[Raven2001]

Now, I'm a guy who likes to think ahead into the future, and my thinking now is about models and their poly counts and level of detail... It is likely that the Source Code will allow us to have more polys on a model, and still run FS at a good speed... also, I didn't worry too much about the poly count until now, because what makes the game run slower is not the nº of polys on a ship, but the textures and their tiling... did you know this??
My thoughts have extended to the point that I am making revamps of all my ships to be used in my campaign (Caught in the Middle), and just yesterday I ended up with a 1800 poly cruiser unturreted!!!
But still, I know that 1800 polys are too much for a cruiser that isn't turreted, but I know why does it ended with such high poly count: because of the triangulation process...
Now, my question is:

Is there any program that triangulates models only where they need a triangulated face?? For instance a program that when I "order" it to triangulate the entire model, it will not triangulate all those polys that aren't "blended" and that not need triangulation... I'm asking this because it would allow us to make more detailed models and still not increase the polycount too much...
In freelancer, for instance, we have insane poly counts and the game runs perfectly, so we shouldn't worry about high poly ships for FS in the future...

I've got another question... does anyone can get me the tile textures of some Starlancer and Freelancer capital ships??

[Black Wolf]

According to tomcat, Truespace is one of the only modelling proggies that doesn't triangulate on every save. Buuuut TS scares me, so it's decidedly second hand info.

[karajorma]

BW has it right. Truespace doesn't automatically triangulate Something I've found quite useful for keeping the poly count down.

[Raven2001]

Well, I use TS for UV mapping, and I think it is quite good... version 4 that is...

The problem is, that TS triangulates all the faces when I ask it to triangulate...

[KARMA]

yes, truespace autotriangulize only if you set it up this way, by default it doesn't.
and for fs2modding you can triangulize the mesh, and then detriangulize using booleans with "delete edges" activated: as result all the nonflat faces will be triangulized, and most (not all) of the already flat faces will not be triangulized

[TopAce]

My only problem with triangulation of TS, that it untriangulates the whole model if I join two different parts with a Boolen operation. It is so unpleasant if I already tested in the game, and PCS wouldn't be able to read my cob anymore, after a second triangulation.

[deep_eyes]

one method i discovered while trying to find a way to minimize "texture lag", was to use an old or current (or create a new) texture to acomidate the face of the model you want to cover, and maximize that one texture, rather then a combination of four.

one example is my XT-01 destroyer, she only uses 3 custom textures, the rest (3) are FS2 standard.

one good example of texture lag is a ship that has small 12x12kb textures, nothing wrong with small ones, but when theres thirty or more of them, it does more harm then good.

[KARMA]

Originally posted by TopAce
My only problem with triangulation of TS, that it untriangulates the whole model if I join two different parts with a Boolen operation. It is so unpleasant if I already tested in the game, and PCS wouldn't be able to read my cob anymore, after a second triangulation.

just deselect the delete edges option of the booleans or, better, stabilize the model only when completed

[TopAce]

Originally posted by KARMA

just deselect the delete edges option of the booleans or, better, stabilize the model only when completed

Thanks, I'll try it.