[SOLVED] Help With custom model

cmp do need the cons\fix node, not any sur. this is why you can use any model in a thn without the need of a sur (as thn’s don’t care about them anyway). it is the sur that attaches to the cmp not vice versa.

Well, here is the lesson again guys…

Someone else tried making .mat files by hand and got into trouble too.

So? Don’t do it!

Export your materials from MilkShape into a MAT file using the MAT Exporter plugin, it is foolproof if you do this:-

When you use what I call solid colours (e.g. white, red, black blue etc) for a texture by using MilkShape’s own material/texture colour controls, do NOT do that, because the exporter looks for external files and doesn’t find them, so it does not put them into the .MAT file.

So to help it work, make your solid (or gradient too) colours in your favourite image editor, and export them as .tga (or .DDS) as external files. Then link those to your MilkShape material and all will be fine when you export.

Be sure you name your materials with unique names that are not in any other FL model - use your imagination, put the ship name in front for example, e.g. excalibur_red, excalibur_glass etc.

If you don’t do this the texture you see in game on your ship may be from another ship loaded by FL that had the same material name!

Ha StarTrader you weren’t talking about me where you :lol:

i think to make textures smaller in size you don’t create mip-map versions with them as i think i saw in your .mat. I’m pretty sure freelancer doesn’t use them so why bother waisting the space. Although someone should clarify that.

Ozed.

well, i would make simplified textures at least for low LOD models (honestly, if an object is so far out, why would you need a detailed texture on it, you won’t recognise the details anyway and it would only cost RAM).
also i have to disagree with StarTrader: i have made Mat files by hand and it works just fine. it is rather important to know what youre doing going for it but that’s it. i made it especially because of one colored textures, where i used glass material with alpha = 1 so i could cover the whole face with one color without having any texture for the material in the mat file. you only have to assign your groups materials with names equal to the node names of your mat file, that’s it. this way retextures are possible, too, as the mat is absolutely independent from the cmp.

well i thought that those mip-maps are texture images reduced by a markable size so they look more blurry and are smaller in general. the game does consume less RAM displaying them which is why all vanilla models have got reduced textures on their reduced models for further out LODs

Gisteron wrote:
…
also i have to disagree with StarTrader: i have made Mat files by hand and it works just fine. it is rather important to know what youre doing going for it but that’s it. …

I fully agree with you! You need to know what you are doing.

There seemed to be no checking after creation, just blind trust.

I’m just giving a little advice - that it’s not a good idea to do it by hand because there are chances of making these mistakes, since the MAT exporter does a solid job of it, use it. It’s fast too.

I have learned by trial and error like many others here who offer our advice.

In another thread someone else threw in that the easy way to make ship icons is to export from MilkShape using the .3db exporter, after I recommended Osprey’s tutorial. The .3db exporter does NOT make a correctly structured file to one of the originals, it omits one node completely.

Whereas doing it using Osprey’s method leads you to understand the structure of the icon file, and you will learn to quickly modify a standard one correctly.

Anyway, we can lead you horses to the water, but we can’t make you drink it, that’s up to you.

Keep pushing the limits, some of them are great discoveries.

Actually, I have Photoshop CS4 and I used that one to convert the files to dds without the alpha channel. I do use alpha channels but for glowmaps/lightmaps. With the tools around why would you make them by hand?? I only edit the lightmaps on by hand or to adjust the setting after conversion.