Did you select only part of your model in XSI, instead of the whole object?

Hey I just tried another model and it's almost like every piece of the model is rendered from the center coordinate, so literally the entire ship is built from the center and it's not assembled properly. Any ideas now?

Thanks for the tutorial!    It really helped me out. I did exactily what you said, but now I have a new problem and was wondering if you had a similar one when you first tried this. The image is below. I have this problem on this model and another, despite selecting ALL of the objects, when rendering it leaves objects out.
Any ideas?
P.S. I'm still working on the black model syndrome too.

I had this problem too when I first started, and it took me forever to figure it out (eventually I had to ask for help). A) are you applying textures to your model? If not, the default Sins texture is solid black. if you are, make sure the right texture is associated with it's counterpart in the .mesh file, i.e. DiffuseTextureFileName "Color Texture Goes Here.dds", SelfIlluminationTextureFileName " Illumination Texture Goes Here.dds", NormalTextureFileName "Bump Map Goes Here.dds". Make sure they're all .dds's too. C) In the DiffuseTextureFilename Texture, make sure it has an alpha channel. If you don't know how to do this, just PM me and I can help you out.
BTW, yo should totally come over and join my thread!Cool Star Trek Ship Post.

Ezraeil

Just scale your models in XSI, and then freeze the scaling history. You'll have to do some experimenting to get the size right on your first model, but once you do, you can use that to base the sizes of your other models on.

glad it helped!

my problem with the black model is that I have no idea how to make the .dds files and how do i make a bump map? i know how to associate them in the finalized mesh file I've modded a few ships in game but i have no ideas how to generate them to begin with.

ds

Okay, this is pretty easy. First, get a program capable of manipulating .dds files. In my experience, these are generally pretty expensive, so I suggest you get the GIMP as it is free, and as far as I have seen, equally if not more powerful than Photoshop Elements. Then, get a plugin for the GIMP that allows you to work with .dds like the one found here. Once you have made your texture and are ready to add an alpha layer, right click on your work surface or just go to LAYER at the top of your window, and go to mask, apply layer mask. Choose apply as alpha channel. Once you've done that, you are now editing the mask that will be your alpha. Edit this like any other layer, except it doesn't care about colors, it only takes the B/W value of your color and applies it to the mask. The darker it is, the more transparent it becomes. This transparency does not show up at all in your final texture. it is related to other values according to which texture you are changing. If you are editing DiffuseTextureFilname, the more transparent it is, the less shiny it is, and the reverse is obviously true; the more visible it is, the more shiny it is. My DiffuseTextures usually come out almost looking invisible when I'm done editing, but this does not affect visibility in game. If you are editing the SelfIlluminationFilename, the alpha creates a glowy effect where your texture is visible. this only really has any effect when bloom effects are active. The NormalTextureFilename does not use an alpha channel as far as I know. Once you have finished editing your alpha channel, follow the same route as before by either right clicking or going to the top bar, and go layer, mask, apply layer mask. Now go save as, and save as WhateverYouWantToCallIt.dds. It will bring up a prompt for saving as .dds's save it as a filetype with the option RGBA, probably the best is RGBA8. then just put it in your mod, and viola! textured ship.

Hope this helps, even if it is a bit long winded!

Ezraeil

Can someone direct me to a tutorial, or show me how the material needs to be set up within XSI MOD TOOL. With reguard to assigning the 3 dds images to the material. I have a ship all built, textured and imported into the game successfully. I have the black ship syndrome, but the real problem is all the way back in XSI mod tool with the set up of my material/texture. I know I have to have 3 seperate dds files referenced within the mesh, but I see my material only has a base layer. Getting the DiffuseTextureFileName "Color Texture Goes Here.dds", SelfIlluminationTextureFileName " Illumination Texture Goes Here.dds", NormalTextureFileName "Bump Map Goes Here.dds" part has me pulling my hair out.
the ship I built is the Enterprise C. EzraeilBeatus Ambassador blows mine away, so this is an exercise for me, so I can get something working, then I'll move on to another ship. But this darn texture setup within XSI mod tool for export is really messing with my brain. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Chris.