MonkeyBiz

Hmmm, it worked just fine on my home PC. I'm at my dad's until next Wednesday, so I'll upload an updated version then to see if it fixes the problem. Also, make sure you have FoC. That might have something to do with it.

XML will only take you so far. To truly remake the game, you've gotta have models. Let's keep the flaming to a minimum, okay folks?

Most people agree that when you blast a turbolaser tower, half the ship shouldn't fall off. My models include damage effects, but no breakoffs. Watching an injured capital ship limp around the map trailing smoke is, in all honesty, awesome.

When it comes to hardpoints, the problem is that compared to the stock units they have tons of hardpoints. But when you're redoing everything, then it makes more sense. For example, the smallest ship in either fleet has 5 hardpoints. The ImpStarII will have 24. That's not unbalanced, that's realistic. Scale will also play a big part. Hold your hands about six inches apart. That's accurate scale for an ImpStarII at 1mm = 1m. Fighters should essentially be specks on the screen compared to the big capital ships.

Having now become a one man mod team (designer, coder, skinner, modeler, rigger, animator, and tester), it's become painfully obvious as to what the problem is with the vast majority of the mods are that are either released or under development. The problem is that most of the mods I'm seeing and reading about lack any kind of coherent vision. More often than not, it's someone throwing more units into the game without first considering WHICH units they should throw into the game. And on top of that, the units they're putting in are generally poor conversions of Warlords units. Believe me when I say that the Warlords units, in general, look excellent. The skins will occaisonally need some work. But it's nothing that a little touchup in Photoshop can't cure. Poor conversions come down to either a lack of creativity or just plain laziness. And really, if that's the case, you should probably put down the mouse and keyboard and go play outside. However, my hat goes off to the guys in DE and LOW and AOSW and IA2, because converting the warlords models takes forever. I've been spending about 5-7 hours a day for the last five days converting models, and I've converted 24 models. So far, that's gotten me through two tech levels of units, one unique unit, and all the fighters. I still have 14 regular units, 3 space stations, and 9 more unique units to do. At the moment, I'm only using four stock units, because they aren't in the Warlords pack and I can't find them anywhere. That may change, depending on what EvilleJedi releases. Trust me when I say that when I announce this formally, shortly before I release it, it's going to rock a lot of worlds. In the meantime, I'd like some opinions from other people. Why are so many mods just downright bad?

That's what I meant.

Any chance you can build in a scale function in the next version so we can make scale adjustments using the .alo viewer rather than having to put it in to the XMLs and then booting up the game? Just a suggestion

Is there any way to do precise scale in 3DS Max? Like, if I have a fighter, and I have the units set to 1 unit = 1m, how can I scale the fighter so that, for example, it's exactly 9.8 meters long?

I'll gladly volunteer to convert it if I can get ahold of the model and skin.

Okay, I know it's out there somewhere. It's appeared in multiple mods in different configurations. That tells me that the original unconverted file is somewhere. And that's what I'm looking for.

WHERE though. I've looked at every model in the REB.zip, IMP.zip, and PIR.zip files and it's not in there. There is an MC90, but not that one.

I know WHAT it is. I can get the .alo. I'm wondering where the ORIGINAL comes from, because it's not Warlords.

So I'm working on converting some of the Warlords models, and I've run in to a minor problem. There are a bunch of models that are used in Steiners and the Addon mod, etc. that have crazy Mon Cal ships that aren't in any of the Warlords packs. What I'm looking for is the MC90 model. Here's the model: http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i173/MonkeyBusinessIU/Untitled-1.jpg So, does anyone know where it comes from, and where I can get the original?

Awesome! That's exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!

Is there anyone that knows how to make death clones? I've got a capship I want to make a clone for, but no idea what to do.

There's a tutorial that goes over all this stuff for 3DS Max. To get an idea of time spent learning: Model #1) E-Wing: 4 hours Model #2) TIE Sentinel: 2.5 hours Model #3) Scimitar Bomber: 2 hours Model #4) XJ-Wing: ~1 hour Those are just the initial estimates on my time spent thus far. I'm still learning, but I'm working on a capital ship now, so no guarantees as of yet.

Yeah, I found that one a bit ago. If anyone knows stuff about the hardpoints, I could use some help.

If there's anyone out there reading this that knows how to do the engine glows, please send me a PM or contact me. I can't figure this out at all and it's making me crazy, and swgbex's tutorials don't answer any of my questions.

And now for my next trick: The XJ-Wing. I fixed the texture problems in swfan654's version and gave it some nice hardpoints. http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i173/MonkeyBusinessIU/XJ-Wing.jpg http://www.megaupload.com/?d=13PXZ4G3 The Imperial Scimitar Assault Bomber - I've only seen this in one other mod, and the skin was terrible. http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i173/MonkeyBusinessIU/Scimitar.jpg http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YE3AAGPV And a much improved TIE Sentinel - I fixed the skin and improved some of the meshes slightly, but it makes a huge difference. http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2RXPDJKF As usual, if you use any of these in a mod, just give me and EvilleJedi credit. No permission necessary.

The TIE Sentinel, also known as the V38 Assault Fighter, the basis of the TIE Phantom: http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i173/MonkeyBusinessIU/TIE-Sentinel.jpg http://www.megaupload.com/?d=RZQ8NCPY And V2 of the E-Wing that fixes some problems I noticed yesterday. http://www.megaupload.com/?d=FDTPU3HM Enjoy! And as always, these units are free for community use, so long as credit is given to EvilleJedi for making the model and myself for the conversion.

If there's anyone with some experience with UV unwrapping that might be able to provide me wit some assistance, that would be great. Thanks.

Not a clue. But it's nice looking and runs in game. There is a second version that I finished. I takes care of some slight problems with that one.

My first Warlords conversion: the improved E-Wing. Complete with skin, bump map, and colorization. http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i173/MonkeyBusinessIU/E-Wing.jpg http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CQSJUQTW Enjoy!

Max 8. And I'd love to learn how to do it myself, but I have zero experience with modeling, rigging, or skinning. I actually have Max 8 specifically for converting Warlords. Consequently, if someone wants to teach a modeling/rigging/skinning n00b how to do all of the above, said n00b would be greatful, and would gladly donate his services to the community.

Better yet, I'll show you: http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i173/MonkeyBusinessIU/New%20Mod%20Pictures/Untitled-6.jpg Top three, left to right: Nebula Destroyer, TIE Sentinel, Majestic Cruiser Bottom two: Mon Remonda (MC80B Cruiser), Implacable Cruiser. And yeah, it's a Star Destroyer not Star Defender. My bad. http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Nebula-class_Star_Destroyer