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S&T T3D Update...The Road Goes Ever Ever On...

by Alan James · 04/30/2012 (11:49 am) · 42 comments


STICKS TWIGS FOR T3D 1.2 DEMO MISSIONS UPDATE


WARNING, THIS PLAN IS PROBABLY RATED PG...MAYBE PG13...



www.monsterpacks.com/contentpacks/sticks&twigs/screenshot_024-00015s.JPG


Roads go ever ever on,
Over rock and under tree,
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea;
Over snow by winter sown,
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass and over stone,
And under mountains in the moon...

- J.R.R. Tolkien


Hey Everyone!

I know you all think that I fell off the planet, but I was actually abducted by aliens and have been probed constantly for nearly seven months. At least that's what I remember, but it could actually be a false memory supressing the truly horrific real memories of working retail for a living. (Yes Julian...I'm alive -- just a looser and abysmal at email in particular as of late...)

Levity aside, it's really just been a dry last year. I've not felt at all like modeling, and have really felt like the Indie industry has advanced beyond my skills set. The transition from BSP/CSG based modeling to mesh based for my skill level has been slow, at least really getting my head around UV mapping. I guess I understand it, but just can't imagine that a process so time intensive is the best way that can achieved - but then again we still power our vehicles using gallons upon gallons of fairly inefficient fuel and use folded up pieces of paper to wipe our...ah, the complaints of modern living.

Well, enough of that, and now for something completely different - a completed update of the demo missions for the Sticks Twigs Environment Pack for T3D 1.2!
Yeaaaah!

About time! You say, and you're right. It should have been done last year but each time I sat down to work on it just seemed easier to Rick Roll myself or watch that Orangutan peeing on himself. It just busts me up every time! It just seemed like there was one distraction after another, but really, how many times can you watch Katy Perry naked on some clouds or Satisfaction by Benny Benassi? Well, from personal experience, I can say A LOT.

Ok, so I thought I was done, but now I think I've got it all out of my system.

So it's finished. And all joking aside this will more than likely been the final update that the S&T Pack sees. It's served its purpose and has seen a long and successful run but it's time to move on to other assets, other packs that I have in mind and step up in my modeling game. This will result in a bit less overall content, but hopefully a increase in quality. Hopefully I'll have time to post some WIP examples soon.

So regarding the update. The 25 Demo Missions have been baslically re-written from the ground up, with shape replicators & foliage replicators replaced by forest objects and groundcover. These Demo Missions are specifically designed to be utilized with a vanilla/clean build - i.e. there is the distinct possibility that if you try and lay these down on your working build you will break something (material scripts most likely).

These missions serve as an example of what kind of environments these models can produce, but not necessarily limited to. There are two flavors of the T3D 1.2 Update, one that includes all the art assets and one that is just the updated mission scripts and any updated art assets. If you have the 1.0.1 version of the art assets already downloaded, you would merely need to drop that pack in a clean install of T3D ExamplesFPS Examplegame directory and then the 1.2 Level Only version into the same, allowing it to overwrite the existing mission files and art assets with the updated ones.

Oh, and as usual I've told absolutely no one I should have actually informed at Garage Games about this update...so if you need it right away and you picked up the pack from GG, you can just email me ( alanjamesATcharter.net )and I'll get you hooked up with a link until it's updated here on GG. Sorry David B. I'm such a looser...I'll fire off the links for you guys here shortly!

To celebrate this release, we are running a week long 50 percent off all Packs on www.monsterpacks.com. Use coupon code finally2012at checkout, can be used as many times as you would like through May 7, 2012 beginning April 30, 2012.


Thanks for reading all this, once again and for checking out the stuff!
Alan



*UPDATE TO THE UPDATE*
Those with the Environmental Combo Pack your download links should work now!


Here are a few new screenshots from the Sticks Twigs Environment Pack for T3D 1.2:



www.monsterpacks.com/contentpacks/sticks&twigs/screenshot_001-00000s.jpg

www.monsterpacks.com/contentpacks/sticks&twigs/screenshot_001-00004s.jpg

www.monsterpacks.com/contentpacks/sticks&twigs/screenshot_001-00006s.jpg

www.monsterpacks.com/contentpacks/sticks&twigs/screenshot_014-00006s.JPG

www.monsterpacks.com/contentpacks/sticks&twigs/screenshot_016-00002s.JPG

www.monsterpacks.com/contentpacks/sticks&twigs/screenshot_017-00002s.JPG

www.monsterpacks.com/contentpacks/sticks&twigs/screenshot_024-00002s.JPG

www.monsterpacks.com/contentpacks/sticks&twigs/screenshot_024-00010s.JPG

www.monsterpacks.com/contentpacks/sticks&twigs/screenshot_024-00013s.JPG

www.monsterpacks.com/contentpacks/sticks&twigs/screenshot_026-00006s.JPG

www.monsterpacks.com/contentpacks/sticks&twigs/screenshot_026-00008s.JPG

www.monsterpacks.com/contentpacks/sticks&twigs/screenshot_027-00001s.JPG

www.monsterpacks.com/contentpacks/sticks&twigs/screenshot_027-00002s.JPG

www.monsterpacks.com/contentpacks/sticks&twigs/screenshot_027-00006s.JPG

www.monsterpacks.com/contentpacks/sticks&twigs/screenshot_027-00007s.JPG

www.monsterpacks.com/contentpacks/sticks&twigs/screenshot_027-00008s.jpg


#21
05/01/2012 (9:50 pm)
*Disregard this-I stuttered*

#22
05/01/2012 (10:03 pm)
Hello again.
@Alan No problem, yes i have the combo, i forgot to mention that! Yep, now it downloads correctly.

And once more, thanx for superb (and fast) customer support! A great product.

Best regards
Kaj
#23
05/01/2012 (10:51 pm)
@Alan,
Yes, Paypal worked great. Thanks for getting right on this.
#24
05/01/2012 (11:12 pm)
@Alan, hah! Oh well. There was a resource that added the models as forest items but it's down, unfortunately.
#25
05/03/2012 (5:27 am)
Absolutely Gorgeous Work! ~ I will definitely buy and use in my games! ~
#26
05/03/2012 (8:44 pm)
Awesome work as usual. Glad to see you are still around. Was wondering why the posts had quieted. But since not doing anything game related at the moment, totally understand.
#27
05/07/2012 (1:22 am)
"through May 7, 2012 beginning April 30, 2012."

1am went on to buy some more packs and found out that you meant the start of May 7th was when the sale ended, not the end of the day :(
#28
05/07/2012 (7:18 am)
Hey Leathel! Yep, still around sort of. Thanks Maria!

@William,

Bumped it out through the 9th, should work for you now. Cheers!
#29
05/07/2012 (11:37 am)
Sweet. Bought the Gold Rush pack and the sticks/flower power pack. Thanks Alan :D
#30
05/07/2012 (7:59 pm)
ugh, Plimus. One pack came instantly, the other caught in the 'up to 12 hours' jive...
#31
05/07/2012 (9:43 pm)
@Gibby,

Both packs appear active for your account in the database, the activation codes for the second pack hasn't arrived?

Just let me know and I'll manually activate it - actually just realized that they're listed as ready for download in your account. Does there still appear to be an issue on your end, or are you good to go at this point?

Thanks,
Alan
#32
05/09/2012 (1:05 am)
Great news, Alan! Nice to see you posting again! I'm really curious about what you will work on next! :)
#33
05/09/2012 (9:18 am)
@Alan - Finally went through... btw are these updates in the GG store yet? Looks like the 1.01 versions are all that's there...
#34
05/09/2012 (9:17 pm)
@Konrad,

Yeah, still alive 'n kicking - actually hittin' - broke my 5th metacarpal of my left hand in a coding fit with my keyboard about two weeks ago...I know...I know...I've definitely need to stick to artwork, it's a lot less stressful! =P
(I'd originally broke it like 25 years ago amateur boxing...go figure)

Keyboard is fine, BTW.


@Gibby,

Not quite yet. Masaki at GG's Q&A found a few issues with the update, not show stoppers or anything but some residual assets I should have removed, some forest editor object issues and some loading issues with precipitation on a few of the levels that I'm trying to duplicate.
Should have it all fixed up for them in another day or two.

If you would like the update with a few warts, I'll activate the pack to your www.monsterpacks.com account. Just let me know.
#35
05/10/2012 (6:12 pm)
It's heartening to see that GG are so stringent with QA. This is why I love buying from the GG store. Attention to detail and a commitment to provide solid products.

Looking forward to the update Alan. I assume the waterfall is working as well? If I recall correctly, that was the only thing aside from the fxShapeReplicators that was preventing the 1.2 port? I really want that waterfall!
#36
05/10/2012 (7:45 pm)
@Dan,

Quote:
I assume the waterfall is working as well? If I recall correctly, that was the only thing aside from the fxShapeReplicators that was preventing the 1.2 port? I really want that waterfall!

LOL! Did you notice what I'd mentioned to Konrad K.:

Quote:
- broke my 5th metacarpal of my left hand in a coding fit with my keyboard about two weeks ago...

I bet you'd never guess what I was working on would you? =P

I'll take another stab at it for you Dan, but I've got only one good hand at the moment and with as frustrating as a few little scripts can be for an artist...well...those waterfall ones could potentially reduce me to 100% hunt & peck...
#37
05/10/2012 (9:58 pm)
Ok,

You're all in trouble now. I was thinking I had brain damage and couldn't get a couple little waterfall scripts to work...and it turns out that ifls have been deprecated for over a year...

Well, I've nearly finished converting the transparent waterfall .pngs to work as animated textures for the waterfalls...

...it'd just been nice to know BEFORE I broke my hand...

=)
#38
05/10/2012 (10:46 pm)
I'm sorry about your hand Alan. And I wasn't whipping you to get stuck into the waterfall, either. I don't have a whip that long!

But it's great to hear that even with such manly injuries, you can still tackle that waterfall. :D

Oh, and I thought it was just the edge1.png that was in the wrong place? I didn't realise you'd actually have to go back to basics.
#39
05/10/2012 (11:30 pm)
=) Not basics as much as something somewhat different.

I just had figured originally that I was dropping scripts and script calls in the wrong spot(s) or something equally stupid.

It wasn't 'til a few hours ago it suddenly dawned on me to see if ifl sequences were still supported...I guess I need to remember that if something stops working between builds, to check and see if it's still there.

The animated materials have some limitations, but I've got the falls working. Now it's just tweaking the textures and animation properties so it looks decent.
#40
05/19/2012 (1:13 am)
That's bloody great news, Alan! How's the hand?