Posts by S-110

I'm not considering it, no. The point of what I'm doing is redesigned fighter and freighter models from other games so as to blend in with Freelancer's existing OEM ships. That means with Freelancer hard points, cargo bays, and tiled textures, and a certain amount of chunkiness in the redesigns. Were I making single piece skin textures it would be in the "maybe" category. I am working at improved scale Freelancer OEM textures that do not make extensive changes to the originals instead. Keeping the Freelancer vibe is at the heart of the project.

I also made one with the wings smaller and closer to the original location. Difficult placement to avoid the engine exhaust. Haven't decided which I like better yet.

Should add that the extracted Azan model from Starlancer had the wings misplaced but it looked good so I went with it.

Azan_3_4ths_2.jpgAzan_SL_Wings.jpg

Apart from some minor adjustments, textures are set. Things to do like smoothing, but happy with how it turned out. So Azan made in Sirius.

Azan_3_4ths_2.jpgAzan_aggr.jpgAzan_beauty.jpgAzan_dorsal.jpgAzan_nose.jpgAzan_rr_3_qt_drsl.jpgAzan_star.jpgAzan_tail.jpgAzan_ventral.jpg

Has been a tumultuous couple of years for me, but have finally got enough peace to get back to model work.

The 3D portion for a Freelancer version of the Coalition Azan is complete. Not going all out on textures, just using standard Freelancer textures and materials. Might seem a bit generic, but I want to see the effect in the game of blending imports to match. Would be interested to hear anyone's thoughts on this take. The new version is very close in dimensions to the old. Mounts provided for 4 guns, CD, CM, Mine, Shield and Thruster. Cockpit glass will be transparent, and hopefully the cargo doors will work.

Azan rendered with a clay filter to make the details visible.

Azan.jpg

The original Starlancer version for comparison.

Azan_original.jpg

Your dedication and perfectionism is not a negative. Very well done, good attention to detail and keeping faith with the Game's artwork theme. It's worth the frustration in the end when you have the satisfaction of knowing it's done right.

Risky? Never tell me the odds! lol

Seriously, looking forward to this

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

Excellent work, great ideas OP. It's readily apparent that you aren't the random "stuff in whatever can be scrounged" type of modder. My hat is off to you! Have seen way too many mods that have little structure or balance included in them. Refreshing to see real planning and measured additions to the content. Thanks for the continuing work!

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.

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.

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?

Beautiful work, looks like a perfect style fit with the existing models. Too many things out there that clash. This is great!

Thanks. It's a hobby at the moment but I won't rule out a mod in the future. Has been about 20 years since I really did any kind of serious work, so I'm mostly relearning old skills and cleaning the rust off.

I started this model yesterday, at the point of working on textures. Haven't decided between Bounty Hunter maps or Border Worlds style, but leaning towards BH. Would also work well witch Civilian fighter textures. I could make my own from scratch however that isn't really needed for this style of work. Although I could easily go with a higher poly count, I really like the simpler mesh designs of vanilla Freelancer. I'd like the model to blend into the existing styles rather than being obviously more modern. The engines are a little higher poly-count, but not much more than average FL models. The model is fairly complete save for the hard-points and interior faces.

Presenting the Spitfire

I've been having some success with MS3D 1.85 with OP's directions as he posted. If you own 1.84 then the updated version should be free. Seems to be more stable in general.

Looking good - always love seeing in progress work!

I was looking things over in SP. To be honest in the middle of a fur-ball, the destroyable pieces are rarely noticeable in game until the target is on the death roll, especially with the smaller ships. Mostly they're obscured by the flames smoke effects, so kind of pointless. For a brief moment there's a bit of debris then it blows up. Draw distance is fairly conservative with Freelancer, at least compared to current engines.

If combat was in a larger scale it might be worth doing, but I think I'll keep things as unified objects instead. I hadn't considered the loss of ability with hard-points getting destroyed. Makes sense would be extra frustrating in multi. Most other sims don't implement the damage mechanic the same way. An older mecha sim I like to meddle with, Starsiege, has something similar save it was designed earlier and less capable. I did play multi for years with that one. One of the primary complaints was indeed loss of weapons and equipment when a section was blown off the vehicle.

Thanks for the input

First up, an expanded "Star" model line-up:

Starflier VLF that's had the fancier cockpit sides from the unused Starblazer (all are based on this modified cockpit), and an enclosed chin position to allow mounting a CD

Startracker LF upgraded, will feature a stern mounted turret

Starblazer MF perhaps everyone's first mod. The model has been modified, but the changes are subtle. Nothing ostentatious.

Starchaser HF with changes from the base model including resizing the fuselage and additional lower hull/engine combo

Starhunter VHF a progression of the previous model and a couple additional pieces

Starslayer TB good anti-capitol firepower but not meant for serious dogfights

Starrunner LFr standard freighter, a contemporary of, but also an improvement on the Rhino

Starliner HFr improved freighter in the Dromedary's statistical area. Carries an additional turret at the cost of it's mine launcher mount

I still have a bit of minor work to do on them, and still considering whether to bother with LOD meshes or not. Haven't noticed an appreciable performance hit without them and the primary distance pushed out to the max in the scripts. Opinions?

Additionally, I've been digging through forum posts here and other sites. The consensus seems to be that having damage meshes (destroyable parts) cause performance issues especially during online play. I haven't been one for online play in many years, so I haven't had the opportunity to test it out. I haven't made the additional meshes yet. My time is limited so perhaps not, although fairly simple to add them later on. Any input?

Thanks! I'd thought something along those lines. With the tiled textures 512x512 is plenty for detail. I was thinking along the lines of a single texture used per model should it become necessary, but this works fine.

I do build more than kit bashes, but it's more suitable for some of what I want to do at the moment. See attached. When I have some originals finished I'll post them here.

Thanks again!

Hi all, what is the size limit on textures for 3D models in game: 256x256? up to 2048x2048? I would like to know what works.The available information seems to be somewhat ambiguous. The folks here have been at this a long time, figured if anyone would know...

Is there a limit on the .mat exporter for size? Number of textures that can be included per .mat file?

The civilian texture used on the stern of the VHF in the attached needs to be replaced anyhow so I was considering making some upgraded textures for the rest as well. Would like to avoid the trial and error method if possible.

Thanks!