Homeworld Ships

[AlexPaladinStorm]

I intend to take all the Homeworld ships and adapt them more properly to FreeLancer. I'm starting with Kiith Somtaaw's Acolyte Fighter, for now, as it is the moste FUBAR of the imported Homeworld models.

One of the things I'd like to be able to do is add actual Mount geometry to these ships, and proper Freelancer-style drives, so they actually look like they've been adapted to use Human equipment, instead of merely imported ships with mount points just slapped together in the CMP Hardpoint file, which looks like crap.

The Acolyte's geometry is actually coming along very nicely, right now. I've just about got the model looking like I think it should for the 'Combat' Stance that it takes in Homeworld: Cataclysm when it engages targetes and prepares to launch its missiles (which are loaded into those 'arms' along the sides).

I figure I should change the textures, as well. I don't quite have as much of a problem with the Homeworld textures as I do most others, but it still doesn't look like a FreeLancer ship. I think all of the Homeworld ships should probably use BW textures, or Liberty textures (thus utilizing the plating of that faction, technically, due to being built by those groups, maybe?). Acolyte and other Somtaaw vessels likely should use Liberty (It just fits the Somtaaw color, mainly), Taiidan with BW textures (as people seem to have decided the Taiidan should be grey- either that, or the textures were, like the models, unmodified and left with their modular 'grey' scheme). The Turanic Raiders are Pirates, so... yeah. That's a no-brainer, right there (Though I honestly dislike the Pirate ship designs, I don't really mind their textures). Kushan... Er... not sure what the Kushan should use. Maybe Liberty again. Or Rheinland. But certainly not Kusari or Bretonia, unless you can manage to tint the hulls to a bluish hue, as that's the standard Kushan color value.

Also, I'd like to be able to add a proper cockpit from one of the vanilla ships of FreeLancer, if it's possible. I can access any of the ship model files.




There's a look at the two modes of the Acolyte. As you can see, the 'Flight' mode has the 'arms' held up against the frame of the rest of the ship. The Combat mode/stance has them out and away from the rest of the craft. I am currently opting for the Combat mode, because it's more interesting. I'm willing to change my mind if enough people tell me to go for the Flight mode.

Now for images of what I have right now, in 3DS MAX: (Hope the Attachment system works for the screenshot - I'll make the current .MAX file available if it is requested)

[attachmentid=1452] [attachmentid=1453]

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Currently: Remastering Kiith Somtaaw's Acolyte Fighter. These Homeworld ships need some Sirius work done on them. ^.-

"Do not interfere! We're here to protect the President! Schultzky's a traitor!"

For peace throughout the colonies! We will never forget..

"He who controls the [insert orange powder drug here] controls the universe!"

[AlexPaladinStorm]

Okay, I've got a shot of my latest progress. I'm thinking I'll be taking more from this particular model during the course of this project.. I may likely need parts from other faction ships, as well.

[attachmentid=1457]

Yeah. I'm pulling the Dagger apart, and augmenting it, to make the Acolyte in FreeLancer's image. I think it's working. ^^

What do the people think of this course of action?

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Currently: Remastering Kiith Somtaaw's Acolyte Fighter. These Homeworld ships need some Sirius work done on them. ^.-

"Do not interfere! We're here to protect the President! Schultzky's a traitor!"

For peace throughout the colonies! We will never forget..

"He who controls the [insert orange powder drug here] controls the universe!"

[Nightfall]

Keep on, looks promising!

About animating the models, I don't know exactly how but it may be possible, note the bay doors opening when you jettison cargo, may be possible to issue a script command and keep the parts in the 'other position' until the command to return to previous state is given (i.e. press the same button). It has something with the 'fuse' command in the scripts in shiparch.ini I think. I'll take a look too if I have time.

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If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God? - from 'Nightfall' by I. Asimov
The Outcasts consider Siniestre Nube a sacred place for several reasons. Early explorers discovered a jumphole within the depths of the cloud that leads to a strange world of ringed stars and strange craft. All ships in the burrial ground are placed facing that hole to honor the Alien Spirits. - An Outcast rumor

[mohr]

Wow man, that is awesome!

Quick question, is that a Dagger in the back that you got into 3D max? If so how in the world did you get it into 3D max? Are you able to change the textures and/or extract the textures? I would love to know how to get textures and models from freelancer into a 3D aplication. If you are able to assist me, I may just have to use the "L" word :ylove:.














:laugh:

Anywho, help on getting the original freelancer textures would rock.
Mohr

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[AlexPaladinStorm]

Ah. I figured out how to get the CMP Importer for Milkshape to work. I noticed this little file in the Milkshape direcctory called 'buggyplugins.txt' ... I basically just took the name of the CMP importer and put it in the list there, and Milkshape stopped having a heart attack every time I started it up. Then, I just used the importer and it got all the textures and such for me right where they needed to be, by going through the importer's steps.

(EDIT: I still wish there was a better format to import between Milkshape and 3DS MAX. Apparently the best I can do is use Autodesk 3DS format, which is not a MAX native format (MAX only opens proper MAX files, VIZ Render (.drf) files, and 3ds max Character (.chr) files directly- all others have to be 'Imported'), but it does come equipped with an importer for that file, and it seems to preserve the models and their materials almost perfectly. I have to make sure MAX recognizes and displays the textures, but all the info is there in an Autodesk-native format, so it's great)

That importer really should have the info about making sure it's in the 'buggyplugins.txt' file as part of it's readme or something.

I'm also just about to import all the other Border World ships into this MAX file so I can look at them and choose parts that fit the Acolyte best. I'm thinking of using the stems on either the Sabre (between the wingtips) or the Dromedary (for the engines) for the 'upper arm' parts that links the main body to the big arm segments.

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Currently: Remastering Kiith Somtaaw's Acolyte Fighter. These Homeworld ships need some Sirius work done on them. ^.-

"Do not interfere! We're here to protect the President! Schultzky's a traitor!"

For peace throughout the colonies! We will never forget..

"He who controls the [insert orange powder drug here] controls the universe!"

[Koolmo]

That looks awsome man, for a guy who's very fond of the homeworld ships, this is great! I look forward to flying it.

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<span style="color:#FFFF00">&quot;General Solo, is your strike team assembled?&quot;
&quot;Barely, they're pretty drunk.&quot; </span>
SCRA Recruiting--SCRA Feedback--SCRA Message Dump--SCRA Faction Status

I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it.

[AlexPaladinStorm]

Well, I'm doing what I can. I'm kinda not sure about some bits of the hull- I'd really like to try and use most of the Border World parts to conform to the general shape of the Acolyte, so as to best represent the Acolyte while still making it look like it was built in the Sirius Sector. The biggest obstacle to this will likely be the cockpit, but I'll get to that once everything else is done.


For now, I've got part of the main body (the next-big obstacle, I'd say - it's such a large piece, and not at all simple) done, here.

However, I'm considering just taking the middle piece of a BW Fightercraft (doesn't matter so much which one- though the Dagger probably offers the best possibility due to having the ventral side of the fuselage in one piece, and not having something sticking out of the middle) and essentially bending it to conform to the general shape of the Acolyte main body. As it stands, I'm trying to piece together various parts in order to get it to look right, and... it's just not progressing that well. I've got some nice ideas for it, but still...

[attachmentid=1459]

As you can see, I've kinda-sorta got the 'Starboard Intake' in there, but... I dunno. Maybe I just need to get a good night's sleep before I try to figure it out. But I'd like to just take a BW Fighter hull, slap it into the middle there, and try to tweak it to fit the Acolyte frame.

(EDIT: Please note that if I go with what I have, I will add a properly-aligned grill onto the Intakes. I'm not going to leave that undone. I may end up reskinning some of the parts if they're too warped once things are done)

However, I don't want to try too hard to tweak the BW fighter frame- I've already seen what happens when I try to mainly take a skinned part and stretch it into position. I didn't like it that much, and wanted the ship to look more... 'Border Worlds' ... So, the idea occurred to me to use a Dagger body and bend some of the polygons into the general shape of the Acolyte. However, I want to hear what you think of the idea, after looking at what I've got right now, and thinking of what I want to do.

(EDIT: The aforementioned warping could be avoided by keeping them more in the general likeness of BW parts, as well)

I could try and just rebuild the main body model completely, as well. That is another course of action. Still, I'd rather use what's there, and just adjust it. Potentially saves time. Maybe. o.O

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Currently: Remastering Kiith Somtaaw's Acolyte Fighter. These Homeworld ships need some Sirius work done on them. ^.-

&quot;Do not interfere! We're here to protect the President! Schultzky's a traitor!&quot;

For peace throughout the colonies! We will never forget..

&quot;He who controls the [insert orange powder drug here] controls the universe!&quot;

[mohr]

Hey man looking good!

Thanks again for the pointer on how to make milk shape work with the importer; hell of a lot easier then making your own textures. I like the work you've put into retexturing it, and I think if you got the time, a new model would rock. Keep up the good work and if you need help, just ask.

Mohr

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[AlexPaladinStorm]

Hm. You have a point about the new model.

And I decided I'd get some sleep before I did any more, but... I kept on plugging away at the thing. I've got the other stuff to the side, but I'm working on cropping down the main body of a Dagger to fit in as an Acolyte body, just in case I finally decided to stick with that.

So far, it's looking pretty interesting...

[attachmentid=1460]

EDIT: Yes, that's the nose of the dagger sitting above the engine. When I was looking around trying to figure out what parts best fit what, I looked at the tail of the Acolyte, and the nose of the Dagger, and went, "That... will fit nicely."

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Currently: Remastering Kiith Somtaaw's Acolyte Fighter. These Homeworld ships need some Sirius work done on them. ^.-

&quot;Do not interfere! We're here to protect the President! Schultzky's a traitor!&quot;

For peace throughout the colonies! We will never forget..

&quot;He who controls the [insert orange powder drug here] controls the universe!&quot;

[AlexPaladinStorm]

Update:

So... I've apparently let this idea of using the Dagger Hull get away from me. But guess what: I think it really is starting to look like an Acolyte. o.o

Take a look for yourselves:

[attachmentid=1461]

I think I really just need to tweak around with the cargo bay a bit (either get rid of it on the top, or adjust it to fit with the new structure, and use the Dagger's Cargo Bay animation somehow), and add the 'gun trench' on the underside of the cockpit. I've actually started the gun trench, but it needs more work for it to fit a pair of guns in there. I expect the Torpedo mount to be somewhere under the hull. I haven't quite figured that part out.

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Currently: Remastering Kiith Somtaaw's Acolyte Fighter. These Homeworld ships need some Sirius work done on them. ^.-

&quot;Do not interfere! We're here to protect the President! Schultzky's a traitor!&quot;

For peace throughout the colonies! We will never forget..

&quot;He who controls the [insert orange powder drug here] controls the universe!&quot;