Homeworld:@(0.2.4.0) P#840 - June Update

[Siber]

Those would be nice! Sadly, I don't think we can manage them exactly. We might be able to do clever chicanery with the engine trails, but there's the trail transparency and some special cases that would make accuracy difficult, for example black color trails are colored red by the engine so you can see them.

Multiple units to preview would be a snap, if not for a quirk I ran into while fixing up the current picker with the interceptors. Namely, it only seems to support the color blending necessary to do the preview on the first two options. You can add more to the list if you want, but they don't change colors when you pick. So...

Sorry, barring breakthroughs, daydreaming yeah. We do have some long term plans to expand the picker window and display multiple ships at once, particularly once we have more than two factions to choose from, but that's all the hope I can hold out for now.

[tadamir]

Wow, I'm impressed you guys looked into it even.
I thought I was being ridiculously hopeful for just more picker choice than an Interceptor, stoked you guys actually checked that out.

Hey Siber, thanks for the reply, to a modding layman like me, these little gleams of 'inside' info are very interesting.

All the best with your (and the rest of the team's) works, I am eagerly awaiting this mods' release but am patient enough to wait 'till it's done', so I'll continue to lurk here.

[doci7]

Not really an update, I guess; trying the ship with the more classic straight-stripes:

[MatthCoFreak]

I definitely love that cockpit

[doci7]

I definitely love that cockpit

I hope you're not too serious, because that's actually the engine texture right now, because I don't have the map for the cockpit and I was told to simply ignore working on it for the time being. I have to admit it does look strangely cool that way, though, if a bit messy.

[Vipey]

Not really an update, I guess; trying the ship with the more classic straight-stripes:

You should probably add more detail even around the stripe area. Photoshop is a very handy tool if you know what you're doing. Try sharpening some stuff and adding more hull features. The textures look fine but you do need more detail. At least I think it does.

If not then just ignore my ramblings.

[doci7]

Yeah, it needs more detail-- I just haven't got to it yet! It's still very much a work in progress...

[Avatar II]

Vipey: Recalling Doci's Czalkir textures, the end result will not likely be underdetailed XD.

[tadamir]

@doci7

As some feed back, I personally prefer the first 'angled stripes' texture you showed, over the 'classic straight stripes', not sure why, I just think the angle makes the nose look even cooler.

On the textures around the cockpit, I realize they aren't finished but perhaps you could throw in a subtle yellow equilateral triangle pointing at the cockpit for 'Crew Escape'?
We all subconciously know what the area around modern fighter-jet cockpits look like with their muted 'Escape' and warning labels, being a Space Fighter shouldn't make these labels any less necessary.

I was thinking if you can subtly apply these markings it may go a long way to the 'believability' of the models, if us humans see stuff we expect to logically see in certain places it all improves the immersion of the game subconciously.

If you've already done this and I just can't make it out then just ignore this!

[doci7]

Recalling Doci's Czalkir textures, the end result will not likely be underdetailed XD.

Thanks for that; I have to admit to some feelings of inferiority surrounding my texture-detailing abilities, so it's always good to hear something reaffirming, particularly from another texturer.

EDIT:I

personally prefer the first 'angled stripes' texture you showed, over the 'classic straight stripes'

This makes for quite a conflict of interests. Suffice it to say that while I wouldn't mind backtracking to the angled stripes, the decision is [trying to phrase delicately] sort of voluntarily out of my hands [/trying to phrase delicately]. I still have the old stripes-- maybe I could make it available both ways (pending some model permissions are obtained), but for the purposes of this mod, it will remain straight-striped, as far as I can tell.

On the textures around the cockpit, I realize they aren't finished but perhaps you could throw in a subtle yellow equilateral triangle pointing at the cockpit for 'Crew Escape'?

Sure, I could do that. Adding subtle characteristics of real fighters is a pretty good idea, and I think more than in other genres it would fit in nicely with Homeworld. Thanks for the feedback!

[tadamir]

Haha, didn't know about the stripes choice not being entirely up to you, fair enough, it was just a personal preference and they both look cool.

Thanks, to all of you (modders), for helping keep Homeworld alive!

[Vipey]

Vipey: Recalling Doci's Czalkir textures, the end result will not likely be underdetailed XD.

Good point, but you see what I'm talking about since you said "End Result".

This little conversation gave me an idea.

[Avatar II]

Hey doci, we been chatting a bit about textures and models... First and foremost, Riess drew the concept that turned into this scout model you've got right now. He was ultimately okay with it being released under our terms. These terms are pretty lax; so feel free to work on your own take on the scout's texture! I'd just like to request that if you can stomach it, it would really rock if you could work on a variant that fit into our Taiidani texturing scheme.

We were also thinking that if you did come up with a really awesome variant version of the stripes, we'd probably find a way to include it somewhere in the script. A group of aces flying scouts came up as a possibility; if you wanted to work towards that adding a lot more flashy stuff would be quite awesome. Kill counters, the like.

On the subject of the texturing details, I think it'd probably be best if we got together in IRC or over skype or something... that way it'd be easier for me to coordinate your texturing efforts with the vision the team has, as well as helping it mesh a bit better with our already finished interceptor. I can PM you more precise details if you're interested.

[doci7]

Cool, I'd like to have at least enough access to be able to use this in the Galactic Council mod I'm trying to make. I mean, it stands to reason the Republican Taiidan could've become members of the GC by HW2, doesn't it?

Having alternately-textured models for "flight aces" does sound pretty cool, though if I were an elite pilot I don't think a scout would be my fighter of choice. At any rate, so long as the distinctions don't go too far from little alterations like stripe-arrangement, that sounds like a worthwhile endeavor.

I could try IRCing again, but I can't say when I'll be available to do that; perhaps tomorrow, but no guarantees. I don't recall how to get where I need to go with that, though, so I think you will have to PM me about it.

[Avatar II]

Heck, the Taiidani Republic's a member of the galactic council in HW@. What's funny is if you check out the article on the Kushan scout on Homeworld Shipyards, you'll find that the scout was the preferred fighter of quite a few aces for its extreme maneuverability and speed.

PM will be sent momentarily.

[doci7]

Heck, the Taiidani Republic's a member of the galactic council in HW@

Right, but I didn't feel I should divulge that myself, in case it was guarded information.

I guess if you look at scouts as they performed in HW1 (as one ought when considering this mod) they wouldn't make bad elite fighters at all.

[Vipey]

Always wanted to ask this:

Who did the texturing for the Ion Cannon Frigate?
It's spectacular and if normal mapped and given other texture features it'd fit right into something based off of the Cry2Engine.

[Avatar II]

That would be me. There's no normal mapping, as neither my nor Siber's computer supports those shaders (though that is soon to change). One thing I'm hoping to do soon is work on normal etc maps for things like the interceptor and the ion frigate, as well as other textures as we crank 'em out.

Why Cry2Engine, and what "other texture features", out of curiosity?

[Blah]

I think he's talking about CryEngine 2, which was used for Crysis.

EDIT: Argh, I can't read...

[Vipey]

That would be me. There's no normal mapping, as neither my nor Siber's computer supports those shaders (though that is soon to change). One thing I'm hoping to do soon is work on normal etc maps for things like the interceptor and the ion frigate, as well as other textures as we crank 'em out.

Why Cry2Engine, and what "other texture features", out of curiosity?

The Cry2Engine is the engine for Crysis, It was a compliment. The reason I mentioned it is because the Cry2Engine allows more than 5 different types of textures for the same object. It's partially the reason why the game is such a huge resource hog.

And yes Normal Mapping would be most great for future versions of the mod. If you ever need help with creating the normal map textures just ask, I'm quite good at them. No Idea how to import them into HW2, but my experience with other games has allowed me to go beyond just generating them.

I think he's talking about CryEngine 2, which was used for Crysis.

Whoops.

[Avatar II]

Vipey: I'd be absolutely thrilled to have any help making normal maps. If you've got a tutorial you could share, I'd eat it up though I'd probably end up following the Homeworld 2.0 guidelines. If you're interested in adding a normal map to anything we've already made, name the ship and I'll provide diffuse textures for you.

[Siber]

Update time! The main hull textures are done for the harvester.




While of course there is still work to be done, namely tank textures and harvesting effects, this milestone represents a lot of the work required for this ship. In addition, it means the ship looks good enough for us to show off the animations.

Click this link to see the penguin strut it's stuff. The final version will have a tank, of course. Hope you like it!

[Wintermute]

Dear god that is so awesome... Looks like the real deal. Professional level stuff.

[MatthCoFreak]

Great ship indeed, can't wait to play with this thing ingame

[aquemnun]

Very nice animating. I assume that the collector will dock "lying down" with the refinery ship, due to the docking / launching animation meaning that the ship has to be travelling vertically to dock / launch.

[Avatar II]

Indeed. Designing this ship was a very interesting process; I wanted to have a shape that strongly recalled the original resource collector for the kushans, but I also wanted something different. The idea of having it shift from flying "head first" as it docks and launches to standing up eventually came up and seemed really awesome; when docking and launching it's a bit like the old collector in shape and engine placement, but it also has a tall shape that recalls the HW1 era mothership. At least, tries to, sorta.

I'm sorry to say it'll probably be a while yet before it's finished... as the texturer, I can safely say it took about three months longer than I expected to finish the main hull. The cargo pod shouldn't take too long, but then there's effects, animation tweaks, and sounds and the like.

I swear we'll all try as hard as we can to get it out soon. Thanks for your comments, they really are the biggest inspiration we have.

[OhJohnNo]

Great ship - interesting idea, having it stand up. I'm hoping for a magic orange beam to be added soon, though, being a bit of a Homeworld purist. I also liked the way the carrier is now the Homeworld 1 carrier, which I obviously missed when skimming this thread. Overall, awesome stuff!

[Siber]

Yeah, we've had the old carrier ported in for a version or three now. It's incomplete, without proper death events or complete dock paths, and it isn't up to the visual fidelity of the other ships in the fleet, but until we make a new one it serves its role well.

[doci7]

Amazing! I admit I had doubts about this model when I first saw it, but it has become a very, very beautiful ship! I still wish I could figure out how Avatar captures that HW texture look so perfectly! I can't say it enough-- good work. Coming back from my short leave to see this makes for an excellent and unexpected welcome-home present!

[doci7]

Well, I put in a lot of effort finishing my firing effects today but I found a little bit of time to put some of the desired changes to the scout into effect:

I hope these minor changes are to your liking.

[Wintermute]

Wow, it really does look just like a HW1 Scout.....


Awesome!

[tadamir]

Very nice work doci7!

That is very cool, looks much better with a cockpit too!

The grime trails from those two circles either side of the cockpit work great I think,
can't wait to fly this baby!

(just had a closer look comparing this texture and the previous pic of it side by side. I like the improved/simplified line work around the cockpit frame. The previous pic had this kind of almost zig-zag/wave pattern in the middle area around the cockpit frame, just 'above' those two blue dots, that I didn't like so much, I think it looks a lot better now that that has been removed. Good work!)

[monolith]

I would SO love to have them ingame
Just another piece of great work by HW:@!

[Ringleader]

Hey, could you guys re-release the latest version of the mod? For whatever reason, it wont download from the sites your hosting the file on, try mediafire, and make sure it works, because even when I can download it (and other mods), it still wont load into game.

[Siber]

Are you downloading from modDB? Those links seem to work no problem for me at the moment. I can't test them at the moment, sadly, but I recall doing so in the past and having no issues.

[Ringleader]

I just tested it out, the mod is excellent, the ships, the scripts, the FX, all of it is superb.

Those screenshots really don't do justice to how great those ships are modeled, I mean, the gunship was amazing with that gun on the back? oh man.

I love how each ship's texture is like, the real deal instead of sections of the old HW2 ships. Keep up the great work guys!

[Siber]

Ringleader: If you want to add your own screenshots, feel free.

Glad you like it!

[Ringleader]

Hey, I got a question. What resolution is the destroyer's texture? If you were modeling and UV mapping in wings, would it have been 12mgb or 48mgb?

[Siber]

The destroyer's main texture is 1024 by 1024 pixels, if exported it comes to 1366 KB in .tga format. Certainly nowhere near 12 MB. Why do you ask?

[Ringleader]

I was curious. When I have a 1024 x 1024 image it turns out to be 3MB.

Ive been working on this Kushan battlecruiser, and I was going to texture it properly.

Are you interested in maybe using this ship?

Kush BC front

Kush BC back

Kush BC side

Kush BC bottom

I originally made it to look like the Kush MS, and I added a bottom module to make it look more like your destroyer.

[Overmind5000]

Judging by the tower, You morphed a mothership into that shape?

[Ringleader]

I made it to look like the Kushan MS, yes.

[Siber]

While I greatly appreciate the offer, I think it would clash rather sharply with the look of our UNH capital ships, both present and planned. Sorry.

[doci7]

This is no major progress report, but if you look closely you can see that there are now stripes on the bottom of the "cobra-neck" part that line up with the stripes on top. Just trying to let you all know that I still haven't forgotten about this project entirely, even on the eve of classes starting...

[Ringleader]

I understand, I made it before playing the mod, and it was supposed to look kind of retro too, with chrome Ion cannon turrets.

I suppose I could still contribute conceptually though, I could show you some of my ideas for ship drawings I have been working on for a while.

[Ringleader]

Here is a concept of a UNH Drone Frigate

[rifleman101]

I think i just came.

That is WICKED SICK!!! USE IT!!!

[Talros]

Nice Ringleader !!!
The design is great !

[doci7]

That's an awesome drawing. In black and white it looks almost like a Kushan/Kadesh design hybrid. Great work!

[Avatar II]

That IS awesome Ringleader. Really ... reaaaaally awesome.

I'd like to ask for a top view, just to help clarify the shape. I'm liking what I see though. Where do the drones come out?

In general... thanks so much for the concept. I like it a lot, and I'd like to try and work it in for the drone frigate. There's... always the tweaking gauntlet, but it rocks my world even as it is now.