Beroc

OK everyone.... I actually did a MOD....oooooo aaaaahhhh.

This particular mod is nothing but a bunch of addon parts for the game. Trees grass rocks. little stuff to make the game a bit more interesting.

The mod also includes a new 3 player map, demonstrating the use of this terrain.

A couple of pics....


The mod is available here:
http://dawnofwar.filefront.com/file/Mega_Map_Pack;33410

Thanks to JamieDOWFiles for the hosting.

K, on a side note. This particular mod needs to be a community mod. I am looking for pieces to add to the game. Attach them to the mod and rerelease type of stuff. You will get full credit for your model in the readme file. This is version 1, and as things are added new versions will be released.

The big thing about it, is that maps can be made for this mod, then released with it in the readme file as a nessecary thing to have. Hope you guys have good ideas.

New things that will come:
Snow... A snow covered landscape, complete with trees, foliage and the like. Then onto a dense jungle theme. I am gonna try to recreate a Vietnam jungle in this.

I am also going to see if I can find out how to add detail maps... and tileable pieces. Should prove interesting.

[SLS]Xen

awesome! thx beroc

desert?

Cyberjankie

I was realy waiting for stuff like that! big thx, will test it... hope some people will do stuff like new buildings and so on,too!

OldWarrior

Hello Beroc: Outstanding! Downloading to test.

Crow

map had very good atmosphere. great swamp look. good work.

OldWarrior

I just finished trying out this mod/map. One word for it....Outstanding! It adds to the feeling of the game and for my 2 cents this should now be considered the template l from which all maps should be made from. The level of map making just went up by a factor of 10.

dj_2004

Cool, thanks man. Will try it out soon!

Aralez

Woah! Excellent screenshots. Will try this as soon as the download finishes. What are the copyrights like? You said you want this to be a community thing. Does this mean anyone can use your stuff without restrictions oer am i simplyfying things too much? Please tell me ...

Beroc

K, as far as credits and stuff.

You can use this to make any map you wish. You may release that map, any place you wish. If you use stuff from this, I only expect that you tell someone in a readme file that they will require the map mod from the server, and what version you used to make the map. The current version is 1.0.

If you make a mod, which you only need a couple or so pieces from the map mod. You are allowed to do that, but you must include in your readme file, the creator of the mesh you used.

Most of that mod is a direct conversion from Gas Powered Games' Dungeon Siege. Every model used from DS starts with DS. If it doesnt, then it belongs to someone else.

You should have the courtesy to give credit to the creator.

K, upcoming addition is Snow Lands. A preview pick of the map SnowBlind:

matt9871

Drool, really nice stuff, great swampy war enviroment.

Elefant

:guitar: . . can you give a timeframe to next update . . in case I need to wait . . :bow2:

Beroc

K, just finished with the Snow Landset. I will set started on the dense jungle set next week. As soon as I can get it up on DoWFiles.com, you guys can have it.

But for now... Go over to my home page... And check the DoW Mega Map Pack Project(the View All Elements link at the bottom) I upped a lot more pics for you guys to see.

Heh, I forgot that I never explained what a Community Project was... It is a project in which you guys send me stuff to add to this pack, with the understanding your name will appear in the readme file and all the same stuff applies to your stuff as mine in this pack.

The dense jungle pack will all be me... very little taken from other sources. It will take me a bit of time to work on it though.

Thanks for all the cool comments guys. I am happy that you guys like it.

Elefant

Schweet!
Does the . . uh . dense jungle . . uh . . have any . . uh . . waterfalls????

Beroc

I hadnt thought of a waterfall... we will see how hard it is to set that up.

snakeman

Wow Beroc,

I just finished a quick game against the computer on your happy valley to check out the terrain. Looks sweet. This definitely takes maps to a new level. Now, the question is how do I port over all you additions to the ME to do some work of my own?

As you can tell, I'm a bit of a noob at this stuff and I want to make sure I do it right so I can package a map to be used with your mod. Currently, I've gone with the quick and dirty of making a copy of happy valley (and all the associated folders of the mod) and editing that map. There must be a more "permanent" way.


Also, has anyone given some thought to a "community standard" of naming new objects and decals so that we can sort out what is core and what is mod once things really start to flow?

Thanks for sharing the cool work.

blackjoker4215

Can i play online with this?

Cyberjankie

omfg! I test it in the ME and it rocks(for example the stuff in the "underground" list is sweet, and all the nice plants...)! The only thing I dislike is, that you need to start the game as a mod, to play the maps I hope relic will change something, because everyone needs the mod and must have started it to be able to use our new map how use your stuff

Canadian_F_H

wow man this looks nice. i need to stop playin on my friends lap top at the lounge and get me a copy dangit.

i wonder can maps layer... like with some units above others. basically original doom was 1 layer and anywhere you can walk you cannot go under or above on another walk way. but in new games which we are all familiar with there can be a cat walk above you.... i was wondering if this could be encoded into DOW....

monoRAIL

Beroc - I've done a tutorial on adding new detail maps here: http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?t=48769

By the way - did you try moving your maps over to the W40k folder so that they can be played without loading them as a MOD? I want to release my maps so that they don't have to be part of a mod and players can use them online.

Beroc

Snakeman:
If you create a new map, in the Map_Mod module, then you will see all the objects in the ME.
The standard I am using is a two character code denoting source, then name, then number. (i.e. BE_Sweeper_01) I dunno how everone else is doing it. I just had to find a way of differentiating some of the stuff in the mod.

blackjoker4215:
You may play this online, only if everyone who is playing with you has the mod. If you are hosting, then others may get bounced for not having the same structure.

Cyberjankie:
I actually like it started as a mod. My desktop shortcut to play DoW is another mod, which incorporates all the mods I want to play/work on. So mods are a good thing. Lots of utility there.

Canadian_F_H: "Layering", or bridging does not seem possible in the game. I think the game opperates via a top down look. I actually thought of it before, but havent seemed to have time to ask about it on the forums yet.

monoRAIL:
Cool tutorial.... if you add a fuzz or droppoff onto the alpha map, and save the same dds into the:
My_Mod\Data\Art\decals\type_folder\
You will also get decals..

Look at the decal maps in the game. Also, all the maps I have done are saved as DXT5's, not DXT3's. Dunno what the big difference is in it, but everything I uncovered in the game was either a DXT1 or a DXT5.(DXT1's have a 1 bit alpha)

Elefant:
Waterfalls work a little like Tank Tracks. You animate a UV and the apply that motion to the default animation.

I think it raises some cool features that are capable in the game...but adds more questions. Like, how would you make the water at the top of the waterfall water, when clearly the water ends at like height level 15? Either way, The animation is possible.

Thanks for all the cool comments guys.

Elefant

"Waterfalls work a little like Tank Tracks. You animate a UV and the apply that motion to the default animation.
I think it raises some cool features that are capable in the game...but adds more questions. Like, how would you make the water at the top of the waterfall water, when clearly the water ends at like height level 15? Either way, The animation is possible."
--------------------------------------------------
Were there a moving water texture on an otherwise invisible placeable box then we could use it with a waterfall area only.
Build one flat , and maybe one at 45 degree to help roll the fall off cliffs.Maybe even two more at 75 degrees.
Make your river /creek bed at height of . . whatever . . and place this object inside the sloped area and align as needed(more than likely without snap effect).As objects are intangible by default moving through is no issue.And we can create water footfall zones at will . Only thing that might be missed by this is the water texture splash effect when units move through it , and thats NP IMHO. If I could model even this I would.With some good steam FX the falls should be easily emulated with inginuity and creativity.All your new placeables will help this alot to.Also might need a soundeffect for the actual fall placeable.So one(box) with no sound and one with a waterfall sound(if this can be done).
Its all just a wish but adding multiple levels of water IMO would greatly add to the feel of believable environments.

ImagoX

What does this add-on do to frame rate? Any effect, or are the added visuals not too much of an extra burden on the game? With AA turned on I'm already hovering at the 12FPS mark or thereabouts, which is stillplayable for sure, but...

Looks awesome!

ImagoX

When I run this with the .BAT file I cannot use any of the custom paint schemes that I've created for my Marines. Why? Can I modify the BAT file to allow the use of custom paint schemes?

Thanks again!!

Kolorion

Is snowblind map in the pack?

ImagoX

I think that's one he's still working on...

Lumine

If you want to use a color scheme you made for any mod (including the w40k mod ... ie: normal game) go into the profiles folder and you'll see a list of mods (w40k, map_mod, etc) and copy the schemes subfolder from w40k (or whatever mod you saved your color schemes in) and paste it into what ever mod you want to play using to those color schemes.

Olgerth Istaarn

Oh GOD... I hate filefront so much I can taste the BILE.

But I'll put up with it for any of Beroc's work.

Nice job mate, superb maps. More soon, I hope.

Lumine

You know what they say about filefront ....
Atleast it tastes better coming up than going down

Oh yeah, and I'm jumping on the "looks damn smooth" bandwagon

ImagoX

Took me a while to find the paint schemes, but I did eventually thanks to your help and now all is well.

Looks faaaaaaabulous!! Can't wait to see the snow maps as well as the community stuff. As you can see, it really DOES have a very "Dungeonsiege'y" feel about it... did that game use the same engine?


Clense! Purge! Kill!!


Check out those trees!
:duck:

Lumine

Imagox: Beroc said that this stuff was a direct conversion, though he did it really well. I don't think they used the same engine, i don't get the impression that the Dungeon Siege engine could handle the stuff DoW would ask of it

Beroc

Opey Dopey guys, sorry for not posting this earlier....

The Map Mod V1.1 is available on filefront...

http://dawnofwar.filefront.com/file/Map_Mod;33534

I don't think that the DS engine could handle anything like what the DoW engine can. At any one time, you can imagine some 500-1000 objects on the screen in DS, DoW is more like 1000-3000. There is not much of any loss of framerate in DoW with this mod. At least not with a 2.6ghz athlon and a 9000ati radeon. Dunno about your system, but that is what I have. We will just say it can't handle the top level of NFSU2, so it isnt that hot of a system. I could test it on my old 1.3ghz athlon, but I don't think I have a sufficient video card in it to run DoW.

Imagox, images look cool... very cool. Glad to see everyone is having fun with it.

Snowblind is in the 1.1 release, and looks very cool.... it runs about 5000-6000 objects though, and I did get a little frame loss because of that. It does have alot of trees... As I go, part of the goal is to find out what DoW will take before puking...

ImagoX

Oh wait... I read this again and saw your notice that Snowblind is in this build... SWEET! Do I just unzip to the same location and replace the old files, or do I need to delete the old stuff prior to installing?

Should have some screenies by tonight- Thanks!!

Olgerth Istaarn

Happy Valley is a blast to play in... All those trees and water, and there is nothing quite like the sight of a dreadnought stomping through the underbrush. Can't wait to get home and play Snowblind.

Beroc

imagox.... if you decompress the zip the same way you did originally, it will replace(or ask you to replace) everything that is currently in those folders... which you should do.

matt9871

When I put it in the same folder as another mod it says the models arent there but i put all of the folders there.

ImagoX

OK, just got through playing Snowblind... First the good...

It looks GREAT!!! The canyons are tight and twisty and make massing large forces really tricky (which is the point... nice). The pine forests with their cover bonus are really well done and put in good places. Overall a fine map- good work!



OK, now that THAT'S out of the way ( ) let me offer up some conscructive criticism (and please take it in the spirit of wanting to help, as I think this is a great map and one that I'd be proud to have my name on if this were mine...)

1) The ground texture is somewhat lackluster... very pixelly and it looks like a smaller texture enlarged to huge size. I got the feel that it was a placeholder? Either way, it's not up to the quality of the other textures, I think you will agree, and seeing as how it'sthe texture you look at the most (being the ground) I do hope you have a different one in the works.

2) Oh, those trees.... If you wanted to make the game barf then consider it "barfed" on my system (an AMD2100+ w a ATI 9800 card). The map took a looooooooooong time to load (about 3 times the norm) and suffered from several pauses while it loaded... SOMETHING. My HDD light was churning at least as I waited 10 or 20 seconds for it to be done. I averaged about 12 FPS while playing - your other map ran at 20+ or thereabouts. And there were SEVERAL places where the mixture of trees on top of ridgelines and canyons made LOS virtually impossible without panning the camera pretty severely (which mafe the FPS issue even worse.

Played the map in SP only against AI and it was VERY dumb, even going so far as to not heal it's own buildings or counterattack when I had troops pounding on his HQ. I have no idea of you can define the AI behavior at all at the map level in this game, but if so consider it DEFINETLY in the "needs work" category. Unless this is purely MP, in which case, skip it.

Suggestions:

* Redo the snowy ground texture

* TAKE OUT THE TREES ON TOP OF MOUNTAINS! They make screenies look really sexy, but as you noted there are just so many objects that my PC barfs.

*By all means keep the canyons, steep slopes, forests with cover bonuses, etc... they're GREAT!!

How about a smaller (3-4 player) version? that might help with the load size and FPS issue. I know... easy to ask for and hard to deliver, but the tight, claustrophobic canyons would be great for a smaller game.

monoRAIL

Beroc - nice map. Why not take a screengrab of the tree tops from above and use that image as a decal instead of actually placing all those tree models (like how relic did with the canopy decal).

Fang

ImagoX there is no way to define ai manuvers ona specifc map beyond giving it chokepoints to defend or putting just points on the map for it to use. I have never seen ai repair buildings that much, and once your on their hq they kinda give up beyond just attempting to churn out units at you.

Olgerth Istaarn

Odd, I have a weaker computer than Imago does and had no problems whatsoever.

Master Azrael

maybe i'm just stupid, but i keep trying to get smarter, where do I have to unpack to?

tos death

hey they look awsome!!!! good job beroc!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
uh yea also when i try to play it i press run and those stuff then it shows a black box then turns off right away what with that? :werd:

Beroc

Heh, that black box is the batch file you run to start the game with the mod.... perfectly normal. And other then imbedding it into the w40k folder, you can't stop it from comming up.

Beroc

Small feature added to Snowblind... it will be in the next release of the Map Mod...



Added about 14 new skies. More stuff to be put in it, still looking for user maps and parts to put into the mod.

A cool side note though.... The sky models do not accept alpha maps.... nor do they accept fx.... Given that, I am pretty sure they wont accept animations...

Cyberjankie

you make it snow on your map?! I didn't thought that the game allow things like that! thx man, you rock

Lumine

It would be pretty sweet to throw in some rain or snow FX (maybe even some raining ash or fire). maybe the best way to do it would be to make one giant FX, maybe the size of the detail squares in the ME. then you wouldn't hafta place many of them and it would still be scalable.

Beroc

Already got rain working... didnt think about ash. Fire is probably a little out of the question.... but ash is not.

Actually, creating the effect is pretty easy. I simply mounted it on a invisible dummy. You place the dummy on the map, and it lights up a 100x100 meter area with snow. It is still a work in progress though.

Sps

Awesome work - question tho:

Can this be done in the same manner as textures/decals can - meaning not having to run as a mod.

Benefits: You won't have to make sure nothing is broken with other mods. You make sure everyone can play the map even with base dow so long as all the files are included with map distro.

It's nice work no doubt - would be nice if it was more "open" as well.

Is this possible at all?

Beroc

sps-
Um, dunno how to answer all your questions. but here goes.

I made a post on this thing(can't find it now) that basically told how to tak any mod and put it into your w40k folder structure. Quite simple, all you need is winzip. (extract the original files, recompress what is in the mod folder, the decompress that in the w40k folder) That makes it where the mod automatically loads up with the regular game. There are inherent problems with that. Your risk though.

Benifits.... Sure, ou wont have to make sure anything is broke, but if doing that breaks something....

The only way I garantee that each map works, is if you load the mod correctly. If you tinker with it at all, I can't garantee anything. Every piece that goes into this mod is placed on a map someplace, and tested, at least in the map editor. I promise that. This includes content from other people. I will test every bit of it. Cause if it creates a conflict, I want to know about it.

Define "open", It is about as open as you can get.

ImagoX

Yeah, but what happens if you want to run the Map Pack (launched with a .BAT file) in conjunction with, say, the Deathwing Terminator MOD (ALSO run via a BAT file... well, in theory anyway-- I've never got the deathwing MOD to run properly, but you see whay I mean...)? In this scenario, one MOD alters the models and the second alters the maps, so in theory they should play well together, but you can't do that because when you launch from a BAT file then you're only limited to one MOD at a time.

Aren't you? Is there a way I don't know about to do this?