TheMagician

Sorry, I made a couple of links on the wiki, but forgot to post that I had done so. There are two links, both at the bottom of the page under 'See also': Choose the right DXTC compression algorithm DDS Files These are both reference pages and frequently referred to. They are also tool-agnostic, so everyone should find them. Ideally, your post should be added to the wiki, Vince. But this should do for now. Thanks again for the great post.

This post is excellent, Vince! I can't believe I only noticed it now. Would you mind if I linked to it from the CS WIki?

Thanks for the info, everyone. I've been struggling with some of this stuff myself lately and I think you just answered a couple of my questions. The Alliance really needs to recruit a good texture prof! I've been using this thread -> How to make textures thread on the beth forums. It has a lot of really good information, but a lot of it assumes familiarity with all of the stuff discussed in this thread. Excellent advice for advanced texturing, however. I've read through it a couple of times and learned a fair bit in the process. I also recommend the GIMP user manual. It's kind of huge, but the information is presented very well. Just use the table of contents to find what you're looking for.

@WindmillTilter Yes. I was having some trouble articulating it. I apologize for the length of my posts. It's a character defect I've never been able to overcome. (Rather like my excessive use of emoticons.) I understand that the UV mapper in Blender uses a scale from 0 to 1 to accommodate textures of any size (where 1 is the full length or width of the texture) but I want to know if there is a way to unwrap a mesh so that the planes are always unwrapped at the same scale instead of being stretched to fill the available space. If I unwrap a plane that is 25.6 units square, it fills the whole UV map. But if I unwrap a plane that is 12.8 units square, it still fills the whole UV map. I need to be able to unwrap all planes to the same scale so that I don't have to try to scale them all by eye. Otherwise, if I have a 12.8 square plane beside a 25.6 square plane the grid texture is twice as large on one as the other and I have to scale them to get them to match. Easy enough to do on a single piece, but hard to do when you are planning on creating dozens (or even hundreds) of separate pieces that have to tile seamlessly.

Just a quick update. I have started to assemble the tileset after trying out some variations and doing some basic testing and it is coming along slowly but surely. I have over 30 pieces modeled now, though they haven't been UV mapped with any precision, an issue I'm currently working on. (The tiles are textured in neutral grey but they look greenish in the screenshot because of the lighting.) The tiles are intended to represent generic contemporary interior architecture that can be retextured to suit the location (ie. apartment complexes, schools, hospitals, prisons, etc.). Once I have a basic set done, I'll be releasing them as a general modders' resource. If anyone wants to do some textures for them I'd be happy to provide more details. I also have someone who is interested in developing music (and possibly sound fx) for the mod. I've heard some of his released tracks and they are quite good. I'm looking forward to seeing what he dreams up for the mod. As always, more information can be found at the forums and web site.

Thanks for the reply, Vince. I can construct a plane 25.6 x 25.6 BU which will translate to 256 x 256 GU (scale factor 10) but how do I apply a texture that is 256 x 256 pixels to a plane that is not 25.6 BU without distortion along one or both axes? It may be that I worded my original request poorly, or that I'm just not drawing the proper conclusions from your answer (I am a noob at Blender and modeling, after all) but it seems like you're describing a method for measuring things (which is great and useful) but what I'm really looking for is a way to correctly and efficiently UV map a large collection of simple interior models using a texture that tiles exactly without stretching, regardless of the dimensions of the panel that it's applied to. Iif I create a door frame with a rectangular plane on either side of the door, one over the door, and one along each side of the inside of the frame, how can I UV map it so that the grid lines on the texture all line up properly without having to painstakingly adjust each polygon in the UV editor (which is time-consuming and very hard to get good results with)? Are you suggesting that I should create a standard plane and then use it to correct my texture mapping for non-standard planes by eye? I was hoping there would be some way to automatically constrain the UV map to set 1 pixel = 1 BU. (Or, in this case, 1/10th BU.) My original idea was to create a generic tileset with a large number of simple pieces that have already been UV mapped in a straightforward and consistent fashion. Modders could then use the geometry of the meshes (along with the collision) and simply retexture them to get the effect they're looking for without having to know a lot about UV mapping. The problem I'm having is that Project from View will fit a 256 x 256 texture into a plane that is only 192 x 192 (for example), thus distorting the grid. What I'm looking for is a way to constrain the mapping so that, if my plane is 192 x 192, the texture starts at 0,0 and stops at 191,191, even though the texture goes to 255,255. Is there just no way to do this? The ruler idea is good, and will make mapping easier by hand, but even with a ruler I don't want to hand adjust 200+ pieces if there is an easier way to do it. It's not a deal-breaker if there isn't an easy solution (I just won't do it) it just seems like this would be an option somewhere.

I've been doing a bit of searching for a solution to this but haven't had much luck yet. I'm trying to create a generic developers' tileset that uses a precise grid for a texture. The texture has lines every 32 game units (similar to the dev textures used by other developers in their map editors, eg. Half-life 2, FEAR, etc.) so that other modders can plan models and textures for the generic tileset by examining heights and distances on the dev texture. Here is a screenshot of the idea -> devTile. So far, I haven't been able to figure out a way to reliably constrain the pixel dimensions of the texture (which is 256 x 256 pixels) to Blender units so that the grid is correct (where 1 pixel equals 1 game unit). I have tried doing it by hand, but it's extremely time-consuming, tedious, and imprecise. If anyone knows a way to do this (via options in Blender, script, or an accurate, reliable work-flow) I would be eternally in your debt. So far, my search has ended in a lot of forum threads that seem to imply that there is no way to do this in Blender. That makes me

I tried adding a reply to the 'Random Notes' thread and a new thread in the Modeling forum but no luck. Both 'Locked' buttons tell me I can't reply.

LHammonds has a pretty good guide for installing Blender-related components here -> Blender at TESNexus. They're for the previous versions, though, so it won't fix your problem with Python, but it should at least help you get them in the right order.

Welcome to the Alliance, Rowan. Like you, I am ambitious and idealistic (never let anyone tell you those are bad things ) and I understand exactly what you are going through. But DarkRider has spoken eloquently and honestly about the ES modding community: that is the beast that you have to deal with. It is a wonderful beast, filled with inspiration and brimming over with generosity and good-will, but divided like Hydra with a thousand heads all trying to move in different directions. There is no denying that large-scale mods are enormously time-consuming and require the dedication of a lot of very talented and hard-working people, which is why so few large-scale mods have ever been completed. In all likelihood, most modders will have moved on to the next Elder Scrolls before any of the existing large-scale mods are complete. (I'm a member of two of these, and I've already made my peace with that.) But the important thing, the thing that you have to focus on is the idea. A powerful idea is like a gravitational field that pulls loose bits of debris into itself. Over time, the field becomes stronger and its pull more forceful until, eventually, it becomes irresistible. The only problem is, this idea has to be the source of its own energy until critical mass is reached and it can continue under its own momentum. The kernel of an idea that later germinated into the Elder Scrolls franchise was initially just such an idea. Early on, it could have easily been abandoned owing to reservations about its practicality and feasibility. But it wasn't, and here we are today. I doubt if anyone could stop people from modding for Oblivion now, which just shows you how much momentum it has built up over the years. It is important to decide for yourself exactly what it is that you want to accomplish. If your goal is to help others complete their mods so that they will help you complete yours, I'm afraid you are setting yourself up for disappointment. The idea for your mod must be more powerful than that, powerful enough that you are willing to complete it entirely yourself. Not because you will necessarily have to, but because otherwise it will not have enough momentum to find its own way to completion. If you are not willing to complete it yourself, it is unlikely you will find other modders with the same degree of commitment. And if you are willing to complete it yourself, you have to be realistic about it. If your goal is to create an 'awesome Oblivion mod', then you are imposing artificial limitations on yourself. In all likelihood, as I mentioned, it won't be complete in time to find a large audience as the Oblivion engine is already entering its mature phase. What you can do, and what I do, is to think about your idea in terms of the idea itself, and not in terms of the engine you use to execute it. Start planning your asset creation around the possibility that all of your assets might need to be converted to a different format for use in a different engine (for example, the next version of the Elder Scrolls). There is absolutely no reason to be discouraged by this. If your idea is powerful and you are willing to commit and adapt as necessary there is no reason to believe that it can't be accomplished. Maybe not with the TESIV CS, but entirely possible with the next one, or the one after that. I have already toyed with the idea of using 4 different engines for Shudder (5 if you include a custom built one); for now, I'm using the Oblivion engine, but if a better one comes along, don't be surprised if I decide to jump ship. The question you need to ask yourself is: is this what I really want to do? Am I willing to commit to this idea so strongly that I'm willing to continue alone in the face of adversity and indifference? Is the idea so powerful that you couldn't stop yourself from working on it anyway? Ideas like that tend to attract interest all by themselves.

Looks great! Seems like a very well-rounded quest mod. Good job!

Quote Looks awesome! You've just got started and your already reeling me in. Good. I'm going to need a lot of good voice talent. Quote Wow, looks really cool! Thanks. I made it myself! (Now people will understand why I started that annoying thread about Mopps and collision materials. )

I agree. Landscaping is a lot of fun. When I get frustrated with other types of modding, I usually take a break and do some landscaping to chill out. Highly underrated in my opinion. And yes: some of the most amazing mods depend largely on their landscaping. There is some really great work being done in this area. Welcome to The Alliance!

I like your spirit, Tanis41493. Welcome to the boards! DaMage is too modest. I've read lots of his posts, and he's much better known than I am. I'm not going to say how old I am. Let's just say that I'm older than both of you together.