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Wildfiregames presents: 0AD's unit upgrade. -Why do you work on this upgrade when you should be working on pathfinder and performance improvements? -Please note that this upgrade has been done by an artist who hasn't any knowledge in programming. This upgrade has not taken away any precious work time to 0AD programming developers who continue to work on the needed pathfinder and performance improvements. -Why do you make this upgrade? For a number or reasons: Unit models are very old, around 6-7 years old. These new models are closer to today's industry standards. UV mapping and model proportions aren't ideal on the current models. The new ones have realistic human proportions and much better UV mapping. Old animations cannot be modified, only created from scratch. With the new models we can maintain the blender source files of the animations and modify them at will. Since we share the blender source files, the team and the community can make variations for their own model variations and still use the new armature. Old model's armature (skeleton) is very basic and limited. With the new model's armature we can achieve more detailed animations and are capable of basic prop animation -Are these new models already implemented? Do they work with the old animations? -No. The models are finished and ready to start animation production. We will remake all the unit animations and implement them when there are almost all of the required animations completed. However, the models are commited to the SVN version of the game with some test examples that you can check in the map editor. These examples and the models will be released in the next Alpha release (Alpha18) if you don't wan't to set up a SVN version. To check some unit examples in SVN, go to the map editor and in the object tab, search for all actors and filter by "newunit". Once selected click on "Switch to action viewer" to isolate the unit and zoom in. (please note these are just examples and they aren't final unit setups) -Do you have increased the number of unit variations of the game? -Yes, now there are non-armored unit variations, and armored unit variations with some differences. There are plans to add some more in the near future if time permits. -Can I make my own animations for my mod and use these new models? -Yes you can! Check at the bottom of this post to download the blender source file(s) of the armature and check the SVN newunit xmls example for setting up your own units. Don't forget to check the presentation video where there's a short explanation of how the armature works. -What is left to be done before I can play with these new models? -Since the unit heads have different size than the old ones, all the helmets in the game must be resized to fit them. Also as pointed a few lines above, we're going to upgrade all the animations to fit these new models. When these two tasks are complete or close to completion, we'll implement them and you'll be able to play 0AD with them. -Is there something I can make to help with this task? -Yes! If you are a skilled animator with experience in human models' animations you can open a thread in "Applications and contributions" subforum, tell us about yourself and show us some of your animation works! Male unit variations (Old Work in progress): (Click following images to enlarge) Female unit variations (Old work in progress): Download the blend file and start animating! Enjoy! New unit upgrade animation template.zip

1st phase is all economics, setting up food production, hunting, berry pickings, setting up your farms, scouting, and all the rest. 2nd phase you get the military upgrades at the barracks and walls and towers are unlocked and you can start to make significant military research at the blacksmith. That's not to say you couldn't raid in the 1st phase (you get access to all citizesoldier types at the barracks, but you have to build it first and it is relatively expensive). I have also divided the Docks into a Docks (fishing, trading) and Shipyard (warships and warship research). Dock is 1st phase, Shipyard comes in 2nd phase.

A couple more: 0 A.D. Multiplayer: Prodigalson vs Hanniball Massive Mauryan archer rush vs Hanniball's Carthaginians, Alpha 17. 0 A.D. Multiplayer: Prodigalson vs phalanx A rather fast game in which I planned for my usual booming (economy development) before going in for combat, the rush attack I faced though acted like a call for counterattack. Phalanx as Carthage and myself as Seleucids, Unknown Land, Alpha 17.

As much as I'd love several extra civs for the core game, 12 are already hard enough to balance and some of them still need extra artwork, especially the Seleucids.

In past Alphas though, didn't it take at least half a dozen kill counts in order for a citizen soldier to level up?

In my opinion, that's one of the purposes of this game: to give players a more detailed, well-rounded view of historical civilizations and leaders.

The Ji seems to correspond with the references, the dagger is a bit sharper (smaller and longer) in the reference but I think it is best to keep it this way to keep it visible in bird view.

A lot of work, but i Mod could be interesting in my honest opinion especially god mode but the other part is unnecessary to be honest.

WIP. Incredible model by the way.

The triangle count is not much higher (around 250 -350 additional triangles only), these meshes still pretty lowpoly for today's standards. AFAIK the biggest performance problems are mainly caused by pathfinding and simulation calculations. So I don't think they would cause much bigger problems. There has been some improvements lately in graphical performance like better shadow culling and better alpha transparency handling too. Regarding unit detail, while it is true that the game is not meant to be played at max zoom all the time, people like sometimes to zoom into the battleground and enjoy observing how the battle unfolds (myself included), take good looking screenshots or use these models in other mods that the camera angle could be different than the standard RTS. Also my mission in this project is to make the game look as good as possible

In-game terrain modification is all but ruled out for Part 1, due to design choices in pathfinding and complications in other things, e.g. terrain-based features like territories and water rendering. A lot of optimizations and caching can be used if the terrain doesn't change. Personally, I wouldn't mind having it with limited applications, but 0 A.D. isn't really about civil engineering/city building/etc. So part of me would like building roads, digging canals, building bridges, but it's not a focus Instead, RTSes tend to abstract such processes with technologies and stat changes.

Alright, I made a collar. I'm done. Go texture it mastiff.zip

This would be appropriate for Millenium AD....

Two more games: 0 A.D. Multiplayer: Prodigalson vs SwampGremlin This match starts with some peaceful booming until around 19:45, then the offensive kicks in, resulting in some pretty intense combat around three fronts, with both players focusing on cavalry. SwampGremlin is playing as the Gauls and I'm playing as the Seleucids. There's a little bit of an effort on commentary during the first few minutes before I get absorbed by managing the game. 0 A.D. Multiplayer: Prodigalson & LordigorIIIOfKiev vs theMario & erejum31 A 2v2 with an unexpected twist, having the player considered weaker during team set-up decide the outcome. Myself as the Mauryans, Lordigor as the Iberians, theMario as the Macedonians and erejum31 as the Athenians.

One more, 0 A.D. Multiplayer Commentary: yray & Varrus vs Philosopher & Parkour3k Observing and commenting a game between 4 players I had never played with before. Includes some tips on mistakes that might be useful to some of the participants and new players in general. It's on alpha 17, game map is Watering Holes. Commentary starts at 0:55.