ALL I WANT IS CUSTOM UNITS

Discussion in 'Mod Discussions' started by enchapi, October 6, 2014.

  1. enchapi

    enchapi New Member

    Messages:
    1
    Likes Received:
    0
    Hey guys that's all I am asking. I want to design my own units and also would like to change what units are available to me in battle.
  2. brianpurkiss

    brianpurkiss Post Master General

    Messages:
    7,879
    Likes Received:
    7,438
    You can already build your own units through modding. You can do something as simple as change the stats of existing units or create completely new units with unique models and the like.

    If you're talking about some pre-built unit designer in game where you customize units, piece together different parts, adjust stats, etc... that'd be cool, but would not fit within PA and would be a huge undertaking. Uber already has enough big things they need to add.
  3. Raevn

    Raevn Moderator Alumni

    Messages:
    4,226
    Likes Received:
    4,324
    I wish I had more time :(. This is actually something I could create, taking from my .papa format knowledge and the blender importer/exporter & TA converter. But my backlog of work I want to do is huge.

    This is a modding question, so I'm going to shoot this thread over to the mod forum.
    cwarner7264 likes this.
  4. duncane

    duncane Active Member

    Messages:
    364
    Likes Received:
    191
    Interesting question .... If it's possible how come there aren't more custom units?
  5. Raevn

    Raevn Moderator Alumni

    Messages:
    4,226
    Likes Received:
    4,324
    Couple of reasons:
    • Modelling is a fairly specialised skill
    • Multiple unit-adding mods don't play well yet
    • The Blender exporter doesn't support rotated bones, because I can't 3D math :oops:
    thetrophysystem likes this.
  6. moonwerewolf

    moonwerewolf Member

    Messages:
    93
    Likes Received:
    64
    So is it possible to add a whole new races if one put enough time and effort into it?
    cdrkf likes this.
  7. thetrophysystem

    thetrophysystem Post Master General

    Messages:
    7,050
    Likes Received:
    2,874
    I have done work to make factions based on dividing current in-game tech between different commanders. Technically, done the work twice now, about to revise the second one too.

    Short story, it works. Raevn also is working on a TA conversion, where the TA commanders are ported, are given specific build links to their units, and their units linked similarly. Yes, it is possible.

    The thing I am working on isn't getting it to work, it is making sure it will be fun to play, as it is intended for use with 3-5 people choosing a tech a piece and matching off against an enemy with another possible choice in tech, and each individual on the shared army is in charge of their part of the tech to supplement the team, and if any individual loses their commander they lose that tech the rest of the game.
  8. squishypon3

    squishypon3 Post Master General

    Messages:
    7,971
    Likes Received:
    4,356
    Statera and RCBM both add custom units?

    Edit: Oops, never mind you said more... Guess people are just lazy as it's super easy? :D
    Last edited: October 6, 2014
  9. cdrkf

    cdrkf Post Master General

    Messages:
    5,721
    Likes Received:
    4,793
    Well modding in units requires quite a large set of skills.

    You need:
    1: Concept design skills
    2: CAD modelling skills (specifically mesh modelling which isn't the same as standard 3D cad- though you could potentially start in CAD and move to a mesh model)
    3: Animation skills
    4: Experience with UV mapped texturing (not the same as CAD texturing for renders sadly)
    5: Knowledge of how to use these tools to get said animated, textured model into the required format for the game
    6: Coding / scripting knowledge to add the new unit into a mod that can be loaded + tagged into the existing game.

    I have experience with the first 2 (and if anyone is looking for someone to do some modelling I'd be willing to try and help) however I currently have no knowledge of the remaining points, very often these mods require a small team of people.
    zweistein000 likes this.
  10. zweistein000

    zweistein000 Post Master General

    Messages:
    1,362
    Likes Received:
    727
    I think so. I'm not sure though, nut I think you can tell the factory and fabber which unit types it builds.
  11. liquius

    liquius Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    731
    Likes Received:
    482
    The key part is having a high quality model that doesn't stick out like a saw thumb. That is the only real challenge.

    Animations are a little tricky, but unless you're making bots/satellites/factories you probably don't need to worry about them. AFAIK, outside of Uber, nobody has been able to successfully add animations. Implementing them is fairly simple, but you need to use 3DS Max along with some custom settings that we don't know about.

    Texturing isn't much of a challenge. Someone with no experience should be able to whip up something not too bad in a day. Someone with experience should be able to do it within a couple of hours.

    Actually implementing it is easy. You have plenty of examples/templates. It's hard to go wrong.
  12. igncom1

    igncom1 Post Master General

    Messages:
    7,961
    Likes Received:
    3,132
    Other then new units models and such, I was never able to figure out how to make my new units build able.

    Modding a unit is easy pisy, but adding new units to be built has been a real challenge.
  13. squishypon3

    squishypon3 Post Master General

    Messages:
    7,971
    Likes Received:
    4,356
    Actually at the moment we can't do any custom animations, which is why there are no custom commanders, or bots, etc...

    Tanks use the engine to aim, with an aim bone, animations are made on the fly by the game. :D
    cdrkf likes this.
  14. cola_colin

    cola_colin Moderator Alumni

    Messages:
    12,074
    Likes Received:
    16,221
    From my work on rescale PA I think have an idea of how the animation format works, it's a pretty simple format. I doubt it would be hard to just write a custom exporter for blender that writes animation papa files directly.
    proeleert likes this.
  15. cdrkf

    cdrkf Post Master General

    Messages:
    5,721
    Likes Received:
    4,793
    An 'aim bone'.... Don't ask me why but that sounds like a euphemism for something dodgy... Lol.
  16. liquius

    liquius Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    731
    Likes Received:
    482
    If someone did that, I imagine it might make quite a few people happy ;)
    squishypon3 likes this.
  17. squishypon3

    squishypon3 Post Master General

    Messages:
    7,971
    Likes Received:
    4,356
    Yes, yes we would...

    Cola pls. <3
  18. cola_colin

    cola_colin Moderator Alumni

    Messages:
    12,074
    Likes Received:
    16,221
    Now the issue is while I understand how the format works, (I posted an 101 template for it in the rescale thread), I have 0 idea how animations anywhere else works. The papa animation files are the only animation files I've ever seen so far. I also suck at 3D modeling to an epic level. I've not even once seen how animating is even done in such a tool.
    Last edited: October 6, 2014
  19. Raevn

    Raevn Moderator Alumni

    Messages:
    4,226
    Likes Received:
    4,324
    They need to have the appropriate unit types to be built by the builder, and added to build.js to appear in the build menu.
  20. stuart98

    stuart98 Post Master General

    Messages:
    6,009
    Likes Received:
    3,888
    PM me all files you've modified in order to add the new unit and I'll tell you what you did wrong (and fix it for you).

Share This Page