*bump*

Help?

In the Volcano Planet THN file, you see a ring around a distant sun...check that file out and see what the reference to that would be.
I'd like to know that to because to me, that's the holy grail of modding.

Simple. The sparkly effect around the sun in the VolcanoPlanet intro is a visual effect built into the "Intro_volcanoplanet_sun" object. Just put that object in your .thn, and it comes with the "sparkly ring" around that star.

It doesn't help me, though, as I'm looking for a planetary ring (like the one around Saturn, or planet Aso in Freelancer).

Does anyone have any ideas about how to get a planetary ring into a .thn script?

Edited by - Foil on 2/24/2007 9:39:01 AM

Don't you just love THN's .

Sorry about the lack of replies, but this is the usual response you get around here when you ask for help with them. Most of the people who've worked hard on THN's have long since left the site, which is why you haven't had an answer until now.

Okay back OT

The problem is that every ring is nothing more than an effect and that's what the THN's use, the THN that your looking at has 2 ring templates, the first "ring" I can't find anywhere which makes me think DLL's. The second is "Intro_waterplanet_ring" which you'll find in the "misc_ale.ini", this gives you a problem as we still don't know how to edit the ALE files to create new effects. Which means if you can't find an ALE that gives you the right ring effect then your stuffed with this approach.

The only other way is with a model, make it a .3DB and add it to either the SolarArch.ini or the PetalDB.ini.

**shuffles of with a new headache**

You said "every ring is nothing more than a visual effect"?

That's true for the "Intro_waterplanet_ring" object, which is defined in \DATA\FX\MISC\misc_ale.ini. It refers to an .ale file, which we don't have tools to edit.

I'm pretty sure that's not true for the other planetary ring objects (defined in \DATA\SOLAR\RINGS, and which can be referenced in the .ini files for systems in-game). I just want to know if those can be pulled into a .thn file.

I have been trying to put a ring object in SolarArch.ini, so I can reference it like a planet, but so far no dice.

Any suggestions?

Edited by - Foil on 2/25/2007 2:45:09 PM

They're like the lens flare you see from the suns, a little slight of hand with some textures and some DLL coding to make them work.

Iirc to get something defined in one of the Architype ini files requires it to be attached to a model.

Afaik to get an effect to appear in the THN's it has to come from an ALE, even the suns in the intro THNs use ALEs rather than the SPH model files.

If you can't get the desired effect from the ALEs and their textures then the only other option is with a custom model.

**shuffles of with a new headache**

Ah, I see. Thanks for the clarification.

**decides to "go a different direction" with the .thn he is building**

Edited by - Foil on 2/25/2007 5:27:29 PM