sky dome

Started by Delta327, April 21, 2015, 12:18:43 PM

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April 21, 2015, 12:18:43 PM Last Edit: April 21, 2015, 12:24:12 PM by Delta327
Can u create your own skydome with gimp and paint.net
PROJECTS:                                 
BF1:
Sector 3-4482-F
Solar System
BF2:
Shattered Galaxy
Project 171A

Yeah you can, what I usually do is edit/decompile an existing skydome from the game assets, and retexture it. Only reason I use the game's is because it's all correctly scaled but if I recall Pandemic's projections and geometry is really wonky so you may have some work in XSI to do before hand.

Otherwise yeah, just take a look at their stuff and if you swap it out in your world folder be sure to make sure the names calling up the dome in the sky file match and you should be good.
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Quote from: Epifire on April 21, 2015, 12:30:50 PM
Yeah you can, what I usually do is edit/decompile an existing skydome from the game assets, and retexture it. Only reason I use the game's is because it's all correctly scaled but if I recall Pandemic's projections and geometry is really wonky so you may have some work in XSI to do before hand.

Otherwise yeah, just take a look at their stuff and if you swap it out in your world folder be sure to make sure the names calling up the dome in the sky file match and you should be good.

So if you take a picture of a morning sky you can use it
PROJECTS:                                 
BF1:
Sector 3-4482-F
Solar System
BF2:
Shattered Galaxy
Project 171A

Quote from: Delta327 on April 21, 2015, 12:54:25 PM
So if you take a picture of a morning sky you can use it

Yeah but beware (in my experience anyway) using a single square image over the dome is a little rough. I mean I have one I'm gonna replace for my Kejim map, because even at 4096x4096 resolution it's lot that high res since it get's stretched horribly. You certainly can use a real image but chances are it's not gonna look as good in-game if just used whole sale.

I plan on getting a loopable panning image (like the one used for Geonosis since the horizontal resolution looks a lot better that way. So projecting a horizon in kind of a ring seems to help the inital look of it. Only thing is if you look straight up into the middle of the dome/sky it wont look all as good. So you may want to get some separate image to slot in for the middle. Blend the edges in with alpha transparency maybe. Just some ideas for you.  :cheers:
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April 22, 2015, 05:22:33 AM #4 Last Edit: April 22, 2015, 12:32:59 PM by Delta327
Can u show me an example of a coustom skydome?
PROJECTS:                                 
BF1:
Sector 3-4482-F
Solar System
BF2:
Shattered Galaxy
Project 171A

Alright, lets give this a go here. Currently I'm using a single space shot off one of the telescopes (from NASA and that jazz). Right now it's a place holder as it really doesn't hold it's resolution well when projected onto a Sky-dome and it's also a bit too colorful for my tastes. If you do any form of modeling (or care to see how that should look) this is how mine is currently setup in XSI...



Now if you're just wanting to modify an existing one out of the game's assets you can find them under BFBuilder\Assets\Shipped Worlds. NOTE: the sky-dome and assets always has to be in the World1 folder (eg.* project-name*\World1) not the MSH folder...



You can see in the image above, all of my paths, files and attributed references needed to run it. I'm not 100% certain what the "-maps 1" line is in the .tga option file, but I'm guessing it was important so I left it in.  :P

I just used the same option lines for the .msh and .tga that I'd seen with stock sky-domes and it works fine. Other than having those and placing the assets in your world1 folder, just be sure it's correctly referenced in the Sky file. NOTE: There is no ODF required by the sky-dome since it's only needed to be seen visually (not interacted with).
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One question how do you get XSI to work.
PROJECTS:                                 
BF1:
Sector 3-4482-F
Solar System
BF2:
Shattered Galaxy
Project 171A

Quote from: Delta327 on April 24, 2015, 05:41:56 PM
One question how do you get XSI to work.

lol

That's a doozey for one question.
Quote from: Abraham Lincoln. on November 04, 1971, 12:34:40 PM
Don't believe everything you read on the internet

 :slap:
=AaTc= Forever

SALLY....

-Retired Modder

Quote from: Delta327 on April 24, 2015, 05:41:56 PM
One question how do you get XSI to work.

Well I feel there's gonna be a bit more to this than just a simple install with a couple tips. Modeling applications are dense things to learn, so if you're wanting to learn XSI (or any modeling app for that matter) be warned as there is going to be a lot to wrap your brain around.  :P

I use the most current version of Softimage 2015. It's a Student version I use for personal projects and mods, but requires Ande's ZE Tools exporter in order to export an MSH directly from XSI.

Softimage|XSI 2015 >> http://www.autodesk.com/education/free-software/softimage
XSI ZE Tool by Ande >> http://schlechtwetterfront.github.io/xsizetools/

- Softimage - Once you fill out the stuff here and download/run the full install of Softimage|XSI, that should all work fine out of the box (once the copy is activated that is). NOTE: Highly recommended that you run it on a system with some decent memory and processor otherwise. Just saying, because it's not guaranteed that it'll work on a really low end system.

- ZE Tools - ZE tools can be a bit more finicky to get to work at first. All I can say is read and follow the install (with the github link) very carefully. It should be a one time setup if you do it right, so there shouldn't be any hassle after that. If there is and you need more help with that tool, check out it's parent topic here over at GT and give that a look... http://www.gametoast.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=26664

You can read up in case you run into problems with it. It requires Python script to run, so there is some additional stuff to mind if you end up going that route. If you are able to get through that whole bit while able to actually run XSI, you should then have the correct setup to use for modeling in SWBF (1 or 2 for that matter). Using the actual software is a whole other topic in itself, but if you have an Xfire account feel free to add me to ask any questions about it.


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Dose anyone know where I can find a T-21 Light repeating rifle?
PROJECTS:                                 
BF1:
Sector 3-4482-F
Solar System
BF2:
Shattered Galaxy
Project 171A

Quote from: Delta327 on April 26, 2015, 03:30:24 PM
Dose anyone know where I can find a T-21 Light repeating rifle?

Not off the top of my head, but you may want to make a separate thread for that.
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