Echo....echo.....echo...

by **tons0phun** » 03 Oct 2006 00:38

Anybody home?

Well in any case, I'm so glad to have found people who are still as addicted to this awesome game as I am! I must give Hazard kudos on his mods, they're loads of fun!

The only problem I have with the battlefield creator is when I accidentally save the mod as the same name as a character .atd file. It makes them disappear! It's mostly a trouble right now because I can't find my CD. T_T

And I don't know how to make any mods of any kind myself, but I would really, really like to learn how to use the editor to make characters and levels. I really want to see if I can make any chain/rope weaponry!

That, and of course a level with lots of spinning blades, haha!

by **Hazard** » 05 Oct 2006 19:04

Hi! Yes, i'm still alive, but not very active at the moment. DbtS still isn't running on my machine... but my interrest in DbtS will raise again when i switch to Vista as my primary system, since it is able to run DbtS on my machine.

It's great to hear that you love this game as much as i did... and many thanks for your appreciation regarding my mods.

The Editor i made 6 years ago is a pain in the ass... creating new arenas or new characters is a lot of (frustrating) work. You have to modify every single point/vertex by hand. And i think chain/rope weapons are not possible in DbtS... but i surely would love to be proven wrong.

I ever wanted to create a new Editor, but always lost interrest after a short time. But i've finally implemented a DbtS model loader and renderer into my own little Direct3D engine 2 months ago. This engine is the core of a new editor i'm working on, which is an extremely improved version of the battlefield creator and may be used to create your own arenas, too. You won't be able to design completely new models with this editor, but you can easily create new levels by combining predefined objects through drag&drop.

But it will still take some time to finish it.

It's sad that they'll most likely never release the sourcecode of DbtS... i'd love to bring it's graphics and physics engines to modern standards.

by **Agathul** » 08 Oct 2006 21:17

Inspiring to see so many people still living by the sword, three cheers and a flagon of mead! I´ll have to dig the CDs out once again and give the new mods a try!

Oh, and I was known as "Warrjo" around the older boards, never active but always present.

by **tons0phun** » 09 Oct 2006 23:28

Can anybody make a download link for the tentacle.atd character file?

And also with regards to the editor, I don't care how time consuming or frustrating it is. If there's anything I have, it's time and patience.

And a good ability to learn, which is why I really want to know how to start modifying/creating characters. Hell, it'd be such a blast to go through the campaign with my own character!

by **Hazard** » 10 Oct 2006 00:48

Hi Agathul aka Warrjo, it's good to know that you're around.

@tons0phun: The Best way to create a new char:

- find an existing char that fits your idea most
- extract the ATD file of this char and change the name of the folder to the name of your char (max. 8 letters)
- rename all files in the folder that are named like the char with the name of the folder. if you are using "the_hero" as template and want to call it "mychar", then rename all entries of "the_hero" to "mychar". there are some files that just use the first 4 letters of the name, therefore you'll have to rename the "the_" part of those files to "mych", without modifying the rest of the name.
- look through the ACT, ATT, STA, DEF and LST files to make your changes to the character related settings
- modify the OFF models of each bodypart in the editor and all BMP/TGA Textures with a graphics program like photoshop.

This is a very rough description, but it might point you in the right direction. I'll try to answer your questions as good as i can, but i haven't done anything with this for years.

by **Dave** » 30 Oct 2006 03:16

Hi all (heya Warrjo). I must remember to visit more often, damnit. Can't believe Hazard's making a new editor, announced only 3 days before my first visit in ... uh, a long time.

I wonder how Oren is doing. Last I heard, he was going off to do mandatory Israeli army duty, if I remember correctly? That's... a bit scary.

On a happier note, it's good to see names old and new. If you love DBTS and haven't tried Mount & Blade you might want to. The combat isn't as free-form as DBTS, but it's a nice second place.

by **Hazard** » 30 Oct 2006 16:04

Hey Dave!
I still hope to get my hands on Vista Final soon to get fully started with my new project.

Yes, i too hope that Oren is well. Would be great to see him around again.

Another great game for all DbtS-lovers is Dark Messiah of Might ans Magic! It's a great First-Person Fantasy fighting game. Sword fighting is very dynamic and real fun! Not as flexible as DbtS but still many times better than in most other games today. We should create a new Thread where we collect all games that could interest DbtS fans.

by **shui** » 20 Feb 2007 04:53

Another mouse-based sword fighting game. I've been watching that site for a while. Looks like they just put up a downloadable demo of their game.

Edit: Just tried out the demo. It's an online fighting game. I think the combat system is far better than DBTS. Graphics are also obviously far better. There's also a modding community. No quest tho.
The absolute biggest downside for me personally is that the game is largely online. I live in an area where high-speed connections aren't available, so I have to suffer through online games with a 56k. The lag is always unbearable.

So if they add quests and improve offline play, I'd totally buy this. Any fan of DBTS should give it a try.