Redesign of all HQ and support factories

Saver

Good evening,

Here's an update on the current status.

FAF all

Mod all

FAF T3

Mod T3

FAF T2 T1

Mod T2 T1

FAF

Mod

FAF all

Mod all

Since I don't want to make any major changes to the existing models (that would be beside the point for the project), I still hope to meet some of your requirements. Unfortunately, the animations are still missing, as my new version of Blender is still causing some problems, and I might have to upgrade again. I hope to finish all the animations by Friday, then I'll upload a new version of the mod to FAF. But that's it for now. See you soon

Saver

Hello,

I've finished the animation. Currently, I'm still missing the adjustments to the blinking lights and the LOD1 models. However, I've uploaded a new version (No. 6) with the current status to FAF. I hope you like the models.

BlackYps

Nice work you are doing here! I'll have to check out your mod to take an even closer look in the game

Saver

@BlackYps Thank you very much, that's nice to hear

Saver

Final (I think ^^) The Aeon Water Factory should now be complete and is available for anyone who wants to test it in the

mod - Savers Factory Rework.

If I missed any mistakes, please let me know But that's it for today.

Adjustment of the flashing lights completed.

Adjustment of the LOD 1 models so that you can roughly recognize the new models even from a distance.

Have a nice evening

Saver

Hello everyone,
I had to correct this report again. I found a bug that I unfortunately only discovered in test mode. It concerns the construction area when a factory is supposed to be placed. Unfortunately, it's not that easy to fix because I haven't been able to determine the exact cause yet. Therefore, I can only report where I noticed the bug.

Unfortunately, this bug affects FAF, my modified version. I've tried to reduce the problem. Here are some examples of the problem.

In the left area, you can see T1 factories. In the right area, you can see all the Tec levels. All factories were created using cheats.

The first error area is with the T3 factories. Either the area has expanded or the unit is extending beyond it.

Now I wanted to see what would happen when the T1 factories upgraded. The overlap would begin.

But you'd think that's only the case in cheat mode. Unfortunately not. I've had five T1 factories built here and had them upgraded. I'll also point out errors in the T2 status here, as these could be overlooked.

Another example where I first had factories built.

As I said, I unfortunately couldn't fix this error. So here are the similar images with the same tests.

As I said, I tried to solve or minimize the problem. With more or less success

When factories are built one after the other, it seems fine. However, if I place a T1 factory next to it and let it upgrade, the same thing happens again.

Hopefully, more experienced people here have an idea. I'll leave it as it is for now, since it only concerns the Aeon Water Factory, and I'll take another look at it later.

As a guide, I tried to resolve the issue. Here are the steps. The new water models all come from a single base factory, so the bone layout is the same for all of them. So I looked for the error in the blueprint and tweaked the following values:

In my mod, I was at least able to limit the error to T2, which was resolved after upgrading to T3.

I hope we can fix this bug later, but for now, I want to focus on the Aeon Land factory. Let's see what we can do there. ^^ See you soon

Saver

Hello

As I announced in my last post, I took a look at the Aeon's land factory. And unfortunately, I had to struggle with myself a bit. Why? There are two things on the FAF/Supcom factory that I hadn't noticed before, but which now bothered me. !!! As JIP already said, you can never ignore problems you've seen, so if you keep looking, it's your own fault.

First, the points that bother me about the current FAF version.

T3 units clip through the factory because it is too flat.
The factory in every form is a dwarf compared to the other factions.

But you might be lucky because you only see the factories from above For those who like to zoom in and pan the camera, my mod can provide some help.

As far as I know, the Aeon are a faction of the Faith, so why shouldn't they get a temple too?

Here are a few pictures of the current results. (Unfortunately, T1 & T2 are still missing.)

T3 HQ -

Here is the comparison with the other factions.

T3 Support -

Now the T3 units fit in too ^^

Bad example
This way you can see more

I hope again that this model will find some acceptance.

So far so good, the rest will follow in the next few days. See you soon.

Saver

Hello everyone, I've finally finished the Aeon Land factories. Here are a few more pictures for comparison. Feel free to let me know if you have other ideas for the design. Unfortunately, I couldn't think of a more suitable one. And believe me, I've been experimenting for a long time.

If you don't immediately notice the basic changes, here are a few.

The base platform of all factories has been changed from a flat circle to a hemisphere. The buildings on the platform have been slightly larger so they can compete more effectively with other races. The floating ring elements now appear more firmly connected to the base.

I've adjusted all the LOD 1 models again, but they're not quite as easy to identify as in the FAF version because I haven't removed any components. The archway in the T2/T3 HQ has been reduced slightly to make it easier to identify the unit being built.

I've also made some adjustments to the LOD 1 models of the water factories. But that's it for now. You can now test version 9. I hope you enjoy the update. See you soon.

Uveso

I love those new models
Can’t wait to play the mod.

Saver

Thx

Saver

Hello, I have a question regarding the Lod1 models.

Can't these be omitted for large objects and the value of LODCutoff increased from 200 to 500?
How many frames are saved by this feature? I'm asking because I'm still creating them for the Aeon's airframe, but perhaps these models are negligible. Or rather, the optics with the 500 LodCutoff of the Lod0 model are always better than the low-poly version.

Here is an example:
LODCutoff=200

After zooming out beyond the value 200, Lod1 appears.

(Please note this is already my improved version)

Here is the adjustment when the value is set to 500.
LODCutoff=500

I'm curious about the answers

PS: The update for the Aeon Air Factory will be available tomorrow.

Nomander

I just tested ~83 Cybran T3 HQs and the LOD1 model had ~50% the frametime increase of the LOD0 model. So if there's a lot of factories from multiple players or a huge base (coop would be the largest hit on performance imo) it can definitely have an impact.

You can check the frametime by going to the console and typing in ShowStats, then expanding the "Frame" section.

speed2

Thats a very specific scenario, not even coop has that many factories that would be visible at the same time, even with the increased LOD

Saver

Here's the new version of the Aeon air factory.

I think the idea of the FAF team's baseplate is great. This element was chosen excellently for quick differentiation. My task was to give the HQ factories a bit more visual appeal.
Unfortunately, I had a bit of a hard time with it again, as the texture didn't allow for as many customizations as other factories, but everyone can judge the result for themselves. Here the result should be more reminiscent of a shrine.

As usual, here is a small comparison.

Thank you for the answers regarding the LOD1 model. Since the value can have a significant impact, I will always adjust it. I've therefore reviewed all previous models again and made a few small improvements. Here's just a small picture.

If there are no further additions, I will now devote myself to the Cybran.

BlackYps

I'm not yet sold on the new Aeon land factories. Especially the HQ looks too bulky. To me it feels like a UEF engineer's attempt at making an Aeon building. It has this massive, bulky aesthetic. I'm also not sure if I like the raised platforms, although I also have to say that the complete flatness from before looks a bit weird as well.

Having said that, I do like the general design ideas you have. For example, the white shields in the corners are very nice, although I would scale them down a bit, because right now the low texture resolution is quite noticable.
I am sure that with some more minor adjustments we can have a great result.

Could you change your mod to make the original models available as well? Just as another building would be enough, it can even be non-functional. It would make comparisons between the old and new much easier.

Saver

@BlackYps
Hello, and thanks again for your feedback. I'll go through your message one by one Why did the Aeon Land factory turn out like this:

I'd read in many posts about all the factories that the HQs didn't look powerful enough. And that's already true for the base model of the Aeon.
The best way to see this aspect is to look at the factories from the side.
As I wrote, they imagine these buildings as a temple. That's how the idea for the design came about.

This also explains the change in the base platform. All land and air factories in SC are high platforms. Only the Aeon Land has not. However, since it should fit the faction, I've made it more similar to the air factory.

I'm happy to reduce the side panels again. What do you think about 3/4 of the current size?

Lastly, I'll focus on the current mod. I think your suggestion is great. However, I'd leave the mod as it is, since people are already using it in the game. I'd therefore like to create a second test mod where all factories can be built. If I have enough time, I'll be able to upload it this evening (my wife still has a say on that, though ^^).

Normal:
Savers Factory Rework

Comparison:
Savers Factory Rework +FAF

By the way, this work is now celebrating its halfway point - Bergfest (that's what we say in Germany).

Saver

@BlackYps

Hi, I got some time ^^

so here's your mod- test- version.

Unfortunately, there's still a bug in the mod. See the image from the game. All upgrade variants are always displayed, even though I renamed them in the blueprint. But maybe I missed something.

Well, that should be enough for the test

I haven't changed the Aeon Land factory yet, though. But I think that's enough work for today.

I hope you enjoy testing it. And don't be surprised, I've adjusted almost all factories. So, from T1 to T3 UEF and Aeon

BlackYps

Thank you for that mod! Don't worry about the technical issues, it's fine enough for testing.

I thought some more about the Aeon factories and I think I just dislike changing the design of a factory where it is not needed. The idea is to basically keep the original factory models as support factories. I see that you connected the previously floating arcs, which is a nice change, but raising the platform is not really needed. It significantly changes the overal design and it's a change purely based on personal taste. It also creates the issue that the structures in the back have to be even higher to support the arc shields without units clipping into it.
I do like that you moved the structures in the back further out, this is a good change, it reduces clipping with units and makes the factory look a bit bigger without changing the feel of the design.

I have some more thoughts about the HQ: I generally like the extra elements and animations you added. As I said, I think the shields (purple) should be 1/4 to 1/3 smaller. The pillars (orange) are very nicely designed. I think I would like it better if they supported the raising arc in the front instead of these pure black things (red). I'd remove the extra terraces in the back (green) imo they make it look too bulky.

Saver

Phew, that's a lot of adjustments. But that's what this topic is for.

Since the modification to the base plate affects all animations, I would first adjust only the model for T3 and create it as a new unit (luckily, I've stored all the movements as Lua files in the mod for this purpose ^^).

Do you perhaps have a rough idea for how the front arch should be raised?

Then we can discuss the further changes.

@ All If you can, please participate in the discussion so we can achieve a more comprehensive result.

Katharsas

I personally like Aeon factories not being flat at the bottom very much. I also like that it is higher. It really looked like the odd one out compared to the other factories before when viewed from the side (what you demonstrated here: https://forum.faforever.com/post/68882 ).

But i agree with BlackYps that some of the black blocks in the HQ do not look good. Aeon is imo generally a "rounded", "organic" looking faction and the black blocks make it too blocky.