Topic: Any docs or links to detailed steps for SFC3 conversions?

[Towelie]

   Okay, I got my TOS models, but all of them are in SFC2 format. I need advice or links to advice to convert them to SFC3. I got all the modeling tools needed and a basic guide for conversion, but was hoping to find one for modeling dumbies since I am still new at it.

   No worries, I will give full credit for all models used in the upcoming TNZ project.

[atheorhaven]

Here's a place to start..

http://www.the-tcs.net/_hosted/atheorhaven/html/alec/m1m2s1_1.htm

This'll show you the basics for the graphic details needed for SFC 3, plus give you the names and such for some of the extras.

Then you should grab D'deridex's Hardpoint Editing tool, and then figure out the DefaultCore and DeafultLoadout string files..

And I obviously need to put some of these up on my site..

D'deridex's Hardpoint Editing tool link
http://www.the-tcs.net/_hosted/atheorhaven/html/userfiles/tools/sfc3_hpplacementeditor.exe

[Towelie]

 

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!

 

  Is that all, I thought it would be complicated. Thankfully I have all the tools needed.  

[atheorhaven]

More or less that's it.. there are hardpoints to change, and those string files to add.  People apparently get cranky if there are no string files.  

The one change to my tutorial though.. don't name the files something like *_BS etc... the _ in there isn't supposed to be there.  So it'd be like Ubership would have UbershipBS.BMP, UbershipVL.bmp, UbershipTI.bmp, then for each texture there needs to be a D texture.  So tophull.bmp and tophull_i.bmp from SFC 2 would also have tophullD.bmp and tophull_iD.bmp added to them.. with the one that's for illumination just being the lights from the damage.

So if you had a ship like this in SFC 1:

Ubership.mod
Ubership.pcx     <-note
Ubership_brk.mod

It'd turn into this for SFC 2:

Ubership.mod
Ubership.bmp    <-note
Ubership_brk.mod
Ubership_i.bmp   <-new

And this for SFC 3:

Ubership.mod
Ubership.bmp
Ubership_brk.mod
Ubership_i.bmp
UbershipD.bmp   <-new  - made by you
Ubership_iD.bmp   <-new- made by you
Ubership.gf   <-new- made by Glowtools and Hardpoint Editing Utility
Ubership.x   <-new- made by Recacher
Ubership_brk.x   <-new- made by Recacher
Ubership.txt   <-new- made by you - contains ship description w/class
Ubership R.txt   <-new- made by you - contains ship description w/o class
Ubership DefaultCore.txt   <-new- made by you - contains ship stats
Ubership DefaultLoadout.txt   <-new- made by you - contains ship weapons (I think)

All with the same basic original files.