After reading a few articles on Modular level design, and realising some of the most used assets for BF2 mapping are modular ones (Bespin buildings, hoth tunnels) I figured I'd have a go at making some. Already made and released a cave tunnels one, and made a cavern one (not released - messed up some measurements for roof pieces).

...and this is my latest one, which I aim to make useable as a complete base/space station/factory/whatever.

Its based on a 4by4 xsi squares grid, so 1 unit = 4x4 squares.

First piece first, a simple tunnel. 2x1x2 units. All textures from scratch, made in photoshop, later I'll add in some modified BF2 ones. Still need to make a roof and floor texture, and replace the ground-wall texture with grates.

Comments, suggestions, questions, etc welcome about both the model and overall idea welcome.

Looks great, has solid reasoning behind it, all self-made: excellent so far. And if by "ground-wall texture" you mean the diagonal faces that connect wall to floor, I think you should keep it the way it is.

By the way, what articles did you read?

one tip: dont expect it to be perfect, there will always be a small gab or some flickering overlapping pieces because ZE doesnt allow you to playe cour models 100% properly, its really annoying (atleast for synthetic indoor stuff)

@Null: thanks, yeah I might. Lots of articles, here's a good one to start with:
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/rsrc/Thr ... Design.pdf

@D.U.C.K.: thats annoying, in ZE the cavern pieces looked fine, I'll check them ingame. If there's always gaps I'll just construct it in XSI and release the XSI files.

Playing with textures to make some more alternate panels (gosh they need bump maps). - Plain one, one with holes for hoses, rust overlay version of original one.

Wow. Those textures a looking good sky!
This is a great idea, and I'm glad somebody like you's willing to do it.

Oh and that pdf you linked to looks like it might come in handy, thanks.

DarthD.U.C.K. wrote:one tip: dont expect it to be perfect, there will always be a small gab or some flickering overlapping pieces because ZE doesnt allow you to playe cour models 100% properly, its really annoying (atleast for synthetic indoor stuff)

That doesn't have to be true. When I design interlocking models, there are a couple different basic things that I sometimes do to prevent this. See below:


The first picture shows the problem you're describing. You can't have completely flat objects line up perfectly, because the textures will fight for the same space. Picture number two shows the easiest way to get around this, and that is to just ensure that your flat faces meet at an angle other than 0 degrees. Picture three shows using a set of connector pieces to join models that would otherwise Z-fight, and picture four shows the same thing, with those pieces simply built onto the model. All are easy options (two is my preference, but circumstances may supersede preference in some cases).

thanks, thats really helpfull, maybe you could even link that in the everythingyouneedthread

Number 2 is what Pandemic did with the Hoth tunnels.

...yep, two works nicely for natural/rough tunnels, think I'll use a connector for mine though.......

Added some hoses, a connector piece, made a floor texture. Not in this shot but also made a simple prop vent for the walls.