3D Content for 3D modellers

[TheContentCreator]

So I begin by saying that I have already spoken to the people over at planet coaster to ask about 3D modellers being allowed to creating, using Maya or 3Ds Max and more so that we can import content into Planet Coaster which us as creators can share!

Now I believe that this currently is not being developed which is disappointed because as we look back at RCT3, as many know, this became a massive aspect with the older games! I know the creation of a realistic park is something which many want to create and by allowing the implementation of this feature, it will truly allow everyone to do so!

I am surely not the only person who has thought about this and I do hope that, it might be brought into the game at a later date!

-James

 

[stuk71]

It will not be something that is in Planet Coaster at launch. However, Frontier are aware that this is frequently requested and is something that they have said may be incorporated sometime post launch.

 

[TheContentCreator]

Hopefully, to create something which is more a realistic feel it would be fantastic! Especially with the Planet Coaster interface and placement. Fingers crossed I guess!

 

[Crowdpleaser]

This is all well and good, but i'm not so sure about it. The beauty of the Game is that everything fits so perfectly together. When you introduce something with a different Art-Style then it will look like a Mess. If we have the Option that is fine mind you, but i don't see me using it really.

 

[Evilhomer]

I like the idea and of course it will be optional to choose if you want to import it or not. I really like the Idea to have custom models, walls, t-shirts, hats, and maybe 3d scanned faces (in current style).
and why not mods like a no-clip camera or the ability to modify the hills surrounding the park.

People do need to know this all takes extra power from your computer, but that will be up to the user.

 

[Angelis1]

UGC Support will be THE MOST important feature of the game, after they have created all the tools.

I would never consider the game as "finished" as long as this feature will not be implemented.
It became mandatory in 2016 to give this freedom to players, for this type of niche ("Simulation games"), and particularly on this audience ("PC gamers").

 

[BigDragon]

UGC is indeed a big deal. I would definitely make 3D content for this game that fits in with what is already there. I just need to know about object unit dimensions, file formats, and metadata to make it work. Hopefully Frontier doesn't wait on this for too long as it's an advantage found in some rival products. I believe them that it's coming though. I just hope it shows up in 3 months rather than 12 months!

This is all well and good, but i'm not so sure about it. The beauty of the Game is that everything fits so perfectly together. When you introduce something with a different Art-Style then it will look like a Mess. If we have the Option that is fine mind you, but i don't see me using it really.

You seem to assume that content creators would opt for a different art style than what is present in Planet Coaster. This is true for some people, but it is not true for all content creators. Some artists are skilled at adopting multiple styles. Personally, I'd want to stick with the game's style. It's easier to work with than the super-detailed, gritty, realistic stuff other games over-rely on these days. Most of my favorite games have been stylized.

 

[Thokari]

This is all well and good, but i'm not so sure about it. The beauty of the Game is that everything fits so perfectly together. When you introduce something with a different Art-Style then it will look like a Mess. If we have the Option that is fine mind you, but i don't see me using it really.

This is begging the question...

What's the difference between a matter-of-taste blueprint put together from perfectly fitting items compared to a matter-of-taste actual 3D model?

Like with Cities: Skylines, the problem is not about the possibilities, but the fact that it is so hard to find the good stuff, because the rating/tagging/sorting/searching options on the Steam Workshop are rather limited.

Besides that, I assume Frontier is already smart about minimising the "interface" of the parts, when it comes to make them "fit perfectly".
I would think for most items, it is merely about choosing the proper coordinate system (for grid / surface alignment) and proper dimensions (2m / 4m).

This of course excludes parts that adapt dynamically to reduce overdraw / z-fighting, like cornered wall pieces. No clue how they did that...

 

[Thokari]

UGC Support will be THE MOST important feature of the game, after they have created all the tools.

I would never consider the game as "finished" as long as this feature will not be implemented.
It became mandatory in 2016 to give this freedom to players, for this type of niche ("Simulation games"), and particularly on this audience ("PC gamers").

When I was checking up on Cities: Skylines development recently, what I saw impressed me very much to say the least.

For example, someone created a mod called "Move it", that lets you grab and move literally ANY node (roads, buildings, elevated walkways...) in the game.
Basically everything except terrain. And you can even group items and move them together. It, yet again, completely changed the game.

See this video as an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84tZ5dUpiV4

 

[Slipknottin]

I did some digging on the models that are in the game now.

The good news is they aren't protected by denuvo or the game. We can access and edit them at our will.

The bad news is they are compressed in a format nobody has been able to figure out. It's the same format elite dangerous files are in. And seeing as that is a multiplayer game, frontier asked people to not try to reverse engineer the files nor were they going to give out a tool to extract or compress them.

So unless they have changed on that and are now ok with giving access to elite dangerous, planet coaster won't have the ability to edit or add assets.

 

[Angelis1]

I did some digging on the models that are in the game now.

The good news is they aren't protected by denuvo or the game. We can access and edit them at our will.

The bad news is they are compressed in a format nobody has been able to figure out. It's the same format elite dangerous files are in. And seeing as that is a multiplayer game, frontier asked people to not try to reverse engineer the files nor were they going to give out a tool to extract or compress them.

So unless they have changed on that and are now ok with giving access to elite dangerous, planet coaster won't have the ability to edit or add assets.

No worries, UGC Support is confirmed since a long time now !

So :
- In the worst case, we will have an "importer",
- In the best case, we will have a full "UGC Editor" directly into the game (to import models, apply .png textures, add musics, import .gif or .mp4, change .ttf for custom signs maybe, etc...)

I really hope the second solution, so even if you are not a 3D modeller, you can play with the UGC (Fingers crossed)

 

[gregorburns]

So unless they have changed on that and are now ok with giving access to elite dangerous, planet coaster won't have the ability to edit or add assets.

For UGC to be possible, they wouldn't need to release details of their file format. If and when they are ready to allow UGC/modding, they will provide tools to do that with and the game files will not need to be touched by untrained hands.

So put that hex editor away [wink]

 

[Slipknottin]

No worries, UGC Support is confirmed since a long time now !

So :
- In the worst case, we will have an "importer",
- In the best case, we will have a full "UGC Editor" directly into the game (to import models, apply .png textures, add musics, import .gif or .mp4, change .ttf for custom signs maybe, etc...)

I really hope the second solution, so even if you are not a 3D modeller, you can play with the UGC (Fingers crossed)

Confirmed where? I haven't seen that at all

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For UGC to be possible, they wouldn't need to release details of their file format. If and when they are ready to allow UGC/modding, they will provide tools to do that with and the game files will not need to be touched by untrained hands.

So put that hex editor away [wink]

Like I said, if they release tools to extract/compress the files, those tools will also work on elite dangerous. And they don't want the community having access to those

 

[gregorburns]

Like I said, if they release tools to extract/compress the files, those tools will also work on elite dangerous. And they don't want the community having access to those

But they won't do that. It would be a feature built in to Planet Coaster, to create assets for Planet Coaster. They won't give us a file editor, just a Planet Coaster importer that handles the files editing for us. Their compression method btw is not rocket science but it's not something that should be discussed here and nor is it something that we should ever need to discuss. Like I said, if they want to implement UGC in the future (Angelis knows all the facts and confirmations about that!) then it will use a specially built asset editor in-game that doesn't require modification of the files directly by you or I.

 

[TheContentCreator]

Personally I have not seen anything regarding this but might be somewhere deep within the forums! At the minute the guys I have spoken with at Frontier have no news on whether or not it will come in the future! There will be ways and I am sure at some point importing into the game will be something from the amount of people wanting and able to do so, just like RCT3.

Style I don't think plays any part as it is up to the user wanting to use the content, don't have to install it if you don't want to! I did a lot of asset creation for the abomination which is RCTW but I did enjoy creating the content for it. Might just have to wait and see until Frontier realise something before messing any files up! I am sure a realistic park for example something like Disney or Universal would be huge. Some amazing creators out there, would be cool to show the work in game whether a coaster is wrapped around it or its just there to look pretty!

 

[Slipknottin]

But they won't do that. It would be a feature built in to Planet Coaster, to create assets for Planet Coaster. They won't give us a file editor, just a Planet Coaster importer that handles the files editing for us. Their compression method btw is not rocket science but it's not something that should be discussed here and nor is it something that we should ever need to discuss. Like I said, if they want to implement UGC in the future (Angelis knows all the facts and confirmations about that!) then it will use a specially built asset editor in-game that doesn't require modification of the files directly by you or I.

You really think they are going to create an entire 3D modeling program in the game? And that still doesn't allow us to import models from elsewhere.
We can see and access all the assets right now. We just don't know how to extract them.

An importer/exporter that converts 3D models into .ovl files works for elite dangerous too.

 

[Angelis1]

Confirmed where? I haven't seen that at all [...]

Here : https://forums.planetcoaster.com/sh...odding-UGC-Darkrides-Custom-Signs-Management)

You really think they are going to create an entire 3D modeling program in the game? And that still doesn't allow us to import models from elsewhere.
We can see and access all the assets right now. We just don't know how to extract them. [...]

Like Jonny Watts said : "So it's two stages. So to start off with, we want to give you the tools and all the things that our imagineers have made; which I think are incredibly beautiful. And then once people have got tired of that, then we will start allowing people to model it in Maya or Max or whatever 3D Package they want."

But yes, the best would be to have, not a "3D modeling program", but a user friendly "3D UGC Editor" allowing us to do several things, like importing 3D models of course, but why not also a sort of "simplified 3D programm" allowing us to take some basics shapes, to apply a texture on it, to merge few shapes together, to rotate, stretch and scale it with the same 3D Gizmo they made, etc... To give a tool also to people who are not (amateur or pro) modelers.

With multiple tabs for custom music, custom video, custom fonts like I said above.
UGC is quite large !

An editor which allows great freedom to players, but still controlled and managed internally by Frontier, with a dedicated interface.
That would be the best.

(I'm not talking about "modding" here, which is another story of course, which by definition can not be controlled anyway)

 

[gregorburns]

You really think they are going to create an entire 3D modeling program in the game? And that still doesn't allow us to import models from elsewhere.
We can see and access all the assets right now. We just don't know how to extract them.

An importer/exporter that converts 3D models into .ovl files works for elite dangerous too.

No that's not what I said at all. There is no way they will ever give us a tool to modify (and most certainly not extract) from their proprietary file format. Like I said before, if they allow UGC in the future, it will be through an in-game importer, not a binary file editor.

 

[Slipknottin]

Here : https://forums.planetcoaster.com/sh...odding-UGC-Darkrides-Custom-Signs-Management)

So the last time they gave any sort of confirmation was 7 months ago...

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No that's not what I said at all. There is no way they will ever give us a tool to modify (and most certainly not extract) from their proprietary file format. Like I said before, if they allow UGC in the future, it will be through an in-game importer, not a binary file editor.

And you aren't understanding what I'm saying. The game stores all of the assets as .ovl. If they give us a tool to convert from whatever 3D model format to .ovl then they have given elite dangerous people a way to import custom files into that game too.

I'm not saying anything about a hex editor. I'm saying a mod tool for this game would be essentially just a way to either extract or compress from or to an .ovl.

Think of .ovl as a .rar file. It's not encrypted or protected or hashed. It's just compressed.

And any tool they give us wether in game or not, that allows us to save custom assets as an .ovl would make reverse engineering the files much much easier than they are now. Giving any modders a key to extracting the existing .ovl files.

 

[Angelis1]

So the last time they gave any sort of confirmation was 7 months ago...

Well ...
I admit that UGC is the TOP#1 requested feature and ... we do not have much information about it [ugh]

But ... They are making the tools we need to "play" with the content, before giving us the tool to "make" the content. [yesnod][up]