PDA

View Full Version : Gmax and Ships Creation for X3TC



Lionheart
December 13th, 2009, 11:52
Hey all,

Well, I have the ability to now import ships into Gmax. Spent some time installing all the many various tools required to modify, import, export ships as well as decompiling all the CAT files into various files and formats such as models and scenes and the many textures and TXT files, which I believe they use as aircraft config files.

I should be able to do some neat stuff with this.. But there is alot to learn. If you remember, each ship has various settings and things which interact with the game, so I need to find out how to do all of that as well as mapping, texturing, developing the CAT ship installer, etc, etc, etc..


But for now, boundry one has been crossed and on to boundry two. :d



Bill

Lionheart
December 13th, 2009, 12:17
Does anyone know of a program that can do batches, and will convert TXT files into DDS files?



Bill

gigabyte
December 13th, 2009, 13:36
Oh Bill the possibilities.... :salute:

I can't offer any assistance with this area I have never tried working with GMAX or models, but I know there is a big modding community at the Xuniverse and I am sure they could point you in the right direction. That manual I posted awhile back is all I have looked at. I would suggest taking a look at this topic as a starting point - http://forum.egosoft.com/viewforum.php?f=94

Lionheart
December 13th, 2009, 15:13
Hey Mike,

That manual you posted originally is awesome. I have been using that. I am about half way through it. Right now, I am trying to convert the 2,500 DDS files from X3TC into files that Gmax can use, like JPG and BMP. I might do BMP as they higher resolution and I can modify them later in Photoshop.

Yes... Imagine the possibilities, lololol... A Star Destroyer!!! :d (with functioning hanger bay in its belly... )


Bill

Lionheart
December 13th, 2009, 15:58
Ok.. Graphics are now running.

Just trying to figure out what kind of craft to do to get into X3. I have a few UFO's I have done.



On a side note, I wonder if Piglet would be interested in this. He could convert his SW ships to this format and have them flying around in X3TC... He has already done the Star Destroyer and it has a detailed hanger and amazing hull detail..



Bill

Lionheart
December 13th, 2009, 16:13
Mike,

Have you seen one of these???

Terran M6. Almost looks like a bear claw.




Bill

Lionheart
December 13th, 2009, 16:14
One problem I am having is matching names of the models to their names in X3TC.




Bill

Chacha
December 13th, 2009, 17:23
One problem I am having is matching names of the models to their names in X3TC.




Bill

Lionheart.....

If you check on the left side of the website, there are lists of ships (race)... :bump:

I saw that a while back... I can send you the link if you can't find it! :pop4:

GT182
December 13th, 2009, 17:28
Bill, could I make a request for the Fire Fly from the tv series Serenity? If it's possible, and only if you have the time later on. I've searched but not found one for X3 as of now. With some weapons it would be the cat's butt for X3.

Marlin
December 13th, 2009, 19:20
Oh my God, my brain just went into overdrive.

Something semi large that has one or two hangers, LOLOLOL:jump:

Oh holy crap :ernae::salute::ernae:

Chacha
December 13th, 2009, 20:00
This is the link for the spaceship with screenshots :applause:

http://eng.x3tc.ru/x3_tc_ships/list.php?class=0&race=0&o=0&d=0&s=&r=1&p=7

gigabyte
December 13th, 2009, 20:09
Mike,

Have you seen one of these???

Terran M6. Almost looks like a bear claw.


Bill

Bill that is the Vidarsaurus, if you look closely at some of my Xenon encounter screen shots that is the "Giga Ship Killer", it is a Corvette/Gunship I use it like a fighter, it flys like one. When it is super tuned it tops out at 1143 KM so it is fast, and with Max Rudder tuning it handles like a fighter, not only that it has 10 laser hard points so the thing is loaded for bear, if you open up with full guns on anything they sure feel it - not for long mind you but they feel it as they turn to space dust.

Now you know how I have been able to clean out a complete Xenon sector, I go in with that, release some fighter drones to take care of the little crap and a couple of wingmen along in Buzzards or Elete's for good measure and it is fairly easy work, not to mention the uneblievable amount of stuff you can pick up after the battle, after one good furball I collected over 30 missles of all kinds and, a nice Xenon Laser - which I have not been able to mount yet, but I am looking forward to trying it.

Attached is a shot of the Giga Gunship over Argon Prime with some of my fleet in view, this is the start I used for the Apricot Mapping Service Mod.

Edit - I forgot to mention this ship has a good cargo capacity as well 700 units (Large Containers) 950 with Max extension, which is real handy for Missle cleanup after the battle.

Lionheart
December 13th, 2009, 20:26
Hey Mike,

Roger that. So I found something pretty mean, lol.. Wild looking design. You should see the mesh.



Thanks ChaCha,

I have that site, but havent been able to link what a Argon M6 is to the actual 'name'. I had thought there were several types of M6, M5, m4, etc.. I could be wrong though. Maybe its that easy.



Looks like the really hard part is getting the package converted into a CAT file for game insertion. eeeks... TXT file updating, exporting parts, then a scene, then the weapons and camera points, etc... It will take a while to learn this. Hopefully not a long time. At least its working in Gmax...



Bill

gigabyte
December 13th, 2009, 20:35
Hey Mike,

Roger that. So I found something pretty mean, lol.. Wild looking design. You should see the mesh.



Thanks ChaCha,

I have that site, but havent been able to link what a Argon M6 is to the actual 'name'. I had thought there were several types of M6, M5, m4, etc.. I could be wrong though. Maybe its that easy.



Looks like the really hard part is getting the package converted into a CAT file for game insertion. eeeks... TXT file updating, exporting parts, then a scene, then the weapons and camera points, etc... It will take a while to learn this. Hopefully not a long time. At least its working in Gmax...



Bill

Bill check this link - http://roguey.freewha.com/gaming/pc/x3t/ships/index.php?inMod=0

This guy has put together a great list of ships and stats for each, includign screenshots. I actually just discovered the ship I use is a Vidar apparently the Apricot Version is renamed, it is a Terran M6. The list on that site may not be fully uptodate it say up to Ver 2.0 and I forget if they added any ships in 2.5? but it is well done, I use it often when I am window shopping...lol

Lionheart
December 13th, 2009, 21:17
Thanks Mike. I just did and noticed that some ships are missing, so it must be the early version.

Very good site and explains the M series of ships quite well.



Bill

Lionheart
December 13th, 2009, 22:41
Tonight, I went through the textures pack of X3TC.

My mind was numb. I must have went through the textures twice. All 2,500 of them. I cannot believe how much work these guys put into this game. There are bump maps, occular and specular maps, there are entire system maps of huge scale that are the system backgrounds (like huge paintings that somehow work like an environment map, like a sphere or box). The planet textures and cloud textures are amazing. The clouds textures have 'showdow' layers which move remotely from the clouds and the planets are bump mapped, so you see the 3D effects of light, shading, and clouds moving accross the planets..

Some of the plating textures with their bump maps left me in awe.. I was totally speechless. They are ingenius. The way they did the skins of the Boron ships were wild. They used wierd effects on the Specular and Bump mapping. The bumping of the Boron skins (hull surfaces) were quite alien and unusual. Almost like leaves, but not. Patterns and patterns and patterns... So much in this thing, you just cannot imagine. Its like they had a staff of 50 'extremely' talented artists that worked on this game...

I am just totally impressed..



Now to figure out how to get ships installed.. Should be interesting.




Bill

harleyman
December 15th, 2009, 02:14
Bill..

You just had to be the high school science nerd that we all envied..

My God man, you never stop with this stuff..it really must be a true passion for you..how grand...:applause:

Chacha
December 15th, 2009, 02:33
Bill..

You just had to be the high school science nerd that we all envied..

My God man, you never stop with this stuff..it really must be a true passion for you..how grand...:applause:

It runs in his blood, Mason.....

:engel016:

And that is no stopping Bill... He will make models and projects till I don't know when....

Don't you know that he has made you a model for one of his projects? :pop4:

Just kidding .... :icon_lol:

harleyman
December 15th, 2009, 02:42
Don't you know that he has made you a model for one of his projects? :pop4:

Just kidding .... :icon_lol:



Oh Noooo ... Not the dreaded Wide Glide Blimp......:icon_lol:

Thats target practice for all...

Lionheart
December 16th, 2009, 08:57
Bill..

You just had to be the high school science nerd that we all envied..

My God man, you never stop with this stuff..it really must be a true passion for you..how grand...:applause:


Unfortunately, I did really bad in science as my mind was always wandering. But in Drafting and Art, I really excelled.

Yes.. It is a passion. So many things are possible. Just getting them done is the hard part..



Bill

Lionheart
December 16th, 2009, 09:01
I couldnt sleep last night, so I messed around with learning how the X3 model compilation process works.

So far, I can import models, and also create my own. I have figured out how to bring in the base textures (materials). But now I have hit a barrier in which I cannot seem to export the model. I have put out a help call to Enenra at Egosoft to see if he knows what I am doing wrong.

Here is a ship I am doing presently as a simple 'see if I can import a ship into X3' experiment.

This is the Terran Drone which I am making into a version called a Terran Personal Launch. (Private non-military vehicle, similar to a car that could go from planet to planet, able to be equipped with Jump Drive and two lasers).

On this model, all I have done is attach some basic wing foils and a couple of stack effects lasers. The lasers appear on the hull when you install them on your craft in-game.



Bill

gigabyte
December 16th, 2009, 14:28
Bill that looks way cool kind of like an interstellar sports car, now if you cram a 454 RAT under the hood with a crane fireball full racing cam and muncie 4 speed vertical gate shifter this thing would make a great scout craft... mummm think of the possibilities...

gigabyte
December 17th, 2009, 17:55
Bill, could I make a request for the Fire Fly from the tv series Serenity? If it's possible, and only if you have the time later on. I've searched but not found one for X3 as of now. With some weapons it would be the cat's butt for X3.

GT is this what you are looking for? If so there is a Mod that has it already.
http://www.flatrock.org.nz/wolf/images/X2_Pix/D_Firefly1.jpg

Lionheart
December 17th, 2009, 17:58
GT is this what you are looking for? If so there is a Mod that has it already.
http://www.flatrock.org.nz/wolf/images/X2_Pix/D_Firefly1.jpg

Oh man! I must have one! I wonder if you can haul a good amount of people in it too.


Bill

Craig Taylor
December 18th, 2009, 06:04
OK...I have to admit I've been fantasizing about the old "Starblazers" cartoon. I would love to see the starship 'Yamato' represented. "Fire the wave motion gun!" :icon_lol:

Lionheart
December 18th, 2009, 07:24
Last night, I got the exporter working.

One more step to getting ships into X3...

<-- jumps on the desk and dances a jig yelping 'yahoooo!'

GT182
December 18th, 2009, 14:45
Mike that is it, it looks awesome... an honest to goodness X3 Firefly. :applause:

Do you have a link to it?

Lionheart
December 18th, 2009, 16:31
Mike, I think the link is in the image address; here;


http://www.flatrock.org.nz/wolf


If you copy/paste the image address, you find where the image is hosted. Some of the guys that did the addons for X3 are in NZ, CZ, and the Fatherland. :d


Bill

EDIT: and hopefully soon, Phoenix... eeeks! lol

gigabyte
December 18th, 2009, 21:52
Mike that is it, it looks awesome... an honest to goodness X3 Firefly. :applause:

Do you have a link to it?

GT it is part of the DDTC Mod for Terran Conflict, I just installed that last night and it is amazing, these guys have done some real neat stuff.

Here is the link to the Post on Ergosoft, the dowmload is a good size but it is worth it.

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=250104

I am having a little trouble with the frame rates but I am not sure if it is the Mod or somethign else on my system, I am going to trouble that some tomorrow.

Lionheart
December 18th, 2009, 23:05
Man I miss that show Serenity... What a wild program. Totally new look on the future. Even their 'talk' was new and different.. like the word Atmo, and how they would phrase things in their sentences, like back in the early Western days of America..



Bill

gigabyte
December 19th, 2009, 02:13
Bill I am going to cheat one up this morning and I will give you a quick rundown on it. The ship may be avaliable as a Standalone add on somewhere but I have only found it so far as part of the DDTC mod. This Mod was just released last week and is visually awsome, and they have done some very neat stuff with the gameplay, however the initial release does have a small problem with performance, even with a 64bit OS and 8 gigs of RAM I am in slide show mode around any action at all. The developers have commented on the Mod board that performance is one of teh top priorities for Jan so hopefully this is a short lived issue.

Stay Tuned.

gigabyte
December 19th, 2009, 02:43
Bill check this link, there are a few pages on modding ships you miht find useful... http://www.xwiki.chaos.net.nz/Category:Modding

Lionheart
December 20th, 2009, 01:03
Thanks Mike. I'll pour through that tomorrow night.

Gmax still isnt exporting the model parts yet. When I export, things happen, but nothing shows up. What I should have are some BOD files, which will then be converted to BOB files and then placed into a CAT file package.

I have to learn to tune these things as well. They have basic airfiles, lol.. Similar to FS...


Bill

gigabyte
December 20th, 2009, 03:43
Bill you are way over my head, but I did see the terms BOD and BOB in the comments on that page so I suspect you can find some helpful stuff there.

aeronca1
December 20th, 2009, 12:25
If only, lol!

http://www.kitsune.addr.com/SF-Conversions/Rifts-Trek-Ships/Romulan_Warbird.htm

Lionheart
December 22nd, 2009, 13:07
If only, lol!

http://www.kitsune.addr.com/SF-Conversions/Rifts-Trek-Ships/Romulan_Warbird.htm


I hear that! The Romulan WarBird would be awesome, especially if its huge and goes pretty dang fast in warp, (SETA).

Funny as I was thinking about this just yesterday.



Bill

Lionheart
December 22nd, 2009, 13:08
Well, I just tried a different method in trying to get a model to export from Gmax into BOD format, and UREEEEEEEEEEEKA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


woooooooooo hoooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!


<-- jumps up on the table and dances a jig


So tonight or tomorrow, I hope to see if I can export a complete model of the Terran Launch sport scout and see if I can get it into X3...

:d



Bill

GT182
December 22nd, 2009, 16:42
Yippee! Mike, I'm downloading DDTD as I type this. ;) It's going in asap... well maybe tomorrow, but it's getting installed. Also have the manual too. Gotta print it out and read up first. Vanilla TC is going going gonnnnnne.

Bill, I garuntee you'll be asked for that Romulan Warbird, and the Firefly if you decide to mess around with it. Maybe the Romulan Warbird could be that new Boron Warbird. ;)

These would be good ones too....
http://www.kitsune.addr.com/SF-Conversions/Rifts-Trek-Ships/Klingon_Vorcha.htm

http://www.kitsune.addr.com/SF-Conversions/Rifts-Trek-Ships/Klingon_KVort_Bird.htm

http://www.kitsune.addr.com/SF-Conversions/Rifts-Trek-Ships/Maquis_Raider.htm

Lionheart
December 22nd, 2009, 16:56
Yippee! Mike, I'm downloading DDTD as I type this. ;) It's going in asap... well maybe tomorrow, but it's getting installed. Also have the manual too. Gotta print it out and read up first. Vanilla TC is going going gonnnnnne.

Bill, I garuntee you'll be asked for that Romulan Warbird, and the Firefly if you decide to mess around with it. Maybe the Romulan Warbird could be that new Boron Warbird. ;)

This would be a good one too....
http://www.kitsune.addr.com/SF-Conversions/Rifts-Trek-Ships/Klingon_Vorcha.htm


You know, those bright 'star' like fire effects of the proton torpedos, and the reddish ones for the Klingon plasma torpedo things (I forget what they were called), would be good for those. Would have to develop its own weapons in that case. It would really add to the ships though, firing off those torpedos at the enemy Q ships and J ships.. :d



Bill

gigabyte
December 22nd, 2009, 17:12
Yippee! Mike, I'm downloading DDTD as I type this. ;) It's going in asap... well maybe tomorrow, but it's getting installed. Also have the manual too. Gotta print it out and read up first. Vanilla TC is going going gonnnnnne.

Bill, I garuntee you'll be asked for that Romulan Warbird, and the Firefly if you decide to mess around with it. Maybe the Romulan Warbird could be that new Boron Warbird. ;)

These would be good ones too....
http://www.kitsune.addr.com/SF-Conversions/Rifts-Trek-Ships/Klingon_Vorcha.htm

http://www.kitsune.addr.com/SF-Conversions/Rifts-Trek-Ships/Klingon_KVort_Bird.htm

http://www.kitsune.addr.com/SF-Conversions/Rifts-Trek-Ships/Maquis_Raider.htm

GT when you install the DDTC mod you will have the Fire Fly it is included that is where I got the screenshot. I would warn you though there are performance issues with DDTC it gets real slow when you are in a busy sector, the eye candy is awsome but there is a performance hit. I would recommend making a copy of the Vanilla before you install that way you can go back if need be. What I did was just Burn my whole X3 Terran Conflict folder to a DVD before I installed the mod, and then to test it I installed played it for a bit and then renamed the installed folder to soemthing else and copied the original back to the HDD (remeber to remove the Read Only attrib if you do this) and low and behold I had my vanilla back. BTW I was also able to go directly to the new modified folder even though it had a different name now and double click the exe file and it ran so I have both loaded and working, the only draw back is I have to copy my Saves folder each time I switch so I do not mix up the save games but that is easy.

GT182
December 24th, 2009, 10:29
Bill, the link below is from the DDTC forum and in the PDF there a Custom Ships & Stations section with ship for the different races. The ships they've done will give you spec on each ship. From that you'll get an idea of what you want to use for specs on the ships you create. I'd say get the mod and look in the PDF too. They too have done some amazing work.

http://www.xforum.chaos.net.nz/viewtopic.php?f=69&t=688



Mike. I'll burn a copy of my TC folder to a DVD like you suggested. Not sure if my computer can handle the DDTC mod or not, but I'm going to give it a try. ;)

gigabyte
December 24th, 2009, 11:27
Mike. I'll burn a copy of my TC folder to a DVD like you suggested. Not sure if my computer can handle the DDTC mod or not, but I'm going to give it a try. ;)

GT you will likely have problems with performace especially in busy sectors with your graphics settings turned up at all, if you cut out the higher end graphics it should smooth out somewhat.

I would say the performace issues will be short lived, I have been on the DDTC Forum and they acknoweledge there is work to be done on that and it is the top priority for Jan. I suspect we will see a version 1.5 soon with improved performance. The Team that did this mod also did one for Reunion and it is amazing, not quite as much eye candy but more than the vanilla so I am sure they will resolve this in short order.

GT182
December 24th, 2009, 18:14
Thanks for that Mike.... I might hold off a bit and wait for 1.5.

Bill, check here..... http://www.xforum.chaos.net.nz/viewtopic.php?f=69&t=688
They have ship specs for different fleet ships. This page is for the Argon Fleet, but going to the bottom of the page you can "Jump To" access the other Fleets. It might help you for figuring out what you want to use for specs on the ships you're doing.

I finally found the Firefly (TS) in the Boron Fleet. http://www.xforum.chaos.net.nz/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=689 And I'm glad it's in a allie fleet. :d

Lionheart
December 26th, 2009, 21:42
Mike,

I have created a CAT file for my new Terran Launch, but do not know how to get it into the game from there. In the ReadMe, which falls off at the end, leaving out a few major details, it leaves me hanging with 'either install this with DoubleShadows Ship Installer, or via Scripts.

The CAT file is not a script is it?

I tried running it through the Ship Creator program by DoubleShadow, but dang, its a bit sophisticated. I am going to see if there is a readme around for it.

Any advice or input on this?




Bill
LHC

gigabyte
December 27th, 2009, 00:42
Mike,

I have created a CAT file for my new Terran Launch, but do not know how to get it into the game from there. In the ReadMe, which falls off at the end, leaving out a few major details, it leaves me hanging with 'either install this with DoubleShadows Ship Installer, or via Scripts.

The CAT file is not a script is it?

I tried running it through the Ship Creator program by DoubleShadow, but dang, its a bit sophisticated. I am going to see if there is a readme around for it.

Any advice or input on this?
Bill
LHC

Bill you are way over my head on this topic I am no good with creating ships or scenery for any of the sims I have and I have never had the time to learn. However I did see something about that in one of the guides or readme's, which will likely mean something to you but was greek to me. Let me take a peak for the links I had saved...

Lionheart
December 27th, 2009, 07:24
Thanks Mike.

It appears I need to somehow convert the CAT files into an SPK script file. I have an X3 Packager and an X3 Ship Creator. I just need to figure out how these work and convert a ship to a script pack. These do not have instructions that carry you through step by step. For someone like me who cant figure out these darn programs, I am left a bit lost. arrghh..

I did try numbering the CAT files into sync with the others. That didnt do it. Well, I didnt find my ship in the order list in the ship yards.


Bill

Lionheart
January 21st, 2010, 00:36
WOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

One personal Terran Launch, installed into the X Universe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

<--- jumps on desk and dances a jig shouting THANK YOU GOD!!!!


http://www.lionheartcreations.com/sitebuilder/images/Scrshot3333-997x638.jpg

http://www.lionheartcreations.com/sitebuilder/images/Scrshot3392-998x638.jpg


It needs some work. I see the scale is way off on it. As a drone, it was a very small craft, so it needs to be alot larger. The guns appear huge and are not locating in the right location. The Cockpit didnt locate the VC properly.

I might try to make my own VC from a decompiled version VC. I can move things around and make them to look a bit like the interior of the little ship.

DoubleShadow and Enenda at Egosoft have been working with me. The newest software tools were enhanced and operate totally diff from the previous versions. They are more powerful, but do different things from the tutorial.

Also, they showed me a way to do basic model entries into X3TC. You can create the basic file folder structures 'in' X3TC. Usually these are all compressed in the many CAT/DAT folder structures. (Sort of like ZIP files I believe, or CAB files).

This has been at least 2 months of trying to get a ship into X3. That was the main thing I wished to do is figure out the work flow from point A to point B, so that I could install new designs in it. That barrier was basically broken just now, Jan 20; 2:30AM...

whewww....

hooo rah!

gigabyte
January 21st, 2010, 02:54
OK now I am excited, I can hardly wait for some "Lionheart Creations" XShips in a universe near me :)

GT182
January 21st, 2010, 04:10
Hey that's great Bill. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v64/GT182/wow.gif :applause: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v64/GT182/Thumbup.gif http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v64/GT182/sigpic336_1.gif Now that's an addiction. :bump:

One question..... don't you ever sleep? LOL

Chacha
January 21st, 2010, 05:15
WOW :jawdrop:

Craig Taylor
January 21st, 2010, 06:17
:applause::applause::applause:

WTG, Bill! :ernae:

Lionheart
January 21st, 2010, 09:03
Thanks gang.

I couldnt sleep after I did that, so I played around with it some more. Changed the scale some and redid some things on it. Learning to adjust things like crazy. I was able to give it a different VC, adjusted stock speed from 64 to 200 (before updates or tunes), and when I gave it SuperTune in X3, it made it top out at 2,200 M/S, LOLOL... That was a blast. 6 Seconds to accellerate to full speed, 7 seconds to slow down to all-stop. More like a dragster. No warp needed, just gigantic brakes..

The original scale had it that no one could fit in it. I checked scale by bringing up an Agron M4 fighter into Gmax beside the craft, and sure enough, it was like part of the wing, instead of a car sized craft, which I wanted. So I rescaled it and through it back in X3TC and checked it, then flew it around for a while.

Very fun...



Bill

Lionheart
January 21st, 2010, 10:34
In the near future, I am going to try to do some tutorial work on this to help others that would want to do this also. The tutorials on ship making was good, but getting them 'in-game' was the most difficult part. I think that DoubleShadow is working on something also. This should be good. He made the tools for getting the ships into the game.



Bill

GT182
January 21st, 2010, 10:50
Excellent Bill. Tutorials sound good too. Maybe even I could learn something about it. But right now it's all greek to me.

Signed... The "Assassin-Profiteer". ;) LOL

Lionheart
January 24th, 2010, 13:31
Hey all,


Here are some interesting links which include basic modding to X3TC, as well as importing ships.


http://www.xwiki.chaos.net.nz/Category:X3_modding_tutorials



Bill

gigabyte
February 12th, 2010, 20:42
Hey Bill,

I was trolling the XUniverse forums and happened upon this post, means nothing to me but you might be interested - http://www.thexuniverse.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15408

Vayde
February 25th, 2010, 08:28
Hi guys.

Just found you after a little bit of searching :) Thanks for using DDTC as a reference for some of your work and congrats also on getting your first ship in game. Also thanks for your kind words and praise of the Mod.

We are currently working on the performance issue's and hopefully by the weekend we should have an idea on what is happening. I normally post on the Ego boards and our own, but I'm happy to post here to keep you guys in the loop.

Some of the guides on the x-wiki site are now a bit out of date and will need bringing up to scratch, however that's on the back burner at the moment as we swat the few bugs we have left.

Vayde

GT182
February 25th, 2010, 10:37
Vayde..... welcome, great to have you here with us. You'll find this is a much easier going spot than the Ego forums. ;) Beside, some of us need all the help we can get. X3 is very addictive, with a very steep learning curve too.

gigabyte
February 25th, 2010, 19:13
Hi guys.

Just found you after a little bit of searching :) Thanks for using DDTC as a reference for some of your work and congrats also on getting your first ship in game. Also thanks for your kind words and praise of the Mod.

We are currently working on the performance issue's and hopefully by the weekend we should have an idea on what is happening. I normally post on the Ego boards and our own, but I'm happy to post here to keep you guys in the loop.

Some of the guides on the x-wiki site are now a bit out of date and will need bringing up to scratch, however that's on the back burner at the moment as we swat the few bugs we have left.

Vayde

Vayde, Glad to have you aboard the Outhouse, I have been an X3 fan for some time and I really like the DDTC mod, I am having some performance issues but it is as much my gaming rig as it is the Mod, I am going to build a new system shortly so I expect better results when it is finished and if your team makes some performance inprovements to the mod even better.

I have to say I love the backgrounds, very well done, I really want to do more exploring but work keeps me away so much and I just have not had the time.

Hope you can keep us up to date on the enhancements to DDTC, I for one am looking forward to any updates.

Matt Wynn
February 27th, 2010, 08:02
Bill.... WOW.... hey anyone know if theres any Star Trek or Star Wars craft about i can add in? :icon_lol: i've got a hankering for pestering a Sovereign class while flying in an X-wing :icon_lol:

EDIT: Almost finished my First Ship Design.... i Call it, the Ninja Class, lots of Work still to do, this is my first ship ever and i mean ever, created in 3DS Max :icon_lol:

gigabyte
February 27th, 2010, 09:14
Smoothie, there are lots of both Star Wars and Star Trek ships for X3, I think most are for Reunion but I have seen plent for TC as well, check out the Mods froms at Ergosoft and Xuniverse they both have plenty of ships.

Matt Wynn
February 27th, 2010, 11:41
thanks Gig :ernae:

Vayde
March 2nd, 2010, 01:59
Hello all :)

Work here at DDTC HQ is picking up a pace. We have locked down a few of the performance bugs and are tweaking a few more elements to bring the fps up on mid to low range systems as not everyone has a super rig. Also we are hoping that the next patch release from Egosoft will aid performance as well.(read as, well known memory leak) As with all things DDTC these updates will be optional to the Mod so if you do have a super rig you can choose not to add them.

Right, I'm off, back to testing some of the new fetures we will be adding in our first update.

Thanks for playing...

Vayde

GT182
March 2nd, 2010, 08:55
Vayde, that sounds great. I have noticed tho that X3 has started having a lot of hicups with FPS lately, tho I didn't at he start from it's first install.

My system specs:
XP Home SP3
P4 3.2E
2Gb matched memeory
2 200Gb SATA Hdds
XF 6800 XT 512Gb DDR3memory
Asus P4P800-E Deluxe motherboard
Thermaltake 480watt PSU

I've been wondering if the FPS problem might have to do with game saves, or because of the Apricot Mapping Service mod. I know it shouldn't but I can't get those ywo thoughts out of my head..... old age I guess. LOL I've not hadtFPS issues with any other game I have installed. I defrag and run anti virus/malware scans once a week like clockwork. I even run Error Killer for registry fixes once a week. Plus Game Booster when running X3 to shut down unnecessary computer processes. Maybe all this is overboard but at least you know how one person running X3 takes care of his pc.

Good luck on the patch, I know most of us can't wait to hear your results and get the patch installed. My thanks on a terrific game..... I can't stay away from it. I'm a confirmed X3 Addict. :d LOL

Lionheart
March 2nd, 2010, 09:17
The memory leak happens with me. After an hour and having done some dog-fighting, I'll need to save and reboot to restore frame rates.


Great sim though. In the past, years ago, alot of games were like that. Even FS did it.


Bill

GT182
March 2nd, 2010, 15:54
Bill, I played for an hour this afternoon and it was a real mess. Never seen X3TC this bad. It froze up constantly and in that hour it was all I could take, I had to get out of it. Usually I can play for 4 hours or more with an occasional hicup or two, but not now. :frown:

gigabyte
March 2nd, 2010, 16:11
Hello all :)

Work here at DDTC HQ is picking up a pace. We have locked down a few of the performance bugs and are tweaking a few more elements to bring the fps up on mid to low range systems as not everyone has a super rig. Also we are hoping that the next patch release from Egosoft will aid performance as well.(read as, well known memory leak) As with all things DDTC these updates will be optional to the Mod so if you do have a super rig you can choose not to add them.

Right, I'm off, back to testing some of the new fetures we will be adding in our first update.

Thanks for playing...

Vayde

Looking forward to the DDTC update, I was very impressed with the Mod especially the backgrounds. I had some performance issues, but I blame it on my rig, I suspect you are right on the memory leak to. I am pricing out a new build now planning an i7 with 8 or 12 gig of RAM, hoping that will take care of the performance with my various sims.

Please let us know when the update is ready, I for one will be on it like stink on a turd...lol

gigabyte
March 2nd, 2010, 16:17
Bill, I played for an hour this afternoon and it was a real mess. Never seen X3TC this bad. It froze up constantly and in that hour it was all I could take, I had to get out of it. Usually I can play for 4 hours or more with an occasional hicup or two, but not now. :frown:

GT if you are getting system hangs or crashes, don't forget the event viewer, many folks never think to look at it but you would be well advised to check it out after any system hang or crash event. I can't tell you how many times I have located a problem with some obscure driver or dll that was easily solved by an update or roll back and the event viewer was what provided the answer.

If you have never used it, check the Administrative Tools in the Control Pamel, when you open it up select System Events and filter for ERROR, then scrool through and see where the problems are caused.

Lionheart
March 2nd, 2010, 21:10
GT if you are getting system hangs or crashes, don't forget the event viewer, many folks never think to look at it but you would be well advised to check it out after any system hang or crash event. I can't tell you how many times I have located a problem with some obscure driver or dll that was easily solved by an update or roll back and the event viewer was what provided the answer.

If you have never used it, check the Administrative Tools in the Control Pamel, when you open it up select System Events and filter for ERROR, then scrool through and see where the problems are caused.

Dang! Thats good to know.

Might be able to use that in FSX as well.


Thanks Mike,



Bill

GT182
March 3rd, 2010, 07:26
Thanks for that Mike..... never thought of it. I'll take a look and see what's going on.

Even DX Dialog should show it too. I give that a go also.