How to mod

[Rustyrockets]

Hello fellow transport/train game lovers.

I am a college student in the US , and I would like to ask you veterans of the games , how to actually start creating mods.

Please think that you are answering to a complete dummy , who has no idea of anything about modding.

Please tell me where to start , so someday in the future I can contribute to the community.

(If i ever learn to mod, All the Landmarks and Real world skyscrappers would be the first things to come).

[Berry]

Download Blender, open it, uninstall.exe is the way most people mod… And I don’t blame them.

It is really complicated, it isn’t just like you can make a highly detailed model in half an hour. So the first step is to determine if you are willing to put a lot of time into making mods, because it will take time to learn how everything works and it will be a thing of trial and error. I kind of liked making mods, but I stopped, because it takes a pretty big ammount of  time to model something from nothing, I had other stuff to do so I just didn’t care for it enough to continue modding. (I made car models for GTA IV if you’re wondering.)

And don’t think that it is just making a 3D model, oh no, no, no, no mister, you also have to make textures for your 3D model. However making textures was the most fun thing IMO, that’s why I kept making skins for cars after I quit making 3D models.

 

It’s not like you are the ultimate modder once you got a modding tool, hell no… I’m going to tell you a little secret. You will suck at it at first. I can promise you that. So did I, so did everyone else… I guess…

 

Are you still into the modding scene?

Yes – Great, I hope somebody with more knowledge can help you! Good luck and have fun! Though I will just advise you to just google. It’s not like I don’t think that people can’t help you here, I guess it’s quite the opposite. But it takes a lot of time to learn how to mod and so it takes a lot of time to explain everything to you. So that’s why I suggest you just use google because there already have been tons of people more than willing to explain how to mod. I’m not saying that people here are not willing/shouldn’t help you, it’s just that there are so many tutorials and such online that will probably make things a lot easier for you to understand as upposed to messages and comments on this site (which to begin with, isn’t about modding, but about a game). And don’t think that I’m going to explain anything to you, it’s been a long time since I made my last model and I’m probably not the best teacher.

Are you still into the modding scene?

No – Well, if you still think you are, keep on trying I guess, but if the answer is no, you should seriously start to wonder how bad you want to be able to do it.

 

Now young grasshopper, this was the first lesson for today.

Note that this was totally based up on my experience about modding for ANOTHER GAME!

[Rustyrockets]

@Berry.

Thank you for your detailed explanation. Well I think i am passionate enough to atleast give a try to learn. so off to google now.

(I hope my dream of making a city that looks like San francisco in train fever will be complete someday, Goldengate and cablecar in train fever)

[swissyntax]

Maybe 5 years ago, I was on the same point like you. After some days with Google, I Mod following building for simutrans:

But I got not much of productive feedback/interest and I went back to do something different. I would love to do 3D Modeling as profession-work but be aware as Moder you do it on the end only for your self. Contribute to the community is the wrong attitude in my opinion.

[Rustyrockets]

@swissyntax-

I agree and i think it would be pretty evident from my posts that all i want is a city like my city with things my real city has and that’s for myself.

If i could pay and buy from some modder, i would actually buy it , rather than build a mod ..

[olahaldor]

Hahaha! Funny post, Berry! 😀

 

Rustyrockets, first you need to learn the tools you’ll need to use to make a mod. But don’t think of it as a mod at this point. It may be the driving force that you some day want to have this or that model in your favorite game, but it shouldn’t be what’s stopping you when you don’t get it to look or work the way you want.

Making 3D models is hard. No matter how experienced you are, you’ll spend a lot of time creating things with different techniques, and sometimes you’ll make parts, or even the whole model over and over again until you’re happy with it.

I’ve always modeled buildings and simple things for motion graphics, so starting on the train I’m working on now proved to be wild idea, because I’ve never made anything even close to any kind of vehicle or with a streamlined shape like a train needs.

So I plonked down a bit of cash for a set of tutorials and started learning about the technique I thought would benefit me the most for modeling trains and cars. It took me almost a week of trial and error before I got something I thought was good enough to continue with and flesh out details and make textures.

First things first: 

Find the 3D app you want to learn. A lot of the Autodesk apps (3Ds Max, Maya, Softimage) have free student versions.
LightWave 3D which I use have a student price, as well as a 30 day trial.
Modo is also a great tool for vehicle modeling, and looks bit like a hybrid between LightWave and Maya if you ask me.

Check tutorials on YouTube and see which one you like the most. All the apps can do the same things basically, but there’s slightly different roads to get there.

All the above are commercial apps that cost a bit. The Autodesk apps are rather expensive compared to LightWave and Modo.

I only know one free app; Blender. I don’t know how to use it, nor can I tell you where to find tutorials. Personally I don’t get how people make things with it. :p

 

You’ll need to practice a lot. Over and over again. Start with basic shapes. Make a chair. Make a toy car. Make whatever you see around you in the room or on your way to school. Practice!

Tutorials are great too, to learn how different tools operate and what they’re ment for.

When you’ve made a model you’re happy with you can look into UV mapping (or UV unwrap – it’s basically the same thing, just different terminology). And then texturing using Photoshop or similar tools.

 

All this is just for the 3D model itself. The next part is making it work with the game. And I’m not the one to talk about that just yet. But from what I’ve seen, it would include a bit of file conversion and scripting in LUA. I’m sure we’ll know more about this once the game is released.

If you’re making the mod for yourself and you’re happy with it, why not share it? Even if it’s only for a couple of friends. Only you as the creator of the mod will decide whether it’ll be released to anyone else.

 

If I could make money on making mods, I would, but I’m not sure how that’s going to work with the EULA of the game. :p

• This reply was modified 9 years, 7 months ago by olahaldor.

[GeoffersH]

I take my hat off to all the people who spend hours and hours, making models for computer games. I just haven’t got the time or patience to take it up. It is you guys that keep games interesting, with lot’s of exciting additions to add to them, which attract more people to buy these sort of games. From what I have seen so far with Trainfever, it has been kept reasonably simple, without bringing in stocks and shares, like most other games of this type, which I have to say, I am happy about.

There will be enough interest, just expanding the towns with transport links and seeing them grow over time, than worrying about competition from other companies and having to deal with the financial aspects of the stock market.

New models will certainly enhance the game and it will be nice to be able to download vehicle packs for your home country (mine being the UK) rather than have to play with just the models that come with the game. But I am impressed with what models do come with it, like the old steam trams and buses, through to the record breaking LNER Mallard of the 1930’s era.

So to you modder’s out there, “keep up the good work” it will be interesting to see what becomes available for this game.

[Rustyrockets]

I know the EULA agreements . I definetly think modders who build content should to get profits from their work. Maybe the game developers should sell them at their official game website with taking a appropriate chunk for themsaelves , makes everyone happy ,, especially the loyal fans who get massive content and keep game alive for decades.

[Author]

Posts