Help for getting ships in X3:TC

[Killjaeden]

Scene file contains the autopillock collision data

it does not. the body does.

[killerog]

It is the size of the body(not poly count) that determines the collision box for a ship (same a LOD range for some objects such as turrets).

[Killjaeden]

the last LOD in the body is the collision data (for bumping into it)
the autopilot data is different however.

[TrixX]

So changing the lowest lod to being bigger would then technically make a collision location external to the actual body, however you would want it to be invisible hence Cadius's safety net model.

I guess that could work, though it would need some fixing and could easily be made out of simple components.

[Anubitus]

Yep you import the dummy into the scene file. Line it up and the game engine replaces it with the turrets scene file.

and how exacly do i do this..?

it appears that when i make a new turret, add "laser" parts at every barrel and export it then into the component file, that the projectiles are getting fired from the original position in the turret dummy scene and not from the position i gave the turret in the ship scene file.. is this correct..?

so the question would be: do i export the components data in the turret dummy scene and after that can i place the turretdummy (with or whitout added "laser" parts) in the ship scene file and do i export it together with the rest of the ship scene file..?

or

do i place the turret dummy (with added laser parts) into the ship scene file first then export the components data and then export the ship scene file..?

hope you understand my question.. my english isnt the best..

[killerog]

The turret dummy dose not have a laser part.

What you do is link a "LASER" part to the body of the barrel. Then export it. So if you have two barrels your do this twice ect. What you then need to do is open up the components file and edit its locations from Myturret_Leftweapon to ships\props\Myturret_Leftweapon for example.


Thats all the need to do to get the weapons to fire from what ever location you want.

[Anubitus]

so i dont add laser parts to the turret dummy..?

(forgot to mention tho, i am trying to make a new turret.. )

[killerog]

Nope you just link them to the barrel body then delete them. Only thing they do is generate the coordinates for the components file. (pivot point of the LAZER object i think).

[Anubitus]

kk so no laser child parts to the turret dummy then.. (but if there is something wrong with the turret, normally the dummy would be not replaced by the turret and the dummy will fire in its place, will this still be the case as the dummy had no laser parts..?)

another question..

the turret has its own scene file, but.. do i add the laser childs to the barrels in the turret scene file..? (in wich the barrels are in their turret position, mounted to the turret base)

or

do i add the laser child parts to the barrels in their own scene..? (in wich case they would be at the 0, 0, 0 position in the scene..)

i am not completly sure i know how the structure works..

the ship scene file contains the turret dummy
the game replaces the turret dummy with the turret scene file
wich contains the turret base and its barrels
but does it use the laser part coördinates from the max scene or does it move the laser parts together with the barrel (as the barrel is the partent of the laser part) in wich case this would mean that, when the barrel is placed in the turret scene, the laser part would follow.. do i make any sence here..?

[killerog]

You would do the LASER bit in the body file for the barrels. Not the turret scene file. The game is mart enough to move the Laser position to the correct location (has to for when the turret rotates).

The dummy dose nothing in the game apart from getting replaced by turret scene file. If there is an error with the scene file you get no turret. The dummy is simply a way for moders to place the turret into the ship scene file quick and easily

[Anubitus]

so if i understand correcly.. for a turret with two barrels..

-create a turret body and barrels
-name the parts correcly
-place them all correcly in the scene
-select em all, export as scene
-select em each seperately, export each as a body
-select all parts, make them into one body
-rename it to Bships\props\turretname_dummy
-export it as a body file
-delete all
-import left barrel, make laser part, place it correcly, make laser part "child" of the barel
-export components data
-import right barrel, make laser part, place it correcly, make laser part "child" of the barel
-export components data
-delete all
-import a ship body file
-import turret_dummy body/place it at the correct place
-export as a ship scene file

would this be correct..?

im sorry for the many questions about this, i just want to understand it right..

[killerog]

Yep thats correct. Don't forget to rename the components file entries as i said above.

[Anubitus]

does anyone know what is wrong with the code for my turret..? it is suposed to be the dummies file entry.. its a turret where only the body has to move, it has no barrels or nothin..

Code: Select all

ships\props\Anubitus\Homeworld\Frigate_turret_dummy;GUNF_ROTATE;1;GUNSTATUS_INITIAL;ships\props\Anubitus\Homeworld\Frigate_turret_scene;1;ships\props\Anubitus\Homeworld\Frigate_turret_body;GUNPARTF_ROTATEALPHA;

it is fireing from both nozzles but it is not moving at all..

here is a little taster of something im working on..

[ external image ]

[killerog]

Something you can try quickly change the ALPHA to BETA or GAMMA and see if that works. All depends on how you have laid the turret out in its scene file.

[Anubitus]

i cant get it to move..

i even tried ALPHA, BETA and GAMMA at the same time, no movement what so ever..

the frigate looks pretty cool tho..

[ external image ]

[ external image ]

not too bad imo.. for a first true texture exercise..

if i can resolve the turret problem i will try and release this as a minimod..

the ship has three forward fireing double gunport turrets and a top facing missile launcer turret.. might add a few small turrets at the aft and bottom for fighter defence purpose.. it might get a bit overpowered then tho.. this needs some testing..

[Killjaeden]

What do you want to achieve with the turret where only the body rotates?
Perhaps this is another engine limitation (i seriously don't know) ?

You could try to make an invisible weapondummy -> you place a single triangle realllllly small so that it's not visible at the 0 point and make the entry in components, etc but in dummies you let it move too. Depending on what you wanted to get the body should move, the laser dummy technically rotates too but stays on the same place all the time because you can't see how it moves

About the frigate - increase the tiling of the hulltexture. There is too few texture on too much space. It will look unsharp ingame and the bump will look very exagerated

[Anubitus]

What do you want to achieve with the turret where only the body rotates?

well, in homeworld 2, the assaultfrigate's turrets dont have barrels, just a body (with black spots that should be the fireing nozzles) so i was thinking, if i just put the "laser" parts on the body and export those, it should work right..? or do turrets have to have barrels in the game.. that would be a stupid limitation..

i will try your idea tho, who knows, it might actually work..

thanks for the frigate feedback, how do i increase the tiling of the texture..? (dont even know what tiling is tbh..)

[Anubitus]

sadly, it didnt work..

a question.. when adding a turret to a ship in the TShips file i have noticed that the capital classes from the game have multiple entries for the same turret..

for example: in the tab "guns", in the gun entry, they have "ships\props\bigturret_dummy" in the primary entry and "ships\props\bigturret_leftweapon" in the secondary.. wich means that they have two gun entries for every turret they have, one for left and one for right barrel..

now i was thinking, my turret has only one body whitout barrels, so it should require only one entry, but if i use your suggestion Killjaeden shouldnt i add two entries..? and if so, how should i do this..? maybe i have done something wrong because i only have one entry for every turret in my ship scene file wich means i dont have a path index number for the barrels, only for the turret itself..
do i have to add the whole turret instead of the dummy in the ship scene file..?

also, i tried to add a turret from the turret pack made by Killjaeden and Mace, but it didnt work very well, not at all tbh..
when i cheated the ship in, the turrets spawned with the ship, then after that i added the lasers, and the turrets spawned again on top of the others.. they didnt fire and they didnt move..
clearly im doing something wrong.. im just not sure what it is..

[Killjaeden]

Check out my custom turret tutorial if you didn't do it already. If you did, check again

In any case you need some point where the laser is defined in components and that part has to be in the scene too.

If it still doesn't work quadruple check components and dummies and especially the subtype (!) and sub IDX for the laser entries in the tships.

[Anubitus]

in homeworld, some ships have very cool animations, like the mothership, when a cap ship is ready, it has this very big moving pannel that moves so that the cap ship can come out, i was wondering if this can be done in x3

maybe not for creating ships, but for docking purposes.. wouldnt it be cool if you can dock your destroyer inside your mothership with a cool animation to go with it..?

another one is when the heavy missle frigate is preparing to fire, there is a bay door that slides over the hull exposing the missile launchers inside..

is there a way to get these done..?

on other ships that can dock ships i will try to add dockingslots to them.. i have to read some tuts for that first tho.. anyone know of a good "how to add dockingslots and hangars/launchbays to a ship" tutorial..?