Topic: The "SFC3 Community TOS Mod" project thread

[Khalee]

Post deleted by Khalee

[Towelie]

   I'm still wondering about the Borg. Of course we're going to use Roms and Klinks, but what to do about the Borg (besides changing my LONG overdue avatar)?

[Captain KoraH]

Here are my reasons for wanting the Borg to be monsters and not ships:


In SFC3...
1. Any race placed in the Borg slot will not bank when they turn.
2. Anything in the Borg slot will regenerate it's hull, like the Borg. This seems to work nicely for monsters, not so nice for Gorn or Mirak ships.

There are a lot of other reasons that relate soley to human played ships in races that replace the Borg, like not paying for repairs and such, but I think whatever we do with the 4th race it should be made non-playable regardless. Actually, I think it may be the best idea to make ONLY the Federation playable. I could do a lot more with the Fed music then...

[Towelie]

   Okay, no TOS Borg ships (would be cardboard box due to budget )

    Now we just need some nice monsters like, the doomsday machine, cystaline entity maybe (I know TNG). And of course, a giant ameba, maybe the Nomad probe.

    I've got quite a few TOS ships already to convert over. I need to look at Nannerslug's mod, but I haven't ran accross it yet. I'll download it tonight when I get back and mess with it.

  We need to compile a wishlist and I will try to put it together. I am having trouble with some models, like old transport ships, and space station K-7. The links to them are dead and I misplaced those models

[NannerSlug]

you can get my mod at www.starfleetcommand3.net

[Captain KoraH]

Towelie, try posting on the model forums, there are some guys there that have a collection of everything lol!

[HoratioHornblower]

I'm not a modder, rather an avid fan and user of some of the SFC mods ... but I'd like to definitely see this TOS mod being discussed! I urge the talented modders out there to collaborate and blow us away with the ultimate TOS mod!

   

[Towelie]

  They need a sticky thread over there that can be updated to keep current links to there collections. I've posted our request. I know we're going to get some great ships. They make ships far better than in the game. But of course that's because they use high polygon models that some of the lower end users cannot use due to lack of hardware.

  TOS ships definitely have a nice classic style. Back when I was still doing NZ-OP, I wanted to do a TOS, TMP and TNG style campaign since it uses different eras. But back then, I figured nobody would use it since broadband wasn't as common as it is today. Plus, I think Chris did one of those before or something similiar and not enough people played it (loosers didn't know what they're missing) (J/K).    

[Captain KoraH]

Now wee need to settle on some nice space monsters for the Borg slot. We don't need many, maybe 5 different ones. We can replicate the same monsters in the specs and just make the models bigger or smaller, and change the colors of the textures a bit to simulate "similar species" or something. Anybody know how many space aliens the Enterprise encountered?

[Sirgod]

If I may make a suggestion and It's only that, How about using the Borg Role for the Furies, from the novels. I've wanted to Fight against them for along time, and the concerns you had about Regeneration would fit that race Perfect. Of course they are not cannon, But a fascinating Race to want to Play.

Of course some new models would have to made for there ships, but I'll happily send a copy of the books to towlie If he has the time.

Stephen

[Towelie]

Quote:
If I may make a suggestion and It's only that, How about using the Borg Role for the Furies, from the novels. I've wanted to Fight against them for along time, and the concerns you had about Regeneration would fit that race Perfect. Of course they are not cannon, But a fascinating Race to want to Play.

Of course some new models would have to made for there ships, but I'll happily send a copy of the books to towlie If he has the time.

Stephen  

   I haven't made any from scratch models, only messed around with them. I need more studying and practicing to do my own models. But I do have the best tools to create them.
 
   I am still trying to find all my old TOS models. I've lost a couple either on a backup CD or just misplaced. I can convert them from SFC3 to SFC3 no problem and create damage textures and lighting.

   Something I was wondering about. Should we enhance some models SLIGHTLY so they don't look too low budget or boxy? Some of the Klingon and Romulan ships are a little simple and not too much flare. I was thinking maybe some slight enhancing here and there while maintaining the TOS look and feel.

   As for TOS monsters, WE GOT TO HAVE THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE!!!
 

[ActiveX]

I love the Invasion series...

[Captain KoraH]

Yeah Towelie, I think that some really nice clean TOS ships would be perfect. What I think we should strive for is for all the ships of each race to use the same colors. And, of course the best models we can find.  

[Towelie]

Quote:
Yeah Towelie, I think that some really nice clean TOS ships would be perfect. What I think we should strive for is for all the ships of each race to use the same colors. And, of course the best models we can find.  

   The best, I assume you mean we don't have to use the low poly models for the low end users? Because I got some high poly TOS ships. Have you seen the Mars class battleship? I will post some pictures of it later tonight. But it is an  incredible battleship done in TOS style with four nacelles. I forgot the orginal creator, I've got the name on file somewhere, I think it was either Wicked Zombie or Moonraker. I will post their name when I post the image. It's made for SFC2 but will be easy to upgrade for SFC3.    

[Captain KoraH]

Yes I think this should be the 100% best stuff we can get all the way. I want people to say "Damn!" when they play it!

[SghnDubh]

Hi all,
KoraH and I talked, and I have reserved  www.retrotrek.com and will build the site to host the mod and provide additional cool stuff to people who are interested.

We'll stick the site on a dedicated server and, of course, it will be completely free, with no ads/spam/pops/crap. Any thoughts/requests?

--SghnDubh

[Grav]

take your medication you are way way to generous to be in good mental health :P
Thank you alot Sgnh Dubh we all owe you big time

[Towelie]

  GREAT news. I think I have just about every TOS style ship for all races. Most of them are SFC2 so some converting is required.
 
   I've got starbases, space stations, outposts, frieghters, shuttles, two monsters including the Doomsday machine. I think I did an overkill, so I will be reviewing the models and start learning how to convert them. But we have the models I think, just got to check them out and see if they'll be acceptable and which ones will be best.

[Towelie]

   Okay, it's going to be quite a job of converting these ships. I can do it, but I got to practice at it now that I have these simple instructions ...

 

Quote:
 Greetings, if you're reading this, chances are that you're looking at this document in hopes of learning the (currently) semi-mystical and definitely arcane art of converting a ship from one version of Starfleet Command to another.

 

Good news!  It's not as difficult as you think!  Unfortunately though, you'll need a program like 3dsMax, Milkshape, Lightwave, or some other modelling program that can read in a ship file.

 

Now that you have that (grin), let's begin.

 

note!

·      The first thing that you need to know about converting a ship is how to get the ship into the format that your modelling program will handle.  .3ds is a very common file format that is widely supported, and is .LWO (Lightwave).  The Milkshape format (.MS3D) is not as widely used, and there's only a few programs that can read and write to its format, Milkshape being one of them.  However, Milkshape is also easy to use, has a similar interface to 3ds Studio Max, and is $20 or so to register.  A lot cheaper than the $3500 or so for 3dsMax.  Also, Milkshape has plugins written for it (by chrisofborg of assimilation software) that allows import and export of the SFC .MOD ship format.  All in all, a good deal.

 

I am going to use 3dsMax as the basis for the conversion process because that's what I use.  (Helps to get a several thousand dollar program at an auction sale for $25 or so).  

 

SFC 2 to SFC 3

I'm going to start here because, frankly.. this is where most of you will be starting.  With the opposite conversion (SFC3 to SFC2) being next.  To convert a ship from SFC 2 to SFC 3 involves a bit of work, namely access to a graphics program like Paint Shop Pro, Adobe Photoshop, or similar to start.  Then access to a modelling program that can weld vertices and replace dummpy points.  This is why I'm suggesting 3dsMax for this work, it can do all of this (except the graphics program stuff).  And downloading and installing the Taldren model plugins for your version of 3dsMax (or the assimilation software plugins for Milkshape with that program.)  Okay, let's start!

 

·      Open your model in your modelling program, and delete all the hardpoints/damage points in your ship.  Leave just the mesh itself.  Then if you can import a similarly configured ship from SFC 3 into the same space without replacing everything, do so.  Delete that ship's mesh, leaving only its hardpoints and damagepoints.  This is the easiest way to get these setup.. the hp/dp naming conventions change between SFC 2 and SFC 3.  Now, change the selection setups so that you can select all the vertices in the model.  Select them all and then weld them using a maximum of 0.1 (if you can).  You're now done all the meshwork for your main model... do a similar process for your break mod, selecting all vertices in each piece and welding them all seperately..

 

·      Now, open up your graphics program and load up a main ships texture.  This will become a damage texture.. one that will be revealed when the ship takes damage.  I like to start on the saucer top, but that's just me.  Now, here's where you get creative.. trash the surface of the texture.  Go for the "Dawn of the Living Dead" look here, but remember that you'll want to probably duplicate what you're doing on the illumination texture, so remember what you do and how you do it.  When you're done the first texture, save it as the same filename with the following change:  add a D right before the .bmp extension.

                        ie: saucertop.bmp   will be saved as    saucertopD.bmp

 

·      Now for the illumination texture.. this is the lit part of the ship that will "glow" when that part of the ship is dark and it takes damage.  Again, load the illumination texture for your first texture and do the same kind of work on this one, using a light color like light grey, white, yellow/orange (whathaveyou).. something to indicate a hot area of the ship, or interior damage taking lighting, etc.  It's named in the same fashion as the normal damage texture.

                        ie: saucertop_i.bmp   will be saved as    saucertop_iD.bmp

 

·      Now that your damage textures are done, and your mesh work is done.. you're almost done.  Your ship could be dropped right into SFC 3 if you replace a stock ship, and it will now show up.  It'll be dark.. and it may look waxy.. but it'll be there. There's a few more things to do, two of which I know how to do, one of which I don't know all of.  (Sorry).  The first thing is relatively simple.. generate the picture files that will show up in the library, tactical, and beauty shot areas.  You can actually do this with Print Screen, a program that can crop and resize the cropped area, and Taldren's Modviewer of all things.. or you can render your picture directly from your modelling program.  The important thing here is the picture sizes, and picture names which are as follows:

 

                        Beautyshot:

                        dimensions:     304x241

                        filename is:      *_BS.bmp

 

                        Tactical:

                        dimensions:     141x157

                        filename is:      *_TI.bmp

 

                        Library:

                        dimensions:     598x365

                        filename is:      *_VL.bmp

 

·      Next, you need the SFC 3 modeltools from Taldren, these will allow you to "glow" your ship, plus recache your information to size your ship properly and generate the .X files that it needs.  I'm not going to go too indepth with the glowtools, there's help files inside the program.  The one trick that I've found to generate new glowfiles is to copy an old one into your ship directory with the same filename as your ship (ie: fca.gf for a ship named fca.mod) and then clear all glow groups and start glowing your ship.  Just seems to work better for me.  When you're done glowing the ship, save attributes and recache.

·      The last thing to do is generate string files, and I can't help you here because I've never done them... however, your library descriptions are also done now and they're named shipname.txt and shipname R.txt with the classname at the end of one of these.  Grab a SFC 3 ship for examples of everything here... it'll be a learning experience for you.  After all this, you should be ready to fly in SFC 3!

 

   There's a little more to it that just that for each ship. I will get started on this. We now have all the pieces, just got to put them together. Of course if there's anyway to get some help on this project, that would be great. Right now I got to sort out all the models and decide what to use and convert over.  

[I_Mudd]

Quote:

  The First Federation was a giant sphere (yes, I'm home early).  

Yeah, you're right. The Fesarius was a huge spherical ship. It was the First Federation Marker buoys that were cubes.

 

I_Mudd.