TEschenbach

Success! I put up a new picture showing the UZI in the game. It still sounds like the SCAT and there's nothing coming out the muzzle, but it works, at least. Now, on to a new vehicle... p.s. I dumped the pics of the ATV re-skin. The site will be re-done into a proper one soon... the pics served their purpose of illustrating the ease of skinning, so they were removed to free up site space. [ 11-25-2001: Message edited by: Camaro76 ]

After doing a little digging on the 'net, I've found some interesting sites like these: http://law.about.com/library/weekly/aa051198.htm http://www.wave.net/immigration/lawyer/libel.html http://www.ssrn.com/update/lsn/cyberspace/csl%5Flessons.html This last is a good one... examine closely lessons 32-39.

Holy cow! Now THAT'S one of the reasons why I have become a BCM fan. Ask a question, get an answer. Have a problem, get an answer. No B.S. Straight from the developer himself. If you try asking a question on some other game developer's forums *coughOperationFlashpointcough* you either get cold silence, or you have to search through 50 million BS posts to find what you need. Very much appreciated... thanks SC!

quote:Originally posted by Supreme Cmdr: OK, I know I'm going to regret this, but what the hell. That depends on exactly what we *do* with BCStudio... heh heh heh... [evil grin] BTW Thanks for releasing it so soon. [ 11-23-2001: Message edited by: Camaro76 ]

Ok SC, I took you up on your... uh... challenge. http://www.evilavatar.com/redirected.asp?f...vatar.com/EA/Ne ws/M34770/ I'm wondering how much of this thread here at 3000ad they will read before the knee-jerk reaction comes, if they notice at all. At any rate, it's good of you to gather opinions before taking action - thanks for hearing us out. No matter what you decide, good luck! [ 11-23-2001: Message edited by: Camaro76 ]

I guess I'm thinking of the forums in terms of a radio show... where once in a while you get an extreme 'opinion' from some crackpot that makes you go "Who the hell was that wacko?". In most cases the radio host may bleep out the person, but it depends on the show. I can see your viewpoint SC, because the 'moderator' didn't step in with some sort of reprimand/post removal... but it's entirely possible they didn't take post #5 seriously (from looking at posts 11 and 12). I'd have to take a look at more posts from the same person to really make an assessment. And judging from EA's Forum FAQ: ----- Anything relevant to the forum you are posting it in. Try not to post information that is misleading or wrong. Avoid offensive language or your message will be removed. No spamming is allowed. We reserve the right to edit any post. ----- It looks like they are not seriously concerned with moderating anything, period (posts 1 and 13). Which brings me back to my opinion that legal action won't change anything, except maybe to force EA to take a harder line with outrageous viewpoints like post #5. I'm not trying to defend these people, mind you... this is a totally serious situation. I'm saying that it all would likely end up as a wild goose chase, and the time/money would be better spent elsewhere.

I don't know if that's such a good idea. In the first place, you're giving the basher bandwagon more ammunition to continue the whole flame war farce. I think it's been proven that they will bash you no matter what, and I doubt very much that it will ever stop, no matter what you do. That EA thread is like the VE threads... except for the one comment about child molestation, which was totally uncalled for. I really don't see legal action accomplishing anything other than justifying the detractors negative opinions, and causing more resentment towards you. We need to focus on the positives. The game is out, and except for some annoying bugs, people are playing it and are generating some good buzz. More people may be enticed to play once the print reviews show up. I say channel all determination into squashing bugs and making BCM multiplayer the damn best space-sim multiplayer EVER. This way, people sitting on the fence waiting to buy BCM will look at the negative crap, but see far more positive things, which means more fans and more support. But if you do take action, you have to find others that are willing to PUBLICLY put their stamp of approval on it; i.e. known names in the dev community. John Romero or George Broussard maybe? This way you are not singled out as the only 'villain'. [ 11-23-2001: Message edited by: Camaro76 ]

http://flashpoint_ny.tripod.com/bcm1.htm Oops! [see last picture on page]I tried to replace the pistol with an UZI, and, well... I botched it all up. When the new BCStudio gets released, will it come with model examples [MAX scene format] again? I'm hoping there will be 1 ship, 1 marine, 1 weapon... they would really be useful in order to check the scale of stuff. I'm surprised more people aren't modding the game, it's pretty easy, and lots of fun. [ 11-23-2001: Message edited by: Camaro76 ]

Drat... I guess my mod will now have to be Mystery Science Battlecruiser 3000... Seriously, the anime style of Macross would fit nicely into BCM. Good luck, can't wait to see it.

It depends on how the collision system works... if you made a building with an opening it you might not be able to walk inside it, but only the SC would know for sure. BTW, it's really easy to add new models to the game... ok, replace the ones already there... I've been altering the static ones for now. I don't want to try anything too fancy like animated stuff yet. Heh... wait 'till you see what I've been up to...

As long as everyone can use custom skins... that would be cool. They should be easy enough to download since the file sizes are not huge. I put up an in-game shot of the skin. It's not the greatest... I can't dally around for too long or else I get toasted. Is there a cheat I can use to turn the AI off? As for it looking like an M1A1... you got that right. The texture set on the reference page I posted earlier was from an unreleased tank game called Golgotha. And I got some other tank pics from sites mentioned in the Operation Flashpoint forums.

quote:Originally posted by $iLk: Is Santa Claus a commie spy? Hmm... that's a tough one. Does the Pentagon have any chimneys? Wouldn't a sleigh and reindeer be shot down if they got anywhere near Pentagon airspace? Since Communism is not quite as popular as it used to be, IMHO I'd have to say that Santa Claus is a jolly old elf... there's more evidence to support that theory.

Thanks for the compliments guys. I've updated the page with a before and after shot. The texture is still a work-in-progress at the moment; I haven't had much time lately. Matching up the brown tone on all the parts is a pain in the butt, and there's a bit of stretching going on (mostly noticeable on the front) with the texture mapping. In-game it looks pretty neat though... but I'll put up shots of that once everything is done. [edit] While I was working on this, I had some thoughts and a question... Will Multiplayer allow people to use new skins for their craft [and possibly other assets as well], just like Quake/Tribes/etc. allow personal skins and models? There would be no changing of other asset data... since this in essence would be a mod, and/or upset the balance of the game. I'm liking the idea of having a corporation (like Intercorp) or 3 that supplies the various races/castes. I'd also like to add androids, robots, and other sci-fi things into the mix (clones, cyborgs, etc.) to add a little more spice. Plus it allows me to add little in-jokes about patches and upgrades. [ 11-17-2001: Message edited by: Camaro76 ]

Worst moment... I'm playing Tribes2, and I make a spectacular flag grab and manage to keep from getting killed by the enemy defense. They're hot on my trail all the way back to my base - their chaingun bullets are whizzing all around me, and grenade and disc explosions are warming my back as I ski like the devil. The score is tied, so this cap will win one for the Gipper. By the time I make it back, my armor is so chewed full of holes, it looks like I'm wearing chain mail. I'm 2 feet from my flag stand and... hit the worst lag the 'net has ever seen. So bad in fact, I get timed out and automatically booted from the server. Tip: Buy a Mouse Systems keyboard. They can really take a beating from your fist.

Ah, ok then... I figured I'd keep the stuff I was working on in another thread to avoid cluttering up this one. Here's an example of how easy it is to reskin a model. If the link doesn't work, try again a little later - it could be Tripod [site host] acting up. What I did was take pics from this site (machinery link) and 'Photo-chop' them to make a new texture for the ATV. When I'm done I'll put the finished works up on my site so everyone can download them and check them out. *note to self... remember to include before and after shots* [ 11-14-2001: Message edited by: Camaro76 ]

quote:Originally posted by Supreme Cmdr: Camaro, adding new models to the game is a piece of cake. You just have to be patient and wait for me to release the GBS-II (Game Builder System Spec II) for BCM. It includes an updated version of BCStudio, PTEStudio, the script parser etc. And with update docs and examples one what can be modded and how. In fact, just in the past few days, the first person weapon structure has been exported to an external INI file. This means that you can now also alter the performance specs for weapons, add new ones etc external to the game itself. e.g. you could create an M16 model, enter the stats etc and have the player and NPCs have access to it. I decided to download it so I could tinker around with the files and familiarize myself with the way everything is laid out. I'm glad everything is so wide open [as in not many proprietary formats], unlike Operation Flashpoint for example. Are there going to be a lot of radical changes to BCStudio, or will it still look/work the same way [similar button layout, etc.]? This should keep me occupied until the game hits the shelves. Doam, it looks like currently most of the ships are about 500 polygons, give or take a few. How many polygons could be handled would depend on the person's system. I've been able to pull 40 frames per second on average in the E2 demo (pre-gold code), and 290 frames per second in the BCMStudio display. (I have a 1 ghz Athlon Thunderbird (overclocked to 1.2 ghz) and a nVidia GeForce2 vid card.) I'm sure you could change enough to convince someone that they were playing a Trek game. They'd just have to substitute 'Klingon' for 'Gammulan' in their minds every time they saw it.

I went and downloaded BCMStudio from Cmdr. Nova's site [very nice job on the site BTW]. All I did was view some of the models so far... but I must say, the BCMStudio program itself is really cool. It should be really easy to reskin the models. I hope it will be just as simple to add new ones (gonna try that soon). Anyone else out there fixing to make new stuff for BCM once it hits the shelves?

quote:Originally posted by Supreme Cmdr: Oh thats just great. Its not bad enough that I have a permanent bullseye painted on my a$$, I'm now up for assassination too? Hmm... but could you imagine the ratings for any televised debates? Just don't moon anybody.

Hmm... that would be a bummer if the plugin doesn't work under 3ds max 4... For those that are using GMAX, you can find scripts that will allow you to import .3ds, .obj and other formats here: http://tdp.nu/scriptsearch.html They have tons of scripts for 3ds max there as well. My favorite max plugin is called Chilliskinner. It assists you in breaking down a model for texturing, and it's the greatest for those who are making low-poly models. The home page for this magnificent tool is here: http://www.chilliweb.co.uk/chilliskinner/ and you can find more plugins here: http://max3d.3dluvr.com/main.html or here: http://www.maxplugins.de/

quote:Originally posted by Gallion: Welcome to Our Nightmare Camaro BTW - '76 was a bad year for the Camaro TTFN Heh... unfortunately it's got the 305 c.i. motor (first year for it I think) - I plan on putting in a 350 as soon as possible. Otherwise it's in really good shape for a 25 year old car with only 60,000 miles on it. Even with a 305 it still hauls. I doubt it could smoke a Mercedes though... but I bet my sound system's louder. Besides, there are too many 67-69's around. I like to be different. Gosh, it's going to be so nice not to have to listen to that flame war follies crap! Although I am working on a ShirleyBOT/FabioBOT 3d model for BCM [a droid for the enemies of Galcom]. I'll put some pics up soon over in the Game Builder System forum.

After all the flak the SC has taken on places like Voodoo Extreme, running for President should be easy. :-) BTW, hello to all the veteran BCM players out there!