[madaboutgames]

Screenshots from reflections campaign.













And nothing to do with reflections but i love this mission



www.b5heatemup.co.uk  

[I_E_Maverick]

very nice screenshots, that is some good advertising for the campaign

[Lt.Cannonfodder]

Looking pretty nice, but please, use the starfield skysphere we've provided. And reduce the size of the Epsilon 3, it looks horrible even without being stretched across the sky.

[aipz]

I agree!
 Please use starfield.pof as skybox model...Thanks to it space looks realistic...

Apart new ships and weapon effects its the best new goodie in TBP 3.2!:nod:

BTW Great screenshots!

[madaboutgames]

Im looking into the skybox issue, never used this before so going to take a look at it know.  I agree about epsilon 3, but it needs to be big to get the feel of B5 being right next to it.  We could really do with some cool hi-res planets and nebula, I am a 3d modeller/artist  I can do some nebulas and planets but not a clue how to put em into tbp.

Heres a few on my newer pics











Nowt to do with B5 "its the thought that counts"

[Sigma957]

They look great aswell Mad:D

[madaboutgames]

I have updated the campaign missions - please download here

www.b5heatemup.co.uk/refupdt.rar     to install : just overwrite missions & campaign with new ones.

Changes

Added starfield to all missions yes:
Changed Midwinter class ships to Nova class ships in Training task 5.
Updated a few mission events where events failed to run.

Starfields are great   100% better

Cheers

www.b5heatemup.co.uk

[Lt.Cannonfodder]

Trust me, I've tried to recreate the Epsilon 3 so many times it hurts. Anyone willing to give it a go is free to do so. As for new planets... well, there were a few included in TBP that won't show up in fred, but if you open stars.tbl and replace the part with bitmapx's with this...

$BitmapX: p_acid1
$BitmapX: p_asteroids
$BitmapX: p_bluegas
$BitmapX: p_blueice
$BitmapX: p_callisto
$BitmapX: p_centauri1
$BitmapX: p_centaurimoon1
$BitmapX: p_centaurimoon2
$BitmapX: p_cloud1
$BitmapX: p_cool
$BitmapX: p_dead1
$BitmapX: p_dead2
$BitmapX: p_earth1
$BitmapX: p_earth2
$BitmapX: p_earth3
$BitmapX: p_epsilon3
$BitmapX: p_europa
$BitmapX: p_ganymede
$BitmapX: p_gas1
$BitmapX: p_gas2
$BitmapX: p_gas3
$BitmapX: p_gas4
$BitmapX: p_gas5
$BitmapX: p_gas6
$BitmapX: p_gas7
$BitmapX: p_gas8
$BitmapX: p_gas9
$BitmapX: p_green1
$BitmapX: p_green2
$BitmapX: p_icy1
$BitmapX: p_icy2
$BitmapX: p_industry1
$BitmapX: p_jupiter1
$BitmapX: p_jupiter2
$BitmapX: p_jupiter3
$BitmapX: p_lava1
$BitmapX: p_mars
$BitmapX: p_mars1
$BitmapX: p_mercury
$BitmapX: p_minbar1
$BitmapX: p_minbar
$BitmapX: p_moon1
$BitmapX: p_moon2
$BitmapX: p_moon3
$BitmapX: p_mould
$BitmapX: p_muddy1
$BitmapX: p_muddy2
$BitmapX: p_muddy3
$BitmapX: p_muddy4
$BitmapX: p_narn
$BitmapX: p_narn1
$BitmapX: p_narn2
$BitmapX: p_nice1
$BitmapX: p_redsand
$BitmapX: p_rings1
$BitmapX: p_rock1
$BitmapX: p_rock2
$BitmapX: p_rock3
$BitmapX: p_rock4
$BitmapX: p_rocksand
$BitmapX: p_sand1
$BitmapX: p_sand2
$BitmapX: p_saturn
$BitmapX: p_saturn1
$BitmapX: p_scars
$BitmapX: p_swamp
$BitmapX: p_zhadum

...you will get a few more planets to play with. Some of them are slightly out of date, but I'm working on fixing that issue. Maybe there will be something nice for you in the next release

Btw mad, is the gas giant on the background of your fourth pic yours? If so, could we see a pic of the planet without the ship in the way?

[madaboutgames]

Yes all pics and everything in em are mine (except foilage).  If you need any pics for planets, nebulas etc. let me know, i have done lots over the last 15 years, and may be able to help out with requests if i have time.

[Lt.Cannonfodder]

I'm interested on how you made that gas giant. I've only recently managed to create good looking gas planets (the ones included in TBP 3.2 are not quite as good), but from what I can see on that image yours is way over anything I've ever archieved.

EDIT: Oh, and if you could give me a sample of your nebula work I'd be very grateful.

[madaboutgames]

Ill post some pics i did a while ago later on. I use 3d studio max. (the best off course)  The easiest and best way to model a good gas giant is to get one sphere, use a noise map and set the black as a mask.  Set transparency to 80.  Clone sphere and enlarge it slightly, doing the same material but rotate it slightly so its not the same position.  Do this a few more times making each spehere bigger, the end result looks great.  Same for clouds on planets.

The planet in that pic isn`t a gas giant, the bits you can see may make it seem like one.

[Lt.Cannonfodder]

I see. Well, post more of your work and we might be able to make use of it

[madaboutgames]

post some pics of nebs & planets tmos, beer calls.  Hard choice but its the thought that counts, and is productive. C u tmos

[madaboutgames]

Sorry its a bit late,lots on at the mo.

here is a few gas planets, only spent 1/2 hour on em, but you get the idea.  Let me know exactly what u want and I should be able to get them done for next release.







I quickly put together a nebula, again if you need any let me know and ill do you some.  Here is a pic of nebula (close up) look great with starfield.



Here are some other pics i did a while ago, if you want any nebulas or planets of these let me know and ill render them for you.

[madaboutgames]

[madaboutgames]

[Lt.Cannonfodder]

Not bad. Some tips though:

1. Use a bit higher res for the planets maps. The close up shots clrealy bring up the lack of detail.
2. There are some problems with the light-dark transition with the first two gas giants. I'm sure you can noticed them.
3. The dark side of a planet should always be black, unless there is a good reason for it to be illuminated.
4. Atmoshpere. Make it both smaller and more intense. Planets usually don't glow quite that much

Overall, quite nice but there's room for improvement. If you want to learn a few more things, PM me and I'll be happy to help.

[madaboutgames]

The easiest and best way to model a good gas giant is to get one sphere, use a noise map and set the black as a mask. Set transparency to 80. Clone sphere and enlarge it slightly, doing the same material but rotate it slightly so its not the same position. Do this a few more times making each spehere bigger

here is a few gas planets, only spent 1/2 hour on em, but you get the idea. Let me know exactly what u want and I should be able to get them done for next release.

Like I said these where just quick renders to give quick example of quickly puting together a gas giant ( Questions 2-4 )   If you let me know what you want ( eg colours, resolutions, planet types, format etc. I will do you some HQ renders you can use.

Question 1 ( to which planet are you refering ?? )

[Lt.Cannonfodder]

The Earth map you have looks to bit a bit low quality. What resolution is it?

Anyway, we usually use 1024x1024 images with alpha for our planet bitmaps. I can't promise we will use yours, but if you give us some very good ones we will certainly consider it

[madaboutgames]

Earth map is 1024x768 res, normally use 1444 x 1444 but the only earth bitmap i had at that time was 1024x768.  This was used in an animation so when it was motion blured it still looked fine.

Ill do a few new planets & nebs over the next few weeks.