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Mystara in 3 Dimensions

by David Tauriainen

Some of you might remember this older 3D version of Mystara from 2004-ish. Unfortunately, VRML is a fairly dead language now, and plugins don't even work anymore if you can even find them.

But, there is a new 3D method for web browsers with the advent of HTML5 which doesn't require plugins. I've been converting the old files to the new method over the last couple weeks. Still have a few bugs to work out, but it's ready for public viewing at least. I changed the texture images to be Thorf's two-color globe maps since they are quite detailed in land shape.

Currently, this only works in Firefox 4+, Chrome, and maybe Safari. Firefox and Safari need to have their webgl enabled. Chrome is enabled by default. For Firefox, type "about:config" in the URL bar, heed the warning, then search for webgl.force-enabled, and set it to true. Don't even need to restart the browser. For Safari, select Preferences. The Advanced tab, check the Show Develop menu in menu bar checkbox. Open the Develop menu in the menu bar and select "Enable WebGL".

http://mypage.iu.edu/~djtavria/rpg/mystara_3d_globe_test.html


Click Here to see the full size version.

Depending on your VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) viewer plug-in, you should be able to rotate and zoom in on the world. I've also made a list of points to view from (in cortona, this is a set of arrows on the bottom of the console).

I finished this VRML version of Mystara some time back to give my players a nice, 3D understanding of Mystara and their place in it. I am blatantly using Timothy Klanderud's image for the outer world (modified to make the savage coast more red and increase the polar regions), and I hope he won't mind, since I'm not making any money with it.

The image for the HW is a little fake looking, but I can't make it look as good as Mr. Klanderud's work.

If you can't view the virtual reality Mystara, there are VRML viewers available for free at
http://www.parallelgraphics.com/products/cortona/ (Windows)
http://freewrl.sourceforge.net/ (*nix, Mac OSX)
http://openvrml.sourceforge.net/ (Win32, *nix, Mac OSX)

Static images for those who do not have VRML support: