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FreeSpace Releases => Asset Releases => Topic started by: Shivan Hunter on May 17, 2012, 03:38:58 pm

Title: [RELEASE] GTI Europa (previously: Small, somewhat crappy modular station)
Post by: Shivan Hunter on May 17, 2012, 03:38:58 pm
It's done as done as it's going to be! There are a few small issues and if I tried to fix them I'd probably never finish the damn thing. So here it is.

Download (https://mega.nz/#!lNcQkLbD!PWy4Rn_JVJ1gQp3eAycmIUR41r_2XXQtJ6aYR6juGvk)

(http://i.imgur.com/UxiofwZ.jpg)

(http://i.imgur.com/OAObh4H.jpg)

(http://i.imgur.com/vtizqk8.jpg)

Includes a demo mission showing some possible configurations. The demo mission uses "allow daisy-chained docking", as otherwise the stations would split apart whenever one section was destroyed (which might be more realistic- test it out for yourself). It also treats the sections as different ships, without using SEXP trickery to average the sections' hit points or hide the ring sections.

Going to bed now. 2:30 AM. Pew pew pew.



Original post:

Quote
Hello HLP! I've been away for a while, so I haven't been working on any FS stuff, but now that the semester's over and I have more free time than I know what to do with, I have returned!

So this is a small (diameter = length of Deimos, approximately) modular ring station I've been working on. This is what a fully assembled station might look like:
http://i.imgur.com/8SJ8d.png


Core sections

Two core sections are available. This one contains some antennae that look a bit like a sensor array:
http://i.imgur.com/SxK8b.png

And this one contains two dome sections for observation decks:
http://i.imgur.com/WutgD.png

This ring section connects to either of the core sections, and contains one dockpoint on the bottom:
http://i.imgur.com/oT8BJ.png


Boring ring sections

This is the default ring section the others are based on. It takes up exactly 1/16th of the full circle:
http://i.imgur.com/dvVVr.png

Two end caps (one CCW, one CW):
http://i.imgur.com/baXVK.png
http://i.imgur.com/6hk9X.png

And one filler section:
http://i.imgur.com/vA2Ud.png


Ring sections that actually do ****

I'll start off with the good stuff. The defense section has 4 small point defense turrets, and 2 larger mass drivers:
http://i.imgur.com/xUDBR.png
http://i.imgur.com/CzywQ.png

The sensor array section will have the AWACS flag and enables long-range detection:
http://i.imgur.com/EiMj1.png

A residential section is lightly armored and good for civilian stations:
http://i.imgur.com/t2V0j.png

A docking section contains two larger and two small dockpoints (two on the inner side of the ring, and two on the long extended part):
http://i.imgur.com/EKjiS.png

Unless there are some serious issues, I'll need to start on UV mapping. UV mapping sucks. :(
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Legate Damar on May 17, 2012, 04:34:43 pm
Will the texture be green?

I think it should be green.
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: T-Man on May 17, 2012, 04:37:31 pm
That's actually looking really good man. We need more civil stations and this one has a really nice look to it. Keep it up; shall be watching this space. :yes:
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Cyborg17 on May 17, 2012, 04:55:22 pm
I'd use it.  :D
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Nyctaeus on May 17, 2012, 05:06:06 pm
Terran Karnak or Lucrehulk droid control ship after diet... Looks interesting. I always liked the idea of modular stations.
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Dragon on May 17, 2012, 05:21:43 pm
Interesting idea, very flexible.
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: BlasterNT on May 17, 2012, 07:20:53 pm
Ooh, very cool.  It looks quite good assembled. 
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: ShadowWolf_IH on May 17, 2012, 07:44:57 pm
finish it, i like it and have a good use for this.
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: qwadtep on May 18, 2012, 12:39:52 am
I like it. Think it could use a core version that connects on both sides, though. Otherwise it reminds me too much of the droid ships from Phantom Menace.
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Black Wolf on May 18, 2012, 05:33:09 am
Awesome! I tried for ages to make a modular station work - I never hit on the idea of ring segments (although I should have - I have nother model that uses ring segments, and a ring station as well, just not properly modular).

My only suggestion at this point would be to come up with some way of stacking rings together, some kind of vertical joiner for the central cores.

And, less of a suggestion and more of a request - how hard would it be to add some square 10m x 10m docking points to allow modular construction kit (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Modular_Construction_Kit) pieces to dock to your stations? It's not a massive deal, franky, but it might add somewhat to the modularity.
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: redsniper on May 18, 2012, 11:43:55 am
.... why are there two end cap models? Couldn't you just take one.... and flip it? Or wait, dock points. You need both for dock point orientation I guess, nm.

Hmmm, now there should be reversed versions of every section so we can dock them into S-shapes and cloverleafs and stuff. :p
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Shivan Hunter on May 29, 2012, 12:58:22 am
Yeah, dockpoints are quite wonky since you can't edit orientation (or position offsets, though that'd be a bit much).

Progress so far:

(http://i.imgur.com/AUNnI.png)

7/10 models UV'ed, still have the turret section and the cores to do.

At the moment, the bottom four models share a single texture, as do the two on top of them (sensor and residential sections), and the two on top of that (dockpoint and core-connector sections). The cores will obviously share a texture since they share so much geometry. I could make the turret section with its own texture, or share it with a new section- possibly a vertical connector like BW suggested, as a ring section instead of a core section. Otherwise, I could make the turret section with its own UV, which may be necessary since the two types of turrets will require a good amount of detail.

About the core section connecting on more than one side: I'll probably do that. I have yet to UV the cores, and it'd be trivial to copy the existing geometry to make ones with 2, 3 and 4 connectors at 90 degree angles. This would mean 8 models instead of 2; models for 1, 2, 3 and 4 connectors for both cores.

Technical issue (so many :words:)

Consider the ring section here:

(http://i.imgur.com/AUNnI.png)

Section 1 connects to S2, S2 to S3, and so on, until S15 connects to S16. This means we have a 16-section ring, all docked in one piece, and all the sections have well-defined positions relative to S1. This includes S16.

So what if we add a connection between S1 and S16?

In this case, S16 has two well-defined positions: the one defined by the S1-S2-...-S16 docks, and one defined by the S1-S16 dock. Because it's a 16-piece ring, these two positions are the same. Approximately.

I really doubt that the exact floating-point representation of S16's dock is equivalent to S1's dock, after being transposed 15 times, including all the error inherent in that process. This means that FSO cannot be expected to resolve the position of S16, and since our selection of "S1" is arbitrary, FSO cannot be expected to resolve the position of any section in the ring. I've done some testing in FRED, and it doesn't crash, but I'm still treading in the murky waters of undefined behavior.

In case you're still thinking of S16 being in the exact position that's needed: Imagine if I tried to connect S15 to S1. Would the ring just "bend" inwards to accommodate the 15-section ring? No? Didn't think so. Two possible positions for S15, and no good solution as to where to put it.

There is one obvious solution: simply not to dock a section to another. Leave S16 unconnected to S1. This is an acceptable solution, assuming the entire station remains intact. But most ships, and this station is no exception, exist to be PWND by BEAMZ. What happens if, say section 9 is destroyed? The rest of the station is pushed away by the explosion- and, because of the S1-S16 gap, "the rest of the station" is now two distinct pieces. S1-S8 and S10-S16 float away from each other, and S1 drifts away from S16 without any warning of their separation.

Quick fix: When any section of the ring is destroyed, use an explosion-effect in FRED placed between S1 and S16, and explain it away as structural failure caused by the same impact that destroyed S9.

The other solution-- and I am entirely unsure if this would work-- is to dock the entire ring and pray like crazy that the behavior isn't TOO undefined. FSO will be able to resolve positions exactly as soon as one section is destroyed. As to what happens before that... I'd need to do further testing.
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: jr2 on May 29, 2012, 02:48:35 am
Is there a way to tell the FSO engine to 'snap-to', if something is supposed to be docked to something else and it's within a certain value of distance?  Got the idea from Winamp's (at least Winamp 2.53 or w/e... good old days, but I digress) feature of 'snapping' component windows to each other if they get within 5px (or another defined value) of each other or the edges of the screen.

I have no clue if that would be easy, hard, impossible, not feasible, not even plausible, or whatever, from an FSO code standpoint.  It's just an idea I'm tossing out there for anyone who does know the answer.
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: MatthTheGeek on May 29, 2012, 02:57:41 am
Another solution : purposely letting a gap in the ring. Problem solved.
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Shivan Hunter on May 29, 2012, 03:02:52 am
I suppose, for n objects with n connections, the engine could treat one of them as a "loose connection", not enforcing the distance calculation until another docked ship undocks or is destroyed. Any mesh of docks would have to have enough of these that the "graph" of docks would form a "tree" containing no loops. But that sounds pretty complicated given how hard it was- or so I hear- to get multiple docking implemented. I realize that's a huge can of worms in terms of physics, but it seems the docking code is pretty complicated. I wouldn't expect this from the FSO team especially given all that they've got to deal with atm.

[EDIT] Matth: yes I mentioned that in my pöst
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: redsniper on May 29, 2012, 11:52:12 am
Could you have a sexp telling S16 to dock with S1 when like any-of <S2...S15> are-destroyed?
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Shivan Hunter on May 29, 2012, 12:51:41 pm
I think for that to happen, the pieces would have to be able to move on their own, which would require engine subsystems, and even though I can make them untargetable it's a really sloppy hack.
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Legate Damar on May 29, 2012, 06:03:18 pm
Is it going to be green? I need green space stations for my mod. You will get credit.
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Droid803 on May 29, 2012, 06:21:04 pm
Is it going to be green? I need green space stations for my mod. You will get credit.

It's called GIMP.
It lets you edit textures.

Don't worry, no need to credit me for that tidbit.
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Legate Damar on May 29, 2012, 06:40:51 pm
I have GIMP but I have never tried editing textures before
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: ssmit132 on May 29, 2012, 07:00:04 pm
There is one obvious solution: simply not to dock a section to another. Leave S16 unconnected to S1. This is an acceptable solution, assuming the entire station remains intact. But most ships, and this station is no exception, exist to be PWND by BEAMZ. What happens if, say section 9 is destroyed? The rest of the station is pushed away by the explosion- and, because of the S1-S16 gap, "the rest of the station" is now two distinct pieces. S1-S8 and S10-S16 float away from each other, and S1 drifts away from S16 without any warning of their separation.
Wasn't there an unmovable flag for ships made at some point? I don't know whether it'll be in the next stable release but I remember reading about attempts to implement it (I think it was spurred on by those girder models).
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: AndrewofDoom on May 29, 2012, 07:22:07 pm
I have GIMP but I have never tried editing textures before

It's a good time to learn then. Believe me I'm a much happier man now that I've learned how to model, texture, and rig. It gives me all the freedom in the world to do all the bizarre things I've ever desired!
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Legate Damar on May 29, 2012, 07:41:10 pm
I am still learning modeling in Blender
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Shivan Hunter on May 29, 2012, 09:26:49 pm
There is one obvious solution: simply not to dock a section to another. Leave S16 unconnected to S1. This is an acceptable solution, assuming the entire station remains intact. But most ships, and this station is no exception, exist to be PWND by BEAMZ. What happens if, say section 9 is destroyed? The rest of the station is pushed away by the explosion- and, because of the S1-S16 gap, "the rest of the station" is now two distinct pieces. S1-S8 and S10-S16 float away from each other, and S1 drifts away from S16 without any warning of their separation.
Wasn't there an unmovable flag for ships made at some point? I don't know whether it'll be in the next stable release but I remember reading about attempts to implement it (I think it was spurred on by those girder models).

Yes, but that wouldn't really be a fix; if a piece of the station were destroyed I'd expect the rest of it to drift away, not remain completely stationary. If it's not supposed to be destroyed, leaving two sections undocked would work, and I wouldn't expect it to be taking impacts large enough to move it anyway.

Damar: it's not too hard to select a portion of a texture and apply a colorize filter, or modify the hue. look up some GIMP tutorials, that's how I learned to get around it. The UI can seem odd at first, but you get used to it.
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Shivan Hunter on January 16, 2013, 01:03:47 am
So I haven't been modelling or texturing or doing anything productive for a while. Time to change that. I posted some textures for this in IRC a while ago, and there's a bit more done now. Part of the center sphere is done, as well as a standard layer for the ring sections and the complete texture for the boring/filler sections.

(http://i.imgur.com/Pxf2o.png)

(http://i.imgur.com/KbWLZ.png)

The filler sections can also be viewed on my new, shiny p3d.in account: http://p3d.in/AGAFc
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Black Wolf on January 16, 2013, 02:08:37 am
Nice! Nice looking small stations will never go unusued.

Or, actually maybe this one will - after all, it doesn't appear to be green... :p
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Shivan Hunter on January 16, 2013, 02:17:51 am
Well here it is in green (http://i.imgur.com/3YhoY.png), specifically for Legate Damar. :P
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: BengalTiger on January 16, 2013, 05:09:24 pm
It's always good to see people get the old stuff dug out from the miles of dust and then do some magic.

And then release their works of art...

P.S. That station ain't crappy.
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: TwentyPercentCooler on January 16, 2013, 05:47:16 pm
Well here it is in green (http://i.imgur.com/3YhoY.png), specifically for Legate Damar. :P

I larfed.
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: JCDNWarrior on January 16, 2013, 05:56:41 pm
Hope to see this finished, more stations always are helpful!
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Spoon on January 16, 2013, 06:24:04 pm
Well here it is in green (http://i.imgur.com/3YhoY.png), specifically for Legate Damar. :P
  :lol:
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: joelever on January 16, 2013, 10:29:37 pm
This would make a good pirate outpost or civilian station. I would like to see it in game.  :yes:
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Black Wolf on January 17, 2013, 07:39:16 am
Technical issue (so many :words:)

Consider the ring section here:

(http://i.imgur.com/AUNnI.png)

Section 1 connects to S2, S2 to S3, and so on, until S15 connects to S16. This means we have a 16-section ring, all docked in one piece, and all the sections have well-defined positions relative to S1. This includes S16.

So what if we add a connection between S1 and S16?

In this case, S16 has two well-defined positions: the one defined by the S1-S2-...-S16 docks, and one defined by the S1-S16 dock. Because it's a 16-piece ring, these two positions are the same. Approximately.

I really doubt that the exact floating-point representation of S16's dock is equivalent to S1's dock, after being transposed 15 times, including all the error inherent in that process. This means that FSO cannot be expected to resolve the position of S16, and since our selection of "S1" is arbitrary, FSO cannot be expected to resolve the position of any section in the ring. I've done some testing in FRED, and it doesn't crash, but I'm still treading in the murky waters of undefined behavior.

In case you're still thinking of S16 being in the exact position that's needed: Imagine if I tried to connect S15 to S1. Would the ring just "bend" inwards to accommodate the 15-section ring? No? Didn't think so. Two possible positions for S15, and no good solution as to where to put it.

There is one obvious solution: simply not to dock a section to another. Leave S16 unconnected to S1. This is an acceptable solution, assuming the entire station remains intact. But most ships, and this station is no exception, exist to be PWND by BEAMZ. What happens if, say section 9 is destroyed? The rest of the station is pushed away by the explosion- and, because of the S1-S16 gap, "the rest of the station" is now two distinct pieces. S1-S8 and S10-S16 float away from each other, and S1 drifts away from S16 without any warning of their separation.

Quick fix: When any section of the ring is destroyed, use an explosion-effect in FRED placed between S1 and S16, and explain it away as structural failure caused by the same impact that destroyed S9.

The other solution-- and I am entirely unsure if this would work-- is to dock the entire ring and pray like crazy that the behavior isn't TOO undefined. FSO will be able to resolve positions exactly as soon as one section is destroyed. As to what happens before that... I'd need to do further testing.

I've been thinking about this, and this is the best way I've come up with so far.

Step 1: In Mission specs, check "Allow Daisy Chain Docking" Place and then dock the 16 segments of the station in FRED as usual, 1-2-3...14-15-16. Don't dock 16 to 1, that will only cause problems. Put the spherical bit in the middle, and name it whatever you want your station to be called (Like GTI Modular Station). The segment names don't matter.

Step 2: Select all 16 ring segments and open the Misc screen in the ships editor. Check the boxes for "Guadianed", "Does Not Move" and "Stealth" (this assumes a hostile station - for friendly, you'll also want "Invisible to Friendlies When Stealthed" and I think "Hidden From Sensors")

Step 3: Select the core, and open the Misc screen. Check "Guardianed" and "Does Not Move" - leave the rest alone.

Step 4: Open up the events editor. Create an event that jettisons the cargo from all the ring segments (or at least every second ring segment). It should look basically like this:

Code: [Select]
Initial Status
 - when
 - - true
 - - jettison-cargo-delay
 - - - Segment 1
 - - - 0
 - - jettison-cargo-delay
 - - - Segment 3
 - - - 0
 - - jettison-cargo-delay
 - - - Segment 5
 - - - 0

etc. etc. on to segment 15

The sexp unfortunately won't let you jettison cargo from multiple ships at once, which is inconvenient, but it's not too bad.

Step 5: Create another sexp to copy the damage between segments. There is a ship-copy-damage sexp, but that's a bit over-complex for what we want to do here, especially since we wont be working with subsystems. Instead, make a sexp like this:


Code: [Select]
Copy Damage Core
 - when-argument
 - - every-of
 - - - GTI Modular Station
 - - - Segment 1
 - - - Segment 2
 - - - Segment 3
 - - - Segment 4
 - - - Segment 5
 - - - Segment 6
 - - - Segment 7
 - - - Segment 8
 - - - Segment 9
 - - - Segment 10
 - - - Segment 11
 - - - Segment 12
 - - - Segment 13
 - - - Segment 14
 - - - Segment 15
 - - - Segment 16
 - - true
 - - set-subsystem-strength
 - - - <argument>
 - - - hull
 - - - min
 - - - - hits-left
 - - - - - GTI Modular Station
 - - - - hits-left
 - - - - - Segment 1
 - - - - hits-left
 - - - - - Segment 2
 - - - - hits-left
 - - - - - Segment 3
 - - - - hits-left
 - - - - - Segment 4
 - - - - hits-left
 - - - - - Segment 5
 - - - - hits-left
 - - - - - Segment 6
 - - - - hits-left
 - - - - - Segment 7
 - - - - hits-left
 - - - - - Segment 8
 - - - - hits-left
 - - - - - Segment 9
 - - - - hits-left
 - - - - - Segment 10
 - - - - hits-left
 - - - - - Segment 11
 - - - - hits-left
 - - - - - Segment 12
 - - - - hits-left
 - - - - - Segment 13
 - - - - hits-left
 - - - - - Segment 14
 - - - - hits-left
 - - - - - Segment 15
 - - - - hits-left
 - - - - - Segment 16



Trigger Count = 99999 Interval = 1

Step 6: Finally, make one more sexp:

Code: [Select]
- when-argument
 - - every-of
 - - - GTI Modular Station
 - - - Segment 1
 - - - Segment 2
 - - - Segment 3
 - - - Segment 4
 - - - Segment 5
 - - - Segment 6
 - - - Segment 7
 - - - Segment 8
 - - - Segment 9
 - - - Segment 10
 - - - Segment 11
 - - - Segment 12
 - - - Segment 13
 - - - Segment 14
 - - - Segment 15
 - - - Segment 16
 - - >
 - - - 2
 - - - hits-left
 - - - - GTI Modular Station
 - - self-destruct
 - - - <argument>

Note that I've not actually tested this, but in theory, it should work fairly well. The downside to this method is that it won't allow any subsystems or turrets not attached to the central sphere. I don't know how you'd do that without code changes, unless you do what I did for the modular kit and make the turrets entirely separate ships. You'll need to target them as ships rather than with K, however. Also, the station will appear in the log as having self destructed, and the player will never get the kill for it.

To make this work pofside, you'll need to add 2 tiny invisible polies to the spherical centre bit, at the radius of the ring in two opposite directions, one offset up on the y axis, the other down, as part of the main detail0 submodel. That'll ensure that the targeting brackets cover the whole station. Also, each piece, including the core, will need to be given the entire hull strength of the station, and they should all be the same (unless you want to be clever about it - a reactor segment that takes damage more quickly or something).

So, that's my idea for making it work - others may have different/better techniques though.
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Shivan Hunter on January 18, 2013, 01:35:24 pm
That's a good way to make the entire station act like a single ship. That's probably not the direction I would go- I would let the player target each section, and acknowledge that they're different pieces by giving them designations (Awesome Station Docking Bay 3/Sensor Array 2, Awesome Station Section Alpha/Section Beta/Section Gamma, etc, assuming they're consistent). This would also let part of the station be destroyed, but the rest of it stay intact, as though it's compartmentalized (which any good installation would be).

As for FSO resolving positions, I still need to figure out what options are available before I make any decisions as to how I'll handle it.

If a mod wants to do what BW said, they are of course free to edit the finished models! (I'll probably provide .wings or .blend files on request if I haven't screwed them up too much :P)
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Scooby_Doo on January 19, 2013, 12:16:09 am
How are the pieces snapped together?  By snapped I mean when two seperate pieces come together.  Do they come together at a 90 degree or so angle or are they at 180 degree.  If it's 180 you'll have issues with shine maps having a weird cut-off point. Then I'd recommend adding some "detail" at the connection points to hide that.  Take a look at saga's/my hanger walls and/or my Epsilon starbase to get some idea of what I mean.
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Shivan Hunter on January 20, 2013, 12:45:30 pm
Hmm? They'll be docked to each other in the kind of configuration seen in the pics I posted. It's 180 degrees I guess but there won't be shinemap issues since the sections are separate ships, with no connected UVs.

[EDIT]: Some progress on the weapon/connector sections:
(http://i.imgur.com/JI3EZ3g.png)

And, I went ahead and converted one of the sections. It's about 1/10th of the size it should be, and there's no shinemap or normalmap, but conversion went smoothly and it looks like a ring of docked sections works OK in FRED. I still haven't tested it ingame yet, with collision testing and all that fun stuff, but the fact that FRED doesn't complain is promising:

(The center point of all the stations is at the center of the ring- it will NOT be like that at final release. I just couldn't be arsed to transform it in PCS :P)

(http://i.imgur.com/uQ58fZl.png)
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Shivan Hunter on January 26, 2013, 04:35:17 am
doublepost FTW

(http://i.imgur.com/52u2HBL.jpg)

(http://i.imgur.com/KE9YgIh.jpg)

Turret and connector section finished - also viewable on p3d.in (http://p3d.in/rImV5)!

I may be updating these textures a bit (especially the turret textures) and making them a bit less crap, but for now they're finished. On to some other sections, where I can actually see substantial work getting done rather than filling in tiny charts one by one on turrets... [/rant]
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Cyborg17 on January 26, 2013, 09:17:39 am
I noticed in the last picture that there are damage bitmaps in between sections. Do you expect that the station will always be made as if it's a complete ring?  When I was planning in case you ever released, I had the idea of having half circle stations, or maybe a few sections connected together.  This would be for civilian stations of differing uses, for example, a mining outpost vs. a corporate system headquarters.

By the way, please do finish!  Being able to control what a station looks like modularly, like this, can very easily change how flexible we are able to make civilian missions scenarios, not to mention making civilian stations believable. (Mass-produced station sections, custom ordered, are much more believable than giant or even mid-sized fully-made civilian stations.)
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Enioch on January 26, 2013, 11:52:10 am
You've missed the 'end' sections he's shown us in the past, Cyborg.

Go, go Shivan Hunter, Shivan Hunter go, GO!  :yes: :yes:
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: BengalTiger on January 31, 2013, 03:13:51 pm
Some form of arms to grab stuff like asteroids or capships (or try standardizing one or two connectors with the Modular Construction Kit (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Modular_Construction_Kit)).
A single module with dockpoints that would fit the Kit on the top, bottom and outer surfaces would do this job perfectly.

This would be useful especially in early space exploration settings, where a ring segment and reactor could be connected to a few gas tanks with the modular kit, creating a station that looks no more futuristic than the XXI-XXII century.
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: AndrewofDoom on February 01, 2013, 09:15:17 am
I was hoping to do more irregularly shaped stations with this actually ala the base made from Karnaks in the BWO demo.
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Shivan Hunter on June 07, 2013, 04:05:39 am
Bumpage!!!1

BengalTiger: The existing dock section could probably be used well with the Modular Construction Kit, so there's not much need for a dedicated new section.

AndrewofDoom: You could make a tall one by overusing the section that connects two different rings, I suppose, but small, circular stations are really what I have in mind here. (Besides, I might make a larger, more versatile modular station at some point, because we're sorely lacking in good large stations!)

Anywho, I finished four more sections (two textures): the dock section, the "hub" section that connects the ring to the center, the residential section, and the sensor suite.

Dock and hub sections (and filler sections, since too many dock sections gets crowded):

p3d.in! (http://p3d.in/MJXtH)

(http://i.imgur.com/Wpw9bCr.png)

Residential and sensor sections:

p3d.in! (http://p3d.in/jpLXz)

(http://i.imgur.com/si0xO0S.png)

I still have the texture for both center sections left to finish, and then debris/LODs/miscellaneous POF stuff.
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Colonol Dekker on June 07, 2013, 05:03:35 am
I've no doubts that this quality piece of work will sell like hotcaekz when it's finished. Kudos!!!
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: CommanderDJ on June 07, 2013, 06:24:52 am
The win is strong with this one. Nice job, keep it up!  :yes:
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Shivan Hunter on July 02, 2013, 01:03:21 am
pic (http://i.imgur.com/n9SJ3kl.jpg) of turret section, others are in FRED as well but I may need to reimport the domed core section with the transparent stuff in a separate submodel - IIRC it won't render properly otherwise.

Also, what should I call it? I'm so terrible with names...
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Black Wolf on July 02, 2013, 01:54:46 am
Nibelung :D
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Colonol Dekker on July 02, 2013, 01:59:59 am
Nirvana
Sanctuary
Foxhole
Goldstone
Blackmane :nervous:
Olympus
Europa
Minmus ;)
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Shivan Hunter on July 16, 2013, 11:42:23 am
Normal and specular maps! Also no more crashes (frakking ship tbl templates...)!

(http://i.imgur.com/AWjL1iK.png)

Still a bit of texturing and cleaning up to do. Also naming. Europa sounds good.
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Luis Dias on July 16, 2013, 12:36:09 pm
so f cool :D
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Enioch on July 16, 2013, 12:42:29 pm
Fair notice - This is heading at full speed toward the Renegade Legion shippack. :eek:

Credit will, of course, be given where credit is due.
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: NeonShivan on July 16, 2013, 01:18:06 pm
This is like...the Terran version of the Karnak. Good work.
Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Lorric on July 16, 2013, 01:37:18 pm
Looking at it made me think of Marjorie's Kitchen from Colony Wars Red Sun. Comparing them, they are actually more different than I thought they would be, but I'll let you see for yourself and I think you'll be able to see why. I like your station btw. Names? Spherestation?

Title: Re: Small, somewhat crappy modular station
Post by: Shivan Hunter on July 16, 2013, 02:04:29 pm
BTA: Just to clarify, the Karnak is much larger than this station.

Lorric: Well, space stations shaped like rings are an extremely common trope, probably because the original concepts were things like Stanford Tori. So I'm not surprised it resembles many other stations. (IIRC BW just released a station with a similar shape)
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTI Europa (previously: Small, somewhat crappy modular station)
Post by: Shivan Hunter on August 02, 2013, 01:39:46 am
 :bump:

First p∅st updated!
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTI Europa (previously: Small, somewhat crappy modular station)
Post by: Oddgrim on August 02, 2013, 03:31:05 am
Congrats with the release mate, hope I will see this soon in a future campaign. c:
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTI Europa (previously: Small, somewhat crappy modular station)
Post by: Colonol Dekker on August 02, 2013, 01:41:12 pm
That's a cool name Shivn Hunter, where'd you get the idea  ;7
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTI Europa (previously: Small, somewhat crappy modular station)
Post by: Shivan Hunter on August 02, 2013, 08:54:42 pm
;)
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTI Europa (previously: Small, somewhat crappy modular station)
Post by: mjn.mixael on August 02, 2013, 11:00:27 pm
 :yes:
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTI Europa (previously: Small, somewhat crappy modular station)
Post by: coffeesoft on August 03, 2013, 02:52:37 am
Beautiful and useful  , many thanks   :yes:
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTI Europa (previously: Small, somewhat crappy modular station)
Post by: MatthTheGeek on August 28, 2013, 03:11:56 pm
This is now wikified (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/GTI_Europa) and FSMods.netified (http://www.freespacemods.net/download.php?view.907)

(http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/images/GTIEuropaDefense.png)
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTI Europa (previously: Small, somewhat crappy modular station)
Post by: Rheyah on August 31, 2013, 10:07:26 am
The only trouble I have with using this station is that it takes forever to assemble into even a basic shape.

The best part of this station is that it works really well with things like the modular mining station, the Constellation and the Module station pack.  I've been able to construct a really nice looking habitat positioned around the Scar asteroid with this which will become Orkney station.  Thank you :)
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTI Europa (previously: Small, somewhat crappy modular station)
Post by: Black Wolf on August 31, 2013, 12:06:10 pm
The only trouble I have with using this station is that it takes forever to assemble into even a basic shape.

The best part of this station is that it works really well with things like the modular mining station, the Constellation and the Module station pack.  I've been able to construct a really nice looking habitat positioned around the Scar asteroid with this which will become Orkney station.  Thank you :)

I'd like to see pictures of that. :nod:
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTI Europa (previously: Small, somewhat crappy modular station)
Post by: Nyctaeus on September 01, 2013, 09:46:03 am
Is this possible in FSU to make a group of ships as one ship? If not I would like to see that feature. Targeting every single piece of station or only the core when rest of the parts are invisible for sensors is rather strange. This problem occur both in Modular Construction Kit and the Europa.
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTI Europa (previously: Small, somewhat crappy modular station)
Post by: Shivan Hunter on September 01, 2013, 03:11:53 pm
Rkeyah: Awesome! I'd like to see that too.

Betrayal: This post (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=80871.msg1666860#msg1666860) by BW has some good ideas on making the station act like one piece using SEXPs. There are a few other ways to do it as well, and probably an even better solution via scripting. Keep in mind that's not the only option - I don't see the problem with acknowledging in gameplay the fact that the station is modular. It could lead to scenarios like attackers in a nebula prioritizing sensor arrays (with their AWACS flags) to blind the station, or attackers only killing turret sections and capturing others.
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTI Europa (previously: Small, somewhat crappy modular station)
Post by: Rheyah on September 02, 2013, 07:11:35 pm
It's taking a while to finish seeing as I wanted to make it look really good before showing it to anyone.  The main problem is how butt ugly the mining station is compared to all the beautiful components and how hard it is to make some of the modular stuff look good but I think I have a fix for that :)
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTI Europa (previously: Small, somewhat crappy modular station)
Post by: Revan227 on September 03, 2013, 05:46:22 pm
what exactly is this?
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTI Europa (previously: Small, somewhat crappy modular station)
Post by: Shivan Hunter on September 03, 2013, 08:56:09 pm
polygons
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTI Europa (previously: Small, somewhat crappy modular station)
Post by: Bullhorn on December 11, 2013, 06:31:45 pm
This is a great model; I have a spiral configuration I will shortly post screening of.

However, one question -  no dock points on outer surface?

I find that shuttles etc find it tricky to negotiate the quite tight angles need to dock on the inward faxing arms...

Bh
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTI Europa (previously: Small, somewhat crappy modular station)
Post by: Shivan Hunter on December 11, 2013, 10:20:29 pm
No, I used the outer sides pretty much exclusively for the windows, so the line wouldn't be broken up. If you have a hub section that connects to a center core, it has a dockpoint on the bottom that should be easier to get to. Alternatively, you could place a waypoint somewhere near the destination dockpoint and have the shuttle move there before it docks. Waypoints are also good for navigating around other hull sections if they're in the way.
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTI Europa (previously: Small, somewhat crappy modular station)
Post by: Bullhorn on December 12, 2013, 12:10:35 pm
Copy that.

If you do any further work on this, external dock points on, say just the hub section,  would allow for concentric rings,  external docks, better integration with the MCK etc and allow larger ships (Argo and above)  to dock.

For me, personally, that single adaptation would bump this lovely model from a great to a legendary :-)