Imperium Magica - Future Version Assistance

[peteym5]

I am continuing development of Imperium Magica (formally Realm Magic, RP3DA) Role Playing Game Maker. There are a few graphics areas that I (and many) feel the Builder is coming up short. I may still port it over to 6.5, but I need to look at some working demos to even begin such a conversion. We are talking about changing a few thousand lines of code.

I looked at those other packs posted here, BE3D and Sci-Fi Corridors, and wonder if I can find a way to integrate those into what I am doing. My software is geared toward data manipulation for single player Role Playing Games. I would like to find another alternative for 3D human characters that my RPG maker can use.

The ideal of porting Imperium Magica Builder to work with MMORPG is shelved indefinitely. If I find people to work with, I will do it as a whole seperate project, will use the IM editor, but the new way of saving data for characters and usable items will have to be geared toward MMOPRGs.

[Dimple]

@ peteym5,

You said you need to look at some working demos in TV6.5? But,in what programming language? VB E08, E10, C# E08, C# E10 or some version of C? Oh, and VB6 also! Hmm and or are you just looking for different art resources that you can integrate into your game. Or both?

[peteym5]

VB.NET 2008, 2010, sorry I forgot to include that in my post. I phased VB6 out within the last year. The converted program is still a little buggy since it was not written in VB.NET from scratch. Everyday I am making corrections to get some component to work correctly. I am probably not going to begin porting over to 6.5 until I know the program is mostly debugged. That way I know a problem is 6.5 related and not coming from somewhere else.

I am looking for different human character modeling resources that I can incorporate into my RPG maker. It currently has an internal character system comprised of .3DS files making up human bodies. I looked at MDL, but those don't have all the animations I need for RPG games.

[Dimple]

 

VB.NET 2008, 2010  Okay good choices, also consider C# as well.  Now then you have a character system using .3DS files.  Good also since they can be converted to either .TVM or .TVA files for TV65 use fairly easily, though you may have to do them one at a time.  Which could be tedious depending on how many you have to do.  I don't know if there is a way to do batch conversions of them.  Perhaps someone else will know how or if you can do that.  I don't though, I do advise you make sure you have backups of your resources before you start.  Do you have a 3D Modeling program such as 3DS Max or Milkshape3D?   Milkshape is what I use for my conversions and I maybe able to give you some help there.  I've also been converting some VB6 tutorials (6.3) to (6.5) in VB.net E 2008 and can provide you with some working examples.  Look at my posts from the last 2-3 yrs and you should find some working code on the forums as well.  Post questions, code samples with problems and your debug files(more than a line or two please!). Do a fair amount of searching on your own and I think you'll get the help you need to do the conversion.
 

[peteym5]

The entire program has already been done in VB.NET and converting over to C# would mean rewriting to whole program from scratch which no one one here is willing to do. Looking at a good 6 months of full time work.

All the 3DS modeling was done with Milkshape 3D and can save in various formats. Before I convert over to 6.5, the first step is to duplicate the whole folder so I still maintain a working version of my programs. This was already done when I ported from VB6 to VB.NET.

Specifically I am looking for a better alternative to the current character system. I believe I did see some 3D character editors that work with 6.5. I will search for them.

[peteym5]

These TVA files, I would have to look at the program that generates them. I need some animations for Sword Fighting and Monster attacks inside Role Playing Games. It also has shooting guns, bows and arrows, and throwing. The animations would have to be the same for all the character models, like 1 for walk, 2 for run, 3 for swing sword, etc.

[Dimple]

@peteym5,

If you have Milkshape3D and have the plugins from the TV3D 6.5 SDK (plugin folder (you will find them in milkshape folder))for TVA and TVM. Then install them with the other plugins in Milkshape3D program. You can load a 3DS file(under file menu - import .3DS) with animations in it (use a copy not the original file) and then export the file as a TVA (found under file menu - export .TVA or .TVM (static mesh)) the 3ds file as a TVA file. Then test it to see if all the animations still work for you.  I believe it is possible to make animations in milkshape as well but I have never done so myself as yet. I hope most if not all of that was understandable.

[peteym5]

Was .3DS eliminated from Truevision 3D 6.5 for proprietary reasons? If that is the case, it would make porting my program much more difficult because it has many .3DS files it uses. I know they can be converted.

That is just one of the many issues I am with converting this whole thing. I am experimenting with something that can convert all the .Addface and .Addvertex statements from the 6.3 to 6.5 standard. VB.NET only shows the first 100 errors.

If it gets to the point where converting over to 6.5 is way too much work, I might have to abandon the whole process and leave it in 6.3.