So what I'm thinking is this: Use show-ship, construct the ship as normal, and (in Blender) parent the cockpit model to the main hull in detail0. I will actually have two cockpit models, one the hyper-detailed cockpit as viewed from inside, and the other the less-detailed cockpit with visible pilot. Detail box the cockpit models so that you see the detailed, internal version if you're inside like... five meters or something, and use the same settings for the external cockpit model, except set $detail_box: -1 so that you see it if you're outside the ship--in other words, if you're not the pilot. In that way, I'll be using it as a sort of selective LOD.
In my overly active imagination, this would show the cockpit model if you're controlling a ship, since your distance from it would ideally be 0. If you're not controlling the ship, unless you get a clipping error and somehow manage to lodge your ship inside my model, you'll never see the detailed cockpit, and that's just as well because a) you don't need to and b) there's no pilot in that model, so it would just be an empty cockpit. But whether or not you're actually piloting the ship, if you're within range of the detail0 LOD, you'll see the same hull, so you'll still see working firepoints and maneuvering jets when you look out the window of the ship.
In fact I got a little fancier than that and made more detailed models of some of the parts of the ship that you can see from inside the cockpit, since they, like the cockpit, will be something that you have to look at up close the entire time you play. They're not even separate objects in the model, though--they're part of the mesh of the different cockpit models, just not connected at any vertices and placed in the exact right relative positions.
Sooooo does anyone see any hole in my logic here, using 3.6.12 Inferno and 3.6.10 Inferno?
And if anyone (especially Scooby--hot damn, dude) has any hot tips about texturing with GIMP beyond the tutorials... you know, feel free to share. I freely admit that I've been extracting models and texture maps from other people's .vp's, trying to learn a thing or two from their work.
Oh and one more thing, off-topic. I'm actually making two versions of the model, one contemporary to FS2 and another one based on near-future projections of space flight technology. It would be a museum piece in the FreeSpace universe. I've designed it with (to a certain extent) real life physics in mind, so I have considerations for center of gravity, g-forces on the pilot and hull, energy conservation and so on. In my mind, it's from a conflict from before humanity left the Sol system and one of the first ever dedicated space fighters designed, in some sort of interplanetary conflict. Has there been any interest in this sort of modding? I know there's a campaign about the origins of the 103rd, but I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't played it yet, so I'm not sure where it happens in the FreeSpace timeline. If you're into this kind of stuff, let me know and we'll do some brainstorming. I'll be releasing both versions of this model as soon as I can get it textured and struggle my way through PCS1 and ModelView32. (My onboard laptop graphics card is one of those friggin Intel cards, with a custom driver for this laptop no less, just to make good and sure that I can't update it. It doesn't support all the OpenGL that PCS2 needs. If anyone has found a way around this, I would love to join the PCS2 party.)
Thanks a lot, guys! You've been really helpful, and I'm glad this discussion is happening.
