Wing Commander Prophecy: Secret Ops Model Update Pack

Thanks to @gr1mre4per 's tireless work on the unlimited patch, look what doesn't crash anymore:

IntroFixed.jpg


I suppose this means I have to get back to work... :)
 
Work continues in Bartok Designs shipyards...I've added the engines, tachyon and missile emplacements and finished out the recovery deck. All it needs now are some laser turrets and a coat of paint. So that whole 10K limit...yeah, thus far the finished product clocks in at 38K faces. I may have to do some decimation to try and bring that down, but I'm a bit loath to do it, since it's the most visible cap ship in the game. I'll try it as is and if it causes stability issues I'll revisit it at that point. Granted, @gr1mre4per threw 80K polys' worth of Galactica in the game and it ran fine so we'll see.

Hades_WIP8.jpg Hades_WIP9.jpg Hades_WIP10.jpg Hades_WIP11.jpg Hades_WIP12.jpg Hades_WIP13.jpg
 
I've finally decided on a hull pattern that I like. Now that I've gotten that out of the way I can finish the texture. It was strangely harder than I thought to get something that looked similar to this, but in keeping with the rest of the Confed models for the MUP. So the paneling is actually a bit understated.

Hades_WIP16.jpg Hades_WIP17.jpg
 
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FINALLY got the hull how I wanted it. The Hades has lived up to its namesake when it comes to texturing. Now I have to do the components: engines, bridge, plasma gun, recovery deck, launcher...oh and destroyed versions of each too...and a model to make a BSP tree off of and test and....AAAAHHHH! :D

Hades_WIPSpec_IllumTest6.jpg Hades_WIPSpec_IllumTest7.jpg

and with the emit and spec maps applied and some basic dramatic lighting:
Hades_WIPSpec_IllumTest5.jpg Hades_WIPSpec_IllumTest8.jpg Hades_WIPSpec_IllumTest9.jpg Hades_WIPSpec_IllumTest3.jpg
 
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Very, very pretty! One hang-up, though - the trouble with those windows textures that everybody loves, is that unless you're careful about their positioning, they will continue to shine prettily after the ship's been destroyed. May I suggest that as you begin to think about converting the first of the revamped capships into the game, we pause to re-think how their destructibility can be handled, so that we stay true to the number of torpedoes originally required to blast them, while simultaneously increasing the amount of visible damage that can be inflicted?
 
Quarto said:
Very, very pretty! One hang-up, though - the trouble with those windows textures that everybody loves, is that unless you're careful about their positioning, they will continue to shine prettily after the ship's been destroyed. May I suggest that as you begin to think about converting the first of the revamped capships into the game, we pause to re-think how their destructibility can be handled, so that we stay true to the number of torpedoes originally required to blast them, while simultaneously increasing the amount of visible damage that can be inflicted?
Click to expand...

Yeah I've been thinking about it. unfortunately the main hull can't have a destroyed object as we've discussed so you have to hide damage under things like turrets which explode after the ship is destroyed. I do plan on utilizing the transparency function for destroyed objects and placing a plane with a destroyed interior texture underneath so that it looks like a torpedo has pierced the hull in places. For the Cerberus - since the game ends if it gets destroyed, I think I can get away with emitting windows and be ok; also since damage doesn't persist in SO on the Cerberus as it does in WCP on the midway, I have to make the destroyed objects look like they can realistically be repaired between missions, so I won't create a destroyed bridge mesh that's sheared off at the neck for example. As for other Confed ships, I'll be more strategic with the use of shaderless textures to simulate emission for that reason. Bug ships are easy, they only have windows on destroyable objects so we're ok there, with the exception of the big plasma guns which I could turn into launchers or cargo, and then add destroyed textures/objects to them. The downside is that they become targetable/destroyable, but that might be a plus, although if the AI expends torpedoes on them it could cause big issues on some of the later strike missions - but usually the AI goes straight for the engines and bridges so I'm not sure this would be an issue.

Alternatively, although this might be a hassle - I can add the windows to planes in recessed banks on the hull (I do it anyway now to help the shaderless textures look more natural) and make them part of a destroyable object like a hangar for example, so when the hangar goes up, I just switch out the shaderless texture with a standard one, then the windows are unlit when the object is destroyed. Downside is that if the object is destroyed before the ship, the windows go dark prematurely.
 
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Well, now... I would be very careful in letting Secret Ops guide your decisions on this count. It would be very desirable to prepare ships in such a way that they can be used for other things. Potentially, somebody could want to make a mod that features the Cerberus, or the Midway, and not necessarily in a leading role. I mean, it's unlikely, given the general lack of WCP modding these days, but it is possible. But if you design the Cerberus in such a way that it only works well in Secret Ops, then definitely nobody will ever try anything different.

I think with the destroyed hull, it would be reasonable to have parts of the ship that only change textures (and perhaps have those holes you mentioned - those could be quite interesting), so that they can be destroyed while still supporting turrets.

Cargo components are also a very interesting option. I do not recall the AI being particularly keen on torpedoing cargo components, so a renamed cargo component might be a good option for most of the hull.
 
Quarto said:
But if you design the Cerberus in such a way that it only works well in Secret Ops, then definitely nobody will ever try anything different.
Click to expand...

Fair point. I edited this in above but it might work:

Alternatively, although this might be a hassle - I can add the windows to planes in recessed banks on the hull (I do it anyway now to help the shaderless textures look more natural) and make them part of a destroyable object like a hangar for example, so when the hangar goes up, I just switch out the shaderless texture with a standard one, then the windows are unlit when the object is destroyed. Downside is that if the object is destroyed before the ship, the windows go dark prematurely.

I think for the 1.0 release - I'll probably keep the capships as they are, with as many cosmetic improvements for light windows, etc that I can, for the simple reason that I have so much work in front of me and stuff on other mods that I'm neglecting, that if I go down that rabbit hole I may never release anything. However - I like the idea of blowing the ships all to hell so I'll definitely try some experiments with it for a 1.5 release.
 
Anyone have any experience with using model c to create BSP trees? I have copy with the BSP .dll in the right directory, I've created a low-poly version of the mesh for the tree and when I hit the create tree button, it creates a nice lovely little text file with (I assume) the proper tree. However, when I go into WCP Pascal and edit the .IFF file, (I add the proper EXTN form followed by a copy and paste of the tree), when it compiles something must go wonky because in the game the mesh continues to act as if no BSP tree were there (ie. I can fly straight through the ship). I'm assuming its some kind of error in the WCPPas compiler, when I reopen the .IFF, the tree has some funky values in it (cstrings in place of floats, that kind of thing); so my guess is that I have to use the model c scripting engine to do it, but there aren't any real docs out there on how to use it correctly. The basic script defaults to the devil ray, and when I replace the text file in model c with the new one, then run the script, it creates a mishmash of devil ray and Vesuvius which just plain doesn't work...for obvious reasons. Any help here would be grand.

Thanks in advance!
 
Ok quick update: I'm going to take a few weeks off the MUP so I can switch gears and finish out the Black Lance faction for the HWRM mod. I'm also still hammering away at the evil that is BSP trees in the background. But I did manage to squeeze in texturing the Cerberus' bridge and get started on the recovery deck. That leaves just the plasma turret and the launch tubes...

Hades_WIP19.jpg Hades_WIP18.jpg
 
Hi @Kevin Caccamo. I checked out the tutorial a while back and was using it for the conversion but its still broken. I actually have two files that are broke, the vesuvius bridge and main hull. the bridge file is 40.9 KB and the hull file is 1.17 MB.
 
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