Hard Light Productions Forums
Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => The Modding Workshop => Topic started by: diamondgeezer on July 29, 2003, 04:15:02 pm
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OK, first of all I'd like to say that this is the third time I've typed this message - HLP has just made my Hatred list. Thank you.
Anyway, what I have here is a Chig fighter which desperately needs a reskin. Since I have no ability to make maps from scratch, I'm taking the step of posting the POF and existing maps here (//www.swooh.com/peon/diamondgeezer/blah/chigfight.zip) and inviting all and sundry to have a bash at it. The best one goes in to the conversion, with full credits and my gratitude. For those who are interested, here's the current skin:
(http://swooh.com/peon/diamondgeezer/images/ChigFighterOld.gif)
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is that the Chig I made?
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Nope
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Got some good reference material? Images and shots from a few angles is good.
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Now that looks like something I would model. (Not by choice, mind you)
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Ice: click (http://images.google.com/images?q=%22chig+fighter%22&svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=0). Not much, I know, but rather than a lack of material think of it as a lack of limitations.
As for you, Raa, I assume you've never seen S:AAB and therefore do no know what you're talking about.
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[color=66ff00]The shape looks wrong DG, I don't know if it's simply the perspective you took the screenie from but the rear end looks too 'flared'.
I think the texturing should be pretty straight forward if you could get a descent screen cap. A bit more work and it'll be up to the calibur of your rather nifty looking hammerhead. :nod:
BTW sorry I can't help out with this at present, I got a rather spiffy new computer but I have to wait to be paid to get RAM for it... :sigh: At present I'm perusing the net via a 300MHz celeron my uncle gave me a while back, it doesnt even have a 3D accelerator.
Hurry up pay-day! :nod:
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No, he's ****ed up the ship.
Looks as though he's got the edges of the tri parallel to the Z instead of getting closer together.
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OK, first I didn't understand a word of what an0n said, and second I didn't build it. Christ, I get precisely bugger all substantial help and then all people can do is complain about the stuff I do knock out. I'm going to go run over some bunnies now.
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Originally posted by diamondgeezer
OK, first of all I'd like to say that this is the third time I've typed this message - HLP has just made my Hatred list. Thank you.
Anyway, what I have here is a Chig fighter which desperately needs a reskin. Since I have no ability to make maps from scratch, I'm taking the step of posting the POF and existing maps here (www.swooh.com/peon/diamondgeezer/blah/chigfight.zip) and inviting all and sundry to have a bash at it. The best one goes in to the conversion, with full credits and my gratitude. For those who are interested, here's the current skin:
(http://swooh.com/peon/diamondgeezer/images/ChigFighter.gif)
that thing looks really funny... "New line of freespace ships, the bathroom/kitchen designs!" :lol:
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You just be grateful that there's a good deal of distance seperating you and I
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Remember I CANNOT MAP and this model only takes 1 texture... After hours of experimentation (getting away from teh diamond palette for a change)< I think I came up with a visually workable chig (or at least a varient). I added I engine glow center rear, as well as armed it with three lasers (same primary) each centered in the wedge of each tri-arm, asw well as 1 missile firing point dead center of front. Here's a Chig Squadron attacking the GTT Megaroad (pre-macross) almost 4KM long unarmed civillian Mega-Transport that needs protection stat! Marines, this one's in the air!
http://photo.starblvd.net/Star_Dragon/5-3-4-1062208535?m=0&pg=4&ro=2&co=3
Their target the Megaroad (from the game X-Wing Alliance, a Lucas Model, I erased the program and kept the opts I liked) I really like this reskin! The original looked wimpy ,even for a liner!
http://photo.starblvd.net/Star_Dragon/6-5-5-1062208363?m=0&pg=5&ro=4&co=4
And finally the last model I can convert from Lar's old model dump, th CR Dragoon (now the GTD Dragoon). This model needs to be broken down into subobjects (probabaly just 1) as it can be placedin fred but crashes. Again I like this paint job ;)
BTW I need someone to make these turrents work! Please (arm all shock cannons Wildstar, FIRE!)
http://photo.starblvd.net/Star_Dragon/6-4-5-1062193254?m=0&pg=5&ro=3&co=4
Thoughts?
PS DG: If you can remap the chig to take a texture for center, then for each outer arm I can try some new combos...?
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Originally posted by diamondgeezer
You just be grateful that there's a good deal of distance seperating you and I
ohh, sorry.
:nervous: :shaking:
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Star Dragon, we can talk about this stuff but not now. The bastards have me on night shifts and I'm sleeping at funny times even by my reckoning. I desperately need to go to bed via the Post Office, so I'll try and catch you tomorrow when I get in from work.
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Originally posted by diamondgeezer
OK, first I didn't understand a word of what an0n said, and second I didn't build it. Christ, I get precisely bugger all substantial help and then all people can do is complain about the stuff I do knock out. I'm going to go run over some bunnies now.
When you make the Saratoga;, then I'll be in awe and not puposely annoy you.
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BUT it's not my place to preview such a thing... (Oh I feel so evil now) ;7
Meaning it does exist, but not in pof format (last I knew)
DG: Sorry, but I couldn't resist! BTW don't work so bloody hard! ;) Take your time with the mod also, we'll still be here when it gets done (I look forward to getting back properly done pofs instead of teh hacks I made out of them - yuck! messy...). You are doing such a bang up job, you should be proud of yourself. BTW is anyone else on "the non-mod team"? :lol:
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Originally posted by an0n
When you make the Saratoga;, then I'll be in awe and not puposely annoy you.
http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,16316..0.html I didn't make it, but I did convert it and make all the turrets, LODs, debris and stuff. Not that anyone gave a **** apart from Black Wolf.
Originally posted by Star Dragon
BTW is anyone else on "the non-mod team"?
No. Well, I get the occasional assist. GE did a map for me, and Raven said he could do a model for me. To be honest, the biggest shout-outs goes to Narol, who basically coached me through turrets and stuff, and GE who learned me LODs.
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NEW AND IMPROVED!!! (http://swooh.com/peon/Bubsy87/Mods/Ships/chigfight.pof)
(http://swooh.com/peon/Bubsy87/Mods/Pics/chiggy1.gif)
(http://swooh.com/peon/Bubsy87/Mods/Pics/chiggy2.gif)
plus it uses maps in the FS2 vpfiles
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Point-------------->
Krackers---------->
Oh well. It is an improvement I guess.
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i just found out its supposed to be checkered and stuff.
o well
still looks good.
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Blimey. Well it looks nice enough, certainly, but the red has got to go. Looks far too Shivan. The wings ought to be dark blue-purple, and the fuselage ought to be dark as well. However I'll try and recolour those maps, since the basic design is good - even without the hexagon patterns (the hexagons are something to do with their armour plating, BTW).
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ill do it
its already half done
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here ya go
(http://swooh.com/peon/Bubsy87/Mods/Pics/chiggy3.gif)
Purple Chiggy (http://swooh.com/peon/Bubsy87/Mods/Chiggypurp.zip)
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Talk about being a gnat too close to the Elephant to see the Elephant!
I settled for my choice after HUNDREDS of combos (As all my textures currently in use come from a multitude of games converted to pcx for FS2 and in my "all-mod" map folder. We're talking about a HUGE number of maps from WC, ST, SW, B5, BSG, you name it it's in there.
Then this Star Trek Usurper (Joking), comes along and simply plugs in a few textures fom the original VP and voila, finds a close match!
(Smacks self in head). I have to admit it's a DAMN GOOD look for a temp texture (or even a permanent one)... :nod:
As for the Hexagons, it seems to be a part of their culture (like Terrans having blocky ship designs) Chigs use Hexagons even to display their language and the symbol for their Race(or planet)? I believe it has a special significance to them. But I feel we can tweek it a bit it the situation calls for it.
[Edit] Come to think of it there is an instance where a certain type of fighter WOULD look similair to the red one... have to talk to DG about it but I think we have a winner for that particular mission. I'll give you a couple of hints though "bummer getting your butt kicked by a dead guy." and "easy as pancakes..." If you know then keep it to yourselves :lol: L8tr!
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Originally posted by diamondgeezer
Ice: click (http://images.google.com/images?q=%22chig+fighter%22&svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=0). Not much, I know, but rather than a lack of material think of it as a lack of limitations.
As for you, Raa, I assume you've never seen S:AAB and therefore do no know what you're talking about.
Thanks diamond. I gave it a shot but I think I've been spoiled a bit and I think that if I were to make anything better than the ones currently here and something accurate to the show and liberally detailed enough for it to match the Hammerhead, it needs a proper skin job (ie. most TBP vessels, any of Aldos fighters, the FS2 fighters, etc.). Unfortunately, I have no talent for doing such a thing otherwise I would do it right now and spit out a relatively accurate vessel. If you can manage to find someone to UV map it more fully, I think I could do this...
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the way i do textures is i put together all the textures i have in one folder and convert them to bmps.
i make them thumbnails and browse through the thing find one i like and try it out.
This works realy well for me.
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However just change a texture takes some tiem now cause to open the folder all the maps are in now take some time (busy icons actully pops up). Now if I were to open up all the images as thumbnails (we could very well be talking about a few thousand images) that would REALLY put a damper on my memory and multitasking (not to mention possibility of a hard lockup).
I realise though for ease of converting (all these images ARE FS2 ready) I need to start a new repository of texture folders seperate for each genre (ST SW B5 ect...) so I CAN scan by thumbnail and still not take a major hit on performance.
It still takes time however as even an image that you think would look really cool at first can look totally different on the model (due to way map is placed, or resolution of image once it gets on model)...ect... Now I know someone may ask "why bother having all these textures?" , Because I like veriety and the ability to be flexible (as my post of the septerra which displayed the tech alliance of the Shivans/Shadows)...
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could you zip all those textures and maybe upload them to file planet?
i could use some more texture : )
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OK - I've jigged Kracker's maps somewhat:
(http://www.swooh.com/peon/diamondgeezer/images/ChigFighter.gif)
What do we all think now? ****ing GLOW MAPS my son! Have it! Oh, and check the webiste (www.swooh.com/peon/diamondgeezer) for project updates why not?
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L:ooks damn Good DG. Great work. Is that baby glowmapped too? I know they didn't glow in the show but that would look sweet in the game :)
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Originally posted by karajorma
Is that baby glowmapped too?
You bet your sweet mother-****ing ***** ass mother ****er it is :nod:
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As cool as that is...it doesn't look much like the one in the show.
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No. But neither did the black and white checkers. Which would you prefer?
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It's close enough!
We can take artistic liscence, after all it IS a mod... And yes though I believe we can get it to look like the one in the show (like the bomber, awesome work DG, and GE)anything is better than nothing (so do you people want a demo or what? Being uber picky will cause delays. A perfect ship can be substituted later... A functional ship means game play NOW! ;)
Oh and about the textures, absofreakingly NOT! Now I am willing to continue to seperate and convert textures (I have a few hundred ships to go through I can't touch for modling issues, but I can use the textures) and when finally finished I will consider burning a disk with all the folders on it for someone with a FSAT connectin and a big enough hosting site... L8tr!
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[color=66ff00]DG, don't get miffed when you see criticism. It's generally useful. :nod:
I criticised the model shape because I thought it might save you work in the long run if you had intended to change it: It's far easier to make a model and map it than to try to get good results remapping a modified mesh unless you're particularly careful. Rebuilding it before mapping avoids all kinds of texture warping and stretching.
If you're happy with it then to hell with our criticism! ;)
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I just got home and plugged in the new model and re-armed it. I made two entries for chig fighters, the red ones and the purple ones... will post pic later but tested them in a skirmish with angels, looked cool! I armed the angels and added engines/glows so it was a real dogfight. Will mess around with more textures tonight and if I get something decent I will post it...
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Maeg, the thing that gets me is that I can barely work TrueSpace and yet I've got people telling to move stuff around and what have you - I am not good at 3D modelling. It is not where my abilities lie. If people aren't happy with the models then they either need to put up or shut up because I flat don't know how to do all these things the critics want to see. This is what's bugging me - people are citicisng these models when I think I did well just to load the bastards in to TS at all...
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Ok I messed around and replaced the edge pylons with xruisertile1 for a scalelike look. True it still looks a little shivan, but I like this version better than the hard angled pylons. Close as possible without the real hexagon image.
I was thinking, use that same texture scap03b, (the red almost hegaonlike-scale), But make it black with white lines? Know what I mean... I am curious as to how good that would look...
Anyway here are a few pics of the 127th against the Red chigs... These fighters appear in the second half of the series for one episode, "Ray Butts"...
http://photo.starblvd.net/Star_Dragon/5-4-5-1062558979?m=0&pg=4&ro=3&co=4
http://photo.starblvd.net/Star_Dragon/5-3-4-1062545285?m=0&pg=4&ro=2&co=3
http://photo.starblvd.net/Star_Dragon/5-4-4-1062558904?m=0&pg=4&ro=3&co=3
Thoughts?
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Hard to see. Got any renders?
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nope.
Anyway just messing around (still have dream of Death Star someday...) here's 11 star destroyers attacking a planet (took 20 minuts to kill it...
Need to figure out how big I need to make an Earth-like planet, and a moon (1/4 size) I made them 8km and 24km respectively (in photo is 24KM planet/moon)... Enjoy...
http://photo.starblvd.net/Star_Dragon/5-5-1-1062563731?m=0&pg=4&ro=4&co=0
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Why not take a pic of the ship in Modelview? That should be much clearer.
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I had just gotten home from reserve duty an didn't feel like going through the motions, ;) , I just wanted to get home, DL Krackers edited model, mess around with it, and post an in game shot (if I lke the results)...
Guess what? Fell asleep with the computer on again! (I have not been browsing FS2 Modling for the last 10 Hours!!! :lol: )
Plus I have have ben watching some episodes of SAAB trying to determine if minor changes/alternate textures would REALY make that much of a difference (To people other than purists)...
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somebody say Hexagons!!!
(http://swooh.com/peon/Bubsy87/pictures/hexchig.gif)
did the hexs myself but i still like the other chigs better
http://swooh.com/peon/Bubsy87/Mods/chiggybluhex.zip
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Well strictly speaking the hex pattern ought to be on the wings. I think the fuselage was so dark in the show to be pretty much unidentifiable in terms of the pattern...
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the glowly vein ones look alright, but do chig fighters have cockpits? It just looks like it's missing it's head so to speak.
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Nope. As far as we know their ships are partially organic, and their 'senses' are linked to the crew some how. We captured one of their bombers but we had very little time to study it.
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Krackers, can you make a black tile pattern with white striping? I think it might work out enough to be close to the original. We can use the red and blue (or any other colors) for the elite fighters or experimental versions... (the red chigs for example came after Chiggy R so obviously they used some of the imrovements developed from the new fighter and simply modified thier standard ones to keep production costs low but still have a suerior fighter (never knew how many they made, just a handful AFAIK)...
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No they didn't. 'Ray Butts' was in the first half of the series, 'Angriest Angel' was in the last half. The red chig fighters had nothing to do with CvR's advanced features.
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i know im going to end up with 10 - 12 reskins of this thing :rolleyes: . I'll let you know when i finish the reskin.
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I am at the mercy of those who post them in that order... Hence my mistake. I'll have to track down an episode guide and then reburn them to Hard drive and get them named right (in proper order) then reburn them to CD. Or I could just say hell with it and stay innaccurate (I vote for #2). Some day if they releas a DVD (complete) I'll consider getting it.
Hmmm think about this, If the red chigs came first, maybe their 'unique engineering' went into Chiggy R's fighter somewhat? (After all they came first, and are red)... He he he... Makes me wonder IF chiggy R could do what they did (Not that his kick-ass ability wasn't cool enough.;) )