[Mod] Keep me working on Star Wars!

Phraggah · Post by **Phraggah** » Mon, 25. Aug 14, 04:40

I know this isn't the first Star Wars thread by any means. These projects have a tenancy to die out because they are a lot of work. However, I'm looking to practice my modelling and rigging a lot more, so I've set out with some basic skills to create what I can of a Star Wars mod. The point of this thread is a place where I can post my progress, and EVERYONE (that means you) continues to bug the crap out of me to get more done.

This means if I don't post in this thread for too long, please make a post here asking, for example, what I've done since last post, what problems I've been having, or what my next step is.

My end-goal is to bring Star Wars to life in the X3 engine. I've found that many other of the Star Wars mods use re-purposed meshes (from other games or sources), and as such can either be ridiculously high poly or under-detailed in the wrong places. That's the second reason why I've decided to make my own meshes.

I'll start with what I have. I've mostly been focusing on the models. I have initial passes of TIE fighter and Star Destroyers. They are fully functional in game (cockpits, turrets, custom lasers, sound effects, engine effects, and more) but I may want to revisit their meshes later on when I have more experience. At this point the textures are re-purposed from X3 itself and are not original yet. Once I get a better feeling for how X3 handles textures and shaders I'll go back and swap them for new ones. They work for now, though.

Video: ISD & TIE Fighters against Xenon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHqTX2s6sNA

Screenshots of TIE-LN:

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Screenshots of ISD:

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As you can see, some rudimentary sound effects are also in-game, including the characteristic TIE fighter flyby "roar", its dual laser firing sound, and a turbolaser effect for the ISD's large guns.

I'm currently working on the Lambda Shuttle to serve as a kind of transport. Its first geometry pass is done, and first texture pass is happening now.

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Remember, keep bugging me about this! Next update in a few days.

e: added thumbnails. They should all be within forum standards now.

kaistern · Post by **kaistern** » Mon, 25. Aug 14, 10:10

Can't wait to see more!

Rheinlander · Post by **Rheinlander** » Mon, 25. Aug 14, 22:32

You can do it! You can do it all night long!

In other words, I look forward to seeing the fruits of your labour.

Phraggah · Post by **Phraggah** » Thu, 28. Aug 14, 06:51

First version of the Lambda shuttle.

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It's got three blaster turrets. It looks pretty weird docking because I can't figure out a way to activate an animation when it goes slow, so the wings will be forever in flight deployment. Oh well.

Killjaeden · Post by **Killjaeden** » Fri, 29. Aug 14, 13:53

It looks pretty weird docking because I can't figure out a way to activate an animation

the X3 animation system is super basic. Either static (permament) animations or none. Gun models can have animation when they are shooting (but only fixed guns - no turrets), but thats about it

I like your approach, good luck =)

For improving: I would recommend to look at how the UVW-Unwrap modifier works. In case you work with max this plugin http://www.renderhjs.net/textools/ is very usefull. I use the stitch function all the time. The standard max stitch functions dont give the same feature.

Due to the X3 Multimaterials and textures you can create some really nice details, by placing certain parts of the UVW's at the right spot on the texure. If you need an example you could import and check the Acynonix M6 in the AP Community Update. Learning how to properly unwrap the model will be important for any other game you might work on in the future as well.

Autodesk Learning Channel on YT has some usefull and well done tutorials

Phraggah · Post by **Phraggah** » Sat, 30. Aug 14, 01:40

Killjaeden wrote: I like your approach, good luck =)

For improving: I would recommend to look at how the UVW-Unwrap modifier works. In case you work with max this plugin http://www.renderhjs.net/textools/ is very usefull. I use the stitch function all the time. The standard max stitch functions dont give the same feature.

Due to the X3 Multimaterials and textures you can create some really nice details, by placing certain parts of the UVW's at the right spot on the texure. If you need an example you could import and check the Acynonix M6 in the AP Community Update. Learning how to properly unwrap the model will be important for any other game you might work on in the future as well.

Autodesk Learning Channel on YT has some usefull and well done tutorials

Haha yeah the UVW unwrap is a great inclusion in max. It makes my job a lot easier especially with big ships like the ISD where I was able to make much more detailed areas in places where players would tend to see up close. However the whole process is pretty manual and takes a lot of hard, intense work and ti---

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(Thanks for sharing that!)

Content:

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The model is looking great but for some reason the spec map on the wings and the bump map on the torso aren't doing what I want them to. Troubleshooting another day.

Phraggah · Post by **Phraggah** » Sun, 7. Sep 14, 06:15

Sorry for doubleposting but I haven't updated in a while.

I think I have a hold of how the spec and normal maps work in the engine now, so the problems I was having with the TIE-IN are in a place where I'm ok with them.

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Work on the Imperial Carrack (M6) has started too. The basic shape is almost done then on to detailing, texturing, then tweaking/optimizing.

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Next update soon.

Also, the internet is never supposed to stop complaining. What's the deal guys?

DarrenTomlyn · Post by **DarrenTomlyn** » Wed, 10. Sep 14, 10:44

Hi.

I've been trying to get a star wars ship collection sorted for a while - and thanks to Ambushclose I'm almost there, but there are a few ships (models) I'm missing:

Carrack-Class Light Cruiser
MC40a Light Cruiser
Corellian Gunship
Lancer-Class Frigate
Assassin-Class Corvette

Any Bulk Freighters/Container Ships.

I've almost finished the collection I have (am using other ship models for those above) - (I realised the guide I had for the missiles was wrong, so had to alter them all recently) - with maybe a couple of ships left (Ebon Hawk, and maybe an extra class - (TS+?)), and then I'm done for the ships (stat wise) for the custom map I'm working on.

The only problems then are two-fold:

a) They're not my ships, and although I'd like to thank Ambushclose for giving them to me, I very much doubt I have any permission to freely distribute them further. (Some of the ships you're making we already have.)

b) I'd need to create a version of my ship collection for the standard map - (change the ship speeds to be compatible with the default game.)

EDIT: Note that I see the light cruisers as being heavier than the Nebulon-B Frigate, which I class as the main M7 class ship - it IS bigger (350m compared to 300m long) - so it's really an M7+ class ship, not M6)

EDIT 2: If you want me to send you my ship collection so you can work with it for scale, let me know. (The Frigates are the right size for once

)

JumpGateJockey · Post by **JumpGateJockey** » Wed, 10. Sep 14, 21:19

@Phraggah I'm super excited to see someone else currently working on X3 modding. Your project looks great (I loved the video) and it seems like you are making some nice and steady progress. I'm also modding X3 right now, I'm making a new cockpit, and I'd love to swap information on how things work. I have so many questions!

You can check out my progress here:
http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=370601

Phraggah · Post by **Phraggah** » Sat, 13. Sep 14, 10:15

DarrenTomlyn wrote:Hi.

Hey thanks for stopping by! Glad to see there's some other working on Star Warsy stuff. If you want to collab or help eachother out feel free to shoot me a PM with what you have, what you want to do, and what you need. Hopefully I can help out.

Speaking of Carrack...

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According to reference, the Carrack is a pretty maneuverable ship. It's also supposed to be able to tango with larger capital ships in groups, in addition to being a direct counter to the X-Wing in speed and handling.
As a result I've added some turbolasers (anti capital ship weaponry) to only one side of the Carrack. The idea being this will prompt players to take advantage of the vessel's high maneuverability to take on capital ships, while making the AI-controlled ships have a bit less firepower from not being able to do those maneuvers.

I need to work on smoothing groups, make the ridiculously shiny default X3 materials less so, and switch some textures around a bit more.

It's also looking like the small sized turrets are having trouble rotating. I'm not sure why to be honest, I think it has something to do with how they were constructed vs the larger capital ship turrets and how I placed the cameras. The weird thing is that all of the turrets fire in the correct arcs, the turret bodies just don't follow the camera as they should for some reason.

JumpGateJockey wrote:I'm super excited to see someone else currently working on X3 modding.

I like your stuff man. Posted a reply in your thread. Stop by sometime if you ever feel like making some Star Wars cockpits.

DarrenTomlyn · Post by **DarrenTomlyn** » Sat, 13. Sep 14, 11:55

When it comes to creating stats for additional ships in X3TC, there are two options:

1) Create it to be as accurate for what the ship is (in its existing context), regardless of the game itself - merely balancing it for price and rep.

2) To get as close to what the ship is, whilst adapting it to be consistent with the X3TC universe, in which case the price and rep will be far simpler to work out, but the ship capabilities might be compromised in some manner.

I've taken the latter approach - which is why my ships will still be compatible with all existing ships in the game - (once I've done versions for the default game, since my current versions are for my map - with higher speeds/greater speed differentials between classes - I'm planning on altering the in-game ships too, to match, eventually).

Ship speeds are especially problematic for Star Wars ship stats, since the associated systems are different - Star Wars is truly based around an acceleration metric (MGLT), whereas X3TC is mainly based around speed (with additional, limited, acceleration).

The main thing that matters, for me, when deciding what a ship should do with X3TC, is what Class it belongs to. Since the default game is still fairly light on ship classes, this has meant I've had to add some that exist in-between the existing classes.

As-such, the natural fit, or place, for the Carrack-class, as I said, is as an M7+ - between a Nebulon-B Frigate, and a Dreadnaught Heavy Cruiser (M2-). The pretty much defines what its capability should be, along with its price and rep requirement. Any improved or lesser capability would then have a corresponding effect on its place in the hierarchy, based on its class, aswell as its price and rep.

Since I prefer to keep things simple, the ship stats I've given it may not be exactly what they would be in the Star Wars universe - but this is X3TC, and that comes first, IMO.

Phraggah · Post by **Phraggah** » Fri, 3. Oct 14, 10:34

Sorry about the lack of updates, I've just been moving and it has been exhausting.

In the time I've been gone I haven't been able to finish as much as I would have liked, but the TIE-Advanced is looking good in-game:

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The rest of my time has been spent dealing with separating all the lasers I've added into their own categories so rando Xenon ships don't spawn with turbolasers and stuff.

From what I can gather I'm just supposed to put something unique in the subtype field of TLasers (eg SG_SW_LASER_GR_TIE), but when I try to add that subtype to a TCockpits or directly onto a ship in TShips, it doesn't seem to be correct because I can't seem to add them to cockpits or ships. When I select another cockpit and go back it stays blank

Will have to troubleshoot that another day.

DarrenTomlyn · Post by **DarrenTomlyn** » Fri, 3. Oct 14, 13:22

No - that field is not supposed to be unique.

(Since I've finished the basic default map, I've been modding the weapons to go with my ships, and create a further version of the map itself to go with it - (though I've still added the weapons to the WareTemplate.xml file, too - most docks, for example, have full entries in the map xml file I've created, so have to be added to those manually) - (especially since I realised I'd already based the ship stats on someone else's weapons mod I had installed, without realising it), as I tune the ships to work with my map.)

Only the laser NAME is meant to be unique - (e.g. SS_LASER_HRE) - (I've added heavier versions of the IRE and PAC in my mod - (made the PAC weaker, for light fighters) - for gunships/advanced/heavy fighters).

The SG_LASER determines the group the laser is linked with - to determine which ships can mount it (in relation to its size/volume). So by adding the SS_LASER_IRE to the SG_LASER_IRE group, anything that can mount an IRE, and has a medium cargo bay, can also mount the HRE - (not that they always want to - it's energy usage is pretty high).

There are 32 different weapon groups, linked to the SG_LASER field, though any amount of different weapons (SS_LASER) can be added to any group, and therefore mounted by a ship that can use such a group and volume.

(P.s. have you managed to have a look at the ships I gave you - and got the scale right for the Carrack-class Cruiser? - e.g. in-between a Nebulon-B and Dreadnaught/Assault Frigate?)

(I just want the ships - I have my own mods to use them with

)

Phraggah · Post by **Phraggah** » Sat, 4. Oct 14, 07:44

DarrenTomlyn wrote:No - that field is not supposed to be unique.

(Since I've finished the basic default map, I've been modding the weapons to go with my ships, and create a further version of the map itself to go with it - (though I've still added the weapons to the WareTemplate.xml file, too - most docks, for example, have full entries in the map xml file I've created, so have to be added to those manually) - (especially since I realised I'd already based the ship stats on someone else's weapons mod I had installed, without realising it), as I tune the ships to work with my map.)

Only the laser NAME is meant to be unique - (e.g. SS_LASER_HRE) - (I've added heavier versions of the IRE and PAC in my mod - (made the PAC weaker, for light fighters) - for gunships/advanced/heavy fighters).

The SG_LASER determines the group the laser is linked with - to determine which ships can mount it (in relation to its size/volume). So by adding the SS_LASER_IRE to the SG_LASER_IRE group, anything that can mount an IRE, and has a medium cargo bay, can also mount the HRE - (not that they always want to - it's energy usage is pretty high).

There are 32 different weapon groups, linked to the SG_LASER field, though any amount of different weapons (SS_LASER) can be added to any group, and therefore mounted by a ship that can use such a group and volume.

(P.s. have you managed to have a look at the ships I gave you - and got the scale right for the Carrack-class Cruiser? - e.g. in-between a Nebulon-B and Dreadnaught/Assault Frigate?)

(I just want the ships - I have my own mods to use them with )

Do you know how to convert the pbd files inside your xsps to .bod? I can't check them out until I figure it out.

DarrenTomlyn · Post by **DarrenTomlyn** » Sat, 4. Oct 14, 09:00

Phraggah wrote:
Do you know how to convert the pbd files inside your xsps to .bod? I can't check them out until I figure it out.

Extract the files from the xsp, (to where-ever), load them into a fresh .cat file, then extract them from there, with decompression.

(I have absolutely no-idea why there are E-wing dds files in the Nebulon-B Frigate xsp... Anyone?)

Phraggah · Post by **Phraggah** » Mon, 6. Oct 14, 00:53

DarrenTomlyn wrote:
Phraggah wrote:
Do you know how to convert the pbd files inside your xsps to .bod? I can't check them out until I figure it out.
Extract the files from the xsp, (to where-ever), load them into a fresh .cat file, then extract them from there, with decompression.

(I have absolutely no-idea why there are E-wing dds files in the Nebulon-B Frigate xsp... Anyone?)

Sorry I'm kind of new at this part, can't seem to get it to work.

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Even with decompression checked it still just extracts the pbb and pbd file.

Also the E-Wing texture is probably just a reused asset.

DarrenTomlyn wrote:No - that field is not supposed to be unique.

The SG_LASER determines the group the laser is linked with - to determine which ships can mount it (in relation to its size/volume). So by adding the SS_LASER_IRE to the SG_LASER_IRE group, anything that can mount an IRE, and has a medium cargo bay, can also mount the HRE - (not that they always want to - it's energy usage is pretty high).

There are 32 different weapon groups, linked to the SG_LASER field, though any amount of different weapons (SS_LASER) can be added to any group, and therefore mounted by a ship that can use such a group and volume.

Right, so is there a way to create an entirely new group or do I need to re-purpose an old one? I'm pretty sure I've played mods before that have entire new weapon groups.

DarrenTomlyn · Post by **DarrenTomlyn** » Mon, 6. Oct 14, 02:20

Are you using the x3 mod manager?

Extract the .xsp file - (I have the option of doing so with just the right-click menu for the file itself), THEN load the created files into a new .cat file created using the mod manager, THEN re-extract them from the .cat file with decompression.

The 32 weapon groups is a hard limit, though there are 5 groups that are not used in the default game - the BEAM and UNKNOWN groups - (have a look in the drop down box for the groups when loading up the TLasers file in the X3 editor). However, the AI may not always use these groups, so they're generally used for player owned ships only. (I've added weapons to the BEAM groups so far, but not touched the unknown groups.)

Phraggah · Post by **Phraggah** » Mon, 6. Oct 14, 02:56

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Looks like I'm doing something wrong still. I'll check it out in a bit.

DarrenTomlyn · Post by **DarrenTomlyn** » Mon, 6. Oct 14, 05:05

When I extract a full .xsp file - (say the Nebulon-B Frigate) - it extracts to two folders: dds and objects.

I then load these into a .cat file, and extract the file from there with decompression, using the mod manager.

If they're being recognised as a .pck file, then that's bad, since that's the compression for text files. I don't know what those files are, or where you got them from, but they appear to be problematic.

Phraggah · Post by **Phraggah** » Mon, 6. Oct 14, 06:21

I got it by extracting CarrackClassLightCruiser - M7+.xsp. They are the only two files in the xsp. You are right though! I just checked some others and Nebulon at least has .bod and .bob files I can work with. I'm not sure why the Carrack has only those two files in it. Maybe it was for an old X game?