Hard Light Productions Forums
Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => The Modding Workshop => Topic started by: Mad Bomber on August 31, 2004, 09:29:40 am
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Hey all, been a while and I feel inspired to try my hand at another campaign (albeit a lot less ambitious than the now-defunct Eden Project).
Problem is, I need something to serve as a converted mercenary flagship. A heavily augmented Deimos-Argo combo (side-by-side)
with a fighterbay. ;7
The jist of it is I'd like the Argo sticking parallel out the starboard side of the Deimos, with the Argo's docking port being widened and turned into a fighterbay egress point.
If someone could do that (my skills are certainly not up to it) people could use it for pirate warships in their other campaigns too. (Good as Homesick was, I couldn't help wondering just where I launched from on the Custodian, or how the GVC Keops supported two dozen fighters on its own.)
Damn, it's been too long since I've been active in the FS community... :nervous:
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you could always use the PTCa Baranec (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,11998.0.html).
It's what i made it for, after all.
(Images are broken, unfortunately, and i don't have any others handy)
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Download link is also broken.
Do you still have a copy on your system or the server or something, or was everything under the Reci directory summarily deleted?
Oh, and nice name ;)
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Whoops. Will check - must be on fileplanet *hack* *spit* somewhere, had to move all the DLs there a while back after gamespy moaned about it.
http://www.fileplanet.com/dl.aspx?/3dactionplanet/hlp/hosted/reciprocity/piratesahoy.zip
(maybe - can't remember my bloody fileplanet ID)
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Well if it is, it's certainly not listed in their database. (sigh)
[edit] never mind :) Thankies, the link works now (dint notice it the first time I looked at your post)
I'll need to wait till I get home to see if it'll serve my purpose but as long as it's not too big it should do well :) (bear in mind mercenaries can rarely afford destroyer-class vessels except by salvaging old Reliants or something.)[/edit]
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k. I'm not on my home PC justnow, but when I am, i'll check the copies of the old reci download pages, and get the link from there.
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(bored, downloads Modelview)
Heh. that's "hard rock" if I ever saw it. :p But I was thinking a merc refit of an existing warship rather than a jury-rigged asteroid ship.
Still, might be useful :nod:
The fighter is well designed as well, very avian. PF Raven perhaps? :) Doublethankies. (tho I'd need to come up with a good reason for pirates to be creating and using their own design... hmm.)
CRAPivesaidtoomuch :nervous:
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The tech description has my own reasons for that (something to do with a refit of a civvie / police vessel with added 'roid camo or something).
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Yeah the Baranec is one of my favorite models, looks very good in an asteroid field
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I had a version where I took out the engines and just made it a midget installation...looked very cool.
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Wibbles MB! ;)
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Originally posted by Raa
Wibbles MB! ;)
Wibble wobble! :D
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It actually takes only about 5 minutes to make a 'roid base / ship (slight underexaggeration)...it's really easy, becuase the vast majority can be a single texture, it's a roid so you don;t need to worry about making it particulrly tidy (better if it's irregular), and you should really only have small sections of actual textured 'metalwork' or lights visible.
Albeit i just had an idea for something significantly more complex and good looking, but i'll have to come back to that idea later.
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It is good to be able to reuse textures, innit? :)
But mercenaries (whom the campaign will be based around) don't generally use asteroid-based textures. They tend to use surplus stuff lying around. It costs less to make a makeshift dropship than to make a whole asteroid-camo scheme and base a custom vessel off of it.
Which is why I suggested the whole Deimos-Argo combination vessel.
(Then again, did anyone ever come up with a fighterbay cargo pod?)
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It's not an asteroid camo scheme, though. It is an asteroid (in terms of the Baranec & roid bases in general).
The nitpick I'd have with a Deimos is that that's a military grade vessel.... how many modern day mercs would have access to, say, a working destroyer, for example?
(I was going to suggest a WW2 or mothballed warship, but it's not really parallel to the Deimos, as that's a very modern, newly introduced ship).
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check out Dark's asteroid base on the Hades Combine. That rocks (heh) but IIRC doesn't have LODs.
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Which, the GVI Cheops? I was planning to use that in fact. You read my mind. :nod:
Aldo you're exactly right. Mercs, by and large, don't have access to newer military equipment, or anything large (MAYBE one corvette). Which is why the Deimos-Argo thing (CSCv Victor) would be their flagship, with a small flotilla of old light warships and converted freighters tagging along.
Bear in mind this is meant to be a comparably large and respected merc group in the Polaris/Pegasi sector.
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*bump*
To possibly save myself the trouble, I oughta ask. I've searched through about a year's worth of threads and haven't found any Terran or Vasudan ships under 1000m long that have both a fighterbay and engines, aside from the war-cruiser Gryphon, and the sci-vessel Imhotep (both of which I intend to use, if that's okay, tho the Imhotep will be using its fighterbay for a decidedly different purpose ;7)
So is there a non-Shivan vessel under frigate-size (pref. 900m or smaller) with a fighterbay, that's downloadable? Or should I take the plunge and figure out how to modify the Deimos and Peleus in Truespace?
*edit* Damn. Now after I've looked through even older threads, I find out there were plenty of light carriers and such vessels, but either they weren't released, or the download link has since been rendered dead.
Bah. Looks like I'll have to make (respectively) the Victor and Telamon myself.
Oh well, thanks anyways p33ps.
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Originally posted by Mad Bomber
*bump*
To possibly save myself the trouble, I oughta ask. I've searched through about a year's worth of threads and haven't found any Terran or Vasudan ships under 1000m long that have both a fighterbay and engines, aside from the war-cruiser Gryphon, and the sci-vessel Imhotep (both of which I intend to use, if that's okay, tho the Imhotep will be using its fighterbay for a decidedly different purpose ;7)
So is there a non-Shivan vessel under frigate-size (pref. 900m or smaller) with a fighterbay, that's downloadable? Or should I take the plunge and figure out how to modify the Deimos and Peleus in Truespace?
Oh well, thanks anyways p33ps.
The Njord, but I'm not sure of the scale. It's cruiser sized, possibly about 400m long. It wasn't designed to carry more than 4 fighters, though (and drones at that...not sure how well the scale will work). But it does have a working fighterbay.
(http://www.3dactionplanet.com/hlp/hosted/casofwar/reci_website/images/dl/njord.jpg)
http://www.fileplanet.com/dl.aspx?/3dactionplanet/hlp/hosted/reciprocity/njord_public.zip
(it was intended as a long-range artillery cruiser.... the actual idea was that it would launch missiles with a long, very bright trail that the player could use to 'follow' to find a target in a EMP nebula / sensor-less situation)
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you sure a Deimos is big enough to accomidate a fighter bay ? where you gonna put it ?
Wouldn't be hard to do BTW, just a pain in the ass redoing all the pof data
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Originally posted by magatsu1
you sure a Deimos is big enough to accomidate a fighter bay ? where you gonna put it ?
Wouldn't be hard to do BTW, just a pain in the ass redoing all the pof data
Depends how the fighters are carried. If you're talking about containing the logistical stuff - weapon stores, repair equipment, spar parts, etc - then it probably is too small.
But if you're just ferrying fighters - i.e. holding them for a few hours in transit dropship-stylee - then you'd probably Ok. I wouldn't be surprised if there already was a ship for this purpose in the FS2 universe - namely the one that drops off and picks up the player before and after 'Into the Lions Den'.
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It would take about 3-4 mins to add a fighterbay to the deimos.
What will cause you hassle is making it LOOK like there is a fighterbay on the deimos rather than having ships fly out of a wall :D
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Lemme give the combination of the argo and Deimos a shot... Texturing, well, i might be able to come close with styxx's thing, but someone else might... gimme a little while...
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Originally posted by karajorma
What will cause you hassle is making it LOOK like there is a fighterbay on the deimos rather than having ships fly out of a wall :D
Nah, no probs.
Originally posted by aldo_14
Depends how the fighters are carried. If you're talking about containing the logistical stuff - weapon stores, repair equipment, spar parts, etc - then it probably is too small.
But if you're just ferrying fighters - i.e. holding them for a few hours in transit dropship-stylee - then you'd probably Ok. I wouldn't be surprised if there already was a ship for this purpose in the FS2 universe - namely the one that drops off and picks up the player before and after 'Into the Lions Den'.
I just meant where on the model would the bay opening go ?
I was thinkin' on the waist, where the dock pointsa are.
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Originally posted by magatsu1
Nah, no probs.
I just meant where on the model would the bay opening go ?
I was thinkin' on the waist, where the dock pointsa are.
Could just put it on the side.
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Originally posted by karajorma
It would take about 3-4 mins to add a fighterbay to the deimos.
What will cause you hassle is making it LOOK like there is a fighterbay on the deimos rather than having ships fly out of a wall :D
That was the idea. I figured if worst came to worst, I could open the sucker up in Truespace, move a few turret subobjects, and give it a boxy-sorta-diagonal Orion-style bay on the starboard side, about 2/3 of the way back. But if Hippo wants to try the aforementioned Argo-combination instead, that would be supar-l33t. :)
As it stands I think I'ma try to do the GTC Telamon myself (Fenris/Peleus spinoff with bulky, fighterbay-containing center section).
Aldo, thankies for the Njord. :nod:
(that name "Njord" always makes me think of Pinky and the Brain...)
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Originally posted by magatsu1
Nah, no probs.
I'm not saying it's hard. Just that you can add a fighterbay subsystem in PCS easily. To actually have a fighterbay visible on the model however you'll have to convert it into a cob and then convert it back. Much more hassle.
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I've got the two almost conjoined, but i havent merged the two's meshes', till i know exactly where it should be... I'm just finishing up texturing now...
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Could you put two or three turrets on the right side of the Argo part, while you're at it? Simple, 18-poly hex-turrets will do. :nod:
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Originally posted by karajorma
I'm not saying it's hard. Just that you can add a fighterbay subsystem in PCS easily. To actually have a fighterbay visible on the model however you'll have to convert it into a cob and then convert it back. Much more hassle.
that's what I meant! You'd haved to write down all the PCS values for everything pre POF to COB, then reinsert 'em after converting back. Not hard, but as you say, it would be a ball-ache.
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You could try importing them but I don't know how well that would work if any subsystem changed position during the whole Pof>Cob>Pof cycle.
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(http://swooh.com/peon/hippo/Dargo01.jpg)
(http://swooh.com/peon/hippo/Dargo02.jpg)
(http://swooh.com/peon/hippo/Dargo03.jpg)
Thats the renders of it, i havent joined them yet, because it would help to know exactly where you want them... Made a rudimentary POF, works OK in game, models not conjoined, so it gives me some collision problems, but those will go away... Turrets physically there, but not subojected... only LOD1 right now...
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Just reading your last post now; I removed three turrets from the side of the deimos to dock the argo neater, but i put it on the port side, for 2 reasons: 1, i had forgotten which side was port and starboard (i remember now :p ) and 2; because if it was on the other side, unless i flipped it over, or did some fancy rotating, it would either hide a good portion of the argo in the deimos, or the argo would be at a weird angle... Once its in the correct position, i'll join them, and make them look more conjoined (beams and stuff)...
The fighter tube goes about 75% of the way to the back of the argo before it ends, and it is large enough to accomodate a Herc2, though i havent tried n Ursa yet...
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L33t.
It looks... reversed, tho. The Argo, I mean, all its X is reversed.
What I was thinking was, put the Argo-bay on the right side of the Deimos, covering up the middle two of the Deimos' six right-side turrets. Between the two flak turrets it mounted anyways, and the 2 or 3 turrets added to it, the firepower-per-surface-area should remain roughly the same.
The Argo would otherwise be on the same plane as the Deimos (i.e. the wing would end up sloping down somewhat).
In other words (pardon the lack of scanner) it would look something like this:
-------
__} {
| _|O| |
L_/ \ /
\___/
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can't quite make out whats in that picture drawing thing...
I just checked, I forgot to invert the axis'... When i do that, it will look right... They got inverted (along with faces) during the pof2cob conversion...
I also checked, no way an ursa will fit in, not by a long shot :p ... Most fighters seem to be abe to though...
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yeah, the code makes the picture seeable... I'm reversing it now...
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Originally posted by Hippo
can't quite make out whats in that picture drawing thing...
Reload the page. I had to edit it like a dozen times before it looked right.
I just checked, I forgot to invert the axis'... When i do that, it will look right... They got inverted (along with faces) during the pof2cob conversion...
How odd. :wtf: I'll keep that in mind when I mess with my models. :)
I also checked, no way an ursa will fit in, not by a long shot :p ... Most fighters seem to be able to though...
Hehe. I was thinking more like old, relatively cheap/compact stuff (Anubis, Ulysses, Seth, Apollo, Valkyrie, Athena, maybe a Medusa or two). I might have the Medusas carried on other ships, tho, so don't worry 'bout it :)
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those should all fit... (athena and Valkerie might come close though...) ...
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That's quite neat, actually. How come you're not using the HTL one? You could possibly have got a copy of the base mesh of Bob.(?)
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I've had enough trouble with the SCP models... I looked for the high poly ships, and got every one but the deimos and the 3d jump node... If i can get m hands on it, i'll use it, but i can't find EITHER of them...
I've just learned how to Boolean them together from GE, so i'll be joining them soon, and then working on the turreting...
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Originally posted by Hippo
I've had enough trouble with the SCP models... I looked for the high poly ships, and got every one but the deimos and the 3d jump node... If i can get m hands on it, i'll use it, but i can't find EITHER of them...
This (http://dynamic4.gamespy.com/~freespace/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=501551) should lead you to the Deimos. If that link doesn't work, find the original linkage in its release thread here (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,25015.0.html). I'd start from the end and work my way forward. If you read through it, you'll see that Bobboau was considering including a fighterbay in another variant of his HTL Deimos, but most of us talked him out of it.
As for your model, If it were mine I'd flip the Argo down its bank axis and set it so its belly was up against the side if the Deimos. Then, you could even move any obscured turrets onto the Argo's topside. Also, if you need the extra space for larger vessels to fit into the openning, what's wrong with making the openning on the other end of the Argo, where the engines are?
Finally, if you're still looking for non-millitary combat vessels, Trashman release a couple that might fit the bill as additional ships. This (http://www.swooh.com/peon/Trashman/Misc/PirateShips.zip) may be to your liking.
Later!
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[q]As for your model, If it were mine I'd flip the Argo down its bank axis and set it so its belly was up against the side if the Deimos. Then, you could even move any obscured turrets onto the Argo's topside. Also, if you need the extra space for larger vessels to fit into the openning, what's wrong with making the openning on the other end of the Argo, where the engines are?[/q]
Another hole near the engines won't do much... Because of the shape, about a third of the engines were booleaned out when i merged them... I am getting a strange collisoon problem though, about half of the polies, i can fly through... Perhaps i its becasuse i havent welded the vertex's?
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Originally posted by Hippo
[q]As for your model, If it were mine I'd flip the Argo down its bank axis and set it so its belly was up against the side if the Deimos. Then, you could even move any obscured turrets onto the Argo's topside. Also, if you need the extra space for larger vessels to fit into the openning, what's wrong with making the openning on the other end of the Argo, where the engines are?[/q]
Another hole near the engines won't do much... Because of the shape, about a third of the engines were booleaned out when i merged them... I am getting a strange collisoon problem though, about half of the polies, i can fly through... Perhaps i its becasuse i havent welded the vertex's?
That'd be a good idea.
Could be a non-flat face - i.e. one with >3 vertices that thus 'curves'. Try triangulating (can be very ugly with booleaned models, though, IIRC - so may need to weld vertexes and clean up firts)
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Originally posted by Trivial Psychic
This (http://dynamic4.gamespy.com/~freespace/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=501551) should lead you to the Deimos. If that link doesn't work, find the original linkage in its release thread here (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,25015.0.html). I'd start from the end and work my way forward. If you read through it, you'll see that Bobboau was considering including a fighterbay in another variant of his HTL Deimos, but most of us talked him out of it.
[/b]
Hangars are too good to talk people out of them... :(
As for your model, If it were mine I'd flip the Argo down its bank axis and set it so its belly was up against the side if the Deimos. Then, you could even move any obscured turrets onto the Argo's topside. Also, if you need the extra space for larger vessels to fit into the openning, what's wrong with making the openning on the other end of the Argo, where the engines are?
[/b]
That was the other way I had thought of orienting it. It'd provide the Victor with a little bit of ventral coverage in the process, too... but eh.
Finally, if you're still looking for non-millitary combat vessels, Trashman release a couple that might fit the bill as additional ships. This (http://www.swooh.com/peon/Trashman/Misc/PirateShips.zip) may be to your liking.
I was planning to use one of them, though not in the Redstar Mercenaries' roster.
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I thought we talked bob out of making a hangerbay on the only Deimos model he was going to make. If he was planning to make 2 then that was stupidity of the highest order.
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I guess I should go over the basic idea of the campaign, if I'm going to be mentioning Redstar and such.
The year is 2374. The GTVA, whose navy is severely depleted following the disaster at Capella, has been fighting insurrection after insurrection, to say nothing of a massive resurgence in piracy.
This is where mercenaries come in -- warriors for hire, willing to put their lives on the line for the right price. The GTVA has grudgingly let them operate over the years, but only now have they truly come into their own, with groups like the Tania Australis Tigers and Eagle Security Inc. becoming well-known and respected.
You've been with Redstar Mercenaries, Inc -- the fourth-largest merc unit -- for just over three months, hunting down pirates and scouting the Mintaka nebula. On your way back to Sirius, however, RMI is offered a contract by a man identifying himself as an ambassador for the Adhara system. It entails hunting and destroying a large pirate syndicate in and around Procyon. In need of cash, RMI accepts.
Whether this is simply another job, or a front for something much bigger, you and your fellow Redstar Mercenary Pilots feel ready for action.
You are Heroes for Hire.
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Originally posted by aldo_14
That'd be a good idea.
Could be a non-flat face - i.e. one with >3 vertices that thus 'curves'. Try triangulating (can be very ugly with booleaned models, though, IIRC - so may need to weld vertexes and clean up firts)
if Hippo's using Truespace better to locate the vert and delete it. I would have thought the face just wouldn't render ingame myself though.
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Actually AFAIK the HTL engine will fill in the tris. It just may come out convex when you want concave, and vice versa.
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nope using MAX... I've been welding and checking for a while now, i'll make an update on turreting status tomorrow some time... (If i forget, PM me...)
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Originally posted by StratComm
Actually AFAIK the HTL engine will fill in the tris. It just may come out convex when you want concave, and vice versa.
I've always been of the view that you should never rely on an automated process. :)
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me too, untill X bug starts to do my head :nervous:
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Actually Aldo I couldn't agree more. I'm just pointing out that the face will still render, whether its flat or not under HT&L. Unlike the old system.