I wanna mod this game!

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19 years 9 months ago #12334 by Second Chance
I'm glad you're going to try getting turret fighter based beam weapons working. I've been wanting to do it myself, but the Star Wars mod takes up most of my free time. Good luck, I'm sure it will work. And I can't wait to see the results.

Are you talking about a model of the actual torpedo itself (the black flattened cylinder), or the glowing spikey flare it emits in flight?

Just a suggestion. Since EoC doesn't have torpedoes as a supported weapon, you should first work out how it will behave. And that info will tell you how the visuals need to be done. For instance; do you want tracking torpedoes? If so, then you'll probably want to go with a missile sim. Which will require a physical 3D model (difficult to achieve the photon-style spikey flare without sprites). But, missiles can only be fired forward, that's hard-coded. However, if you just want to to have non-tracking torpedoes, you can use an ammo-based projectile sim. These can fire in any direction and use a sprite-like graphic that's easily changed using notepad.

However, projectiles only do damage when they score a direct hit. Whereas missile sims can explode within a given radius of distance to the target. But missile sims can't target sub-systems like a projectile can.

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The Ultimate Guide To Modding: I-War 2 - Edge Of Chaos (on hold during SW MP mod)
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19 years 9 months ago #12338 by BlasterMaster555
I was thinking of both.

I could use the glowing spinning flashing thing that torpedos are seen as. The avatar version could be the burst fire, so a ship can launch like a volley at once, but not launch a volley until empty.

I got the Nebula in with no texture or model troubles. However, the model is offset to the left. In the scene setup and in the model, it is centered. Any ideas?

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19 years 9 months ago #12339 by BlasterMaster555
never mind, silly me forgot to move the null of the LOD

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19 years 9 months ago #12342 by Second Chance
Ok, I don't know why I didn't think of this before, but a simple light + lens flare would work perfectly for a Trek torpedo avatar. Whether projectile or missile based. And it will even give off light if you name it <glow>. You can't make it spin, but you can animate the flare size and shape with an envelope.

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The Ultimate Guide To Modding: I-War 2 - Edge Of Chaos (on hold during SW MP mod)
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19 years 9 months ago #12344 by BlasterMaster555
...then I would need to animate it so the "spikes of light" grow and shrink rapidly...

...and I have a screenshot of the Nebula coming. I just have to fix the lighting on the Nacelles...



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19 years 9 months ago #12347 by Second Chance
That's a nice model. Looks good in the flux engine, too. Glad the conversion went well. I'm looking forward to seeing more screenshots as you progress through the models.

I would guess that the reason this one gave you little trouble is because it's not one of the stock KA ships. The model modders always leave out tons of stuff when they first release their creations. Adding all the damaged and broken bits later.

What's the poly count on that ship? You know, you could probably run it through qemLOSS2 in Lightwave and chop the polys a lot. It would keep the shape perfectly, and KA ships are way over the poly recommendations for flux. Couldn't hurt to try.

Have you converted the other LODs yet? I believe KA ships even have their own collision hulls, too. That would be convenient.

btw - What version of Lightwave are you using? If it's not 5.6 I have some irritating news. The newer versions of Lightwave output self-illumination maps that the converter doesn't like. So you can't do glowing textures. Grrrr. This fact was kindly passed on to me from the famous Buda5 modelers after I spent months of sheer aggravation trying to get my texture glows to work.

btw2 - How are your own modeling skills? Got anything I could look at? I have a reason for asking.

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The Ultimate Guide To Modding: I-War 2 - Edge Of Chaos (on hold during SW MP mod)
cartoons.sev.com.au/index.php?catid=4
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