Arms & Armor: Questions & Answers
polycounter lvl 20
The team from Torn Banner is on hand to help answer any and all questions you have regarding Chivalry: Medieval Warfare and its Workshop. Polycount will help with any contest-related questions you may have.
Your post will be directly edited with the answer, which will be written in blue.
Full contest details: http://www.polycount.com/arms-and-armor/
The deadline is Monday, October 6th 2014 @ 00:01AM EST (GMT - 4)
Replies
Is there a missing number in that sentence?
Also:
Non-square (2:1, 4:1) texures yes or no?
A: The image must contain at least 2 angles of your item(s). This has been updated on the contest page, thank you for pointing this out.
Non-square textures are allowed, some of our weapons use them. Our weapon specifications include max texture limits, usually 2048x2048, but if your item doesn't need to use the full budget by all means use a smaller texture.
A: Anything that could plausibly found in europe/middle east up until the 1500's is fair game. These don't necessarily need to be replicas or period accurate items, as long as the design looks believable enough to fit into the style of the game.
A: yes, the Red, Green, and Blue channels must contain different levels of blood. from least bloody, to most bloody. Here is our tutorial on creating bloodmasks
I second this question.
Question of my own :
I never used Steam Workshop, nor Chivalry SDK, is there a way that someone provide a step by step guide to publish your creation on Steam?
A: We have provided tutorials for these things here. Please let us know if there is any confusion, or any way we can improve the turorials.
https://tornbannerjira.atlassian.net/wiki/display/CHIVCOM/User+Generated+Content+Guides
A: That is correct. Chivalry SDK is a modified UDK. We require participants to submit Specular and Gloss separately, and use instances of our master material for their items. that way they can be integrated into our game.
Here is our tutorial for putting weapons into the game.
A: In our game, the king is known to go to battle, so this would definitely be allowed!
For example, If the head of a warhammer is larger, and the handle is shorter than the in game mesh will this cause compatibility issues, or are the chosen weapons going to have animations and collision fixed by the Torn Banner team?
A: the bounds of a weapon should not differ significantly from the base weapon. things to consider: the "damaging" area of the weapon should not be mismatched in any way (length of a blade, placement of an axehead, etc) and the handle should match exactly wherever the hands of the character are to grip it, so to avoid clipping through the fingers.
A: In the shader, we do not use a map that effects specular power, but we do have a slot that masks the use of the environment map called EnvironmentMapMask (effectively reducing reflectivity). In almost all cases, this slot uses the diffuse or specular maps to mask the environment map to save texture memory, but if it's absolutely necessary, an additional map could be used in that slot.
Same goes for helmets, I suppose?
A: Helmets can have more different bounds, they just have to fit correctly over the head of the faction and class they are made for (must have eye holes that match with the characters eyes). However they shouldn't be so large that they clip through doorways and interfere with the players swing animations.
A: LODs are not required for items. We will make them in house upon integrating the items into the game.
A: Submissions must fit within the style of our game. More details can be found on our content specifications page and our UGC Guide
Beer helms are not allowed, sorry.
A: no, you cannot have multiple submissions using the same items. In this case, one helmet per set.
Does this also mean that we can't go fully crazy to make swords that have interesting blades etc and should stick to more of the "completely" realistic ?
A: Yes, weapon designs should be based in reality rather than being overly fantasy in nature.
A: Yes, however they will be classified as secondary weapons for this contest (meaning you cannot JUST model a shield. It must be part of a set that includes a shield). Shield reference models have now been added to the documentation.
A: Helmets are team specific, but weapons can be team agnostic. please see the creation guidelines and specifications for more info
A: no that's fine
For example, after the contest ends would I be able to sell my items on a marketplace (say the Unity Asset store)? Or does copyright transfer to Torn Banner upon submitting to the contest and the Workshop?
A: The content creators will maintain copyright of their models and textures. We will be adhering to the current Steam Subscriber Agreement found here: http://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement/
Supplemental Workshop Terms Revenue Sharing
https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/workshoplegalagreement/?appid=730
A: A set must be comprised of one helmet and one weapon. If you are creating multiple weapons, they must either be paired with a single helmet, or submitted as a solo item
A: Yes, it would be fine to just retitle your thread.
I really like this game though, so can I submit a awesome suit of game-ready, retopo'd, textured, etc, historically accurate, full plate, late-15th century armour for the king?
I also want to talk to your character artist(s). I understand that it's game, and it doesn't have to be 100% accurate, but the current knight armour looks like it came straight out of hollywood, or like someone only took a few passing glances at reproduction armour. There are so many gaps, that if there was a local NPC armoursmith in the game, he would be ran out of town for endangering the lives of people of noble blood by making faulty gear.
Sorry, just really passionate about armour.
It's just that you guys have the ability to sculpt the reputation of medieval times, and a lot of people like the game you all made. The fact is, reality is far more amazing and in-depth, if you do the research. If you wore full plate armour on the field, you were rich, owned land, and was basically a 1-man army against anything else not wearing full plate. Nothing could hurt you, except for the fiercest of blunt blows, weapons designed to defeat and pierce plate armour, chemical/incendiary attacks, and if you got knocked off your horse, and/or were tackled and overwhelmed by peasants with house knives and pitchforks who jabbed your eyes out through the slit of your visor.
Take a look at King Henry's suit of armour that he wore when he was a young, powerful man. There are no gaps at all, not even his armpits and groin. He even had compression articulation at his elbows, AND at the back of his knees. This is what a king would have worn to battle. Arrows would do nothing, swords would do nothing. Joints articulating like clockwork, with a running speed just as fast as someone without armour.
If you saw this guy charging you down on a battlefield with his pole hammer, death is guaranteed. That's another thing, swinging a sword isn't slow at all, they only weighed a few pounds, you could flick a longsword around like a lightsaber. Not for long, granted, but long enough. Even swinging a bidenhander, look up youtube videos of people practicing with one, they twirl that thing around like a nimble death stick.
A: Sorry, were not allowing full character replacements for this competition, however if you want to create a character and upload it to the workshop we would be happy to help you in any way we can. please email your questions to dylanbrady@tornbanner.com
A: you will need to skin weight your model to the skeleton of the weapon you are replacing. Example meshes can be found on our weapon specifications page.
A: you don't have to have eye holes if it would be difficult to see the eyes through the holes anyways.
Because if the agatha knight is wearing an armet or a similar close helm, the coif will get in the way. There's a somewhat snug fit around the neck of an armet.
A: The helmets are just going over the heads as attachments. so in the knights case the helmet must fit over the coif.
Q: The Minimum for a Set is 1 Helm & 1 Primary (Sword, Axe or Mace), Are we allowed to create a Secondary & Special for a set? If so does that same rule for the Primary apply?
A: You can create a secondary and special weapon to go along with part of your set if you like, however it will not affect the judging of the primary weapon/helmet portion of the set.
Do things like helmets and arrows have to be functional? For example - a cloth cap wouldn't save your head and a whistling arrow wouldn't do much damage but they may fit thematically in a set (not necessarily the same set, just as examples) and be period appropriate.
A: Arrows currently count as special weapons. In the case of arrows specifically, you can make a new 'skin' for either bodkin or broadhead arrows. The example of the cloth cap would work fine as it does fit thematically.
A: We will not take items into the game prior to the completion of the contest. Afterwards, we will most likely be incorperating more.
A: correct. This is done because armor must match a specific look to help identify team on the battlefield. With Weapons this is not as important
A: Other headgear works as long as it still fits the aesthetic of the game.
A: The best way to test this would be to import a test mesh into the engine.
Thanks!
A: I re-uploaded file for the Dane Axe to now include the bones, sorry about that. The 'mount point' for the weapon is usually at the origin, but it always good to test out a basic mesh the socket manager when your are designing a grip/handle for the weapon.
Also I tried launching the UDKEditor through steams ChivalryMW binary64 folder but this just launches the game...I wanted to make sure the weapon works properly before getting to far into the project...thanks!
A: I am unable to reproduce this error when creating a material instance constant from \AOC\Environments\Material\CHV_Material_Pack\Materials\M_Weapon_Master. Are you trying to save the material instance in that same package? Because you need to make sure that you are creating your own weapon package to put your assets into.
A: That is correct. The judging will be based on only the helmet and primary weapon if you make a set.
/image deleted...issue was solved...thanks again Lucas
A: Make sure that you are using the Chivalry SDK, and not UDK. To access the chivalry SDK follow the instructions listed here: https://tornbannerjira.atlassian.net/wiki/display/CHIVCOM/Getting+started+with+map+editing
If you need a steam key for Chivalry: Medieval Warfare, email polycountcontest@tornbanner.com.
A: On the page for the class you are creating an item for, there are download links for the full character mesh: https://tornbannerjira.atlassian.net/wiki/display/CHIVCOM/User+Generated+Content+Specifications
Q: I am a modder myself, but I find myself hopelessly outclassed by all te fine modders here. Which brings me to a problem- if there are 2 fantastic models for one class of one faction, what will happen? for example, I've seen some fantastic agatha knight models pop up. Is there a chance that 2 models will win?
A: There will be 3 winners chosen from each category, for a total of 12 winners
Q: What will happen to the winning suit of armor? will it become a pay-to play set? if so, how much will it cost?
A: The winning items will be sold as cosmetic items in Chivalry, with creators earning royalties on each sale. The price point for these items has yet to be determined.
just curious what ports need to be open for your game. I get an error saying can't connect to server when I start the game.
Thank ya'
The suit of armor isn't part of the contest, just the helmet and primary weapon.
Or is something going wrong when I import?
A[updated]: If your weapon is the right scale imported in the sdk then you're good.
There were some bad unit conversions on the old fbx files, I've just re-exported and reuploaded all the weapons, go ahead and grab the updated reference files to ensure you're using the correct size.
http://www.tornbanner.com/workshop/requirements/
it says the tri limit for helmets is 1200 and diffuse/normal texture limit is 1024.
If you go to any of the specific helmet pages on the wiki
https://tornbannerjira.atlassian.net/wiki/display/CHIVCOM/Vanguard+-+Mason
It says the tri limit is 1000 and all the texture sizes are 512.
Should I assume the first one is correct?
Thanks for all your hard work answering all these questions.
A: 1200 tris, and diffuse/normal limit is 1024. The the second link has now been updated to reflect this. Thanks for pointing it out.
A: Make sure you sent the email containing a link to your WIP thread to polycountcontest@tornbanner.com to recieve a steam key that will last the length of the contest.
I wanted to ask if the creation of the WIP thread also have a deadline, for example if I can start it in mid-september.
Thanks.
A: There is no specific date to start a WIP thread, but the thread must clearly display the progress of the assets from start to finish.
A: If a weapon model exceeds the general triangle count we've set, matching the count of the actual is fine.
Yeah, the characters are not to scale. They are about 4 feet high, so you'll have to scale your weapons down, or better yet, import one of the items you want to create, and compare sizes. Compensate for symmetry and mesh position too.
The characters aren't based on real world units, their size is correct to game scale - technically characters and weapons/shields/whatever are scaled 1.5x by code in game, but you don't need to worry about that.
So I've imported the references... The bigger greatsword is greatsword.fbx, while the smaller one is from greatswordlod.fbx. If I import the files directly into udk they all appear to have the correct scale, however if I import the greatsword.fbx mesh into 3ds max and export it, it will be huge (20m-ish) in udk... :poly142:
That's what I did. I'll try again. Thanks!
A: Anything within Chivalry's lore is fair game. Just keep in mind that weapons will end up being able to be used by both factions.
Ughh, sorry about that folks. So evidently I have some cm-inch and/or vice-versa conversions on those old fbx files. I've just grabbed clean exports from the engine so the scale is guaranteed to be 100% right on all of these (if anything is still wrong though, pm me please). Right now you can only get it from the following all-the-things zip, I'll get to work on replacing the individual archives on each page, but for now:
https://drive.google.com/a/tornbanner.com/file/d/0B2IWbmz35uC6Y1VnZ0lpVmd4eTg/edit?usp=sharing
All the character references are correct.
edit: All the individual reference weapons are updated, if you suspect you may be working off the wrong size, go redownload the now updated files.
A: The best reference for edge padding can be found on the Polycount Wiki: http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Edge_padding
You shouldn't have to worry about textures for the mips, they engine will handle that automatically. At 1024x1024, the distance between islands should be a minimum of 16px.