Hard Light Productions Forums

Community Projects => The FreeSpace Upgrade Project => The FreeSpace Port Upgrade => Topic started by: TrashMan on September 14, 2006, 07:00:39 am

Title: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: TrashMan on September 14, 2006, 07:00:39 am
Just uploaded them at Hades Combine :D

The Athena ramins true to the Original - all the POF data and stats are the same..only glows were added and insignia is put on the rear wings.

The Mk2 (or DH or Advanced..or whatever...) Has more firepower. It has 4 gun points on the first gun bank, for a total of 6.
It has an aditional missile bank, but the capacity of the other 2 have been reduced so the total capacity is (60, 60, 100) comapred to the original Athena's (80, 80)

Sadly, due to some PCS crazyness I could only convert the full models with the PCS-factet version, so they're not as smoothy as on the screenie (this being only LO0 converted with normal PCS):
(http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/2390/athenasuw1.th.jpg) (http://img118.imageshack.us/my.php?image=athenasuw1.jpg)


EDIT:

Download files updated!
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Freespace Freak on September 14, 2006, 07:32:38 am
Looks good.   :yes:
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Pnakotus on September 14, 2006, 05:55:05 pm
The advanced version has more guns and almost double the secondary capacity?  Nuts.  :D  Hope you sort out the conversion issues!
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Gregster2k on September 15, 2006, 12:37:11 am
w00t, an Erinyes in terms of disabling that even non-elite pilots of the GTVA can fly? :)
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: leeisl on September 15, 2006, 02:45:47 am
Is it just me or does it seem that the glowpoints are missing on one side of both models :confused:?
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: TrashMan on September 15, 2006, 05:07:33 am
The last time I tested them they had all the glowpoints..

And who said everyone can fly the Mk2 version? ;7
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: leeisl on September 15, 2006, 07:36:10 am
Funny, cause when checked them again, they definately lack glowpoints on the left side viewed from the front.


[attachment deleted by admin]
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: TrashMan on September 15, 2006, 09:32:36 am
It might be bacouse tehy are being obscured by hte wing..I set them prettly close to the hull so you can't see them from every imaginable angle. Rotate the ship a bit and see if htey show up...
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: leeisl on September 15, 2006, 09:45:45 am
Still nothing
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Cobra on September 15, 2006, 01:00:11 pm
Sweet! :D
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: TrashMan on September 15, 2006, 04:16:24 pm
I just checked - tehy work fine by me. I have no idea what could be causing this...


Hmm..which light are missing for you? The green ones? Or the red ones? Maby there's something wrong with your light image?
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: ShivanSpS on September 15, 2006, 06:56:01 pm
if someone whant to use this in Fs_port, remember to change the POF name to bomber01.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: leeisl on September 15, 2006, 09:26:01 pm
I just checked - tehy work fine by me. I have no idea what could be causing this...


Hmm..which light are missing for you? The green ones? Or the red ones? Maby there's something wrong with your light image?

The red ones on the left are missing.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Freespace Freak on September 16, 2006, 06:54:53 am
The same exact thing is happening to me.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Janos on September 16, 2006, 07:38:42 am
Can you post comparison pics, because I have difficulties finding structural differences between classic and Mk2?
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Herra Tohtori on September 16, 2006, 08:53:36 am
These ones are not working for me... I downloaded them from here (standard Athena) (http://hades-combine.com/web/index.php?ind=downloads&op=entry_view&iden=235) and here (Mk.2) (http://hades-combine.com/web/index.php?ind=downloads&op=entry_view&iden=236), are these the correct ones? There's something weird about them.

First of all, why are the table entries in *.txt files? Shouldn't they be in *-shp.tbm files?

Anyway, the basic Athena just shows as the old model, and the new one doesn't show anything in shiplab and if I try to view the Mk2 in Tech Room, the game crashes because it can't open the model... like this.

Code: [Select]
Error: Can't open model file <>
File:C:\Languages\Visual Studio Projects\Visual C++\fs2_open_3_6_9\code\Model\ModelRead.cpp
Line: 1867
[This filename points to the location of a file on the computer that built this executable]

Call stack:
------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------


Here's what I did with the standard HTL Athena:

-opened the RAR file

-extracted Athena.pof file to fsport\data\models\

-extracted athenashield.ani file to fsport\data\effects\

-extracted all image files to fsport\data\maps\

-extracted the text file (AthenaTBl.txt) to fsport\data\tables\

-renamed the text file AthenaTBl.txt -> Athena-shp.tbm


Same operations with the Mk2 textures, model and text file.


According to my knowledge, the ships should work when I activate fsport mod. :nervous:

Am I doing something wrong or is there something wrong with those packs?
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: TrashMan on September 16, 2006, 09:06:41 am
Hm.. maby I should have put the ship.tbm file, but to tell the truth I jsut glaced them over in the Wiki and completely forgot about them.

Here's the thing - the athenashield.ani goes into the hud folder and you should add it to the hud.tbl file (just copy another entry and change the name, very easy)

You add the contets of the txt files manually to your ship .tbl - just copy paste betwen some other bombers.
I suppose it should also work as a -shp.tbm file....

Why doesn' it work with the Port? Dunno...maby it' own tbl files are taking precedence... Have you tried it the ships work without hte FGSPort?

---------
As for the lights, I really have no idea what could be happening. Maby something went screwy with the uplaod to HC?
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Col. Fishguts on September 16, 2006, 09:24:10 am
Are you sure you used the standard glow images (the ones in the media_vps) and not some custom ones ?
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: TrashMan on September 16, 2006, 10:00:38 am
red_glow
green_glow
blue_glow4_small
yellow_glow2_small
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Ypoknons on September 16, 2006, 03:51:48 pm
It seems like you've come a long way.  :yes:
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: TrashMan on September 17, 2006, 03:58:00 am
Can you post comparison pics, because I have difficulties finding structural differences between classic and Mk2?

Just the texture is different. Since the MK2 and the original were really similar, and the Mk2 was detailed, I simply used the mesh for both..
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Pnakotus on September 17, 2006, 06:56:29 pm
To get the txt to work as a tbm, remember to add the #ship classes and #end bits, and slap a +nocreate after the name.  It works fine for me, in FSPort and all.

eg
#Ship Classes

$Name: GTB Athena
   +nocreate
$Short name: LBomber01
...
...
$Subsystem: weapons, 20,0.0

#end
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: ShivanSpS on September 20, 2006, 08:35:41 am
Here's what I did with the standard HTL Athena:

-opened the RAR file

-extracted Athena.pof file to fsport\data\models\

-extracted athenashield.ani file to fsport\data\effects\

-extracted all image files to fsport\data\maps\

-extracted the text file (AthenaTBl.txt) to fsport\data\tables\

-renamed the text file AthenaTBl.txt -> Athena-shp.tbm


Same operations with the Mk2 textures, model and text file.


According to my knowledge, the ships should work when I activate fsport mod. :nervous:

Am I doing something wrong or is there something wrong with those packs?

in FS port, you dont need the table file(for MK1), just delete it, and rename the Athena.pof to bomber01.pof

mmm if someone have problems to make it work, you can download the .vp vercion that I using for my pack... I attaching the file now :D, you must put the .vp in the fsport main folder... not in /data, all credits go to TrashMan.

[attachment deleted by admin]
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: ShivanSpS on September 20, 2006, 08:36:54 am
part2

[attachment deleted by admin]
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: ShivanSpS on September 20, 2006, 08:37:45 am
part3

[attachment deleted by admin]
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: ShivanSpS on September 20, 2006, 09:03:23 am
And the Athena-shp are bad... its missed the "@", "#ship classes" and the "#END"...

Fsport already have the table file, just dont worry about... but if you wish to look at the Athena MK2, you need the tbm files -> attaching

If you wish to use it for fs_port, download the vercion for FS1 Weapons, if you wish to use it in FS2, then download the vercion for FS2 weapons.

But for some reazon Icant arm the second and third missile bank in the Athena MK2...



[attachment deleted by admin]
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: leeisl on September 20, 2006, 10:21:10 am
Any ideas about why the models are missing some glowpoints on my end?
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: ShivanSpS on September 21, 2006, 08:36:43 pm
Any ideas about why the models are missing some glowpoints on my end?

the mine its just fine :P well the tail glowpoint looks too much like a ball :P

(http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/7852/athenatg0.th.jpg) (http://img177.imageshack.us/my.php?image=athenatg0.jpg)

BTW, if you are talking about the MK2, read the tech description..

Quote
The revival of the Old Athena, the Mk2 versions internal layout has been completely redisigned to accomodate the latest technological improvements. It features a additional missile bank and two more gun points. It's rear engine has been removed, but thanks to the new generation of fighter engines it's speed remained the same. Shielding, armor and reactor output have also been increased slightly. With increased weapons compability it can survive even better in dogfights. Just like it's predecessor it's ideal for crippling enemy warships, but if you want to blow up destroyers there are craft better suited for the job.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: leeisl on September 22, 2006, 12:48:56 am
That's not what I meant, if you compare his screenshots in the top post and mine a few posts down you can see how mine is missing the red points on the left side viewed from the front.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: TrashMan on September 23, 2006, 01:55:07 pm
Do the red glowpoints show up on other ships?

You do have PCS I trust? Open the model in PCS and look if it has the red glow listed.
It should be there, as I know it works for me.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Freespace Freak on September 23, 2006, 04:31:21 pm
Do the red glowpoints show up on other ships?

You do have PCS I trust? Open the model in PCS and look if it has the red glow listed.
It should be there, as I know it works for me.

On other ships?  I guess you mean other than the Athena?  Yes, it does, it just doesn't show up on your Athena.  What is PCS?
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: karajorma on September 23, 2006, 05:16:39 pm
Pof Construtor Suite. Basically one of the main programs for editing the .pof format FS2 uses.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: leeisl on September 23, 2006, 10:13:09 pm
Do the red glowpoints show up on other ships?
Yes
You do have PCS I trust? No Open the model in PCS and look if it has the red glow listed.
It should be there, as I know it works for me.

Where can I get a copy of PCS?

Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: TrashMan on September 25, 2006, 06:09:11 am
There should bea link in hte downloads section or in the wiki..

I jst might upload a new version of the Athenas with a better cockpit ina few days...mbay...
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Tempest on October 08, 2006, 10:14:01 am
When you edit the eyepoints, and enable the -show ship flag, wonderful, wonderful things happen. *nominates Athena for best cockpit ever*. Unfortunatley by default eyepoints are a bit off but I corrected that quickly. It does seem to crash the mission where you try to escort the Galatea through the jump node, and the HoL ships are ramming it, but otherwise its fine.

About the pic, it's a little dark, and looks better in person. If you guys want, I can attach the re-eyepointed Athena, or TrashMan could make the change when he releases his next version (with fixed lights).

[attachment deleted by admin]
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: TrashMan on October 09, 2006, 03:30:23 am
I'll have to fix the cockpit a bit... those support things that hold the canpoy need work....
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: TrashMan on October 13, 2006, 03:06:50 pm
Fixed the glows and fixed the cockpit. This is the current cockpit view:
(http://img501.imageshack.us/img501/8304/newathenacockpitoh3.th.jpg) (http://img501.imageshack.us/my.php?image=newathenacockpitoh3.jpg)


any more requests before I update the download?
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Herra Tohtori on October 13, 2006, 03:23:19 pm
Have you put in modular ship tables for both changing the old Athena into HTL version, and to add new ship Athena Mk.II?
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: TrashMan on October 13, 2006, 04:02:54 pm
I havn't updated the downlaod yet, but someone else posted the modular tables.

Once I update the download I'll put modular tables in tehre.
I jsut wnat to chekc if there's anything else I can improve before doing so.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: TrashMan on October 15, 2006, 05:07:45 am
Downlaod at Hades Combine has been updated.

New .rar contains the improved cockpit, fixed glowpoints and modular tables :D
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Commander Zane on January 07, 2007, 09:04:06 pm
Fixed the glows and fixed the cockpit. This is the current cockpit view:
(http://img501.imageshack.us/img501/8304/newathenacockpitoh3.th.jpg) (http://img501.imageshack.us/my.php?image=newathenacockpitoh3.jpg)


any more requests before I update the download?

WHERE DID YOU GET COCKPITS?!?! I WANT THIS SO BAD NOW!!!
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Commander Zane on January 07, 2007, 10:46:14 pm
Oh, umm...how do I put it into the game?
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Turey on January 07, 2007, 10:57:01 pm
Oh, umm...how do I put it into the game?

.pcx and .tga go in C:\Games\FreeSpace2\mediavps\data\maps

.pof go in C:\Games\FreeSpace2\mediavps\data\models

.ani go in C:\Games\FreeSpace2\mediavps\data\hud

.tbm go in C:\Games\FreeSpace2\mediavps\data\tables
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Commander Zane on January 07, 2007, 11:03:18 pm
I...don't have anything past the mediavps folder...do I make them?
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Turey on January 07, 2007, 11:19:23 pm
I...don't have anything past the mediavps folder...do I make them?

yes.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Commander Zane on January 07, 2007, 11:41:36 pm
I put the files in the places you said to put them in, but they didn't show up on the Tech Room, do I only do one Athena ship at a time?
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Turey on January 08, 2007, 02:41:17 am
I put the files in the places you said to put them in, but they didn't show up on the Tech Room, do I only do one Athena ship at a time?

Make sure you have mediavps selected as your mod, and that you use ctrl + Shift + s to see all the ships.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Commander Zane on January 08, 2007, 08:35:40 pm
Is there any way to select them for a mission? I don't see it in the FRED Editor, so I can't put it on the loadout screen.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Pnakotus on January 08, 2007, 08:49:48 pm
You've clearly installed them wrong.  Did you select the mediavps folder as a mod?

Shouldn't there be documentation for all this somewhere? :)
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: StratComm on January 08, 2007, 09:38:52 pm
Kara's FAQ.  The Wiki.  But this goes back to the lack-of-centralized-documentation issue that's come up in modding.

It has to be in tables to show up in FRED.  Either the modular table is FUBAR'd and just doesn't work, or isn't placed in [mod]/tables (or you could use it in the Port).  Or more likely, you don't have FRED set up to use mods, which is another subject of frustration.  I know creating a shortcut and adding "-mod [modname]" to the target works, and six months ago when I last changed those settings that was the only way that was reliable.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Commander Zane on January 08, 2007, 10:57:40 pm
I had it selected as a mod but I couldn't check on FRED because of this HTL conflict, I tried adding the extra stuff to the target but I don't know exactly show the target name should appear.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: TrashMan on January 09, 2007, 08:02:30 am
Try the following:

.pcx and .tga go in C:\Games\FreeSpace2\data\maps

.pof go in C:\Games\FreeSpace2\data\models

.ani go in C:\Games\FreeSpace2\data\hud


.tbm go in C:\Games\FreeSpace2\data\tables (If you DL'ed the modular tables. I can't remember if the tables included were modular)

If all else fails you can extract the ship.tbl (using VPView you put it in the tables folder, if you havn't allready) and just copy/paste the Athena ship data in it.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Commander Zane on January 09, 2007, 04:47:58 pm
Well I've already done that, but I want to know if they show up on FRED, like I said, I can't look myself because it won't load because of some HTL thing and it wants me to add something to the FRED target on properties and all that.

And how to add the stuff on the target and what the target should look like. :D
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Turey on January 09, 2007, 05:02:21 pm
Well I've already done that, but I want to know if they show up on FRED, like I said, I can't look myself because it won't load because of some HTL thing and it wants me to add something to the FRED target on properties and all that.

And how to add the stuff on the target and what the target should look like. :D

It won't load because you're trying to load an HTL model with out -htl. But let's address the bigger problem first.

Contrary to TrashMan's assertion, it is a BAD IDEA to put HTL models in /data. That will break retail, and won't let you run with default graphics.

All HTL models should go in mediavps. End of story.

Now, make a shortcut to FRED. Right-click on it and select properties. find the Target box. go to the end of the target box, and add
-mod mediavps -htl

so it should look like this:
"(path)\(fred exe name)" -mod mediavps -htl

then run the shortcut.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Pnakotus on January 09, 2007, 05:08:11 pm
AHAHAHA!  'It'll break retail'?  WHO CARES?  Aside from the nostalgic minority or those with truly old computers, who wants to play retail?  Not only do I not have any interest in playing ugly stupid lowres retail, but there's no reason to (troubleshooting, etc).  Mercy.  :lol:
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Turey on January 09, 2007, 07:34:32 pm
AHAHAHA!  'It'll break retail'?  WHO CARES?  Aside from the nostalgic minority or those with truly old computers, who wants to play retail?  Not only do I not have any interest in playing ugly stupid lowres retail, but there's no reason to (troubleshooting, etc).  Mercy.  :lol:

The point is that you shouldn't break retail if you don't have to.

Also, putting it in /data will make it so that it is not used, as it will be overridden by the one in the mediavps. putting it into /mediavps/data makes it work correctly.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Commander Zane on January 09, 2007, 09:30:09 pm
Adding -mod mediavps -htl didn't work either, this is bringing back the Unreal Editor nightmares...

I noticed that Scooby Doo's ships are .VPs, but these two aren't. Why is that?
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Turey on January 09, 2007, 10:32:04 pm
Adding -mod mediavps -htl didn't work either, this is bringing back the Unreal Editor nightmares...

I noticed that Scooby Doo's ships are .VPs, but these two aren't. Why is that?

Because Scooby is noob-friendly.

Seriously, it's because this IS in a vp. It's called mv_models.vp
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Commander Zane on January 09, 2007, 11:47:16 pm
Adding -mod mediavps -htl didn't work either, this is bringing back the Unreal Editor nightmares...

I noticed that Scooby Doo's ships are .VPs, but these two aren't. Why is that?
noob-friendly.
There's my problem...can't get a single thing working without step-by-step instructions with steps in the steps themselves before figuring out what to do...
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: TrashMan on January 10, 2007, 06:47:05 am
Adding -mod mediavps -htl didn't work either, this is bringing back the Unreal Editor nightmares...

I noticed that Scooby Doo's ships are .VPs, but these two aren't. Why is that?

FRED dosn't work? What version are you running?

Was it working properly before you tried any changes?

And I bleive someone posted two fixed .tbms for hte Athenas (can't recall if I put them in the download)..it in this thread in somoens signature
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: ShivanSpS on January 10, 2007, 08:59:28 am
End this discution... the HTL Athena goes to the FS1 port folder.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Herra Tohtori on January 10, 2007, 09:29:37 am
It's not as simple as "putting the HTL Athena in FSPort directory". Maps should go to FSPort\data\maps\, tables to FSPort\data\tables\, shield icon ANI to FSPort\data\hud\ and the model goes to FSPort\data\models. Slapping the files as such in FSPort dir is a bad idea IMHO. If you want, you can even use entirely another mod directory (like I do), but the simplest way is to put the files in FSPort\data\ and corresponding subdirectories.


...If someone wants a simple installation and wants to skip the parts where they have to learn something about the file structure used by FS_Open and the mod system, they can download this file (http://users.tkk.fi/~lmiettun/Kuvat/FS2_Open/Trashmans_Athenae_VP/Trashmans_Athenae.7z), extract the VP, slap it into the FSPort folder and it should work, thanks to the fact that the modular tables will override the standard table entry and therefore the game will use the new Athena model (and maps) instead of the old ones.

The VP contains both the standard HTL Athena and Athena Mark II by Trashman. I took the liberty of mirroring the file, I hope it's okay... I'll take it away if someone objects for some reason. Or if Trashman wants, he can upload it to Hades-Combine.

If someone wants the Athenae in separate VP files, I can do that too.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Huggybaby on January 10, 2007, 06:36:03 pm
Crap, so all these ship files are in the wrong directory?
And if they are, exactly where should they go again?

(http://xs411.xs.to/xs411/07014/fsport304date.jpg)

ShivanSPS and Turey and I and a multitude of others need to know!

Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Turey on January 10, 2007, 06:43:02 pm
ShivanSPS and Turey and I and a multitude of others need to know!

I already know the answer to that one. .vp files are fine in the root mod dir. extra stuff not in a .vp (except for mod.ini, portv3.bmp, etc.) should go in the appropriate data folder. Only things I can see wrong with that pic are cutscenes.tbl, which goes in fsport\data\tables, and FreeSpace2.fc2, which should probably go in fsport\data\missions (or is it campaigns? I think it's missions.)


EDIT: I checked, it's missions.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: [DW]-Hunter on January 10, 2007, 06:50:28 pm
OMG I LOVE THAT BOMBER!!!!11 Its by far imo the best looking ship!!!!111
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Herra Tohtori on January 10, 2007, 07:02:26 pm
That setup works just fine if you really want the new ships to override certain ships every time that FSPort directory is enabled, which is in this case desireable I would think. It's a perfectly good way to do things if there's no need to easily revert to "official" FSPort behaviour. Multimod offers that, if it's required. Putting the VP into the directory works just fine - in most cases anyway. If there are textures and/or models with same name in multiple VP's in same mod directory, the I guess some of the overriding rules in the code will decide which one is used...

Putting individual model, texture, table and other files into FSPort\data\models etc directories will always work and files that are put there will always override the files with same namy that might be in the VP archives in the same mod directory. That's the only advantage over VP files
that individual files have IMHO. VP files have every other advantage to their side. They are easier to distribute, generally way easier to install and easier to manage than craploads of individual effects, textures and model files in mod/data directories.

ShivanSPS' and Turey's downloads work just fine. I'm sure they have tested the directory structures before distributing their work. I only have experience about Shivan's download - I DL'ed it because my CD's were 700 km north - and I haven't noticed any problems at all. Besides, both of them are meant for people who just want to start playing with latest graphics and stuff, and haven't really familiarized them with how FSOpen directory structure works. It saves confusion and works fine, so it's a good solution.


I'm just saying that there are many ways to get things working and as long as you know what you do (and do what you know) it doesn't matter how you do it. It's greatly down to personal preference how you want to get certain ship to work - by integrating it to previous mod folder (like FSPort) or running it from separate mod folder with multimod command line, both work. In some cases, other one works better than the other. But as long as you find a way that works, everything is okay. It's just that some ways of getting stuff to work are better than others. Like, for example, you should almost never install anything extra in main data folder...

I personally prefer keeping "official" releases such as FSPort directory as clean as possible, and I put possible modifications that I want to run with it into separate mod folder. Then I just run both mod folders simultaneously. If I run into problems, it's way easier to do trouble shooting. Turn the other mod directory off - if the basic FSPort works, I know that the problem is somewhere in my alterations.


Fore example, it would be possible to put, for example, Apollo_HTL.vp and Valkyrie_CPR_high.vp into another folder named, for example, FSPort_newShips - directory, and then just run a command line -mod FSPort,FSPort_newShips or something like that. But as I said, putting them inside the FSPort dir works too, as long as you remember that they are there.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Huggybaby on January 10, 2007, 08:58:40 pm
Thanks for the answers. I'll bookmark this page for future reference.

I'm glad to hear that that setup is fine. I really prefer everything to look as good as possible, and I'm not concerned with retail compatibility. Now I have another ship to add! I really wish there were just one proper way though.

I also like the root to be as clean as possible.

Is it true that these ships will be rolled into an upcoming vp file?

Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Commander Zane on January 10, 2007, 09:23:18 pm
Alright, the .VP file worked, and I can fly the Athena ships. The Mk II is by far the most deadly multi-role fighter in the game.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: ShivanSpS on January 11, 2007, 08:35:20 am
ShivanSPS and Turey and I and a multitude of others need to know!

I already know the answer to that one. .vp files are fine in the root mod dir. extra stuff not in a .vp (except for mod.ini, portv3.bmp, etc.) should go in the appropriate data folder. Only things I can see wrong with that pic are cutscenes.tbl, which goes in fsport\data\tables, and FreeSpace2.fc2, which should probably go in fsport\data\missions (or is it campaigns? I think it's missions.)


EDIT: I checked, it's missions.

if you place the freespace2.fc2 and/or cutscenes.tbl intro "fsport\data\wharever" the files don't work, I tested it before, the same thing tend to hapend which the HTL models in the .vp file, it likely that everything "fsport\data", is override by everything in "fsport\".

The HTL Models should be always released in a .vp, and the files must be placed correctly inside that vp.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Turey on January 11, 2007, 02:18:31 pm
if you place the freespace2.fc2 and/or cutscenes.tbl intro "fsport\data\wharever" the files don't work, I tested it before, the same thing tend to hapend which the HTL models in the .vp file, it likely that everything "fsport\data", is override by everything in "fsport\".

I swear that the file order says that files found in a higher folder in this list overrides the lower ones:
freespace2\modfolder\data\datatypefolder\
freespace2\modfolder\
freespace2\data\datatypefolder\
freespace2\
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: ShivanSpS on January 11, 2007, 02:41:09 pm
if you place the freespace2.fc2 and/or cutscenes.tbl intro "fsport\data\wharever" the files don't work, I tested it before, the same thing tend to hapend which the HTL models in the .vp file, it likely that everything "fsport\data", is override by everything in "fsport\".

I swear that the file order says that files found in a higher folder in this list overrides the lower ones:
freespace2\modfolder\data\datatypefolder\
freespace2\modfolder\
freespace2\data\datatypefolder\
freespace2\

The last time that I try to put the freespace2.fc2 and cutscenes.tbl intro "mod/data/tables" it dont work...
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: [DW]-Hunter on January 11, 2007, 08:22:50 pm
why the **** would you put the campaign in the tables folder?
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: ShivanSpS on January 11, 2007, 11:04:52 pm
why the **** would you put the campaign in the tables folder?

ups, sorry, i mean missions, anyway, is dont work. None of them. both files must go in the mod folder.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: karajorma on January 12, 2007, 06:44:59 am
That's simply not true. I've been running BtRL as a mod for troubleshooting purposes with a campaign file in Freespace2\BtRL\Data\Missions and I've not had any issues with it.

Be careful not to blame mistakes with priority or suchlike on the code not working. I've made that mistake a couple of times and felt really silly when I walked through the code and found what it was actually loading.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: ShivanSpS on January 12, 2007, 09:51:54 am
you right, it works, but NOW, the last time I try that it don't work... I think it was before the 3.6.9 RCX series...

anyway, more work for the patch :S
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: ShivanSpS on January 12, 2007, 08:04:09 pm
ahh, remember to rename the Athena.pof to Bomber01.pof or it will not work in fs1_port, also remove that .tbl
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Commander Zane on January 14, 2007, 12:02:15 am
This might just be me but the small exhaust port under the tail shows nothing, just the two on the wings.
And, at some point will the red lights be fixed on the right wing?
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: TrashMan on January 15, 2007, 06:37:57 am
Athena Mk2 doesn't have the tail engine (removed, since more powerfull wing engines have been installed) and the glows have been fixed some time ago...
If you still have trouble with the glows that I really don't know what could be causing them.


@ShivanSps- yes, I generally don't tend to give my HTL models hte same pof name..that way I can have several version of the same ship without any conflicts :D
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Commander Zane on January 21, 2007, 01:47:56 pm
Well, once again I've tried every single download with the word "Athena" on it and still can't see the red lights on the right side of the ship.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Commander Zane on January 21, 2007, 07:57:54 pm
Ok, I've just found out that the red lights for some odd, stupid, and unknown reason only work on direct 3D, which everything looks like crap. On OpenGL, every ship with lights has working red glows...but not the Athena.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: asyikarea51 on January 22, 2007, 02:16:22 am
I played around with the names in the POF and managed to fix that red light issue. Whether it works or not, I don't know (it does on my computer), but I can upload it if anyone's interested.

IIRC I only fixed the original though.

(http://www.geocities.com/asyikarea51/Pictures_dump/athenaredlight.JPG)
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Commander Zane on January 22, 2007, 07:41:44 am
Yes, please. It gets agrivating after a while not seeing one side of the ship unlit. :D
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: asyikarea51 on January 22, 2007, 09:00:45 am
Grrr, FileFront is really acting up today.

And I think I have a fixed Mk2 version somewhere... I just don't feel like extracting it out and recompiling my VP's right now. :blah:

(http://www.hard-light.net/forums/Smileys/HLP/mad.gif) (http://files.filefront.com/HTL_Athena_fixed/;6586305;;/fileinfo.html) <--- Click the smiley

Just chuck it into your Port folder - the TBM's already in there. :) I didn't really bother about what was inside the TBM though... just that +nocreate and a bunch of entries for trails.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Zacam on January 27, 2007, 07:45:28 pm
Also, more of a consistancy nit pick than anything else.....
Every other model in the game has the red lights on the models left side (when facing the rear) and the green lights on the right.

The Athena lights in this model are reverse of that.

If the lights for the Athena are actually correct, (which I do not think they are, but not being a pilot, I have no idea) that is going to be alot of work, so should the ones on the Athena be switched to match the rest of the models?
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Commander Zane on January 27, 2007, 07:54:49 pm
Even though I never decided to say anything about that, yes, the red lights are supposed to be on the left side, the green on the right. The tail light is also red (although I don't know why), and there's white lights under the nose.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Turey on January 27, 2007, 08:07:11 pm
Red lights on left, Green lights on right. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navigation_light)
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Herra Tohtori on January 27, 2007, 08:18:15 pm
Actually, presuming that current aerial light marking conventions still apply in FS1&2 era, the lights should be as follows:

-green static lights on starboard side (right when looking forwards), red static lights on port side (left when facing forwards) as already explained

-bright (or yellow) strobos aka blinking lights on centerline (nose, tail, upside and downside)

And of course landing lights, taxiing lights and... umm... nevermind that. :nervous:

 ;7


Although it should be noted that in Freespace, navigational lights do not really serve their purpose like they do on atmospheric flight or at sea, because crafts can roll so that there's no way of knowing the ship's attitude just by observing the lights.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Zacam on January 27, 2007, 08:42:03 pm
But still, all terran vessels (as a hold over) are still possessing of them in both FS1 and FS2, so they should all still be on the correct sides. And you can tell with the lights a ships attitude, that's another reason why they are present. Airplanes can roll too.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Herra Tohtori on January 27, 2007, 08:55:07 pm
But still, all terran vessels (as a hold over) are still possessing of them in both FS1 and FS2, so they should all still be on the correct sides.

Agreed.

Quote
And you can tell with the lights a ships attitude, that's another reason why they are present. Airplanes can roll too.

In fact, no. Airplanes can roll, yes, but they are still bound to be upright most of the time, unlike spacecraft.

In space, ships can be at any attitude with no limitations. So, let's assume that there's a ship which has two red lights on the left side and two green lights on the right side. You see two red lights horizontally in front of you. All else is dark and the ship is stationary. There's no way you can tell for sure from this information alone, which way the ship is sipposedly headed. IT could be heading left, if its upside happens to point at the same direction as yours; but it could also be pointing to your right side if it happens to be stationed inverted in relation to you.

Obviously, separately cycled front and rear strobos would provide sufficent additional information to completely define the ship's attitude by navigational lights.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Zacam on January 27, 2007, 09:01:37 pm
That's what the top and bottom lights would dictate to you in your above example. Most undercarriage lights would differ in type or orientation than the topside running lights.

Supposing the ship in your example was light-correct Athena, the tail strobe/amber tail light on the top would provide the final clue as to bearing and orientation.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: asyikarea51 on January 28, 2007, 08:09:33 am
:nervous: Wow...

:lol: I didn't think about the lights really. I only had the thought of getting the lights working so that it's not as visible a nitpick in-game, didn't really care about the lights themselves. I'm fine with the way I'm using them now. Light show :nervous: :lol: :nervous: Funny how sometimes I'm so overly picky, and other times I'm not...

It may have been TrashMan's mistake since all I did was a rename job to his POF. That, or maybe I inadvertently added my own lights to it or something and somehow screwed up the order...

(sorry TrashMan for accusing you.)

I'll take a look. :)

edit:

:wtf: (http://files.filefront.com/HTL_Athena_%5CCanon_Lights%5C/;6632673;;/fileinfo.html) <---- click smiley
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Zacam on January 28, 2007, 09:04:21 pm
What is "k1_cRO_WoE_January_27th.wmv" ???

Does not look to be the actual file after all?

**EDIT: N/M, I reload the page and it finally sends the "Athena_HTL_CL.vp".

Thank you.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: asyikarea51 on January 28, 2007, 09:38:01 pm
:wtf:

Sure, no problem. Anything wrong, let me know. :)
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: TrashMan on January 29, 2007, 05:50:52 am
That light problem still persists?????

I might have to look into this mistery.. TO THE MISTERY MACHINE!
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: CaptJosh on January 29, 2007, 06:52:08 am
Or even the Mystery Machine. :P
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: asyikarea51 on January 29, 2007, 07:32:38 am
That light problem still persists?????

Well it'd be appreciated if Zacam or Commander Zane reply back to verify if the fixed POF works okay. My guess is they were among the downloaders. :)
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Commander Zane on January 29, 2007, 07:41:23 am
For which one, the normal Athena or the Mk II variant? The first one works but still not the second.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: asyikarea51 on January 29, 2007, 07:45:37 am
The first one works

Alright, thanks. :)

I dunno, I'm just not in the mood to upload another file right now. In the car mood. :lol: Not to mention that it uses its own table and stuff, and with me playing with the SCP's offerings, I usually ditch it straightaway for my own table, or adapt it to fit.

(Plus I think mine is modified in other ways apart from the lights, which btw are probably still the reversed set - have to scour my folders for an original copy again.)
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: asyikarea51 on January 29, 2007, 08:39:16 am
:doubt: (http://files.filefront.com/HTL_Athena_MK2/;6640101;;/fileinfo.html) <---- click the smiley

New file uploaded, but I haven't tested it yet. Any volunteers? I don't want to screw up my mediavps folder anymore for fear of breaking multi.

As usual, credits to TrashMan, not me. :) It's not in a VP this time though, being a non-canon craft.

EDIT: Damn, I shouldn't have suggested the mediavps for a directory. Deleting that part of the extended description now... (alas, I'm too late, one guest already downloaded the file. Crap... if that guest comes back here, I wanna apologise to him/her...(http://209.85.12.236/5024/118/emo/bangwall.gif))
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Zacam on January 29, 2007, 06:43:57 pm
The one I grabbed worked perfectly well, though I as well simply extracted the contents out of the VP and put in the dir (renaming to bomber01.pof.)
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: asyikarea51 on January 29, 2007, 07:06:15 pm
Well, the one above your post is the Mk2... kinda why I was looking for... "volunteers". :lol:

The one I grabbed worked perfectly well, though I as well simply extracted the contents out of the VP and put in the dir (renaming to bomber01.pof.)

Hmm, to each his own. I put emphasis on "n00b-friendliness", hence the plug-and-play setup of the canon Athena...

EDIT: 3 more downloads overnight... now I just hope it works as intended and wait for feedback... :nervous:
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: Ace on March 10, 2007, 06:59:08 pm
(http://www.savant-online.net/graphics/vas_athena.png)
The Vasudan Ace's stolen Athena prototype from an old FS1 campaign of mine. (summer project includes a re-release version for SCP)

I decided to download it and see what it'd look like with the original source textures from Dark. Looks good with this new model.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: takashi on March 10, 2007, 09:18:55 pm
hm....can i use this for my mod?
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: TrashMan on March 11, 2007, 10:41:50 am
Of course!

B.t.w. - found out what was wrong!
Apparently, it's some sort of FSO bug.

In the MV_effects.vp you get several differnt glows, all tga's all good. red_glow and red_glow_small (as are green_glow, green_glow_small, etc..) are among them.

for some reason FS2 shows the red_glow_small normally, but doesn't show red_glow 8even tough it shows green_glow and green_glow_small)..

Go figure :wtf:
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: colecampbell666 on November 17, 2007, 10:10:28 am
Where can I get this? There is no link.
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: TrashMan on November 21, 2007, 06:46:19 am
Hades-Combine
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: nubbles526 on November 27, 2007, 11:00:56 am
Fixed the little bugger in the Mk2

Trashman: Why do have a third (unused and unecessery) glow point for the red glow?

What I did was to change the red and green glow to small, and set green_glow1_small (notice that there are two types of small greens.)

http://files.filefront.com/AthenaMK2pof/;9134558;/fileinfo.html (http://files.filefront.com/AthenaMK2pof/;9134558;/fileinfo.html)
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: TrashMan on November 27, 2007, 11:30:32 am
It worked like a charm before...red glow stopped working for me lately..don't ask me why.

Ya know, since I didn't use many polies for this, normal maps would really be useful on it :P
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: colecampbell666 on November 27, 2007, 01:15:09 pm
What table changes did you make to the Mk. I?
Title: Re: HTL Athena and Athena MK2 - COMPLETED!
Post by: TrashMan on November 27, 2007, 03:01:28 pm
What table changes did you make to the Mk. I?

IIRC, none. It should have FS1 stats.