Other game universe spacecraft

So, this could easily be a general topic I guess however I think it pertains directly to the 3D modelling part of the modding scene. Freelancer has a very solid ability to accept large numbers of new spacecraft. Many other game and sci-fi universes have numerous cool ships which are relatively to add in basic form from converted original models. The biggest issue is in blending them to fit with the existing vanilla Freelancer units. Has there been much consideration to recreating these alternate universe ships in the Freelancer style. while keeping as close as possible top the original designs? Thoughts anyone?

Copyright issues should be limited provided the work is original. I'm thinking more of recreations than direct ports of the geometry - more

'inspired by' than Taking someone else's work and dropping it in game as is. Mostly borrowing the shapes and style, with Freelancer style reworks of the geometry and textures to improve the ability of these "foreign" ships to blend in seamlessly into Freelancer. I'm not specifically considering anything larger than a pilotable Freighter or big fighter. I was specifically thinking of older games which have some iconic ships, but would need some improvements to the meshes - higher poly counts, more defined details without going overboard. Games such as Wing Commander series, Starlancer, Hellbender etc... nothing too modern with their complicated and much smoother models. Stay tuned, I'll make one up this week as an example project. Well once I get the repairs to my cars completed lol. I think it could make for some nostalgic fun in game.

The thing about existing mods with external univers content is that they rarely look like they were an intended part of the game. That's the part I'd like to change.

I've been reviewing the ships from Freelancer, Starlancer, Freespace, Homeworld 1 and Cataclysm, every Wing Commander, especially Privateer 2. I've been considering also the ships from Homeworld 2. Privateer 2 matches the designs of Starlancer pretty close, save for having well defined cargo bays and inoperable bay doors. The names rather suck lol. The style cues are also quite similar, with more defined textures. The original fighter models from the Wing Commander series are readily available for reference, drawn from the game files themselves as well as an incomplete collection of studio high poly models used for cut-scenes. Unfortunately the majority are either too low poly or too high poly. The good thing is they're perfect for proportion measurements. With that said, it will make reconstruction much easier. The textures will be approximations. They're too out of place within the existing art design of Freelancer. They need extensive reworks to fit the new style I'm going for. Reducing the studio model poly-counts is probably the worst part, and even there they'll need serious modification to work.

The other part of the work is that the remodeling includes removing the built in weapon parts of the meshes, and likely introducing symmetry with the asymmetrical models. They're unfortunately more difficult to balance out mounts for weapons and equipment, and can cause serious issues with keeping weapons on target. Additionally there's a number of issues to correct with the individual models to start with, since many are quite old and the modelling was fairly primitive. There's plenty of geometry errors to fix before they're useful as base templates.

I'm also looking for other iconic ships from older classic games. Specifically I'm looking for converted models from stock game files or free use user made models with specific free use licences from early games like Hellbender if anyone has a link or the files. Thanks