Z's FO Conversions.

[Adm_Z]

How does it create the lower poly mesh? Do I have to make it or does it automatically generate a lower detailed ship?

 

[Starfox1701]

No you have to provide the extra meshes you self but that not as hard as it sounds. The direct X tool in milkshape can quickly down size a mesh. You might have to do some minor textrue remaping afterwards but not always.

 

[Adm_Z]

N you have to provide the extra meshes you self but that not as hard as it sounds. The direcy X tool in milkshape can quickly down size a mesh. You might have to do some minor textrue remaping afterwards but not always.

Thats cool, I will have to try that.

Edit: maybe you can explain that tool also, as I can't seem to do anything with it without really messing the model up.

 

[Majestic]

I never use the Direct X tool, as it doesn't work right and really screws up the mesh in the process. You're always better off remaking the model yourself at a lower poly count, using 12 slice cylinders instead of 24 for example. Half the time you only really need to replace parts. The game runs better with better quality mesh's, with you use the Direct X tool, is produces poorer results and the game needs to process more, however if you rebuild the mesh the old way you will get better results (in poly count too). Might take longer but worth it.

Due to the work involved in doing this correctly I just average a poly count for a unit. Build it cleanly and then if I must (which I've never had to do yet) do a texture lod.

 

[Adm_Z]

Is there an easy way of making lower poly geometric objects such as cylinders and spheres or do I have to do it manually? So far I have been reusing small sections off of Amateurs models(when I am already giving him credit anyway), but I would love to know if there was a way of making them less in the first place.

 

[Majestic]

Is there an easy way of making lower poly geometric objects such as cylinders and spheres or do I have to do it manually? So far I have been reusing small sections off of Amateurs models(when I am already giving him credit anyway), but I would love to know if there was a way of making them less in the first place.

Your Milkshape User correct?

In the cylinders creation option there are two settings, stacks and slices.

• Stacks as they indicate are how many layers/stacks there are in the cylinder. This is useful if you wish to mould a cylinder for a purpose like an engine, gun, pipe etc.
• The slices is the one that determines how round a cylinder is. I always use an even number 6, 12, 16, 24, 36 are the main ones for me. I generally don't go below 12 but these days I do model higher poly models than I used to.

An example is on my Corellian Gunship if you look at the engines you notice that the engines have the inlet for the exhaust, that is a 4 stack cylinder and I used a 24 slice cylinder to get the smoothness of the cylinder. However a 16 or even a 12 would've given me okay results if I was concerned about a poly count, or was working to a lower count.

I've included an attachment/image for your convenience.

 

[Adm_Z]

Oh, wow... I never saw those values.... Thanks maj!

 

[Chiletrek]

Hello:
About the stacks and slices for cylinders and spheres, those took me a while to figure them out (as you might add the language problem, hehehe), but once you play a bit with the values, then soon you'll be able to know for what details you can use those figures with higher or lower values.

Another thing to remember is that you need to know when a cylinder requeres an extra vertex or just a "triangle fan" to close them, because the extra vertex could hep give you some extra details (when the shape has a pointy section) but the triangle fan can help for most engines and will save some extra polies.

 

[Adm_Z]

Thanks for the tip Chile.

Here are some pics to show my gratitude for y'alls advice.

 

[Chiletrek]

Hello:
Those are very cool pics . And I hope I am right when I say that I bet that mod will be even better in the near future, so keep it up!.

 

[Starfox1701]

Good stuff

 

[Majestic]

Oh, wow... I never saw those values.... Thanks maj!

Anytime mate.

Great screenshots.

 

[Adm_Z]

Thanks guys, once I get these avatars sorted I will have some more pics for y'all in the morning.

 

[Adm_Z]

Alright guys, here are the pics as promised. Do you guys think I should put the emblem behind the ships on the buttons or leave them how they are? I might consider adding some basic text like I have on the back button.




And some other battle pics.


Oh and I managed to get the randomized outposts working too.

 

[Majestic]

They look great Adm_Z I think they look great the way they are, however I do think you need to put some colour into the logos. What program are you using to make the logos/avatars?

 

[Adm_Z]

Could you explain what you mean by color in the logos?

And I use GIMP for editing and s3d for the renders. low(no) budget, but it works for me.

 

[Majestic]

The logos in the avatars are black and white, had you though about putting some colour into them? Make the Republic none red and the Imperial on a dark blue or something?

 

[Adm_Z]

No I haddent. Because my logo is a mix of the two, and both logos are really black and white, I think I will leave it. If I were doing the rebels, I would obviously make it red, but since they are flat black and white, I think I will keep it that way.

 

[Majestic]

That's okay, just though you may not had considered it. It's all good. Oh and what do you think of my Imperial/Republic Frigate?

 

[Adm_Z]

I"ll post that over there.

 

[Adm_Z]

Ok, so this is an experimental feature I have been working on.



I planned to use it to identify a squad leader or marker for each bomber or ARC squad, however I was testing it on individual ships and I have to say, it looks really cool. I would like to know if you guys think I should keep it on individual ships(solves a lot of problems with bombing etc.) Or I should make it so the fighters are not individually controllable, but if you tell their marker to attack a target, it instantly moves to that target and the ships will follow.

I like both ideas, however my problem is that if the ships all attack the same target, the markers will stack and look funny, and I have to figure out how to get the ships to automatically fire their proton bombs rather than doing it manually.

As it is, it is really easy to individually select ships too, even though they are so small. The next step is to make it so that the player's ships markers are visible instead of right now, where all markers are visible to everyone. I would also like to make it so the markers don't roll with the ship, so I might make a ship that "follows" each fighter exactly that is "cloaked" and does not roll. I am not sure this "following" ship is possible.

 

[Adm_Z]

I would also like to make it so the markers don't roll with the ship, so I might make a ship that "follows" each fighter exactly that is "cloaked" and does not roll. I am not sure this "following" ship is possible.

Quick update on this. I accomplished what I wanted by replacing the overlayed face and texture I was using, with a glow sprite. It worked perfectly in that the logo always stayed facing the user and kindov hovered over the ships wherever they went. the size was fine, and the coloring worked as well. Interestingly though, the sprites caused a significant amount of lag. There weren't even that many on screen, but i have previously noted that sprites cause lag in my game. So, I went back to my model based version and it worked fine again.

Very strange, but apparently I am staying away from sprites.

Again, the only difference is that the logos fly like the ships instead of being fixed to the users perspective but the color and size of the logos is the same.

 

[Amateur]

I love the idea of a logo. Adds a kind of tactical feel to the game, and certainly makes it easier to spot the fighters. I quite like the idea of it representing wings rather than individual fighters as well, but its your call .

I've noticed horrible lag on A2 when it comes to sprites, and its not been removed despite numerous computer upgrades. Seriously, eight gig' of RAM should solve the issue but it doesn't. My guess is that the coding itself - probably the rendering engine - is poorly designed/optimised. Newer graphics cards and systems have the power to render the stuff but there's a software bottleneck. There's not a lot that can be done about that though...

 

[Adm_Z]

Yeah, I came to the same conclusion myself. Whats worse is my BSG mod uses sprites for missiles and I made them...thick...

But for some reason adding these really maxed it out. maybe its because it is a 512 texture?

Also, i think you are right. I really do like the way this is working, and I don't mind the "wings" at all. It is cool because the outline I made shows you what kind of ship it is even if you don't know the colors. Now I just have to figure out how to make it so your enemy can't see your markers and I will be good as gold.

 

[Starfox1701]

I've tinkered with this kind of thing before but I used it as the last couple of LODs for real small ships so when you where up close you see the individual fighters but far away you would get the HUD projections. I got the idea from the map in XWing Alliance. When you made it a sprite what kind was it. A non animated billiboard, emiter or light?

 

[Adm_Z]

I used the same entries for glows, so it was a light. I had also thought about making the circles bigger when you got further away but smaller when you got close. Could I post the model here so you could show me how it would work?(then I might be able to recreate it for other models)

 

[Starfox1701]

I used the same entries for glows, so it was a light.

You need to make it a billboard like the stock pulse textures.

I had also thought about making the circles bigger when you got further away but smaller when you got close. Could I post the model here so you could show me how it would work?(then I might be able to recreate it for other models)

Sure.

 

[Majestic]

That is amazing work Adm_Z, awesome cool. I've love to know how you did that. It really bring a whole tactical feel to the game. Does each ship have it's own selection sod or something? I would recommending keeping them as they look great and makes selecting your fighters a lot easier.

 

[Adm_Z]

You need to make it a billboard like the stock pulse textures.


Sure.

kk, here are the model/texture. I will try the bilboard thing(as my original intention was to make them part of the HUD ) but I am growing rather fond of the "wing" method.

That is amazing work Adm_Z, awesome cool. I've love to know how you did that. It really bring a whole tactical feel to the game. Does each ship have it's own selection sod or something? I would recommending keeping them as they look great and makes selecting your fighters a lot easier.

I use the overlaysod command in the ship odf to overlay the attached model(when converted properly) onto my fighters. I use the same command to overlay a small asteroid field on my outpost bases so they don't look out of place.

 

[Majestic]

Sweet work and great idea, that would've never occurred to me. Top stuff, kudos for thinking outside the box.