Author Topic: How do I use PCS2?  (Read 6248 times)

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Offline Black Wolf

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PCS2 understands the structure of Freespace data files. If you have your model in "data\models" and your maps in "data\maps", and the \data\ folder in the list of texture sources, it will show up. It's possible that your file structure is fine, and what you're dealing with is a problem with the model or the texture, especially if you had other weirdness when you imported.

Check that the list of textures PCS gives you id the same as the list of textures you expect to see. Make sure they're all spelled correctly, with no trailing or preceding characters. Open the dae file in another program and make sure the textures show up there and the UV mapping looks right. Confirm there's nothing weird with the alpha channels on the textures (unlikely to be the cause, but an important step, easily forgotten). If all else fails, upload the model and the textures and let us try to help. My instinct here, based on the fact that you've had other errors that you've had to bodge your way around, is that your exported model was less than 100% kosher. That happened to me a tonne before I got a good process going in Max, and it can be stupidly hard to diagnose, but is often very easy to fix by a good, clean re-export.

At the very least someone will probably be able to convert the model for you, far more likely we'll be able to ID the problem and tell you how to fix it far quicker with the actual files in hand.
TWISTED INFINITIES · SECTORGAME· FRONTLINES
Rarely Updated P3D.
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Offline niffiwan

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If you have your model in "data\models" and your maps in "data\maps", and the \data\ folder in the list of texture sources, it will show up.

Unfortunately it doesn't work for me; I can't see any of the FotG ship textures unless I add the full path to the maps/ folder.  Could be a Linux specific bug?
Creating a fs2_open.log | Red Alert Bug = Hex Edit | MediaVPs 2014: Bigger HUD gauges | 32bit libs for 64bit Ubuntu
----
Debian Packages (testing/unstable): Freespace2 | wxLauncher
----
m|m: I think I'm suffering from Stockholm syndrome. Bmpman is starting to make sense and it's actually written reasonably well...

 

Offline AdmiralRalwood

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I'm pretty sure you need to point it to the mod root, not the \data\ folder.
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Codethulhu GitHub wgah'nagl fhtagn.

schrödinbug (noun) - a bug that manifests itself in running software after a programmer notices that the code should never have worked in the first place.

When you gaze long into BMPMAN, BMPMAN also gazes into you.

"I am one of the best FREDders on Earth" -General Battuta

<Aesaar> literary criticism is vladimir putin

<MageKing17> "There's probably a reason the code is the way it is" is a very dangerous line of thought. :P
<MageKing17> Because the "reason" often turns out to be "nobody noticed it was wrong".
(the very next day)
<MageKing17> this ****ing code did it to me again
<MageKing17> "That doesn't really make sense to me, but I'll assume it was being done for a reason."
<MageKing17> **** ME
<MageKing17> THE REASON IS PEOPLE ARE STUPID
<MageKing17> ESPECIALLY ME

<MageKing17> God damn, I do not understand how this is breaking.
<MageKing17> Everything points to "this should work fine", and yet it's clearly not working.
<MjnMixael> 2 hours later... "God damn, how did this ever work at all?!"
(...)
<MageKing17> so
<MageKing17> more than two hours
<MageKing17> but once again we have reached the inevitable conclusion
<MageKing17> How did this code ever work in the first place!?

<@The_E> Welcome to OpenGL, where standards compliance is optional, and error reporting inconsistent

<MageKing17> It was all working perfectly until I actually tried it on an actual mission.

<IronWorks> I am useful for FSO stuff again. This is a red-letter day!
* z64555 erases "Thursday" and rewrites it in red ink

<MageKing17> TIL the entire homing code is held up by shoestrings and duct tape, basically.

 

Offline Wet Orange Ostrich Toilet

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Where are the texture files, exactly, and what format are they in?
In a folder called "maps" and they're in a DDS format.
But where is that "maps" folder located?


Its in the mod's 'data' folder, where 'tables' and 'models' are also located.


PCS2 understands the structure of Freespace data files. If you have your model in "data\models" and your maps in "data\maps", and the \data\ folder in the list of texture sources, it will show up. It's possible that your file structure is fine, and what you're dealing with is a problem with the model or the texture, especially if you had other weirdness when you imported.

Check that the list of textures PCS gives you id the same as the list of textures you expect to see. Make sure they're all spelled correctly, with no trailing or preceding characters. Open the dae file in another program and make sure the textures show up there and the UV mapping looks right. Confirm there's nothing weird with the alpha channels on the textures (unlikely to be the cause, but an important step, easily forgotten). If all else fails, upload the model and the textures and let us try to help. My instinct here, based on the fact that you've had other errors that you've had to bodge your way around, is that your exported model was less than 100% kosher. That happened to me a tonne before I got a good process going in Max, and it can be stupidly hard to diagnose, but is often very easy to fix by a good, clean re-export.

At the very least someone will probably be able to convert the model for you, far more likely we'll be able to ID the problem and tell you how to fix it far quicker with the actual files in hand.

Yes, I checked in Blender, it looks fine on my side, PCS2 is really the only area causing a problem for me.

Here's the model along with its.... slightly disappointing texture (I suck at texturing)


[attachment stolen by Russian hackers]
« Last Edit: May 01, 2017, 11:52:57 pm by Wet Orange Ostrich Toilet »
"I thought the Medal Display thingy was a baking tray!"

  

Offline niffiwan

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I'm pretty sure you need to point it to the mod root, not the \data\ folder.

Yeah, tried that too, pointing it at the root of the FotG TC folder and again, no dice.
Creating a fs2_open.log | Red Alert Bug = Hex Edit | MediaVPs 2014: Bigger HUD gauges | 32bit libs for 64bit Ubuntu
----
Debian Packages (testing/unstable): Freespace2 | wxLauncher
----
m|m: I think I'm suffering from Stockholm syndrome. Bmpman is starting to make sense and it's actually written reasonably well...

 

Offline AdmiralRalwood

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Seems to work for me no matter what model I load, or which mod I load one from:
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Codethulhu GitHub wgah'nagl fhtagn.

schrödinbug (noun) - a bug that manifests itself in running software after a programmer notices that the code should never have worked in the first place.

When you gaze long into BMPMAN, BMPMAN also gazes into you.

"I am one of the best FREDders on Earth" -General Battuta

<Aesaar> literary criticism is vladimir putin

<MageKing17> "There's probably a reason the code is the way it is" is a very dangerous line of thought. :P
<MageKing17> Because the "reason" often turns out to be "nobody noticed it was wrong".
(the very next day)
<MageKing17> this ****ing code did it to me again
<MageKing17> "That doesn't really make sense to me, but I'll assume it was being done for a reason."
<MageKing17> **** ME
<MageKing17> THE REASON IS PEOPLE ARE STUPID
<MageKing17> ESPECIALLY ME

<MageKing17> God damn, I do not understand how this is breaking.
<MageKing17> Everything points to "this should work fine", and yet it's clearly not working.
<MjnMixael> 2 hours later... "God damn, how did this ever work at all?!"
(...)
<MageKing17> so
<MageKing17> more than two hours
<MageKing17> but once again we have reached the inevitable conclusion
<MageKing17> How did this code ever work in the first place!?

<@The_E> Welcome to OpenGL, where standards compliance is optional, and error reporting inconsistent

<MageKing17> It was all working perfectly until I actually tried it on an actual mission.

<IronWorks> I am useful for FSO stuff again. This is a red-letter day!
* z64555 erases "Thursday" and rewrites it in red ink

<MageKing17> TIL the entire homing code is held up by shoestrings and duct tape, basically.

 

Offline Wet Orange Ostrich Toilet

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Seems to work for me no matter what model I load
*snip*

So it may be possible that the problem might be on my side if I understood correctly.
"I thought the Medal Display thingy was a baking tray!"

 

Offline AdmiralRalwood

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Seems to work for me no matter what model I load
*snip*

So it may be possible that the problem might be on my side if I understood correctly.
Could you post a screenshot of your PCS2 preferences so we can see the list of directories it's searching?
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Codethulhu GitHub wgah'nagl fhtagn.

schrödinbug (noun) - a bug that manifests itself in running software after a programmer notices that the code should never have worked in the first place.

When you gaze long into BMPMAN, BMPMAN also gazes into you.

"I am one of the best FREDders on Earth" -General Battuta

<Aesaar> literary criticism is vladimir putin

<MageKing17> "There's probably a reason the code is the way it is" is a very dangerous line of thought. :P
<MageKing17> Because the "reason" often turns out to be "nobody noticed it was wrong".
(the very next day)
<MageKing17> this ****ing code did it to me again
<MageKing17> "That doesn't really make sense to me, but I'll assume it was being done for a reason."
<MageKing17> **** ME
<MageKing17> THE REASON IS PEOPLE ARE STUPID
<MageKing17> ESPECIALLY ME

<MageKing17> God damn, I do not understand how this is breaking.
<MageKing17> Everything points to "this should work fine", and yet it's clearly not working.
<MjnMixael> 2 hours later... "God damn, how did this ever work at all?!"
(...)
<MageKing17> so
<MageKing17> more than two hours
<MageKing17> but once again we have reached the inevitable conclusion
<MageKing17> How did this code ever work in the first place!?

<@The_E> Welcome to OpenGL, where standards compliance is optional, and error reporting inconsistent

<MageKing17> It was all working perfectly until I actually tried it on an actual mission.

<IronWorks> I am useful for FSO stuff again. This is a red-letter day!
* z64555 erases "Thursday" and rewrites it in red ink

<MageKing17> TIL the entire homing code is held up by shoestrings and duct tape, basically.

 

Offline Wet Orange Ostrich Toilet

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Seems to work for me no matter what model I load
*snip*

So it may be possible that the problem might be on my side if I understood correctly.
Could you post a screenshot of your PCS2 preferences so we can see the list of directories it's searching?

I am currently unable to access my computer but I do know for sure that it searched through those directories:

<appdir>/textures
Freespace 2/shipyardtest
Freespace 2/shipyardtest/data/maps
"I thought the Medal Display thingy was a baking tray!"

 

Offline AdmiralRalwood

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I specifically want a screenshot so I can see exactly how those paths are written.
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Codethulhu GitHub wgah'nagl fhtagn.

schrödinbug (noun) - a bug that manifests itself in running software after a programmer notices that the code should never have worked in the first place.

When you gaze long into BMPMAN, BMPMAN also gazes into you.

"I am one of the best FREDders on Earth" -General Battuta

<Aesaar> literary criticism is vladimir putin

<MageKing17> "There's probably a reason the code is the way it is" is a very dangerous line of thought. :P
<MageKing17> Because the "reason" often turns out to be "nobody noticed it was wrong".
(the very next day)
<MageKing17> this ****ing code did it to me again
<MageKing17> "That doesn't really make sense to me, but I'll assume it was being done for a reason."
<MageKing17> **** ME
<MageKing17> THE REASON IS PEOPLE ARE STUPID
<MageKing17> ESPECIALLY ME

<MageKing17> God damn, I do not understand how this is breaking.
<MageKing17> Everything points to "this should work fine", and yet it's clearly not working.
<MjnMixael> 2 hours later... "God damn, how did this ever work at all?!"
(...)
<MageKing17> so
<MageKing17> more than two hours
<MageKing17> but once again we have reached the inevitable conclusion
<MageKing17> How did this code ever work in the first place!?

<@The_E> Welcome to OpenGL, where standards compliance is optional, and error reporting inconsistent

<MageKing17> It was all working perfectly until I actually tried it on an actual mission.

<IronWorks> I am useful for FSO stuff again. This is a red-letter day!
* z64555 erases "Thursday" and rewrites it in red ink

<MageKing17> TIL the entire homing code is held up by shoestrings and duct tape, basically.

 
I had the problem with PCS2 not showing my textures even though the path was set correct. It was solved by adding a "\" at the en of the path ie Freespace 2\shipyardtest\data\maps\ in the program preferences instead of Freespace 2\shipyardtest\data\maps

 

Offline Black Wolf

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Ok, so it's not loading the textures for me either, which suggests a problem with the pof. I exported a dae, and there's no UV mapping when I load the dae in either Lithunwrap or 3ds Max, so I suspect that your dae export dumped the UV mapping, and kept the material, but probably lost the fact that it was assigned to any actual polies. But, since the model is still showing you proper textures in Blender, that means that you still have a version that still has its UV mapping infomation, so you just need to figure out how to properly export it. At this point though, you're going to need a blender expert to help you, as I don't use that program.
TWISTED INFINITIES · SECTORGAME· FRONTLINES
Rarely Updated P3D.
Burn the heretic who killed F2S! Burn him, burn him!!- GalEmp

 

Offline zookeeper

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Ok, so it's not loading the textures for me either, which suggests a problem with the pof. I exported a dae, and there's no UV mapping when I load the dae in either Lithunwrap or 3ds Max, so I suspect that your dae export dumped the UV mapping, and kept the material, but probably lost the fact that it was assigned to any actual polies. But, since the model is still showing you proper textures in Blender, that means that you still have a version that still has its UV mapping infomation, so you just need to figure out how to properly export it. At this point though, you're going to need a blender expert to help you, as I don't use that program.

Yeah, I got the impression earlier that he actually got it working in FRED at some point so I didn't even look at the model, but looking at it now, it's definitely where the problem is. Normally in PCS2 you can select the texture and see the wireframe go pink to indicate which polys that texture applies to, and here none of the polys simply use the texture.

I don't know Blender either, but it's probably simple to fix.

 

Offline Wet Orange Ostrich Toilet

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Okay, I figured it out!
So, I needed to apply my texture as a material and then check the "Export Material" box in order to have it properly exported with the texture and all. Thanks everyone for helping me fix this problem.
"I thought the Medal Display thingy was a baking tray!"

 

Offline chief1983

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Glad you got it figured out!
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