[Quanto]

A skybox is simply an inverted cube with six images stitched together. SpaceEngine creates those six images from wherever you point the camera in your explorations. You can add additional planets and things to the skybox in fred if you please, but I wouldn't recommended it. The only thing that should be added in the background in fred is a sun. From there, the skybox render should be it.

[Master_of_the_blade]

What about the addition of Earth and other planets in mods?
Anyways, there seems to be no way of getting models from 3ds max to the game.

[General Battuta]

What about the addition of Earth and other planets in mods?

Those are simply images on one face of the skybox.

[Angelus]

What about the addition of Earth and other planets in mods?
Anyways, there seems to be no way of getting models from 3ds max to the game.

As i said previously, there is.
Either via Max 2011 or via Blender ( Max--> .obj --> Blender --> .dae).

I wasn't able to make the OpenCollada exporter work with 2012.

[Master_of_the_blade]

That didn't work.

[rscaper1070]

I don't know what's going wrong for you guys. I just converted a cube from Max 2012 to PCS2 to make sure I wasn't mistaken and it worked. The only real difference from Angelus's conversion steps was that I named it "detail-0" like it says to in Styxx's POF Conversion notes in the wiki, but that probably isn't it. I also made sure I had a texture applied. So I have no idea what's up, but I do know it works.

[Droid803]

NO DO NOT USE THAT EXPORTER.
Yes, there's not working Collada exporter with Max 2012, but that does not mean you should be using the old Max->Pof exporter, which, if you do not know what you're doing, will produce crap 99% of the time. And let me assure you, if your name is not Spoon, you do not know what you are doing with it.

Get an older version of max (I use 2009). From 2012, export to FBX (2009 compatibilty) open w/ 2009 and export to DAE.

I don't understand why you need to export a new skybox anyway - the one by HT works perfectly if you set it up right.

[rscaper1070]

Yes, I know, I didn't. The Collada wiki page says...

The conventions for a DAE file will be similar to those for Styxx's POF Conversion plugin for 3D Studio Max. All major modelings apps should be able to understand a model that follows these conventions.

Those are the conventions I followed and the Collada plug-in worked.

[Droid803]

Sorry, I freaked out because uh, I hate the fact that that exporter even exists. People keep asking me to fix the crap it produced years back, when there's no real way to effectively do so without the source files because they're *totally ****ed*, like they either refuse to export to DAE/crash PCS2 on export/crash Max on import, or just have horrendous geometry errors that take forever to fix.

Did you use Autodesk Collada, or OpenCollada plugin for DAE?
Because IIRC (from BWO), OpenCollada doesn't work with 2012 unless its been updated?

[rscaper1070]

The OpenCollada plug-in that I linked to earlier in the thread is the one I've been using and as far as I can tell it works.

[Master_of_the_blade]

The Open Collada plugin works. Ive successfully exported to .dae.
Only problem is that the PCS 2.1 Alpha I have doesnt import anything. Not even pof. It just does not load it.

[Droid803]

Maybe try a different PCS2 build.

[rscaper1070]

PCS 2.1 Alpha is the build I'm using and it works. I'm actually starting to think it is naming the model with a hyphen, like "detail-0" instead of "detail0", that's making the difference. Don't ask me why. I've tried various tests and that seems to be the factor that keeps the model from showing up in PCS2. The other thing it could be is OpenCollada's export settings. Mine look like these...

[Droid803]

But it should be reading detail0, not detail-0. On 2009, it works without the hyphen and not with it.
If his PCS2 isn't even opening POFs then I think that its not a max problem

[mjn.mixael]

All you need to check for OpenCollada is 'Normals' and 'Triangulate' (unless you've done this yourself). The rest aren't read by PCS2, so might as well remove them to cut down on possible issues.

[Master_of_the_blade]

I'd already done that. PCS2.1 loads the file but theres nothing there. No mass, no properties. Nothing crashes. Ive named the central box center_detail0. Tried gain with centerdetail0.
My outer box is called detail0.

[rscaper1070]

Did you try naming the object "detail-0" and the dummy "center_detail-0"? In my tests that's what made the difference. If you are using Max 2012, and you are using the OpenCollada plugin, that seems to be what you have to do.

 Also, are you not able to load pof's? If that's the case I'd delete the PCS2 folder and re-download a new copy from the "Tools" board.

[Master_of_the_blade]

I re downloaded a copy from the tools board. It WILL.NOT.WORK

:'(

[Master_of_the_blade]

*bump*