te27ch Posted August 8, 2004 Share Posted August 8, 2004 Hey guys I just want to actually contribute to the games I play, rather than just play them. I would like to start mapping/modding, even though I've never really done it before. I don't really have any programming experience in any language, but I could take up mapping, since I have some great ideas and I've seen what great works of art they can be. Here are the games I have: Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight Jedi Outcast Jedi Academy Quake III Arena Quake 2 Quake Battlefield 1942, Secret Weapons Expansion, Desert Combat 0.7 Half-Life (Steam) Counter-Strike (Steam) Star Trek Elite Force Return to Castle Wolfenstein Unreal Tournament and probably others. Like I said, I just want to contribute more to the games I play. Thanks, especially if you reply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coupes. Posted August 8, 2004 Share Posted August 8, 2004 This belongs somewhere in the Editing Central. You'll find different forums for all kinds of modifications to the Jedi Knight games (mapping, modeling, skinning). You'll get much more help there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alegis Posted August 8, 2004 Share Posted August 8, 2004 Well i tried mapping some time ago, but its pretty darn hard. If you need tutorials you can find them in the JO/JA mapping forums in sticky, or search for them. you can search for tutorials for any game based on this engine, cause they're practically the same. as for modding, if you mean code you should learn C++ or something like it. To be honest i think this will be of more value since coding is something you can always use, and to be honest custom maps arent really that popular, unless its for a mod/total conversion, then it really gets used/is very useful Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GothiX Posted August 8, 2004 Share Posted August 8, 2004 Mapping for JA isn't worth it anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KBell Posted August 8, 2004 Share Posted August 8, 2004 I used to model saber hilts for Jedknight 2, but I stopped cause school got in the way and I never got around to starting up again. But skinning the sabers started me off on Photoshop, and I haven't stopped using the program yet, and GMax started me off to 3d Studio Max which led me to Cinema 4d, which I use to make abstract renders with. So everything has a start and a finish I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Druid Bremen Posted August 10, 2004 Share Posted August 10, 2004 I map for the fun of it. If you really want to learn, look for RichDiesal's tutorials (too lazy to post a link). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ET Warrior Posted August 10, 2004 Share Posted August 10, 2004 I'll put it in JA mapping, they'll be able to help you with mapping, and you can check in the JA modelling forum for more help modeling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDX1 Posted August 10, 2004 Share Posted August 10, 2004 Originally posted by GothiX Mapping for JA isn't worth it anymore. Why? Also, read my post in this thread: http://lucasforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=133049 I would say take your time, don't rush into it and learn everything at once. Pick something you really want to do and do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WadeV1589 Posted August 10, 2004 Share Posted August 10, 2004 I agree with GothiX, my reasoning is because it has never really took off enough which is something we all thought may happen. I've started mapping for Doom 3 now because I think there is far more hope for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Codja X Posted August 10, 2004 Share Posted August 10, 2004 The JA community is dwindling, as is the Q3 engined game community in general. Doom III has just been release with a spanking new engine and Half-Life 2 is round the corner with the new Source technology. Both these engines come with plenty of Bells and Whistles to make you go "ooooooh". However, these engines are going to be very difficult for beginners to learn to map for, due to the sheer complexity of them. I started off mapping for Duke Nukem and then Quake, Q2, Half-life, JO and finally JA. With each new game, there have a few new features and so with the solid experience in mapping, it has been relatively painless to implement new features. Doom III however looks like it has a steep learning curve. And Doom III doesn't have any lightsabers either:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WadeV1589 Posted August 10, 2004 Share Posted August 10, 2004 If you've used GTKRadiant, D3Radiant is a breeze. I couldn't believe how easy it was to pick up and use - there's a few things that could do with tweaking like how to select brushes and apply textures. Also D3 has amazing lighting which is fully previewable in the editor and compiling takes a matter of seconds. There is a lot more entities however....but when it comes down to it you really don't need most of them, they've just left them in there for completeness sake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Codja X Posted August 10, 2004 Share Posted August 10, 2004 Originally posted by WadeV1589 Also D3 has amazing lighting which is fully previewable in the editor and compiling takes a matter of seconds. My word! I like the sound of that. All we need now is a lightsaber mod for it and the JA community will be killed off forever (along with my graphics card no doubt:) ) [edit] what would be handy, if they ever bring out another version of GTK, would be the abillity to load lightmaps into the editor - that way you can delete any brushes that aren't lit and have a proper preview of the map. Now that D3 is out though, I can't see anymore development being done for the Q3 engine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WadeV1589 Posted August 10, 2004 Share Posted August 10, 2004 Yeah the Q3 engine has finally hit its end-of-days. With HL2, Farcry and D3 there really is no comparison to Q3 anymore. Until Q4 comes along (if ever) I think we'll see less and less games being developed using this aged engine. Won't stop me enjoying Elite Force though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi_Vogel Posted August 10, 2004 Share Posted August 10, 2004 And just when I was getting the hang of GTK and mapping for JA too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lil Killa Posted August 10, 2004 Share Posted August 10, 2004 Originally posted by Jedi_Vogel And just when I was getting the hang of GTK and mapping for JA too... You should have no problem picking up Doom 3 editing As stated above the Doom 3 editor looks Almsot exactly like GTK. hell the buttons look the same. It just has a few extra buttons there plus all the stuff wade said. Once I get my hands on a new OS and a copy of D3 I'll be editing for it instead of JA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercenary Posted August 10, 2004 Share Posted August 10, 2004 I love the Star Wars universe and it's the reason I got into editing in the first place. There's so much you can do with it. I'll be around for a while yet. Besides I have too much to finish to quit now and I have no desire to edit any other universe. Back on topic, te27ch do all the tutorials you can find and you must have a willingness to learn too because there's so much to know. Persistence will take you a long way too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi_Vogel Posted August 10, 2004 Share Posted August 10, 2004 I'm just about to start my final year of Uni n I can't get Doom 3 yet :/ I just hope JA Mapping sticks around for a whiiiiiile... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
te27ch Posted August 10, 2004 Author Share Posted August 10, 2004 Well, I don't necessarily want to do it for JA, unfortunately, in the broad scope of things, JA is dying and unpopular (IMHO). You can see my list of games up there, and you can see that there are some very popular ones that I might want to make maps for... On the note of mods, I don't know how to code, other than windows scripts and extremely basic BASIC but I do know how to make pk3s and mods for quake 3, i've made my own personal "mods" that just change the default music to some of my own favorites... A shout out to the Dark forces 2: jedi knight community, as http://massassi.net has everything I'd ever need to alter JK in any way. i have always had a special love for that game. I think that the half-life engine could be a good one to get used to, with the 100,000+ ppl playing counter strike (even though most of them do nothing but complain and play the same maps forever), but some of my neat ideas could probably only be done with the HL2 engine and graphics. Still pretty much clueless... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDX1 Posted August 11, 2004 Share Posted August 11, 2004 Why post in the JA Mapping section if you don't want to map for JA? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lil Killa Posted August 11, 2004 Share Posted August 11, 2004 he didn't post it in this section.... Did you not read the first few posts? It was moved. Blame the moderators. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDX1 Posted August 11, 2004 Share Posted August 11, 2004 I still don't know who the moderators are, didn't see his title. I thought since you can't report posts that it was just a normal users telling him it should be in a different area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Druid Bremen Posted August 11, 2004 Share Posted August 11, 2004 Lol I suppose I'm one of those "Hey look its Star Wars! It's got a lightsaber and blasters and...." people, though not entirely. I like the game partially because its a shooter, and the rest because its Star Wars. Which is why I started learning mapping for it: to be a creator. I don't suppose I'll be able to do any of this for a completely unfamiliar universe.. Maybe next time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDX1 Posted August 11, 2004 Share Posted August 11, 2004 Exactly, it may be 'dying' although it still has a lot of players online. It's a fun game and a good environment. I don't know why people would map for the popularity.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauser Posted August 11, 2004 Share Posted August 11, 2004 Wow...nice thread. After this ENDOR map I'm done with this game too. I can't wait for Battlefront and I may pick up DOOM III also. But the Q4 engine will be along before you know it. And someone like RAVENSOFT or whoever will develop the next JK based game. When that happens...LOOK OUT! Because you will be able to do so much more. Game mechanics will have improved beyond our scope. And the enviornments will look oh so UBER. Now we know rgoer was hired by RAVENSOFT to do some work for Q4. So I would say that a JK based game is not far off now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Codja X Posted August 11, 2004 Share Posted August 11, 2004 Originally posted by lauser And the enviornments will look oh so UBER. They will, but they they will only be as good as the artist and designer creating them. If you're crap at making maps for JA, you're going to be crap at Doom III. What I sort of implied earlier is to cut your teeth on a lesser engine, learn its features and then progress. That way, you'll be using the new engine to it's full capabilities rather than being limited by your own skills. Once you are fully aware of what the engine can do, the only limit is your imagination:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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