Krytos

Looks awesome Floro! ! Great work

Exactly what I was going to say - keep your avatar at resolution around 100x100 pixels, otherwise it offsets the boards.

Ditto. I quiet liked this character, especially the reference to helping in the fight for Coruscant etc. Got my vote

Back on topic - I'm rather torn between Kara Nessis and Tyran Celchu. Yes, Kara is very generic - though it's a rather good generic character, rather than an "uber" style character or unbelievable background. Granted, I think that it would be nice to re-work some of her story if she get's picked to make her a little more unique. I also like Tyran's story, and agree with Igor that it would be nice to see the Celchu's going "at" it. Though, a different first name is needed to make it a little more clear that it isn't Tycho for those new to the story. Still havn't decided who yet . . .

Ok, I'll try to explain - this'll be lengthy. A game programmed to run on the XBox can't run on a PC or any other system. Like wise, a game programmed for the PC can't run on an XBox or other system. This is basically because the software is programmed around the machines architecure (what kind of hardware it has) as well as it's Operating System. However, it is possible to do a few things to change this. There are emulators, which make the computer run/act like another gaming system so you can run a game for a different system - like a Super Ninetendo emulator will allow you to run games programmed for the SN to run on your PC. Another way, is porting it to that system. Basically, instead of completely re-programming the game for the new system (which could take a long time, and cost a lot), porting modifies the game to run on another system. The problem with porting is that it can be done very poorly, such as in the case of Halo. They've pretty much made it so the game will run on a computer, but there isn't any optimisation and the computer also seems to need to constantly compute extra data to let it run. So, it runs slower than a game of that quality should - so, your herky-jerkies might occur (which sounds like loading lag - where the program needs to load sounds or images from your hardrive and cant do it fast enoguh), or you just get continuous lag. Shaders are small peices of software that are used to control something graphical in the game - making something reflective, glow, morph etc. Shaders were originally "software" driven - where they'd be run in the game though your computer. Quake 3 was one of the first games to use shaders. More modern games like Doom 3 and Half Life 2 require hardware to do their shaders for various reasons. Now, Halo has the software shaders as mentioned before (after all, the xbox's graphic's card doesn't have any shader hardware) - however, when the game was ported it seems that the software shaders were over looked, which means without a graphics card with hardware shaders somethings in the game wont look very good. A prime example, is when you're inside a covenant ship. All the walls look like a constant grey, with a little patern in them. With shaders, the walls are shinny and have a purpleish tint. So game wont look as good as well (depending on what graphics card you have). Still for $10, it'll probably be worth it - just for the multiplayer if nothing else.

Wasn't a huntsman unfortunately (at least they're not poisoness). It wasn't as big as one (porbably half the size), but black, shinny, two big fangs and with two white lines on it's "butt". Enough to make me think twice about how to get rid of it. It's been hot here for a few weels, and then it rained for the last two days - which would force any spiders out in search of a dry place As for the ad, Mad was right about the direction - showing off a wide interactive community. The fps aspect wasn't aimed at any game specifically - just a more identifiable game style, as well as being easier to show off. The problem about ads like that, is while they're fun to watch - they don't actually illistrate the actual product being sold, features or any real aspect of the product I'm surprised it got through to production, even though there wasn't any product placement during the entire ad.

Which part of it? Model wise was easy, just tiresome. The new fabric look was easy, just processor hungry. For the model, I created a spline helix and then duplicated it and lowered its possition. Then, to be able to apply a surface modifier, I had to link up every node/vertex in the spline - which is the tiresome part. From that, I cloned it again and scaled it inwards to give it depth and then linked them up again. I think I had to create about 800+ extra splines by hand to link it all together. Took over an hour to do it, but came out alright. After that, I cloned it 2 more times and moved one down a bit, and rotated the other. I could have/should have then modified the spline to get the tips to work right, but I just used a boolean modifier to "chop" off the bits that were hanging out. Underneath it all, is an odd shaped cylinder with a wooden material. http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/551/viewport23xt.th.jpghttp://img235.imageshack.us/img235/7112/viewport5bt.th.jpg The fabric was quiet easy, I used a displacement map (a specle map with the colours inverted) on the hilt, and mental ray which does it's displacement maps very differently to the default scanline renderer in Max. Max displaces the vertexs with the displacement maps and they don't seem to always work (if the surface is rounded, it will - it's highly dependant on the number of vertexs in use as well as the normals), whereas Mental Ray calculates it's maps and creates it's displacement in the same form of a bump map - though as you can see it extrudes the bumps http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/4753/hilt2gu.th.jpg

Hmm, ok - the pros and cons: Pros: The game is the same as the XBox version - no surprise there. But, if you're a PC Gamer, you'd probably find Halo very 1 dimentional and not that exciting as well as being very repedative. Gameplay is altered because of your controls being different. And, being a fps player - using a mouse and keyboard is far better than a gamepad. That much alone would make me choose between the two (xbox and pc). But, that's about all the pros I can think of . . . except maybe multiplayer online if you dont have an Xbox live. Cons: Halo on PC is a straight port, and a very bad porting job at that (Which means that they've taken the Xbox version and "altered" it to run on PC - which in this case seems to be done with an emulator that runs like crap). Even though Halo has mediocre graphics etc. and by all means would require a relatively low performance PC (simular to what the XBox's hardware is) it will run bad on your computer. So much so, Halo is STILL used as a benchmark for new hardware. It is one of the worst porting jobs I've ever seen. My old AMD Thunderbird 900, 512mb RAM and a GeForce 2 32mb run it at the lowest settings. Also, while the game uses software shaders (and not hardware) I've only been able to get the shaders to work with a hardware capable gfx card, so excpect bland textures unless you've got a Direct X 9.0 compatible card. Game wise, I personally found it repedative and boring. The first few levels were alright (fighting on the ship, and then rescuing crew members on the "planet"). After getting close to when the flood entered the game the game got not only predicable, but boring - and the repedative nature became extremely apparent in the level designs with you going through these ring like rooms that were all the same over and over. Over all, if you like the gameplay and storyline of Halo - you'd consider the game. But that being said, you only gain the advantage of the PC interface - with the disadantage being performance and textures (assuming you dont have a new shader driven graphics card). So, like Mad said - if you can get it cheap, go for it I guess

Ta mad - we'll hopefully get that game of Rebellion on the way soon as well (I can't start it for at least two more days due to work running 'till midnight). http://img499.imageshack.us/img499/4329/final5zw.th.jpg -One minor change to the sword, the hilt is now "furry". I'd have liked to use more of the snow like substance on the sword, though it not only takes ages to render (as it's a particle system using meta objects that link to one another at different proximities like water), and any more would crash both of my computers - I had another scene with volumetric light, though that would crash with the snow And I think I'll do some more work on Fishy's ship

A friend of mine sent that to me a while back (but the link doesn't work anymore ) Funny video - one question though, what did that have to do with the xbox 360? Seriously, without that xbox 360 logo . . . sorry, had to pause - just had a massive spider crawl over myself and this laptop . . . I'm going now . . .

If Goldwave isn't free, you can also try Audacity - which requires free plugin to convert to MP3 (the instructions are on the site).

Thanks, I'll try to do the model first with that pic (helps with practice ). Though if it comes out ugly, and perhaps for areas of the ship I can't see, I might grab some schematical diagrams of it off you And my backs feeling better already (Now if there was only something wrong with it ) It seems we think in the same way Kryt. Great Minds do think a like ! ! Ah, cool - another fan! Got a particular faction you like? Personally, I've gown very fond of the Draconis Combine (kinda of weird really, for me at least - especially after liking FedCom) . . . Picture anywho - got a much larger one (2000x2000 pixels) somewhere http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/7427/bloodkatanareal0wq.jpg *It's also my avatar on the CBT forum - though I havn't posted for a very long time* Anyway, after that long post - I might as well post another pic: http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/3983/finaldefiance8pr.th.jpg Hot off the press Would have been finished 3 days ago if my brother had given me a picture when I asked *grumble grumble*

Well for me, the list goes a little something like this: (In semi-order) Defender Class Star Destroyer: Modelled, textured (A very special thanks to Mask!) and needs re-modelling Endurance fleet Carrier: Ditto Ranger Gunship: Modelled, needs refinement and a higher detail version, no texturing started Sacheen Frigate: Modelled Other models: modelled but no textures or Rebellion trials I want to get the DSD done quickly, though at the moment I'm playing with high poly models after getting annoyed at Rebellion's engine making my model look dismal. After finishing a few of my HP models, I'll start back on the LPs - I'll post a list in a few hours of models I've got done, and see which ones are wanted to first.

Ok, if you get back into I'd be sure interested in it (And I know all about getting inspired to work on something, I've got a back log of 3d models and sketches to finish that date back over a year or more ) *Begins 1000 honourable bows at AFF* You are the ubber drawer Fish man *Continues bows, until his back cramps* Mind if I try to make a 3d model of that ship AFF? @D16: Ah, I definetly see it now - the Preybird look that is. Do I detect a hint of battletech there

You sound just like my older brother! He loves tomato souce (it's not a sweet as ketchup, but pretty close) and wouldn't be without it! As for those voices, I've never heard them But, I'll change that in my next multiplayer game (at least the Luke one)!

If I wanted to buy an Xbox 360, there is no way in heaven or hell that I would pay several hundred over retail for it. Always read the fine print Who ever "won" didn't even get an XBox 360 The poor, foolish bloke who bidded on it will be kicking himself

Actually, the K-Wing was used to replace the Y-Wing. The B-Wing is still a main stream unit in the NR, through later versions (being the E1 and later the E2) of the craft straight into the NJO era. The k-wing is 2 seater, short range (no hyperdrive ) atmosphere capable heavy bomber armed with two defensive laser turrets and 18 hardpoints. The hardpoints are like modern hardpoints, as opposed to the usual inbuilt launcher in SW - so it can be armed with a lot of weapons, including new warheads like the "shield busters" as well as clustering smaller warheads together on single hard points. That's actualy some guys fan art of the K-Wing (which for some strange reason looks almost identicle to what I had imagined) that became the norm for a very long time until Lucas released the official design. http://www.starwars.jp/machine/image/k_wing.jpg

... Online Question Forum Interpreter Version History: 1.38 Author: Krytos & Dark Zone Copyright: 2004 /*Year 2, Semester 2 Java Project Due Date: 20/8/04*/ ... Message received - processing on terminal 4 . . . Terminal 4 (AMD 64 3000+, 1024 mb RAM, 106 Gb HDD) - CPU load: 34% HDD: 78%, Full RAM: 18% ***please wait*** Message processed -> Results pending: - - -Current project status: // -:&&&&&On Hold; - -Reasons: // -:&&&&&Rebellion giving Krytos the s#@%s; - -Actions: // -:&&&&&#1 Doing some high poly modelling; -:&&&&&#2 Finish working on the Defender first; - -//End of message// ***terminating transmission*** >All data and text has been logged to the following file: c : //temp/swrquestions/rang~1.txt Exiting . . .

Holy awesomeness Fishy! ! Those are awesome drawings - is the project still going a head? Got some nice drawings there D16 - have you ever noticed your attack bomber looks very simular to the K-Wing?

Happy 2000th again LF! !

Thanks all, glad you liked it I'm already working on another scene - not much I can give away just yet, but it uses a lot more modelling than just pipes Hmm, that would have made sence Oh well, each pipe is unique model wise - so it doesn't really matter.

Bringing up an old tread - just some stuff I've been working on lately. Not really sure what the hell this is . . . but, yeah - pipes and . . . ah, lights http://img452.imageshack.us/img452/3829/darklight032gf.th.jpg And a sword based on some Warcraft 3 art. http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/2661/swordfinally031ze.jpghttp://img510.imageshack.us/img510/3498/swordfinally026ct.jpghttp://img510.imageshack.us/img510/2958/swordfinally011ca.jpg

Damn, that sucks What's the reason behind those moves, if you don't mind me asking? I want me one of those monkeys! Oh, and that's actually an MP5 Navy

Ok, back on topic A few fix-ups, welds, and new faces added I've got an updated version that's pretty much going to be medium detailed model I'll use for the game - the low detail will be without engines etc. and the high will have gun implacements and the front radar. Another change is, I noticed when I looked at the model on the laptop I'm using at the moment (as opposed to my PC) that the pixel ratio of the gunships image I was using as reference in 3ds was different between the two machines - probably due to different resolutions. Anyway, long story short - I've also made the ship a little short Though, I think it still needs to be shortened http://img470.imageshack.us/img470/9264/rang015tt.th.jpghttp://img393.imageshack.us/img393/7889/rang035cg.th.jpg http://img393.imageshack.us/img393/6684/rang041vp.th.jpghttp://img393.imageshack.us/img393/8463/rang057wr.th.jpg http://img393.imageshack.us/img393/2091/rang066on.th.jpg http://img470.imageshack.us/img470/1324/rang027wg.jpg

Hardly the first time I've used them Mad - but it is for the entire model. I've already create one model that was 90% done in this method, and most of my models use splines of some form (from bevelling to surfacing, such as with this model) - though the engine modules where done with primitive, not so in this case