3D Models and Stats Viewer : Version 2.0.3.2 (12th Dec 2010)

[someone else]

I was doing a ship size comparison... but I noticed some strange things:

First some terran ships don't show properly... or at least I think so.
the "area where in game you see the small windows" let me see trough the model... is that ok? here you can notice the strangeness on a Osaka

And the light that "shines" on ships is rather annoying... in some cases it reflects on the surface and you don't see a lot of details.
This only worsens if you use the "different light" option (lightbulb icon)
here you can see the issue on a Titan

isn't possible to make the "direction of the light" adjustable? (I don't know if what I am asking is doable.... ) or to have 3-4 pre-set directions to let the user choose from them?

thanks for any answer in advance... I know I'm a little bugger!

[exogenesis]

Keep meaning to comment on your ship size comparison images,
very nice work indeed, you've got more patience than I have.
All you need to do now is the stations


That odd texture variable-transparency is a bit of a bug-bear for the viewer atm,
many other textures get some tranparency where there shouldn't be any, particularly stations.
But the one you've shown is probably the worst case.

If you switch to shader rendering under Options (rather than the default 'old fashioned' linear pipeline),
those particular surfaces go opaque, but that whole ship looks too dark to be useful.
I have tried to get some use-able feedback from ES about how to use the lighting parameters for their shaders,
but it's not easy for them to give up proprietory info like that,
which unfortunately reduces the viewer-progess motivation somewhat.

Other 'see-through' parts are the places where fighter docking bays are,
cos the docking bay doors don't show the viewer atm.


User controllable light direction was always on the design-update list, obviously it is possible.
Pre-set directions would be even easier.

For most uses, letting the 'auto-rotate' get to a suitable lighting orientation,
then going to mouse control & moving the model around (leaves the light direction unaltered),
will give most variations of model-orientation / lighting-direction,
it's just not very 'controllable' from the lighting point of view.

(i.e. have the model rotating, with the mouse cursor over the mouse icon, & when the light direction is as you
want it, click & then rotate the model to the orientation you desire).

The different lighting options are really different light renderings,
'in-space' (all lighting), 'flatter' & 'totally flat' (ambient light only = no light fall-off).
Suitability depends on what you're trying to see, really.
Perhaps the light-bulb icon isn't the best way to indicate that.

[someone else]

now THIS is what I call support! clear and easy explanations for everything...

Thanks for the "workaround" to move the light source, that is what I needed.

I think that you should write that trick in the guide, until you get the "move light" function working.

[someone else]

I have another request... is it possible to have a button that rotates the ship on the bow/stern axis?

I have some problems on doing the top view with the ship that can be seen from top only with the bow down, thus if we scale things some ships have the bow and stern out of the image. (and to have the bigger possible image that button would be much appreciated)


another thing... is possible to drag the center of the ship (the fulcrum on wich it rotates) around? that will open a lot more possibilities!


thanks again for the patience...

[exogenesis]

That UI rotation axis limitation has bothered me to from time to time too,
I guess it should rotate the ship from where it currently is, rather
than in the ship's pitch/yaw (but not in roll) axes.
Certainly a 'roll-mode' button, mouse-mode modifier is an easy addition.

Moving the ship's rotation centre has be asked about before,
it would yet require another 'mode' for what happens with
mouse-movement.
Along with another mode = ship lateral up/down/left/right displacement.

Things can tend to get a bit over complicated, but maybe
many things will happen if I can get myself motivated to
get coding on this again (certainly the update list is big enough).

[siumai]

How come I can't download it? it said file not found...

[someone else]

well... I can do everything you want if you to do that button...
isn't that enough?


EDIT: fixed a "typo"

[stemardue]

thank you!!! It works great with TC. But some ships models ar rendered with hull parts missing (i.e. terran baldric miner).

But, when i changed X game directory to my X3 reunion (2.5 with X-tended 0.7.5) it crashed to desktop.

No way of having it work again (will check registry to change the working directory)

PS: a small setup program would definitely help to reset it in these cases... having only the options menu in the main program is of no use when it crashes at startup...

[exogenesis]

Oops, that's a problem I need to fix,
you just need to delete the registry string-value entry

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\X3Models3DFunfair
XPath

Then you should be able to get back to TC.

Just tested XTM 2.5
(I know it's OK with 2.3 or whatever the previous version was),
& can confirm it crashes the viewer



someone else,
best not to go there, even in jest,
some sensitivity exists on this forum about that sort of thing

[stemardue]

Thanks again, Exogenesis. Found that registry key and that fixed it.

Since you're going to tweak it sooner or later, may I suggest a tweaking of the 'light' options? With the inclusion of terran fleet and stations, lights have become too bright washing off almost all the details. And for the terran models being so huge (i guess) some of those (but also the biggest khaak cluster) are clipped in the view panels. (At least at my 1280 x 1024 resolution).

[Starcub]

FYI, in order to get this to run on Vista64, I had to run the viewer app in Administrator mode, otherwise it would crash at the populate universe step.

BTW Exo, nice work with the improved interface, especially the new (at least since the last version I've used) weapon cone and cockpit options.

One thing I did notice is that there was an arrow labeled "more" in the stats area, when pushed the app launched an audio tips file that was unrelated to the ship I was viewing, and I couldn't turn it off.

[exogenesis]

stemardue, I guess that means proper light control,
brightness & possibly type/colour etc. Would need an extra control-dialog
I guess.

If the ship is clipping use the mouse wheel to move it a little further away.

Thanks Starcub,
what was the ship you were viewing that gave the wrong audio?

[stemardue]

Sure an extra control for light would be great, but i'm happy with the preset ones, and i think the viewer is complete as it is. I didn't explain myself too well... was just thinking of having the preset lights a bit less bright (i guess it would be also easier to do than adding an extra control).

[GuZzO]

[ external image ]


At this point it did not hard freeze at least, but nothing seems to actually work. I've never used a functional version of the viewer so I don't really know what has worked and what hasn't.

Btw, you should change how it first starts up. In stead of a tabbed browser for finding the x3 directory, you should set it up such you can type in a path. This is just nitpicking, but it would make it less of a pain in the ass to start up.

I have exactly the same problem with X3 reunion but your excellent software works fine with X3 TC....

It is not a STEAM version i just bought the Gold Edition.

I have Vanilla Mod and PilotIA script installed on X3 Reunion, maybe one of this addon could be the origin of the problem?

[RoadRunner12]

@exogenesis: You sir, are a bloody genius! This is the best external app for X3 yet. Makes choosing the next ship and comparing stats so much easier than using the clunky in game menu system. Not to mention the fact that you get to have a nice look at your next ship before you buy it, and find out whether or not it's ugly as sin as some of them seem to be.

Well done!

[exogenesis]

Thanks for that,
must.....get.....back.....to.....this

[someone else]

must.....get.....back.....to.....this

yep. a lot of functions to add.... please....

[annubis33]

Well the is most likely a Supports or Un-Supprted but here I go any way.
I want to run my X3 R,TC as high graphics as possible so I unpacked X3R first and noticed a major problem(for me any way). I am able to run X3r in extreme graphics on my medium power pc but the ModelViewer will not accept the Unpacked game as X3 directory.

Is there a possible opt. for this?

[exogenesis]

'Raw' mode code for the viewer was mostly written some while back, but never
really got finalised (working properly) for X3:R in previous viewer versions,
let alone for this TC version.

It's one of the things on the list to sort out.

[annubis33]

X3R isn't in my interrest any more but it's to train people advanced PC control by memory.
I play TC on my other computer. I like the menus.
I have not seen any posts on Unpacked so I through it out on the table.
Big Thanks For the Viewer. I can't seem to enjoy the game without it.