Adding Samus' Gunship from Metroid Prime into Evochron Legacy (Custom Waypoint Indicator) (UPDATE 3/14/23 and DOWNLOAD)

[TraderDan]

3/14/23
Added custom Quest cursor download links below:

Custom Quest Cursor:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AUZIDj ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14yqhaA ... sp=sharing


Added Custom Waypoint Cursor links below:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cnH2-R ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gb0jmX ... sp=sharing


3/13/23
Added a custom Nav cursor download links below:

3/11/23
Updated the cockpit model for a more accurate pilot perspective, if you've already downloaded the previous model you may want to download it again from the link below.

Added a customs displays model that removes the mesh for the central 3 displays so that I can create a gauges.txt (which I will upload when complete) to utilize the holographic screens built into the new cockpit model.

*added guages.txt to the downloads below, you'll need that so that the instrument displays are properly placed over the cockpit's holographic displays.

*Made improvements to the glass texture so you may want to redownload it again.

3/8/23

Finally able to get the glass texture working for Samus' Gunship cockpit, it's a hexagonal reinforced glass / forcefield texture found in most of the Nintendo Game iterations. I've included a download link below with the files I posted a couple days ago.

3/6/23

With help from Vice I was able to scale, rotate and center a complete cockpit along with a UV map template with download links below. I've been jumping between this and the Star Trek capital ship mod. I would have liked to do a better UV unwrap however Blender 2.49b has unwrap limitations and for some reason I could not get superior unwraps with blender 3.4 to carry over to 2.49b (because that is the only version that can export to direct x)

I also tried exporting from blender 2.49b and 3.4 as a .obj format since those superior UV maps did work with the .obj's I exported. The big problem with trying .obj is the cockpit viewer would always rotate the cockpit in the same/wrong orientation regardless of which orientation the model was rotated and exported in blender.

Despite the setbacks I'm pretty happy with the way it's turning out, if you'd like to look over my current progress and play with it yourself here's the links:

Cockpit Model:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/15SfZ6g ... sp=sharing

UV Texture Template png
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CXow38 ... sp=sharing

Custom Glass Texture:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AkNXSl ... sp=sharing

Model to remove the mesh for the stock 3 center displays (needed with the guages.txt)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zfu5p5 ... sp=sharing

Instrument Placement (gauges.txt)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nCdjVG ... sp=sharing

Custom Nav cursor:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1z204WV ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q4_r0I ... sp=sharing

[Vice]

By HUD screens, do you mean the three main holographic cockpit displays? The gunsight and upper HUD menu bar are fixed (although depth can be adjusted for things like VR). But for the three main cockpit displays, those are adjustable with the 'gauges.txt' file option outlined here: https://www.starwraith.com/evochronlega ... me.htm#304

If desired, you can also add new and unique cockpit displays to fill in space with custom cockpits. Those options area detailed here: https://www.starwraith.com/evochronlega ... me.htm#315

So you can place, rotate, and scale the existing main displays and/or add new ones.

[TraderDan]

Thanks Vice I'll check out those links, you are correct moving the 3 primary displays was my intent.

[TraderDan]

I don't see a 'guages.txt' file in the media/hud folder do I just create one there from scratch?

By HUD screens, do you mean the three main holographic cockpit displays? The gunsight and upper HUD menu bar are fixed (although depth can be adjusted for things like VR). But for the three main cockpit displays, those are adjustable with the 'gauges.txt' file option outlined here: https://www.starwraith.com/evochronlega ... me.htm#304

If desired, you can also add new and unique cockpit displays to fill in space with custom cockpits. Those options area detailed here: https://www.starwraith.com/evochronlega ... me.htm#315

So you can place, rotate, and scale the existing main displays and/or add new ones.

[TraderDan]

I created a fresh gauges.txt and placed it in media/hud folder and changing values does change positioning of the center 3 displays however there is a mesh for the 3 displays computer console that I would like to omit since my cockpit mesh already has a computer screens built in. I tried omitting ccpit1displays.x but that just produces an error. Do I need to create a 'blank' ccpit1displays.x model in it's place in order to ghost the mesh of the central 3 consoles?

[Vice]

An example 'gauges.txt' file (with description lines) is included with the example files at the link on the customizing kit's page or you can use the attached version for reference.

For the displays frame, it will not be indexed when using the global custom cockpit filename format or if you are using the frame specific mode, you can indeed import a nearly blank mesh to remove it (just an offset triangle or something placed way out of view).

[TraderDan]

Ok I think I understand so to replace one of the ship cockpit models I'm going to need

a custom guages.txt
a custom displays mesh
the cockpit mesh with a file name specific to the ships frame i'm replacing
UV textures for the cockpit mesh

That brings me to another question that perhaps you would be best at answering since I have yet to sample every frame in game.... which player ship frame in Evochron is most similar in size and performance to the Samus Gunship? And what will my filenames for the required files be?
For the model viewer as an example it's ccpit1.x and ccpit2.x for civilian and military frames respectively, but for the in game ships they are likely different.

A quick look at the FAQ shows a Federation Venture class as frame index 45 so would this be ccpit45.x and guages45.txt?

An example 'gauges.txt' file (with description lines) is included with the example files at the link on the customizing kit's page or you can use the attached version for reference.

For the displays frame, it will not be indexed when using the global custom cockpit filename format or if you are using the frame specific mode, you can indeed import a nearly blank mesh to remove it (just an offset triangle or something placed way out of view).

[TraderDan]

I've imported a replacement model for ccpit1displays.x but when I try to load the cockpit viewer it just closes, no error. I then tried to import the actual ccpit1displays.x into blender so that I can view and modify to pre existing monitor frames but any changes just cause the cockpit viewer to force close with no error displayed.

[Vice]

which player ship frame in Evochron is most similar in size and performance to the Samus Gunship? And what will my filenames for the required files be?

I'm not familiar with the Samus Gunship, so I don't know how it would compare with any of the ships in the game. But generally speaking, the higher the civilian frame index number from 1-10 and 41-50, the larger and heavier the ship will be.

If you're applying a custom cockpit for a specific ship frame index, then the hud folder will be '\hud#' where # represents the number of the ship frame index. The PNG image/texture files listed in the kit will need to carry the cockpit group index number in their filenames and be placed within the '\hud#' folder. So for example, the Venture in ship index 45 uses the cockpit group index 8 per the customizing kit's list, so the first image file would be 'ccpitb8-veryhigh.png' and so on for each. All placed in a '\hud45' folder using the ship index number. Alternatively, you can just leave the cockpit group index at 1 and place each of the image files in the '\hud#' folder and the game will fall back on the '1' index by default if it doesn't find image files in the expected group index. That way, you don't have to contend with the cockpit group indexes if you don't want to for image files.

From there, 'ccpit#.x/obj' would be the mesh for the ship, 'ccpit#displays.x/obj' for the displays, 'ccpit#glass.x/obj' for the transparent cockpit glass where the '#' symbol is again for the cockpit group number (would again be 8 for the Venture).

On a side note, if you are using the cockpit viewing program, you'll likely need to rename the files when copying them over to the game as the generic names that can be used for the viewing program for either the civilian mode or military mode are independent of the game's file and folder system. It's a good idea to keep the two file sets separate anyway and just copy/rename them when needed. That way, you have a backup of each in case you want to restore a file later on at some point.

A quick look at the FAQ shows a Federation Venture class as frame index 45 so would this be ccpit45.x and guages45.txt?

No, 'ccpit8.x/obj' and just 'gauges.txt' as the text files used for settings do not need to carry either a ship index or a cockpit group index value. As long as they are in the needed 'hud#' folder (ie '\hud45' for the Venture), the game can pick them up. So you only need to apply custom cockpit group indexes to the mesh files and their related texture files. You do not need to apply any index values to setting text files or HUD/display images. So one filename set applies to all for the HUD textures, they just need to be copied to the needed folder.

I've imported a replacement model for ccpit1displays.x but when I try to load the cockpit viewer it just closes, no error. I then tried to import the actual ccpit1displays.x into blender so that I can view and modify to pre existing monitor frames but any changes just cause the cockpit viewer to force close with no error displayed.

That could indicate an incompatibility with the mesh file being used. Be sure it is exported in ASCII format. If the export option in your 3D modelling program doesn't offer a needed format or doesn't work for some other reason, try OBJ format instead.

[Marvin]

I'm not familiar with the Samus Gunship....

If you Googled it, you'll probably be presented with a whole lot of different ship designs (as was I).

[TraderDan]

I'm old school so the version of the ship I was going for was the one from early Nintendo consoles, imagine if you could fly the ship in glorious 3D! Y'know before polygons were invented

[TraderDan]

I've successfully been able to omit the monitor frames and using the gauges.txt change the scaling and position of the left monitor screen. Below is a screenshot of my progress.

Are there additional variables that are possible for the monitor screens such as x,y,z rotation?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lMXRQx ... sp=sharing

[Vice]

These lines in the file are for the directional rotation on Y:

20.0 ` left display rotation offset
0 ` center display rotation offset
20.0 ` right display rotation offset

X and Z weren't included to avoid for some performance considerations, but may be something I could add/test later on.

[TraderDan]

Working on designing a hexagonal forcefield/screen texture in place of the standard glass texture so the ship resembles that from the Nintendo game series but I've noticed that the glass pane is being drawn too close and is showing up in the ship and not quite covering the corners of the windows. Is there a way to scale the size of the glass texture projection and possible change the distance and angle that it is being projected to the players perspective. I don't really want to change the view angle since it matches the in game model pretty well at this point if possible.

Here's a screenshot:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qKWi5U ... sp=sharing

[Vice]

The model/mesh itself controls the placement, scaling, and rotation of the structure in-game. The cockpit glass structure is automatically centered to the base cockpit structure (properly aligned as though also part of the same piece). So any changes would simply need to be applied in the modelling program you are using, then imported into the game. Once you have it looking the way you want in your modelling program, it should then work fine in the game.

[TraderDan]

Thanks for the advice, things are coming along pretty nicely. My next question is it possible to omit or move the default flight stick and throttle level models within the cockpit?

[Vice]

Yes, that is done with the 'joystickthrottle.txt' setting file options outlined here: https://www.starwraith.com/evochronlega ... me.htm#312

And you can also import custom meshes for those structures with the 'ccpit-joystick.x' and 'ccpit-throttle.x' filenames. To remove them, you can either place them far out of viewing range or import custom mesh structures.

[Marvin]

The irony about joysicks in 3-D cockpits is that, for the most part, only old doggies like myself still use a joystick. Without mentioning names, I know of one space sim where, if you look down in the cockpit, you will see a joystick. Yet the game (not this game, of course) has no joystick support. And, if you ask for such support in their forum, ridicule comes fast and furious. Now if, instead of a joystick, you use a game controller ... you can design your own controller mesh and use it to replace the joystick.