Noodle's WIP Zone

[Noodle]

A small update! I've been working on some things that were on my head that allowed me to learn some new stuff. 

 

Would it be too annoying to create an escort mission, carry an NPC from point A to point B? I've started to test this idea:

 

 

 

Also, I've wanted to model some things, but I still don't have the knowledge or skill, so I've started to play with Blender and kitbashing to create a Togruta follower. It's still a WIP though and I should ask permission for the respective authors. This has also been an opportunity to learn how to skin.

 

[Kualan]

A small update! I've been working on some things that were on my head that allowed me to learn some new stuff. 

 

Would it be too annoying to create an escort mission, carry an NPC from point A to point B? I've started to test this idea:

 

 

 

Also, I've wanted to model some things, but I still don't have the knowledge or skill, so I've started to play with Blender and kitbashing to create a Togruta follower. It's still a WIP though and I should ask permission for the respective authors. This has also been an opportunity to learn how to skin.

 

 

I'm happy to help with kitbashing a few NPCs for you if you need them. Just PM a list and description of what you need and I'll see what I can do.

[Noodle]

I'm happy to help with kitbashing a few NPCs for you if you need them. Just PM a list and description of what you need and I'll see what I can do.

 

That'd be awesome. Unique looking NPCs are always appreciated since they can be turned into cool followers, boss enemies, or even as part of the bounty quests I was working on. In the demo map I uploaded in one of the previous posts I made an all kel'dor gang, but I'm sure something much nicer can be done. 

 

(This was just an experiment I did a couple months ago. You'd select a target and it'd spawn somewhere in the map, or lead to a new map, in which you'd have to either kill or capture the NPC).

 

[minilogoguy18]

It is way faster to kitbash in Blender since it has the direct GLM exporting ability but when you're ready to make custom stuff you might want to just keep learning Softimage since it's what you're animating in and it has just as much modeling tools. I used to use 2 softwares (3DS Max/Softimage) but then I just learned Softimage since it could do both of the things I needed when at the time 3DS Max couldn't export a proper dotXSI file to make custom animations work until recently when @@Archangel35757 updated the plugin.

[Noodle]

It is way faster to kitbash in Blender since it has the direct GLM exporting ability but when you're ready to make custom stuff you might want to just keep learning Softimage since it's what you're animating in and it has just as much modeling tools. I used to use 2 softwares (3DS Max/Softimage) but then I just learned Softimage since it could do both of the things I needed when at the time 3DS Max couldn't export a proper dotXSI file to make custom animations work until recently when @@Archangel35757 updated the plugin.

 

Yeah, while Blender is good for kitbashing some stuff, I think Softimage is a much better tool for animations. My animation work is still very choppy and I'm still not skilled enough to do a decent walk cycle, but I plan to make NPCs with custom animations when I get good at it.

 

In fact, one of my ideas is to make animations for elder-like NPCs. Like the protocol droid, I'd make a non-aggressive NPC that has it's own walk and stand animations.

[minilogoguy18]

Well I'm sure there are loads of tuts online but the best way I found for instance a walk cycle is to simply start out by making the feet "skate" or slide back and forth. From there adding alternating the feet lifting, then the foot roll, hips moving, arms swaying and then eventually little things like adding "weight" to the steps.

[Noodle]

It's been time since my last update, but I haven't stopped trying to do new things. 

 

I was daydreaming the other day and thought 'wouldn't it be cool to do missions in which you can command NPCs?'. Even made a small test in which I ordered an AT-ST around.

 

I think there are some neat things I can do with this. 

 

[Langerd]

It's been time since my last update, but I haven't stopped trying to do new things. 

 

I was daydreaming the other day and thought 'wouldn't it be cool to do missions in which you can command NPCs?'. Even made a small test in which I ordered an AT-ST around.

 

I think there are some neat things I can do with this. 

 

Holy....Shiet Dude.... 

 

Looking at this i imagined changing jk3 into the look from bird eye perspective empire at a war or star wars battlegrounds

[Noodle]

Holy....Shiet Dude.... 

 

Looking at this i imagined changing jk3 into the look from bird eye perspective empire at a war or star wars battlegrounds

 

I'm sure it's possible, crazier things have been done for this game! There are plenty of things you can order NPCs to do with the help of scripts and a simple menu. However, there are some things you can't do yet, which is why I've been reading eezstreet's coding tutorials so I can create some simple things. 

[Noodle]

I've finally delved into the wonderful world of coding looking for ways to achieve my rpg ideas. 

 

This is just a test to see if the skill system idea works. I'll develop it much more in the near future. 

 

 

By the way, I'm always open to people's ideas. If anyone has suggestions regarding skills and other things, I'd like to read them.

[Langerd]

I've finally delved into the wonderful world of coding looking for ways to achieve my rpg ideas. 

 

This is just a test to see if the skill system idea works. I'll develop it much more in the near future. 

 

 

By the way, I'm always open to people's ideas. If anyone has suggestions regarding skills and other things, I'd like to read them.

Dude... Your work is Legendary ... Jkhub should support modifications like this. Making Single Player with this system , with story ....it would be epic experience

[Noodle]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gle2wy-WmeU

 

I've thought a lot about having NPC companions in my mod. This is the latest thing I've developed.

 

I don't really want to use base JA models, so for this test I used a couple of models from here that have a license that allows modders to modify and share as long as I credit the creators, @@Kahzmat and @@AshuraDX.

 

As always, I'm looking forward if anyone wants to collaborate with my project in any shape or form. I'm looking for characters to add to the follower's list, as long as they are non-force users and non-ported -since I don't want any sort of ethical trouble-, so send me a PM or post here if you have something to share

[Droidy365]

Holy crap, I just found this thread and I'm in awe. This is bloody incredible, it really is. I'm really looking forward to this mod

[AshuraDX]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gle2wy-WmeU

 

I've thought a lot about having NPC companions in my mod. This is the latest thing I've developed.

 

I don't really want to use base JA models, so for this test I used a couple of models from here that have a license that allows modders to modify and share as long as I credit the creators, @@Kahzmat and @@AshuraDX.

 

As always, I'm looking forward if anyone wants to collaborate with my project in any shape or form. I'm looking for characters to add to the follower's list, as long as they are non-force users and non-ported -since I don't want any sort of ethical trouble-, so send me a PM or post here if you have something to share

love your work with this, great job!

[therfiles]

Excellent stuff as always, @@Noodle! I love how you are trying to adapt the classic JA menu style to your mod to make the experience as seamless as possible with the normal stuff. It just looks really pleasing!

 

Also - I don't know how I'm just now seeing some of your SP and RPG work. Truly amazing stuff, man. You are really taking the SP game to it's full potential! Love all the gameplay elements you've added. You've done an excellent blend of CVARS and script stuff. Out of curiosity, will you need to write a CFG file for saved games? Since a lot of the skills (I'm guessing) are determined by UI cvars, do those need to be saved along with the saved game to make the game load alright on multiple playings? Or are you using some sort of set command (seta?) that keeps all of them in saved games? Thanks for letting me pick your brain!

[Noodle]

Also - I don't know how I'm just now seeing some of your SP and RPG work. Truly amazing stuff, man. You are really taking the SP game to it's full potential! Love all the gameplay elements you've added. You've done an excellent blend of CVARS and script stuff. Out of curiosity, will you need to write a CFG file for saved games? Since a lot of the skills (I'm guessing) are determined by UI cvars, do those need to be saved along with the saved game to make the game load alright on multiple playings? Or are you using some sort of set command (seta?) that keeps all of them in saved games? Thanks for letting me pick your brain!

 

That's been the most difficult thing so far. Be aware that I started doing this without knowing anything at all, everything I've done has been through observation of other people's work, a bit of reading, and a lot of failed experiments. 

 

I haven't used seta commands or .cfg files yet. I do not know how they can assist me, but I'm very interested in learning more about that. 

 

I've modified the OpenJK source code a bit to add some cvars so some of my menus work. I hope I'm doing things okay, and so far it hasn't given me much issues... yet. I'm not sure if each save game keeps the individual information of each cvar, I'll have to double check in the near future. However, the issue of save games has been a  problem on its own because I'm trying to make a series of interconnected maps, and to achieve that, the game must keep the player and map's information stored every time you go to a different area.

 

Sadly, I've noticed that the game gets messed up badly if the player can load previous games, so the solution I've come up with is to disable the load and save functions and relay completely on checkpoints for the player to save his progress. The bad thing about that is that it doesn't allow the player to have multiple playthroughs , but it does make some things more interesting since it forces the player to play in a smarter way. 

 

I'm not so good with words, but I can show what I mean. Some time ago I created a map that allowed me to test these functions, I'll try to test it again soon and record it so people can see how it works. 

 

In the mean time, here's a test of how I'm doing conversations in my mod, it's not finished yet, but I think it's looking good so far.

 

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

[therfiles]

Try this:

 

Next time, when saving a game, try and do something like "save BLAH; writeconfig BLAH". Then, when you load the game, also make sure you exec BLAH (BLAH being the CFG file): "load BLAH;wait 30;exec BLAH". The "writeconfig" will save all your juicy CVAR information so it will be saved and reloaded. However, it only saves CVARS that are set with "seta" and not "set". For example, it would record "seta bob 1" but NOT "set bob 1". Now, using this technique will only give you a set amount of pre-existing save "slots," but you are a clever person and I'm sure you can figure out a way to spin that.

 

Let me know if that works for you.

 

And excellent work with the conversation menu! Really slick stuff. Love the animation on the NPC model. Out of curiosity (sorry if I'm being annoying haha), do you make a menu for each conversation? Or are you doing a set CVAR test to tell the menu which conversation to load? I only ask because JA has a stupid silly .menu limit, so making a bunch of menus will eventually crash the game. It's possible your coding wizardry could have fixed this error however!

[Noodle]

Try this:

 

Next time, when saving a game, try and do something like "save BLAH; writeconfig BLAH". Then, when you load the game, also make sure you exec BLAH (BLAH being the CFG file): "load BLAH;wait 30;exec BLAH". The "writeconfig" will save all your juicy CVAR information so it will be saved and reloaded. However, it only saves CVARS that are set with "seta" and not "set". For example, it would record "seta bob 1" but NOT "set bob 1". Now, using this technique will only give you a set amount of pre-existing save "slots," but you are a clever person and I'm sure you can figure out a way to spin that.

 

Let me know if that works for you.

 

I will try to play with that soon!

 

 

And excellent work with the conversation menu! Really slick stuff. Love the animation on the NPC model. Out of curiosity (sorry if I'm being annoying haha), do you make a menu for each conversation? Or are you doing a set CVAR test to tell the menu which conversation to load? I only ask because JA has a stupid silly .menu limit, so making a bunch of menus will eventually crash the game. It's possible your coding wizardry could have fixed this error however!

 

A little bit of both. I have a number of menus created for conversations, computers and other stuff, but they have instructions to show different information based on the map the player is on. For example, I have a menu named 'datapad01.menu' that shows certain options in one map, but shows completly different stuff in another one thanks to the cvartest option. I basically looked at the different heads that appear when you complete a mission in SP and realized that the storyhead cvar was linked to the map. In one map Luke's head appears and in the other Kyle's do. I did the same with the text options, like this:

 

cvartest "storyhead"

showcvar  

 

{

"tutorial01"

}

 

So that only in the map named 'tutorial01' would certain text appear. 

 

I wish there was a way that would allow me to create just one menu and make it show different text depending on what you're interacting with, but that's still a mistery for me. I've studied how the text in the mission selector in the default game works (since it's one menu that  shows different buttons as you progress in the game), but I wasn't as knowledgeable back then. I could study that again and see if I can spin it in a useful way. 

[therfiles]

Good stuff man! Best of luck with that. If I remember correctly, there was a sweet little cvar called "tier_storyinfo" or "tierstoryinfo" that popped up a BUNCH in those mission selection menus. And the best part was: it could be changed by entities in Radient. I was looking through a source SP map and saw that one of the entities could change that CVAR. That means you could use that as your cvar test, and just have one, massive menu! But, I don't remember the specifics. I'm sure you'll figure it out. Shout if you need help

[Langerd]

Holy... Shiet... You made Awesome Content @@Noodle ! You are creating JK3/Kotor Hibrid and It Looks amazing!

[Noodle]

Holy... Shiet... You made Awesome Content @@Noodle ! You are creating JK3/Kotor Hibrid and It Looks amazing!

 

Thanks for your support! It's always a good way to motivate people to keep modding!

[Langerd]

Thanks for your support! It's always a good way to motivate people to keep modding!

I am making a lot scripting lately for my puzzle solving part of the map ... It will be hard as hell to do but it is great challenge! I Hope more ideas will come and everything You want to do will work without any issues .

 

 

[DarthDementous]

hot damn I had no idea that ICARUS had this kind of capability, its almost making me want to give it a go myself! I'm average at C++ so I don't know how much that skillset will transfer over as I've heard scripting language scan be quite different from coding ones. @@Noodle if you have any tutorials you know of I'd love to have a look.

 

some of this reminds me of the work done by the JKG guys, I remember watching a video from one of their old dev blogs about their conversation system done in the style of KOTOR1/2 where it letterboxes the game screen and goes to a pre-defined camera position. your solution is different, but still quite elegant. if all goes according to plan you'll have quite a feature-rich sandbox to play with in terms of creating a map/enemy placement, keep up the fantastic work!

[Noodle]

I am making a lot scripting lately for my puzzle solving part of the map ... It will be hard as hell to do but it is great challenge! I Hope more ideas will come and everything You want to do will work without any issues .

 

Thank you! I love puzzle solving, only wish I was good at creating them, looking forward to the bespin missions!

 

hot damn I had no idea that ICARUS had this kind of capability, its almost making me want to give it a go myself! I'm average at C++ so I don't know how much that skillset will transfer over as I've heard scripting language scan be quite different from coding ones. @@Noodle if you have any tutorials you know of I'd love to have a look.

 

If you understand C++, you should have no issues with icarus, since it's really simple! I didn't really use any tutorials to learn, just studied the scripts that were already on the base game and asked a lot of questions in the coding forum! 

 

 

some of this reminds me of the work done by the JKG guys, I remember watching a video from one of their old dev blogs about their conversation system done in the style of KOTOR1/2 where it letterboxes the game screen and goes to a pre-defined camera position. your solution is different, but still quite elegant. if all goes according to plan you'll have quite a feature-rich sandbox to play with in terms of creating a map/enemy placement, keep up the fantastic work!

 

The JKG project was my main inspiration to learn how to mod. It's incredible how fun that mod is and how much they have achieved. I hope to create a rich sandbox game for SP, soon I'll release my first official demo map in which players will be able to test the follower system, chat menus and some other things. I'll also release all the source files, since I believe knowledge should be shared and I want people to find flaws in my work, so I can improve upon them.

[Noodle]

Small update: 

 

While I'm working on a map I'll release eventually, I've been toying with my follower system idea. 

 

Now you'll be able to change your follower's skin (I'm thinking maybe this should be an unlockable feature). I've also added a new follower: an astromech droid! He might not be the best when it comes to fighting, but he has many unique skills that will make up for that.

 

 

The droid skins come from @@Doug Smith 's brilliant astromech pack. (https://jkhub.org/files/file/1291-astromech-pack/)

 

I'm looking for ideas for new followers, so if anyone has any suggestions, please do share!