[LAW]

Hello

I am LAW, author of the quite popular Duke Nukem 3D mod called Alien Versus Predator. Here is the link to the review and the screenshots:

http://msdn.duke4.net/avp.shtml

Now work on the sequel and I need your help. To be honest I need skinned views of the Predator hud weapons (just like we see them in the game). Every weapon should have at least two animation frames - no matter if they are ripped from AVP1 or AVP2, if they are from model viewer or the actual game. Just make sure you make the "shots" in the highest resolution your computer can handle and in the bright room (if they are taken in-game). I "only" need the Wristblades, Speargun, Plasma Shoulder Cannon, Smartdisk and Plasma Pistol.

Fat credits or/and something more in return. Printscreens in hi-res in bright room will do. I am about to release something, but without weapons it is not worth. Lith games just don't work on my W2K

Thanks in advance
LAW

[necroslut]

Nice to hear, the first AvP TC was enjoyable.

[Jimmy]

LAW, nice to see you, man! I was BlitZ back in the day, I coded the Smartgun, I think it was, for the first AVP TC.

[LAW]

I rememeber you man. I really appreciate your job (your code in modified form willl be present in the Avp2). But I really need your help guys. Only with this...

[Mikko]

I'm sure someone would immediately help if they had the means but aren't you asking the wrong community?

[LAW]

I asked on Alien Experience & Avp Galaxy forums. But if taking a few screenshots is too much for this community then... you know what

[Danukem]

LAW, on Oct 25 2009, 04:28 PM, said:

But if taking a few screenshots is too much for this community then... you know what

Way to miss the point and exhibit a bad attitude at the same time. What makes you think anyone reading this thread even has the games?

[TerminX]

LAW, on Oct 25 2009, 04:28 PM, said:

I asked on Alien Experience & Avp Galaxy forums. But if taking a few screenshots is too much for this community then... you know what

Sounds like more of a case of taking screenshots being too much for you and the community not really giving a shit!

[eddym4814]

Check Here:

AvP 2 Files

[LAW]

TX, on Oct 25 2009, 09:17 PM, said:

Sounds like more of a case of taking screenshots being too much for you and the community not really giving a shit!

If you read a Bible then you would know than even a God sometimes asked for man's help...

Anyway I have the games, but I can't run them (Sin, Avp1, Avp2, Blood2 & even my beloved Jdoom!). So I got an idea that somebody in the ENTIRE Internet could help me a bit if I already made a lot of stuff (art edits, con hacks, levels, sound edits). But I was wrong and it's quite sad, because I am not making this mod for myself...

Eddy. These models are probably useless since I can't view them.

[chicken]

The content of AVP (sound, models, etc) is supposed to be contained in .ffl-files.
Google says that "Dragon-unpacker" can unpack them.

If you cannot view models at all, you could extract the ones you need and send them to me.
I would try to import them into Blender and give you nice renders or convert them to md3 (if Blender lets me).
That's what i can offer you

[LAW]

Great, because the official source code tools don't work just like the games. So I will download the unpacker, extract models, send them to you, and you make a shots of the models, right?

[chicken]

At least i can try...
Success not guaranteed

[OpenMaw]

LAW, on Oct 26 2009, 05:32 AM, said:

If you read a Bible then you would know than even a God sometimes asked for man's help...

Uh.... huh....

LAW, on Oct 26 2009, 05:32 AM, said:

Anyway I have the games, but I can't run them (Sin, Avp1, Avp2, Blood2 & even my beloved Jdoom!). So I got an idea that somebody in the ENTIRE Internet could help me a bit if I already made a lot of stuff (art edits, con hacks, levels, sound edits). But I was wrong and it's quite sad, because I am not making this mod for myself...

Yes, you're a very selfless God. Most of the guys on here are hip deep in their own projects. Trying to guilt trip us with the poor little me game is just going to piss us off, especially those of us who know how to access and edit AVP 1 models. which is not exactly an easy thing to do.

chicken, on Oct 26 2009, 05:49 AM, said:

The content of AVP (sound, models, etc) is supposed to be contained in .ffl-files.
Google says that "Dragon-unpacker" can unpack them.

If you cannot view models at all, you could extract the ones you need and send them to me.
I would try to import them into Blender and give you nice renders or convert them to md3 (if Blender lets me).
That's what i can offer you

LAW, on Oct 26 2009, 05:56 AM, said:

Great, because the official source code tools don't work just like the games. So I will download the unpacker, extract models, send them to you, and you make a shots of the models, right?

Lets just go through the PROCESS of getting models out of AVP (1999) Shall we? First you get the AVP Tools... And you NEED a copy of 3D Studio Max. The models are NOT in the .ffl files, they're in their own directory as .RIF files. There is one entitled predator_hud.rif if I am not mistaken, you have to import to max(with the .RIF plugins that come with the AVP SDK/Tools, export to 3DS, import into another program, convert over the one weapon you want (they're all together in one file.). Pose it, capture - rinse and repeat.

AVP 2 is a little easier, simply unpack the stuff with unrez.bat (which comes with the AvP2_tools), and grab the .dtx textures and the ABC model, open in Milkshape/gmax, pose, capture - rinse and repeat.

[Sangman]

Commando Nukem: This is LAW you're talking to, don't read too much into his "I'm a God" stuff Deep down inside, he is a good human.

[OpenMaw]

Sangman, on Oct 26 2009, 10:11 AM, said:

Commando Nukem: This is LAW you're talking to, don't read too much into his "I'm a God" stuff Deep down inside, he is a good human.

But of course.

[Jimmy]

You guys don't know LAW very well. SCUM.

[LAW]

I would never say I am a God or even god.

Commando Nukem, whoever you are. I have made such a screenshots before on W98. And it wasn't so hard as you describe it. Why do you need 3DS? Avp game, avp source, open the file, point camera in right angle, hit Prinstscreen, next frame and so on.

Anyway Chicken was kind enough to at least give it a try.

[Sangman]

edit: wait lol nvm stupid post

[Mikko]

Note that LAW said it'd be okay if they were simply taken from in-game screenshots. That shouldn't be a big problem if someone has the games installed.

[OpenMaw]

LAW, on Oct 26 2009, 02:13 PM, said:

Commando Nukem, whoever you are. I have made such a screenshots before on W98. And it wasn't so hard as you describe it.

If you did it before what is stopping you from doing it now?

LAW, on Oct 26 2009, 02:13 PM, said:

Why do you need 3DS? Avp game, avp source, open the file, point camera in right angle, hit Prinstscreen, next frame and so on.

You need 3DS because it is the only program that can import .RIF models, and export them to another format so that you can edit them. The WEAPON MESHES in AVP GOLD are all grouped into one file, and the Predators weapons are clustered together and not in proper positions to take snap shots of them.

With the marine weapons I can imagine you probably can open them up in imteng and take an image of the smartgun, chaingun, and Pulse Rifle, flame thrower, but many of the weapons are at odd angles, or clustered really close to eachother/not totally assembled, making it very difficult to actually take images of them.

The models are in a propritary format. .RIF, there are NO TOOLS included that allow you to view the hud models properly. However, if you claim you did it once, then do it again. There is a reason the AVP TOOLS come with a .RIF plugin for 3DS MAX R2 and R3, the .RIF model format is propritary, it cannot be opened without the custom plugin. There is a model viewer included, but like I said, the meshes are all grouped together.



http://img171.images...18/predhud1.jpg Fingers are not posed, weapons are not in decent positions or angles... How exactly do you expect someone to just "easily" go in and take pictures when they are like this?



and the only tool that comes with the source that can open the models is imteng, and this is what you get from imteng.



http://img132.images...3998/imteng.jpg

Even if I put the camera at a better position, the pistol, speargun, and spear are all scrunched together and not im proper positions to get images.

You need 3DS Max R3 to import the RIF, export to 3DS, and either Milkshape, Gmax, or Blender to open the 3DS file up and do your editing. Unless of course you enjoy working in 3DS Max, by all means. Bottom line is, you still need 3DS Max. For the few marine weapons i've seen converted into AVD and so forth, it was either done with a direct screen grab, which gives you artifacts up the ass(The flame thrower in AVD has green spottage on it from the palette change), or it was done with one of the weapons that was not in a weird position within the .rif (Pulse Rifle, SmartGun, Minigun).

I'm willing to do this, but dont tell me this isnt how you do it. If you want the best results, this is how you do it.

Mikko_Sandt, on Oct 26 2009, 03:40 PM, said:

Note that LAW said it'd be okay if they were simply taken from in-game screenshots. That shouldn't be a big problem if someone has the games installed.

This is what a screenshot out of AVP Gold looks like on a modern machine.

http://img197.images...7/832/avp02.jpg



Fraps may or may not yield a better result, however I still say this is the worst way to get these things out of the game. If you want it done right, the process I laid out gives you complete control of posing and framing.

[Sangman]

Is that a screen from AVP1 or 2? I played AVP2 not too long ago and it totally didn't look like that.

[OpenMaw]

Sangman, on Oct 26 2009, 04:02 PM, said:

Is that a screen from AVP1 or 2? I played AVP2 not too long ago and it totally didn't look like that.

Someone isnt reading my book of a post.

AVP Gold. LAW said "AVP or AVP2" so going with the inobvious one I thought i'd talk about AVP Gold.

LAW :



Compression from the upload aside, this worked better than I expected. I'll do the rest of them, PM and i'll send them to you.

Good enough?

[Sangman]

huh so avp gold is not avp1 and is not avp2??

it's just that the predator hud model thing looks identical to the one in avp2 and because avp1 is a sprite-y game.. yeh

[OpenMaw]

Sangman, on Oct 26 2009, 04:32 PM, said:

huh so avp gold is not avp1 and is not avp2??

it's just that the predator hud model thing looks identical to the one in avp2 and because avp1 is a sprite-y game.. yeh

AvP Gold is an updated AvP1, they share just about everything in common. The only major difference between the original release of AVP and AVP Gold is the marine has access to pistols, and another gun, theres an in game save feature, and a couple new maps.

So I got the wristblade, disc, shoulder cannon, speargun and pistol ready to go.

[Sebastian]

Commando Nukem, on Oct 26 2009, 03:38 PM, said:

AvP Gold is an updated AvP1, they share just about everything in common. The only major difference between the original release of AVP and AVP Gold is the marine has access to pistols, and another gun, theres an in game save feature, and a couple new maps.

...and the fact that all the voice work from the United States Colonial Marines have been changed to British voice actors. *facepalm*

[LAW]

Yeah Rusty. Remember that "Attention all units, the Predator has accessed level four..." cutscene from my Waterfall level? But for some reason I prefer all USCM members to be english than that ONE guy who starred in all US version's cutscenes. That was fun. He put on the glasses so he was Dr Lebovsky. He put on the beret so he was officer. Come on...

[Skulldog]

How come you don't call it AVP3 or something?

http://www.avpgalaxy.net/index.php

[OpenMaw]

Skulldog, on Oct 29 2009, 04:46 PM, said:

How come you don't call it AVP3 or something?

http://www.avpgalaxy.net/index.php

Because its a sequel to his previous TC AVPTC.

[LAW]

Ok, you can see a screenshot on the MSDN.

But I have another small problem here. I think about implementing global music in a few locations. The player should be able to hear the music globally within the 60000 Build grid units. What is the best and the quickest way to get it done? So far I only have the waterbubblemaker pursuing the player and making the soundonce all the time, but it isn't exactly what I wanted to implement.