Quote:
Originally Posted by Trevally.
This is sounding really good Gap - looking forward to seeing and hearing it  |
Thank you mate,
yes it sounds
(sic!) good, and it can get better with your help!
My goal is achievng a template, as complex as it is allowed by SH5 limits, for creating new similar environmental units.
The web is full of royalty free 3d models. We should "only" create the animations, import them in the existing dat, remove some controllers when unneeded, finetune the remaining ones, create new sounds and textures if requested, remap IDs, carry on a few more tasks that I can't think of right now, and tadah, the new unit would be ready...
Animations apart, I think the rest of the process is not that complex, provided that we can start from a good template, and thanks to TDW, with a few adjustements one day we will be able to convert these units in GR2 format.
The same goes for naval units. They are much more complex than environmental units, but with the great work done by TDW, Rongel, Uekel, SteelViking and many more, I think that most of the secrets for importing existing dat ships, or even for creating new ones, today are no more a mistery.
The next challenge will be converting them too in GR2 format. Probably we will encounter many drawbacks, but as said by TDW in another thread, this goal is certainly attainable, especially -I believe- if we will manage once more to work as a team and to share information.
Another big challenge will be creating/importing AI and human playable submarine units. AFAIK, only Privateer managed to do it for SH5. There are some
pictures and videos of his imported submarine on this forum, but I never managed to find the respective download.
The idea to convert the whale into a submarine unit, is also dictated by my desire to understand the essential parts of those units, in therms of SH5 file structure and controllers. Infact this sub-whale should be an extremely stripped-down version of a "true" SH submarine, carrying just the vital stuff on her.
Finally, why am I writing such a long post, besides being affected by a chronic long-windedness?
I am sure you are aware of the few and modest ideas contained in this post. If there were many persons working on adding stuff to the game (new units, new fixes, new features, etc), my words could be dismissed as pleonastic. Too bad, things are not so
Really, my first and ambitious goal is to cast again some interest on the great work started one year ago or so. I can rember, after the first discoveries on how to import dat units, someone was forecasting that dozens of people would have put themselves at job on this matter.
After the first wave of enthousiasm, off the first group of "ship importers" afaik only Uekel is still active in this sector. Worse, no new names have emerged in the meanwhile, and the
ship importing thread is totally deserted.
Right now, there is much expectation on this neat piece of coding by TDW: the GR2 reader/importer. I strongly hope that the same story is not going to repeat with it: many people wishing, (very) few people doing.
Don't take me wrong: I understand that people got their own lives and their day by day duties. I respect this fact and I am not complainig on anyone in particular, for that matter. On the other hand there are high hopes on the future of this game; though I feel that the real draw-back to its further development, even worse than its initial buggy state, is the lack of active modders in this community.
Even after several years spent playing SHIII, IV and 5, many say that they would start modding the game, if they didn't miss the needed skills. But skill is something you develop with your time, if you want.
I, for one, started hanging around this community only 18 months ago. I didn't know anything at that time, since I was approaching SH5 for the first time. Moreover I had never played/modded any other game of the series. Nevertheless, by reading this forum and through direct experience, little by little I started learning the basic architecture of this game, and far from having a complete picture, I am still doing it.
Anyone can do the same, by giving up some of the time spent playing the game in favour of reading on it, and creating his first simple mods to share with the community. Doing it, some people ended by stopping playing, for focusing primarily on modding activities. This approach can reward us as much as playing the game itself, in therms of personal satisfaction and general aknowledgement, but surely noone is requested to be so drastic.
Let's be honest. In the last say... 12 months, most of the mods released for SH5 were created by a fistful of persons. More or less half of them, I think, were by TDW... Come on guys, we can't leave these people alone. Without our help their efforts will be in vain, and very soon this game will start dying in a long agony
