I also started terraining back in Warcraft 3 and I learned most of what I knew (I say knew because terraining in Sc2 has a different feel to me, and I couldn't get used to it yet) by checking other people's terrains and trying new things to see what worked and what didn't look good.
My advice is to check out Blizzard's terrains since they did a pretty good job of making things look good and simple, and practice. Practice a lot.
First of all, BLP is a 2D texture file, like DDS for Sc2, Warcraft 3 models are in MDX.
To convert MDX into M3, you'd have to import it into 3ds Max or some other modelling program with a MDX plugin, and then you'd probably have to adjust the animations a little before exporting as M3.
Here's my entry, it's supposed to be a Xel'Naga spaceship travelling through warp space (or hyperspace, whatever you want to call it). It's meant for a 6v6 team deathmatch, but could also work for CTF I guess.
There's a large number of cliffs and teleporters, giving plenty of oportunities for players to ambush enemy heroes walking on lower areas. There aren't many open areas, though, so heroes built for close quarters combat may be slighly better in this map (not sure if there are heroes of that kind in TOFU).
The teams' bases are protected by a repulsor field, preventing enemy players from getting inside, and there are teleporters leading outside in addition to the normal exit to prevent camping from the enemy team.
I had other ideas for arenas but unfortunately, I couldn't finish them, had some work to do for a project and a problem in real life kept me away from the editor for a few days. At least I could finish this one in time.
The last picture shows how the teleporters connect to eachother.
As much as I hate to admit it, it's all true. Blizzard failed hard this time. I pretty much gave up on making anything multiplayer and now I'm just working on singleplayer stuff.
Just two more points to add to the list:
1 - Art Tools. One year later. Where the hell are they?
2 - No campaign support like there was in TFT. Was it really that hard to add a feature that was in an older game?
Discovered this while trying to make the foliage generator spawn only grass, might be useful for other people:
To change the doodads spawned by the foliage generator, go into the data editor, open the "Terrain Textures" tab, find the textures you're working with and change the "Doodads+" field. You can also change the placement radius and the probability of a certain doodad being spawned by the generator in this field.
Actually, it is just what Mozared said, I first built the portal, chose the camera angle and built the terrain in a way that the portal hid the transition between them. For the fog I used the "Fog (Mist)" doodad tinted orange and scaled up to 500%. Check the attached map. If you move the camera even a little bit the intersection becomes visible.
@ Mozared:
I've always been around, kind of. Just didn't have enough time to do much (or anything at all) because I was too busy with some stuff in real life (mostly school), and the free time was usually going to League of Legends (awesome game btw) or WoW.
Anyway, thanks everyone for the feedback. I'll probably post something new during this week, either related to that single player map, the next WTE, or a small terraining project I'm working on.
Yeah, also had it in mind while making this. Got the idea to use the vespene gas pickups as an effect when trying to replicate the old raid dungeon portals from WoW.
I decided it would be best to just post all my terrain works in one single thread instead of making a new one every time I did something so, here they are, feedback is appreciated. :)
1 - A view of Korhal at night.
2 - The streets of Tarsonis after the zerg invasion. Testing some lightning effects.
3 to 5 - A Xel'Naga temple in Zhakul'Das. Pictures are from an old project I abandoned but still had the unfinished map lying around.
6 - An ancient protoss shrine protected by an impenetrable shield. The planet around it suffered a great catastrophe and now the last remains of the old world are inside the shrine.
The overgrown jungle pictures look nice, but maybe a bit bland. Maybe add a few more rocks, small plants, vegetation, etc. I don't get what the first picture's supposed to be. Is it right after the impact? If so, then why are there no visible signs of destruction besides the crater (burned trees, fire, etc). And also, the walls in the other 5 pictures weren't there before (assuming there's a timeline being represented there), but they appear to be destroyed by the impact. Adding a few rocks around the crystal might also make it feel more natural, it feels weird that a crystal would crash down into a planet and remain intact. Adding the rocks can make it look like the crystal was exposed by the crash.
Anyway, here's mine. Inspired by a Warcraft 3 terrain by Void. It's supposed to be some kind of Xel'Naga interplanetary gateway between Char and Shakuras. I might have done a little too much on the Char side and maybe not enough on the Shakuras side, but Char has like 10 times as many doodads that can fit while Shakuras has practially none. The lightning is slightly weird near the gateway because of the zhakul temples I used to get the effects on the gate.
Map is attached in case someone wants to take a look.
I just thought of something for this, the tilesets will be Shakuras (Sand, Sand Dark, Dirt Cracked and Stone) and Char (Mud, Rock, Red Cracks, Lava Cracks). Should post something in the next few days.
I haven't tried yet, but you should be able to make a custom soundtrack in the Data editor, add your custom sound to the Cues+ field, and then go to the trigger editor and do: Sound - Set Default music sountrack to (your soundtrack). That should stop the default music from playing.
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I also started terraining back in Warcraft 3 and I learned most of what I knew (I say knew because terraining in Sc2 has a different feel to me, and I couldn't get used to it yet) by checking other people's terrains and trying new things to see what worked and what didn't look good.
My advice is to check out Blizzard's terrains since they did a pretty good job of making things look good and simple, and practice. Practice a lot.
0
First of all, BLP is a 2D texture file, like DDS for Sc2, Warcraft 3 models are in MDX. To convert MDX into M3, you'd have to import it into 3ds Max or some other modelling program with a MDX plugin, and then you'd probably have to adjust the animations a little before exporting as M3.
0
Here's my entry, it's supposed to be a Xel'Naga spaceship travelling through warp space (or hyperspace, whatever you want to call it). It's meant for a 6v6 team deathmatch, but could also work for CTF I guess. There's a large number of cliffs and teleporters, giving plenty of oportunities for players to ambush enemy heroes walking on lower areas. There aren't many open areas, though, so heroes built for close quarters combat may be slighly better in this map (not sure if there are heroes of that kind in TOFU).
The teams' bases are protected by a repulsor field, preventing enemy players from getting inside, and there are teleporters leading outside in addition to the normal exit to prevent camping from the enemy team.
I had other ideas for arenas but unfortunately, I couldn't finish them, had some work to do for a project and a problem in real life kept me away from the editor for a few days. At least I could finish this one in time. The last picture shows how the teleporters connect to eachother.
0
As much as I hate to admit it, it's all true. Blizzard failed hard this time. I pretty much gave up on making anything multiplayer and now I'm just working on singleplayer stuff.
Just two more points to add to the list: 1 - Art Tools. One year later. Where the hell are they? 2 - No campaign support like there was in TFT. Was it really that hard to add a feature that was in an older game?
0
@Reaper872: Go
Either make them doodads and set custom color, or use the terran beacons for green, protoss for blue and zerg for red.
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Are we allowed to submit multiple entries? I already finished mine, but I still have ideas for other arenas.
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I'm in, just got one question: are we supposed to make just one arena? Or as many as we can fit in a map?
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@Mozared: Go
Discovered this while trying to make the foliage generator spawn only grass, might be useful for other people:
To change the doodads spawned by the foliage generator, go into the data editor, open the "Terrain Textures" tab, find the textures you're working with and change the "Doodads+" field. You can also change the placement radius and the probability of a certain doodad being spawned by the generator in this field.
0
@hawkerhurricane and Nebuli2:
Actually, it is just what Mozared said, I first built the portal, chose the camera angle and built the terrain in a way that the portal hid the transition between them. For the fog I used the "Fog (Mist)" doodad tinted orange and scaled up to 500%. Check the attached map. If you move the camera even a little bit the intersection becomes visible.
@ Mozared:
I've always been around, kind of. Just didn't have enough time to do much (or anything at all) because I was too busy with some stuff in real life (mostly school), and the free time was usually going to League of Legends (awesome game btw) or WoW.
Anyway, thanks everyone for the feedback. I'll probably post something new during this week, either related to that single player map, the next WTE, or a small terraining project I'm working on.
0
Judging by the tileset he's using, I think he actually wants to hide the terrain cells so that you can see the space background.
In the terrain module, go to terrain object (the last button) and use "Hide Terrain Cells" on the ground you want to hide.
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@Nebuli2: Go
Yeah, also had it in mind while making this. Got the idea to use the vespene gas pickups as an effect when trying to replicate the old raid dungeon portals from WoW.
0
I decided it would be best to just post all my terrain works in one single thread instead of making a new one every time I did something so, here they are, feedback is appreciated. :)
1 - A view of Korhal at night.
2 - The streets of Tarsonis after the zerg invasion. Testing some lightning effects.
3 to 5 - A Xel'Naga temple in Zhakul'Das. Pictures are from an old project I abandoned but still had the unfinished map lying around.
6 - An ancient protoss shrine protected by an impenetrable shield. The planet around it suffered a great catastrophe and now the last remains of the old world are inside the shrine.
7 - A small terran outpost on a moon.
8 - Atlantis the lost city. Inspired by a Wc3 terrain by MadseN (http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/attachments/terrain-board-267/14700d1192357080-madsens-terrain-showcase-atlantis-thelostcity4.jpg)
9 and 10 - Pictures from a single player map I'm working on, inspired a bit by a terrain from one of the old WTEs.
11 - My terrain for WTE 39 - Two-fold Textures. A Xel'Naga interplanetary gateway between Char and Shakuras. Inspired by a Wc3 terrain by Void. (http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/attachments/terrain-board-267/40851d1224984379-voids-terrain-gallery-heaven-hell.png)
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@Dalemil: Go
The overgrown jungle pictures look nice, but maybe a bit bland. Maybe add a few more rocks, small plants, vegetation, etc. I don't get what the first picture's supposed to be. Is it right after the impact? If so, then why are there no visible signs of destruction besides the crater (burned trees, fire, etc). And also, the walls in the other 5 pictures weren't there before (assuming there's a timeline being represented there), but they appear to be destroyed by the impact. Adding a few rocks around the crystal might also make it feel more natural, it feels weird that a crystal would crash down into a planet and remain intact. Adding the rocks can make it look like the crystal was exposed by the crash.
Anyway, here's mine. Inspired by a Warcraft 3 terrain by Void. It's supposed to be some kind of Xel'Naga interplanetary gateway between Char and Shakuras. I might have done a little too much on the Char side and maybe not enough on the Shakuras side, but Char has like 10 times as many doodads that can fit while Shakuras has practially none. The lightning is slightly weird near the gateway because of the zhakul temples I used to get the effects on the gate.
Map is attached in case someone wants to take a look.
0
I just thought of something for this, the tilesets will be Shakuras (Sand, Sand Dark, Dirt Cracked and Stone) and Char (Mud, Rock, Red Cracks, Lava Cracks). Should post something in the next few days.
0
I haven't tried yet, but you should be able to make a custom soundtrack in the Data editor, add your custom sound to the Cues+ field, and then go to the trigger editor and do: Sound - Set Default music sountrack to (your soundtrack). That should stop the default music from playing.