Hi, another problem, this time with a different ship. After making it and fixing all the details I tried it out in freelancer. The problem is that the hull is invisible only when it's flying around in space. All I can see is the weapons the thrusters etc. When docked I can see the ship as normal. I read through the forum pages and found that someone else had the same problem and the LOD ranges were suggested as the problem. So I changed the LOD ranges a few times but no luck. The ship size can't be the problem cause the guns and stuff are all in place. It's not a black hole either as the polygons aren't black. If anyone knows what's wrong please answer!

NEED HELP...........
ok whats happing is flmm chashes back to desk top, now i have the scrip done i have the modle and all hp's done but i think its the textures in ms (milk shape) when i place all my textures, <<<hull glass vents intaks>>> and then click to view my ship in all its glory its just PURPEL no glass nop vents so on... i have the mat file done too i even tried that plug in for milk shape to make the mat file
does any one have any idea whats up ill send yee the files if need b

Once i Was The Hunted Now Its you

death... i have this problem sometimes too... where one texture is applied to the whole ship no matter what you do. sometimes i have to restart my computer for it to work right again... this most likely isnt a problem with you unless you had already tried texturing it in gmax.... if you had done that its a no no.

um and necro.... this has to be a LOD problem how many values do you have? you should only have 2... like 0, 2000

hey, going to give this tut a shot, but i need a copy of the ms3d cmp exporter.

would someone be kind enough to email me a copy to: ki_shodar @ hotmail.com

thanks - Ki Shodar

emailing it shouldnt be necessary... there is one downloadable from here.

Edited by - drizzt4.0 on 3/3/2004 10:13:50 PM

thank's for that, Drizzt

off to start working on exporting my ship to cmp

- Ki Shodar

Ok, This question is for the experts beyond myself... this may help me in future tutorial updates and also answer the LOD questions here...

I've noticed that some guys in here are having what would generally be considered a LOD problem and yet when they use the 0, 2000 Lod range they still have this problem... this doesnt effect everybody but a select few. I am at a loss now to explain it better than it has been... so here is the question:

What beyond a LOD problem would make a ship completely invisible (barring the weapons equipped?)

Not sure about this, but i think the LOD ranges in the shiparch.ini entries are for the textures and the model mesh LOD ranges are set in the .cmp file.

The ship cmp includes 3 model meshes in the VMeshLibrary node
shipname.lod0.vms (full model mesh)
shipname.lod1.vms (fewer vertices)
shipname.lod2.vms (even fewer vertices)

The shipname.3db->Multilevel node has three level nodes and a Switch2 node

The switch2 node data has 4 floating point numbers which may control the mesh LOD ranges

0.00000 = lod0.vms
100.00000 = lod1.vms
1000.0000 = lod2.vms
1000000.0000 = remove from screen (too small)

I have noticed parts of my ships vanishing as they get further away. The bits that vanish are not in the level 1 or 2 meshes.

Might be why some ships vanish at certain distances but the weapons don't.

thats not what i did i done the textureing in milk shape as is says to do so in ur tut
and ur reply didnt help any more ideas :p



Once i Was The Hunted Now Its you

I have a question:How can i turn the perspective so i can view it from a side?(not switching it to lkeft /right ect.)
Also during the step where we are making the cockpit, whenever i outline or make planar it seems part of my front is flipped....

Kicking Discreet's *** because they are giving such a ****ing horrible time getting the regcode for gmax!

Edited by - HamJoeRO on 3/4/2004 6:08:30 PM

I didnt really get the texturing and my milkshape expired. So does anyone know a free texturer and Hardpoint placer that I can use? Some people are telling me to STEAL it by giving me a code but I dont wanna steal anything.

Thanks collins for a little better LOD explanation. Once i get my MS3D working again ill have to check that out.

Death... send me the files. I wont be able to save or export but at least ill be able to take a looksee and see if i can figure out your proble is... i want just your .ms3d file and your textures in the same zip file.

HamJoeRo... usually in the 3d view if you click and drag your ship will turn. If this dont work make sure that its not in user view mode... switch it to 3d and then try to move it again. and for the cockpit... try copying the glass above it, moving it up away from the model... then flip it upside down and use the reverse vertex order... then you can mold it to how you want it before you drop it down into the model... just an idea.

Supersnipa... Im sorry but i dont personally know of any other 3d programs that can export a .cmp file... and while im not gonna tell you to "steal" ms3d... its a cheap program to register.

Edited by - drizzt4.0 on 3/4/2004 9:03:14 PM

Edited by - drizzt4.0 on 3/4/2004 9:06:24 PM

Hi Drizz

I'm finally going to take the plunge and see if I can play around with the ships in FL. I thought I'd start slow and try modifying the cmp and mat files of an existing ship to make it look different.

Do I just use Milkshape to do this or should I be doing a rough-out on GMAX first?

PS. I wouldn't have got the gumption to do this if it weren't for your tutorial. Nice job. I'm having a tough time understanding the FLed IDS section but I think I'll be able to tumble through it.

Edited by - Indy11 on 3/5/2004 11:47:10 AM

yes i think i may need to work on the ids section a little more...
you can use just ms3d... the only reason i had the gmax in there is i find it much easier to modle in gmax and 3dsmax than ms3d.

SOMEONE NEEDS TO COME UP WITH A CMP EXPORTING TOOL FOR GMAX AND 3DSMAX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!