Try the spotlights/soint lights movable, they will give you the best shadowing system and will be dynamic. Use a skeletal mesh/interp actor for you mesh to be sure to benefit of the best lighting possible.
Like i mentioned before, the pipeline and the cable system in the engine are splines. Here you can see the nodes: If you have any questions to this, ask me. I will try to answer.
Blender has my vote. It's a good modeling package with a great UV mapping system. It doesn't work like Max or Maya, but I find it more enjoyable to work with than Max.
Thank you all for your opinions! i appreciate it. I think i will go with valve's system as well, and get rid of any issues that could arise from other methods.
Possibly the video you want can be found in the game folder or on the game CD/DVD? Maybe in an archive or something. Might not work if they use custom codecs or in-house compressed archive system.
My fav bit... "in order to enjoy these systems you need to purchase additional expensive game cartridges averaging $30-$60 a piece" guy needs to sell his mega-drive
have you tried photoshop 8 (CS)? It's a real system hog, but I've had a better time painting in it than with 7. Still, I miss how how streamlined 5.5 was.
If you absolutely don't want to use Firefox use Opera or something. Also, careful with downloading random anti-spyware tools from the net, many infect your system with malware.
Hi, thanks Eric. I did some tests and I found that baking in 2010 removes the problem using the daylight system. Mime, thanks for the tip. and yes, its a gameloft test ;) )
You can of course create a static object with your flipbook texture, the ever popular star billboard object. If you couple that with a particle system and a light you'll get alright flames.