Makeship

From Rise: The Vieneo Province

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Axes Orientation

Makeship is our mesh building and texture/skinning tool for the game assets. It is a custom utility with tons of custom features which was started well before programs like 3ds Max (later to be absorbed into Autodesk) could do what we needed.

RTSPS (CTY)

  • Light layer is modulated with the color layer based on time of day
  • Light layer is assigned independent of the color layer tile
  • Light layer is loaded by the LIGHT appended color bitmap name
  • The alpha channel on the color layer controls transparency with the underlying terrain (0-255)
  • The alpha channel on the light layer is unused

Copy and Paste

Singleton Operations

  • LMB - Select sector
  • C - Copy sector
  • LMB - Select sector
  • P - Paste sector

Area Operations

  • LMB - Select UL corner sector
  • Ctrl+LMB - Select LR corner sector and copy
  • LMB - Select UL corner sector
  • Shift+LMB - Select LR corner sector and paste color/light or legality layers
  • Ctrl+Shift+LMB - Select LR corner sector and paste color/light and legality layers

Randomize Fill

Note: There is an option to randomize the rotation on the individual sectors during the fill

WLD Files

2.23 to 2.24

The alpha channel that we could assign before was for the color map. If one was in use before it is assumed to be 1-bit by default, otherwise 0-bit. In the case of CTY files that load WLD files, those WLD files will be converted with a 8-bit alpha channel on the light map but the previous rule for color alpha still applies.

Best practice is to load CTY files to convert their WLD files to 2.24

Light Layer

Light layer assignment will default to the filename of the color map with LIGHT appended before the extension.

Buildings (CTY)

Color Layer

  • Color layer is the building exterior day map (windows need not be filled in on this map as they will be replaced with interior shots)
  • The alpha channel on the color layer is used for color masking
    • 1-bit
      • Value of 0 is the "black alpha mask"
      • Value of 255 is the "white alpha mask"
    • 8-bit
      • Value of 0 is simply the color map unadulterated
      • Value of 1-127 is the "black alpha mask" none to max effect
      • Value of 128-254 is the "white alpha mask" none to max effect
      • Value of 255 is reserved

People

The alpha channel dictates how we blend the colors that the user can set:

  • 0 is full hair color and lips (Radiosity)
  • 84 is full skin color (shiplight)
  • 170 is full original color (no modulation)
  • 255 is full eye color (ambient)

Light Layer

  • Modulated with the color layer based on time of day
  • Assigned in coordination with the color layer tile
  • Loaded by the LIGHT appended color bitmap name
  • The alpha channel on the light layer controls the window stencil
    • Value of 0 is currently undefined?
    • Values of 1-254 are windows (the higher number stays illuminated throughout the night)
    • Value of 255 designates the building exterior (no stencil)

Setup

  • Makeship
    • Download the compressed ZIP package
    • Installation location is configurable but recommended in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Makeship\Makeship.exe"
    • Files created
      • vault.log is the history of Hg interactions
      • aerod*.bmp are from the windtunnel (temporary, can be deleted)
      • *.lev are errorlevel return files (temporary, can be deleted)
      • *.tmp are Hg output files (temporary, can be deleted)
    • Registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER->Unistellar Industries
      • RepoPath (used below for the working folder, i.e. "G:\IAN'S FOLDER\UNISTELLAR INDUSTRIES\Construction Divison\Remote Programs\CITYMAKER\MAKECITY\" must have trailing backslash, case sensitive)
      • TempPath (location of Makeship folder i.e. "G:\Program Files (x86)\Makeship" no trailing slash
      • ImageEditorPath (path and name of executable for image editing i.e. "C:\Program Files (x86)\Jasc Software Inc\Paint Shop Pro 7\psp.exe" for the alignment textures)
    • custom.pal (is not versioned and will be created by Makeship)
  • Git (must be in "C:\Program Files\Git\bin\git.exe")
    • Repository URL https://github.com/Unistellar-Industries-LLC/Models.git
    • Clone to working folder, i.e. "D:\Rise Base\Models"
    • "develop" branch by default
    • To store credentials run these two commands from any location in a command window:
      • git config --global user.email "your github account email"
      • git config --global user.password "your github account password"

Operation

  • Initial Directory - When an open/save dialog is presented, the initial folder is based on the following logic:
    • First time the application used an Open or Save As dialog box it will be the RepoPath
    • Subsequent Open or Save As dialog boxes will use the path most recently selected by the user unless:
      • ​A file is pre-selected (as in the case of when looking for a missing WLD file referenced in an ASM)

External Links

Makeship Scales Spreadsheet