GameSpot's PC Preview

[Skyline_man]

You heared it

 

Preview & Q&A here:

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/gta4/preview_6126774.html

 

Screenshots here:

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/gta4/screenindex.html

 

EDIT: /me: Drooling

 

 

Enjoy

Edited June 1, 2005 by Skyline_man

[DigitalD]

News will be up momentarily.

[Skyline_man]

 

News will be up momentarily.

Thanks D

 

and btw, they are only 4 screenshots, so can you please edit my topic description ?

Edited June 1, 2005 by Skyline_man

[Otter]

So, no in-game skinning, huh? What the hell are they on about, "modder friendly"? They actually REMOVING modder friendly material.

[Samutz]

Lots of great info there about the game engine that modders will be interested in.

 

Edit: In reply to above post:

You can't expect them to be able to create a system that skins CJ with every single possible combination of clothing, fitness, and hairstyles from just one skin image. I'm sure that if you really want to skin him, you can open up the img file and edit the txds just like you could edit Tommy's other outfits in VC.

Edited June 2, 2005 by Samutz

[davew2040]

I get the impression that they get screenshots when running the game at a really high resolution, and then scale it down with Photoshop or osmething.

[GTAGuy]

So, no in-game skinning, huh? What the hell are they on about, "modder friendly"? They actually REMOVING modder friendly material.

In-game skinning will still be possible, just not without editing a txd file in the IMG archive. It is impossible to create one skin for CJ when he is always changing clothes, hairstyle, etc.. The one reason the modding community used skinning in GTA3 and VC was to make new clothes and looks for Claude and Tommy. The fact that you can actually change CJ's appearance in-game sort of defeats the purpose of skinning him, doesn't it? Of course people will want to make custom skins for some of the clothes, and that will be more than possible to do, but not with the convenient way that GTA3 and VC had, only because the situation is a bit more complicated in SA.

[illspirit]

So, no in-game skinning, huh? What the hell are they on about, "modder friendly"? They actually REMOVING modder friendly material.

I always thought the "custom skinning" thing was rather unfriendly to modders. Sure, it was simple enough for any fool with MS Paint to draw some flames/blood/sunglasses/clown-makeup onto the default skin without much work. But to anybody trying to do something more involved, their options were quite limited since the default stuff was hardcoded. For instance, I've made/am making a few ped models, but none of them can be used as the main skin since they use multiple and different sized textures.

 

Besides, you'll still be able to skin, it will just require opening a txd as well this time. Oh, and if it's any consolation, there doesn't seem to be anything in the way off adding all new pieces of clothing- be it copied and edited versions existing models/skins, or entirely new geometry as soon as we figure out how to export them.

[Otter]

So, no in-game skinning, huh? What the hell are they on about, "modder friendly"? They actually REMOVING modder friendly material.

In-game skinning will still be possible, just not without editing a txd file in the IMG archive. It is impossible to create one skin for CJ when he is always changing clothes, hairstyle, etc.. The one reason the modding community used skinning in GTA3 and VC was to make new clothes and looks for Claude and Tommy. The fact that you can actually change CJ's appearance in-game sort of defeats the purpose of skinning him, doesn't it? Of course people will want to make custom skins for some of the clothes, and that will be more than possible to do, but not with the convenient way that GTA3 and VC had, only because the situation is a bit more complicated in SA.

It was a lot more than just making new clothes, man. We had black Tommy's, mexican Claudes, and a whole slew of other possibilities. Seriously, why am I getting jumped on here? I thought you'd all be on my side.

 

I understand that it would be a more difficult task to implement than it was in Vice, but I disagree that it's now obsolete. Look at a game like morrowind; you can entirely customize your character, yet face and body mods are as HUGE thing in the modder camps.

 

So, instead of editing one skin, we'd have to edit 3. Or maybe six. Still, I think they should have left the option in the game.

[Otter]

So, no in-game skinning, huh? What the hell are they on about, "modder friendly"? They actually REMOVING modder friendly material.

I always thought the "custom skinning" thing was rather unfriendly to modders. Sure, it was simple enough for any fool with MS Paint to draw some flames/blood/sunglasses/clown-makeup onto the default skin without much work. But to anybody trying to do something more involved, their options were quite limited since the default stuff was hardcoded. For instance, I've made/am making a few ped models, but none of them can be used as the main skin since they use multiple and different sized textures.

 

Besides, you'll still be able to skin, it will just require opening a txd as well this time. Oh, and if it's any consolation, there doesn't seem to be anything in the way off adding all new pieces of clothing- be it copied and edited versions existing models/skins, or entirely new geometry as soon as we figure out how to export them.

I hear ya. I, however, loved the ease of making a personal skin and importing it right away. They should have included a similar option for clothing..... but I'll bite the bullet and use comunity tools. You guys work so hard on them, anyways.

[Jordan]

Ya that one screen that you posted so we could see it in this post sure looks nice, but its a pre-render! Remember promotional shots like this for Vice City:

 

 

I think I made my point

[illspirit]

I hear ya. I, however, loved the ease of making a personal skin and importing it right away. They should have included a similar option for clothing..... but I'll bite the bullet and use comunity tools. You guys work so hard on them, anyways.

Hmmmm.... Would it be any better if someone made a txd browser/tool that acted sorta like a folder, and had shell integration so you could open and save straight to/from Photoshop or whatever? Kind of like how Winzip or WinRar let you muck with stuff inside like a normal file.

[Otter]

I hear ya.  I, however, loved the ease of making a personal skin and importing it right away. They should have included a similar option for clothing.....  but I'll bite the bullet and use comunity tools. You guys work so hard on them, anyways.

Hmmmm.... Would it be any better if someone made a txd browser/tool that acted sorta like a folder, and had shell integration so you could open and save straight to/from Photoshop or whatever? Kind of like how Winzip or WinRar let you muck with stuff inside like a normal file.

Yeah, that would be neat. I guess i liked the in-game skin function so much because it was just so clean, and I could change skins on the fly.

 

Does anyone know how clothing works, in the game? Is there a body mesh, and then a clothes mech that goes over top? Or does each piece of clothing entirely replace a bodypart? (modder's nightmare, if you ask me)

[salibaba]

the way I assume it works is that there is the main body mesh for each size of CJ eg fat + slim, then for each of those meshes there is a mesh for each clothes type, eg one for shoes, one for jackets/tshirts. and when you select a t shirt say it is put over that mesh even though the entire mesh is not covered so it will show the body mesh under it, same goes for a jacket with that T shirt, but the jacket is on the same mesh as the t shirt just over the top of it.

Im not a modder but that seems the most logical way to me.

[davew2040]

Ya that one screen that you posted so we could see it in this post sure looks nice, but its a pre-render! Remember promotional shots like this for Vice City:

 

I think I made my point

I bet it'd look like that with mipmapping!

[TRN4L]

I hear ya.  I, however, loved the ease of making a personal skin and importing it right away. They should have included a similar option for clothing.....  but I'll bite the bullet and use comunity tools. You guys work so hard on them, anyways.

Hmmmm.... Would it be any better if someone made a txd browser/tool that acted sorta like a folder, and had shell integration so you could open and save straight to/from Photoshop or whatever? Kind of like how Winzip or WinRar let you muck with stuff inside like a normal file.

I've been waiting for somthing like that since GTAIII

[KoLSPD2]

I don't mean to sound like a n00b, but how will the controls be done for the PC version? I haven't seen screenshots of it, or how the controls be for the PC edition. I guess wait until June 7th...

 

Oh, this skin idea will seem a bit complicated, but if modders got the hang of this skin idea, it'll be a cinch. Remember how easy skinning was in GTA3? I'm afraid this may be a nightmare to those that were experts in skinning from GTA3 to VC.

 

Just my two cents (of dead pedestrians. Bad pun)

[Samutz]

Controls will be pretty much be exactly like 3 and VC.

[KoLSPD2]

Damn, I meant on how swimming will be possible. With a mouse, it seems easy, but I assume Left Click is dive, and right click will be the "swim" button. That's how I will assign it once it's released.

[illspirit]

Yeah, that would be neat. I guess i liked the in-game skin function so much because it was just so clean, and I could change skins on the fly.

 

Does anyone know how clothing works, in the game? Is there a body mesh, and then a clothes mech that goes over top? Or does each piece of clothing entirely replace a bodypart? (modder's nightmare, if you ask me)

Oh yea, I didn't even think about the skin menu. That does kinda suck now that you mention it. Meh. Well, at least most safehouses have closets in them to switch clothes.

 

As for how the models work, basically, there are seperate meshes for the head, torso, legs, hands, and shoes. With a few extras here and there for neckless, glasses, and such. Buying a shirt would replace the whole torso, while watches, glasses, or something just float above them. IIRC, there's also 3 variations of each head, torso, and leg bit for weight/muscle changes. So, yea, modelling meshes will be a pain (though it already is in VC), but reskinning an existing article souldn't be too hard.

[blue_steel]

The pic with the chopper in it looks awesome, the rest arent that impressive to me. Personally.

[HinGTA]

I did find the URL funny though - "GTA4". The only people who have ever called it "GTA4" are 10 year old n00bs, now we can throw Gamespot in with the kids lol