[OLD] Porting FAQ

[Ancientwanker]

March 18, 2010.

Porting FAQ:

Q: When is the release date?
A: There isn't one. The Devs are working on the new version, but even we don't know when it will be done. The reason we don't even like to hint at a date is that even our guesses could very well be off by months, thus getting people's hopes up for nothing. We don't like doing that. Be assured that we are just as eager to finish as you all are to play.

Q: Can we have another sneak peak/see a specific thing?
A: Not on request. If we feel it's time to show off another preview, be assured that we will, but requests won't speed it up.

Q: Why don't you keep a developer's log/tell the community about progress?
A: Short answer is that it accomplishes little and takes too much time. Time that could be, and is, better spent making real progress on the mod. There's also the fact that people tend to try to construe release dates out of every update we post, which can get old very fast. However, the major factor is that we like to keep things a secret so that it will be a surprise. If we posted everything we do, a lot of the 'springing a big surprise' enjoyment is gone. We want to give you all a pleasant shock.

Q: Are you going to port directly to Warband and skip 1.011?
A: No. We are porting to 1.011.

Q: Will you port to Warband after the 1.011 release?
A: At this point it isn't positive, but I think it's very likely. It depends on who and how many of the team want to keep going after the release.  

Q: You've been porting this for almost three years, why can't you do it faster?
A: The main project creator, Ancientwanker, was porting TLD by himself until April 2009. Even us on the Dev team at the time don't know how far he got, or how close to a release he was. In April, AW vanished without a trace. It took several months for the rest of the team to realize and come to grips with the fact that he wasn't coming back, and then decide to continue on without him. The main reason it is taking so long is because AW was the only one with the original code. We have had to rewrite all of the code one hundred percent from scratch, and over 95% of the graphics have also been completely redone. In essence, we since June we have been making TLD almost completely from scratch. That's what has been taking us so long.

Q: Why are the Devs psychopathic maniacs who hate everyone?
A: Fair question. I know it often seems that we come down hard on people, or are just plain bad tempered, but please try to bear with us. Firstly, we've been at this a long time, and the continual repetition of the same old questions would begin to tell on anyone. Secondly, we all have lives. Some of us are hard up college students, most of us have jobs, and all of us have lives outside the computer. We work on TLD in our spare time, and for enjoyment. That enjoyment can begin to pall when people start demanding things as if they have a right to our time or work. I would say this is largely why TLD development is as hush hush as it is. We're here to have fun, we aren't a corporation. Most of the time it's simply easiest not to say anything, and work at our own sustainable pace


- Llew.

[Albino]

Could I be one of those new modellers?

Sure can. Ill PM you.

[Merlkir]

Alright. I don't have the means right now to really work like mad on the concepts and shit. My monitor is unusable so I'm waiting for a new one. I don't have a scanner here, so no sketches from me (I do have lots of new ones though) till I bring it here from home..
But yeah, I'm thinking about dwarves a lot, also trolls...all the new visual stuff we might put in.
Bear with me a little longer and I'll deliver.

[mtarini]

Speaking about content creating, it seems that now the meshes for armour-wargs-trolls etc must now be LOD-ded.
That looks like quite a bit of work.

you cant just copy the higher poly version into all positions? If not that will be some work for the helms, shields, etc. But we only have one real custom body armor anyway and it has a vanilla version thats pretty close.

[Livonya]

I realize that it will be quite some time until the port is done to the new version.

But I can hardly wait. 

The improvements to the core engine are just fantastic. 

The combat AI improvements
The performance improvements with LOD
Dual core support
Graphics changes
The Audio also seems to work better

Most of the other changes seem more like a new mod, and I like them but don't care if you get them into TLD, but these engine improvements are going to make TLD even better.... I can hardly wait.

- Livonya

[Merlkir]

Speaking about content creating, it seems that now the meshes for armour-wargs-trolls etc must now be LOD-ded.
That looks like quite a bit of work.

more like shitload of work..

[Zenosknight]

sweeeeeeeeet 

[Albino]

Sent you a PM, but its not showing up in my outbox.

[Ron Losey]

Speaking about content creating, it seems that now the meshes for armour-wargs-trolls etc must now be LOD-ded.
That looks like quite a bit of work.

you cant just copy the higher poly version into all positions? If not that will be some work for the helms, shields, etc. But we only have one real custom body armor anyway and it has a vanilla version thats pretty close.

Not everything has levels of detail, nor must everything have all levels.  Many items still work fine with only one model.  I figure it can be added later, or one piece at a time, without hurting anything.

However, most mods will eventually want to take advantage of this.  Most of the lower res stuff can be native low-res models with retexture.  Not as damaging a work load as one might first think.

-------------------------
Unrelated to that...

The new Native damage model is strange.  Damages are higher, but still oddly out of balance.  We may be looking at three damage models (Native .808, Native .890, RCM).  That, or the degree of rebalance for the Native .890 model will be severe and the side-effects difficult to predict.

And as stated in other threads, there will be an RCM for .890, but we will need to see the module system and get a complete rundown on the new formula first.  Anybody with any information on that, please pass it along to me ASAP.  Odds are, it won't be ready for a while.

[CCA]

I offer my help in whatever capability I can.

I have no clue about coding or modelling and the most I can probably do is playtesting.

But if you think of a role for me....

[Yoshiboy]

There is a tool in 3dsmax for creating LODs called Multires - I can help out with that as it only takes two seconds. Or show it to other people on the team who have max.

[Ron Losey]

There is a tool in 3dsmax for creating LODs called Multires - I can help out with that as it only takes two seconds. Or show it to other people on the team who have max.

May not be necessary.  Native now comes with a lot of super-low-res models for armors and weapons.  (I mean super low-res - like 12 to 24 triangles for armor, one gray triangle for sword blade)  A person could probably just retexture a few of them and be done.

[Albino]

There is a tool in 3dsmax for creating LODs called Multires - I can help out with that as it only takes two seconds. Or show it to other people on the team who have max.

Blender also has it. But I've never tried it before.

[Ancientwanker]

Yeah, what Ron is saying is accurate. I d/l'd it took a look with brfedit. It seems not all models have the full range of LOD. Some just have one alternate, etc. So it's not mandatory to even have LOD.  Its mostly just a matter of getting the low res texture applied to the low-poly models (as we often have alternate tld friendly mappings). It doesnt look like too much of a hassle and can be done slowly over time.  Unique tld helmets and shields are probably the only thing that will require any real model reduction work.  When it comes to that, its probably something a low-skill texturer/modeller could handle as well.

Some pretty cool armors in there though. Gives quite a bit more in the way of reskinning possibilities. We probably dont even need any new armor models at this point. Just retextures. Good thing we have Dablade and Merlkir still here.

I like those new norman shields as well. Nice to have a shield like that all set to go with straps and multiple mappings.

The combat feels odd to me, like I suck!     The timings and feel of the thing has changed a bit.

There is a tool in 3dsmax for creating LODs called Multires - I can help out with that as it only takes two seconds. Or show it to other people on the team who have max.

Cool, thanks, when we get to that bridge I will hit you up for some mappings at least.   You know thats coming. 

[Merlkir]

Some pretty cool armors in there though. Gives quite a bit more in the way of reskinning possibilities. We probably dont even need any new armor models at this point. Just retextures. Good thing we have Dablade and Merlkir still here.

yep, I've been drooling over some of the new armors, those will be a pleasure to reskin..