help needed with this \"new\" frame

gamerdude873 · Post by **gamerdude873** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 5:31 pm

http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/vv88 ... erseus.jpg

Hey everyone, I just bought the game and have already decided to put this (not) new ship frame in my game, and have a couple of questions.

1) Does the name of the file under /ships have to be eg: "Talon1.x", or can it be something like "Perseus1.x?" Is it possible to just put in a whole new, seperate frame without replacing any of the vanilla?

2) How can I mod this model I've imported so that it can have either new/interchangable parts (like engines) or if that doesn't work, so that it would just look the same when you added that new neon underglow?

3) When I put it under /ships and started a NEW game, I couldn't see the Perseus ship frame for sale at all. How can I fix this?

4) Finally, is it possible to edit the stats of the ship frame?

Sorry if these questions have been really frequently answered, but after a couple of hours of searching the forum this poor newb couldn't get all the answers he needed.

Thanks a ton guys.

PS: Yes, I know that's a GTF Perseus up there from FS2. The only work I did was reskinning it after the export tore of the texture. Argh!

[Edited on 6-20-2010 by gamerdude873]

[Edited on 6-20-2010 by gamerdude873]

49rTbird · Post by **49rTbird** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 6:13 pm

Hello gamerdude873, standby and a Modder will help you as I don't have that skill. Welcome to the forum and the Sim. Have fun and hope to see you out there sometime.

Accountant · Post by **Accountant** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 8:00 pm

The name of the ship is very specific, it has to be one of either: (from the customizing kit)

frameX.x = Ship model, X is number slot from 1 to 10 (front Talon to Leviathan)

You cannot add a ship to the game; you can only replace existing ships.

-Accountant

EDIT:
Cool ship! It would be great if you share when you are done

[Edited on 6-20-2010 by Accountant]

gamerdude873 · Post by **gamerdude873** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 9:02 pm

Thanks Accountant, Am trying it out now....

Argh, still no luck. I renamed the file under the ships directory to just Talon1.x, and it still didn't show up in game. Hmmm....

1) Do I absolutely need to start a new save game, or can it be imported on the fly?

2) I'm using Blender to export this into a .X format. Perhaps i'm doing something wrong there. What's the general protocol and way to do it?
-Are textures just done with UV mapping? Do I need to specify a texture directory or put the .dds file under a certain directory? Or is the texture simply incorporated into the DirectX file?
-Is there a ceiling for vertices and poly counts for the evochron engine? What's the average poly count for a small ship?

3) I have a sneaking suspicion that the problem is that I'm not labeling the file correctly even now. It couldn't possibly be Talon1.x, that would be utterly redundant for the naming scheme.

Accountant · Post by **Accountant** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 9:13 pm

Argh, still no luck. I renamed the file under the ships directory to just Talon1.x, and it still didn't show up in game.

It needs to be named frame.x. It has to be one of:
Frame1.x
Frame2.x
Frame3.x
ect

-Accountant

EDIT:

Do I absolutely need to start a new save game, or can it be imported on the fly?

You just need to quit back to the main menu, you do not need to quit the whole game

EDIT 2:
Btw, welcome to EL and the forums!

[Edited on 6-20-2010 by Accountant]

gamerdude873 · Post by **gamerdude873** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 9:34 pm

It needs to be named frame.x. It has to be one of: Frame1.x Frame2.x Frame3.x ect

By my rigorous study of the inner mechanics of Evochron Legends, and the in depth analysis of Accountant's sweeping thesis on the naming of new frames to be imported, I can thus safely conclude that I am a moron.

Further tests pending.

Well all I have to do now is get the scaling corrected. This is gonna be a fun little chore

[Edited on 6-20-2010 by gamerdude873]

verbosity · Post by **verbosity** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 9:36 pm

Originally posted by gamerdude873
Thanks Accountant, Am trying it out now....

Argh, still no luck. I renamed the file under the ships directory to just Talon1.x, and it still didn't show up in game. Hmmm....

nope literally frame1.x

1) Do I absolutely need to start a new save game, or can it be imported on the fly?

on the fly, though you would have to exit the game and restart for it to be applied

-Are textures just done with UV mapping? Do I need to specify a texture directory or put the .dds file under a certain directory? Or is the texture simply incorporated into the DirectX file?

UV mapped and incorporated into the .x file

-Is there a ceiling for vertices and poly counts for the evochron engine? What's the average poly count for a small ship?

no ceiling as far as the engine goes, though game performance might be affected before that dependant on your system.

3) I have a sneaking suspicion that the problem is that I'm not labeling the file correctly even now. It couldn't possibly be Talon1.x, that would be utterly redundant for the naming scheme.

frame1.x

not nameoftheship1.x

oh and you can mod engines, cargo holds, shields wings separate to the ship itself...

Welcome to the game and the forum.

[Edited on 6-20-2010 by verbosity]

Accountant · Post by **Accountant** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 10:13 pm

Thanks Verb. Sorry for not being very thorough gamerdude873. I have company over and couldn't spend much time replying, but I still wanted to get something out.

Good luck and don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions!

-Accountant

gamerdude873 · Post by **gamerdude873** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 11:46 pm

Onto the next error! or so I say in modding.

I've gotten it to where I can see the Perseus ship in the shipyard, but when I drag n' drop it onto my old frame, I get a CTD with "Error 103." I've looked around, and "Error 103" is having too many meshes in one file or something like that.

However, i've repeatedly made sure there is only one mesh by joining all the meshes, and applied scale and rotation, did everything that usually works with blender. No dice. Perhaps someone else has had this problem? Do subgroups or something like them apply to this as well?

I'll keep fiddling in the meantime.

EDIT: Well I've found something out that's interesting. When I re-exported it, I picked only "export selected," and instead of an error 103, I got a SEVERE EXCEPTION CTD.

Will keep on fiddling.

[Edited on 6-20-2010 by gamerdude873]

Accountant · Post by **Accountant** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 12:01 am

If memory serves, there was one program that had problem converting models to a .X format that worked with EL. I for some reason want to think it was Blender. Is there another program you can try for conversion just for test purposes?

-Accountant

EDIT:
I use metaseq and it works for me.

[Edited on 6-21-2010 by Accountant]

gamerdude873 · Post by **gamerdude873** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 12:09 am

On it. ETA is... soon.

EDIT: Yikes, Metasequoia's layout is a lot different than Blender's. I'm able to export the model alright, but I can't figure out how to reassign the texture I have for it. In essence, what I have right now is a completely transparent ship. Yippee.

Is there anyway for me to export the model so that it keeps it's texture? Or how do I assign the texture path back to it?

(Gamerdude873 kneels down and prays that the answer does not involve remapping the whole fighter).

[Edited on 6-21-2010 by gamerdude873]

gamerdude873 · Post by **gamerdude873** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 1:23 am

Alright then, one final thing to do, I'm sure of it.

I've figured out how to reassign the texture path to the ship in MS. But now that I've got the ship in the game (no crashes!) the texture that I was using has disappeared, and been replaced by what I think is a vanilla texture. The vanilla texture doesn't even come close to fitting this model properly and can't just be written off. I promise to keep fiddling away and see if I can figure it out, but man, after all this to not have that custom texture would be a huge bummer. How do I make it so that the game reads my texture and uses it instead of the other one?

EDIT: I've read the dang readme and Now i finally see it. so nvm! I think i got it

[Edited on 6-21-2010 by gamerdude873]

Accountant · Post by **Accountant** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 1:28 am

Is the texture assigned properly in the Materials panel?

Also, I believe the texture has to be BMP format.

-Accountant

Maarschalk · Post by **Maarschalk** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 1:35 am

Hi gamerdude873(Joker), welcome to the game and forum hope to see you with your new ship out there when you get it to work.....

btw, Nice ship....

[Edited on 6-21-2010 by Maarschalk]

gamerdude873 · Post by **gamerdude873** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 1:37 am

ack I think I now what happened. It isn't the vanilla texture, My texture is now off. Somehow my UV map decided to move off and slide backwards. ArgH! Back to the drawing boards. I have to take a break from this. This is making my head hurt!

Accountant · Post by **Accountant** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 1:43 am

What file format are you using to save the project in (not .X)? Maybe there is another program besides Metaseq that handles the UV maps better and exports to a usable .X format. I only mentioned Metaseq because I know it works.

-Accountant

gamerdude873 · Post by **gamerdude873** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 4:29 am

@Eclipse
It ain't back in action yet! R+D just smashed up another prototype....

@accountant
Blender isn't cooperating with exporting in .3ds (MS says that it "failed to open file"; I'm guessing that it's corrupt) so i'm using .obj because metasequoia can read that one. But apparently Metasequoia doesn't like the way Blender handlestextures and UV mapping. I'll look up to see if I can just find another converter that likes blender but doesn't cause a CTD. Perhaps Milkshape?

Edit: Milkshape seems to be doing exactly what blender's been up to. More crashes to desktop and error 103. Grrrr.

[Edited on 6-21-2010 by gamerdude873]

[Edited on 6-21-2010 by gamerdude873]

gamerdude873 · Post by **gamerdude873** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 6:12 am

More progress...

I've figured out exactly Blender and MetaSequoia were plotting, and that was somewhere in between file exports, they were mirroring the UV maps across the Y axis. I made the necessary adjustments and the texture now appears fine in MS. Now i can export it properly (no crashes). However, now that I'm here, my texture still isn't showing up on the frame in game. I've tried with both a .jpg and .bmp image of the texture (labled frame1.jpg) in the /ships directory. I get what appears to be the old vanilla texture, and I'm certain that it isn't my texture at all. Apparently there's a frame component texture that I need to have too, but I'm not exactly certain that is the whole problem.

And about that frame component texture...

1) Where can I get one ready made (if i really do need it)?

2) Is it possible to have, for instance, a .dds file texture, to support an Alpha Channel and just make the components invisible?

[Edited on 6-21-2010 by gamerdude873]

Accountant · Post by **Accountant** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 12:25 pm

gamerdude, have you downloaded the customizing kit? The readme for the kit lists the model names for the ships and components and the textures they use.
Link

1. There is a texture in the customizing kit, but it is not the complete texture, it is just a black-and-white copy for mapping purposes.

2. I do not believe (but don't quote me on this) that .dds can be used. I thought it had to be either a JPG or BMP.

Do a quick check. In MS, select your model, highlight the material, then click on the menu: Selected->Set Material To Faces. Then check to see if the material is properly linked to a texture by double-clicking on it in the Material Panel.

If that doesn't work, let us know and when I get back from work tonight I will load up MS and play around to see if I can get custom textures to work on one of my own ships.

-Accountant

gamerdude873 · Post by **gamerdude873** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 10:00 pm

Yeah, I've got the kit. I just don't know how to use it well. I've got a few ideas I want to try though, in addition to yours.

EDIT: Sick. Awesome. I figured out what was up. Forgot the little but important file hull2, since I've been testing it as a Civilian Frame. Thanks a ton Accountant for mentioning that little detail there, I'd have never figured that out. I am undoubtedly the source of most of my misery.

Now that it's at least servicible, I'll have to smooth out the few rough spots that are left, and then it should be good to go. Accountant's getting some serious cred for this working.

Next up is maybe the Loki (I think this would be a nice replacement for the Ferret?), a new cockpit, Aeolus anti-fighter cruiser, or just a break.

[Edited on 6-21-2010 by gamerdude873]

[Edited on 6-21-2010 by gamerdude873]

[Edited on 6-21-2010 by gamerdude873]

[Edited on 6-21-2010 by gamerdude873]

Accountant · Post by **Accountant** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 12:51 am

Glad you got it working! I am happy to help any way I can...though in all honesty, I am not sure where I ever mentioned hull2...

Good luck polishing and don't hesitate to keep asking questions.

Next up is maybe the Loki (I think this would be a nice replacement for the Ferret?), a new cockpit, Aeolus anti-fighter cruiser, or just a break.

Haha, that break will look nicer and nicer as you continue

. If you ever decide to make the cockpit, you can download any of my cockpits (see my signature) to see what I've done. I include metaseq-file formats of my models with the download so you can play with the model. And, of course, feel free to ask any questions

-Accountant

Maarschalk · Post by **Maarschalk** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 1:17 am

Nice, good going, hope to see you in action soon with your new ships.....

gamerdude873 · Post by **gamerdude873** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 5:10 am

I wish i had more than just satellite internet out were I live. I don't think internet multiplay is an option

. Looks like LAN for now, but I'll make sure I won't hog these models. I'll get them uploaded as soon as I finish the Loki. It's about 50% complete or so (have to UV map it).

@Accountant

I like some of those cockpits, I'll think I'll DL the observation cockpit. Save me a heck of a lot of trouble making my own when there's perfectly good one's out there.