** Tutorial ** - Drizzt4.0''s FL Ship Creating Tutorial

Tue Feb 24, 2004 4:29 am by KhanGoldi

Hi Drizzt4.0,

thanks for the fast reply. I never intended to blame you for the tutorial isn't intended for converting. I only thought "why make smth from scratch when I can import/export different model types with milkshape" .

I made a "scientific" trial & error experiment with changing models and xml scripts and now I'm sure : my models don't work. No typos, no missing infocards : when I use custom models of other modders, my xml script works - when I use my selfmade models (just made a simple sphere with borg texture from scratch), it crashes.
By searching the xml script for typos I recognized smth : in the package section the power source of the ship is defined, but in your tutorial is no making of a power source hardpoint mentionend ?! Maybe this is the error ??

E.g this package :
----------------------
addon = LargeWhiteSpecial, HpHeadlight, 1 <----- Hardpoint = "HpHeadlight"
addon = co_elite_power01, internal, 1 <----- Hardpoint = "internal" ??
addon = ge_s_scanner_01, internal, 1
addon = ge_s_tractor_01, internal, 1
addon = ge_bf_engine_01, internal, 1
addon = SlowSmallRed, HpRunningLight01, 1 <----- Hardpoint = "HpRunningLight"

So do you have to define WHERE the components are located at ? This ship only has ONE internal hardpoint called "internal" and ALL internal systems are located at this one point ? So a ship with different internal points (like in your tutorial) must look like this :

addon = LargeWhiteSpecial, HpHeadlight, 1
addon = co_elite_power01, HpPower01, 1
addon = ge_s_scanner_01, HpScanner01, 1
addon = ge_s_tractor_01, HpTractor_Source, 1
addon = ge_bf_engine_01, HpEngine01, 1
addon = SlowSmallRed, HpRunningLight01, 1

or is this conclusion completely wrong ??
Further I have a question : the naming of a hardpoint is "Hp/Fixed/Hp..." ?? This "/" is the correct string ("AltGr"+"<>"

?? Just want to be sure...

Maybe another error-source could be the cmp exporter, but I can't try out the one linked in your tutorial cause lancerplanet's donwloads are down. I use the cmp exporter from LancerReactor, should be fine also, shouldn't ??

I'm sorry to ask that simple stuff, but I have no cmp importer (all links I tried are down) so I can't look at some working models for the hardpoint adjustment myself.

Again thx in forward
Khan Goldi

Edited by - KhanGoldi on 2/24/2004 4:32:18 AM

Edited by - KhanGoldi on 2/24/2004 4:33:13 AM

Tue Feb 24, 2004 5:28 am by ColinS

Necrolord

Try using the Tools->Model Cleaner menu option in Milkshape, this usually removes rogue triangles & vertices causing a divide by zero exception when exporting.

Tue Feb 24, 2004 7:32 am by Drizzt4.0

ok these questions i cant answer over email and the forum... would take too long... we need to discuss what problems you are having in a more personal way like msn messenger or yahoo or SOMETHING.

i saw some really good points that have made me think about a complete overhaul of the tutorial. as well as adding these new "really cool" utilities people are coming up with after my tutorials creation...

um... no hard feelings from my first reply

ok... when i make a ship i usually make a seperate hardpoint for everything. I have never used one hardpoint and declared it internal. If this is what you are doing this might be the problem. I dont think that freelancer allows for one hardpoint to be the variable for a bunch of systems...
just like c++ or basic or any other programming utilities would never allow a=b, a=c, a=b+c just wouldnt work... you see?

so yes you do have to create a triangle and declare that tri as a hardpoint and keep doing this for EVERY hardpoint.

and yes the CMP exporter from lancers reactor will work just fine... its the same file.

Tue Feb 24, 2004 8:29 am by KhanGoldi

I think there've been some misunderstanding...

I NEVER intended to make only one hardpoint called "internal". I made my custom ship just the way you described in your tutorial. I just wondered because you mentionend internal hardpoints for scanner and tractor beam in your tutorial, but no internal hardpoint for power. That's why I posted the examples.

But no problem about that, I found the answer now !!! I re-installed the cmp plugin and found a dralthi example in the zip !! No I know one error :

- I wrote in the .mat file "MIPO" instead of "MIP0" (null)
my tip : maybe you should underline this, cause it's hard to see due to the .pdf convertation.

- I found an additional entry for the .mat file, don't know what it does, but maybe that worked too :

material library
+ <texture name>
material count (contents (int array) : 1
0 )
Maybe you will add that dralthi example (.cmp, .mat file) to your tutorial zip ? Or just mention that people can find that example in the cmp exporter plugin zip.

And I used the mat exporter for MS3D - this plugin rocks !! I didn't get to work the texture flip, then i used that exporter and voilá - a perfect working .mat file !! A must have plugin !!
All I still need to fix are the turret orientations on my sphere. but I think that's only a matter time and trial & error.
A flood of new ships should only be a matter of time now.... !!

Even if i started bothering you with my questions, I learned WITHIN 48 HOURS to convert/build from scratch ships for Freelancer without any pre-knowledge !! So great tutorial, especially the links to tools saved a lot of searching and the explanations of the different tools are adequate ! Only the flipping of the .tga should be explained a bit more detailed (best with a picture), but with the .mat plugin even this section doesn't need any further explanation.

Nevertheless thx for your time
Many BIG thx to you and colins104 (for his .mat exporter)
Keep up your good work
Khan Goldi

Edited by - KhanGoldi on 2/24/2004 11:11:29 AM

Tue Feb 24, 2004 5:00 pm by HamJoeRo

Hey great tutorial now i can get started making my new mod (With star trek!)
The only thing is I have a problem with gmax, I register but i never get the email and i registered 3 times correctly chevcking over and over!
As soon as i get it working, Ill try it but from what i read its great!

P.S.-Soon ill be able to get my own website!!! wOOt!

Tue Feb 24, 2004 5:42 pm by Schizm

i'm having the same gmax problem. does anyone have a gmax regcode that they wouldn't mind sharing?

or, can anyone point me to a really good 3dsm tutorial on basic use, then the conversion from 3dsm to ms3d?

Tue Feb 24, 2004 8:00 pm by Mad_Highlander

First a thanks to drizz for his fine tutorial, thumbs up!
I do have a few dramas with the two ships i have built,

Ship vanishes at certain ranges... I'm guessing this is a LOD issue? whats an LOD issue and how do i deal with it?

Lights are not working down one side of ships hull, so i get one dock light and one runnning light. Any solutions?

I'm new to modding, hell i'm new to 3d modelling and would be grateful for any help. Thanks in advance. Peace.

Cry havoc and unleash the lemurs of war!

Tue Feb 24, 2004 10:42 pm by Drizzt4.0

ive already sent an email to schizm...

and highlander... yes thats a lod problem... LOD ranges are like how far away your ship can be and still be seen... so like if the largest number is 2000 you ship can be seen up to 2k away... and if you use the lod ranges that are already there in the shiparch.ini file... your ship may disappear on ya at some point because our custom ships only have one detail level. so setting the lod ranges to 0, 2000 tells it that its visible up to 2k away.

in your ini files where you would find the declaration of the hardpoints... like in the packages and such... thats where you would correct the lights...

um dont have the time to look up the actual file but...

addon = LargeWhiteSpecial, HpHeadlight, 1
addon = co_elite_power01, HpPower01, 1
addon = ge_s_scanner_01, HpScanner01, 1
addon = ge_s_tractor_01, HpTractor_Source, 1
addon = ge_bf_engine_01, HpEngine01, 1
addon = SlowSmallRed, HpRunningLight01, 1

this kind of entry is where you would list your running lights and stuff
so if i remember right... SOMEONE CORRECT ME IF IM WRONG!
you would add
addon = LargeWhiteSpecial, HpHeadlight, 1
addon = co_elite_power01, HpPower01, 1
addon = ge_s_scanner_01, HpScanner01, 1
addon = ge_s_tractor_01, HpTractor_Source, 1
addon = ge_bf_engine_01, HpEngine01, 1
addon = SlowSmallRed, HpRunningLight01, HpRunningLight02, 1

if you wanted two running lights and you would HAVE to have two seperate hardpoints... i hope im not just blowing hot air. lol

if this dont help any ill check again tomorrow and really look into it. cheers.

Edited by - drizzt4.0 on 2/24/2004 10:47:40 PM

Tue Feb 24, 2004 10:53 pm by PyroNemesis

Hey Drizzt great tutorial... followed it point for point and got a working ship!!

i must add however that you forgot to mention that shiparch.ini needs to be put in the data\ships\ folder of your flmod to stop the game crashing on the ship purchase screen.

one thing i cannot figure out is why I only have 2 engines. I have placed all four Hp/Fixed/HpEngineXX but only engines 1 and 2 are working in the game, what could be wrong?

Wed Feb 25, 2004 6:28 am by KhanGoldi

@ Pyro : you need to adjust the exhaust nozzles count in the shiparch.ini :

num_exhaust_nozzles = 4 (in the example : num_exhaust_nozzles = 2 )

then all four engines got flames.

@ Drizzt : one more texture question : I got my enterprise to work now, but the ship is textured from INSIDE ! In Ms3D it looks correct, then I export it, in the ship preview of the ship dealer (middle window) it still looks correct, but when I buy it, it's semi-transparent. First I thought of wrong flipped textures, but the textures are visible and you can see, the textures are installed from the inside bound of the model ! Freelancer must filpp the model surface inside out, because my weapon hardpoints are also INSIDE and up-side-down ?! Any idea how to adjust this ?

Thx in advance
Khan Goldi

Edited by - KhanGoldi on 2/25/2004 8:33:09 AM

Wed Feb 25, 2004 6:37 am by Mad_Highlander

You da man drizz,

i did have 2 hps, but i had them down as:

addon = SlowSmallRed, HpRunningLight01, 1
addon = SlowSmallRed, HpRunningLight02, 1

that must be where the prob lies, i havent had time to test it yet.
Thanks also for the LOD explanation, i'll get shiparch sorted out too.

Prompt response, beers are on me.
Many thanks, Highlander

Cry havoc and unleash the lemurs of war!

Wed Feb 25, 2004 6:56 am by Necrolord

First off I would like to say a thanks to drizzt4.0 for the great tutorial. After making a few ships following the tutorial, I've now got my first ship in the lancersreactor.com download list! (It's the FB14 Vampire X2000)

About my previous problem with the crashing of Milkshape: I finally found what was wrong. When I downloaded the cmp exporter I also downloaded a cmp importer, thinking that it might seem useful. As soon as I deleted the cmp importer plugin everything worked perfectly!

I think that a list of sites with textures or stuff like that would be useful in the tutorial, as the textures I used on my ships really suck. Here are a couple of sites with free textures that I found today:

http://www.absolutecross.com/graphics/textures/
http://www.newtek.com/freestuff/
http://www.imageafter.com/category.php?category=metals

There are lots more out there, but these are just exsamples.

Wed Feb 25, 2004 1:08 pm by HamJoeRo

Hey drizz can you send me an email with the regcode? I need it bad or my website and my mod go down the toilet!The email address is [email protected]

Wed Feb 25, 2004 2:07 pm by Helmer

Helmer...
did you use the backup method i discribed? did you create an actual mod folder like i described?

heh yep

...actually played Freelancer earlier more than 6 months (not sure when...before FLMM) ago and started messing around with the original files...when the game didn`t start anymore and even overwriting with donwloaded original files didn`t work I stopped playing FL. Learned from that hehe.
Anyways thx for the reply. Due to ur tutorial I actually even started trying to Mod other games so It`s np that I propably won`t get my own FL ship soon

Edited by - Helmer on 2/25/2004 2:08:30 PM

Wed Feb 25, 2004 11:30 pm by Drizzt4.0

so sad helmer... im sorry your not gonna do the FL thing anymore...

um khangoldi... ok got your email... now i know exactly what you are talking about. it seems like ALL of your vertices are inside out! Now normally that would just make a completely invisible ship. try turning the view backfaces on and see if you get a crapload of black triangles in flat shading mode.
one thing you could try to fix this is to select all and click the faces->reverse vertex order. also your hardpoint problem should be fixed too when you do this.

now if that dont work... im gonna ask you to resend me your shipmod with the ms3d file and tga files included.

and for those of you having problems with the regcode... i dont know whats goin on with descreet but ill send them a complaint and ill try to help out.

Edited by - drizzt4.0 on 2/26/2004 9:26:38 AM

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