ED209 combat support droid project mod

Hi to all,

I'm very interested in creating a combat support droid unit as a optional additon mod. But instead of asking someone to do it for me, i want to try to do it myself, however i really don't know from where to start and wich tools/applications should i use for the design. I suppose i should start by creating the figure structure and then skin it (?) but i reaaly need some help for the process.

This is the model i'm thinking about:

Maybe i could even use this pictures for the skin process.

Do a 3d Model of your Robot (Blender, Maya, 3ds, Wings3d)

UV-Wrap / Skin / Texture it (the above + photoshop, corel etc)

Run an automated render script (again, 3d modelling Software).

Once that is done, you need to get it into the game.

But if you managed to get that far, the last step will be a piece of cake.

hint: scrap your idea.

Thank you Ragnarok! Your answer made it much more clear, i will surelly try that. I was about to ask you wich programs to use but i noticed that you edited your reply meanwhile.

And by the way, can the picture i posted be used for creating a model or i am required to make some kind of design work?

You are pretty free to do what you want, unless you are actually injuring any copyrights. For example, you could totally do a mockup of that robot or use it as inspiration, unless its a 1 to 1 copy.

I just asked that because if i have to design it myself, the result could be disastrous if you know what i mean...

Another one...great!

Have you seen this discussion?

Well thixotrop, i really want to make this available in the game. At the moment i'm learning how to make the model in Maya and since i don't have much time it might take a while. I tooked a look at the thread you mentioned and i noticed that it brings the issue of adding "large units" to the game. For now i'm concerned about creating the unit model, if i ever get that done, i hope someone with code skills can help to make it available in the game.

In "the other thread" there are some guys that could and would like to help. They are all nice and eager to enhance the game, just ask them.

I think he wants to add a "friendly unit" while the other thread wants to enhance the Alien rooster...

Or am I mistaken?

I have to say I kinda join Ragnarock in a more friendly warning that this is a more massive undertaking than you might realize...

I frankly hope you will stick with it.

But if not,

Any work done towards a sectopod/friendlypod will likely be picked up by the next optimistic guy or someone with too much free time...

For now i'm concerned about creating the unit model, if i ever get that done, i hope someone with code skills can help to make it available in the game.

This shouldn't be problem as long as unit isn't bigger than 2 x 2 (someone said that it's possible to make 3x3 but there are some issues regarding LoS system and who knows what else).We already have done this check XNT:ID. Problem isn't to include ..do you want foe or friendly unit ?Most time consumer of this project would be making art assets (sprites).

I think he wants to add a "friendly unit" while the other thread wants to enhance the Alien rooster...

Or am I mistaken?

This also shouldn't be a problem.However player wouldn't have control over his action and would be necessary to define in which tileset will it spawn (Artic,Industrial....) and when (at beginning or after player research Lasers,Plasma ....) but I don't think it can be specified how many times it will spawn.Once it's decided when and where will it spawn it will always spawn.

This also shouldn't be a problem.However player wouldn't have control over his action and would be necessary to define in which tileset will it spawn (Artic,Industrial....) and when (at beginning or after player research Lasers,Plasma ....) but I don't think it can be specified how many times it will spawn.Once it's decided when and where will it spawn it will always spawn.

I might be mistaken, but I think he wants this to be another option alongside the current Scout Vehicles...

Something you will have to build via the workshop and have it flown with the troops.

Altho having these as an independence units might be an interesting idea... but it seems an overkill to make it and then just have it roam around on some maps...

I might be mistaken, but I think he wants this to be another option alongside the current Scout Vehicles...

Something you will have to build via the workshop and have it flown with the troops.

This is even better.Because it isn't hard to add new unit along side armor vehicles.All that needs to be done is to include that mech inside vehicles.xml,give it sound engine inside vehicles_gc.xml,make research path inside researches.xml,make entry inside strings.xml,make entry in manufactures.xml in order to unlock production,xenopedia.xml

And if he wants to add special weapons for that mech vehicleweapons.xml and vehicleweapons_gc.xml are files that are needed.That's about it as far as coding goes and that's easier part.Harder part is making all those sprites ...

Sentelin, I have been wondering how the game handles sprites, maybe you can bring some light to the matter.

Let's take for example shooting. Is it always the same frame account that anim will have, and is the frame where the actual projectile comes out fixed? Or is this something you assign somewhere the game files?

Or for example walking. Mech unit like this the animations would have to match the speed of the actual movement, so it won't look like it is "skating" or taking too many steps. Is this something you would have to play around set rules of the engine, or something you can play around with? (Like the speed of actual movement, or the speed of how fast the engine plays the frames, etc)

EDIT:

This shouldn't be problem as long as unit isn't bigger than 2 x 2 (someone said that it's possible to make 3x3 but there are some issues regarding LoS system and who knows what else).We already have done this check XNT:ID.

Can you specifye what you have added for someone new and aomeone who does not have played the mod? There seems to be ton of changes.

Let's take for example shooting. Is it always the same frame account that anim will have, and is the frame where the actual projectile comes out fixed? Or is this something you assign somewhere the game files?

I am afraid that answer to both of those question is yes and that's something you can't tweak.(I could be wrong If so I don't mind if someone correct me).

Or for example walking. Mech unit like this the animations would have to match the speed of the actual movement, so it won't look like it is "skating" or taking too many steps.

I couldn't find value that would help you with this .So I don't think this is possible.There is "top speed " inside vehicle.xml but it appears to do nothing.However I may be mistaken and I didn't noticed way of doing it because it's hidden really well.

Can you specifye what you have added for someone new and aomeone who does not have played the mod? There seems to be ton of changes.

We didn't add any Mech unit or something in those line but TD did add Queen from Creepers (http://postimg.org/image/rgplrvu8v/)

I am afraid that answer to both of those question is yes and that's something you can't tweak.(I could be wrong If so I don't mind if someone correct me).

I couldn't find value that would help you with this .So I don't think this is possible.There is "top speed " inside vehicle.xml but it appears to do nothing.However I may be mistaken and I didn't noticed way of doing it because it's hidden really well.

Ok, thanks for reply. That makes things a lot more clear now.

We didn't add any Mech unit or something in those line but TD did add Queen from Creepers (http://postimg.org/image/rgplrvu8v/)

Well that definitelly peaked my interest, that is a nasty looking enemy. I will most definitelly try the mod after I finish my current campaign.

Ok. Some things i forgot to mention:

* I started to think of this unit definitely as a 'human' unit, a bit slow but with heavy fire power (2 Heavy MG and a set of small missiles);

* Like Ogaburan says, my ideia is to make the unit available for construction as an alternative to the scout vehicles maybe not right from the start but at an early stage after some technology research;

* For the size, i guess this should be a 2x2 unit as others that are present in the game, in fact, in some point i will need to know what is the unit size in pixels;

* When you mention sprites, i assume you are talking about moving, firing and dying, right? The first one may take some effort, firing not so much. Here i can get some ideia of what needs to be done:

It seems that this was already been moddeled:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eM_ZaTsym6E

If someone could convince the author to share it with us, then the project would be almost done.

It seems that this was already been moddeled:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eM_ZaTsym6E

If someone could convince the author to share it with us, then the project would be almost done.

That would be great! Sadly, the author doesn't seem very enthusiastic with sharing after being approached in the comments:

Nope, I won't share this model. Don't take it personally but this is one of my personal work and I spent a lot of time in modelling and rigging. Sorry.

Getting that would definetly shortcut things a lot. Maybe trying a different aproach...

It seems that this was already been moddeled:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eM_ZaTsym6E

If someone could convince the author to share it with us, then the project would be almost done.

You can already find multiple models in the 3D warehouse: https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/search.html?q=ed+209&backendClass=entity

Sketchup is free and you can easily export views like so:

Making the walking animation would be a lot harder though.

The Warehouse is full of free and useful 3D models. Personally I'd love to have a scout rover like this:

But I've been told that it's currently impossible to have a 1-tile wide player controlled machine.

You should have said this guy is from ROBOCOP. I only now remember. lol.

@Cybrbeast

That's great and might speed up the project. I will give it a look. Another thing is that the moddel doesn't need to have a high detail because at the game scale that won't be noticeable.

As for the animation, i guess it is hard no matter wich app you choose for moddeling. From googling and youtubbing aroung, i had already found many tutorials for creating animations in Maya. Probably for Sketchup will not be different.

@Ragnarok

I'm not even a big fan of Robocop but at least for me, i think this droid would look great on the game. And by the way, i have some 'inspirations' from ohter movies, like stealth capability, shoulder cannon with laser aiming, etc that i would love to see on the game as well but probably more complex to develop since they code change. But we will see.