Bloom and brain damage

from Sins Forums

I've been trying for the past hour or so to turn my Undead battlecruiser into a gigantic mass of bloom. Shiny, reflectivy bloomy. I want eye cancer.

Problem: I've never modded sins before.

Second problem: all of my changes to the data texture map don't really seem to be doing anything. At one point it was shiny but I can't seem to get back to that point.

Third problem: Attempting to convert my model using the ConvertData tool gives me some random hex address error and does nothing useful. So, I can't actually check if it's trying to use the textures or not.

 

Well shucks.

 

Help a feller out here.

 

I exported the model using the max exporter plugin. I've done all sorts of stuff like set channels pure black and pure white. Investigating the default data dds files told me that the alpha channels were called "Alpha 1", which I renamed it to... and it didn't fix it. So, I'm really lost and I still don't have eye cancer. Halp.

modding
8,743 views 25 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

Don't y'all jump and help me at once, now!

 

I did manage to fix it given enough facedesking.

 

Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

looks cool, squid monster of doom

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Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top

Now I need to figure out how to make beams extremely bright/really bloomy. Any takers?

Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top

My god that thing looks fantastic!

Dont suppose you'd like to model for Distant Stars now would you? :P

Honestly as to your problem im not entirely sure, sadly i've never modelled for Sins either >.< I'll see if I can find any information on it for you though as I do need to try my hand at modelling soon ;)

Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top

Unfortunately I don't really have the time or the skill to model other people's designs. My apologies. But if I make any models or find any models I have lying around that I don't need, I may release them for others to use.

 

Also I can't texture or skin... so that is going to suck.

 

/edit

 

So, my custom beam sound is also not playing. I tried it as both a .wav and an .ogg. Why is there no consolidated source of information for this kind of stuff?

Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top

As far as I know you need it to be .ogg format. You might wanna check the GameSound file in the GameInfo folder. You might have to add some lines or something.

Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top

Did you try playing with particle forge?

Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top

Yeah. Particle forge is pretty confusing. It's like half of the options don't actually do anything. Is there really no documentation for this stuff? :\ I have no idea what I'm doing.

 

The sound is in ogg format. GameSound sounds like it might have what I need. lol puns

 

/edit Okay I can't actually find GameSound...

 

Nevermind, I found it. Horray!

Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top

Awesome I remember the HW2 mod for those ships! LOL my account over at the HW2 modding community is still open actually, lol go figure Dragon Fury got swtiched to what I am named here :p

Reply #10 from Sins Forums Top

Ah yes. The HW2 mod didn't work out so well. This mod isn't a recreation of that one, though, because I can't model Anahn ships. This is for an alternate verse. ITAS, if you've heard of it.

 

 

Reply #11 from Sins Forums Top

hey man totally post the model or w/e it is, so we indies can make it our pirate starbase. ok, well, maybe just me. but you know you other guys thought about it.

 

and yeah i messed around with particle forge one time and all i was ableto do was make a line go from x,y,z axis away. but i had no idea what that meant.

 

so i cried

 

Reply #12 from Sins Forums Top

LOL... make a pirate starbase out of the Zeral`Motakk... that would be hilarious. But it doesn't look anything like the pirates. :\

 

 

My first extremely horrible attempt at modifying the TEC beam muzzle into a muzzle fire for the Zeral's beam weaponry. They need the lense flares and stuff.. and bloom.. and burning... I have no idea how to add that. T.T Seriously... why is there no documentation for any of this stuff?

Reply #13 from Sins Forums Top

Drop Danman a pm or something he might be able to help you out. I'm not sure how much help he can be but he's got his own huge mod going and could help out in the area you need help on

Reply #14 from Sins Forums Top

for me, tbh idc if it doesn't match the pirates. i can't model and would love to add it to my personal mod.

Reply #15 from Sins Forums Top

 

I'd love to know why all of the ships turn into gray blobs at a distant zoom, though. :\

Reply #16 from Sins Forums Top

I'd send a PM to Manshooter. He's the best modeler/texturer on these forums as far as I know. ;P

 

I'm digging the shadows on that octopus/chthulhu/whatever ship, hah. It looks very lovecraft-ian.

Reply #17 from Sins Forums Top

It took the max exporter over 13 hours to export my Xenon Project Omega-class. Which is hilarious because it's only 23k poly, but also absolutely pathetic because it took 13 hours and I've never heard of a max script being so inefficient.

 

Also, here's the bug I was talking about. I sent a PM to Mansh00ter though I will likely discontinue this if there's no way around the tremendous export times I've been experiencing. I simply don't have the time or patience to wait a day at a time between exports, and XSI is just another giant mess I don't want to get into.

 

Reply #18 from Sins Forums Top

ok, so as far as your problem goes, sorry i cant mod anything. But, i do have a question. Where are these models from, and if it is a sonn to be released mod, you are doing a great job. If it isnt, where can i get them to use them?

Reply #19 from Sins Forums Top

Most of them are models I made for one of my SC mods. They won't be made available to the public.

Reply #20 from Sins Forums Top

Most of them are models I made for one of my SC mods. They won't be made available to the public.
End of quote

OMG nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

deleting your thread now :typo:

Reply #21 from Sins Forums Top

Well, I can't offer any suggestions on the export times.  I don't use 3dmax, so just don't know what's up with that one.  I actually use softimage xsi for what models I've played with, and it takes at most a couple minutes.

When it comes to the textures, this thread may help you a bit with working out what may need changed where: https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/162482  Although I obviously don't know if you've already read it, or other threads like it.  I've had the same problem with the gray blob from a distance with some of my own models as well.  Not yet sure the reason behind them.  But I also only have placeholder textures on those ships too (I'm not much of a texture artist, so the process of making nice-ish ones for me is pretty slow), and have generally ignored the problem so far.  I *think* it may have something to do with reflection, or perhaps the tangent map, but I honestly just don't know yet and could easily be wrong.  I'll have to try figuring it out later when I stop being lazy about working on textures.

With the fire stuff you want for those lasers (which I think actually look pretty nice off the thing as it stands in that picture), you'll honestly have to play with the particle forge for that.  I'm no help on that one, can't make heads or tails of it yet myself.

I'm curious what the problem is exactly with the ConvertData though.  I guess it depends on just what you're trying to convert which way.  If it's the .mesh files to/from text/binary, it really shouldn't have any problems.  But, without knowing exactly what you're doing with that one, I'm not sure what to suggest.

Reply #22 from Sins Forums Top

Yeah I was attempting to convert from mesh to txt.

 

The incredibly long convert times have really discouraged me to devote any more time to this for the time being. While another guy did offer to do the conversions for me, that still places a significant amount of downtime between testing changes to the models and the export of new models. The Omega, for example, isn't centered correctly. I'd have to wait a day to center it. And then another day if some of the dummy points were offset. And another day if the tiled texture didn't tile right and I had to try a different UVW mapping modifier. Ect. The logistics are just too time consuming. I prefer to work fast and on the fly without depending on factors out of my control.

 

XSI really makes no sense to me. As a schizophrenic individual, it is incredibly difficult for me to learn new tools or complicated measures, especially since my motivation can burn out at the slightest problem.

Reply #23 from Sins Forums Top

you are using the 1.1 version of the export tool right? the 1.2 is really flawed and since there is no updates. i use 3ds max 9 with 1.1 and it only takes a few min at max.

Reply #24 from Sins Forums Top

Yes, I am using version 1.1.

Reply #25 from Sins Forums Top

It's a shame that this game has such poor modding support anymore especially in regards to anything that isn't editing text files. With proper modding support for the industry standard this wouldn't have been a problem and we wouldn't have to resort to using year-old tools. Offer still stands but I understand totally that that's not a viable option for anything more than like one ship because exporting is often.