Tatooine map (In Progress)

[tirpider]

(site is being slow.. might be my end though.)

I compared the colors in the original barge to the bumpy-glossy column and the only signifigant similar difference was the second set of colors (Ambient? Specular?). And I also tried a default set of neutral colors. Didn't have an effect on the gloss.

But.. I did spot the thing in the pic. (I isolated the engine from the barge and dropped it on my test map, as-is, with no changes. You can clearly see that viewing it from different angles affects not only the bumpyness, but also the gloss.

The columns are the same way.

on the relatively flat engine top, with the sun at my back, the gloss was gone, but when viewed from the opposite direction, it shone like a golden sled.

The Columns work similar but the directions swapped. They look glossy with the sun at my back and flat when looking at it's shadowed side.

I take this to mean the direction of the light has to do with the gloss.

Does your test model look non-glossy on all sides or just one?


-edit
I keep a copy of it on my dropbox:
MSH_TAG_SIZE_VALIDATION_TOOL_v1.zip
I forget where it is located on-site (can't remember if I gave it it's own thread or if it just came up.) If it isn't in the downloads, I'll upload it later tonight.

Instructions on copying blocks of code is a little more lengthy than a post.  I'll dig around and see if there is a tut.. (there should be.) But it's easy.

-edit
Well, I'm not finding any formal topics that would help here.  I'm hesitant to do one myself as my previous tutorials have been a bit... wordy.  I will though, but it will probably be later tomorrow before I can post it (here). Hopefully some of the other guys will be able to help translate my crazy.

[Ginev]

HEX EDITING was always hard for me....so there is no easy way how to do this?Because when i go in the HEX EDITOR sometimes i don't know what i am doing.I think we need TUTORIAL step by step what to do since i am BIG NOOB when it comes to hex editing. 

[Sereja]

Well, here the codes pic:
[spoiler][/spoiler]

All, you have to do, it's copy Gloss code, and paste instead of old one, Usual.
This huge code part, mostly responsible for render effects, and usualy starts with this:

Code Select Expand

333?333?333?, and ends by this:

Code Select Expand

....
So, it's can be easy recognized.
Also, do not forget to put correct textures names, needed for your model.

[tirpider]

Hexediting is daunting, and one of the scariest things about it is that there are so many ways to do it.

For basic stuff, I think you already know how to go in, find a marker (like ATRB) and make an adjustment without changing anything else. That ability enables all sorts of edits like changing a TGA name or customizing materials.

A more advanced edit could involve copying blocks of hex over hex already in the file. This again, shouldn't change the file size or it will break the msh.

Still more advanced is inserting/deleting chunks and altering field sizes. This kind of edit will affect the file size (by design) and that is what that validator will fix.


The material edit in Sereja's example is somewhere between the last 2.
The chunk he is copying has the extra entry for the bumpmap texture (most all materials have only one texture.)
So most of the code will overwrite part of the existing material in your target model, but the extra texture chunk will get inserted.

I think the most daunting part of it all is not knowing how the MSH files are set up (it was for me.)
When you edit an ODF, you can easily see property=value relationships, but in the msh files, the properties are fields and they are set by the data just being in the expected place. It's kinda abstract, but makes sense.

Here are a couple of links to help figure out how these files are stacked.
[info].msh structure notes
This is a list of all the various tags (like ATRB) that point at all the special fields (like the 6th place after ATRB)
There are a couple of tree views to help explain the relationships of them.

[tool]SWBF_MSH_INFO v0.05 alpha
SWBF_MSH_INFO.rar <- Most recent version (I really need to update my topics)
This is another program I wrote for looking at the data in the msh in a somewhat meaningful way. It doesn't show how the model looks, jut the data, like tga names, colors, and most importantly, what order the tags are in.

I won't lie. It's a lot to take in. But once you have the basic ideas for it down, you can actually do things with the models that are extremely difficult in XSI.

I'm working on another program that actually helps a lot with editing msh files, but it's up in the air on whether it's ready or not.

As for the actual steps of getting the data from one msh to the other. With a hex editor, just copy the data you want, and copy it to the same relative place in the target msh.  Avoid altering the filesizes till you understand the field boundaries. Once you are making edits to fields instead of doing block copys, you can safely use the TAG_VALIDATOR to automatically repair the field sizes and never have to worry about them again....

Ok.. I'm going on too long here. I'll cut this short and let you dig on the above and I'll come back with a more direct answer for the specific edit you have planned. (Unless some one else wants to take a swing at this ) I'm sorry to get long winded like that. (I know it drives some folks crazy.)

[Ginev]

Ill try what sereja show.Ok but do i need to remove the yavin_details_bump and all the option msh and tga files?


EDIT:Yes finally i did it myself!Thanks alot sereja and tirpider.You save me guys.With your help the map now will rock!!!Here look this:The CP gloss is from sereja (i only change the bumpmap) the others are by myself:





I decided to try this in weapons too.First i was think it won't work because when i check the model in the msh viewer there was no textures.The model was white.But in game looks fine like you see.



i am still curios can this be added to vehicles or characters?The stormtroopers certainly will look epic!!!

[D4R|< $1D3]

blargh shinny stuff   

[Snake]

That looks SO AWESOME!

[Kit Fisto]

VERY nice. I look forward to what other modders can achieve using this "new" effect. I always like how some parts of SWBFII have have that effect.

[tirpider]

Those look cool. Good work, Ginev.
I'm glad you got it working.

As far as I know, you can add that change to any material in any MSH.
The only way to know for sure is to test it out.
But I see no problems with adding it to a unit, vehicle, ... anything.

Well... actually, I am imagining that adding it to things like the Trees on Yavin or Endor might make the game puke.
But they are already pushing limits themselves for other reasons.

[Sereja]

I mostly like, how it looks for blue crates. The gun looks heavy, and seems, made of cast iron...
Actualy, the gloss, it is just another variation of bump, so it have the same properties. It can be succesfuly mixed, only with hard edged transparance (it gives very nice icy surface), and ofcorse, can be added to any infantry or vehicles, which do not have bump in msh.option, specularity, soft edged transparence or glowlight for the same texture. It may also not works, with vertexlighting msh.option, for some models.

[Unit 33]

Those are looking fantastic!

[Ginev]

I will try different bumpmap for the weapon.Will see.I am continue with the modeling.In the mean time i get new idea.I think its not possible but could we make the same with the Tantive4 rebel trooper?I mean can we take the code from him for the ENVMAP?Imagine if this work?That will be awsome!    If someone have the time....and the skills of course can try.

[411Remnant]

That looks amazing!

[Ginev]

I will be offline for 2 days but don't worry i am working on the map   Here is some screenshots from the map.What you will see its not final.I am too lazy to upload all screenshots 1 by 1 so here is the archive download link.(you can download them for few seconds).I will be here after 2 days.    

http://www.gamefront.com/files/23596948/Update2.zip

[Ginev]

Can someone tell me the code for the Autoturrets?I remember it was something like autoturret  = 1 or something like that.If someone remember please post.I need to try something.