Hard Light Productions Forums
General FreeSpace => FreeSpace Discussion => Topic started by: Kernal on April 29, 2006, 08:43:57 pm
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How do you port models from other games to FS. If I can don`t expect anything from me any time soon. :rolleyes:
Also is this legal? :nervous:
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Both questions depend on the game in question.
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I'll take this one.
Modding 101:
All mods are technically illegal and have been for the last 15 or so years since it began.
Franchises like Paramount and Lucas understand the benefits of both exposure and profit growth the fan-base brings to them so they don't press the issue.
IF this is for your own personal use on your computer you can basicly do what you want. However, if you are planning on making a "public mod" that will be hosted on the net then there are some rules you need to follow. I won't bore you with the details unless you indicate this is what you are planning.
As for the main part of your question, HOW: I will go the long free program route describing what I do (I do NOT have 3ds max)
You need a program to convert your target model into .cob format (I use a veraity of programs to do so from .lwo, .obj, .3ds, .vrml, and otehr general formats.
If this was a game specific model you need tools for those games (like PEO converter for Homeworld1&2, OPT23DS for X-Wing and alliance series, ect...
Once you have the model oriented to the left ( <----- ) you are ready to add turrets anf a shield , if it has any, with a 3d modling program (I use TS 3.2)...
Next you have to have 16 or less textures. The increased poly count of FSOpen comes at a high price, many of the 30-40+ texture conversions I made for Retail Fs2 will not work in FSOpen beacuse of this.
I had hundreds of models that would not run cause of poly limits in retail but the textures were not a problem, now it;s reversed they would run but have too many textures lol!!!
Once you model is finished with turrets, shields, textures, you are ready to use Pof Constructor Suite (or PCS), or a program called Modelview (high poly limits) to turn your model from .cob format into game .pof format so you can use it.
There is a CAD based program called "high-level cob2pof" and I highly urge you not to try it as it often makes unstable models. It will make MOST models into .pof format but when you try to edit them in PCS/modelview or run in game they crash and cause errors...
You put the custom model in the (models) folder and the textures in the (maps) folder. Remember to see the maps you must make them 8bit PCX files!!!
Last thing you need to do is open the ships table file in the (tables) folder and make a ship entry. I recomend just copying an appropriate ship for general testing and tweak it later. Like a fighter, or a capship (I usually use a cruiser).
Once you made a generic mission in FRED (the Freespace Mission Editor) placign your new ship in a mission (if it doesn't crash at this point), runthe missiona nd shoot your new ship. Then destroy it. these are the points that your model miay crash when it is first hit, or about to be destroyed. If you do not crash then all is well congratulations!!!
If at some point it crashed then there is a problem with the model (go ask a modler to look at it). Might be bad geometry.
Once a ship is tested out you can then worry about custom load-outs for weapons and all that jazz...
Hope this helped you (and any other new people wh o though about it, but didn't ask yet.)
"We're off to outer space... YA-MA-TO!!!!" Model by Antivyrus, with permission for FS2 Trek
(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b321/Star-Dragon/yamatobeauty1.jpg)
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All mods are technically illegal and have been for the last 15 or so years since it began.
Just to clarify that. Taking a ship from one game and putting it into another with permission of the people who own the game is tecnically illegal. Making mods based on another universe without the permission of the owner is technically illegal.
Making mods with your own ships and textures which don't use anything from the original game or anyone elses however is perfectly legal.
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Very true... I was approaching this from the personal use catagory.
Also the steps I listed were the ones I use. If he has 3DSmax, he can use the plugin and skip a lot of "problems".
Of course if he is making a "true mod" and intends on having others use it (or post it on the web) then you must track down any owners of the originals works. Listing of original Game copyright holders is USUALLY sufficient.
To my knowledge only TWO mods have ever been "shut down": The DBZ Mod and the more recent Stargate (I believe both were fighting games?). The first cause there was a VERY similar game being produced at the time and they were afraid of the competition. The second, well that's anyone's guess, but I think Fox(?) was just Paranoid.
Know if you use any fan creatd material , unless they have an "openuse" policy you should find teh autho;s email and send them a note introducing yourself and what you would liek with his or her works.
Im my experiencce I had ever been denied use only ONCE because thsoe particular type of meshes are slated for Bridge Commander 2. Raven Night now owns BC2 rights if I am correct.
I would suggest checking out all the projects here at HLP or Game Warden and seeign if they have anything to offer you'd be interested in (especially if you haveany kind of skill you canoffer to them!). If you are doing something more original, then we are all looking forward to seeing it someday!.
So good luck with your eforts!
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The Stargate mod that was shut down was a HL2 mod and there was a Stargate (now cancelled) FPS game in development at the time. It's MGM that owns Stargate, incidentally.
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The game well um,
This is a little embarrassing.
It was by barking dog productions. Same guys that made one of the homeword games.
Well it is called,um......
Treasure Planet: Battle at Procyon
I liked it when I was younger.
Screenshots
(http://www.game-over.net/reviews/2002/11/shots/785-shot-1.jpg)
(http://www.game-over.net/reviews/2002/11/shots/785-shot-7.jpg)
(http://www.game-over.net/reviews/2002/11/shots/785-shot-9.jpg)
Don`t laugh at me. *hides* :nervous:
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I can`t get the pictures to work!!!!
Link: http://www.game-over.net/reviews.php?page=reviews&id=785
It got an Ok review: http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/treasureplanetbattleap/index.html?q=Battle%20at%20procyon
Edit:Just figured out screen shots. :lol:
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What tools are available for this game. If you can get the ships out of the game in any model format a 3D convertion program could understand then you're in with a chance.
You are aware that there is a sailing ship in FS2 already I presume? :lol:
(http://freespace.volitionwatch.com/techfs/ships/volition_bravos.jpg)
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I'm pretty sure that that game (Treasure Planet) is most likely closed source; Disney isn't in the habit of letting their games be modded. If you don't see anything except some basic files and the exe, it's probably all in there. Check for some tools, and if there are none, you have no chance.
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I'm pretty sure that that game (Treasure Planet) is most likely closed source; Disney isn't in the habit of letting their games be modded. If you don't see anything except some basic files and the exe, it's probably all in there. Check for some tools, and if there are none, you have no chance.
A couple months ago I found a site that where the Ceo or head of the team that did Treasure Planet: Battle at Procyon was explaining how the game came to be. At one part he wasn`t sure if he should add tools for making mods in the game or not. Disney was very hesitant about it because this was probably their first game that could actually get some money out of it unlike those other crappy games they produce.
They said no tools at the end which got me ticked. :hopping:
I look inside all the folders and find no tools. The actual models seem to be in the wordobjects folder and they are ".wot" files. The texture files are either .tga or .dds
Other file types are .msb, .fft , .eft, and .ret. The actual game maps are called .twt.
Do you guys recognize these files at all. :doubt:
I going to be gone for the next couple of days so excuse my lack of posts. :cool:
I`ll be back so if you have any ideas post!! :blah: :o :rolleyes:
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Most of those files sound proprietary to me.
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You can try running a search on the extensions on a site that archives these things, but I wouldn't be too hopeful on that.
The basic texture files are standard stuff. A copy of GIMP (and presumably Photoshop) could open them.
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.tga and .dds textures are not a problem, as for the models that's a problem...
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The models could be renames of existing ones.
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The Stargate mod that was shut down was a HL2 mod and there was a Stargate (now cancelled) FPS game in development at the time. It's MGM that owns Stargate, incidentally.
For the record: There once was a very promising looking Starcraft MOD for UT 2003 (or 2004 ?) in the works, which was swiftly put down by Blizzard.
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The Stargate mod that was shut down was a HL2 mod and there was a Stargate (now cancelled) FPS game in development at the time. It's MGM that owns Stargate, incidentally.
For the record: There once was a very promising looking Starcraft MOD for UT 2003 (or 2004 ?) in the works, which was swiftly put down by Blizzard.
What do Blizzard have to do with that?
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What, with Kernal's idea ? Nothing. I was just giving another example that big companies sometimes do shut down non-profit Mods.
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No I me-.... Wait wait... *Reads*
The hell... I read your Starcraft as Stargate the first time around. Am I going insane? Must be this cold I have.
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Before I got home I got horridly sick sorry :ick:
Since their seemed to be a lack of explorer type campaigns I thought it would be cool if I made one about acouple scientists and some GTVA guarding them going through a unknown jumpnode and finding a very upsidedown part of the universe. They jump into a middle of a war between races that still use wood for most of their ships and....
All heck I can`t type today and I don`t know how to word the next part.
Until I get better. Farewell! :o
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there is no way you could possibly use wood for spaceships.
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Did you miss it when I typed "upsidedown part of the universe" Carl? :wtf:
:rolleyes:
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there is no way you could possibly use wood for spaceships.
That's an interesting subject. I remember reading a short story once (I don't remember where) about an interplanetary empire that came to take over earth in the mid 20th century. They got their collective rears handed to them because they were still using wood for their ships. The end of the story was that, while every other race in the rest of the galaxy discovered hyperspace and started exploring the galaxy, Earth had gone a different route, developing weaponry and armor instead of space-travel.
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there is no way you could possibly use wood for spaceships.
I know it's a bit impractical, but impossible??? If the timbers were pressure treated, sealed/impregnated & bonded with an epoxy and a composite created using fiber glass or carbon as an outer hull I think it'd be possible. At least this is how I would, in thoery, approach building a space ship if I didn't have the metal for an aluminum or titanium hull.
Reenrty might be a problem though, particularly if you're talking about ships shaped like 16th-19th century era warships.
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The problem is that you'll spend more resources making the wood space-worthy than you would just building the thing out of some combination of metals and syntentics. There's a myriad of issues besides making the thing airtight (most notably heat) that wood particularly sucks at.
Oh wait, we're talking about something that uses sails in space. Nevermind. :rolleyes:
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Not only sails, but in the movie, they were out on the deck with no sort of atmospheric suits whatsoever. So apparently, in this upside down part of the universe, space is filled with oxygen.
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there is no way you could possibly use wood for spaceships.
I know it's a bit impractical, but impossible???
It's about as impractical as using a lump of jelly as a hammer.
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Oh wait, we're talking about something that uses sails in space. Nevermind. :rolleyes:
We're also talking about a game based off of a Disney movie. Think about that one.
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Oh wait, we're talking about something that uses sails in space. Nevermind. :rolleyes:
We're also talking about a game based off of a Disney movie. Think about that one.
Hey, c`mon I only started this thread because I liked the models. I really didn`t give a rip about the original story line. Even though it is a Disney Game. I asked about it, I tried to get the models in Pof, I failed, end of story. I feel like i am being bashed in the head because "OH the Horror" I asked about something Disney produced. :doubt:
I just wanted to make something I would enjoy. Yes wood and sails doesn`t make since in space. This is suppost to be however just a game. It doesn`t have to make since as long as it has a good plot, looks cool, and is fun to the player.
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They discovered a galaxy with a thin atmosphere surrounding it, they said it was further proof of dark matter, but I can't seem to find it on NASA's website anymore, I can't even find their list of galaxies that they used to have.
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Hey, c`mon I only started this thread because I liked the models. I really didn`t give a rip about the original story line. Even though it is a Disney Game. I asked about it, I tried to get the models in Pof, I failed, end of story. I feel like i am being bashed in the head because "OH the Horror" I asked about something Disney produced. :doubt:
I just wanted to make something I would enjoy. Yes wood and sails doesn`t make since in space. This is suppost to be however just a game. It doesn`t have to make since as long as it has a good plot, looks cool, and is fun to the player.
I think everyone is basically saying that cause it's based on a Disney movie it has no basis in reality. Then again neither do the Volition Bravos and that's been in game since Day 1 so it's not like any of us care about that fact :)
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I think everyone is basically saying that cause it's based on a Disney movie it has no basis in reality. Then again neither do the Volition Bravos and that's been in game since Day 1 so it's not like any of us care about that fact :)
Well, the Volition Bravos came as a joke anyway. Battle at Procyon and Treasure Planet weren't based around comedy, but around entertaining little kids with the idea of wooden ships with combustion engines in space.
But hey, if it's fun, it's a little more tolerable.
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I think everyone is basically saying that cause it's based on a Disney movie it has no basis in reality. Then again neither do the Volition Bravos and that's been in game since Day 1 so it's not like any of us care about that fact :)
Well, the Volition Bravos came as a joke anyway. Battle at Procyon and Treasure Planet weren't based around comedy, but around entertaining little kids with the idea of wooden ships with combustion engines in space.
But hey, if it's fun, it's a little more tolerable.
Oh ok. I guess I did look alittle like an idiot asking about this. Oh well.
(Just somebody shoot me) :snipe:
But just imagine......
1st officer: Sir there seems to be a new type of ship coming into rador.
Admiral Petrach: Are they Shivan??
1st: No sir but, they appear they are made of wood.
AP: What! Those morons have to be the dumbest people in the universe. LOL.
1st: sir they are firing on us.
AP: What are those idiots thinking? Very well. Perpare the beam cannons.
FYI: then a plasma missle hits the bridge
I can see it now. :lol:
Sigh....
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You know, I think Command is fully capable of losing to a wooden spaceship propelled by sails. :p