[TUT]How to apply textures to a ship model!

[creatoxx]

Hey there,

been spending most of the day to figure how to do that, only relevant and useful thread being this one. So I get quickly to the point:

Task: Putting a custom texture on a original ship model (Terran Rapier M5 as example)

1. using X3 Editor 2, extract Tships.pck, terran_m5_rapier_scene.bod, hull.bob(from addon/objects/ships/terran/terran_m5_rapier), and the terran_frigate_color.dds from the dds folder
2. use Gimp(with .dds plugin) or any other programm to make your texture edits, and safe in compression DX5 when extracting, don't forget applying mipmaps...give your .dds file a custom name
3. use f.e. Notepad++ to edit the hull.bob file, searching for .dds(ctrl+f)...the first .dds entry is the correct one to edit to your custom .dds name(aka terran_frigate_color.dds)
4. rename terran_m5_rapier_scene.bod to f.e. terran_m5_pathfinder_scene.bod, and edit line 3 to reference to the changed hull.bob path, like that(green color)...

P 0; B ships\terran\terran_m5_pathfinder\hull; N Bships\usc\terran_m5_1a; b

5. in the Tships.txt copy and past a complete line of choice for you custom ship, then change second number in the first line +1
6. use this tutorial to learn how to make custom text for your ship, where your first ID number is the ships name, your second ID number following after ID01 is the description...notice that this tutorial is a bit anal about the scripting part, resulting in me simply using the external script editor(x-studio1)
7. still in the Tships.txt find the path that is referencing to the scene file...it was ships\terran\terran_m5_rapier_scene...for me, and change to your custom scene name and /or path
8. most important: put all the object and texture files in the correct folder structure...objects/ships/terran...etc., then use X3E2 again to make a new .cat, and simply drag and drop the top folder of your folder structure into the newly created .cat. The Tships.txt can be packed as well, or simply be placed in addon/types

That's it, you're done. Tutorial can probably be extended to other usage...you choose.

Edit:

Nice poc pink testing texture on my customized rapier ship...

https://i.imgur.com/5swwZ0j.jpg


{Images posted directly to the forums should not be greater than 640x480 or 100kb, oversize image now linked - Terre}

[Solstice_]

Hmm I read somewhere you were not supposed to use mipmaps, I have no idea why that would be though.

Good tutorial!

[creatoxx]

Hmm I read somewhere you were not supposed to use mipmaps, I have no idea why that would be though.

Good tutorial!

Really. The files are mipmapped, so it does make sense to mipmap them again during export. I'm using Litcube's files for my own mod, the information to not mipmap might be outdated, as I see no reason to not mipmap them, unless you want to deliberately put a burden on your system.

I'm not sure about the DX5 compression either. I usually take a look at the original file size, and extract them with the same format until I have a matching file size. This won't work if you add anything new to the file though.

In my mod I was just trying to make a rusty and unmaintained texture of an existing Rapier M5. Quite easy task I assume...until I figured it is actually very complicated in X3 games, so I just wrote the tut to remember what I did..

Edit: Here's the rusty .dds texture...

[ external image ]

[Solstice_]

Hmm I read somewhere you were not supposed to use mipmaps, I have no idea why that would be though.

Good tutorial!

Really. The files are mipmapped, so it does make sense to mipmap them again during export. I'm using Litcube's files for my own mod, the information to not mipmap might be outdated, as I see no reason to not mipmap them, unless you want to deliberately put a burden on your system.

I'm not sure about the DX5 compression either. I usually take a look at the original file size, and extract them with the same format until I have a matching file size. This won't work if you add anything new to the file though.

In my mod I was just trying to make a rusty and unmaintained texture of an existing Rapier M5. Quite easy task I assume...until I figured it is actually very complicated in X3 games, so I just wrote the tut to remember what I did..

Edit: Here's the rusty .dds texture...

[ external image ]

Yeah I have no idea why they said that, but I just ignored it. There's quite a bit of outdated stuff out there, but unforuntately that's all I could really find. Between that and not having tutorials/information on some things at all, I'm glad someone is making updated tutorials! I plan to eventually make a from zero to hero modelling to game tutorial, covering most things. I still have to learn what I want to teach, though

I found an old list of dds formats for each type of texture map, which could possibly be updated. I don't think DXT1 is really necessary for diffuse textures anymore, we're not back in 2008... But I don't know anything

[creatoxx]

Hmm I read somewhere you were not supposed to use mipmaps, I have no idea why that would be though.

Good tutorial!

Really. The files are mipmapped, so it does make sense to mipmap them again during export. I'm using Litcube's files for my own mod, the information to not mipmap might be outdated, as I see no reason to not mipmap them, unless you want to deliberately put a burden on your system.

I'm not sure about the DX5 compression either. I usually take a look at the original file size, and extract them with the same format until I have a matching file size. This won't work if you add anything new to the file though.

In my mod I was just trying to make a rusty and unmaintained texture of an existing Rapier M5. Quite easy task I assume...until I figured it is actually very complicated in X3 games, so I just wrote the tut to remember what I did..

Edit: Here's the rusty .dds texture...

[ external image ]

Yeah I have no idea why they said that, but I just ignored it. There's quite a bit of outdated stuff out there, but unforuntately that's all I could really find. Between that and not having tutorials/information on some things at all, I'm glad someone is making updated tutorials! I plan to eventually make a from zero to hero modelling to game tutorial, covering most things. I still have to learn what I want to teach, though

I found an old list of dds formats for each type of texture map, which could possibly be updated. I don't think DXT1 is really necessary for diffuse textures anymore, we're not back in 2008... But I don't know anything

Yeah, I don't think there's more tutorials needed, there are plenty of them. The problem is, in their quantity, all the information is scatered throughout the whole X-Universe, and you'll have to spend valuable minutes to explicitly find, what you are searching for. So basically just a refined "tutorial collection", inside a thread or .pdf file covering any aspect would be needed, filtering dead ends, and outdated info. But then, given how there's a new X-Game coming...

There's also a miriad of dead links, and some of the information may be lost forever. Which is most unfortunate, as this will need more time invested from my side to figure things out myself...

Any DX will work. Figured that before I read it in another thread. Only format not working was RGB, and any to high compression. The UI came with a special formation as well, but other than that, DX5 is fine with pretty much everything I guess.