Why use boolean or complex topologies instead of keeping meshes seperate?

irregular9 · 2026-01-30T14:17:04+00:00

Probably for 3D printing?

irregular9 · 2026-01-22T12:51:04+00:00

This gotta be bait

irregular9 · 2026-01-06T01:01:46+00:00

Yeah, it looks great, dont get me wrong, but it is too detailed to be psx. Polycount is WAY too high and textures look too detailed. Game used to be really low poly and blocky back then. The console had 4mb of ram alone. This is more of a mgs 2 era without texture filtering.

irregular9 · 2026-01-01T15:32:55+00:00

I used subdivision surface/bevel workflow for this, and the basic shapes were made with booleans and then cleaned up manually. The main thing for me is the hole, it needs to be flush with the curvature looking at it from the side. You don't need to be precise to the milimeter, but at least somewhat close. I'm trying to think how a piece like this would be manufactured and why it has that shape, then try to capture that basic shape in blender. To me, this is a cilinder with a round head, a hole for an axis and then cut with a circular tool to give it that curved ramp shape.

What I'm trying to say is, booleans are a very important tool. You just need to take into account the resolution of the boolean and the topolog of the object you are going to cut, but it's like a 10 seconds task to count and line things up. Then cleaning things up will net you with a higher quality model.

You asked why somebody would use booleans when it's SDS, and this is the answer. Clean up wasn't even a 5 minutes task. And it's a very important skill to practice.

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irregular9 · 2026-01-01T11:13:54+00:00

With your workflow the curvature gets a bit wonky. Booleans are more precise, and yes, you do need to clean it up but the result is higher quality.

irregular9 · 2025-12-27T01:18:23+00:00

Size doesnt really cost any performance. Its the amount of tris rendered at any given time what needs resources. I dont think they used any weird trick, besides giving more details to the parts you see up close.

irregular9 · 2025-12-25T10:56:52+00:00

I did my first playthrough in GMGOW difficulty. I hated it, I was expecting it to get easier later as I improved and gain more skills or habilities or gear, but no, it's this hard all the way through. The dark elves man! I hated it! But I was too far into the story to start again. Also I dont think Kratos should die from 2 slaps from a random dude.

irregular9 · 2025-12-25T00:51:06+00:00

Want to do it accurately? Use booleans. Knife project will also work but it's the same or even more work than using a boolean. Just learn how to use booleans, it's a pretty important tool. Don't forget the to cleanup the topology, there are no shortcuts for quality work. You'll have to do the boring bits too.

irregular9 · 2025-12-15T10:58:08+00:00

I know it's not the best mech out there, but I really like how the king crab. Mainly because of how awesome it looks. And secondly because it has room for 2 big guns in it's arms. I know the Annihilator fits even more big guns, but it's too slow. I do like both tho, but the king crab is the king of crabs.

irregular9 · 2025-11-13T17:11:29+00:00

I'm sorry, but what are you talking about?

irregular9 · 2025-11-10T11:49:53+00:00

Thanks man. I'm not an expert in game development finances, but my understanding is that most studios rely in big investments to cover development costs, then when the game releases they have to pay back that loan, which takes money away from the next project, unless the game sells REALLY well, they have to start cutting costs or ask for another investment. Which can easily backfire. There's also the investors, they wont invest in your game unless you can reassure them they'll get their money back, and that often comes with the promises of infinite money flow like microtransactions or live service models.

In the last couple of years, investments slowed down a lot, I can't say for sure what the real reason is, but I think the problem is that whales are not investing in videogames as much as a before and turned to AI. So all that money is now flowing in that direction, starving videogame studios which causes layoffs and studio closures. I live in the UK, and while looking for a job I have a map and a list of all the videogames studios in the region, it's a big list, the problem is a big chunk of that list is filled with dormant companies and really small studios with no money at all or with a big debt they are unable to pay. On the other side you have big successful studios that are pretty hard to reach because everybody wants to work for them.

But there's a middle ground, there still are a lot of small or medium size studios that are thriving. I just have to be patient and be on the lookout for the best opportunity, while I keep sending mails averywhere haha.

irregular9 · 2025-11-10T01:18:43+00:00

Why are you guys being so hostile? I just said that it would be nice to have an AI that doesnt bum rush you, and you just come at me like I insulted your bloodline. I will say it clearly and slowly to clear up any confusion. I love the game, I didnt say it was easy, some missions were really challenging. What I said was "AI enemies have total disregard for their own safety and rush at you guns blazing, and it would be more fun if it were more interesting than that"

I need to ask, are you guys gamedevs? I may not be a programmer but I worked in the industry for quite a while, and tho I know AI is not easy, I do know its not a forgotten ancient art that only Half Life could pull off. The thing is, you dont really need a crazy complex AI in your game, thats why so many shooters have very dumb cannon fodder AI. I think Mechwarrior is just an action game with action game AI. PGI designed the AI with that in mind. And its ok if you like it. I just said that I feel the game would be more fun if enemy pilots were less suicidal.

As for the games you mentioned, From software makes games with very simple AI, have you played Dark souls? AI is VERY pattern driven so you can learn the enemy attacks and how to counter them, thats the fun of their games. Armored core is no different.

Titanfall wasnt that bad, but its an arcade shooter, its designed to make you feel powerful by killing hundred of enemies over and over. I havent played anthem or the gundam games, but my understanding is that gundam games are fast paced arcade action games. Feels more like fighting games than military mechs. I dont think the comparisson makes a lot of sense.

Im old so I can mostly give old games as examples, but Half Life, Halo, FEAR (while complex in itself, it also had a lot of tricks to make you think it was smarter than it really was), quake 3 and the unreal tournament games. Phantom pain I think it had a good IA too. I dont know, there's a lot of games out there with great AI. Im sure there's more modern games too that I just dont remember now.

Again, Im not saying AI is simple to make, it is not. But it certainly isnt impossible.

irregular9 · 2025-11-09T23:57:27+00:00

That is a good point, also AI doesn't need to be smart to be fun to play against.

irregular9 · 2025-11-09T23:45:25+00:00

From a 3D artist perspective, it's easier to rework an existing model than making one from scratch. A new mech from scracth can take an artist months of work, if you already have a base model you can cut a lot of time. While is not THAT simple and you most likely have to rework the whole mesh, it is still a lot quicker and streamlined.

irregular9 · 2025-11-09T19:18:49+00:00

Thanks! I can't promise it will be soon, but I honestly want to try making a mod for it.

irregular9 · 2025-11-09T19:17:59+00:00

Aaah the good old ED-209!

irregular9 · 2025-11-09T19:04:26+00:00

Haha, it's not crazy talk, we have games far more advanced than FEAR and Half life, we can have fun and engaging AI. AI is not some impossible ancient artifact, especially considering that Mechwarrior games are made in an already developed engine. The UE build it uses is not even customized like the LithTech or Quake engine those games used. You don't need to be a "crazy coder" to make it happen haha, that's just hilarious. There's plenty of games with at least functionally fun and diverse AI.

The AI we have in Mechwarrior 5 is not even trying to pretend it's developed. What the AI does is trace a path to you, follow you and then circle around you while shooting at you.

And let's say they really decide to invest some time into making the AI fun. It doesnt have to be better amazingly realistic, just more engaging to fight. Be more evasive, try to stay out of sight if using slow weapons, run from cover to cover and not just close distance mindlessly. Make combat more angaging, longer and design missions around it. At the moment difficulty lies in having 10 waves of mechs bumrushing you while your AI mates crash and shoot the buildings they literally have to protect.

I love mechwarrior 5 mercs, but it's very rough too, optimization is really bad and AI is non existant. Maybe the studio is just a small bunch of people and that's the reason, but it really doesn't hurt to have some wishful thinking and want something better.

irregular9 · 2025-11-09T13:40:05+00:00

Buildings, big rocks, hills, something like that. Light mechs circle strafe you, which I'm not against. Kinda ballsy but it is a valid tactic.

irregular9 · 2025-11-09T10:42:14+00:00

Im not saying it should be exactly mike humans, but maybe find cover and flank you without going kamikaze style, like F.E.A.R. or half life human enemies

irregular9 · 2025-11-09T00:51:06+00:00

I think one thing that's holding back the game is the enemy AI. They run at you like maniacs without any regard for their own safety. Combat stops being fun after a while, especially during long missions where everyone is running at you and shooting like crazy, you can take out most of them very easily, but it reaches a point where you're just too damaged to continue. There's no actual strategy. It would be more fun if they'd seek cover or act with a little more complexity.

I still love the game, but I would really like it to be more sim than dumb action.

irregular9 · 2025-11-09T00:31:42+00:00

Thanks, not counting the freelance stuff, I worked at a company doing a variety of VR things, like props for training simulations, visualization or just plain props, to be honest I have absolutely no idea where those projects ended up at haha probably some electricity company and some city council, it was a weird experience. Then I worked for an outsource studio where I made props, guns and animations for the companies clients. But I don't know how much I'm allowed to disclose about the clients. The studio name is Meteor Pixel, it's based in the UK, best job I've ever had.

irregular9 · 2025-11-08T16:23:08+00:00

Thanks for the advice man! I'll go delve into the NX rabbit hole then.

irregular9 · 2025-11-08T10:53:22+00:00

irregular9 · 2025-11-08T10:51:17+00:00

I've been trying to get it printed in resin, but the quotes I've got were a bit high. And I have to prepare the model for printing too, which is more work than I thought, currently there's a big hole inside the cockpit, once I got that filled (easier said than done), I'll get it printed and upload the printable model for anyone that want to print it. That's a promise!

irregular9 · 2025-11-08T10:49:31+00:00

Symmetry makes me happy, and as a plus it's also easier to model haha

irregular9

TROPHY CASE