I like the idea of adding eco component to moba genre. Also its medievalish style. And terrain looks good.
But I have a couple of notes.
Use D3 models, dude. Look how shitty those wow ones look even with huge zoom. It will be unplayable with them.
Also, don't rely on other people. If you can create this alone, do it alone, if you can't, just drop the idea. Other people will be nothing but delaying burden.
And make more bridges, one well defended bridge will limit tactics.
I do not know if you are referring to the fact that WOW models are tall and thin and therefore are difficult to see from a zoomed out real time strategy standpoint. If you are, Daara could possibly do what I have done when working with WoW models, simply change the art scale on the model so that they are much thicker looking. Just increase the X and Y and leave the Z the same, and you will have bulky RTS looking units that show up well from a zoomed out RTS standpoint. I also made the weapons thicker in 3ds max to make those stand out more, as something like the shaft of a spear is especially difficult to see well.
The terrain looks really great. Like really. I'm not sure if I like the WoW character models though - I'd probably use D3 and/or W3 models for that.
Thanks, I'm trying to stick to Blizzards level design for WoW, of course there are limits but I'm doing what I can to overcome them. WoW models may not look the best but they are certainly the most customizable models available for use in Sc2. I intend to reward returning players with special gear sets, skin colors, and weapons that will make them stand out. It's also a WoW based map with the intent on having Alliance vs. Horde so having D3 models would be out of place.
Here is the view you have from your character. The camera follows behind and rotates with the direction you're facing. The farclip is set just slightly further than your vision. Seeing as it could possibly be annoying when fighting other players you will have an ability that enables/disables the rotation.
The forest is pretty much finished, just need to establish guard patrols and respawns.
Found a way to get the HD character models into Max with all their animations intact. Only issue is that I'm missing a few hair styles it seems, I found them but they are bugged to hell in the old WMV. The HD models have about double the poly count of the old models, this one is sitting at 26k.
How can you export models from WoD? Does viewer can do that atm?
No, the most recent version of WMV can only export to .OBJ and .FBX. Obj files don't have animations and the FBX import is just not good at all.
You have to extract all of the files from WoD with CascViewer and the most recent list file. Once you've extracted them all you need to repackage them into an MPQ with MPQViewer. I repackaged mine into 8 different MPQ's and then was able to open them with WMV 7.0.5.
You will need to clear the mine of these mobs before you can control the mine. Respawns are now based on who owns the mine and are on a 2-4 minute timer. To make capturing the mine a priority at the beginning killing the elite Gron will provide your team with a significant amount of experience and gold. It will also make mining nodes that much easier by clearing out hostile mobs. When the mine is captured all respawn timers are quickly expired to immediately spawn guards to protect it.
Added in the Lesser Gron model. When you capture the mine the Gron will be replaced by an elite unit for your team. It will have a different armor set to distinguish it from other guards. The banner needs to be changed to allow 3 different textures to show who owns it.
I'm also planning on allowing players to get a mount. The map is pretty big and I want people to be able to get around quickly to complete objectives. It won't be something you have early but hopefully around mid-game. You will be dismounted when you enter combat.
There will be on Ogre town that is hostile towards both teams where you can complete a quest which opens up a portal in your base to an Ogre waystone near the center of the map. There are 2 waystones, one for each team. These waystones will also be used to enter the Ogre town.
Every character will have 3 baseline abilities. Hearthstone, which will return you to your base, likely on a 5 minute cooldown. Mount, which will be unlocked through purchasing a mount and the third will be the ability that enables/disables camera rotation.
Classes will be siimlar to WoW. Warrior, Priest, Mage etc. and will start with 1 class ability. As you level more will become available to you. There will be 4 skill types with different choices available for each one. Offensive, Defensive, Escape/Support, and Control.
Rough idea of how it will work:
Level 1 - Starter Ability, next point unlock @ 6
Level 2 - Choice between Offensive, Defensive, or Escape/Support, next point for choice unlocks at Level 6.
Level 3 - Choice between Offensive, Defensive, or Escape/Support, next point for choice unlocks at Level 6.
Level 4 - Choice between Offensive, Defensive, or Escape/Support, next point for choice unlocks at Level 6.
Level 5 - Control, next unlock @ 10
Level 6 - 1 point to upgrade chosen abilities
Level 7 - 1 point to upgrade chosen abilities
Level 8 - 1 point to upgrade chosen abilities
Level 9 - 1 point to upgrade chosen abilities
Level 10 - Control upgrade
Example of abilities, you pick one from each type and the rest become locked. There may be a way to reset your points.
Priest Starter - Heal
Priest Offensive - Mind Blast, Shadow Word: Pain, Smite
Priest Defensive - Power Word: Shield, Pain Suppression, Renew,
Way too early screen shot of the center of the map with mountains that make up the border between the edge of the map and the mines and ogre town. Added in the WoD wolf and talbuk models. I will probably work on the plains or the ogre town next.
This looks absolutely great! In love with the terrain! My main project is also based of WoW but I have some trouble with using wow tilesets. Mine become all shiny and go from dark to light when I zoom in/out, very funky stuff happening. I figure I'm doing something wrong when creating the normal map, would you please like to share your process to making 'em look so good?
I had that issue too at first, I'm trying to remember what I did to fix it. It's been awhile since I've done terrain textures...I think I did these back in like November. IIRC in photoshop I made the spec darker and I think I set the normal map scale to either 4 or 6. So it has a normal and spec it's just that they are not easy to see. One thing I haven't been able to fix is that my garrison tiles turn more grey and lose some color because of the normal map, I'm not sure what causes it and it's so minor that I just don't want to spend time on it atm.
But how do you use the specular map? When I save as .dds I can only use one layer, so I have one diffuse map and one normal map. In the Data editor I use the diffuse and normal for the texture, but there's no option for the specular map. How do I get the engine to include the spec map?
But how do you use the specular map? When I save as .dds I can only use one layer, so I have one diffuse map and one normal map. In the Data editor I use the diffuse and normal for the texture, but there's no option for the specular map. How do I get the engine to include the spec map?
The spec map is the alpha channel in the diffuse texture.
Wooo! I got it to work, thanks a ton! Now I can finally create a pretty much ideal terrain :D Gonna have to tweak around a bit more with the settings in photoshop but it's already looking good!
Wooo! I got it to work, thanks a ton! Now I can finally create a pretty much ideal terrain :D Gonna have to tweak around a bit more with the settings in photoshop but it's already looking good!
One other thing that I did was make it 1024x1024 by copy and pasting it over and over. This will prevent it from being gigantic in game.
Yeah I was thinking the same, will do. Another question that came to my mind after looking at your tree models, do you create the alpha by hand? I do since I haven't figured out any other way, so I have to select the layer and draw using pen tool :/ I also use color select but it's still very tedious and the result isn't that great. I figure there's a way to "unlock" the alpha so to speak, but I have no idea how. Hope that made sense.
Yeah I was thinking the same, will do. Another question that came to my mind after looking at your tree models, do you create the alpha by hand? I do since I haven't figured out any other way, so I have to select the layer and draw using pen tool :/ I also use color select but it's still very tedious and the result isn't that great. I figure there's a way to "unlock" the alpha so to speak, but I have no idea how. Hope that made sense.
Most of the WoW textures already come with an alpha channel that may be used for different purposes. For the most part the ones that require a mask always have them. I rarely if ever have had to create an alpha just to mask over say the leaves of trees, because the alpha is already there for me. What are you using to extract the textures and convert them? If you're extracting them as .blp and then using a .blp converter then it may not be saving your alpha channel.
I use WoW Model Viewer which will extract them into .tga files for me. I find the model I want and then extract as either an .m3 or .obj.
On models where I have to use team colors and a mask I use two textures. The first is the diffuse with an alpha that is for the team color and the second is the alpha mask texture which uses the alpha channel to mask areas I want hidden. I attached two textures to show you what I mean.
I also have a guide on how I add team colors where I do go in with a pen and select the areas I want for the alpha channel. Keep in mind that this isn't going to be perfect every time and that you should adjust the methods to fit the look you're going for.
The terrain looks really great. Like really. I'm not sure if I like the WoW character models though - I'd probably use D3 and/or W3 models for that.
I do not know if you are referring to the fact that WOW models are tall and thin and therefore are difficult to see from a zoomed out real time strategy standpoint. If you are, Daara could possibly do what I have done when working with WoW models, simply change the art scale on the model so that they are much thicker looking. Just increase the X and Y and leave the Z the same, and you will have bulky RTS looking units that show up well from a zoomed out RTS standpoint. I also made the weapons thicker in 3ds max to make those stand out more, as something like the shaft of a spear is especially difficult to see well.
Thanks, I'm trying to stick to Blizzards level design for WoW, of course there are limits but I'm doing what I can to overcome them. WoW models may not look the best but they are certainly the most customizable models available for use in Sc2. I intend to reward returning players with special gear sets, skin colors, and weapons that will make them stand out. It's also a WoW based map with the intent on having Alliance vs. Horde so having D3 models would be out of place.
Here is the view you have from your character. The camera follows behind and rotates with the direction you're facing. The farclip is set just slightly further than your vision. Seeing as it could possibly be annoying when fighting other players you will have an ability that enables/disables the rotation.
The forest is pretty much finished, just need to establish guard patrols and respawns.
Found a way to get the HD character models into Max with all their animations intact. Only issue is that I'm missing a few hair styles it seems, I found them but they are bugged to hell in the old WMV. The HD models have about double the poly count of the old models, this one is sitting at 26k.
How can you export models from WoD? Does viewer can do that atm?
OMG! New hero in 'Heroes of the Storm' is Dustin Browder. Watch here!
No, the most recent version of WMV can only export to .OBJ and .FBX. Obj files don't have animations and the FBX import is just not good at all.
You have to extract all of the files from WoD with CascViewer and the most recent list file. Once you've extracted them all you need to repackage them into an MPQ with MPQViewer. I repackaged mine into 8 different MPQ's and then was able to open them with WMV 7.0.5.
Added in the Goren model from WoD.
You will need to clear the mine of these mobs before you can control the mine. Respawns are now based on who owns the mine and are on a 2-4 minute timer. To make capturing the mine a priority at the beginning killing the elite Gron will provide your team with a significant amount of experience and gold. It will also make mining nodes that much easier by clearing out hostile mobs. When the mine is captured all respawn timers are quickly expired to immediately spawn guards to protect it.
Fighting Goren in-game.
Editor SS.
Added in the Lesser Gron model. When you capture the mine the Gron will be replaced by an elite unit for your team. It will have a different armor set to distinguish it from other guards. The banner needs to be changed to allow 3 different textures to show who owns it.
I'm also planning on allowing players to get a mount. The map is pretty big and I want people to be able to get around quickly to complete objectives. It won't be something you have early but hopefully around mid-game. You will be dismounted when you enter combat.
There will be on Ogre town that is hostile towards both teams where you can complete a quest which opens up a portal in your base to an Ogre waystone near the center of the map. There are 2 waystones, one for each team. These waystones will also be used to enter the Ogre town.
Every character will have 3 baseline abilities. Hearthstone, which will return you to your base, likely on a 5 minute cooldown. Mount, which will be unlocked through purchasing a mount and the third will be the ability that enables/disables camera rotation.
Classes will be siimlar to WoW. Warrior, Priest, Mage etc. and will start with 1 class ability. As you level more will become available to you. There will be 4 skill types with different choices available for each one. Offensive, Defensive, Escape/Support, and Control.
Rough idea of how it will work:
Example of abilities, you pick one from each type and the rest become locked. There may be a way to reset your points.
Way too early screen shot of the center of the map with mountains that make up the border between the edge of the map and the mines and ogre town. Added in the WoD wolf and talbuk models. I will probably work on the plains or the ogre town next.
Here's what else I have planned to add in.
This looks absolutely great! In love with the terrain! My main project is also based of WoW but I have some trouble with using wow tilesets. Mine become all shiny and go from dark to light when I zoom in/out, very funky stuff happening. I figure I'm doing something wrong when creating the normal map, would you please like to share your process to making 'em look so good?
I had that issue too at first, I'm trying to remember what I did to fix it. It's been awhile since I've done terrain textures...I think I did these back in like November. IIRC in photoshop I made the spec darker and I think I set the normal map scale to either 4 or 6. So it has a normal and spec it's just that they are not easy to see. One thing I haven't been able to fix is that my garrison tiles turn more grey and lose some color because of the normal map, I'm not sure what causes it and it's so minor that I just don't want to spend time on it atm.
Here's my Garrison Tile .psd file.
@Daara87: Go
But how do you use the specular map? When I save as .dds I can only use one layer, so I have one diffuse map and one normal map. In the Data editor I use the diffuse and normal for the texture, but there's no option for the specular map. How do I get the engine to include the spec map?
The spec map is the alpha channel in the diffuse texture.
@Daara87: Go
Wooo! I got it to work, thanks a ton! Now I can finally create a pretty much ideal terrain :D Gonna have to tweak around a bit more with the settings in photoshop but it's already looking good!
One other thing that I did was make it 1024x1024 by copy and pasting it over and over. This will prevent it from being gigantic in game.
@Daara87: Go
Yeah I was thinking the same, will do. Another question that came to my mind after looking at your tree models, do you create the alpha by hand? I do since I haven't figured out any other way, so I have to select the layer and draw using pen tool :/ I also use color select but it's still very tedious and the result isn't that great. I figure there's a way to "unlock" the alpha so to speak, but I have no idea how. Hope that made sense.
Most of the WoW textures already come with an alpha channel that may be used for different purposes. For the most part the ones that require a mask always have them. I rarely if ever have had to create an alpha just to mask over say the leaves of trees, because the alpha is already there for me. What are you using to extract the textures and convert them? If you're extracting them as .blp and then using a .blp converter then it may not be saving your alpha channel.
I use WoW Model Viewer which will extract them into .tga files for me. I find the model I want and then extract as either an .m3 or .obj.
On models where I have to use team colors and a mask I use two textures. The first is the diffuse with an alpha that is for the team color and the second is the alpha mask texture which uses the alpha channel to mask areas I want hidden. I attached two textures to show you what I mean.
I also have a guide on how I add team colors where I do go in with a pen and select the areas I want for the alpha channel. Keep in mind that this isn't going to be perfect every time and that you should adjust the methods to fit the look you're going for.
http://www.sc2mapster.com/forums/resources/tutorials/69058-textures-creating-team-color-textures/
@Daara87: Go
I was extracting them using Cascviewer, but I used your method and it works perfectly, saves me so much trouble, thanks again!
Edit: wow this saves me sooooooooo much trouble!! Thanks to you I've got new hopes for the terrain of my map :D
No problem, I am glad I was of some assistance to you.
Did a little bit of work on the plains and along the river. Added in the Clefthoof, Kaliri, and Toad models.
Also started working on the Ogre town. Still got quite a few models to bring in but I think this is the layout I'm going with.
Very nice man :)
T.
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