A happy new year !

A happy new year, for those who celebrate it, regardless of religion.

Proverbs button has been added

I started the proverbs :)

Map screenplay test

Canon the destroyer of buildings

Somewhere in Daehruoyni...

--In a small village, 4 houses, one (belonging to the player) has invasive plants around it.
Player and NPC :
The player, the village fool, his name is Agaku.
The first npc is a wizard, the second is a beggar, the third is a noble man, the fourth is the noble wife and the 5's the bard, the country fool friend.--

The wizard is Zhuberu
The begar is Ranuba
The noble man is Zilepa
The noble woman is Cidia
The bard is Sendil

--The player sits in his house (which has only one room), with a cannon next to him--

Mesage :
"The door is closed, something or someone has lock you in"
"What are you looking for is not here !"
"What i'm looking for ?"
"Someone has put something in my house, when yesterday i was in the woods, for a walk"

--The player destroy a part of his house, by triggering the cannon--

Mesage triggered by the explosion:
"Damn. I have destroyed my house."

--The wizard sits angry on the front of his house, damaged to by the explosion--

Mesage 1 triggered using the wizard:
"It is my house fool and you have destroy it. You destroyed yours too, you want to be turned into a frog ?"
Mesage 1 by player:
"It is not my fault that i have darkness in my room"
Mesage 2 by wizard:
"Make a window next time, bastard ! I bet you don't know what that thing is, you are not the country fool for nothing..."
Mesage 2 by player:
"What ? The window or the explosive thing ?"
Mesage 3 by wizard:
"The "explosive thing" is a cannon. Let me spell that for you... C A N N O N. It should be used against you. Lucky for you, but i doubt you will know
how to be a real man in the future, i'm a sear to, besides being a wizard. Your future will be bright and you will give me compensation for my house".

--The beggar sits in the center of the houses and laughs...--

Mesage 1 triggered using the beggar:
"Watch your tongue, fool !"
Mesage 1 by player:
"Watch out your tongue, fool ! Or i will cut it with my knife"
Mesage 2 by beggar:
"You draw your knife hoping that you will find your trickster, not knowing where to find him. Hey, where are you going to return the money you own me ?"
Mesage 2 by player:
"Ask the wizard"

A year passed...

Mesage 1 triggered by wizard:
"Being that your nickname is Cannon and by theway, the noble man cannot even spell it right, he asked me if you can find his stol... i mean his sword, from the woods"
Mesage 1 by player:
"What's in for me ?"
Mesage 2 by wizard:
"You can stay in the village, like the nuisance you are !"

I'm making a ornamental alphabet

The ornamental alphabet will be inspired from persian one and will be a fantasy one mixture.

Little buttons on the blog

I added little buttons as tabs in the blog, so you will see inside links for blog topics. This way, the blog will stay crowd free.

Poetry purpose

The purpose of poetry in this blog is to share romanian, turkish and persian poetry from an arab/moldavian/persian setting. Remember that Dawn of Darkness has elements from reality and fantasy.

Make or export a Blender .dae to Quake 2 .map

I have found on the net how to make or export a Blender .dae to Quake 2 .map
Using free SketchUp 2013, Blender 2.70a and QuArK 6.6 beta 5 editor.
1. Export with SketchUp 2013, a .kmz file (Google Earth KMZ), rename this file to .zip file and extract it in a folder.
2. Open .dae file from the folder with Blender (import the file).
3. Right click the mouse button and press shift in blender and click join model poly if it has many parts, to select them all.
Important !
If the object exported to .map file is to big, QuArK editor will take some time to open it. But if .dae file has to many poly, when exported to map file, you will get broken poly in QuArK editor, so make or import free simple poly models.
4. Export in Blender, to Quake .map file (QuArK will see it as a Quake 2 map).
5. Upon opening the .map file, delete the blank "Entities" in the editor. And if you want, you can move the poly from the "Map structure".
Copy and paste it from QuArK editor, in your Kingpin/Quake/Quake 2 map level you made.
Shrink your poly, if it is too big. Give the poly a texture and run the level.

Import google sketchup kmz models in blender
New Map Exporter
Sketchup
3dwarehouse
Blender
Quark

Don't you go stealing people work, ask them first and always give credit.
Thanks for the wonderfull kingpinforever and QuArK editor community for the work over the years. They inspired me to mod.

Other programs to use with Quake 2

You can use for example WinBSPC and Qped. For them and other programs, i will talk about in another topic.

Editing Quake 2 mod with the editor Quark Army Knife

This tutorial is made by my brother and me for those who want to understand better how to use the editor Quake Army Knife and modify her/his or an existing game mod.
Visit the site and forum of Quake Army Knife (Quark) for more info and downloads :
Quake Army Knife 
Forum

Hi all. In this text, the important programs, besides the editor, are highlighted with Bold text. If i don't explain all the things, that means that either i don't know all or Quark doesn't explain it all.
Quark (Quake army knife) editor is beta and it is a good program nevertheless, so look further in their .htlm help file. Be sure to always give credit when credit is due and don't make profit from a mod.

 Look further in their help files. Get used to Ctrl + C (Copy) and Ctr + V (Paste) and clicking and holding right and then the left mouse buttons and holding them together for zooming in and out in the editor windows.
 Than, click right click again with the right mouse button, or your zoom will move forward and backward in the editor window.

 The player model, in the 3d view of the editor will not be like in your mod, it will look like the ones in Quake 2.
Doesn't matter, because in "Quark - Options - Configuration - Quake 2 - Quake 2 command-line", you put Quake2.EXE +set game CTF, for example and when you run the map in game, the player will have the mod skin + weapons and such.
 







In the above image you can see the editor configuration, game path, txqbsp, timvis and arghrad are small programs which compile the map (light, models etc.). You can get them from Quark site.Quark only gets the information from your new mod, a virtual info of your models and textures.

When you extract your models and textures with Quark (from an existing mod) or change/save the modified .qrk file, it will be saved without pause between letters or you will give a temporary name (as QuArK is trying to overwrite it, but can't since it is still in use).

 But if you want to use the editor, with your mod, get rid of the pauses ("Mymod" will be "My mod"), when you test and work with the editor further (because when the editor extracted the files from the mod and made the .qrk file, you made the mod "My mod"). When you can, choose "Save all" or save in another place.

The .qrk will have to be saved in "QuArK 6.6.0 Beta 6\addons", for example, but there should be anyway.
 When making a map you click "insert" using your keyboard, in the editor, the window with "New map items" will appear and you being able to see the extracted models and other info (like your prefabs).


You can add in this your own prefabs and/or entities. Don't worry if sometimes your textures folders will not show up sometimes by accessing "Face-view - choose texture" in Quark editor.




When you are done running your map with the editor, transform the map to bsp, with WinBSPC (if an error "parse entity", use Quark). Or better choose "Quake 2- Complete rebuild" in Quark, putting it then in a PAK file (a sort of a archive) made with Qped and running the folder of the mod with the "+set game CTF", for example, in the game shortcut.

 If you have for example pak0 and pak1, you can mod them directly, but better make a pak2 and respecting the files and folders paths like in pak0 and pak1, put the new files in pak2 and the game will use those, which are modded.

Example :pak1 contains the path "Models-animals-crow.md2, crow.pcx". You now make a new pak, which will be pak2, which has only the files and folders you want to be modified, so that the game, using the new added modified files, will choose those, over pak1. So it will be "Models-animals-crownew.md2, crownew.pcx". All pak files have the extension PAK, so, pak1.PAK.





For editing many lines for a mod or your modified or new mod (some .qrk files may be very small in KB and we will talk later about maps and bsp files lines), in "My mod".qrk, opened with Quake army knife, click "+" in "Entity forms", click a model name (but don't, for now, click its "+"). On the right you will have :"General form options", "Point entity specific", "Brush entity specific".

Always hover with your mouse over a thing in "Entity forms" and a hint will appear (in the editor too). In the editor, you enter a entity for example and hover over the little book and you will get a text or when click on it. Put a text in "Help".


When you are working in a map and adding a "light" for example, click its book icon or hover above it to get info.



Let us see what every line does, by opening "Q2Entities.qrk" from "QuArK 6.6.0 Beta 6\addons" Quark folder :"General form options".

"General form options"
Help
Put here, in your language, your little book text from Quark editor.

"Point entity specific"
Bounding box -4 -4 -4 4 4 4 4
The above line means that a blue box surrounds the model in the editor with a given "minimum X, minimum Y, minimum Z, maximum X, maximum Y, maximum Z" numbers, with a pause between the numbers. Some mods use 7 numbers instead of 6. The above number is such an example for a mod, in Quake 2 they are others. In "Bounding box", a number is formed from 2 numbers. Put a default numbers for all models, because you can't know what the developer used for every models. And than, watch in the level editor, that the model doesn't get stuck in the walls or somewhere else. Use the above numbers, which are about a quarter as the player model is.

Model
The model that you see in 3d view, in the Quark editor. Leave this blank and you will not see anything in the editor 3d view. If you give a model path in here, when you put a model in the map, you will see the model.
Example (without the quotes): "models/items/ammo/bullets/medium/tris.md2"
You will find the path in the pak (a sort of a archive with the game files) file from your mod. You can use Qped to open pak files. I know that you must modify every model path, but in other mods, the paths are not that long.

Model Skin
Example (without the quotes):"models/npcs/girl2.pcx" This is for a mod. If the model has many skins you must modify your bsp file. But we will talk again later. If the model has only one skin, leave it blank.

"Brush entity specific"
Not implemented yet.

 
Saving your work in the editor by given it a name, as a qkm file, the files will remain the same. If you save as a map, two categores in the map will appear : "Entities" and "Map structure". All your prefabs, rooms, walls etc. will turn into many "poly" inside "Map structure". So do your work in a qkm file. 

Upon doing "Complete rebuild" in Quark, the qkm or map file will be compiled as a bsp. See the windows end text in the editor to see where the bsp file has being saved. The bsp file lines can be modified further, because some texts will disappear (like skinum) when you enter the bsp file and check your entities. So, enter bsp file, do not click "Open in map editor". In the left you will see "entities" text.
Click it and modify further and than save the file. Because there, you will see other things (like skinum numbers).
   
Adding a custom model or editing an existing one :
If you have in a pak file a model that is not found and extracted by Quark, add in your Quark map, a Quake 2 target_spawner. At "target" give the path to your model from pak file (models/monsters/yourname.md2). Put any argument that you want, but fill them with something for example an argument "angles" -2.82 175.29 0 , by clicking the plus button, or the argument will dissapear (angles without quotes).

Than, rename it to your entity name, for example : monster_yourname. It will change its entity icon. Than, delete the argument "target" and "speed" if you have them. If the model has no sound, try and add some if you want in the pack file. Because if you just rename a existing monster, without using and renaming target_spawner to your model, it will lose its arguments and you will have to add them again. 

Than, click "insert" on your keyboard to bring up "new map items" window and copy and paste your monster_yourname in your existing "monster_*entities". The sign * is always put by default. Leave it that way. So, now you have a new model, mannualy helping the editor to find the model he couldn't find. If everything works okay for a model, for the next one, just rename its title. 

 If you do not see the models in the editor 3d view, that is because they are not in your mod's .qrk file. Open the your mod's .qrk file, click + Entity forms, and copy a existing entity (closely related), paste it in the list, rename it to the correct new name. 

Then, like above, write in the Bounding Box, Model with needed paths. Enjoy seeing them in the 3d view.
Be sure to ask permission and give credit to those who made the models if you work on an existing model !
 
If i helped you, just give me and my bro, credit. In the mean time, i will end for now the tutorial, stay tuned for more in the future. Depending on your mod, this may not work.
This tutorial was corrected by my bro.

Letter to EricBoyce1

EricBoyce1, from moddb site, if you want to contact me and to be sure it is you, contact me trough moddb first, with a private message, if you want to collaborate or to help eachother on your personal site and/on this site.

EricBoyce1 fantasy poetry

And though my dreams are now cast in darkness, i can still see by the light of the moon and the Dawn of Darkness !

Quotes and information

In this blog, on the right, you will see books names from where i have made quotes and retrive information, beside the things i already know.

Romanian themed poetry

George Cosbuc (1866 - 1918), a romanian author of poetry, has writed in 1893, Balade și idile (Balads and romance) volume in 1893, which contains, among others, the following poetry :

El-Zorab

La paşa vine un arab, Cu ochii stinşi, cu graiul slab. – „Sunt, paşă, neam de beduin, Şi de la Bab-el-Manteb vin Să-l vând pe El-Zorab. An Arab to pasha draws near, His eyesight dim and his voice sere. “From Bedouins, pasha, I descend, From Bab-el-Mandeb – I intend To sell El-Zorab here. Arabii toţi răsar din cort, Să-mi vadă roibul, când îl port Şi-l joc în frâu şi-l las în trap! Mi-e drag ca ochii mei din cap Şi nu l-aş da nici mort. All Arabs leave their tents to see The way I walk my sorrel free, Or give him rein, or let him trot! I love him dearly and would not Give him, whate‘er may be! Dar trei copii de foame-mi mor! Uscat e cerul gurii lor; Şi de amar îndelungat, Nevestei mele i-a secat Al laptelui izvor! Of hunger my three children die! The palates of their mouths are dry, And with continual suffering A mother‘s blessed milky spring My wife has lost for aye! Ai mei pierduţi sunt, paşă, toţi! O, mântuie-i, de vrei, că poţi! Dă-mi bani pe cal! Că sunt sărac! Dă-mi bani! Dacă-l găseşti pe plac, Dă-mi numai cât socoţi!” My dear ones are too cruelly hit; O, save them, for you can do it! Gold for my horse! I am so poor! Gold! If you fancy him for sure, Give just as you think fit!” El poartă calul, dând ocol, În trap grăbit, în pas domol, Şi ochii paşei mari s-aprind; Cărunta-i barbă netezind, Stă mut, de suflet gol. He walks the horse all around the place At hasty trot or easy pace; The pasha bulgy eyes burn bright, He strokes his grey beard with delight, Though dumb his soul and face. – „O mie de ţechini primeşti?” – „O, paşă, cât de darnic eşti! Mai mult decât în visul meu! Să-ţi răsplătească Dumnezeu Aşa cum îmi plăteşti!” ―A thousand sequins – you agree?” ―How generous, pasha, you can be! More than I dreamt! May God the Lord Grant you the measure of reward By which you have paid me!” Arabul ia, cu ochii plini De zâmbet, mia de ţechini – De-acum, de-acum ei sunt scăpaţi, De-acum vor fi şi ei bogaţi, N-or cere la străini! The Arab takes, with radiant eyes, The money that before him lies – Henceforth theirs is a happy lot, Henceforth they are rich and will not Ask alms in any wise. Nu vor trăi sub cort în fum, Nu-i vor cerşi copiii-n drum, Nevasta lui se va-ntrăma; Şi vor avea şi ei ce da Săracilor de-acum! – Nor live in the tent‘s smoke again, Their kinds won‘t beg on road or lane, He and his wife, restored, will give A friendly coin to those who live In poverty and pain! – El strânge banii mai cu foc Şi pleacă, beat de mult noroc, Şi-aleargă dus d-un singur gând; Deodată însă, tremurând, Se-ntoarce, stă pe loc. Once more the sequins he does pluck, Then leaves, drunk with his piece of luck, And runs off as in duty bound, Yet of a sudden he turns round And stops like thunderstruck, Se uită lung la bani, şi pal Se clatină, ca dus de-un val Apoi la cal priveşte drept; Cu paşii rari, cu fruntea-n piept, S-apropie de cal. Stares at the money with spent force And staggers like a wave-tossed corpse, Then looks the sorrel in the eye; With measured steps and brow reared high He draws near his dear horse. Cuprinde gâtul lui plângând Şi-n aspra-i coamă îngropând Obrajii palizi: – „Pui de leu, Suspină trist. Odorul meu, Tu ştii că eu te vând!” He weeps and does his neck enfold, And buries his face, pale and cold, Into his mane: ―My lion brave, You should sigh sadly. I‘m a knave – You know you have been sold! Copiii mei nu s-or juca Mai mult cu frunze-n coama ta, Nu te-or petrece la izvor; De-acum smochini, din mâna lor, Ei n-or avea cui da! My children will not play again With leaves and garlands in your mane. To springs they will not take you, and No more will feed they by the hand A horse with fig or grain! Ei nu vor mai ieşi cu drag Să-ntindă mâinile din prag, Să-i iau cu mine-n şea pe rând! Ei nu vor mai ieşi râzând În calea mea şirag! No more will peep they out with glee, Reach forth their hands and summon me To sit them on your back; no more Will Indian files come to the fore And laugh with laughter free! Copiii mei cum să-i îmbun? Nevestei mele ce să-i spun Când va-ntreba de El-Zorab! Va râde-ntregul neam arab De bietul Ben-Ardun! What, lie to children and not choke? And tell my wife what kind of joke When she asks of my friend, the best? Poor Ben-Ardun will be the jest Of all the Arab folk! Raira, tu, nevasta mea, Pe El-Zorab nu-l vei vedea De-acum, urmându-te la pas, Nici în genunchi la al tău glas El nu va mai cădea! Raira, my wife dear and true, Our horse you shall not see anew, He‘ll no more follow you behind, Not hear your voice so mild and kind And kneel in front of you! Pe-Ardun al tău, pe Ben-Ardun N-ai să-l mai vezi în zbor nebun Pe urma unui şoim uşor, Ca să-ţi împuşte şoimu-n zbor; Nu-i vei pofti: «Drum bun»! Your dear Ardun, your Ben-Ardun Shall no more weep like a simoon After a falcon flying fleet And shoot it; neither will you greet And tell us, ‒See you soon!‒ Nu vei zâmbi, cum saltă-n vânt Ardun al tău în alb vestmânt; Şi ca să simţi sosirea lui, Mai mult de-acum tu n-o să pui Urechea la pământ! You shall no more seen my burnoose In the soft breezes flutter loose, No more put to the ground your ear And making sure that we are near To cry at the good news. O, calul meu! Tu, fala mea, De-acum eu nu te voi vedea Cum ţii tu nările-n pământ Şi coada ta fuior în vânt, În zbor de rândunea! My horse! I‘ll no more have the right To watch your eyes, ever so bright, Your nostrils turned towards the ground, You tail by the simoon unwound. Your run – a swallow‘s flight! Cum mesteci spuma albă-n frâu, Cum joci al coamei galben râu, Cum iei pământul în galop Şi cum te-aşterni ca un potop De trăsnete-n pustiu! You chewed the white foam on the rein And shook your streaming golden mane And galloping with ringing hoof On the dry earth, looked like a sheaf Of lightnings on the plain! Ştia pustiul de noi doi Şi zarea se-ngrozea de noi – Şi tu de-acum al cui vei fi? Şi cine te va mai scuti De vânturi şi de ploi? The desert dreaded us; the blue Grew pale when heavenwards we flew – From now on who will be your mate? From winds and rains and ill-starred fate Whoever will shield you? Nu vor grăi cu tine blând, Te-or înjura cu toţi pe rând Şi te vor bate,-odorul meu, Şi te-or purta şi mult, şi greu; Lăsa-te-vor flămând! They‘ll talk to you in language rude And swear at you in vicious mood And beat you savagely, horse brave, And you shall toil and moil and slave And go without your food! Şi te vor duce la război, Să mori tu, cel crescut de noi!… Ia-ţi banii, paşă! Sunt sărac, Dar fără cal eu ce să fac? Dă-mi calul înapoi!” And they will take you to the wars, You, never trained in warfare laws! Here is the money I have sought! I‘m poor, but without him I‘m nought; Bashaw, give back my horse!” Se-ncruntă paşa: –„Eşti nebun? Voieşti pe ianiceri să-i pun Să te de-a câinilor? Aşa! E calul meu, şi n-aştepta De două ori să-ţi spun!” The pasha frowns: ―He‘s mad! Beware! The jenissaries, in a trice, Will set the dogs on you, I swear! It is my horse, so don‘t wait there For me to tell it twice!” –„Al tău? Acel care-l crescu, Iubindu-l, cine-i: eu ori tu? De dreapta cui ascultă el, Din leu turbat făcându-l miel? Al tău? O, paşă, nu! “He – yours? With love unmeasured, who Has reared him? Is it I or you? Whose hand obeys he? whose makes him A lamb out of a lion grim? Yours? No, that is not true! Al meu e! Pentru calul meu Mă prind de piept cu Dumnezeu – Ai inimă! Tu poţi să ai Mai vrednici şi mai mândri cai, Dar eu, stăpâne, eu? He is all mine! I would defy, For him, the very God on high! Do have a heart! Whene‘er you need, You may take hold of the best steed; But I, dread pasha, I? Întreagă mila ta o cer! Alah e drept şi-Alah din cer Va judeca ce-i între noi, Că mă răpeşti şi mă despoi, M-arunci pe drum să pier. Give me your greatest mercy, pray! Allah is just and He, I say, Will judge what is between us, He Knows you‘re a thief who will leave me Stark poor, for dogs a prey. Şi lumea te va blăstema, Că-i blăstem făptuirea ta! Voi merge, paşă, să cerşesc, Dar mila voastră n-o primesc – Ce bine-mi poţi tu da?” The world will bitterly curse you, For a curst thing is what you do! I‘ll go and beg – though I‘m undone, Of your great mercy I want none; We know you through and through!” Dă paşa semn: – „Să-l dezbrăcaţi Şi binele în vergi i-l daţi!” Sar eunucii, vin, îl prind – Se-ntoarce-arabul răsărind Cu ochii îngheţaţi. The pasha beckons. “Undress him – Let rods give him a proper trim!” The eunuchs spring, leave him no chance, And he returns as in a trance, His eyes frozen and dim. El scoate grabnic un pumnal, Şi-un val de sânge, roşu val De sânge cald a izvorât Din nobil-încomatul gât, Şi cade mortul cal. He drew the dagger, struck the head Of El-Zorab, a spirt of red, Of crimson-red, warm blood gushed out, Spilt on the neck and mane, throughout, And El-Zorab fell dead. Stă paşa beat, cu ochi topiţi, Se trag spahiii-ncremeniţi. Şi-arabul, în genunchi plecat, Sărută sângele-nchegat Pe ochii-nţepeniţi. The pasha stares, a speechless wrack; The petrified spahees step back; The Arab, kneeling Eastern-wise, Kisses upon the lifeless eyes The clotted blood turned black. Să-ntoarce-apoi cu ochi păgâni Şi-aruncă fierul crunt din mâini: –„Te-or răzbuna copiii mei! Şi-acum mă taie, dacă vrei, Şi-aruncă-mă la câni!” He turns then round with savage scowls, Throws down the deadly steel and howls: “My children shall avenge you soon! Now, pasha, rack and cast Ardun To dogs and preying fowls!” George Coşbuc translated by Leon Leviţchi

George Cosbuc - El-Zorab

 

I will move from moddb site in this blog, the my next files

I will move from moddb in this blog, my files :

Dawn of Darkness menu replacement sounds.
Dawn of Darkness working player sounds (two versions exist).
Dawn of Darkness enhanced graphics v. 1
QuArK (Quake army knife) editor Dawn of Darkness.qrk file (needed for the mod editor, Quake Army Knife).
Editing your Quake 2 engine based game mod with the editor Quake Army Knife.

This files and the future ones will also stay in moddb site, but more info will follow here.

Moldavians, turks and persians...

Moldavians, turks and persians have all interesting history (culture and war). Being myself from Romania, the Moldavian region (i'm not talking about the Republic of Moldova), i will talk sometimes about history. But not that much in detail, because you will surely leave this blog ! I will talk about history, because persians are the inspiration for Dawn of Darkness mod. Either this or the developer of the mod, Ward Six Entertainment, used inspiration from turks too. Turks, as i know, had an interest in Persian Empire (Safavid dynasty (1501–1736 AD). I found out that they resemble Dawn of Darkness, which involved war. Like turks had an interest on moldavians. But i don't judge and won't allow hatred in this blog. You will learn history, if you want, post your opinions about Dawn of Darkness, if you want, but not hate eachother by means of race, language etc. !
And if you wonder, the above image is the moldavian coat of arms. An alpha image for a texture, unfinished. Btw, you will learn, another time, how to make maps, textures and prefabs, tutorials for Dawn of Darkness. This can be applied of course, for Quake 2.

Under construction

   Masjid Shah, view of the courtyard, 1840.