Topic: Converting EAW ships to SFC3 (Read 4812 times)

Garath9 · « **on:** December 13, 2004, 01:16:49 pm »

Hi I'm a new to modeling, and would like to convert some ships I have
D\Led to SFC3. I need to know what programs I must use.

Garath9

Age · « **Reply #1 on:** December 13, 2004, 02:19:07 pm »

You don't need a program all you need is excel to but them into defualt core and one other one and then copy and paste it in there .There is however a video the manitoba 1073 but and it can be downloaded.I would suggest getting the video.Then video is in this forum somewhere.GL and have fun.If you indend on playing SFC3 on a dyna get a mod.

Victory · « **Reply #2 on:** December 13, 2004, 02:45:53 pm »

EAW.. not familiar with that. Each model has what's called a mesh file. SFC3 uses .mod files, Armada uses .SOD files.. Basicly what you would need would be to make sure you have .mod files. If they are not, then you can get a program like Milkshape, with some plugins, and you sould be able to import the file you have, then export it as a .mod file.

Chris Jones · « **Reply #3 on:** December 14, 2004, 07:58:37 pm »

right here..

http://www.strategyplanet.com/sfc/sfc3/faq_models.shtml

Take your time..

Garath9 · « **Reply #4 on:** December 16, 2004, 04:47:24 pm »

Thanks for the advise guys. I'll see if it help's

EsnEth · « **Reply #5 on:** January 09, 2005, 05:28:27 pm »

In a similar topic to this, though probably unrelated.. The proceedure I used for importing an SFC2 ship into SFC3 mentioned using the SFC3 modding tools which included a glow point editor and a "recacher". I got all the way up to the recaching and the program made the model look nice and smoth, but when I try to close the recacher program as the instructions say, it crashes with the message "ReCacher.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close." Not to mention asking me to file an error report. Is it supposed to crash? Because it doesn't seem to have fully completed the job it seemed to have done and the model in the game doesn't look like the one the recacher had shown prior to crashing.

Edit: Nevermind, I just read that crashing is normal for the program. Though the model doesn't look that different from the enlarged one shown in the recacher.

Victory · « **Reply #6 on:** January 13, 2005, 10:05:00 am »

Converting ships is easy. I've been doing it with several EAW and OP models for the next AU mod. Somethings that haven't been seen before. Our next release will be the mod to end all mods.. MUHAHAHAHA

EsnEth · « **Reply #7 on:** January 13, 2005, 04:55:24 pm »

Quote from: Victory on January 13, 2005, 10:05:00 am

Converting ships is easy. I've been doing it with several EAW and OP models for the next AU mod. Somethings that haven't been seen before. Our next release will be the mod to end all mods.. MUHAHAHAHA

We should collaborate. There's this ollld model that was released as an addon to SFC2:EAW, a third party release actually. I managed to add glow effects, but it's not entirely fitting the shield sphere like it should and not to mention it could use some resizing to scale and hardpoint changes on the model itself to more accurately reflect the hardbpoints I placed on it in the HardPOint Editor program.

I already have the permissions to go through with modding the mod, and distribution. However, as the author put it: "I'm not opposed to the old version being converted if you still plan on it, but compared to the current ships that are out there it's vastly inferior in quality". This may be true, but I like that particular version and plan to fix it up to scale for the game.

Victory · « **Reply #8 on:** January 14, 2005, 07:06:48 pm »

it's easy enough. Do you know about the ShipWrites program in SFC3? I'll give you the proper size for the model and that will fix the shields and will also adjust the zoom on the ship to proper so it doesn't look so big. Now if the model is self is big, like say the DiamondStar, then it will be bigger than other ships period. If you want the ship to be the same size as others, then you'll have to adjust the mesh file. Once you do that, it could throw off the texture files and it won't look good. if you want, hit me up on MSN, AIM or TS and I can walk you through it. go to http://sfc3alternateuniverse.trek-online.com It's got all my information and/or TS IP for Alternate Universe.

EsnEth · « **Reply #9 on:** January 15, 2005, 05:57:38 pm »

Quote from: Victory on January 14, 2005, 07:06:48 pm

it's easy enough. Do you know about the ShipWrites program in SFC3? I'll give you the proper size for the model and that will fix the shields and will also adjust the zoom on the ship to proper so it doesn't look so big. Now if the model is self is big, like say the DiamondStar, then it will be bigger than other ships period. If you want the ship to be the same size as others, then you'll have to adjust the mesh file. Once you do that, it could throw off the texture files and it won't look good. if you want, hit me up on MSN, AIM or TS and I can walk you through it. go to http://sfc3alternateuniverse.trek-online.com It's got all my information and/or TS IP for Alternate Universe.

I wonder where one can get that ShipWrites program.. May be of help in later conversions.

Victory · « **Reply #10 on:** January 16, 2005, 09:08:06 am »

it's not a seperate program, Taldren actually scripted it into the game itself, you just gotta know how to unlock it. Here's the instructions:

Open the SFC.INI file in the main SFC3 directory.

Add the line writeoutmodelsizfile=1 in the file, in the section labled [3D]

Remove any models from the models folder that you do not wish to size IE Planets, Stock ships.....

Start up your game and go into Single Player Skirmish

When you click on "Start Single Player" button, your game will hesitate. Depending on the speed of you computer and the number of files you have in the models folder, it could take anywhere from a few seconds to a couple of minutes. You game will act locked up, but it's not. Don't close it or it won't work. When the screen changes to the Mission Selector screen, just back out and exit the game. Go to the Models folder in your game, and you'll see a file called Model.siz Open that file in notepad and it'll have every model listed that was in the folder followed by it's size. For whatever reason, it puts decimal points in. The size of 7.78 in the file will be 778 in the DefaultCore. Put the size value in the last column of numbers for the ship(s) you wanted to size, and there ya go. It will size the shields to the proper fit around the ship, and it will adjust the zoom so you can see where you are flying as well.

**Please Note: If you get an error report durring the writing process, when the game is locked up, Don't panic. If you have too many ships in the Models folder, it can't handle it. Just take the file you get, copy it out and rename it. Find out where it left off and remove the files it already sized. It lists the ships in alphebetical order by the name of the folder. Just find out which ship it stoped on and remove all folders before that and run again.

***After you run the program, you can switch the 1 to a 0 on the line you added. That way you'll still have the line if you need it and won't have to go searching for this post. Just switch it back to a 1 to work (0 is turned off, duh)

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