Great effort :yes:
Out of curiosity, what did you do with those lower LODs that don't use scaled down versions of the LOD0 map ?
More than willing to help......in fact, I've been working on doing something pretty much exactly like that myself. (Just cut the memory usage of the Faustus in half, in fact.)
Where do I sign up?? :) (I'll even do the mission Edits, if you'd like. Or anything else for that matter.)
And screw up isn't likely to happen.....the texture replace just won't work if the models refference to "nameplate" texture is no longer nameplate. If it is, and anybody has the DDS nameplates available outside of the Zeta's, it will still work just fine.
Well, what kind of test do you need we could check ? I don't get it ><.
I'm looing for 3-4 tester for some new MV stuff.
I'm also trying to figure out why I'll randomly get alpha channels after saving a DDS as "DXT1 (no alpha channel)", but naturally when I reopen it, there suddenly is one.
hey, DaB, am i too late?
Actually, it can/could be a question of what format of DDS was it saved as? DXT1, DXT3 and DXT5 all have different results.
My biggest complaint about DDS is the amount of guess work it takes to produce a good, clean, un-crappied copy of something that does what you want it to. The upside (and the only reason I keep trying) is the memory usage of a DDS files is far more efficient than anything else (almost).
32-bit: 1meg
24-bit: 768k
16-bit: 512k
8-bit: 256k
DXT5: 1 (~256k)
DXT3: 1 (~256k)
DXT1a: 0.7 (~179k)
DXT1c: 0.5 (~128k)
Btw... wasn't there a way to generate ibx files for all models at once? I kinda remember something like that.Yeah, run the game with -pofspew. That will load every single POF file it finds, and in the process generate an IBX file for anything that doesn't already have one. :)
Stick the contents of both those zips in your models and cache folders respectively. They will fix that error (and all the other ships the same error will occur on), and the ones I've HTLed in there should run faster too. :)Done some map combining?
VA, shouldn't the nameplate on the Hecate have its texture set to "INVISIBLE" rather than "Nameplate". IIRC, setting it to the later, as you have in your included model, results in some color weirdness.That's only because of the bad nameplate.dds in the MediaVPs. If the DDS were not crap then you wouldn't see it (since it's transparent). There is a Mantis filed on this, and a proper nameplate.dds is attached to the bug.
Any downside to using "INVISIBLE" though?Shouldn't be, at least I can't think of any downside to it. For a nameplate which is completely transparent without a name on it, it's probably even the better thing to do, using "invisible" as the default texture name.
I just noticed a bug with the ingame Trebuchet model. It doesn't have any thruster glow in the game. I think this is because the thruster radius in the pof is far too small.
There is also a slight problem with several of the tga laser glow images (the halo effects, not the blobs themselves). The glow is too small relative to the entire image, so you don't see much of a glow in the game. The pcx versions of most of the files are fine though.
Also, I think I've said it before, but some of the "new" weapon effects could definitely use an overhaul. The Maxim and Circe still look really bad compared to what they were like in the original game, and they have been like that for a long time now. For now I would recommend just removing those entries from the tbm files.
Not sure if this made it into the 3.6.8 Zeta-710 bug reports, but some of the loadout missile models have their centers out of position. The Harpoon is the most notable example, with it rotating around a point out ahead of its nose.That's a problem with the tech versions of the hi-poly missiles/bombs. I don't really know how to fix it, or else I would have already. Someone with Truespace will likely have to fix it. The non-tech versions have already been fixed and I included those in the 710 patches. The Trebuchet thruster glow should be fixed in there as well, unless I forgot to include the proper version in the 710's.
I actually went though the trouble of hacking ModelView32 to add the ability to easily change the radius value in the POF-Editor. ;)
Anyway... I don't know what's wrong with the weapon effects... It just displays a wrong effect for some weapons.
I'd like to fix that before I upload the new version.
Any ideas?
I think that's modview actually. AFAIK, saving a pof in modview will erase the entire glowpoint chunk, and then on the other hand, PCS crashes every time I've tried to import the glowpoint chunk from another pof. :\Yep, that also happened to me. I switched to Aurora then. I'll try the new version of PCS linked by Karajorma.
I think that's modview actually. AFAIK, saving a pof in modview will erase the entire glowpoint chunk, and then on the other hand, PCS crashes every time I've tried to import the glowpoint chunk from another pof. :\Yep, that also happened to me. I switched to Aurora then. I'll try the new version of PCS linked by Karajorma.
GTC Fenris (cruiser1.pof) - (Although maybe it isn't the final model because the turret error):Well spotted. :)
+ LOD2 is bad mapped.
+ This isn't the version that comes with vp 3.6.8. and it seems worse. It has more maps and has a 'GTC_Orff' instead of the correct 'nameplate' so IIRC, nameplate name changing within existing missions is going to fail.
+ (BTW. In the actual edition of vps, the cool lightspeed-nebulaed FS2 campaign is not included).
Actually, there's a request for the ship lab. Could there be a rotate turrets/subsystems option?Already done, and that's how I noticed the problem with the POFs. :)
Any chance of applying the same thing to turrets too?At some point, but not soon. There are quite a few other, lower level, lab changes that I'd like to make before any additional features are added. If I add anything else in the next week it will be the ability to show/test thrusters, but then I'll take a break from the lab and work on other stuff (I have a very long list ;)).
Any downside to using "INVISIBLE" though?Shouldn't be, at least I can't think of any downside to it. For a nameplate which is completely transparent without a name on it, it's probably even the better thing to do, using "invisible" as the default texture name.
THIS (http://scp.indiegames.us/mantis/view.php?id=1253) could use to be fixed in the next release.What does the SDL/Xinerama issue have to do with anything? We can't fix it anyway, it's not our bug.
The debris do effect game play though... I've been hit and destroyed by chunks of the NTD Uhuru so many times.
Many ships don't result in much debris, while others do: the Fenris breaks up into many large recognisable pieces that survive the explosion to float around, whereas most ships spawn debris during the explosion but they're almost immediately destroyed. This is a shame, debris clouds rule.There was actually a bug in the debris code which made this worse than it actually is. Someone had made a change to allow all debris slots to be available to hull debris, but didn't change it so that that the slots recycle properly. This makes it very fill up quickly and easily and no more hull debris will get created (other than basic explosion debris, which then explode soon after). I have fixed this in the first of my upcoming X builds though.
===Lucifer===
Update:
- Lucifer-HTL.dds
- Lucifer-HTL-shine.dds
- Lucifer-HTL-glow.dds
- Lucifer-HTL_Debris.dds
- Lucifer-HTL_Debris-glow.dds
from http://sectorfiles.net/ti-file-dump/VasudanAdmiral/Ships/HTL_Lucifer_V2.0.rar
Done!
Another ship that has missed its glow points: Arcadia
I upload a fixed one.
When loading this glowpointed version, I get another missing texture: green_glow. You can find a tga version of it in the "useless" maps folder in Effects. This map should be moved to Assets.
(Always speaking about 2nd version + VA's fixed ships).
I just found that the high poly Hecate in the zeta vp seems to be missing a lot of subsystems. Not sure whether you've already fixed this or not.
I just found that the high poly Hecate in the zeta vp seems to be missing a lot of subsystems. Not sure whether you've already fixed this or not.I spotted that too, but found them in the submodel section - they're destroyable subobjects that are also subsystems. Pretty much like the solar panels on the Faustus, though it should probably be checked that the ship still gets disabled when the 4 engines are destroyed, just to make sure the trick works. (Pretty certain it does though)
I've recently been going over the contents of the mv_effects_new_v2 VP, and I've noticed that in the models folder, there are a bunch of what I presume are glowpointed or maybe fixed versions of ships. However, a number of them have HTL counterparts already present in the assets VP - the Medusa, Ursa, Zeus and Herc 2.
Best case scenario is that these old models will just be a waste of space, but it's possible that if VP names get mixed up by someone, they'll get priority over the HTL ones, and in that case you could get issues like Zacam is having. I'd recommend moving all those models over to assets, unless there's a pressing reason for them to be in the effects VP?
I have 3.6.8 Zeta's with the 710 patches merged into them.
I haven't tried not using the pof from the MaT test file.
(Keep in mind, I don't have v2 stuff, just teh v1 test file.)
A smaller matter: I rather like the new gun muzzle flashes, but on some ships (for example the Myrmidon) the flashes show up right in your face, when in normal HUD view. Way too dazzling. Should I try to code things so that muzzle flashes only show on your own ship in normal view if "show ship" is on?I had done something like that myself last summer. I never added it to CVS, though I don't remember why. Pretty sure that it wasn't a code issue, perhaps a user issue or something, one of those famous "matter of taste" deals.
I'm still helping test this stuff, just been kinda busy and mostly lurking lately...
A smaller matter: I rather like the new gun muzzle flashes, but on some ships (for example the Myrmidon) the flashes show up right in your face, when in normal HUD view. Way too dazzling. Should I try to code things so that muzzle flashes only show on your own ship in normal view if "show ship" is on?
Also... How do you like the Vasudan shield effect. I'm not entirely happy with it as it is. Still it should be ok... probably. Well, I don't know if I should redo it to be honest.
How the hell do you like them?I like seeing them on OTHER ships :p not my own. Much better than 'green blob suddenly appears'.
[Offtopic]Please submit your multitarget additions ASAP, at least the first ones ;) [/Offtopic]I'll do what I can. A couple of them are already in, but you don't notice them because they only work with the 'Multitarget Wing' control, and I can't add new controls until taylor finishes the new pilot/control code (because the way I did it in my test builds was pretty hacky and could mess up your pilot files). The rest... well I'll do what I can :)
I spent quite some time on the beam charge particle... atm it's using the ParticleEXP01, but that's the impact hit effect. (organge/red-ish).Another thing I want to do... make or modify a table to control stuff like this, so that 'hard-coded' special effects can be customized. ...Unfortunately this is just one of the many things on my 'want to do' list, and I tend to bite off more than I can chew at once. :p
it needs to happen for lasers, flak, and beam muzzle glows.I've got it done for laser and flak, but where shall I put the code for beam muzzle glows? They get handled differently. It is easy to do for lasers (and flak seems to already have been partially done) in ship.cpp , but not beam.cpp . Also should I deal with the ones in AiTurret.cpp ?
I've got it done for laser and flak, but where shall I put the code for beam muzzle glows? They get handled differently. It is easy to do for lasers (and flak seems to already have been partially done) in ship.cpp , but not beam.cpp . Also should I deal with the ones in AiTurret.cpp ?The code may have changed a little bit since I had done it originally, but when I made the changes I handled beams in beam_render_all(). I put a boolean test at the top to check if it was a player ship and should or shouldn't render the muzzle stuff, then put that check around the beam_render_muzzle_glow() and beam_render_muzzle_particle() calls in that function. And... I'm pretty sure that was all I had done for beams. That makes it easy, since it will automatically apply to anything that fails the boolean check, and can therefore be easily upgraded/expanded later on.
Could somebody without the test VPs take a look at the Dragon's lod 1?As far as I know, there aren't hi-res maps for anything but LOD0. That's specifically why I added the tbl option to force it to use LOD1 for the hud target screen. :)
My version looks very low-res, but I can't fighter better maps (fighter03-01b).
At least my auto-generated normal maps have the right names now.Are the normal maps compressed?
And they might just work. At least they do work ok outside FS2 already.
http://i16.tinypic.com/4clo2h3.jpg
can i be a tester?
GTC Fenris (cruiser1.pof) - (Although maybe it isn't the final model because the turret error):Well spotted. :)
+ LOD2 is bad mapped.
+ This isn't the version that comes with vp 3.6.8. and it seems worse. It has more maps and has a 'GTC_Orff' instead of the correct 'nameplate' so IIRC, nameplate name changing within existing missions is going to fail.
+ (BTW. In the actual edition of vps, the cool lightspeed-nebulaed FS2 campaign is not included).
Right, DaB brought me into the testing group, and I've now taken a very thorough look at all the ships I've done that are in the current "mv_assets_new_v2.vp", checked them against my most up to date set and have also made some small to large improvments using new techniques I've learned since I first did them. For example, the Fenris' terrible over-smoothing issue has been improved, most of the shinemaps have been improved greatly, and all the formats have been corrected.
Here's the to-do list based on the current state of mv_assets_new_v2:
===Fenris===
Remove: (old and no-longer used at all in anything files)
- Fenris-HTL_b.dds
- Fenris-HTL_b-shine.dds
- Fenris-HTL_Subs.dds
- Fenris-HTL_Subs-shine.dds
- FenrisTrim1.dds
- FenrisTrim1-shine.dds
- FenrisTrim2.dds
- FenrisTrim2-shine.dds
Update: (grab the new versions from following RAR file)
- Fenris-HTL.dds
- Fenris-HTL-shine.dds
- Fenris-HTL-glow.dds
- Fenris-HTL_debris.dds
- cruiser01.pof
- cruiser01.ibx
from http://sectorgame.com/ti-file-dump/VasudanAdmiral/Ships/HTL_Fenris_V2.1.rar
Done!
===Leviathan===
Remove:
- Levy-HTL_b.dds
- Levy-HTL_b-shine.dds
- Levy-HTL_Subs.dds
- Levy-HTL_Subs-shine.dds
Update:
- Levy-HTL.dds
- Levy-HTL-shine.dds
- Levy-HTL-glow.dds
- cruiser01x.pof
- cruiser01x.ibx
from http://sectorgame.com/ti-file-dump/VasudanAdmiral/Ships/HTL_Leviathan_V2.1.rar
Done!
===Aeolus===
Remove:
- Aeolus-HTL_Beam1.dds
- Aeolus-HTL_d.dds
- Aeolus-HTL_Flak1.dds
Update:
- Resave Aeolus-HTL-shine.dds as a dxt3 rather than 5 maybe? The Aeolus is otherwise already 100% up to date. :)
Done!
===Triton===
Remove:
- Triton_HTL1_c.dds
Update:
- Triton_HTL1.dds
- Triton_HTL1-shine.dds
- Triton_HTL1-glow.dds
- Triton_HTLDebris.dds
- Triton_HTLDebris-glow.dds
- Triton_HTL_Turrets.dds
- Triton_HTL_Turrets-shine.dds
- freighter2t-01.pof
- freighter2t-01.ibx
from http://sectorgame.com/ti-file-dump/VasudanAdmiral/Ships/HTL_Triton_V2.0.rar
Done!
===TC-Tri===
Update:
- TC-Tri-HTL.dds
- TC-Tri-HTL-shine.dds
- TC-Tri-HTL_Debris.dds
from http://sectorgame.com/ti-file-dump/VasudanAdmiral/Ships/HTL_TC-Tri_V2.0.rar
Done!
===Lucifer===
Update:
- Lucifer-HTL.dds
- Lucifer-HTL-shine.dds
- Lucifer-HTL-glow.dds
- Lucifer-HTL_Debris.dds
- Lucifer-HTL_Debris-glow.dds
from http://sectorgame.com/ti-file-dump/VasudanAdmiral/Ships/HTL_Lucifer_V2.0.rar
Done!
=======================================
And that's it for now - big list sorry, but there are some big improvments in there from both an aesthetic and functional POV. ;)
Edit: Updated the Fenris and Leviathan to versions 2.1. I had to reconvert them both and fixed a number of other little problems.
Edit: Changed the download links.
You were supposed to have d/led them by now. :p
The links aren't busted though - Sectorgames host has come under some kind of attack and has disallowed FTP stuff for the time being.
I do have copies uploaded to freewebs, but the next media VPs are just around the corner really:
Aeolus V2.0 (http://webzoom.freewebs.com/twisted-infinities-va/HTL%2DAeolus/HTL%5FAeolus%5FV2.0.rar)
Fenris V2.1 (http://webzoom.freewebs.com/twisted-infinities-va/HTL%2DFenris/HTL%5FFenris%5FV2.1.rar)
Leviathan V2.1 (http://webzoom.freewebs.com/twisted-infinities-va/HTL%2DFenris/HTL%5FLeviathan%5FV2.1.rar)
Lucifer V2.0 (http://webzoom.freewebs.com/twisted-infinities-va/HTL%2DLucifer/HTL%5FLucifer%5FV2.0.rar)
TC-Tri V2.0 (http://webzoom.freewebs.com/twisted-infinities-va/HTL%2DTC%2DTri/HTL%5FTC%2DTri%5FV2.0.rar)
Triton V2.0 (http://webzoom.freewebs.com/twisted-infinities-va/HTL%2DTriton/HTL%5FTriton%5FV2.0.rar)
I could have and probably should have, but was too lazy because I like the contrast in the lighting. ;)
These are essentially just bugfixes and optimisations with slightly better shine maps - they don't really deserve these comparison shots, but they were requested by MetalDestroyer. I expect this won't be the final version of any of them either.
You were supposed to have d/led them by now. :p
The links aren't busted though - Sectorgames host has come under some kind of attack and has disallowed FTP stuff for the time being.
I do have copies uploaded to freewebs, but the next media VPs are just around the corner really:
Aeolus V2.0 (http://webzoom.freewebs.com/twisted-infinities-va/HTL%2DAeolus/HTL%5FAeolus%5FV2.0.rar)
Fenris V2.1 (http://webzoom.freewebs.com/twisted-infinities-va/HTL%2DFenris/HTL%5FFenris%5FV2.1.rar)
Leviathan V2.1 (http://webzoom.freewebs.com/twisted-infinities-va/HTL%2DFenris/HTL%5FLeviathan%5FV2.1.rar)
Lucifer V2.0 (http://webzoom.freewebs.com/twisted-infinities-va/HTL%2DLucifer/HTL%5FLucifer%5FV2.0.rar)
TC-Tri V2.0 (http://webzoom.freewebs.com/twisted-infinities-va/HTL%2DTC%2DTri/HTL%5FTC%2DTri%5FV2.0.rar)
Triton V2.0 (http://webzoom.freewebs.com/twisted-infinities-va/HTL%2DTriton/HTL%5FTriton%5FV2.0.rar)
What difference with the models in the latest Media VP ?/me want screenies ! :D
There is a map there - it's the debris texture. I think I know what's wrong. The map used on the Aeolus is "DocTile6A", but DaBrain's been going through all those old maps to get rid of the smaller versions and just leave the highest one (though removing the A from the end in both the files and all the pofs that use that map).
Easiest solution then is to just rename the texture the Aeolus POF is set to use from DocTile6A to DocTile6. :)
Sorry for my asking, ARSPR, but which build are you using to get debris enabled?
(note I haven't read much of this thread :nervous:)
3.6.10 is going to be released in a little over a month anyway, so I'm pretty sure that they would want to wait until then to make new installers anyway. :)
3.6.10 is going to be released in a little over a month anyway, so I'm pretty sure that they would want to wait until then to make new installers anyway. :)Double woot!