[Admiral Nelson]

Another of Nico's old models was the GTF Vampire.  This beautiful model was never quite finished as the Ezechiel was.  I notice that its cockpit appears to be a solid mass of silver even though it uses the same texture as the Ezechiel does.  Any ideas as to why this might be?

[Taristin]

...what?


Does it have a cockpit model in it? If it does, then the glass section needs to have a transparent texture. If not, then there's nothing to be done.

[Admiral Nelson]

oh yes, it appears to be identical to that of the Ezechial.  The glass texture is the same in both models.  The cockpit model is the same in both models.  The shape of the canopy is different, naturally.  Can there be something astray in the model's geometry to cause this?

[Fade Rathnik]

Ohh my, she is beautiful the Ezechial has nothing on this model as far as asthetics

[Flipside]

It might be that it's using a DDS texture and the shinemap has a seperate alpha map that is set to white. That would cause the Environment mapping to go totally reflective (if switched on).

Try running Freespace without Environemt mapping turned on and see what happens?

[Admiral Nelson]

No, no difference.  The Ezechial and the Vampire use the very same texture for canopy glass, and the Ezechial appears fine.

[Bobboau]

but then it would just be added, not replaced, the alpha map is always drawn additively.

[asyikarea51]

Don't know if this matters, but the last time I looked at the Vampire in-game, I could see what was on the other side through the cockpit, like as if there wasn't a cockpit there, only a transparent glassy hole.

[Darius]

There was a cockpit texture there, but it doesn't seem to fit the entire cockpit (ie. it was squashed towards the nose of the fighter). And yes, one could see the background through a canopy-shaped hole when looking from above.

[Sesquipedalian]

Don't know if this matters, but the last time I looked at the Vampire in-game, I could see what was on the other side through the cockpit, like as if there wasn't a cockpit there, only a transparent glassy hole.

That can be caused by using a texture named "invisible" that is pure green, as I recall.  Check the model to see if such a texture exists on the model.

[Admiral Nelson]

It iuses the ordinary glass texture.  I even replaced this in modelview with the gold glass texture from the Erinyes to no avail.  I presume the canopy geometry must be screwed up somehow.

[StratComm]

The problem here has nothing to do with the glass texture but with the order of subobjects and the way Nico grouped up the Vampire when he converted it.  What you're seeing is not silvery black, it's actually silvery clear so if there was another object or background graphic behind it that graphic would show through, while the "glass" is occluding the cockpit model.  The Ezechiel suffered similar problems when it was new, though those were fixed quickly as the model was otherwise finished.  If memory serves, the Vampire doesn't have proper LODs, among other things.

[Admiral Nelson]

Thats is right, no LODs, missing POF data. and a rather basic texture.  Nevertheless, it is a pity to let it go to waste.    Can you suggest a course of action that an individual with little modelling experience such as myself could take to fix the problem?

[StratComm]

Sadly it can't be fixed without recompiling the model, and depending on its construction that may include a good deal of model rework.  I've meant to work on it for ages though; maybe I'll get around to it.

[Admiral Nelson]

I'd be eternally grateful, if that is worth anything...