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How do they model for mmos games

by J Sears · in Artist Corner · 02/26/2008 (4:12 pm) · 7 replies

With MMO games does the modeling go a bit different? Do they still do whole player models or do they do it in pieces and snap things together? Same thing as far as armor goes, do they tend to do a seperate player chest that looks like it has x piece of armor on it or do they actually make the piece of armor and then attach it to the player?

Tried googling to find some answers or discussions on this but I just end up with 20 pages of blogs of people talking about if it's possible for one guy to make a mmo and all that, almost always pages focused on programming or overall picture and not so much the modeling side of it.
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Torque 3D Owner Adam
Adam deGrandis
#1
02/26/2008 (8:21 pm)
The "hiding meshes" resource would be a good place to start if you want to do an mmo in torque.

Its being used for one of the projects Im currently working on. You model your characters in regions (in our case, head, torso, hands, hips/legs, feet), and include all mesh variations in the same dts. Then you hide and unhide meshes as they are needed.

The only requirement is that the seams of each mesh of particular region needs to line with each mesh of the neighboring region. So no matter how the different hand and arm pieces are shaped, the edge loop where they meet needs to be the same. This is what allows handA2, which is a bare hand, to blend seamlessly with armC2, which is an armored arm (for example).

Another point of research would be ravens "ghoul" system, which is what was used for the soldier of fortune games.

Torque Owner J Sears
#2
02/27/2008 (7:40 am)
Thank you, that is what I was guessing. I was wondering if with the newer higher powered mmos had switched to actual pieces of armor put on to the character as well. I will search for the ghoul system right now.

Torque Owner Prairie Games
Prairie Games, Inc.
#3
02/27/2008 (7:51 am)
If you're an indie game company, you might consider a simplified approach to better use your available resources.

Here's a description of the default method used in the Torque MMO Kit for player models:

Torque MMO Kit Model Setup

Torque 3D Owner Ted Southard
#4
02/27/2008 (8:37 am)
That's a good resource, though I wonder if anyone has ever had success with TGE with getting actual model deformation done at the vertex level. I know there was a resource out there that used bone scaling, but that does not seem to be able to help those who wish to do things like provide different jaw or nose styles, unless bones were used for that.

Fyreus Maccoy
#5
03/03/2008 (11:14 pm)
Wow, you guys have it all. Does the tool also work well with mesh that deforms via animation/sequence or retract? (think interchangable gundam arms and legs or wolverine's claws.)

Associate Logan Foster
perPixel Studios
#6
03/04/2008 (7:36 am)
@Ted

Actually scaling of objects that you use as bones (except for biped, since its not allowed) can provide exactly what you are after with regards to "morphing" the mesh for different facial features or body parameters.

Torque 3D Owner Ted Southard
#7
03/04/2008 (7:53 pm)
Quote:scaling of objects that you use as bones

@Logan: By that you mean dummy objects? All of the examples I've seen- unless I'm mistaken or uninformed, which is possible- have shown that different head styles were swapped out by using the hidemesh resource, and the scalling was used for changes in character height as can be accomplished with proportional scaling of bones.

If what I read from you is correct, I can place dummy objects, or something similar, into a model and use scale those to scale the parent model? Thanks in advance for the info.