Frigate possibilities for Epic and I-War

It may look interesting with such armour platings (I first thought you were proposing a... well... tube-shaped tube), but I'm not sure whether the comsec will still be able to dock. Most of the time, the docking autopilot of I-War 1 will move the comsec towards the ship in the correct angle, but in some situations, it will still turn around the z-axis a few meters in front of the docking port, which would crash it into the armour plates.

On a related note, my LW 5.6 is supposed to arrive tomorrow (I've been tracking it as it made it's journey across the continent

I love that tracking system! I think it would be great fun to mail a package around the world (somehow) and then follow along with a camera. Just to see all the ways it is shipped and carried. All the places it goes. Er, bit off topic that...

Let us know how the program turns out. If it really is new and complete. Are you running XP?

-Gtrout

BUUUWAAAAAAAHAAAAAHAAAAAA!!! :D:D:D:D

Got it! True to their word... an unopened, never installed, full feature version of Lightwave 5.6 with Aura 1.0. All manuals, registration, and dongle included. In addition, Newtek will offer support for it!

I am one happy camper today!

A quick update before I start the installation process for it.

The Frigate:

http://images.snapfish.com/338%3B888723232%7Ffp46%3Dot%3E2328%3D%3C2%3C%3D8%3A8%3DXROQDF%3E2323469%3C%3A8696ot1lsi

http://images.snapfish.com/338%3B888723232%7Ffp46%3Dot%3E2328%3D%3C2%3C%3D8%3A8%3DXROQDF%3E2323469%3C%3A8688ot1lsi

I'm actually proudest of the second pic... that polygon count was tough! As you can tell from the numbers, the comsec has been stripped of the majority of it's polys, but still retains the same shape. All that's left on this model is texturing.

Cormorant: This placement of the comsec seems to work the best as far as 'looking right' goes. The comsec is just slightly (2 meters) inset into the nose of the frigate body. Also, the comsec has no rear polys to it (they had to be sacrificed to lower the poly count), so if the player undocks, you'll have to replace the one frigate model with a comsec model and a frigate model (w/o comsec). Does this work for your mod?



I'll work to get the Terrapin ingame today. And maybe the spacesuit model as well. Then focus on texturing the frigate.

Other projects I'm working on (sideline stuff I do when I get a chance):

Main interiors for the Terrapin (docking ports, cabins, passages, engineering, and the cockpit). All in super-detail and suitable for movie setting use.

My first character for use in movies.

The ore-harvester/carrier.

And a couple of ships of my own.


P.S. I'd heard (a long time ago) that someone had a schematic of the inner parts of the Dreadnaught corvette. Does anyone know where that could be located? Down the road, I'd like to create a realistic Dreadnaught interior for movie use. (In fact, I'd prefer that over the Terrapin interiors... If I can get a Dreadnaught, I'd settle for only the cabin of the Terrapin).

@ GrandpaTrout: The tracking system is amazing. When the local UPS delivery person picked it up for delivery at 7:30 this morning, I was able to take today off from work.

Now that's convient!



No confusion; just wrong or right ... Only Solutions

Shane: Your interiors project intrigues me muchly! Having 'invented' a few interiors and interior details for the stories I've written (and am almost ready to release the third Independence War story), I searched high and low for reference material to stay close to canon as I could.

Back when I was working on Uncertain Freight, I needed to know alot about the interior of the Venice-class freighter. I gave up trying to work out detailed deckplans for that ship, cause it was like trying to draw up floorplans for a 20+ story office building...I wasn't up to it. So I invented what was needed, and fudged it for my story, and left the rest to the imagination.

My inquiries to PS about ship interiors and deckplans were answered quickly enough, but the news was bad: they hadn't really worked out ship interiors (no real need), except for the Dreadnaught-class corvette...and even that was in the most rudimentary fashion...mostly bridge and the main axial corridor, the UDC shaft, and two lower decks in the lower saucer for engineering repairs teams to run around in. Deckplans of any sort for the corvette were not available for me to use, so I relied on close scrutiny of the exploded view, the x-ray views, and some imaginative logic. The Corporate drew up excellent deckplans for the accomodation module, which I've used as reference material, and I made up the rest for a couple of chapters that involve a kind of walking tour on the Dreadnaught-class corvette (I'll send you the chapters directly). I've tried to be conservative in my assumptions, yet detailed in descriptions of some small observances, to avoid clashing with canon, while at the same time trying to make the settings for the story seem real and fitting.

Like The Corporate, I mourn the loss of the most-excellent 'deckplans' thread over at INA. It was full of cool info that would've helped inform your project. If there's anything I can do to help (make comments on deck or interior sketches, or the like), let me know. More importantly, the folks at Argonaut-Sheffield are downright helpful, as long as it doesn't violate any legal thing they can't divulge, so I'd say its worth asking directly (again) for any ship deckplans, interiors, pre-production sketches, or other design material that might help you create 'canon-consistent' settings for your movies.

On a completely unrelated side note (even to the whole package-tracking fascination you guys seem to have developed), I only recently discovered that making movies using game engines and other vid software (Machinema) was something that people do on a regular basis (just goes to show how out of it I am). It turns out to be yet another popular form of artistic expression, fan expression and game tribute (like mods and fan fiction) that is quite big in the whole digital gaming medium. They even have annual awards for 'best of'. I saw a 'movie' made by a fan of Grand Prix Legends named Steve Wilton called "The Name of the Game" that was truly amazing. I'll try to find the url, but I'm sure you could track it down at the forums at Race Sim Central or on Gamespy. It blew me away how good it was (and this is not a new game at all...about the same vintage as I-war). So I wish you success. Really cool things are possible. In fact, I'd like to see the intro movie to Dogs of War captured by FRAPS and available to all. There are some oscar winning performances in there!

--
Hot4Darmat

Okay, this ship looks [8D]. The comsec position seems like a pretty good solution.
Oh, one more note on texturing! Please don't use the very first colours of the palette untill the first greyscale, and the last few colours that stand out from the rest of the palette scheme. They will show up as ugly bright spots in-game.

As far as Dreadnaught interiours are concerned, a detailed interiour of the bridge was worked out by PS and shown in various I-War 1 scenes and pictures. In I-War 1, you could look around the bridge from every workstation, giving you a perfect view on its setting, style and detail. The intro movie also showed a few scenes of the bridge, and the Defiance Intro Movie even gave you an insight into the Puffin's bridge and corridors, which may be inspiring for the smaller Terrapin.

Well... what a downer. I'd expected to jump right into LW 5.5 and knock out the textures (assuming (wrongly) that versions 7.0 and 5.5 were close enough for me to work with without 'going back to school').

7.0 and 5.5 are very different. Major changes in the way things are done. And a lot of the really cool time-saving features I've gotten spoiled with in the more advanced version seem to be missing from it's ancestor.

It's going to take a couple of days before I'm able to use this with confidence. I've got two 1000 page manuals to go through (plus a VHS video). Not to mention two other books which should arrive this week. So, I don't think we'll be seeing the Terrapin in the game tonight. But soon...

Hot4, I greatly appreciate any information you have on the Dreadnaught. I knew you'd be the one to ask. I'm going to be hunting up all resource materials I can find... I'd like to create something as detailed and realistic as possible. Cormorant's suggestion is a very good one (Thanks Cormorant!); using the command station pcx files from I-War. That should enable me to get the bridge right. I guess for everything else, we're on our own. (But really, all we have to create are corridors, a bunk area or two, engineering space, the dockport, and the bridge.)

There's also a guy at the NewTek forum who, in a post, stated he made the models for I-War/EoC. (I can't remember the name offhand, but remember his post about creating the ships for I-War) I can perhaps get a message to him and ask for assistance. I'll hunt up that thread.

I'm also planning on picking your brain on how to go about recording sound for the game. I hear you've gotten quite good at it.

Okay, this ship looks [8D].

Well, then you and Hot4 should pat yourselves on the back... It was the guidance of both of you which created the form (I went into this one with a blank-slate).

I like the sleek lines of the frigate a lot more than those of the comparatively blocky Terrapin. It looks more like a predator.

<edit> Defiance has a movie too? ALRIGHT!!! I'm gonna have to load that sucker up! [8D]

No confusion; just wrong or right ... Only Solutions