[ALFA REL] Cobra Mk III - Elite untextured test 4 Vanilla X3TC

[dertien]

Hello all,

ALPHA TEST

This ship is not finished. I put this up as a test for people to "play" with, and see how it looks ingame.

Well, it took a while and I am still learning, but managed to get the 3d mesh I made from scratch with Wings3d ingame. This ship was the workhorse of the early Elite games, The mighty Cobra Mk3
(Elite is a game that dates back to the very first personal computers I played it on the Commodore 64 back in its time.)


This will install as a fake patch (higest cat/dat number) with a Vanilla X3tc installation, or you can copy it to your mods folder and activate it via the interface.

- Start a new game as an Argon Patriot, and you will be in your Cobra Mk III.


Software used

- Wings3D (3d model)
- Gmax DBOX2 (export to bob/bod)

Reference used: Apollo's tutorial

Issues:

- untextured
- engine trail size/engine glow


screenshots:

Reference Images:
----------------------

http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs21/f/2007/309/f/1/Cobra_MK_III_by_jonbluestone.png
http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2011/273/c/c/cobra_mk_iii_sendercorp_by_pinarci-d4bdkvy.jpg

Cobra MK III ingame
------------------------

http://i49.tinypic.com/24vjuvl.jpg

http://i48.tinypic.com/2akbgg7.jpg

http://i48.tinypic.com/nnsmc1.jpg

Old shots.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/827/x3screen00014.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/225/x3screen00015.jpg/

Todo
-----

- texture
- Solve a couple of smoothing issues
- Balancing
- Add beam weapon.


Texturing is not my forte, so it might take a while.

Hope you all like it.


Dertien


Download :

https://www.box.com/s/17efe6e715a370375c56

[kurush]

Nice, thanks for sharing! I just have to try it. I was hoping somebody would do it eventually

[Matt Armada]

Looks boxy as hell, but given it's pedigree I expect nothing less.

Looks fantastic thus far...can't wait till you're finished.

[dertien]

New WIP shots from Wings,



Started with the detail with as much care as Han Solo would work on the Falcon. It looks good in Wings and rendered too, hopefully the detail will come out well ingame.

Top View:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/703/topdq.jpg/

Landing gear and access hatch

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/7/landinggear.jpg/

Jumprive and shield gen

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/89/jumpdriveshieldgen.jpg/

Cockpit and gun

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/232/cockpitgun.jpg/

More coming soon.

Dertien

[n00biwan]

Does it come with military lasers?

I played so much Elite.... a bit on the BBC and most of my teenage years on my Atari ST. I even called my Eve character Cmdr Jameson... (I signed up on day one so all the good names weren't gone yet lol).

What's it going to be, how does it scale against other X ships? etc...

Anyway, I like it, so much better than shades of blue.

[Sorkvild]

Brilliant idea, but compared to X3 ships the Cobra looks pretty dated. Maybe some some smooth edges here and there?

[kurush]

[Sheathanaich]

[dertien]

@ Noobiwan, yes it does, a 4mw beam one

Well, I still have to look into the matter, but it should be possible to change a kyon emitter and have it colored orange (that's the frontier Elite 2 version). I havent looked up into adding wares and weapons yet. It doesnt even have turrets neither.

Comparative wise, it's quite bigger than a Nova. I scaled it using the Nova cockpit as a reference, since I couldn't find any dimensions of X3 ships online, just comparisons.

Screenshots:

http://i50.tinypic.com/2n82800.jpg
http://i48.tinypic.com/6j1vh1.jpg

@ Sorkvild,

yes that is possible, but not with THIS cobra. I made one from scratch for Oolite, but that is very low poly. That one was really smooth and looked like the one that was featured on the Elite Retail box.

Pictures below, but I am not planning on bringing that ship into X3 (yet)

http://i53.tinypic.com/2qmolu9.png
http://i55.tinypic.com/15f23jt.jpg
http://i56.tinypic.com/15noz0p.jpg
http://i54.tinypic.com/2nk2ucj.jpg
http://i51.tinypic.com/24limts.jpg

@Kurush

Now as for this Cobra here, I am working on the paneling at the moment and adding more details to the model as I go on. I will release an untextured test version for everyone to try out when I am finished with the model itself. I intend not to rely on bumpmapping and textures here to give a "feel of 3d" but instead doing it the "real" way of adding details. This includes beveled panels, panels that are gone where you see the innards, like on Han Solo's piece of junk, the Millenium Falcon. The only reason I would use textures is for the metallic surface and also for visible damage.

I think all ships in the X-universe look too clean, like they just came out of the whalewash or were built by the same shipyard that built the Naboo Royal Starship. This cobra will not be "clean".

I cannot guarantee it will look as good ingame as it does in my 3D program, but it will certainly not look worse.

new screenshots of paneling and floodlights.

http://i47.tinypic.com/2emk8w5.jpg
http://i47.tinypic.com/6jlo2t.jpg
http://i45.tinypic.com/2ly1r3r.jpg

Enjoy.

[dertien]

New update: Ingame screenshots. Untextured Test Release almost there, the tease is almost over.

http://i50.tinypic.com/29w7a05.jpg
http://i48.tinypic.com/2gwdgn9.jpg
http://i47.tinypic.com/2j2tjf5.jpg
http://i49.tinypic.com/sq6tck.jpg
http://i48.tinypic.com/10cmctg.jpg
http://i47.tinypic.com/2ed9guw.jpg
http://i50.tinypic.com/2n73986.jpg


A new approach on length estimations

F-111 Aardvark: 22.4 meters Real
Pirate Blastclaw: 3.8 meters Ingame

Lets assume that the Blastclaw and the Aardvark (heavy fighters/bombers) are about the same in lenghts, since 3.8 meters real length for a craft like that is a bit small. I know this is probably not right, and pure speculation, but its still better than wild guessing.

We know that the length of a cobra is 65 meters:

The cobra must then be scaled (with the tape measure object in Gmax) to a size of 11.02 meters.

Just add a little more detail, but we are almost there now.

Till Soon.

Dertien

[n00biwan]

Looking tidy.. and huge lol... didn't think it would be that big compared to X ships.

In my memory (of Elite Plus) my military laser fired little grey spheres in a line.

[dertien]

Alfa test ready for dl.

[cobra mk2]

I've been thinking about modelling ships from Elite for a long time if only for my own amusement. After seeing how great your ship is turning out, i've become even more determined to stop messing about and get on with it but unfortunately i don't have a lot of spare time at the moment (or ever!).

I was surprised at how big the Cobra mk3 turned out (65 meters?) compared to the X3 ships and agree that it should be scaled down in size.

I think you've done a really good job and i agree the textures should look dirty or worn.

Will you be doing any other ships from Elite? I always really loved the police viper and the python and fer-de lance. I bet you the python would be even bigger than the cobra!

[ctcc41]