Blood mod for Doom3 engine!

Discuss and hash out the Blood universe here.

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predator
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Post by predator »

Actually it goes the other way - if you are good in any of the fields Cruaich mentioned, then let us know. When I was joining I told Tim that I can either code or map. He answered that TF needs more mappers. So here I am. :wink:

And as for the engine - DP is not Quake 3 engine. It evolved from original Quake engine. It can use .md3 models and render Q3bsp maps, but it is a different engine.

Oh, and that team page... it seems to need updating. :oops: :wink:
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DustyStyx
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Post by DustyStyx »

We eventualy want to do a complete remake of Blood. qBlood was the working title for about a year. We've changed the name to Transfusion because of an agrement we made with Atari and their clame on the Blood trade mark. (they aquired it when they bought GT Interactive.)

As of right now we are still using the DarkPlaces engine. We may switch to the Quake3 engine when/if it is made GPL come December. However, LordHavoc has been verry helpful with DakrPlaces, we may stick with that. It all depends on wich engine can best accomidate what we want to do for the game.

We could use help with C programing and probably art work, as I'm rather slow with skinning Kazashi's models. We have a good number of mappers already, but the more the merrier.
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Post by Kazashi »

Just to make sure people are getting the points that are arising:

Transfusion uses the DarkPlaces engine. This engine was created using the Quake engine source code, with the addition of many features, such as:
* TGA/JPG texture loading
* Support for bump/normal/gloss/glow maps
* Support for HL/Q3 bsp formats
* Support for MD2/MD3 model formats (MD3 is the format which was used for the models in Quake 3)
* Realtime lighting/shadowing, as seen in Doom 3

As has been mentioned a couple of times, DarkPlaces i.e. DP already makes use of much of the technology available in Doom 3, such as the highly detailed textures (through the use of normalmapping), and the dark creepy, shadowy atmosphere (thanks to the realtime lighting). It seems as though a number of people have either overlooked these features, or simply didn't know about them - the lighting style can be changed through the menu of the latest DP build (previously it required usig the console or command line). The downside is that the lighting often needs to be touched up - this isn't a big issue either as the lighting can be modified from within the game while it's running (just like Doom 3, fancy that...). Personally I don't have much motivation to try making a mod on Doom 3 when DP can already do a lot of what is being asked.



Thanks for the repeated links to Doom3World, but I've already been visiting the place pretty much since it started many moons ago ;)

I actually use Lightwave for creating the models and exporting them to MD3, not Maya (however there are many suites which are capable of exporting to the right formats). As for tools the other guys use, some have been mentioned already, otherwise you'd have to ask the individual.

Yes, we could certainly use more members. Most positions are open, with a focus on coding, texturing and modelling. But as mentioned before it doesn't really matter since there's plenty of stuff to go around.
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DustyStyx
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Post by DustyStyx »

I actually use Lightwave for creating the models and exporting them to MD3, not Maya
Oops! My bad. Sorry Kaz.
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Elric
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Post by Elric »

predator wrote:Oh, and that team page... it seems to need updating. :oops: :wink:
My fault. Honestly, I didn't know you were part of the team :oops:
Unfortunately, it's not the first time it's happened. Please, please, please, the-member(s)-who-hired-him, send a mail to the mailing list in this case to inform the other members. :?

So, now, dear Predator, I need your real name. I think I have the rest (nickname + email + jobs). A picture of you would be great too. You can send that to me, though Willis or Chris would certainly be able to update the team page too.
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predator
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Post by predator »

No problem, Elric. I've noticed this bit of chaos that also became a member of our team. :wink: It is nobody's fault, or everyone's fault, does not really matter.

Sure, I'll send you a picture and all the needed details.
Aleque

Post by Aleque »

well - I like the work that Transfusion have made by remaking Blood, but there are some things that I think should be different IMO:

* weapon and character models should look more nice - looks very nice right now, but things like tesla gun and voodoo doll realy looks low poly. And the textures of teslagun is pretty boring. I would rather make ligtnings (on the teslagun) less blurry so that it looks like ligtning and not a texture with blurry colors

*I don't like the fire either - looks like some few yellow polygons and there is no feeling that this is fire. It needs some more glow effects and more polygons and eventually another texture that makes colors gradient (orange to yellow to white).
* Explosion textures do not realy fit in - it looks pretty strange with those 2D explosions

said in the other words I think you guys should try with Doom3 engine :) then I would gladly join the project - it is not every year that there comes a revolutionary game engine like Doom3's.

I have a question though - how the heck did you remade all Blood1 maps - did you import them in some way or just recreated your self??
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Post by Kazashi »

Things have changed quite a bit since the last official release. The weapons have been redone for instance, and for the most part the polygonal fires have been removed. The screenshots on the site are quite old and in need of updating, I suppose that would remove the need for some of the questioning.

After the things have been said, I don't think I know any longer how to convince you that the project isn't going to move to Doom 3, it's not even going to be tried on Doom 3, and I'm certainly not going to entertain the idea further given the things which the engine is actually capable of doing. Anyone who wants to start their own Blood mod in Doom 3 is welcome to try, but it will have nothing to do with Transfusion.
Aleque

Post by Aleque »

ok ok... that was worth to try of persuading you. guys :)

Well - about those weapon model fixes: I have downloaded a clean install of Qblood (no patches) - should I patch it to update the ingame models etc?

Some of the features that you have mentioned that the DP engine is capable - please explain me some of the following

"Transfusion uses the DarkPlaces engine. This engine was created using the Quake engine source code, with the addition of many features, such as:
* TGA/JPG texture loading <-- what does this feature benefits, can you please make some examples?
* Realtime lighting/shadowing, as seen in Doom 3 <-- wow. I didn't know that the egine could make same lights/shadows as the Doom3 :) "

I am realy trying to understand what the DP engine is capable of before I can offer you my assistance. Because to work with Blood is one of my biggest wishes.
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DustyStyx
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Post by DustyStyx »

TGA/JPG images can be full color, rather than the 256 color palette images Blood and Quake1 were both limited to. JPG.s are also smaller...

LordHavoc has some screenshots of the RT lighting up on his DarkPalaces web page. They probably need updating but they demonstrate some of what it can do. There is also more info about the engine in general.

You might just chat with LordHavoc himself. He's generaly ideling on IRC, you can find him in our #qBlood channel mose of the time. irc.gamesurge.net/#qBlood.

As I said befor we are trying to capitalize on what the engine can do right now. The public 1.01 version was still a Quake1 MOD, you can run it on just about any of the Quake engines. GLQuake, QuakeWorld, DOS Quake itself if you delet some of the maps.

We will need to get some new screenshots up. But here's an example of the spirit armor I was working on a few weeks ago.

Image
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Fiend:Kamikaze
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Post by Fiend:Kamikaze »

This probably won't be the last "OMG GO TO TEH DOOM3 ENGINE!" topic.
Kazashi
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Post by Kazashi »

Fiend:Kamikaze wrote:This probably won't be the last "OMG GO TO TEH DOOM3 ENGINE!" topic.
/me thinks the FAQ will need some updating.....


Currently there is no "patch" to update the current release of Transfusion, the new stuff is contained within the beta version which team members have access to. Maybe if you ask really nicely Cruaich will point you in the right direction.
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-ED
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Post by -ED »

Heh:) It's good to mention me here, but i'd appreciate some mentioning at "team page". e4m1, zoo, boxes removed from e1m1 and several BB's - isn't that enough? I even wanted to post here that people say "forget D3 mod - come into TF and we'll forget what you've done and abandone all info about you" untill I saw your post Chris.
Ah, anyway. May be you can give me access to developers forum? I've just registered here and sent you a message on that. I have some new things in the pocket...
And btw, in "uploads/maps/-ED" folder on ftp all team members can check my old Q level converted into TF. It has to be balanced better - it was a small Q map and TF (as Blood) has way more weapons and stuff...
I would appreciate opinions if any :)
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-ED
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Post by -ED »

Ooops. Didn't noticed the second page, so my post is mostly connected to las post by Chris on a previous page.
Anyway. I've just read all the jumbo, and noticed the similar story with Predator.
Hmm. Some story from my side then. Not even the story but comments and questions.
"... didn't new you are even the member ..." - i've read things like that several times (addressed for me) in the past... Since september 2003 (!!!) when I joined! Tim invited me top the team. Isn't a year enough to notice a member? Well, if year is not enough isn't it enough to see new content? Are some of you guys sleepwalkers or what? What if you once woke up and see a finished SP for example? May be you should return to our planet?
I'm a bit offensive, yeah, but I thought that several mapping additions and a year in a team might speak for itself, no? I'm right here, and don't even bother trying to shame me for my not-that-polite speech for now.
Just place yourself on my place and imagine one thing. Several times you've explained how are you and what you do, you work and contribute, and than it appears that some still don't know you're in! My god does everybody remembre what the word TEAM means? Why do I know who are active members now also I don't see contributions by all of them?

Argh, calm down, calm down...
I'd better tell anecdote to re-stress everything a bit.
A young man walks down a street with a baby in a (forgive me - never met that word: how is called a little "car" for babies when they are too small to walk? so man drives this thing in front of him) and whispers: "calm down john, calm down john, just keep quiet, calm .... blah-blah" but the baby seems to cry even harder. Old women passes nearby and says: "why are you whispering? child doesn't listen!" and teh men responds: "you see, I AM john, not the child!"
err...
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predator
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Post by predator »

-ED! I am really pleased to see you here! :D
I always thought of you as one of the strongest parts of our team because I know how much you love Blood. Nice to see you're back.

I understand your bitter complaints about this "are you a team member?" stuff.
It also took me 10 months to be acknowledged by all, and since I finally was, then you obviously should be too.

But I think it is because of this permanent chaos that we have in this team. Even the mailing list does not help enough because it is not always used when it should be. Some members are tired and don't check the ftp updates so frequently. If they don't get a mail from other members informing that we have a new guy on board, they can't actually always tell who is in the team and who is just a fan.

It is a good moment to settle some things - let's just make a rule, that we inform everyone if we have a candidate for our team, and if we all decide to let him in, then we update the team page. It really would clear the situation.
What do you say guys?
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