Haegemonia LOI/TSH - Modding

BBalazs

It’s not a mod, just a proof-of-concept, that the thing works.

Hardpointing:
Refer to the tutorial found in the modding tools “Docs” and “Haege_tutorial” folder. However, because they are somewhat hard to read I will help you out.

To place a hardpoint, you need to place a dummy object (small square) or a point object (small cross) and name it appropriately. Refer to the example file of the corellian corvette for the basics. For the advanced stuff, refer to the human cruiser example file. Dummies are found in the create object –> helpers section of 3ds max. Read the max tutorial for details.

Hierarchy is very important. Use 3ds max’s assign command to set up a hierarchy tree, and refer to the tutorials and the human cruiser for details. However, I will try and help you; a standard hierarchy looks like this:

Dummy01 (helper, dummy)
–> hull (geometry, mesh)
–>–> lp_hull (geometry, mesh - low poly hull. This is the ‘sur’ file)
–>–> hpengine01 (helper, dummy)
–>–> hpweapon01 (helper, dummy)
Dummy02
–> wing01
—>—> lp_wing01
—>—> hpweapon02

The base of the ship should be named “hull”. The “wing” is an object that can fall off the ship.
You must (should) always create a base dummy and link it to a piece of geometry.

Animation for parts falling off is an advanced topic. If you are interested, I can help you, but you should try to get a ship working in-game first.

Ship sizes:
~20 3ds max units: fighter
~200 3ds max units: cruiser

Nova

BBalazs wrote:
Dummy01 (helper, dummy)
–> hull (geometry, mesh)
–>–> lp_hull (geometry, mesh - low poly hull. This is the ‘sur’ file)
–>–> hpengine01 (helper, dummy)
–>–> hpweapon01 (helper, dummy)
Dummy02
–> wing01
—>—> lp_wing01
—>—> hpweapon02

How to create this
Where to look the hierarchy and how to edit it

BBalazs

You have created your mesh (name: hull) and your dummy (name: dummy01).

1: Select your mesh
2: Click the assign tool (find it in the toolbar near the select tool)
3: Click the dummy

This will create the following hierarchy:
Dummy01
–>hull

You can check this by entering the select by name tool and clicking the display subtree checkbox.

Nova

To export models from game…
OMG!! 3D Ripper

Works excellent
http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/9880/3dst.png

BBalazs

I have also tried yesterday, but I had no luck. I attempted capturing a Solon Leech - so I started a skirmish, built one of the things, pressed F12 to capture. Capture was finished in a very short time, but when I imported it to max, well, only the planets got imported, and even those were distorted. I have no idea what I’ve done wrong.

Nice to see that military base extracted. I still have the opinion that the Haeg models are very beautiful.

Nova

BBalazs wrote:
only the planets got imported, and even those were distorted. I have no idea what I’ve done wrong.

Maybe planets is big and you didnt find a ships?
It exports some strange planets, i deleted em and pressed a Z to center view on other objects.
Yes, objects scaled down in one of the axis… use “scale” to make them normal.

find em
http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/9808/87204239.jpg
delete a planet and look to ships (Z button is useful)
http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/484/74675753.jpg
scale by one of the axis to make scene normal
http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/1254/89185717.jpg
delete all except you need and center the model
http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/6691/65596217.png

? Offline

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/6691/65596217.png

Bretonian Carrier! X)

BBalazs

Thanks - turned out I didn’t look close enough.
Too bad it doesn’t export animations - that way, we’d have template files to use any kind of animation in custom models.

It’s so sad this game never got that famous. Building slightly on Master of Orion 2, it’s far better than any other space RTS in my opinion.

Timmy51m

If things you capture look distorted then check you are using the correct fov values on the import plugin for max. Usually there is a recommended value in a drop down tab if the plugin is working correctly.

Freestalker.fr

I love Darzock and Kariaks ships!

NovaII

Hiyo.
Found my old CD and installed a game again with modding kit and and wanna make a map for myself.
Having such trouble: game works perfect, but i cannot enter the editor. When I press Shift+F10 it starts loading, but when it finishes game shows error and closes.

Win 7 x64, c++ redistributable 2008 and 2010 installed, .net framework 4.5 too. What may cause such thing?

BBalazs

Well, back in those days I did come across exactly this problem myself as well. I never really managed to solve this though, because I had built my own level editor tool from scratch instead…

However, an intelligent guess from experience is that the error MIGHT be caused by the game’s inf files being compressed/encrypted. If you replace your .inf files with the ones provided in the modding tools (the package contains unencrypted inf files), things just MIGHT work. Never tested, though.

If you want to try, please be careful in the sense that the unencrypted inf files in the modding tools are NOT the same structure as the encrypted ones in the game. The modding tools files use ‘include’ statements, while the ones shipped with the game have everything embededded in every single file. This means you can’t just ‘copy over’ the original files, technically you have to carefully replace each file structure out there, and there is no guarantee it might ever even work.

Consider using Tib’s editor (less powerful but more straightforward and easier to use) or my editor, Haegemonia Level Planner (more powerful, but less straightforward and requires a degree of understanding how levels work in TSH).

It’s been a long time since I’ve worked with Haeg. However, should you need help, I’m happy to answer.

NovaII

Thanks. Yes, i have an understanding, but I need editor cuz I have no sense of systems coordinates. I don’t like Level Planner cuz it cannot import map file into itself, so it’s possible to create map only from nothing.
Oh, where can I dl Tib’s or your editor to try?

BBalazs

They are available on ModDB, under the Downloads section of Haegemonia Vector Prime. I won’t post a link because it might interfere with forum regulations, but it shouldn’t be hard to find in Google.

However, I have a bit of bad news, too. Just like Level Planner, Tib’s editor is also not capable of loading up level.inf files. In part this is there to protect anything you create and publish using these tools, and in part because neither of us had the time to parse into .inf files directly.
And there is no third editor - the program I made was Level Planner.

However, if that helps, I can give you a base Level Planner system for the TSH map “Firestorm”. I think I haven’t changed the format much, so it should be the correct version; pardon me if something ends up wrong, because it’s been waaay too many years.

Or, I have just about all Freelancer systems in Level Planner files, if you are interested. They are level-ready, just need a bit of cleaning up here and there. But I’ll only give them away if you ensure me that you’ll give me proper credit and send me an e-mail if you make a level out of them - because I might be interested in playing it.