get positive feedback like that. Now let me try to answer your question...

The RON engine is fully 3-D. But the way the buildings work is kind of a hybrid 2-D/3-D trick. We built all the buildings in high resolution using 3D Studio MAX. Then we rendered them out as .TGA files. This .TGA file is then displayed in the game on a flat plane, much like a billboard. The .TGA file has an alpha channel which allows us to make the billboard transparent where there is no building as well as allowing us to specify where team color is located (White is opaque, Black is tranparent, and a specific gray range is team color). You can mess around with this .TGA and it will change the appearance of the buildings. But there are some other things at work which might make it a little more complex to make an entirely new building.

There is also a low resolution model of the building which matches the building's outline, location of windows and location of doors. We call this the "zbuffer". This model also has dummy nodes located in windows and doors which are the locators for the fire particle system when a buildings takes damage. So if you made a new .TGA, you would want the outline and location of windows to remain the same, or else you might get fire coming out of the wrong places.

There is also animation on many of the buildings. To accomplish this we created low poly objects which are made to match the high detail .TGA pre-render. We call them "addons", because they are usually things like running water, a swinging log, or a moving bellows. They are built in MAX, physiqued, just like the units, and then added to the game. It is critical that these "addons" interact accurately with the "zbuffer" so that the interaction of the building billboard and the "addon" looks convincing. I'll give you and example...

On the lumbermill we have a log move down a sawboard, get cut by the saw, and then pass into the lumbermill. The saw and log are "addons" which are animated. The zbuffer was made so as to block the log when it passes through the door into the lumber mill. This way the billboard .TGA draws behind the log, except where the zbuffer is in front of the log. It's kind of like a pop-up book which looks good from one angle, but is really an illusion. There is also a particle system which shoots out sawdust when the log is cut. This is located via a dummy object in the zbuffer.

I know it's a lot of stuff. Myself and Bill Podurgiel (the unit lead) are going to try and post tutorials up on our site explaining how to mod the buildings and units and hopefully make your own. It is much easier to explain using images We will also hopefully be able to give out the exporter we use so that if you have MAX and Photoshop, you could make your own building or unit.

To sum it up I'd say that you can have tons of fun messing around with the .TGA files. Changing the colors, materials, etc. Just don't change the outline, or location of the windows or animted parts or it might end up looking a little strange

Ted Terranova
Building Lead
Big Huge Games

P.S. Also take a look at the articles we put up on our site. They might answer some of your questions.

Behind the Scenes - Buildings

[tniem]

Ted,

Thanks for the post. You should get one of the special Big Huge Game titles from Markos. Let him know through a PM and I am sure you will be marked before the end of the day.

[FrostyBoy]

I saw the news bit on the bighugegames site, and thought ah! Thats what I wanted to find out, I click the link and end up back where I posted, but this time with a great answer


woohoo! TGA files, brilliant! Now let me get this straight, you are saying that we can place animations in too?


Can the buildings be made to any size? Is it just the name of the file that matters in the end?

[okan 1985]

can we free to dawnolad programs that we need for this? Can you give us a link that leads to these programs?