[Hades]

I have the link, and they gave me the go-ahead to post it, so here it is. Be warned, it's in .c4d format so only Cinema 4D users can open it and export it to another format.

[Aardwolf]

Can someone convert it? Kthxbai.

[Droid803]

IIRC this one looks more like an upgraded version of the Arcadia than simply a high-poly one (with the smooth armor plates and all). Still, would be cool to have.

[Aardwolf]

Um... so is anybody going to convert it and upload it somewhere so us normal people can have it?

[Maverick]

Is it possible to post a few pictures of it as well to see what we're getting? I'm tired of seeing that old arcadia among the nice HTL ships T-T

[Droid803]

All screenshots of it have vaporized since Ragingloli purged his DeviantArt account, I think.

[Snail]

All screenshots of it have vaporized since Ragingloli purged his DeviantArt account, I think.

That explains why I couldn't find anything...

[Galemp]

Hooray!

BTW, the high-poly Colossus I've been posting pics of was his originally. I can't wait to take a look at this.

[Hades]

http://www.freespacemods.net/download.php?view.558
Read the description first.

[Galemp]

Thanks for that... but yeah, it appears the texture coordinates and material indexes have been completely lost. Well, same thing happened with the Colossus... but it'll be UV mapped anyway, right?

Taking a spin around the geometry, I actually think this could be an acceptable upgrade for the Arcadia for the Media VPs. It's a lot more of a shell with greebles in it, and isn't as solid as the original, but the concept is pretty cool. Changing the center hexagon to a circle might be contentious, but overall the boost in quality is worth the effort.

[Hades]

I'm glad that I could help.

[Droid803]

Even if it doesn't make it into the MVPs, it'd make a nice Arcadia mk2.

[Mongoose]

Maybe it's just my senility talking, but didn't someone (Vasudan Admiral maybe) once make quite a bit of progress on an HTL Arcadia model?  Like, to the point where most of the flat stretches of the "belt" had been heavily detailed?

And yeah, that circular hole in the center would be a definite no-no from me.  Looks interesting, but the giant hexagon is too iconic to the original design.

[colecampbell666]

Aye. I like the hexagon. And VA was making a new Arcadia. It was on hold until some projects (Hades etc.) finished.

[Dragon]

And yeah, that circular hole in the center would be a definite no-no from me.  Looks interesting, but the giant hexagon is too iconic to the original design.

Not to mention none of Arcadia extensions would fit circular hole unless modified versions of them are made.
It would be great if you could make hole in HTL Arcadia exactly the same size as in lo-poly one ,thus allowing extensions to be used with it.

[Droid803]

The extensions are going to look pretty ugly (read: low-poly) next to a high-poly Arcadia anyway. They'll have to be remade if you don't want them to stick out like a sore thumb.
Besides, compatibility with largely unused user content doesn't really matter.

I don't mind the circular hole. Though it can't be THAT hard to turn it back into a hexagon.

[Hades]

Personally, I think a circular hole is the way to go, and I'd bet that is what Volition would have made it if they made a high-polygon version.

[Kolgena]

I think it should be a hexagon. Blocky and square says Terran all over it. Smoothed out circular hole? Not so much.

Edit: Hades, what makes you think that? If they wanted a circular hole, they would have modeled an octagon or decagon by using a near negligible number of polys. I think that the hexagon is intentional.

[Hades]

You don't understand, back then a few more polygons would have made a difference in gaming. Besides, the whole model is curvey, so having a hexagon hole in the middile would just look very out of place.

[Kolgena]

The way the hole is shaped, you'd need 3 extra polys for every side added.

That means you have 6 extra polys for an octagon and 12 extra polys for a decagon. I can't for the life of me imagine a computer that would run fine with a hexagon but lag on a decagon.

Regardless, the deciding factor for what shape of hole we get is based on whether it's worth the effort to butcher up ragingloli's arcadia or the one VA's working on right now. Either way, it's a detail that most people are going to get acclimatized to eventually.