Custom Cockpits

primedragoon · Post by **primedragoon** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 3:36 am

Been pouring over the options layed out in the EM customization kit, and I've come upon a question. Sadly I think currently it isn't possible, and if so, I would like to beg that it become possible.

In any event I've been looking at the idea of running through EM and remodeling all the ships, frame and components in higher detail, maybe add a few different paintjobs instead of just color tint options and such.

However this being said, I come to the issue of cockpits, and I would like to add custom cockpits if not for every ship, at least for the two or three different types. (Light, medium or heavy frames.) Maybe even include positions for crew to sit, barely in frame or not really in the way of anything.

Maybe even triggerable somehow by actually having said crew. But yeah, anyone know if or how this would be possible, were it my intention to do so?

Post by **Marvin** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 3:40 am

Correct me if I'm wrong but, AFAIK, you can only have one cockpit mod active at a time. Nonetheless, an easy way to swap is to use JSGME.

primedragoon · Post by **primedragoon** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 4:05 am

Yeah thats the impression I got from reading through the material as well. Vice, different cockpits for different frames compatability please sir! I want to rehash all your digs and make them pretty as pink flaming in the inky black of the infinite drink.

Post by **Vice** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 4:27 am

You can give it a try now, although some of this capability might be a little more experimental at this stage rather than fully ironed out as it was years ago that this last came up and the codebase has changed a lot since then. There may also be some potential memory implications, especially if there's a lot of large resource files involved. So it's not really an officially supported option. But if you want to try it out, just use a \\hud# folder where the '#' is the numerical ID of the frame you want to specify a custom cockpit for and put the custom cockpit files there rather than just a global \\hud folder.

Numerical values range from 1-10 for the Alliance civilian frames, 21-32 for military frames, 41-50 for Federation civilian frames.

primedragoon · Post by **primedragoon** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 4:50 am

Oh freaking TOP man, I approve so much. Now do you perhaps have a reference file kicking around for a 3d model of the games current cockpit so I know what size/where to put things, correct orientations and the format I need to save it into... Somehow.

Post by **Marvin** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 4:55 am

http://www.evochron2.junholt.se/mods/Dy ... ganaut.zip might work.

Post by **Vice** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 5:02 am

You'll always need to save it in DirectX (X), text, uncompressed format. I don't have a collection of reference files handy, but a solid example of utilizing the custom cockpit options is available in the custom cockpit here: http://www.starwraith.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10093 I'd recommend using that as a guide for resource filenames, formats, and structural elements to develop new designs from.

primedragoon · Post by **primedragoon** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 5:11 am

I wish it did. Sadly without textures on its a mildly confusing mess on my screen. I'm assuming its a very open cockpit design, wish isn't helping my confusion. Nor do I really see where the pilots 'head' (where the players view) origionates, which would really help with perspective and scaling.

primedragoon · Post by **primedragoon** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 5:25 am

Thanks Vice, sadly blender won't import that cockpits ccpit.x file, though it did the other just fine. (Even if I was lost in the layout.)

I'm not sure why the newest version of blender doesn't import or export to .x at all anymore, especially considering that previous versions displayed no issue. And I really wonder why this file won't load into blender anymore. Anyone know a .x converter that will change it into a .blend format or a .3ds format or something?

primedragoon · Post by **primedragoon** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 6:38 am

I can't get any of the cockpits to import in any version of blender with any direct.x importing scripts I can find. Kinda hampering my whole enthusiasm for modifying the interior cockpit. A little help anyone? No version of blender will do it, I found information that suggested milkshape could, but it doesn't have an option for it either.

primedragoon · Post by **primedragoon** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 7:15 am

Milkshapes option for this is in the Tools menu, and while it does open and display the ship provided as reference, I can't get it to open any hud cockpit.x file I've got going and I've tried every custom cockpit mods .x file I could get my hands on. Which is basically all of them on this site thus far.

Post by **Marvin** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 4:36 pm

I feel your pain. Often, developers of these programs rely on third-party plug-ins to fill in the gaps. The hard part is sorting through all the Googles to find the right one ... and then figuring out how to install the plug-in and use it to convert from one format to the other.

primedragoon · Post by **primedragoon** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 10:15 pm

I already managed to get an import export script for the latest version of Blender, they were two seperate scripts but meh, they're working. But the import one seems to encounter several errors when attempting to import one of the more complex cockpit models. Other cockpit models thus far have simply (opened) to no effect. No objects, no textures, nada.

Post by **Marvin** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 11:36 pm

Do you get any error codes?

primedragoon · Post by **primedragoon** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 12:05 am

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I can try to reproduce if they're useful to you.

Post by **Marvin** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 5:08 am

Probably not to me ... but Vice might recognize some (or all) of them.