New to modding, want to start!

DooMBrIIngeRDooMBrIIngeR Australia Join Date: 2014-02-03 Member: 193762Members
in Modding
It looks quite daunting when just starting. I want to know what I'll need to skin/customize models, I looked around the threads and on the sticky there is a tut, but it doesn't have anything about skinning/modeling. Will I need 3dsmax and photoshop? Just making sure, because that is what I've been hearing.

I would probably have to learn LUA, how well do I have to know LUA to mod? I already know javascript pretty well, so I'm not new to programming. Even if I did know LUA, implementing the code in the correct way to effect the game still seems like a big undertaking. I barely know where to start.
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  • Soul_RiderSoul_Rider Mod Bean Join Date: 2004-06-19 Member: 29388Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue
    There are other people who are able to better advise about models, all i can say is you need 3DS Max 09 32-bit, and a lot of patience.

    As regards LUA, it is very simple to learn, at least, the NS2 implementation is, I am not a coder, but with a little bit of patience, I can generally figure out what I need to do and get it working :D I have made quite a few mods over the past few years on Spark, so if I can do it, I am sure you can. :D
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  • SamusDroidSamusDroid Colorado Join Date: 2013-05-13 Member: 185219Members, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Gold, Subnautica Playtester, NS2 Community Developer, Pistachionauts
    edited February 2014
    You don't NEED 3ds max 2009. Only if you want to animate something do you need it, collision is also better with 2009. All you can do to models is reskin, you can't customize them because you don't have all of the source files needed to compile.
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  • Soul_RiderSoul_Rider Mod Bean Join Date: 2004-06-19 Member: 29388Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue
    @SamusDroid We have the .max files, the model compile files and all the textures. What else are we missing? We create all the .dae files from the max model, and export any animations. As I said I am not the most knowledgeable about models, but I thought we had access to everything. What are the missing files?
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  • SamusDroidSamusDroid Colorado Join Date: 2013-05-13 Member: 185219Members, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Gold, Subnautica Playtester, NS2 Community Developer, Pistachionauts
    Soul_Rider wrote: »
    @SamusDroid We have the .max files, the model compile files and all the textures. What else are we missing? We create all the .dae files from the max model, and export any animations. As I said I am not the most knowledgeable about models, but I thought we had access to everything. What are the missing files?
    You don't have all the animations for 90% of the models.

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  • BeigeAlertBeigeAlert Texas Join Date: 2013-08-08 Member: 186657Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow, Subnautica Playtester, Pistachionauts
    I feel I should also point out that 3d modeling isn't something you're going to be able to just pick up on a whim. It takes many months and years of practice. I've been doing this for many years and my stuff still isn't as good as what ships with the game. Not trying to sound discouraging, but have realistic expectations here.
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  • McGlaspieMcGlaspie www.team156.com Join Date: 2010-07-26 Member: 73044Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, Squad Five Gold, Reinforced - Onos, WC 2013 - Gold, Subnautica Playtester
    It really comes down to what exactly you're trying to do. If you're wanting to add all new animations or parts to models, then @BeigeAlert and @SamusDroid are correct.
    If you're wanting to just tweak some of the textures, then you'll be getting into modifying the DDS files. In that case, you'll just need Photoshop and Nvidia's DDS plugin.

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  • Soul_RiderSoul_Rider Mod Bean Join Date: 2004-06-19 Member: 29388Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue
    If you wanted to save money and not buy Photoshop, Paint.net supports dds files natively, it's what I use, and it's free :)
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  • DooMBrIIngeRDooMBrIIngeR Australia Join Date: 2014-02-03 Member: 193762Members

    BeigeAlert wrote: »
    I feel I should also point out that 3d modeling isn't something you're going to be able to just pick up on a whim. It takes many months and years of practice. I've been doing this for many years and my stuff still isn't as good as what ships with the game. Not trying to sound discouraging, but have realistic expectations here.

    I agree. I'm not expecting to be able to create my own animations and custom models that are incredible, I know this sort of thing takes practice. But what I do want to be able to do is do minor changes to models and/or skins.

    Soul_Rider wrote: »
    If you wanted to save money and not buy Photoshop, Paint.net supports dds files natively, it's what I use, and it's free :)

    It's fine, I already have photoshop.

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  • cooliticcoolitic Right behind you Join Date: 2013-04-02 Member: 184609Members
    As some people said, LUA is relatively simple and even though I don't know much about coding, I can get around pretty well.
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  • simple_simple_ Join Date: 2013-09-10 Member: 188102Members
    But expect to read a lot of code. The documentation is not very extensive and comments are rare, too.
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