Hwo to make ships,weapons,bases
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Well, there’s a number of different ways you could do it. For the models I’d recommend you do in it 3D Studio Max, then import it into FL format. As for making .sur files, placing it in a game, etc. You can look around here and I’m sure you’ll find everything you need.
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For ships try this:
http://the-starport.net/modules/wfdownloads/singlefile.php?cid=5&lid=537
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http://eoa.seriouszone.com/colinsanby.php#cmpexporter
^cmp-exporter
for gmax I use a Quake III .MD3 exporter.
edit: http://iwnation.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8162&mode=threaded that one should do it.
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No it is not difficult per se, because we have re-written the methods and pointed out the problems we used to have, but it just takes many steps.
I’m feeling like writing another “wall of text” for you, so here goes, get a cup of coffee first and then pin your ears back! lol
This is a general guide, go find your own utilities and other guides for some of the steps below.
Ship Modelling
Tutorial: see drizzt4.0_ship_creating_tutorialv1.5.pdf
First, focus on making your new ship. Use a scale of 1 small square in MilkShape = 1 square metre. You can also later resize the ship so don’t worry too much in the beginning. But ensure that the ship is pointing upwards (North) in the Top View pane (bottom-left panel), and Left in the Left View pane (top-right panel). Remember that the Front View pane (top-left panel) is showing the view from the back of the ship towards the front, so the left parts are left and the right parts are right!
When you are making your ship you must make it in less than 18 groups - a group might be the ship nose, the left engine, or left wing, for example. Then right engine and right wing are two more groups.
If you make your own textures, or use ready made ones, export them in .dds format - be careful as only PhotoShop’s nVidia DDS filters make reliable dds exports every time. GIMP and PAINT.NET DDS filters make mistakes sometimes and it can take ages to find out it’s the .mat files (see below) that you made with those bad dds textures that are causing the problem. Ensure that your dds textures are either square or twice the width as height, e.g. 256 x 256 x 72bpi, 512 x 256 x 72bpi, 512 x 512 x 72bpi or 1024 x 512 x 72bpi. These are safe proportions and resolution, I don’t care what anyone else says about this, I have proven this for myself through hours of problem solving after causing myself these difficulties.
When you export the dds textures from PhotoShop to use in your MilkShape materials, use dds-dxt1 or dds-dxt3 only! Then create your material in MilkShape, and import your dds texture into it.
When you would normally use solid colours in MilkShape as a MilkShape material, this will fail the export. So don’t do that, instead use PhotoShop to create the same solid colour, gradient, or other effect you want as 256 x 256 x 72 or 512 x 512 x 72 image, and export that as dds too, then import it into the MilkShape material.
Keep saving your model in new files as you go, in case you want to undo something serious.
When your ship model is finished, you must centre your ship at the origin. To do this, Select all of the ship’s groups and click Move, and move them to the origin - Absolute 0, 0, 0. This is important.
Save the ship model, and back it up into a second folder too!
Now you can check the scaling:- Import the pilot model from DATA\EQUIPMENT\MODELS\PILOT\ship_pilot.3db and move him with his chair into position where you want him in your ship. Does the ship size look right for the pilot? If you need to resize the ship, carefully invert your selection so that only all the ship parts are selected, then use Scale in all axes by 0.01 or -0.01 until you are happy with the scaling in relation to the pilot - do NOT resize the pilot by accident!
When you are happy, delete the pilot and his chair and save the model again as a new name, and back it up into a second folder too.
Now you can add hardpoints either in MilkShape or wait until after the export and add them in HardCMP. HardCMP is a bit harder to do but is more accurate and more reliable (see below).
If you want to try to add hardpoints in MilkShape, in the Top View pane just make an isosceles triangle (face) sized 0.20m height (length) x 0.10m base (width), and put its centre exactly where the centre of the hardpoint should be, and if necessary, rotate the whole triangle so that the tip points in the direction you want the hardpoint to point. For gun hardpoints you might want to sit the triangle on the ship wing surface or fuselage surface, and angle it to be in line (parallel) with the ship surface in all directions. The original exporter tries to do this automatically but gets it wrong sometimes.
The hardpoints must be named as follows:-
Hp\Fixed\HpMount - this should be below the ship in the centre
Hp\Fixed\HpTractor_source - where the tractor beam starts from
Hp\Fixed\HpCM01 to Hp\Fixed\HpCMxx - countermeasure launcher - face this forward, not backwards
Hp\Fixed\HpThruster01 to Hp\Fixed\HpThrusterxx - countermeasure launcher - face this forward, not backwards
Hp\Fixed\HpMine01 to Hp\Fixed\HpMinexx - mine launcher - face this forward, not backwards
Hp\Fixed\HpBayDoor01 - just inside the ship where cargo might be ejected from
Hp\Fixed\HpBayDoor02 - outside the ship in the direction of cargo ejection and about 2 to 4 metres higher than HpBayDoor01
Hp\Fixed\HpContrail01 to Hp\Fixed\HpContrailxx - face this forward, not backwards
Hp\Fixed\HpEngine01 to Hp\Fixed\HpEngine09 - face these forward, not backwards
for more than 10 engines, add:
Hp\Fixed\HpEngine010 to Hp\Fixed\HpEngine099 - face these forward, not backwards
Hp\Fixed\HpEngineGlow01 to Hp\Fixed\HpEngineGlowxx - if you want to attach engine glow lighting
Hp\Fixed\HpShield01 to Hp\Fixed\HpShieldxx
Hp\Revolute\HpWeapon01 to HpWeaponxx
Hp\Revolute\HpTurret01 to HpTurretxx
Hp\Revolute\HpTorpedo01 to HpTorpedoxx
Hp\Fixed\HpPilot - if you want the pilot model to show in the cockpit - use only small ships with clear canopies.
Hp\Fixed\HpCockpit - I always place a cockpit in every ship, where the cockpit or control room might be. In small ships put it in front of the HpPilot if you have one
Hp\Fixed\HpRunningLight01 to Hp\Fixed\HpRunningLightxx
Hp\Fixed\HpDockLight01 to Hp\Fixed\HpDockLightxx
Hp\Fixed\HpHeadlight - if only 1
or:
Hp\Fixed\HpHeadlight01 to Hp\Fixed\HpHeadlightxx - if more than 1NOTE: There is no HpScanner, do NOT create such a hardpoint!
Remember to place the centre of the triangle where you want the centre of the hardpoint to be.
If you have placed your hardpoints in MilkShape then you must make sure all of these hardpoint entries are at the bottom, the last items in the MilkShape Groups tab list, and do not include them in the Group count in the .cmp exporter parameters.
You can now export your model using the .cmp exporter v03 - ensure you follow one of the tutorials or guides for doing that.
Before closing MilkShape, export the materials (but only the ones that are used, delete any others you created that are not used) as a new myship.mat file using the mat exporter. I never export the materials into the .cmp file for ships, I always follow the Freelancer “standard” way.
If you want to make your hardpoints in HardCMP, here’s how…
Open your ship .cmp in HardCMP. Turn it to face how you want for easy placement of your hardpoints.
Click New. Select “Attached to” the ship group that you want - root, or whichever wing or engine or other part the hardpoint will sit on.
First make your HpMount as follows:
1. Click New
2. select Attached to Root
3. click Fixed
4. select Name: HpMount from drop-down list
5. uncheck “use numbering scheme”
6. click OK
7. In Position Y: enter -10 for a small ship, up to -200 for large ships.
8. click ValidateSee how the hardpoint looks.
HpMount is important, it is used as a “foot” for sitting the ship on the dock floor when it is in dock, and for docking, and for entering jumpgates and jumpholes. If it’s very far down on a very large ship it can cause difficulties in doing these things, but the ship may look nice up in the sky when it is docked. You have to try and change until it is right for you.
Patiently do the rest of the hardpoints that you want on your ship, you don’t need to have them all. You must have:-
HpMount,
HpTractor_source,
HpEngine01The others are all optional.
Use the Position X, Y, Z values to place it in exactly the right place.
Use the Orientation X, Y, Z values to turn, tilt and rotate the hardpoint to be parallel with the surfaces it sits on. Be patient, these can be tricky so change one value at a time and check, until you learn the errors.
For Revolute hardpoints, set the Angle Max = from 0 to 360 as you like, but always positive, and Angle Min = from 0 to -360 as you like, but always negative.
When you have finished, save your model in at least two copies, one of them in a backup folder somewhere, because HardCMP and other utilities make errors when saving or changing a model! In particular, HardCMP sometimes adds hardpoints twice when you add them to an existing model and then save it!
Now you will need to make a .sur file for your ship - there are lots of difficult tutorials for doing that!
Or you can resize an existing plain FL ship sur to fit your ship by using FL ModelTool.
Or you can join us in waiting for Lancer’s sur generator to be released!
You also need to make a cockpit.ini for your ship - copy an existing one that looks right and modify the internal camera distances to fit your ship views.
I usually copy the file COCKPITS\LIBERTY\l_elite.ini to my new ship folder and name it myship_cockpit.ini and then modify that, so I can have a unique cockpit for almost every ship. If they are exactly the same it doesn’t matter, I just copy the one I want and give it this ship’s name.
If you want a different cockpit shape than the one in your ini file, go and find the file COCKPITS\LIBERTY\MODELS\li_elite_cockpit.cmp so you understand where it is, then go find another cockpit model that you want to use, and change the line
mesh = cockpits\liberty\models\li_elite_cockpit.cmp to make it the path to the cockpit model you want.You can also design your own cockpit model, there is a guide for that too somewhere! But this will of course add to your manufacturing time, as with real ship production! lol
Then - you need to add your new ship’s .cmp, .mat, .sur and cockpit.ini files into the DATA\SHIPS\MyShips\Myship folder.
Then define your ship in DATA\SHIPS\shiparch.ini using an existing similar ship as a template and change the right parts to suit your ship. Note the line cockpit =? Change it to cockpit = SHIPS\MyShips\Myship\myship_cockpit.ini
If your ship does not have an HpPilot hadpoint, you can remove the following line:
pilot_mesh = generic_pilotNote the line camera_offset = 8, 35? The 8 is the external view camera height above the origin Y=0, and the 35 is the camera distance from the origin, Z=0. This is fine for fighters, but for larger ships you will need to change this to get good viewpoints.
Note these values and open your myship_cockpit.ini, and place these values in the following bold lines:-
[Cockpit]
mesh = cockpits\liberty\models\li_elite_cockpit.cmp
int_brightness = 0.500000
head_turn = 40, 15
[CockpitCamera]
[TurretCamera]
tether = 0, 8, 35
yaw_rotate_speed = 2
pitch_rotate_speed = 1
accel_speed = 5
[RearViewCamera]
view_position = 0, 8, 35If your myship_cockpit.ini doesn’t have the last two lines then just add them.
Then, make new myship_hull and myship_package entries for your ship in DATA\EQUIPMENT\goods.ini - again copy and paste an existing similar ship as a template and modify the right parts to suit your ship. For now, keep the item_icon line the same as the original ship just to try it out, this is the shipdealer icon, and we will make a new icon later.
Note: when you add equipment, weapons and shields, etc. in goods.ini myship_package, the hardpoint class for those hardpoints must be able to mount that class of equipment or weapon!
e.g. in goods.ini in myship_package…
addon = shield01_mark03_lf, HpShield01, 1in st_equip.ini for shield01_mark03_lf:-
hp_type = hp_fighter_shield_special_3These classes are defined in the myship entry in shiparch.ini, e.g.:
hp_type = hp_fighter_shield_special_3, HpShield01
hp_type = hp_fighter_shield_special_2, HpShield01
hp_type = hp_fighter_shield_special_1, HpShield01Your new ship’s name and information:
Note the lines below:
… in goods.ini:-
ids_name = 237034… and in shiparch.ini
ids_name = 237034
ids_info = 66570
ids_info1 = 66571
ids_info2 = 66608
ids_info3 = 66572You will need to modify ids_name, ids_info, ids_info1, and ids_info3 to match your ship. These are the ship name and information cards (infocards). Look up the existing ones using FLEd-ids or FL-Dev and create new similar ones for your ship, and place the new infocard numbers in these values. Note that ids_info2 = 66608 is the universal template (stats info structure) card for all ships, and does not need to be changed, leave it as 66608.
Then add the myship_package to DATA\EQUIPMENT\market_ships.ini in the base section where you want it to be sold:-
marketgood = myship_package, 20, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1- remember the maximum is 3 ships per base! And the parameter 20 means the player must be level 20 to buy this ship. Leave the rest as 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1.
Finally!
You can now run the game and try to find and buy your ship at the base you placed it into in market_ships.ini. Note the shipdealer icon will be that of the original ship, not yours just yet…
If you bought the ship successfully, fly out of the dock and check your views from the cockpit and camera view. Then dock again. If all is OK (I doubt it!) then fly into a well-lit and safe area of the system, press H to go to Turret View. If your views are not OK, modify the settings in the myship_cockpit.ini to get a well-positioned view. Turn your camera viewpoint to get a good view of the ship for the shipdealer icon, and press PrtScrn on your keyboard to take a screenshot to your clipboard. Break out of FL and paste the clipboard image into your favourite image program or even paint or Word, whatever you have. Save it as myship_icon.jpg somewhere where you can find it. Look at it. If it’s not good go back into the game and take another one until you are happy. Enjoy flying and testing your new ship, and fix any problems in camera views or handling - just ask if you need help.
When you have time, use Osprey’s tutorial to make your new icon. Do it the long way, it only takes another 10-20 minutes and you will have a really good clean icon file that will not interfere with other ships.
Then place the icon file (it will be called myship.3db) in your ship’s folder, and in your myship_hull section in DATA\EQUIPMENT\goods.ini, change the item_icon line to item_icon = DATA\SHIPS\MyShips\Myship.3db.
So - it’s really just a matter of many steps, each is not too complex although some may be long or tedious.
Have a go, and if you get stuck, just ask a specific question with some detail of the problem, and we will all try to help, we’re a normally friendly helpful bunch of weirdos!
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StarTrader wrote:
fly into a well-lit and safe area of the system
Can’t help you with the modelling, but I can at least help with the testing. FL Hack has an option to turn off lighting (making everything bright) and Console can set your reputation/turn off collisions, making every area safe (apart from radiation, but godmode takes care of that, too).
