Have You Noticed - GMax Ships

[Daiwilletti]

Have you noticed the astonishing array of GMax ship models uploaded for CFS2 by Stuart277?

These include the original GMax models, not just the mdl files.

There are Italian, Japanese, Italian, Free French, and Royal Navy ships ranging from tasty battleships to escort carriers for the Atlantic.

The ones I've looked at in GMax do not have gunstations. I've been in touch with Stuart277, and he confirmed that the models are available as freeware, for conversion to CFS3. The terms are very generous, its great that he has kindly made the GMax models available, not many people do that.

I've no idea what it would take to add gunstations in GMax, but am prepared to give it a go, if there are some experienced GMax hands out there willing to answer my dumb questions.

Together with ships coming from Liquidchicken and others recently, addons like Rising Sun and MAW could have a wealth of new targets.

It would be possible to export them to m3d "as is" with no guns, but that would be no fun.......However they would make stupendous facility files for harbours...

[NachtPiloten]

Look at the gamepack models - vehicles should do and see how they named the guns and set up the axis.

[Pat Pattle]

Thanks for sharing the info David. Nice selection of models and very generous to supply the Gmax sources too. Thank you Stuart277

There's a german destroyer in the SDK which apart from the guns gives you the damageboxes as well.

[brundu841]

Peut-être bientôt de Nombreux navire français ... Je ai fait Trois peaux versez les NAVIRES français se engagent Dans le combat ... mais sur le modèle de la voiture allemande, Comme Je ne sais pas ... Je utilise g max n 'a pas mis à la disposition de Tous les Trois bateaux ... -----------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- peut etre bientot de Nombreux navire français ... je fait intérim Trois peaux Verser des NAVIRES français Ayant combattu ... mais sur le modèle du croiseur allemand, Comme je ne sais PAS UTILISER g max ... je ne en ai pas Mis à disposition De La CES navires Boutique Tous Trois ...

[Daiwilletti]

Hi brundu841 hope the following makes sense (par Google Translate)

Eh bien comme je l'ai dit Brundu841 il existe de nombreux modèles de navires français aimablement mis à disposition par Stuart277. Vous pouvez essayer de travailler sur l'un de ceux, peut-être?
Excusez-moi si je ne vous ai pas compris.

[Daiwilletti]

Look at the gamepack models - vehicles should do and see how they named the guns and set up the axis.

Thanks Nachtpiloten and PatPattle, those are very good suggestions . (including the unspoken **** suggestion, which rest assured I will revisit )

Liquidchicken also made some good suggestions. He points out that some of the models may need new guns made, which is beyond my ability. I have not looked closely enough at some of Stuart277's models in GMax, to tell if I can the guns already on the model or not.

I do not need all the fantastic detail that Liquidchicken is putting in. The stock ships have only a few gunstations modelled, and even fewer of the gunstations actually work (take the A_cruiser as an example). Because of the "sniper effect" of CFS3, the ships can still do pretty well at shooting down aircraft.

For campaign play, ships that shoot back will do the job fine - You don't get a close look at the ships because they will shoot you down! It's pretty daunting seeing all the flashes when diving on a ship that has muzzleflashes included in the gunstations in the xdp....

I'm hoping to have some time this coming winter, to put my (extremely) limited skills to some use, adding a few more ships to the stable, if it is at all possible to do efficiently.

[brundu841]

I did not g max, I do not know to create a 3d model .. I just did three ships using the 3d model of the German cruiser CFS3 game ...
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je n'ai pas g max, je ne sais pas créer un modèle 3d.. j'ai juste fait 3 navires en utilisant le modèle 3d du croiseur allemand du jeu cfs3...

[HouseHobbit]

Having Ships would be Nice , indeed!
With Rising Sun we got some nice ones added.. And a few brave souls are doing a few..
But CFS3 is lacking in this area.

[stuart277]

Hi All
As David has said, all my stuff is freeware, so you can 'go to town' on them.
The early models are not Multi-LOD and they use DP's drawn from other ships (See the readme).
They are not works of art but just targets.
I can open them up in GMax, but the textures are not perfect and when I try to export them to create the CFS3 model, I get a message that certain parts have a scale applied to them and must be removed before exporting, but a model file is created.
I do not have CFS3 and cannot test them.
At the moment I am stuck.
Cheers
Stuart

[stuart277]

Hi all
There is question of guns and gunstations.
I do not know how the CFS3 engine works, but with CFS2, the guns on the ships are just 'models'. I name them as I wish to e.g. 15inchgun01.
Some really good modellers can make them rotate, but I can't.
The actual 'firing' is controlled by the DP file, which gives the characteristics of the gun.
There is an editing program for this.
Cheers
Stuart

[brundu841]

we may already be enjoying your prodigious work stuart ...
to display ships in harbor ....
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nous pouvons peut etre deja profiter de ton travail prodigieux stuart...
pour afficher des navires dans les port....

[hairyspin]

...when I try to export them to create the CFS3 model, I get a message that certain parts have a scale applied to them and must be removed before exporting...

Hello Stuart, thank you for your generosity!

To get rid of the scale problem, reset scale via the tool on the Hierarchy panel in Gmax: this must be done for all scaled objects in Gmax and the error message will tell you which objects need this.

Shortcut: If your model is organised in a neat hierarchy, just select the topmost object in the hierarchy and click Reset:Scale, then press <PageDown> to select all objects one level down the hierarchy. Click Reset:Scale and then <PageDown> will select all objects on the next level down, and so on. It takes just moments to reset scale on the entire model this way – if it's organised in a hierarchy!

[Pat Pattle]

Shortcut: If your model is organised in a neat hierarchy, just select the topmost object in the hierarchy and click Reset:Scale, then press <PageDown> to select all objects one level down the hierarchy. Click Reset:Scale and then <PageDown> will select all objects on the next level down, and so on. It takes just moments to reset scale on the entire model this way – if it's organised in a hierarchy!

Top tip Tom! I've always plodded through one object at a time if they're scaled at the export stage. Thanks!

When I get time there's a few nice RN ships in Stuarts collection including flat-deck carriers which it would be nice to have.

[hairyspin]

You're welcome Clive; Mathias shared that tip a long time ago iirc and I've used it ever since.

[stuart277]

Hi Hairyspin
Thank you for your help again.
I am not sure about what a 'neat hierarchy' is, but I opened the 'hierarchy section', pressed 'select all' and the little 'reset scale' at the bottom of the column and then exported without any 'questions'. I assume it exported, but I cannot test them.
I looked at the SDK G_Destroyer and the textures have a similar 'appearance' to my model so I am no longer worried about the textures.
David (who requested the models) suggested looking at the SDK G_Destroyer.
It has 'damage boxes'.
At the moment, I assume they are 'dummy boxes' that provide information to to the model regarding damage areas.
In CFS2 the Damage Information is found in the DP file, and no 'dummy boxes' are required in the model.
My first question is:
Are the 'dummy boxes' representing Damage Information a necessity for CFS3 Models?
I also noticed in the G_Destroyer, ther are small 'dummy boxes' at the tip og the 5inch guns.
At the moment, I assume these'dummy boxes' provide information to to the model regarding gun firepower.
Again, in CFS2 the gun firepower is found in the DP file, and no 'dummy boxes' are required in the model.
My second question is:
Are the 'dummy boxes' representing gun firepower a necessity for CFS3 Models?
Cheers
Stuart

[hairyspin]

Okay, one thing at a time.

Hierarchies are built by linking objects together in Gmax. Here's an LOD10 section of Gerard & Luca's Bf109F for MAW, so there's just 14 objects:–





but the objects have actually been linked together – l_horizontal and r_horizontal to tail, tail to fuselage_aft, and so on up to the top node DR_BF109F-2T_XX+XX_LOD_10 as can be seen:–





CFS3 models really should be organised like this or things just don't work properly.

[hairyspin]

The boxes you see on the 5 inch gun muzzles are gmax Dummy objects. These are emitters in CFS3: they fix where the guns fire from and which direction they fire in, so the Dummy object's pivot must be correctly aligned. If the emitter's pivot Y axis points straight up, the gun will fire straight up, which would be really handy on a Bf109, duh. Depending on the name used, the gun may be fixed like the 109's cannon or trainable like a Lancaster's rear turret. The gun type fired is defined in the model's .xdp file.





You can see other emitters in the picture, they're used for locating and orientating effects which are defined in the .model's .xdp file: exhaust flames and smoke in this case:–





If the model is being shot at instead of doing the firing, the sim detects which damage boxes are hit and what then happens is defined in the model's .xdp file. The visual model plays no part in this: it's hidden here so the damage boxes can be seen. Note that if these are scaled or edited at vertex, edge or poly sub-object they won't work!



This is all described in the famously terse CFS3 sdk and Capt. Winters is perhaps the most experienced at this mind-numbing department. He's another Aussie, so should be on your time zone.

[Daiwilletti]

Wow, those pictures say a thousand words! Thanks Hairyspin and Stuart277 this looks incredibly useful

[Blood_Hawk23]

Wow, those pictures say a thousand words! Thanks Hairyspin and Stuart277 this looks incredibly useful

Hey Stuart,

If you need a hand with any of this just give me a yell. I have all of your ships so I can work from the source if needed.

[stuart277]

Hi Bloodhawk
I got your email, sent a reply.
Cheers
Stuart

[stuart277]

Thanks Hairyspin
These are nice bits of info and great pictures.
The hierarchy is OK.
My guess is:
Ship Normal (small dummy box)
-----Model LOD 100 (The model without guns)
----------gun0_l_r (gunhouse)
-----------------gun0_fore_aft (barrel)
--------------------------gun_grp0b0 (small dummy box)

My Gmax ships have lots of parts.
Apart from the guns, I assume they will have to be 'linked' as 'model LOD 100' ????
Cheers
Stuart

[Blood_Hawk23]

Yeah they will.

Kool, I'll check on the email.

I should be getting CFS3 between the 17th and May 4th. Its already been shipped so hopefully sooner then later.

[Blood_Hawk23]

I'm looking into doing the conversions of Stuarts ships. If any one else is working on these, Please let me know.

I'm looking at the Revenge right now.

I have a question on the model names. Does it matter what they are called. For the GMax german destroyer they used g_destroyer. Do I have to follow this?

As an example, the Revenge, do I have to call it b_battleship or can I call it b_revenge, RN_Revenge or HMS_Revenge. Right now I have it saved as RN_Revenge. As I don't have CFS3 (Yet) I'm not sure what is required.

This is one of Stuarts earlier ships. So there are no LODs. I think the renaming and adding the damage and gun boxes should go quickly enough. It will become more complexed as I get into his newer models. If you want newer textures then they will have to be remapped. Sorry I'm not the best at that so Stuart himself would have to do the magic there.

So let me know. I'll do them as I'm able.

'til Later
John

[hairyspin]

The model names are what you want to call them and are referenced by the .xdp file. You may find the Aircraft and Vehicle and Building SDK useful for referencing this and it's in the Library, as detailed in the sticky above.

[Blood_Hawk23]

The model names are what you want to call them and are referenced by the .xdp file. You may find the Aircraft and Vehicle and Building SDK useful for referencing this and it's in the Library, as detailed in the sticky above.

Thank you very much. Its a little bit of a learning curve as I'm use to the other MS sims. once I have a copy of CFS3 I can make more sence of it all. for now I've started the work on the Revenge. I just picked one.

Any requests?