Matrix Games Forums

Any of the great and powerfull Stadium builder have a good tuturial they can share so I may be a stadium builder also

Sorry I have been away so long I went to Alaska man is it a great place to be.

Well, it just isnt as easy as making a tutorial. You would need to familiarize yourself with Gamespace Light.
Then, a tutorial would kick in.
Or, as in my case, I build the models with Blender and texture in Gamespace.
I can tell you from(limited)experience, that stadiums for Max are VERY simple to build. Not necessarily quick, but very simple.
Most of them are basically a series of cubes and planes, which are simple to work with and texture.
During the course of building a couple, I have learned quite a bit about modeling with gamespace, so soon I will be able to cut out the Blender part.
I stress familiarization with Gamespace, simply because that keeps the tutorial writer from having to teach that from scratch also.
Gamespace light is free and there is a manual floating around that will help explain some things, but you need to horse around with gamespace and get used to where things are and what they do.
3D modeling isnt really hard, it just has a bit of a learning curve you have to move beyond. But once past that, im telling you, it really isnt hard. Now, getting good at it is a different story. I can build ANY thing in a 3D program, but it will look like garbage...im not good yet.

***However, I am thinking of making a basic tutorial on how to build a stadium, but it would be based on the user already knowing Gamespace basics***

For those of us who have to ride the shortbus, could there also be a tutorial about the gamespace?

I dont see anyone as riding the shortbus, but that being said, tutorial or not, people need to get off the bus or they will keep going round and round.

Download Gamespace Light, its free.
http://www.caligari.com/gamespace/gsl/gsl.asp

Put away all sharp objects and anything that fires a projectile and is shorter than your arm. Set some refreshments next to you, and go here:
http://www.caligari.com/gamespace/tutorial/first_model.asp

Once you have completed that first model, you will be more than ready to do a stadium.

The thing to keep in mind about the stadiums in Max, is that they can be in multiple parts. The stadiumdata.txt file in a stadium folder, tells the game what objects to load from that folder. The parts of a stadium are in .x format, and gamespace can save to that as well as many others. But all we need is to save each piece of the stadium as a directx file, the .x

A way to look at how they work, is to install gamespace, and then 'load an object' from one of the stadiums that either me or local8h have built. You can load multiple objects at once, so if a stadium is 5 parts, then you can load it up completely and look at how it went together. For example:
Here is the stadiumdata.txt file from my oldcoach stadium
MESH:stad.x:0:0
MESH:fence.x:0:0
MESH:supports.x:0:0
MESH:scoreboard.x:0:0
MESH:crowd.x:0:0
MESH:crowdbtm.x:0:0
MESH:crowdsngl.x:0:0
MESH:pressbox.x:0:0
MESH:trees.x:0:0
MESH:sep.x:0:0
MESH:skyline.x:0:0
MESH:untitledextras.x:0:0
SKY:1
FLIPX:1
ROTATION:90
MAXFIELDSIZE:3

Each line that starts with MESH:, is a part of the stadium, and will be loaded into the game. untitledextras.x is the barn and silo, for example.

As you can see, the real hurdle is just learning Gamespace. And all you really need are the basics. You dont need to know about 75% of the program. Just how to shape out the stadium and then texture it.
Actually putting the stadium into the game is as simple as opening notepad and editing the stadiumdata.txt file in the folder of your new stadium, to load the object(or objects) that make up your stadium. Obviously all the .x files and textures need to be in that folder.

Oh go on then, maybe I'll give this another go

Mykal

I have started to make my first stadium and have a question. Can I include the objects that come with Game Space Light in my stadium. Their are planes, cars, etc that I would like to add, but don't know if I can add a object. If so how? Also could I add animations I am guessing not, but don't know.
Thanks,
TheRhino

Welcome to the collective, Locutus.

As long as you save it as a .x file, it would show up. Just be careful, the more stuff you add, the more it may tax someones PC.

No idea on animations.

I did save it as an .x file and it still doesn't show. I must be doing something wrong, but havn't yet figured out what.

Animations won't work I've tried it before,  I think it's because the engine doesn't know what frames to execute on animated objects.

Make sure that every .x file in the stadium folder is also listed in the stadiumdata.txt file

I guess I can't create stadiums with the demo version of Game Space Light, but I am not sure yet if I want to spend $300.