Ok, seriously!

[DeltaCommando5]

I sat in front of my computer all day today trying to figure out RF. So far I would rate the ease of use absolutely HORRENDOUS!!! However, after reading some user testimony, I have a renewed sense of confidence in this program and I want to figure it out.

So, PLEASE someone tell me in layman words how the heck does one get started and start making a game! I have a great storyline and I'm already a talented 3D artist and texture artist. How does one import a model? How do I use the entity studio thing? how do I start puttin stuff together!??!!?

I'm using Animation Master for 3D modeling and I have all the plugins I need for files, But how do I import a model into the program?

In layman terms please! Thanks!

You really might as well tell me everything you know because thats really what I need. Thanks!

[ardentcrest]

http://www.realityfactory.info/cms/inde ... umentation

Download the E-Book. A very good book.....

It tells you most you need to know to start.

[AndyCR]

First of all, we're not going to personally tell you everything we know. Everything we learned is in the manual and the tutorials, and everyone learned that way. I would reccomend http://www.freewebs.com/andycr/realityfactory1.htm for starting with RF.

Secondly, if you think RF is hard, try other engines (No, the "6 clicks to a game" engines don't count. I mean real engines.)

[scott]

real engines such as this

do a search for newbe or help on the forums, this has been asked loads of times before and as andy has said we arnt going to just tell you everything theres too much and alot of pointless stuff for some people.

[darksmaster923]

I sat in front of my computer all day today trying to figure out RF. So far I would rate the ease of use absolutely HORRENDOUS!!! However, after reading some user testimony, I have a renewed sense of confidence in this program and I want to figure it out.

So, PLEASE someone tell me in layman words how the heck does one get started and start making a game! I have a great storyline and I'm already a talented 3D artist and texture artist. How does one import a model? How do I use the entity studio thing? how do I start puttin stuff together!??!!?

I'm using Animation Master for 3D modeling and I have all the plugins I need for files, But how do I import a model into the program?

In layman terms please! Thanks!

You really might as well tell me everything you know because thats really what I need. Thanks!

you realize you cant learn a completely new engine just by looking at it. you have to read to manual. i dont think animation master can export to what rf uses.

[paradoxnj]

So far I would rate the ease of use absolutely HORRENDOUS!!!

So...let me get this straight...you didn't RTFM and you say RF is hard? Do you open a model airplane and not look at the instructions? Do you open a puzzle and throw away the box?

Damn!!! QoD, you forgot the "Make Game" button.

[zany_001]

o you open a model airplane and not look at the instructions?

actually yah

[DeltaCommando5]

I did read the manual until It confused itself to death. It wasn't clear enough. It told to to open something and then activate something but there wasn't a button to press so I could'nt activate it, so I quite. Thanks for the Ebook link tho. That should help greatly. I'm glad to see a link to a tutorial, I searched these forums for an hour and didn't find a link for tut.

I'll see what I can do now.

[paradoxnj]

actually yah

Ahh...so you're the type of person that has extra pieces to the puzzle and his hands glued to the model.

[MakerOfGames]

Well, it seems this thread has some animosity in it. Let's not let our tempers flare or overly criticize anyone though.

Ok, so you're having some trouble with creating a game?

So I take it you have opened up the manual from the RF folder in the docs file folder? If not, that is the best place to start. (typically, its C:\RealityFactory\docs\index.htm)

If that was the manual you found, then actor creation(as to use your models in game) is the section you should have read. If that is still confusing you, then I am going to try and help.

First of all you need to use the AStudio program(short for Actor Studio) in the RF tools folder, it is here where you will take .max, .bdy, .act, or .nfo and files and compose an animated actor. RF will only use these file types to create actors. If your animation program cannot save into these formats you need to find a converter. The program is pretty simple to figure out and is self explanatory in my opinion.

One important thing is that with this, all of the actor animations must be saved as separate files. For example you will have a character saved with only a running animation, it re-saved with only a walking animation. You simply supply the program with these files that contain each animation. When you supply it with all of the pieces that will make the actor, you tell the program to make the actor.


Game creation isn't a simple process so I encourage you to keep at this. One thing to keep in mind though is that we are here to help but please don't mistake this forum for a personal tutor. You must either read the manual until gaining understanding, or try by trial and error with how to do things first and then ask for help if you still can't get it.

I hope this clears things up.

[darksmaster923]

I did read the manual until It confused itself to death. It wasn't clear enough. It told to to open something and then activate something but there wasn't a button to press so I could'nt activate it, so I quite. Thanks for the Ebook link tho. That should help greatly. I'm glad to see a link to a tutorial, I searched these forums for an hour and didn't find a link for tut.

I'll see what I can do now.

dude, the link to the ebook is all over this forum.

[Destron]

don't mean to be rude, but you gotta be kidding me if you don't think RF is easy.
At least it comes with documentation! and tools! try downloading the quake 2 or quake 3 arena "engine"... it's just a bunch of source code.

[darksmaster923]

don't mean to be rude, but you gotta be kidding me if you don't think RF is easy.
At least it comes with documentation! and tools! try downloading the quake 2 or quake 3 arena "engine"... it's just a bunch of source code.

the quake engines are technically graphics engines. you have to code everything in C, not C++

[steven8]

Ease of use is totally different from one person to the next. Take federico and QOD and AndyCR and others for example. They chat in thread about incredibly (to me, understand) complex mathematical and programmatic topics. . .and they understand it all, no problem. For them. It is difficult for me. I read it and my head just swims.

RF, to me, is somehwat simple, as in I can put together things and have some fun, but I do have problems with the scripting, which many people say you 'pick up in no time', because it is 'so simple'. I still have no 'picked up' most of it.

There is a great deal of documentation, and quite a few tutorials out there to help users of RF. Many people have done all they could think of (for the moment) to make RF as easy to use as they could, but it is unfair to slam a new user who finds it hard to use. It is certainly not their fault, especially when they say they have read the manual and looked at tutorials, and it is still hard. Give them a break.

Point in case of what's simple for one person and not another. My mother was 47 years old when she went to college. She graduated high school in 1952, but was no good at math. She just got through. In college, they wanted her to take math. I tried to help her, because she was having problems. She could not comprehend variables. 5 + 2 = _, made sense to her. You have two numbers, add them together, and give an answer. She could not understand the sense of being given a problem of 5 + X = 7. She could not get past that.

What is simple for one is not simple for another. Our new user has obviously been trying. Don't beat him away.

[paradoxnj]

the quake engines are technically graphics engines. you have to code everything in C, not C++

That is not entirely true. All the Quake engines are game engines. One DLL is used as a rendering driver. The difference between a game engine and a rendering engine is that the game engine contains game logic. A rendering engine's job is only to render what is given to it. RF as an example. Genesis is the rendering engine that RF uses to draw it's polys. The RF game shell is the "game engine".

Some game engines:

1. Quake Engines
2. Torque
3. FPS Maker
4. RPG Maker

Some rendering engines:

1. Jet3D
2. Genesis 3D
3. Ogre
4. Irrlicht
5. Nebula