If you're here, thanks for taking a look. I've made some city assets that I want to get into Drive. I consider this a test, get these objects in, get them working so I know how to do it so I can start working on a full sized city. I'm cursed with being able to make good textures and 3d models, but I am not very young and resourceful as I used to be. I struggle with learning new concepts and trying to get it all to work. It's frustrating because as well as I could make city assets and get one thrown together relatively quickly, I find getting things into Drive and working correctly is actually the hardest part for me. This brings me to the first object in this test, the road: I used the default export options, as I remain pretty clueless here. Though take a look at what is available: I used the exported files, and made a new GridMap folder under Levels. This is how I set up my files. I also added a materials.cs and copied the format used in other folders, editing the names. Probably didn't do it right, but I tried. The result left me with my road, without a texture: Also a strange side effect, the bounding mesh seems to be lower than the actual mesh. I only used one mesh for the export, it's possible I will need to copy and specify the second one. Right now this is not the largest concern though. I want the texture working! I would sincerely appreciate any help you could give me. If someone could get me past these hurdles I would be happy to help them with an object or two for your project (simple stuff, no vehicles sadly, don't have time for learning that too atm!)
For the collision: You road object must be placed at coordinates 0,0,0 (So your Object Origin). For the material, go in the Material editor and see what's wrong from there. You can also simply adjust your material from that editor itself, and when you press the Save button on that material you will find the generated material.cs in Documents/BeamNG.Drive/levels/gridmap/art/shapes/test. Move that material.cs from there to your actual folder so you can use that as main.
Thanks again Nadeox, your help worked! At first the texture didn't work even after selecting mine. Appears as if the stock collada export didn't save the unwrapped data, had to mess with that a few times. In the end, awesomeness: Another question Nadeox, how far can I go with 3d models? Could I model the entire bottom level of a city in 3ds max (roads, highways, aqueducts, bridges etc), and that would work as a collidable model? Like if I made it a single object with multiple textures? Or are there limits to this? I of course would probably make it separate, but I want to know what I can get away with.
You can go as far as you want but: -Objects do not have selectable groundmodel yet, so they will all act as concrete -Too complex objects can impact on FPS (That's why you should use a simplified collision mesh for them > http://wiki.beamng.com/Exporting_static_objects) If you plan of making a whole map like this, I suggest to split everything into multiple DAE (So that those will actually count as indipendent objects and won't hit too much on FPS aswell)
If I make a non-collidable mesh (such as lane lines etc) and place it right above the road, will there be any z_fighting (visual clipping) issues? Knowing this could greatly make the road making process easier for intersections etc.
There could be yeah, T3D doesn't like that too much. If you manage to use decals for that tho, it will automatically 'deal' with Z-Fighting. http://www.beamng.com/threads/screenshots.130/page-110#post-117778 In T3D decals move 'farther' from the object they are layed on as the camera goes farther from there. That's the T3D solution.
Thanks again Nadeox! Another question regarding the material editor, couldn't find this in the wiki. When attempting to create a new material, apply textures to it, and add it to an object I'm losing all UV data. Why is this? Here are three pictures of what I'm trying to do (am I even trying to do the right thing?). If I use one of your game textures and replace them for mine, it works just fine. Soon as I make my own material and add the textures, doesn't like it. I need to just tape you to a chair and ask you questions all day Nadeox. I think this would be the most effective solution. No seriously, are you available on IRC, Steam, Skype or something to where I can get assistance faster than the forums? I'm pretty dang serious about this map stuff, I just think at this pace it will be really slow as I encounter issues. Once I figure out how to get things in the game working right with a proper organizational structure (I fear this step) I will be flying.
One quick note about curbs in Beam:never use vertical collision faces. If you try driving at the curb of the street up there at as sharp an angle as you can, and activate the parking brake while in motion, the wheels should stop cold and sling the vehicle backward very violently. What's happening is that the wheel nodes are catching on the vertical surface and cannot move past that point. The fix is to either remove the vertical face completely, or angle it so that it is more diagonal. The former's easier, the latter's more effective and prevents the wheels from getting stuck under the sidewalk.
The road curb isn't perfectly vertical, it's angled very slightly, with a curved spot at the top. I drove against the curb a lot and so far no ill-effects. Haven't tested with the parking brake yet, but will do. In the end I can always make a smoother collision mesh.
I have an additional question. How can I get one mesh to use 2 textures? I went insane and made a really nice road, but it uses an additional texture for things such as the red curb and concrete lanes:
You shouldn't make new materials from T3D, if that's what you are doing. Just create new materials in your 3D software, and add them manually (copy them from another place and adjust) to your material.cs file. For 2nd texture, check the 'Advanced Textures' part. Some textures will make use of secondary UVMaps if present.
This is my materials.cs: singleton Material(bigroad) { mapTo = "bigroad"; diffuseMap[0] = "bigroad.dds"; doubleSided = "0"; translucentBlendOp = "None"; specularPower[0] = "1"; pixelSpecular[0] = "1"; specularMap[0] = "bigroad.dds"; materialTag0 = "coffeeroads"; }; I've added the .dae (bigroad.dae) and .dds files into the folder for importing. I've actually been doing this since the start. Though after editing that material.cs file, nothing has changed. I went into the editor, clicked my big road hoping it would now have the diffuse texture also as the specular map (wasn't set that way before) for a test. However, still the same. I guess I'm having a bit of a disconnect here, I may be over-complicating the crap out of this. Though I don't know how to aim myself in the right direction. I've even Googled for regular Torque3D guides, but those are also way over my head. I'm used to game modding from many years ago. You'd stick your textures and models into a folder, and the exported model knew which textures to grab from the get-go. I'd appreciate help getting the materials.cs in order, as this might be the main issue I'm having.
Well, an update. Huge props to the devs for having the patience of the gods. I'm not sure what did it exactly, but I know I changed a lot. Mostly getting rid of the materialtag in material.cs, and renaming absolutely everything everywhere. When I imported it worked perfectly. I really need to go debate my life after this.
Alright, question time again, blargh. Well, at least now I'm getting there much better than before. Before when I was replacing the roamer_interior material with my own, the anistropic filtering was beautiful. Though now with making my own materials the proper way, there seems to be none and I'm not sure how to change it. I guess Torque 3D isn't huge or something because whenever I look for resources for help, I can never find what I'm looking for. So hopefully you can help me out here. Here's my materials.cs now: singleton Material(newstuff) { mapTo = "hugeroad"; diffuseMap[0] = "newroadtesting.dds"; diffuseMap[1] = "newroadtesting_Red.dds"; doubleSided = "0"; translucentBlendOp = "None"; specularPower[0] = "1"; pixelSpecular[0] = "1"; useAnisotropic[0] = "16"; useAnisotropic[1] = "16"; specularMap[0] = "newroadtesting_spec.dds"; specularMap[1] = "newroadtesting_Red_spec.dds"; }; So I put on two Specular maps, each for their respective Diffuse map, and that's not working. I assigned them to the model in 3ds max, and named them just as I did everything else. Maybe the specular power isn't high enough? I stuck on the Anisotropic parts, but they seem to do nothing. I probably have it wrong. Here's a picture of the lack of filtering. Oh speaking of that, I do turn on MIP Mapping for the dds exports. Again, the texture looked great when I replaced the roamer textures.
useAnisotropic[1] = "16"; That's wrong. It is either 0 or 1 (off/on), then the amount is controlled from the setting in the video options. Its quite stupid to have it per material honestly, would make more sense to have it as global value for everything. V plsdm
Thanks for the info. It's still not taking though. Have re-saved the materials.cs file and reloaded the map, no change. This is the line I'm using: useAnisotropic[0] = "1"; When I tick the checkbox with the material editor, half of it will gain anisotropic filtering (the other half uses a separate texture so it won't. What I mean by that is the texture was saved with adequate mipmapping, just not sure why it isn't taking with the line added to materials.cs. Is there something else I'm missing in my materials.cs file? EDIT: To be ultra clear, I am not using the material editor. I am only stating that I tried it as a means to make sure my textures worked alright.
Sorry for the late reply, thread got buried. If you want to send me the files via PM, I can have a much faster look of what you have now.
No worries Nadeox. I reformatted so I will have to begin again (still have the models/textures). You don't happen to have a completely blank map with just a skybox and the ground do you? I find it easier to start with nothing so there's nothing that is conflicting, or a minimal amount. This weekend I'll see about getting it all back and running to see if we can get the multi-texture issue solved. Would you recommend a specific version of 3ds max for the task?
