Which version of the cmp exporter are you using? The newest one (2.1) fixes 90% of the Hp problems. You may also need to make a .sur file for your ship (just copy one from a ship about the same size).

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no, the prob is with the fact that you have to manually set the firing arcs for your guns. Open it up in the utf editor, and change the min max values along with orientation to the values which are correct to your placement of them on your ship.

i did the sur file actually before i noticed the firing arc bug.

ok, so open up the cmp in the utf editor, go to the hardpoints in question, and set the firing arc min/max values. hmm. i'm going to have to do some research to make sure i know what i'm messing with in there.

ok, question for anyone who knows cmp files and mat files really well - where in the cmp does it state which part of the mat file the texture comes from? or how does the cmp interact with the mat to know what texture goes where?

ok, i remembered something else that i was going to ask about, that i noticed last night.

i can't actually see the textures that i'm using in milkshape, unless i spheremap them, and then they just kind of slide over the surface of the model. i've been using milkshape 1.6.6, and i just downloaded milkshap 1.7 yesterday, so i'll try that and see if it fixes the problem.

but here's my question - shouldn't i be able to see the textures in milkshape, spheremap or not, if i have the perspective window set to textured?

you should be able to... you did uv unwrap your ship right... normally it's a no brainer but someone else didn't know what that was.

As per how the cmp interacts with the .mat, it is directly in the vmesh data of your model info, you'll have to look at the data in hex. If you want a more comprehensive understanding of it read the advanced option in the icon making tutorial, or here is the link to an article Reven wrote on the format. There is also a freelancer crc editor program Reven wrote which makes the material id numbers, can dl it somewhere here on lancers.

ok, <--no brain.

havn't seen any instructions on how to uv unwrap a ship anywhere that i've looked, that i remember. unfortunatly, i havn't seen anything like a general troubleshooting ship creating faq yet, and drizzit never responded in his ship tutorial creation thread.

so, if you happen to know where i could find a good set of instructions on uv unwrap are, point me to em, and if not, mind just telling me how? thanks!

alright, in terms of problems, post any problems regarding the actual freelancer conversion of you model in these forums of lancers reactor, however in terms of just comming to understand milkshape and it's basic operations, check out the milkshape forums. Specifically the tutorial section. Or you could use a program like lithunwrap for unwrapping the model, though as I think I said before in some other post, lithunwrap doesn't keep track of shading groups, so you have to re set shading groups after using lithunwrap, hence why it's sometimes easier just to use the milkshapes texture coordinator.

It will look in freelancer as it looks in milkshape, though ignore the sphere map, none of the export plugins for milkshape contain flags for sphere map, and I can't think of anygames which would support it either. Just take your time and remap face groupings, then paint over the uv map in a paint program.