We need to discuss the Death Star

Staying so busy, my memory is somewhat lacking these days. Second Chance, did I ever send you the Death Star model?

Is this still desired for the mod?

We discussed it greatly here:

i-war2.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1601

and

i-war2.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC ... hichpage=1

No, you didn't. But, a lot of time has passed since then. Are you busy with something else right now, or would you like to take another stab at it? We still have lot's of experimenting and research to do for it anyway.

(But I'd still love to see what you've done.)

It's been a while since we've discussed the Death Star. Why don't we use this thread to talk about any new ideas on how to make it work. With cambrogol's new planets, we can obviously have a full-sized DS at the lowest LOD. Maybe we should have a full-sized DS for all the LODs, and then swap this object out with high-res sections when the player gets close enough.

One thing that's really important; what exactly do we want to use the DS for? A recreation of the trench run, something else? The answer to this question will dictate what methods and how much work we need to put into displaying it.

WOW! I just had an idea! A Lightwave avatar scene can reference external scenes, right. And whatever is attached to an LOD null in that scene will show up at that distance. It is concievable that an externally referenced scene file can also contain LODs. So, the first and second LOD for the DS could be full sized spheres, but the last LOD could be made up of an external scene with it's own LOD section references. Or something like that. Although that might not work since the camera and LOD switching is based on collision hull size.

Great to see my Real American Hero song again anyway.

mailto:second_chance@cox.net
The Ultimate Guide To Modding: I-War 2 - Edge Of Chaos
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I am currently extremely busy and don't expect that to change over the next two weeks. After that time however I would be able to put the model together, section it, and get it in-game. You and MT can probably take it from there.

However it will have to be built from scratch. It was cleared from my hard drive and I'll have to check to see if it made it onto any of my system backups.

I'll do this but I won't even think about texturing the thing until everything's working properly. No need to waste time on something which might not come to pass. And I expect this to be difficult.

So, if you're willing to wait a couple of weeks, then we're go.

Also... SC; I've not managed to find the link to that picture of the DS model with the guy working next to it. Do you have a copy you can email to me? It's the best reference I'd found.

I would definately do a trench run. And I would ask that, should I manage to get this thing in-game, that it be set up also for single-player use of the mod (i.e., give the player a couple of wingmen and send him down the trench). Lot of people still don't have high-speed internet...

...and, in fact, some of them on the team.

We have plenty of time, Shane. The DS is a luxury item anyway. So if you want to work on it, your more than welcome to. I just didn't want to burden you if it's not something you want to do.

I'll send that pic off right away. I also know of a bunch of other good pics, let me see if I can find them. There's also a couple of semi-decent pics in the second post you linked to.

I think a single-player scenario would be great. I'm sure it would be easy to do once we've got the model.

mailto:second_chance@cox.net
The Ultimate Guide To Modding: I-War 2 - Edge Of Chaos
cartoons.sev.com.au/index.php?catid=4
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I appreciate it. The more reference pics the better.

MT: I guess-timate about 28 sections for the DS... each around 600 polys. This is just a ballpark figure to aim for. Does this sound acceptable to you? I've an older system and have no problems displaying a similar poly count on-screen... but I'm unsure what loads multiplayer will intall on top of this.

Originally posted by Second Chance


I think a single-player scenario would be great. I'm sure it would be easy to do once we've got the model.

the mod already is single play mod for anyone with Win XP. You just need the loopback adapter.

How big ist the DS in Diameter? How far away from it will you need to be to see the whole thing.
Refering to the lengthy discussions about scale:
How long will it take to get there at 3 or 4 hundred miles an hour?

This is going to require a lot of compromises to get it to work at all much less to scale



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