UT3 Modding?

[Melekai]

I'm a modder with a pretty detailed project drawn up, while modding other engines i have been dillydallying with my mod idea for about 4 years and i have great hopes that the UE3 engine that comes with UT3 is based on will be the one i can finally start building this content on

so a few q's.
1) when will you start releaseing modding tools and information?
2) what software will you supply exporting tools for 3d art and animation?
(3dsmax, Xsi, Maya? something else?)
- thinking it could be good to give people a few weeks notice before launch if you want to get the hardcore modders out there working in their programs to get the models and content out asap. (should help sales if theres extra user generated content out.)
3) where can i find more detailed information about mod support. or who can i talk to about detailed questions about what ideas are possible with the engine?.

Thanks
/Markus

[Darth Axel 007]

1) No one knows, there's ActorX though for Max and Maya, you can download it on the udn site, but you can already export models as .ase and import them directly into unreal ed.

2)^^read number 1

3) the udn site

[eduardvictor]

Welcome to the Forums!

[Dozinator]

I have purchased the UT3 Collectors Edition and I hope to learn how to Mod.

I want to try and make a game type just for Onslaught.

I hope they will post some info soon about what we can expect.

I am a server Admin and I am counting the days until Nov 15th.

[Melekai]

thanks for that. i'll just have to wait and see. unfortunatly I am at the moment a one man team. and was thinking more about a mod rather than full out development. Most the the stuff on UDN seems locked and propriety. guess i will have to wait and see. maybe mail a epic coder or something.

So what kind of mods are you others looking to make? im thinking UE3 is a BIIG engine. perhaps starting now to gather some information would be a good idea?

I'm doing a lil bit of everything. in particular i want to build in some features that havent been done before.
I'm Aiming at a lil bit Rpg-ish. ( got a rough storyline together already.)
the following is a small list of things id like to include.
1) Mellee Combat in a beatemup kind of style. though multiplayer.
2) Custom Armor System. thinking of having clean base models for character types. Ie Man/woman/robot/beast.
then rather than creating seperate skins for for those models. you pick up armor pieces (ie gloves boots chest shoulder pants, chinguards, boots, helms, wrists. each armor piece is a seperate model that gets spawned and bound to a specific bone. hopefully i will be able to find help in creating a large set of armor pieces, that can then be individually skinned/textured for variations. also during combat these really do act as shields. as each piece should have its own "health" upon reaching zero, they will be destroyed. and provide no more protection for the bodypart its protecting.
3) RPG setup, with skill levels for each gun/or weapon. as you get better (trhough use over time) your skill increases (up to a max level) idea is to have a huge set of skills to choose from. in the end your character will be extremely personalised. you might excel in accuracy and fireing speed of handguns, or speec and and accuaracy of a specified meleeweapon.

i'm also currently looking into ways of higher interactivity. me and good frined of mine are over the next few months going to attempt to build our very own motion capture device. with the intent to let us control at least the top half of a Character torso in real time. starting with basic arm movements. if we can get it working im hoping we can interface it with Ue3. though this is something ill need to talk to UE3 developers i guess.

as for maps. im still very curious about Ue3's Load as you go support, switching maps without loading. etc. what you guys think?
i think it would be rather neat if this kind of system could be set up for the community. imagine all the content people would want to generate in forms of new armor and weapons? and perhaps animations.

/Markus

[R.Flagg]

Care to share even a rough idea of what it is you have in mind?

Top-down mod? Side-scroller? Realism? WW2? Beach volleyball?

Just curious.

[karmatized]

from the information available andthing that can make a PSK Mesh file can be used to make the statics this includes actor X.

this is taken from the new unreal editor which supports direct input of the following formats.

here goes

Collada Skeletal mesh (*.dae)
Texture (*.bmp)
Texture (*.pcx)
Texture (*.tga)
Texture (*.float)
Texture (*.PSD)
Unreal World (*.t3d)
Unreal Sequence (*.t3d)
Skeletal Mesh (*.PSK)
Sound (*.wav)
Sound (*.Ogg)
Static Mesh (*.t3d)
Static Mesh (*.ase)
Unreal terrain (*.t3d)
Movie (*.ogg)
Movie (*.Wmv)
Texture (*.map)

These are the inport formats the new editor supports so far as of (RoboBlitz)

[R.Flagg]

the following is a small list of things id like to include.
1) Mellee Combat ....multiplayer.
2) Custom Armor System. ...
3) RPG setup, with skill levels for each gun/or weapon... idea is to have a huge set of skills to choose from.

me and good frined of mine are over the next few months going to attempt to build our very own motion capture device.

with the intent to let us control at least the top half of a Character torso in real time. starting with basic arm movements. if we can get it working im hoping we can interface it with Ue3.

Wow! If that's your small list, I'm afraid to ask what's on the big list.

If our experience with melee combat in UT2004 is any guide at all, than it's fair to assume that even just the 1st item on your list is going to be a very, very long project.

If you're determined to start a new mod team from scratch and tackle that list, than you've got a large pair indeed, and I sincerely wish you many successful releases. For all I know you've done something as large already. But if not...

Friendly suggestions include looking for an existing mod team, and perhaps compromising on your over-all wish list (the pay-off being better chances at eventually releasing something)? Or taking some time to re-think that 'small list', and decide which part is really the most important to you. Because honestly, there is nothing small about each item on that list.

Not trying to sound negative, just offering friendly chat from one mod-type person to another.

[Melekai]

Well. im not 100% sure Ue3 is the engine of choice for what i want to do yet.
Turning the game melee is a big charge indeed. the only mod that did that with unreal that i enjoyed was ChausUT2+.

I guess to rephrase myself. those are probably the major challenges that i wish to overcome. The armor system. i wonder how hard that will actually be. depends largly upon if you CAN actually just:
LoadEntity, Bind Entity(player,bone(xyz=offsets). though im sure its not going to be anywhere near that easy. (would have been nice though)

As for melee Combat. again i was hoping to hoping to bind some kind entity/object that on contact with anything would cause damage based upon criteria same as a weapon.

Ie create a RoundHouse kick animation. get it into game and looking nice.
bind buttong to play animation
when animation starts, create damagespheres around key areas and bind them to player model. when they contact with anything at all. then you can choose to go down further paths to see what kind of action is taken.
Ie complete roundhouse? or perhaps play a different animation. (if another attack key was pressed during that time.)

most beatemups are a simple use of IF else statements in regards to critera buttons tied to animations. where the AI itself read the actual buttonpresses. (hence why NPCs in beatemups can so easily counter your moves. and also why they can usually be overcome easily as well. ) at least thats my theory.

ofcourse i have no idea if the engine supports any of the methods ive talked about. but im hoping. this engine hasnt even been released to us yet. which is also why i want to get in early. a project like this if at all possible needs to be started early otherwise the mod will fade into obscurity as players move to other games/mods.

in response to what kind of "mod" this is.
its more a feature experimenting mod to beging with. if all features are successful the features will be used to create a well.. im not sure what to call it. sorta scifi, but sorta fantasy type setting. im not ready to share that openly yet though.

[limikkin]

Collada Skeletal mesh (*.dae)
Texture (*.bmp)
Texture (*.pcx)
Texture (*.tga)
Texture (*.float)
Texture (*.PSD)
Unreal World (*.t3d)
Unreal Sequence (*.t3d)
Skeletal Mesh (*.PSK)
Sound (*.wav)
Sound (*.Ogg)
Static Mesh (*.t3d)
Static Mesh (*.ase)
Unreal terrain (*.t3d)
Movie (*.ogg)
Movie (*.Wmv)
Texture (*.map)

These are the inport formats the new editor supports so far as of (RoboBlitz)

no support of .PSK / .PSA in the new unreal editor with roboblitz. I dont know if they will have another release with UT3 or what, but collada is currently the preferred method. unless i'm missing something regarding roboblitz UEd and PSK / PSA format. if so, please enlighten...or point me in the correct direction.

modding info and communities...
UnrealWiki
ModDB
3Dbuzz.com is an all around great and helpful resource area

there are many more, but that should get u started.
And best of luck with the development of your mod and team.