I use 3dsmax so i may be off, but a 2-3k unit length capitol ship becomes pretty small if the scaling isn't upped by about 40. Come to think of it, there should be a scale model of a dralthi fighter around here somewhere that shows you what scale you should have. Also, multipart models don't survive as multiparts during the conversion to cmp. Its all fused together.

hey dude,

i think its best to keep the model on the small side till your finished with it in milkshape.then just scale and export to cmp.

im not sure if its only a milkshape problem but when it looks the right size to you in mS its about the size of trents shoe in the game - and possibly upside down

only way i found to get the scale right was trial and error - seems to be "too big to fit on the screen im mS = still slightly too damn small"


dr del


ok so i told the guy to stick his tounge in an electrical socket to earth the static electricity that might damage his computer! . .. but seriously - would you have thought he was dumb enough to try it?

Trial and error seems to be the best method. Basically if you can get even a quarter of your ship in view when zoomed out max. in milkshapes 2D views then your ship is too small.

Just add your ship, buy it, then fly up to a friendly vessel and compare sizes. Then go back to milkshape, scale accordingly and export the .cmp over the top of the old one. This will not cause any problems - you can even get away with putting in a model with totally different hardpint and it seems to cope. Once you have one model in milkshape things are easier. When you have finished the next one just merge your new one and the reference one, adjust the scale then delete the reference hull. The bonus of this is that you also get the HP's from your reference ship saving you hassle of making a whole set of new ones.

Cool, thanks for the info guys. So does anyone have a link to a lightwave model that is already scaled properly? I would like to get ships in EACH of the classes (light fighter, fighter, heavy fighter, VH Fighter, Freighter, Train, & Capital ships). If anyone knows where I can either download, or someone is willing to e-mail me some models, that would be excellent.

Thanks again everyone!


Shannon Bentley
AKA LordDrow
AKA Marcus Santistivan in Narfell (Neverwinter Nights Server)
AKA Viperious (Freelancer Servers)
MTS Dev Lead
Freelancer Super-Universe Dev Lead

as bizare as it seems i put a hppilot hard point in/on(it is easily removed when you've finished) it. you have to use the trial and error method but when the pilot fits in your ship then it should(or you think it should LOL) be to the corret scale.

the other way i know of is on planet Pittsburgh (not sure about other planets as this is where i test my ships , and it is the first time/planet you get to buy anything in a new sp game). on the landing pad is a small figure, if you assume the average hieght of a male is 2m (its close enought to not screw with size too much), you can work out your ship scale from that.

this only works for smallish ships.

LordDrow why not just make a rectangular box/cube and import that into the game (the borg sphere in its tutorial was actually quite good for this) and test this at various sizes. this would give you an idea of what size/scale you need to work inside

American Scientists spent millions developing the perfect writing utensil; It writes in Zero-gravity, upside down, under water, in space... The Russians used a Pencil.