[Zacam]

Okay, so most of the nameplates that were released are (for Orion and Fenris/Leviathan ships) either 512x64 or 512x128. (Science Vessels are 256x128.) All of the 512x128's are for the Deimos Class vessels (and 512x64 works perfectly fine for them, places the text in the exact same spot.)

According to the original texture, the original nameplates (for the Orions atleast, Fen/Levy didn't have any) are 256x37. (Obviously not a power of 2.) However, that original texture fits exactly into the capital01-05a space on the newer HTL'd model of the Orion......so why is the (newer) nameplate so big?

Also, in regards to the HTL'd Orion model, capital01-05a get's used twice (though ModelView32 say's it's in use 15 times.....??). Once where it's supposed to be and then a second time on the other side of the model towards the engine section. And not at full size either. I'm also curious why the texture space was split into two triangles to form the rectangle vs. the original 1 rectangle, but that's neither here nor there. I'm also curious why, when viewing in ModelView32, the original capital01-05a texture (while it fit's perfectly) is split in the middle with the top half on the bottom and the bottom half on the top (but the texture is completely present when you splice it back from a screenshot).

And regarding the science vessels......the nameplate texture space doesn't have anything behind it in the HTL model. I accidentally goofed on testing a new nameplate I had made for a science vessel (missaplied alpha transparency turned the whole block transparent) which then made a nice hole in the side of the ship where the nameplate should have been......and I could fly right through it. It's also an odd size from the others. I only mention the no background because atleast with a Fen/Levy if you don't have a nameplate texture (or screw it up like I did the science vessel) you still get a ship texture behind it that doesn't cause a hole in the ship. And when taylor (if taylor) impliments the code to dynamically generate nameplates on the fly, current HTL science vessels will have a problem doing that with no backing texture (check the model in ModelView32 or in anything that will render it, tell it not to load science-name and you'll see what I mean. It's literally modeled as a "frame" to surround the nameplate......I always wondered why I took such a hit when one of those was on-screen). Fortunatly, the science vessel (HTL) is the only one with this issue.

I'd like to "fix" these issues, but I don't know what the "appropriate" scale is "supposed" to be for these models, vs. the scale that actually ended up being used. Obviously, texture sizes wont work out, they're not powers of 2, so do I scale up, or scale down and if I do either, do I need to do the same to the model or leave it alone?

Edit: I just ran several nameplates by at 256x32 for Fenris, Leviathan, Deimos, Hecate and Orion and they all showed just fine and used nearly the same amount of space as the 512x64's (same over all quality, the text was a titch smaller in overal space used though the font almost looked the same size.) So now I'm even more confused.

[Axem]

The thing with nameplates (or any texture really) is that they can be any texture size you want. They'll get scaled to fit the uv space they're given. For my nameplates I use a 4:1 ratio, 512x128 usually. On really lazy days I just make a square texture and squish the name in. It comes out a bit streched, and on closeups you can see the resizing artifacts.

The Faustus and the Orion are the two ships that don't use alpha nameplates. The Faustus nameplate is applied the same as the Orion's. It's part of the model instead of floating just a bit over the model. So a totally transparent texture will make hole in the ship. I think the nameplate texture is called science01-name and its in mv_models.vp.

In the untouched V textures, the Orion does use a non-power of two texture. So I'm assuming that the proportions of that texture were tweaked a bit for the mediaVPs so it looked normal once applied to the model. However that might distort any text that looks normal its not applied to the model. I dunno about the texture oddness in Modelview. It doesn't always do a super job with uv mapping, so it might be a bug or something.

And why two triangles instead of a rectangle? Because the HTL engine uses triangles for model rendering. IIRC it will automagically triangulates polygons that aren't, so it doesn't matter in the long run. Two triangles make a rectangle anyway.

[Zacam]

Then they should probably get touched up to use alpha nameplates. Especially regarding the possibility of being able to dynamically generate nameplates on the fly.

Also, I note IRL that most military or oceanic vessels all have thier names painted with a standardized font cut out into a standardized size. Wouldn't it make sense for the FS ships to utilize a nameplate convention that allows for a one-size universal setting for the font to render the nameplate with? (sadly, it'd mean more work for the Faustus to correct for the hole under the science01-name texture space and then size the nameplate to fall more closely in size with the rest of the vessels.)

And the Faustus nameplate, alpha or otherwise, shouldn't be a part of the model to the extent that there is no model underneath it. While that's nice and lazy, if it doesn't resize to match properly you end up with rendering leaks and it's just "Not A Good Thing" to have happen. Every other model that uses a nameplate (except for the Orion) does so. And while I can concede that the idea for alpha nameplates may not have been floating around at the time, the Faustus doesn't have the same excuse the Orion does, since science01-name doesn't exist in the orignal Faustus model. And the Orions lack of model behind the nameplate really could have (perhaps should have) been corrected when it was HTL'd. (and it's duplicate usage of the capital01-05 texture elsewhere on the model, while it might have been a good idea (to have the name visible from two sids) it's implimentation doesn't leave the second instance visible/legible in the slightest.)

Thanks for the info though on the HTL rendering engine....I really should have realized that myself, but I was a titch overly focused on sorting out textures. And thank you in general for your answer, if I seem that I'm disagreing with you in an inflamatory fashion or trying to bash anyone or anything, I'm not, I'm just sincerely looking to learn and to impliment what I hope will be some decent contributions to the community here.