Gmax and Ships Creation for X3TC

[Lionheart]

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]

Does anyone know of a program that can do batches, and will convert TXT files into DDS files?



Bill

[gigabyte]

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]

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]

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]

Mike,

Have you seen one of these???

Terran M6. Almost looks like a bear claw.




Bill

[Lionheart]

One problem I am having is matching names of the models to their names in X3TC.




Bill

[Chacha]

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)...

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

[GT182]

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]

Oh my God, my brain just went into overdrive.

Something semi large that has one or two hangers, LOLOLOL

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

[Chacha]

This is the link for the spaceship with screenshots

http://eng.x3tc.ru/x3_tc_ships/list....d=0&s=&r=1&p=7

[gigabyte]

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]

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]

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/...ex.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]

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]

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]

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...

[Chacha]

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...

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



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?

Just kidding ....

[harleyman]

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

Just kidding ....

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

Thats target practice for all...

[Lionheart]

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...

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]

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]

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]

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.

[Lionheart]

GT is this what you are looking for? If so there is a Mod that has it already.

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


Bill

[Craig Taylor]

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!"