[WIP] Majestic's BSG Modelling

[Dominus_Noctis]

Sounds like a neat idea - will you be having 'research' in this mod?

There are some new commands that make it possible to have researches/weapons show up only when in the aura of the required vessel/station - might come in handy if you wan to make a unique "fleet synergy" system

 

[Adm_Z]

Cool! i have had that idea for some ships, basically making their warpin speed instant, so they just FTL jump in. I can't wait to see what you can do. Your Avatar pics are way better than mine. I need to redo them.

 

[Majestic]

Sounds like a neat idea - will you be having 'research' in this mod?

I hadn't planned to but it does sound interesting. Perhaps when some more info comes available about it I might look into it.

It may interest you to know that the transwarp edge teleporting bug has been fixed in the latest version of FO, so the transwarp classlable for a weapon would be excellent to use for FTL

Cool! i have had that idea for some ships, basically making their warpin speed instant, so they just FTL jump in. I can't wait to see what you can do. Your Avatar pics are way better than mine. I need to redo them.

That would be great, I would love to get a good looking FTL effect. I hadn't planned on one but if I could get a working one that looked somewhat accurate I would certainly use it.

But this one I am thinking of, has no building except for a single unit. It's basically designed to be a task-force mod where you have your ships and you engage the enemy.

 

[Majestic]

Here is an updated image.

 

[Chiletrek]

Hello:
That is a very good pic of Colonial Avatars!

Ohh, do you have an Arvak class Battlestar???? can I see it please? because I made one too... I nicknamed it Turtlestar , but the design growns on one, specially with all the details it's hull has.

The only thing is that Nagala has few special ships granted. I do use the Chrysaor as colspecial (as we don't have avatars in normal A2), but you might still take a look at that one (tell me and i'll post pics in my topic so I will not hijack yours).

I really like how you are able to make more Seals for Battlestars, keep it up with the amazing job!

 

[Majestic]

I don't have an Arvak yet, it's on the to-do list. The same with many other designs, some made up some designs by other fans. Hence why the list is so uneven between the avatars.

Would it be possible to grab a copy of your Arvak so I could use it as a template to make my own?

If you do need a seal just let me know, I'll be more than happy to make one for you.

 

[Chiletrek]

Hello:
What do you think if I post some pics of the Arvak class after people give some opinions on my male Leviathan model in my topic? That way you give me time to take some pics before sending you the model.

And I agree, I suppose the list would get bigger with time, there are plenty of Colonial designs, I can even tell you that I plan to build a new one, the Battlestar Fenris, which might be the mid-step between the Valkyrie and Mercury classes (by size, because that ship might be more modern than the other classes).

 

[Majestic]

There's no obligation with the model, just thought it might make it easier for me. Oh and also no rush. I have plenty of other things to do, I have just been fiddling around the last couple of days.

 

[Chiletrek]

Hello:
Well, at least you are getting plenty of new ideas for all of your projects, that is very good because it helps avoid burning-out.

Well, I thought about sending you the model because it might be easier to look at more angles, but I did not make the two versions (Skinfaxi and Sleipnir), mine is more closer to the Sleipnir because I love the sensor dome and I think the number of guns is more credible for a ship of that size (1000 meters lenght), but I made some changes in the ship's belly, more like Skinfaxi's design.

But there are plenty of references for you to work with, including orthos pics.

Keep it up!.

 

[Majestic]

I am not worried about the ship in which version it was as I always make my own versions/style/alterations to it.

But I can understand you not wanting to share the ship.

 

[Majestic]

With help from Optec and Dominus_Noctis (and his guide) at the FO site I have adjusted the avatars so they are now in the middle of the screen. I uploaded a image below.

I also last night did a Cylon avatar image. Like the Colonial's there will be three of them, however the third faction will be vastly different to the first and second ones. A little surprise I suppose. Thankfully I have many great designs for the Cylons, I just need to model them.

 

[Chiletrek]

Hello:
The position of the avatar pics is much better now, I like that very much. Good luck with the Cylons as they are very fun to play with.

@Majestic: As for what we were saying about the Arvak class. When did I say that I didn't want to share the model with you? I mentioned that there are many references because they are always useful and not because I just didn't want to share the ship.

 

[Majestic]

@Majestic: As for what we were saying about the Arvak class. When did I say that I didn't want to share the model with you? I mentioned that there are many references because they are always useful and not because I just didn't want to share the ship.

Sorry, I must mis-understood, my apologies.

 

[Chiletrek]

Sorry, I must mis-understood, my apologies.

Hello:
Don't worry Majestic, I suppose that kind of things happen, specially since english is not my native language so not sure if it was how I said something.

 

[Majestic]

It's all good Chile.

Now onto something a tad new, the Cylons. I have a heap of designs for them, I just need to model them. However I have done their avatars. There are three factions at least to start with for the Cylons. They play differently to the Colonials, as designs are unique for the Cylons particular avatar. The only common designs are shared between two of the avatars and that's the ones we see in the 2003-2009 series (Basestar, Raider and heavy Raider).

For the avatars I had many options and wanted to have Cavil in there instead of Doral, however I couldn't find a good enough image of him. I also started with a green background, then went to a steel/grey one then finally to the red.

Image below.

 

[Dominus_Noctis]

Looks like you're off to a good start Will you be having any captureable map objects, like tylium mines or something similar?

 

[Majestic]

To be honest Dominus, I hadn't thought about that much. I was thinking of perhaps some Eastern Alliance ships (the military like guys from the planet Terra that appeared in the TOS of Battlestar Galactica) but not a clue as of yet.

Edit:

Ben playing around with Coxxon's textures for the Cylon Basestar. I wanted two versions, one for the Doral avatar and the other for the Six. Let me know what you think. I think the blue-ish one still needs work.

 

[Chiletrek]

Hello:
I like that you want different style of Baseships depending on the Avatar, so I am very happy that Coxxon did make the two versions so we have a base to start with.

The truth is that I like the original versions, but you might retiuch the blue-ish ones some more, so it is more easily noticeable in fleet combats (not tooooo noticeable as it might look just wrong). Maybe the seasons1-2 Baseships for one avatar while the seasons 3-4 Baseships for the other avatar, I suggest the later model for the Number6 avatar as it will fit with the Rebel Baseship's design.

I like the idea of the Guardians, so you can have a reason to have old-style Basestars flying around and blowing up stuff.

 

[Majestic]

Thanks Chile, I didn't know there was a change in the Basestar model in the last 2 seasons.

I have played around with them more and got them closer to what I want. I have attached an image.

Yes I liked the idea of the Guardians, having older tech and Cylons. It also gave me an excuse to include them without it looking a little funny.

 

[Starfox1701]

Your welcome to use any of my TOS Cylons as I get them done

 

[Majestic]

Thanks Starfox, I may take you up on the offer, it would save me a lot of time.

 

[Jetfreak]

I really like the notion of having slightly different colored Basestars as hero ships. Slight variations of colors never hurt anybody LOL. How many polys are they btw? Looks very smooth!

 

[Majestic]

The Basestar's are Coxxon's, and are just shy of 3k in poly's. Being it's based off FO, and the Galactica is 3k I am not going to try and poly reduce them. Considering one won't have a large fleet, due to all forced being acquired via warp-in's I think I can get away with slightly higher in my models if the need arises.

Also the colour will be for all units of that avatar, so the Six model units will all have that red tinge to them for example.

 

[Dominus_Noctis]

I too agree that the colors could be differentiated a bit more - if you don't want to add literal texture differences though, you could always go with glows (perhaps)

As for poly count, that low number will be totally fine - new FO models are all being bumped to 5-10k, and once the new renderer is incorporated "soon" that number can be bumped again without issue.

 

[Chiletrek]

Hello:
Well, with some creative poly-reduction you can have Coxxon's Baseship at 1196 polygons (like mine right now).

I also like the small color variations as it can give more variety (yay! for redundancy), so you can repeat Baseship design and still get away with it with no problems.

 

[Avon]

As for poly count, that low number will be totally fine - new FO models are all being bumped to 5-10k,

I'm yet to be convinced this can work. Maybe i'm just too scepticle

 

[Dominus_Noctis]

What are you skeptical about? That the poly count is not manageable or..? Am I misunderstanding something perhaps?

If you are wondering whether poly count can't be raised without issues then I can most definitely say it's not a problem. Proof is in the pudding though: most Fleet Ops models are between 3-7k polys at the moment, and with over a 100 regular online players there are no lag times associated with many dozens of ships in a single game. Provided you don't have more than a few of these types, you can even get a 40k poly model in with no issues.

Most of the graphics engine infrastructure for A2 has already been replaced, with the last step being the next version of the renderer (A2 used ancient software renderers...FO replaced that already to work with a newer DX, but it's not modern yet). That's partly why reflections on new Fleet Ops vessels look the way they do. Once the new renderer is finally integrated, there won't be slowdowns with explosions, nor display issues with cloak/weapon lighting/certain special weapons. Memory handling in general has been improved - that's why FO can now use 3gb of RAM and shaders for instance.

 

[Chiletrek]

Hello:
Apoclaydon have mentioned that to me too, with all the things the FO devs have been working on, they did replace many of the Armada's original things so the game can handle higher-poly models, making gameplay much much better than the first release of FO3PR, that was pure lag for my pc. Now it should run much smoother, and even better when the FO devs finish what they are doing

 

[Majestic]

Regardless of what the FO engine can do, I still am going to try and keep all models under the 3k mark. The reason for this other than old habits is so people can use my models in standard A2 as I know there are some who can't run FO due to their systems. That and I still think it takes a more skilled modeller to make a low poly model that still looks good over one whom can only do high poly models. Not saying I am skilled or anything though.

 

[Adm_Z]

Looks cool Maj. Have you thought of incorporating any glows to the ships like FO uses? If so, I would be happy to help. As I said at FO, feel free to contact me personally if you have any questions. I haven't made much progress on my mod lately because I have had other things to to, but i am always glad to help out a fellow modder, 'specially when its in my area of the mod'averse.