Dark Reign mod. help wanted

[Saktoth]

Strongly suggest you use original Intellectual Property. Recreating someone elses IP is a waste of time and will go nowhere, you're unlikely to get a C&D for something based on Dark Reign but your game will be in the same legal murkality as the OTA mods are.

You can use gameplay similiar to Dark Reign, though honestly id suggest you make a game worthy of a modern RTS. Gameplay has come some way in 10 years.

[Chosker]

Updated the main post again, with the HQ textured.
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I will take the original sounds and cursors actually most of the cursors are already in-game, and I believe I have all the sounds ripped as wav as well.
for now I'm only working on the original game though, not the expansion. I would only think about working on the expansion when the original stuff is done.
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Dark Reign is a 10 year-old game. It is Activision's IP (and probably Auran's as well), but they don't seem to care about it. Its sequel is 8 years old and it was a failure, which ultimately led to the death of the franchise.
I once saw a DR mod for some Battlefield (FPS) game and never saw any troubles with the IP usage. The full DR game is even up for download and play on a private server, on an easy to find site.
I think it's safe to say DR is abandonware, and while that doesn't give me the right to use the IP, I believe I won't find any trouble.

I could use original gameplay or intellectual property, but I don't want to. Even as I've played more modern RTS's I didn't like the gameplay. Yeah some features are interesting but for me DR has the best gameplay (even today I play it) which is why I want to work on this remake.
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in other matters, I can work with separate limbs instead of skeletal animation.
how about normalmapping? I searched around but only found old threads about it. it would involve more work but also produce better graphics

[clericvash]

Dark Reign is abondonware and has been available as a free download for a long time now, i am 100% sure there will be no problems.

I wish you well in this, oh and the HQ looks good :D

[Hoi]

Spring does not have bumpmapping, nor normalmapping.

SUPER OBVIOUS REQUEST

[smoth]

sorry man, doesn't exist and the question isn't a new one.

[Chosker]

SUPER OBVIOUS REQUEST

if it's obvious then it means people want it
I wonder why it hasn't been implemented

anyway updated the main post. got the HQ in-game and it was quite easy actually. now starting the mod with the Imperium side has the HQ as the starting building. Ideally I'd want it to start with 3 construction rigs but this is fine for now
teamcolors don't go as pretty as my render because I used overlay, but the end result is fine.
I also didn't look up much info about lighting. my building is fully lit, did I miss something or does spring not use lighting in models at all?
mmm ok I kept looking and it's not fully lit, but it doesn't get that much shadow either

[Kloot]

I wonder why it hasn't been implemented

Because doing so requires changing the model format (or adding a
new one) and breaking backward compatibility with all of the roughly
seven billion S3O's out there and updating the Upspring editor. Your
average *mapping shader is the easy part, building the C++ engine
infrastructure behind it takes more effort (no matter how "obvious" a
request people may think it is).

[Hoi]

So, why not implent a new model format, and the skeletal animation stuff, with some *mapping, and a new map format? Really, I don't know how complicated that will be, but hey, nobody is saying that we want it in 2 months, and it's not needed all at once, but why don't the devs get onto this? Imo the most important is the animation, which is being worked on by zpock, and, please, could someone finish sm3?

[LordLemmi]

when i finished my first BETA of LLTA, i could help you at explosions and other fx stuff.
Btw i love that old game xD ... next mod i want is KKND XD

[smoth]

Cool chokser, no worries the team color portion is always overlay. The model looks great in game and I am happy you had a fairly easy time. The added details are nice also.

I think you have the right attitude, seems more like you want a spiritual successor to dark reign rather than a complete copy. That is a good idea, it allows you freedom to expand and explore possibilities in this engine that may have not been available in dark reign. In fact it even gives you a chance to rename factions or extend story portions. *important* To get faster help with other areas of the game you may want to detail what is needed in LUA for your project, there is a chance that it is done but no one will know to tell you unless you specify what you need.

kloot gave a pretty solid answer to your question but also bear in mind the engine still needs many features and the developers are both doing the work in their spare time and seeking to bring more stability to the engine. Bumpmaps/normalmaps, shader systems, ribbons, skeletal support etc, all things would be nice but are not necessary in a RTS. Right now pathing eats fps and there are several stability issues including more solid netplay. We do not even have splatting for the maps. Now you may say, well X was done and that isn't as important as Y well if a dev is interested they do stuff, many things get done only because of this.

So, why not implent a new model format, and the skeletal animation stuff, with some *. . . . . . . why don't the devs get onto this? Imo the most important is the animation, which is being worked on by zpock, and, please, could someone finish sm3?

Die in a fire

[Kloot]

So, why not implent a new model format, and the skeletal animation stuff, with some *mapping, and a new map format

1. What part of "more effort" did you not understand?
2. Yet again, three of those ARE being worked on:

download/file.php?id=762
download/file.php?id=763

(the point: MD5, normal mapping, and SA combined into two
images, although questions like yours make yanking it all out
again very tempting)

why don't the devs get onto this?

You have not read Zpock's thread very well if you still think the
devs have not "gotten onto it", but even so, does lack of time,
manpower, or interest ring any bells? Spring is a *free* project
worked on by people in their free time, so things happen when
they happen and not because person $name says item 12345
should be given priority for $personal_reason.

[rattle]

Updated the main post again, with the HQ textured.

Looks nice, really.

[clericvash]

I like the work on the HQ and the interface looks sweet so far, great work!

[Hoi]

So, why not implent a new model format, and the skeletal animation stuff, with some *mapping, and a new map format

1. What part of "more effort" did you not understand?
2. Yet again, three of those ARE being worked on:

download/file.php?id=762
download/file.php?id=763

(the point: MD5, normal mapping, and SA combined into two
images, although questions like yours make yanking it all out
again very tempting)

why don't the devs get onto this?

You have not read Zpock's thread very well if you still think the
devs have not "gotten onto it", but even so, does lack of time,
manpower, or interest ring any bells? Spring is a *free* project
worked on by people in their free time, so things happen when
they happen and not because person $name says item 12345
should be given priority for $personal_reason.

I just don't understand why you guys don't say, lets do x and work together, your goal is the same, right? But I might be wrong, I have no idea how long it takes to get stuff coded, and I missed the normal mapping in zpocks thread, I guess it's just that I want to see things, when you make a mod you can see alot before it's done, guess that's diffrent with coding

[Zpock]

Heh, calm down guys, I have it almost set up for some basic use, I'm working on an example model atm. It may not be the end all solution but will definitely get things going. The great thing with a script is that it will be easy to get going, you don't have to think of all the ramifications like with implementing it engine wise. There are A TON of different options on how to do things, so making the engine code quickly is not wise at all.

Having the model format supported is one thing, but actually being able to create the models is a very big deal. Blender has just gotten to a point were you should be able to use it instead of ruining your economy or using illegal software. But you still have to deal with the retarded interface of blender. Hopefully I can make some kind of tutorial on how to get you from start to finished normal mapped and skeletally animated in spring.

[Chosker]

update the main thread with an update showing a new building done, the Taelon Reactor.


Well if it doesn't support normalmapping is fine for now. I've worked closely with a programmer (on a previous project) and I know that the most prioritized features aren't always the ones the artists/fans want. If someone can get it done I think it would benefit the whole project, as it's a step into making the game more modern graphics-wise, and lets face it, people always look at the graphics first.

LordLemmi: thanks for the offer, plz let me know when/if you're available, help can always be good.

smoth: well what I want is not exactly a spiritual successor. I want a remake, but given the huge differences between such an old game and a modern engine it's almost impossible to make a complete copy, and in some aspects probably pointless as well. I want a remake that looks, plays and feels like the original, with any new features that could fit but not break that feeling. I don't want to create new units, factions, story portions, or anything that alters the feeling of the original though.

and yeah, it's probably a good idea to make a list of what's needed in Lua to have all the needed Dark Reign features available, and detail all of them out. I'll work on it sometime.

and thanks for the heads up guys

[clericvash]

Good job on the reactor, looks extremely alike the original, great work :D

[Forboding Angel]

Tbh I can't wait for this. Dark Reign (the original... the sequel sucked) was one of my hardcore favorite RTS games back in the day.

[clericvash]

Tbh I can't wait for this. Dark Reign (the original... the sequel sucked) was one of my hardcore favorite RTS games back in the day.

Mine too, stole a lot of my life.

[Chosker]

Mine too, stole a lot of my life.

now again it steals a few hours a week of mine


main thread updated, new model done
nice to see people like this project