How to mod a character model or create a new character model (@Bejaymac)

[zaxx kredda]

ok before i go any further, im new on a mod team called freeworlds. its in the transition from 1.68 to 18.31 ATM, but the next version will be 2.0…and thats where im helping out with building models. basically im replacing just about every unique bases, each planet base (or cityscape), and all the bars will get a face-lift too. im using the old ones as a template for size and general overall look, (and orientation) but they are completely new models. i will also be adding some new characters, ships and even new sound. this is on top of older material, but im getting the impression that it may not be a problem because we may actually discard the old mod completely and start over from scratch or use a template where the original devs are more friendly.

Bejaymac, i was told to ask you specifically if you would explain how to either create a new character model, or create new props, or just modify the textures of a character model, but properly insert them into the DFM file from UTF editor or any other UTF like editor.

i am using UTF editor and dont want to jack anything up before i begin poking around. i basically want to introduce a few new models, new textures, and even new voices for the bar patrons. so far the older mod has only props, and some are pretty good, but some are not all that great, but theres much room for improvement, and since im new on the mod team, and new to modding period, i really would love to know the answer to this.

also what else would need to be changed for the new stuff to be recognized? the music and voices should be easy enough, but im not sure about coding anything else that may pop up. any info on that would be great too.

so far im just building models and texturing, but the dev leader is probably expecting a little more.

[Bejaymac]

@zaxx:

Bejaymac, i was told to ask you specifically if you would explain how to either create a new character model, or create new props, or just modify the textures of a character model, but properly insert them into the DFM file from UTF editor or any other UTF like editor.

HHMMMM, sounds like someones giving me credit for something I haven’t done. I’m sorry to say that atm new DFM’s are still not possible, the most I’ve done is clone and reskin a couple, the person you really want is Aldebaran28 (Freeworld 1.66) as it was he who did most of the DFM & prop work back then, but he hasn’t been around in well over a year. He’s got a tutorial kicking around somewhere and I think part one of his plastic surgery kit is in the downloads ( female heads & props ie ponytails etc).

EDIT

Here’s a LINK to the tutorial.

[zaxx kredda]

thanks BJ i was looking for his tutorial, and hes one of the guys who left the freelancer mod a long time ago. i have been looking for either him or his tutes. i really appreciate the link! the problem is im new to the mod team for freeworlds, we are going to make a lot of changes, even new interiors and some new bases. so far im done with one base and making an interior. i can post pictures of a few here. the thing that will make it complete is the character cloning and adjusting. it was kind of thrown together a little, maybe just never updated. and it can be time consuming, from what i hear. but im eager to learn

heres a few pics of the stuff im doing now. completely new models and texture maps of both. going to replace the original mod cmp’s.

and thats just the very tip top of the iceburg. i have a lot of work in front of me, but i like this more than my regular job.

and thanks again for the help

i will post results of the character stuff later. gtg for now.

[mknote]

Mary Mother of…

Freelancer can do THAT?!

Anyway, one addition (read error fixing) of Al’s tutorial is that you can, in fact, use DDS textures with DFM files. All you need to do is invert them, same as you would any other DDS file in the game.

I can’t wait to see that Death Star in-game.

MK

[zaxx kredda]

so i would have to invert all the mips in photoshop and then it will show up right? ok i never heard of that but i will look out for it. im also going to convert all my lightmaps to .dds, becuase currently they are TGA.

and yes FL can do close to this as long as you stay within the guidlines like mapping correctly, not going over 65000 polys, and just good texture management. its not really fabulous, just more than the average creativity. im not sure about the shine on the floor, but if i cant do that, i will just replace the map with another one. the light maps like around the doors are just a simple plain texture mapped to both the diffuse and self illumination slots in the material editor. this is in max so its only going to look so good in FL, the omnis and spots will be gone.

theres a few different ones im using for glowmaps. some are .dds, but i have to change a few back from tga to dds

if anyone can think of any other bumps i may encounter i would appreciate it.

[FriendlyFire]

I’d suggest intensive testing to see if that behemoth can run on most computers. It’ll go fine on a 8800 GTX, but on a FX5500? Not so sure. Let alone the MX440 or Radeon 7500 Mobile…

You MAY want to include extreme LODs to lighten the load. Even better would be to cut it in pieces which would have independent LODs to reduce polycount.

Other than that, you’ll have to make it show up from VERY far. You may encounter something I call “polygon flipping”, which makes the whole mesh essentially flip its normals (sometimes only specific sections flip, for whatever reason), which looks very bad. There’s a way to counter this, but then you get an odd flickering on SPH-based planets (vanilla ones, for example) that also looks very bad. I never found any permanent solution, although I’d gladly use one.

[zaxx kredda]

ok i started work on the c3p0 prop for a custom character skin. i textured the model im max an heres the result from one continuous texture map (custom made from various stuff)

now i have it in ms3d so i can export it to a cmp, but im having difficuly applying the texture. most tutorials use outside programs to unwrap the model and texture it, i just want to do a basic texture similar to the max one, and i figured i would go ahead and start here rather than jump to the stations because im really lost at this point.

here is the screen of it in ms3d

what do i do next?
its already been moved and scaled to the correct size. i used another prop to compare it and move it where it was supposed to be, facing correctly and everything. but its not showing textures at all. and any attempts to map them still show the white skinning.

oops never mind heres hte texture in the viewports!!!

now how do i add a new map to the back where the cylinder sticks out? im not able to select anything right now for some reason…