my first mod, in at the deep end! help will be needed!!!!

[Torn]

Right, time for me to start my first mod!

First of all, yes I am mad. And yes, I highly likely am jumping in at the deep end, and It will all fail!

But hey. There’s a chance it might not! And I might end up with it on the front page!!(doubt it though) He he

I am going to be building a kind of star wars, kind of alien plant, landscape computer mod.

My idea:

I was in “toys R us”(all English people laugh now!) and saw some small scale quite detailed models of star wars characters. What got me thinking, I’m going to make a star wars landscape mod, that will have a kind of battle story line, going on..

Let me add now, that I want ideas and suggestions, this mod will be starting in a few weeks (after I pay of the credit card and phone bills, and figure out how much money my mrs will let me have this month to buy bits hehe) iv got a few idea’s, but I think after posting this, allot of you will have some input of things that will fit the theme perfectly!

I like the whole building in rock face look (after being a valve – half life and mapper(level designer)for 2-3 years, iv grown some craving for man made and nature connection in architecture)

I want a planet where it had some kind of ancient civilisation, with some sort of old crumbling building (don’t forget, due to the technical advances aliens could have, it can be modern in our eyes but 1000’s of years old to them!)

I also want to incorporate some working PC components in it (visible) such as fans, and (depending on how much my fiancée is using for feeding her clothing addiction,) water cooling components…

The hardest thing for me us going to be creating the terrain, iv never done any sort of landscape modelling, but iv got a shop open in my town(hobby craft) that sells all the fake grass, and sand, gravel, tree’s, shrubs, etc…

Any idea’s anyone has, please post, I’m looking forward to adding all of your idea’s to my plans.

Hope you can help, I will be starting this in a few weeks, up till then I will be gathering ideas and drawing up some kind of plans.

Torn

[Torn]

hmmm. sorry to any mod if this is in the wrong board, i got excited and posted it where i quickly thought it would be best suited here :)

Torn

[.Maleficus.]

If this is a Worklog, then it should be in with the worklogs ;).

Also, take a look at the Doom3 log if you need ideas for landscape. Paul did a great job making Martian terrain.

[Torn]

iv read pauls worklog on the doom3 mod 2-3 times hehe. i love the game. and i love pauls work!(no im not kissing arse! hehe) im thinking of having this as my discussion thread and then having a sepirate worklog thread...

[The boy 4rm oz]

There is also a Farcry mod in the forums that might help you. Just do a search for fardry and it should come up, it's fairly old though.

[chaksq]

I suggest that you take a little while to research before plunging into anything.

First off pick when you want it to take place. Do you want it based with the original trilogy and use those characters and technology or based in one of the prequel trilogy movies. You don't want to end up with Jar Jar Binks in a scene from the last movie.

Second you have to pick a battle, do you want to reenact a battle depicted in one of the movies, or if you read them one of the novels. You could also create your own battle scene that would seem logical to take place in Star Wars.

Third I suggest you come up with a layout, if you can sketches, renders, or 3D models could be useful here. Figure out how you want to lay out the battle. Make sure you keep track of the size (you want to be able to move this and not occupy the entirety of a large desk) and scale (make sure the models you incorporate are roughly the same scale). Then come up with how you want to arrange the PC components, making sure you can access them to upgrade or fix them if there ever is a problem. You don't have to keep them arranged in a normal computer shape if you don't want. You can create motherboard compartment and then individual compartments for other components such as the drive, PSU, etc.

I hope this helps.
Oh and welcome to the site.

-Charles

[Torn]

right,


small update.. first of all. i brought myself a landscaping book for model rail ways, (my mod is a landscape, just without the train!! hehe)given me a few idea's

im going to build a culvert

somthing along the lines of:

http://img3.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/06db542c18.jpg

iv done a few bits in sketchup(first time using it aswell :D), but i just can't decide on what looks best...

a culvert with 2x 40mm fans:
http://img3.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/73f44228fb.png

or

a culvert with 1x 80mm Fan:

http://img3.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/053834dfcd.png

bearing in mind, the sketchup is only a rough idea for dimentions, detailing will be done by hand, so its not going to be so....blocky.

what material do people recommend i make this out of?

i brought somthing like this:

http://easyfloristsupplies.co.uk/images/uploads/Bricks--wet.jpg

its floral foam(Oasis) its used for laying out flowers and stuff, i was thinking of carving it, then either covering it in plaster cloth or watering down some PVA glue so its really really watery, then painting it on so it all soaks in (floral foam is made to soak up water)

do you think this will work? or should i try somthing like modeling clay?

i look forward to hearing your views.

regards

Torn!

i next need to work on the

[Scotty]

I have a feeling that the 2x 40mm one would look better, thats how i feel about it.

With the foam, try it on a small cut off to test, testing is always a good wayto get things right

[The boy 4rm oz]

I would say go with the single hole. That way you can mount your radiator behind it like in the pic.

[Drum Thumper]

This is quite the project you got planned here. Star Wars is a great theme to build off of as well--lots of stuff to draw inspiration from.

As for the battle scene, the first thing that popped to mind was the AT-AT(?) scene--those big walking machines with the lasers on the 'head'. Hell, that'd make an interesting mod in and of itself!

[p0Pe]

As for the battle scene, the first thing that popped to mind was the AT-AT(?) scene--those big walking machines with the lasers on the 'head'. Hell, that'd make an interesting mod in and of itself!

lol just got hooked there:D.. that would be awsome!..

and the landscape is sounding nice!.. cant wait to se some progress pics:banana:

[Torn]

right, i think im going to go with the 2 40MM fans, its more for cosmetic then cooling,(gotta think about scale, at that scale, a fan that big will look abnormal i think....)

there will be some idea's soon for cooling, such as some kinda power plant built into the top of one of the clifts or somthing...

iv got some electronics work i want todo on a fan aswell. that will be detailed after iv spoken to somone with a bit more electronic knowlage...(anyone know how to make a 555 IC fire a small relay every 10 seconds and keep it so the relay stays open for 1-2 seconds?)

any idea's of the things i can put into the mod. as i said i want to go with a old planet that has been there for 1 milion years, then aliens come down. and used it as a base. then its been abandoned and this is the state it is in after 300 years..

so technology still running, but not aswell, and techy stuff built into the landscape so it looks like some lab or somthing has been built under the landscape and all you see is ducts, entrance and bits that need to be outside like smoke vents(doom3 style hehe) and other things that make it look more then just a plain normal landscape...

any idea's?