Topic: Animated Textures. (Read 2621 times)

I_Mudd · « **on:** October 26, 2003, 04:02:24 am »

Is there any way to assign a custom texture to a dummy.mod, such as the Organian ship, suns, plasma and photon projectiles, damsge sparks, and the Doomsday Machines maw?

Before anyone says its hard coded into the game, there was a model done quite a ways back called "the juggernaut" that utilized an animated texture, similar to the Doomsday Machines maw.

I've been wracking my brain on how to get cetain effects into the game, such as a space ameoba, First Federation buoys, Tholian webs, and Ionic weapons. It would seem that the only satisfactory way to get any of these things to work would be withanimated textures assigned to dummy.mods. for that matter, we could have animated bussard collectors and blinking running lights on ships, as well.

Where there is a will, there may be a way. Any ideas, anyone? Taldren?

I_Mudd.

Steelviper33 · « **Reply #1 on:** October 26, 2003, 07:19:15 am »

Know where i can find the Juggernaught?
Ill take a look at it through 3ds Max

Steelviper33 · « **Reply #2 on:** October 26, 2003, 07:46:20 am »

Okay, i just downloaded the Juggernaught...I dont see any animated textures or anything of the sort...

I_Mudd · « **Reply #3 on:** October 26, 2003, 08:24:46 am »

Put it in the game.

The Mod viewer doesn't display the dummy.mods or it's effects, and you won't be able to see the effects in Max, as I believe the dummy is assigned a texture in the texures folder.. I'm pretty sure there is a dummy near it's fore (or was it aft...been so long since I looked at it...) that will be named exactly the same name as the Doomsday Machines maw dummy.

I want to know how we can do this, and make new effects, like a Organian's ship.

I_Mudd

Steelviper33 · « **Reply #4 on:** October 26, 2003, 08:27:14 am »

Ooooh...i dont have the game installed...hehe

Mind posting up a screenie?

I_Mudd · « **Reply #5 on:** October 26, 2003, 08:42:53 am »

Sure, after I get home from work around 5-ish.

I_Mudd.

Klingon Fanatic · « **Reply #6 on:** October 26, 2003, 09:21:15 am »

Certain ship textures do give the illusion of animation. For example: Moonraker's FBCH Ulysses Class. The warp engine textures move at certain angles and give it a "power fluctuation" effect. The idea of adding animation has been visited before I *think* WZ45 tried to add saucer lights using lit/unlit LOD files? I'm not 100% sure so WZ45, I apologize up front. However, he has done some research in this area.

We have made some progress on the Tholian web; we now have TWO mod files for it.

Keep going I_Mudd this is a worthy endeavour!

Qapla!

KF

I_Mudd · « **Reply #7 on:** October 26, 2003, 06:21:42 pm »

It never fails, when you think you'll be home by one time, you end up working late until another.

I just download the Juggernought from Ghost's site, as I did about a year or so ago when I made the animated texture discovery. I thought I had the original download on disc, but I couldn't find it. The file has been since changed and updated to include Shipedit stats and a couple of FMSE missions. Cool, I thought, until placing it in game, where no animations appear now. I'm not crazy, I know the Doomsday Machine-like animations were there ( I feel like I'm reporting a UFO here ... ).

I'm going to do a little expiramenting on my own and see what I come up with. The game will support this feature, as the DM and the Organians are proof, however, it remains to be seen if these effects can be translated to a player model.

I_Mudd.

Smiley · « **Reply #8 on:** October 26, 2003, 06:25:49 pm »

The Doomsday and Organian models that you speak of, why can't you just have a look at them and their textures?
I asked about animated textures about 6 months ago and I was told almost point blank by about 3 of the forums' then experienced modellers that it couldn't be done.

Can you use GIFs as textures in SFC3? I know you can use TGAs and JPGs but not about GIFS...maybe an aninmated GIF as a texture?

I_Mudd · « **Reply #9 on:** October 26, 2003, 06:56:46 pm »

The DM has an actual model to examine, but the Organian is a dummy.mod, which supports my thinking that there must be a way to assign textures to a dummy.mod. I'm pretty sure, however it's done, it will be much the same as for photons, disruptors, probes and plasma weapons; possibly even phasers-as they originate from a dummy.mod and strike on a dummy.mod; i.e. hardpoints.

After looking at the textures for the DM maw effects and the Organian, there seems to be a definate connection to the way the Plasma and photons are done. The DM's texture, called pk-maw.bmp, is larger - thus fewer animation 'frames' than the Organian, Photon and Plasma. The process as to how they animate and how they are assigned is what eludes me, thus far. If indeed they are assigned to dummy.mods, then there must be a file which tells the game engine the difference between an Organian and a type G Plasma.

More as I figure this out,

I_Mudd.

Smiley · « **Reply #10 on:** October 26, 2003, 07:00:14 pm »

Can you please send me this DM and it's textures so i can have a look too?

I_Mudd · « **Reply #11 on:** October 26, 2003, 07:41:50 pm »

Check your email smiley. There's a planet killer in there.

I_Mudd.

Smiley · « **Reply #12 on:** October 26, 2003, 07:53:47 pm »

Got it, thanks

Smiley · « **Reply #13 on:** October 26, 2003, 08:08:22 pm »

Hmm, how very boring and unrevealing!

All of the models' hardpoints are in the "maw" of the mesh. None of them have unusual names, simply Hardpoint1 through Hardpoint10.

No objects other than the 3 LODs - nothing to reference the pk-maw.bmp file in the textures directory under the model's directory.

Tis a mystery that one can only assume about. It must be a sprite ingame that is loaded by the script or something. Anyone tried playing as the Doomsday device in a non-scripted mission (i.e instant battle) to see if the animation works there too?

Pestalence · « **Reply #14 on:** October 26, 2003, 08:52:22 pm »

has anyone tried making an animated *.gif file, then going and renaming the file manually to *.bmp, then attaching it to the model?

to me I think it would work as it tricks the game into pulling an animation in under a *.bmp disguise.. Since I can't model worth a flip.. could someone test this out using a renamed animated *.gif file?

thanks

Edit : I'll try this using a current Gif of mine and seeing how it works in game..

Thanks

Edit #2 : Well, I just tested this theory.. and it don't work... however it would be cool to get Animations in on the ships.. I have been wanting an Organic ship in the game, using the damaged textures to animate like damage is being repaired...

I_Mudd · « **Reply #15 on:** October 26, 2003, 10:23:13 pm »

hmm. Just got an idea.

SFC only likes TGAs(?), BMPs and PNGs. Windows 95-98SE used a Logo.sys file (or something like that...) which was nothing more than a 'sequential BMP', with a file extension change. If we don't change the name, it's still a BMP. Now, how the heck do you build a sequential BMP?

I_Mudd.

Captain KoraH · « **Reply #16 on:** October 26, 2003, 11:37:28 pm »

I was ble to make SFC3 use translucent textures, they can be seen on my Klingon carriers. But not sure how to make animated ones.

I believe that somehow the animations are created by taking an object and changing the texture on it. ie: the texture for a torpedo is one big bmp file with multiple images on it. The way 3D models in SFC use textures, this means that an object is being constantly re-textured with the set sequence of textures in the big BMP file, and the game is just re-drawing the textures that are being re-mapped to the next image on the BMP file at a very fast rate.

I_Mudd · « **Reply #17 on:** October 26, 2003, 11:59:37 pm »

Yeah, I am tending to go that way on it too, rather than re-invent the wheel, so to speak. ( or in this case, re-invent the nacelle ...

)

The DM doesn't have anything special about it to reval how it's maw is animated. I looked in Max, too. Interestingly, however, when a dummy is imported, it is pretty much invisible, yet can be selected from element to verts; Summery info revielled little - except for materials called: dummy_Material (Multi/SubObject) and Generic (Standard). It certainly does sound like it was created to be textured, but not in a traditional modelling fashion.

I am checking over the shiplist.txt to see how hardpoints are mapped for the Organian and the DM, for any clues.

There must be a 'file' or entry somewhere that tells the engine what texture is assigned for the same dummy.mod that is used and re-used for various effects, as there is only one dummy.mod in the whole 'Models' folder.

I am starting to fear that information may be hardcoded, but it's really too early to tell, at least for me. I'm not ready to cop out on this yet. The possiblities that keep coming to mind ... TNG phaser strips that animate like the TV show, spinning Bussard Collectors, Flashing running lights, even crew motion behind windows would be theoretically possible ( think subtle, like in the opening of TNG, just before Enterprise D goes to warp ) ... none of this is essential to gameplay, but - man - sure would spice up a game and re-awaken a community into realizing how great this game truely is!

Okay ... enough dreaming ... back to the dillithium mines!

I_Mudd.

Steelviper33 · « **Reply #18 on:** October 27, 2003, 05:49:07 am »

People have made custom start-screens for Win98. If we can find a person who made one, and asked them how they did it. i think we might have ourselves a winner.

Smiley · « **Reply #19 on:** October 27, 2003, 06:05:22 am »

Bridge Commander uses animation for textures. Maybe we can ask one of those guys how it works for them?

zaniwhoop2 · « **Reply #20 on:** October 27, 2003, 08:56:37 pm »

The problem is really whether or not the engine supports it. If I remember correctly, there is no suport in the .mod format for animated textures. The only way I can see is for it to work is an undocumented extention to the format used by dummy.mod.

If I had a copy of the DM file (or knew where it was located), I'd take a look at it with a hex editor and a copy of the format. The dummy.mod file seems to be a normal .mod file, but it doesn't reference any textures; I've only taken a quick glance at it though.

I_Mudd · « **Reply #21 on:** October 27, 2003, 10:57:40 pm »

The animated texture is located in Starfleet Command II/Assets/textures/pk-maw.bmp and the model is located at Starfleet Command II/Assets/Models/mdm/mdm.mod. I also emailed you a copy in case you don't have the game installed.

Thanks to everyone's combined efforts on this. It's got to be something simple, we're just not looking at the right file(s) yet.

I was told today that in Bridge Commander, A ship that could seperate into 3 parts, and be controllable by the player was dimissed as impossible by the game makers. They claimed the engine wouldn't support such a feature. Soon, the Promethius, a ship that does just that will be released. Take that nay-sayers! Where there is a will, there is a way. It's just code.

Let us know what you find, zaniwhoop2.

I_Mudd.

I_Mudd · « **Reply #22 on:** October 27, 2003, 11:30:25 pm »

Another thought.

What if, perhaps, the animated textures for the DM and the Organian are mission based? Both only appear in specialized missions, unless you've editted your shiplist to allow for there use in any mission.

I tried putting an Organian in a mission with FMSE, and it would load into the game, but with no texture, thus, invisible - as the dummy.mod does not have any registered textures to it. It also was stationary. I only found it by hitting Target view. I could target it, shoot it, tractor it and move it - albeit, very slowly. I think the game was registering that the Organian had allocated power to movement, but after examining it's shiplist entry I found it was lacking several key features that standard ships use to allow for movement, sensors, tractors and weapons. Interestingly enough, the Black hole/wormhole/singularity doesn't maintain it's gravity affects either with FMSE, as I placed one on the map for a reference point.

Can the API code, used to build real custom missions, be used as the basis for an 'add on' file that works similar to the model.siz file ( whether it be a .gf, .txt, or whatever...), allowing for the assignment of dummy.mod to player ship models, and assigning animated textures to these points? Any programmers out there?

Something to think about ...

I_Mudd.

Khaliban · « **Reply #23 on:** October 28, 2003, 12:51:01 pm »

Quote:

Bridge Commander uses animation for textures. Maybe we can ask one of those guys how it works for them?

As I recall, they use the sequence command in 3DMax. I don't know if mod files support that, though.

Desty_Nova · « **Reply #24 on:** October 28, 2003, 05:11:06 pm »

If you guys work this out, I'm so putting spinning bussard collectors on the engines of all my SFB Feds.

zaniwhoop2 · « **Reply #27 on:** October 28, 2003, 11:25:37 pm »

Yep, the mdm.mod file doesn't reference it, it's actually in the executable (along with a lot of other interesting stuff).

I haven't done much API programming, but is there a way to do that in the API? Did Taldren have a special API for their missions? (And isn't there source-code for those missions?)

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Topic: Animated Textures. (Read 2621 times)