Base Buildings

[jonarus_drakus]

Hello again!

Bit of a 'clue in' first - I'm currently (literally right now - just a quick pause to write this question) working on a 'base building' in 3DsMax'17 (student edition if that matters). Using Max because thats what I know, and can thus build with real-word measurements and the like (Going by the WB 'grid', the Tier1 WM building has a 10x10m 'footprint' - and the building I'm working on will thus match that).

Anyway, on to questions:
   1) What is a good 'target' poly count? The incomplete building is currently sitting on 1873. Is 5000 a reasonable number or should I try to go for a lower number?
   2) Once Its done in 3DsMax (including UV mapping and texturing), where do I need to go from there to get it in-game (What programs will I need, etc)? - For the sake of being more specific, would the process be different for stand-alone vs 'replacer' (Cosmetic only replacement of an existing structure)?

Thanks in advance for you time,

~JD

[Walentin 'Walki' L.]

1) What is a good 'target' poly count? The incomplete building is currently sitting on 1873. Is 5000 a reasonable number or should I try to go for a lower number?

Around 10k per object is fine; Since base buildings are unique and there aren't many of them you can even go a little higher.

2) Once Its done in 3DsMax (including UV mapping and texturing), where do I need to go from there to get it in-game (What programs will I need, etc)? - For the sake of being more specific, would the process be different for stand-alone vs 'replacer' (Cosmetic only replacement of an existing structure)?

Exporting a model for CoH1 is a pain. You will need 3ds max 8 SP3 since the only exporter we have works on that version of max. Then you need to setup the exporter pipeline; which is a pain as well. Then you can export, fire up ObjectEditor and setup the states etc there. You can find some archived tutorials from RelicNews here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/companyOfHeroes/wiki/moddingtutorials

[jonarus_drakus]

I've attached a an image of where I'm at right now - 1872, but some 'optimisation' still possible to bring that down. I'd like to add some more 'detailing' as yet though, maybe smooth of some edges a bit more, etc... Tried building a sandbag wall, but making actual sandbags and building the wall from there quickly caused my count to sky-rocket (Over 5k).

Anyway, any commentary/advice on the building would be much appreciated (including 'detailing' suggestions in particular).


As for the exportation process... I have 2 versions of 3DsMax on this computer already ('16 and '17)! And that's only because of the free student licence! I can't really go getting yet another! ...Thanks for the link though I guess... ^^;
I really need to get Corsix sooner or later too, don't I? -sigh-

~JD

[Walentin 'Walki' L.]

That looks quiet nice. Only problem I currently have with it is, that you have an own "ground" plane and an extruded staircase. This won't work ingame, the only thing close to that are deforms, which are very imprecise. See this as a reference: http://www.moddb.com/mods/coheastern-front/images/new-armoury-building1#imagebox

You might also want to check out the CoH - Model importer. So you can use objects that are already textured and loaded instead of remodelling stuff (sandbags for example).