[WIP] Outside Tileset 0.2 & Blender Export Tutorial

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[WIP] Outside Tileset 0.2 & Blender Export Tutorial

Postby servvs » Thu Nov 12, 2009 12:28 pm

So ive decided to create my outside tileset with the crypt tileset as it looks very much like a castle and what not.

My plans are to make a quest line here and have new weapons, armor, and a story. I will try to re use as much as I can that came with torchlight so that the download file isn't so large, but I will still make it look unique. What do you guys think so far?

Updated pic with shadows and heavily modified grass particle:

Image

Things to do:

1. Fix shadows on walkable tiles - Fixed :D
2. Add many more tiles
3. Add a few more trees so it doesn't look so bland
4. Create new models for weapons, armor, and random props
5. Create new shrines
6. Create story
7. Release

About fixing shadows, you must have _shadow after the name of the material to make it have shadows
Example:
Code: Select all
material crypt_tileset/crypt_dirt_shadow
{
   technique
   {
      pass
      {
         ambient 0.588 0.588 0.588
         diffuse 0.588 0.588 0.588
         specular 0 0 0 0
         emissive 0 0 0
         texture_unit
         {
            texture dirt12.dds
         }
         
      }
   }
}

NOT

Code: Select all
material crypt_tileset/crypt_dirt
{
   technique
   {
      pass
      {
         ambient 0.588 0.588 0.588
         diffuse 0.588 0.588 0.588
         specular 0 0 0 0
         emissive 0 0 0
         texture_unit
         {
            texture dirt12.dds
         }
         
      }
   }
}

Oh and their is no heightmap associated with TorchLight in any way, so I will have to create more tiles to give the appearance of the world not being completely flat.
Last edited by servvs on Thu Nov 12, 2009 10:38 pm, edited 7 times in total.
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Re: [WIP] Outside Tileset 0.1

Postby Illimitus » Thu Nov 12, 2009 12:33 pm

That's just awesome!

Can the terrain slope gradually at all?
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Re: [WIP] Outside Tileset 0.1

Postby servvs » Thu Nov 12, 2009 12:37 pm

Illimitus wrote:That's just awesome!

Can the terrain slope gradually at all?


It can if I make slope tiles. I am thinking it is going to take a lot of slope tiles to actually give the effect a heightmap would give you.

The one thing about this mod so far is, every outside tile piece will use the same texture for the dirt. The grass is actually just an opaque decal that I made. I plan on making many more decals as well. I also thought about making a particle grass system that way the grass can have a waving motion in it (to imitate wind) and have a lot of it, but since this game is all about low requirements, I haven't decided yet.
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Re: [WIP] Outside Tileset 0.1

Postby Dusho » Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:33 pm

nice work servvs..
so you made those tree models on your own? maybe place the branches lying from top to bottom - as main view is from top
regarding shadows - is that terrain walkable? you have collision mesh associated with tiles? there was some post from dev, that tiles with _noshadow are without shadow and are not walkable, so just for some 'props' in background
and btw. I played with particles a bit - grass is already there in TorchED\media\particles\atmosphere\grass.layout
keep it up..
ehm.. you're using still Blender? there was nice tutorial how to import data and evidently you manage to export some models.. you feel like completing that tutorial for export? it will really help some people
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Re: [WIP] Outside Tileset 0.1

Postby woodelfCFC » Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:36 pm

Looks great so far. I agree with Dusho that any tut would be terrific.
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Re: [WIP] Outside Tileset 0.1

Postby jameskond » Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:57 pm

Maybe instead of concentration on making new models for Weapons etc.. you can maybe just try to make different tree types and bushes and ground textures :)
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Re: [WIP] Outside Tileset 0.1

Postby servvs » Thu Nov 12, 2009 3:56 pm

One major thing here though. The tree models are included in torchlight, I am just using them. I do plan on making some of my own tree models with a bit higher detail, but these are fine for now.

@Dusho, the terrain is walkable and I use the same collision tile that the crypts main floor uses, I jsut can't figure out shadows with it.

Im going to my mom's house here in a few minutes but when I get back I will write a tutorial on how I export models and stuff (I haven't tried with any animations).
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Re: [WIP] Outside Tileset 0.1

Postby Carbon14 » Thu Nov 12, 2009 4:13 pm

According to the "levelset import export tutorial" pdf in the source download you need to have "_shadow" after the name of any material that you want to receive shadows. However I have not yet managed to get it working even with that, so there is probably more to it. I am coming across many bugs/gripes importing custom content, so I certainly wish you luck!
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Re: [WIP] Outside Tileset 0.1

Postby locklere » Thu Nov 12, 2009 4:17 pm

Looks awesome, can't wait to see more.

& it has no heightmap?... no wonder Ember Lance sucks on staircases.
[VH-HC Emberknight]
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Re: [WIP] Outside Tileset 0.1

Postby Brandonn » Thu Nov 12, 2009 4:37 pm

did you make any tiles custom yourself, would you be willing to write a quick and dirty how-to? just a small post here so I know where to get started.
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Re: [WIP] Outside Tileset 0.1

Postby Carbon14 » Thu Nov 12, 2009 4:58 pm

Brandonn wrote:did you make any tiles custom yourself, would you be willing to write a quick and dirty how-to? just a small post here so I know where to get started.


"levelset import export tutorial" in the source zip, why not read that, it covers all the basics?
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Re: [WIP] Outside Tileset 0.1

Postby Brandonn » Thu Nov 12, 2009 5:09 pm

perfect start, thanks
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Re: [WIP] Outside Tileset 0.1

Postby servvs » Thu Nov 12, 2009 7:23 pm

Brandonn wrote:did you make any tiles custom yourself, would you be willing to write a quick and dirty how-to? just a small post here so I know where to get started.


I won't go into great detail on that as I have had a few problems and the way I did it is probably not the way most people will do it or should do it. The modeling aspect was easy, create a plane and make a texture, but the adding it to torchlight was different. I have yet to read any tutorials or documents that runic has given us so I did it the best way I could figure out.

As for exporting ogre3D meshes in blender:

Step 1: Go get OgreCommandLineTools - http://sourceforge.net/projects/ogre/fi ... ols/1.6.0/
a. Install

Step 2: Go get Blender Ogre Mesh Exporter - http://www.ogre3d.org/wiki/index.php/Blender_Exporter (I use the one in the SVN, not the zipped on)
a. Install to your scripts folder
b. Run Blender, hit export ogre meshes
c. Click preferences and look at the top, you will see OgreXMLConverter, make sure the location to OgreXMLConverter.exe is correct and click ok

Step 3: Create your model

Step 4: Press CTRL + A and hit scale/rotate to obdata or something like that

Step 5: Hit export ogre meshes
a. Choose directory to export to
b. Make sure OgreXMLConverter is selected
c. Click on export

Step 6: Test your file with either a mod or cegui mesh viewer http://tuan.kuranes.free.fr/Ogre.html

May or may not work:

1. I have not tested skeletons
2. I have not tested animations
3. I have not tested blenders materials (I modify the material file it spits out)

Your model should now be usable in torchlight, its up to you to create the model and decide what you want to use it for though :D
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Re: [WIP] Outside Tileset 0.1 & Blender Export Tutorial

Postby traichuoi09 » Thu Nov 12, 2009 8:26 pm

can you post video tutorial for part 1 or screen , because i can not found "export ogre meshes" or something like mesh file File > export
I use python 2.6 , Blender 2.49b and Orge comandline. I also download Blender Ogre Mesh Exporter , but how to install it to blender :?:
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Re: [WIP] Outside Tileset 0.1 & Blender Export Tutorial

Postby servvs » Thu Nov 12, 2009 8:33 pm

traichuoi09 wrote:can you post video tutorial for part 1 or screen , because i can not found "export ogre meshes" or something like mesh file File > export
I use python 2.6 , Blender 2.49b and Orge comandline. I also download Blender Ogre Mesh Exporter , but how to install it to blender :?:


With export ogre meshes, I was referring to the script that you install to blender. Im not sure how your script directory is set up but it should be C:\Program Files /Program Files(x86)\Blender Foundation\Blender\.blender\scripts

Just extract the files into that folder and it should be installed
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Re: [WIP] Outside Tileset 0.2 & Blender Export Tutorial

Postby berserk3r » Sun Nov 15, 2009 7:46 am

Great idea! I m really looking forward to new areas like gras, snow/icy or desert. I hope you go on and might consider doing some other tilesets too.

Greetz
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Re: [WIP] Outside Tileset 0.2 & Blender Export Tutorial

Postby Zidders » Sun Nov 15, 2009 7:54 am

Looks great, but with all the spell effects, grass particles, etc, will it cause much of a slowdown, specifically for those running it on lower-end machines? At any rate, it's coming along really well....can't wait to see some outside maps!

Maybe someone could make the area where you enter town a portal to the outside, make it so that you could explore the 'wilderness'. I can see great potential here in adding whole new areas to explore and quests involving the outlying areas. It wuold be like a combination of diablo's tristram and caves, and diablo II's wilderness (as an example).
Image
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Re: [WIP] Outside Tileset 0.2 & Blender Export Tutorial

Postby BigRichard » Sun Nov 15, 2009 8:34 am

NICE! this reminds me so much of Diablo 3 demo gameplay when they go out into the wilderness. I think this will be the start to a grand project(s). It certainly brings alot more variety and space
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Re: [WIP] Outside Tileset 0.2 & Blender Export Tutorial

Postby servvs » Sun Nov 15, 2009 9:09 am

Well, ive been experimenting and this is beginning to become very difficult. Im having problems making sloping tiles connect to flat pieces and even with cliff walls. Its a huge headache and when I do release this, anyone who wants to use my tiles is going to have the same problems. Even the collision is messing up for some of the slope tiles. I think the best way to do it is to create a huge chunk and piece them together. This would not be a tileset though, so im not sure if I want to do that.

Let me know what you guys think I should do.
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Re: [WIP] Outside Tileset 0.2 & Blender Export Tutorial

Postby Zidders » Sun Nov 15, 2009 9:18 pm

Not being familiar with the editor, i'm not sure exactly what the largest size of tile is you can use...what about creating something like a wall model, only have it gently sloped, as well as sloped corner pieces that connect to the hillside-like sloped 'wall' pieces? maybe if you made a staircase and had it built into the side of a hill, with sloped hill pieces on either side? Maybe an IM to one of the devs might bring you a solution to this issue, or at least let you know wether the editor will let you do that sort of thing.

From the bits of the caves i've seen, there appear to be short ledges that seperate one level from another, with slight ramps leading down from them....man, I hope you find a solution. An outside area would be really cool.
Image
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