ManSh00ter

Reply to Firing arcs in Sins Modding Sins Forums

Do you have a full set of nulls? I reckon "Center" null might be important for determining what exactly is "left", "right" and so on. Also, make sure the "rootpoint" null and the mesh are centered on origin in XSI (0,0,0) AND that the "rootpoint" has also been frozen (no transform values). Other than that, as far as I know, weapon arcs are controlled by the orientation of the null. But since I know that not specifying any nulls causes weapons to fire in 360 degree arcs, it may be a

Reply to XSI-modeling questions in Sins Modding Sins Forums

Yes, of course. The above example has 1344 polygons, which may or may not be a bit too much, depending on the rest of the ship model. Optimization is a whole other topic though! For quick reference, remember: -flat surfaces do not need a lot of polygons -when making curved surfaces, always strive for a balance between "looking smooth" and "making your computer explode" -you can easily check your poly weight by pressing Spacebar, and then Shift-Enter XSI has a great

Reply to Shooting down missiles, endearing missile trails, abilities management in Sins Modding Sins Forums

Missiles are not actual objects such as ships. As far as I know, there is no way to target a projectile, but I may be wrong since honestly I haven't looked deeply into that. As for missile trails, I don't know a way to make them stay after the missile has impacted, since the whole particle system is tied together and when the projectile ceases to exist, so do all the associated particle effects it seems. I tried many combinations, including "detaching" particles form the emitters, but s

Reply to XSI-modeling questions in Sins Modding Sins Forums

As Azzizi said, modelling is complicated by nature. But it can be self-taught, you don't need a college degree in order to be proficient... I like to think my modelling skills are at least somewhere in the upper half where skill is concerned and I am self-taught. All you need is a good tool, an eye for proportion and patience. Good visualisation skills help too. ;) When it comes to curves and box modelling, here is a little example: Let's say we want to make an oval shape simil

Reply to [MOD WIP] Star Trek: Sacrifice of Angels 2 (updated 01/10/09) in Sins Modding Sins Forums

I think they said about twenty times alrady that there will be no Borg in the mod... :)

Reply to XSI-modeling questions in Sins Modding Sins Forums

Also, it is generally very difficult to mess up your model so badly that you cannot either: a) use the modelling history (select your model, then click on "Selection" button) to return to the point prior to messing up b) use the mesh edit tools, including meticulous vertice, edge and polygon adjustment in order to manually fix the errors Thoguh sometimes its just easier to start again - and since you are doing a fairly simple model I'd guess you did the right thing. :)

Reply to XSI-modeling questions in Sins Modding Sins Forums

Ooo! I know this one! ;) You haven't done anything wrong, simply find, in the top right corner of your viewport, a label saying "wireframe"; click on it and select "shaded" or whatever else suits your needs.

Reply to [MOD WIP] Star Trek: Sacrifice of Angels 2 (updated 01/10/09) in Sins Modding Sins Forums

[quote]Sins does support spec mapping. Spec maps are used in the alpha channel of the main "-cl" texture.[/quote] Yeah, my bad. Happens when you type faster than you think. :NOTSURE: Anyway, specularitize away! ;) And as someone who knows exactly what it means to single-handedly work on a mod of this scope, I can say kudos to you for perseverance and having the resolution to stick to your vision!

Reply to [MOD WIP] Star Trek: Sacrifice of Angels 2 (updated 01/10/09) in Sins Modding Sins Forums

Why work on specularity maps when Sins do not support them (as far as I know) - the game applies a universal "glossiness" variable, no? Anyway, a very nice model and texture work!

Reply to [MOD] Sins of a Solar Empire: INVASION (new screenshots, May 28th, 2012.) in Sins Modding Sins Forums

As promised, here are a few igname shots of the minelayer: [link="http://img160.imageshack.us/my.php?image=xinminelayer1dw6.jpg"][IMG]http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/3006/xinminelayer1dw6.th.jpg[/IMG][/link] [LINK="http://img299.imageshack.us/my.php?image=xinminelayer2hf2.jpg"][IMG]http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/3955/xinminelayer2hf2.th.jpg[/IMG][/LINK] [link="http://img299.imageshack.us/my.php?image=xinminelayer3rw9.jpg"][IMG]http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/1818/xinminelayer3

Reply to How do You prepare/apply TeamColorTexture and DisplacementTexture in Sins Modding Sins Forums

That part is in the original modding documentation, not the addendum. To summarize, the data (or "teamcolor", though that is not exactly an accurate term) texture is constructed thus: You use RGB values to control how the various shaders are applied to your textures. -Red color value controls opacity of teamcolor areas; the more red a part of the data texture is, the more is that part of your texture tinted in the color of your team. -Green controls the amount

Reply to How do You prepare/apply TeamColorTexture and DisplacementTexture in Sins Modding Sins Forums

If you are having trouble with that, you can always enter the texture file names manually in the .mesh file after it has been converted. Otherwise the full procedure for hooking up textures in XSI so that the converter will pick them up (along with the entire procedure of preparing a model for import) is explained in the modding documentation.

Reply to help with ship sizes in Sins Modding Sins Forums

As long as you are not trying to profit or otherwise infringe on the EULA, modifying vanilla models is legal.

Reply to A question for devs in Sins Modding Sins Forums

Rotating rings are pretty easy to do through the particle system. I think if you search through this forum you will even find examples of ships with rotating parts. It has certainly been done, and is not that complicated. Moving parts, parts which go back and forth are more complicated to do, but may also be possible, again through the particle system.

Reply to help with ship sizes in Sins Modding Sins Forums

You have to use the unofficial export/import tool for 3DSMax (and obviously have 3DSMax) to resize the models. As far as I know, there is no other way to do it.

Reply to [MOD] Sins of a Solar Empire: INVASION (new screenshots, May 28th, 2012.) in Sins Modding Sins Forums

Milk Mclane, well right now all the concepts for the Remnant are in my head. :) But yeah, they're really cool. :p Admiral_Kiernyc, you shouldn't wait long. A capital ship (battleship to be exact) is in da works. Gamerking345, the mod will be released in three episodes. The first will see the Xin invade the known systems of the galaxy we worked so hard to rip to shreds so far. The second episode will introduce the Remnant and the third will bring the Hegemony into the fray.<

Reply to Ships flying sideways in Sins Modding Sins Forums

Erm... not sure what you mean. Select your model and use the rotation controls to reorient it. Any 3D modelling software should have rotation tools...

Reply to Critical Hit System in Sins Modding Sins Forums

Ramming. :p Who needs criticals when you can go foamy at the mouth and scream "RAMMING SPEED" at your monitor in the heat of the battle! ;) The idea with critical sounds nice, I hope you can pull it off, though I personally don't see how. :) Just keep in mind it works both ways... and you could lose a precious high-level battleship fast to a freak streak of criticals... that's statistics for you. Always coming back to bite you in the arse. ;)

Reply to Ships flying sideways in Sins Modding Sins Forums

This probably means you have oriented your ship models incorrectly in your modelling software. To use XSI as an example, but I believe it is the same for any modelling software which uses the standard 4 perspectives (usually Top, Front, Right and Isometric), you have to orient your model so that when the model is viewed from the Top perspective, its front end is pointing down. When I imported my first test cube into the game I had that same problem, and the above fixed it.

Reply to Modding factories and exhaust in Sins Modding Sins Forums

I believe that the exhaust color is controlled outside of both the particle texture and particle system itself. Many exhausts use recycled textures, and since exhaust needs to be recolored according to faction color it wouldn't make sense to store the appropriate data in the texture itself. As for the particle files, I tried changing the pipeline effect from GS_Exhaust to Particle_Additive (what most "normal" particles use), but there was no change. So it is a good bet that the syst

Reply to Modding factories and exhaust in Sins Modding Sins Forums

1. Yeah, it is hardcoded. 2. Might be possible to change it by altering pipeline shaders (GS_Exhaust.fx file in PipelineEffects folder), but so far I haven't been able to do that. Sort of difficult to make sense of a small piece of code when you don't know what half of the variables stand for...

Reply to Stargate Space Conflict in Sins Modding Sins Forums

Correction - for the mesh and particle folders, only the files modified need to be in there. Same goes for textures.

Reply to [MOD] Sins of a Solar Empire: INVASION (new screenshots, May 28th, 2012.) in Sins Modding Sins Forums

LinkesAuge, the first "teaser" video will be released when I finish the first capital ship. That little piece is sort of needed for the final scene... ;) Thomas, each new faction will get a ship capable of laying mines, while the vanilla factions will have their support cruisers retrofitted for interdiction and minelaying, but will not get a totally new ship. Mines will differ among races. The Xin, for example, will have two types, a Spider Mine and a Spitter Mine. Designed to

Reply to [MOD] Sins of a Solar Empire: INVASION (new screenshots, May 28th, 2012.) in Sins Modding Sins Forums

Here are the results. First, the newly minted Minelayer: [link="http://img155.imageshack.us/my.php?image=xinminelayerdi1.jpg"][IMG]http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/9247/xinminelayerdi1.th.jpg[/IMG][/link] And to compare, the Carrier Cruiser with the touched-up skin: [link="http://img100.imageshack.us/my.php?image=xincarriercruiseryl5.jpg"][IMG]http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/1812/xincarriercruiseryl5.th.jpg[/IMG][/link] I think the new skin style is much b

Reply to Eve Online in Sins Modding Sins Forums

By all means, having team members is useful in most cases, especially if you haven't got all the required skills or the time necessary to do it all yourself. Personally I prefer to work alone as that gives me the greatest possible degree of control in how the mod will look. As I am basically inventing everything myself, this is preferrable to having to explain every little minute detail to a team. :p Though, when it comes to "burning out", that happens to teams as well. Whether you are