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Question

The general place to discuss MOD''ing Freelancer!

Post Wed Nov 16, 2005 12:49 pm

Question

What is a mapper and a modeler? Does anyone have any forums, threads and websites that could help me with some tips? I want to help with the stargate mod!

Can be found on Void in Stargate clan and as an event master!
[StargateJackson[SG1
[E=Jackson[M

Post Wed Nov 16, 2005 1:11 pm

A mapper does the hard work of designing levels... systems in this case. And all the extra stuff that comes with it.

A modeller makes... models... like spaceships... or people.

Post Wed Nov 16, 2005 1:15 pm

a mapper can also be known as a system editor.

Modellers make models, which are all the 3D objects in the game, like ships or stations.

Post Thu Nov 17, 2005 12:19 am

anyone got any tips on how to become a moddle or a mapper?

Can be found on Void in Stargate clan and as an event master!
[StargateJackson[SG1
[E=Jackson[M

Post Thu Nov 17, 2005 1:21 am

First of all: you need some time (hehe) and reading
Link 1 , a lot of other links

Link 2 a , 47 pages of shared knowledge ...

Link 2 b , another 43 pages of shared knowledge ...

Link 3 all the tools to mod

Link 4 Tutorials to almost everything on modding

Enjoy! Hope to see you back in about three weeks

Post Thu Nov 17, 2005 10:45 am

OMG! It's like piles and piles of replies! 3 weeks? More like 3 months!

Can be found on Void in Stargate clan and as an event master!
[StargateJackson[SG1
[E=Jackson[M

Post Thu Nov 17, 2005 11:07 am

Also, I suggest you choose between both professions. After all, they are really different from eachother.

Modeller will ask you style, imagination, art talent, few maths (Knowing how 3D space coordinates work and such), but will not require a lot of coding.

System Maker, on the other side, will ask you style and imagination, but no real art talent. It will require you know a little more maths (To position things correctly), you will have to be able to transpose numbers into images (As launching the game for each position change would be overly long), and you will have to code quite a bit.

Post Thu Nov 17, 2005 12:08 pm

I think nothing speeks against doing both things -- but one at a time.

I myself started as a coder specialized in weapons, then slowly learned all the other coding stuff and I found modelling to be much harder for newbies. I am still learning the basics of 3d modelling today.
Coding, especially systems, also requires logical thinking, like: "Will the system crash if I have a pirate patrol going through a military zone and both patrol and zone have densitiy restrictions, that will be broken?" Next question would be "How to avoid the crash?".
As a coder, you also have to think a lot about balancing and wether or not some things fit together or not. Finding errors in a system can be hard work, just like finding an error in a 3d model is.

So both things can be hard work and sometimes very long-winded and difficult to get completely right. But in both cases, all your effort pays off. It really is your decision.

Post Thu Nov 17, 2005 12:57 pm

I do everything in my mod, mapping, making weapons, ship scripting bah bah bah. You should read the forums before asking, if you can't find what your looking for alot of us would be happy to point you in the right way towards your goal.
You are NOT going to learn how to make a very ......."super" map in a day or even a week, the goal is time. It took me at least almost about 2 weeks to learn the basics of map building, very long story becuase I started my modding by hand and then found out I could of done the whole thing within an hour with a program.
I would suggest you use Freelancer Explorer Frist or Freelancer System Editor to learn what the ini. files look like and to get the feel of how it is all writen and be able to read it. Make basic maps and enjoy them. Then work your way to more harder task to make a system feel vast and colorful.
Now your other question about you wanting to help people make the stargate mod.....well you'll have to find the makers and ask them.
But you should find those systems programs and learn the basics.

Good Luck,

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