How to edit ships - the quick and dirty guide

[Saladinbob]

Well two points of note.

1. I specifically said that I looked in a variety of mods. I chose that one at random.

2. If I could get a big extractor that actually worked and didn't extract utter gibberish then I would be able to look at the original HW2 folder. As it stands, I can't.

On the latter point, all the links here either no longer work or don't allow an installation and with respect to Homdax, the one on his site is the one that's extacted gibberish (when I say gibberish, I mean random characters including some Cyrillic letters).

However, your answer opens up another quesiton of how do these mods' (and I have more than PDS, I have several including Complex) ship files know what model to use if they don't include that line?

Remember, noobish these quesitons maybe but sarcasm won't help me learn.

[MatthCoFreak]

Remember, noobish these quesitons maybe but sarcasm won't help me learn.

No problem, we all used to be noob before, I hope I didn't offense you

If a ship has the line "LoadModel(NewShipType,1)", then it will load the hod which has the same name than the folder. Actually all files in the folder (the .ship, the .hod, the .event and sometimes the .mad and .madstate) must have the same name than the folder for the ship to work.

If you have two ships using the same hod and don't want to copy it, then you can replace this line with "LoadSharedModel(NewShipType, "<ship_name>")". If you do so, you don't need to have a .hod in your folder.

Every .ship need one of those two lines, and obviously only one of them.

[Saladinbob]

No offence taken. Anyway, I'm still not understanding something here. I've just tried two things. First, I tried changing a ship to look like a different model, in my case, a Hiigaran Battlecruiser for a Hiigaran Assualt Corvette (this is purely experimental and I'm not looking to create a covette sized battlecriuser ). I took the Assualt Corvette HOD file and renamed it to Battlecruiser.hod yet the game crashes when I tried to load a skirmish game.

My second attempt was to clone an existing ship, in this case, clone a Hiigaran Battlecruiser and rename it to a Battleship. I cloned the folder and then renamed it to Battleship and all files where renamed to Battleship as well. This time, whilst a skirmish game loads, the ship is not available to build.

What am I doing wrong?

[MatthCoFreak]

The problem is that a hod is not only a model and textures, it also contain the hardpoints hierarchy. What I mean is that the positions of weapons and subsystems are in the .hod, and the .ship call them in order to load the ship ingame. If you use the .ship of a battlecruiser with the .hod of a corvette, the game can't find the positions of the battlecruiser's weapons and subsystems in the corvette .hod, and so crashes. If you want to edit a .hod, download CFHodEd, you'll easily find the thread on this forum.

For the second thing, you must modify the hiigaran build script in order to have a new ship available to build. This file is in the data/scripts/building and research/hiigaran folder.

[Saladinbob]

Right, I've figured out turrets and hardpoints thanks to the excellent tutorial and a night of tinkering around but I still don't understand where the models for the turrets are actually based? Is it as part of the HOD file?

Also, I want to add a construction capability to the test ship I'm learning with. I can get so far as the ships showing in the build menu but I can't figure out how to add the construction subsystems to the ship as a pre-built feature.

Can anyone help, please?

[MatthCoFreak]

I still don't understand where the models for the turrets are actually based? Is it as part of the HOD file?

There are two possibilities :
#1 : the turret is part of the hod (example : corvettes, frigates, destroyers...). Because of that, you can't select the turret nor damage or destroy it. In the .ship, it is called like any kind of weapon with the StartShipWeaponConfig function.
#2 : the turret is a subsystem (example : the ion turret of the battlecruiser). Then, the turret is in a separated .hod within the subsystem folder (look at /subsystem/hgn_battlecruiserionbeamturret). In the .ship, it is called with the StartShipHardPointConfig function like any subsystem.

I can't figure out how to add the construction subsystems to the ship as a pre-built feature.

It's in the .ship, in the StartShipHardPointConfig function. Description here. For example, if you want your vaygr carrier to start with a fighter facility, you'll have to type this :

StartShipHardPointConfig(NewShipType, "Production 1", "HardPoint_Production1", "System", "Production", "Destroyable", "Vgr_C_Production_Fighter", "Vgr_C_Production_Fighter", "Vgr_C_Production_Corvette", "Vgr_C_Production_Frigate")

The bold one correspond to the one which is prebuilt ; if you don't want any prebuilt subsystem (as for the vanilla carrier), just let "".
All following subsystems (here in italic) will be available to build if you recycle or destroy your prebuilt subsystem. Despite the fact that in vanilla homeworld, you always have 8 placeholders here (completed with "" most of the time), you can have as many placeholders as you want (here I only let 3 of them, I didn't need more).

[CK the Fat]

I'm trying to change my ship's stats so I can have a "super scout" that can destroy enemy ships in seconds should I need them.

I downloaded the data.exe package and copied the ships, weapon, and animatics folders over, leaving the four files English.big, EnglishSpeech.big, Homeworld2.big, and Music.big where they were, so the contents of my folder now looks exactly like the thread specifies.

However, when I try to run the program using the override command line parameter, the game begins to load, switches resolution, then just exits back to desktop. I'm not sure why...

here is the crash report:

Homeworld2.exe caused an Access Violation in module Homeworld2.exe at 001b:00422591.
Error occurred at 12/13/2009 21:45:04.
Homeworld2.exe, run by Ethan.
Microsoft Windows XP?.
2 processor(s), type 586.
2046 MBytes physical memory.
Write to location 00000002 caused an access violation.

MiniDump saved to file 'D:\Program Files\Homeworld2\Bin\Release\12-13-2009_21_45_04_MiniDump.dmp'

Registers:
EAX=00000000 CS=001b EIP=00422591 EFLGS=00010202
EBX=00000002 SS=0023 ESP=0012f44c EBP=0012f460
ECX=006d7224 DS=0023 ESI=09530814 FS=003b
EDX=00000001 ES=0023 EDI=00000000 GS=0000
Bytes at CS:EIP:
66 83 24 03 00 8b 46 04 66 8b 09 66 89 08 01 5e 

Call Stack:
0x00422591: GSLobbySessionDesc::GetUserData             (D:\Program Files\Homeworld2\Bin\Release\Homeworld2.exe)
0x00422C0F: GSLobbyPlayerDesc::~GSLobbyPlayerDesc         (D:\Program Files\Homeworld2\Bin\Release\Homeworld2.exe)
0x00422DB1: GSLobbyPlayerDesc::GSLobbyPlayerDesc         (D:\Program Files\Homeworld2\Bin\Release\Homeworld2.exe)
0x0052E5AB: GSTracker::operator=                        (D:\Program Files\Homeworld2\Bin\Release\Homeworld2.exe)







Stack dump:



Module list: names, addresses, sizes, time stamps and file times:
D:\Program Files\Homeworld2\Bin\Release\Memory.dll, loaded at 0x00020000 - 33280 bytes - 3fe0ce01 - file date is 12/17/2003 13:43:30
D:\Program Files\Homeworld2\Bin\Release\Platform.dll, loaded at 0x00150000 - 98304 bytes - 3fe0ce5f - file date is 12/17/2003 13:45:04
D:\Program Files\Homeworld2\Bin\Release\Debug.dll, loaded at 0x00170000 - 10752 bytes - 3fe0cdfd - file date is 12/17/2003 13:43:26
D:\Program Files\Homeworld2\Bin\Release\Localizer.dll, loaded at 0x00180000 - 94208 bytes - 3fe0ce59 - file date is 12/17/2003 13:44:58
D:\Program Files\Homeworld2\Bin\Release\FileIO.dll, loaded at 0x001a0000 - 155648 bytes - 3fe0ce52 - file date is 12/17/2003 13:44:50
D:\Program Files\Homeworld2\Bin\Release\ZLib.dll, loaded at 0x001d0000 - 49152 bytes - 3fe0ce3b - file date is 12/17/2003 13:44:28
D:\Program Files\Homeworld2\Bin\Release\lua.dll, loaded at 0x002e0000 - 73728 bytes - 3fe0ce66 - file date is 12/17/2003 13:45:12
D:\Program Files\Homeworld2\Bin\Release\luaconfig.dll, loaded at 0x00300000 - 57344 bytes - 3fe0ce6b - file date is 12/17/2003 13:45:16
D:\Program Files\Homeworld2\Bin\Release\divxmedialib.dll, loaded at 0x00310000 - 86016 bytes - 3f3bc007 - file date is 8/14/2003 18:08:56
D:\Program Files\Homeworld2\Bin\Release\DivxDecoder.dll, loaded at 0x00330000 - 397312 bytes - 3f3bc002 - file date is 8/14/2003 18:08:56
D:\Program Files\Homeworld2\Bin\Release\FileParser.dll, loaded at 0x003a0000 - 86016 bytes - 3f3bc005 - file date is 8/14/2003 18:08:56
D:\Program Files\Homeworld2\Bin\Release\util.dll, loaded at 0x003c0000 - 36864 bytes - 3fe0ce7e - file date is 12/17/2003 13:45:34
D:\Program Files\Homeworld2\Bin\Release\hw2box.dll, loaded at 0x003d0000 -  9728 bytes - 3fe0ce78 - file date is 12/17/2003 13:45:28
D:\Program Files\Homeworld2\Bin\Release\console.dll, loaded at 0x003e0000 -  5632 bytes - 3fe0cf2d - file date is 12/17/2003 13:48:30
D:\Program Files\Homeworld2\Bin\Release\Homeworld2.exe, loaded at 0x00400000 - 5562368 bytes - 3fe0d29b - file date is 12/17/2003 14:39:04
D:\Program Files\Homeworld2\Bin\Release\objects.dll, loaded at 0x00cf0000 - 1093632 bytes - 3fe0cfaa - file date is 12/17/2003 13:50:36
C:\Windows\system32\CmdLineExt03.dll, loaded at 0x011a0000 - 43520 bytes - 3fcb7916 - file date is 12/13/2009 21:30:14
D:\PROGRA~1\HOMEWO~3\Bin\Release\seFDAudio.dll, loaded at 0x02170000 - 40960 bytes - 3fe0cee8 - file date is 12/17/2003 13:47:20
C:\Program Files\McAfee\MSK\mskoeplg.dll, loaded at 0x02390000 - 722512 bytes - 4571179f - file date is 12/2/2006 03:07:32
D:\Program Files\Homeworld2\Bin\Release\GL.dll, loaded at 0x024b0000 - 294912 bytes - 3fe0cfbd - file date is 12/17/2003 13:50:54
C:\Windows\system32\nvoglv32.dll   , loaded at 0x03e10000 - 9019392 bytes - 49833cfa - file date is 1/30/2009 09:12:00
D:\Program Files\Homeworld2\Bin\Release\gslobby.dll, loaded at 0x10000000 - 135168 bytes - 3fe0cf28 - file date is 12/17/2003 13:48:24
C:\Windows\AppPatch\AcGenral.DLL   , loaded at 0x61f20000 - 2143744 bytes - 4a98a331 - file date is 8/28/2009 22:40:26
C:\Windows\system32\opengl32.dll   , loaded at 0x642f0000 - 707584 bytes - 4549bda4 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:14
C:\Windows\system32\GLU32.dll      , loaded at 0x66dc0000 - 133632 bytes - 4549bcd6 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:06
C:\Windows\system32\dxdiagn.dll    , loaded at 0x66df0000 - 194560 bytes - 4549bd26 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:06
C:\Windows\system32\DDRAW.dll      , loaded at 0x69b10000 - 528384 bytes - 4549bcd0 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:04
C:\Windows\system32\dxgi.dll       , loaded at 0x6a680000 - 167936 bytes - 4549bd27 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:06
C:\Windows\system32\wbem\fastprox.dll, loaded at 0x6c8f0000 - 614912 bytes - 49acaf15 - file date is 3/2/2009 23:16:14
C:\Windows\system32\DCIMAN32.dll   , loaded at 0x6d220000 - 10240 bytes - 4a366717 - file date is 6/15/2009 10:21:54
C:\Windows\system32\dsound.dll     , loaded at 0x6d660000 - 445440 bytes - 4549bd18 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:06
C:\Windows\system32\dbghelp.dll    , loaded at 0x6d9b0000 - 798208 bytes - 4549bcc9 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:04
C:\Windows\system32\wbem\wbemsvc.dll, loaded at 0x6de80000 - 49152 bytes - 4549bdf0 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:14
C:\Windows\system32\wbem\wbemcomn.dll, loaded at 0x6ec50000 - 356352 bytes - 46d7799a - file date is 9/29/2008 01:08:24
C:\Windows\system32\wbem\wbemprox.dll, loaded at 0x6ef50000 - 30208 bytes - 4549bdef - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:14
C:\Windows\system32\sfc.dll        , loaded at 0x6fd30000 -  4608 bytes - 4549bdb4 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:14
C:\Windows\system32\WSOCK32.dll    , loaded at 0x713d0000 - 14848 bytes - 4549be32 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:16
C:\Windows\WinSxS\x86_microsoft.windows.common-controls_6595b64144ccf1df_5.82.6000.16386_none_87e0cb09378714f1\COMCTL32.dll, loaded at 0x713e0000 - 537088 bytes - 4549bcb0 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:38:58
C:\Windows\system32\ShimEng.dll    , loaded at 0x71b40000 - 111104 bytes - 4549bdb7 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:14
C:\Windows\System32\audioeng.dll   , loaded at 0x71ca0000 - 398848 bytes - 4549bcc0 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:04
C:\Windows\System32\audioses.dll   , loaded at 0x72fb0000 - 115712 bytes - 4549bcc2 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:04
C:\Windows\system32\sfc_os.dll     , loaded at 0x73080000 - 38400 bytes - 4549bdb5 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:14
C:\Windows\system32\dwmapi.dll     , loaded at 0x730f0000 - 39936 bytes - 4549bd24 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:06
C:\Windows\system32\MSACM32.dll    , loaded at 0x73110000 - 73216 bytes - 4549bd2e - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:08
C:\Windows\system32\WINTRUST.dll   , loaded at 0x73330000 - 171520 bytes - 4549be2f - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:16
C:\Windows\system32\OLEACC.dll     , loaded at 0x734c0000 - 214016 bytes - 4549bd93 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:14
C:\Windows\system32\winmm.dll      , loaded at 0x73500000 - 193024 bytes - 4549be1d - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:16
C:\Windows\system32\UxTheme.dll    , loaded at 0x74190000 - 240640 bytes - 4549bde7 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:14
C:\Windows\System32\AVRT.dll       , loaded at 0x743d0000 - 12800 bytes - 4549bcdc - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:04
C:\Windows\System32\MMDevApi.dll   , loaded at 0x74430000 - 146944 bytes - 4549bd03 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:06
C:\Windows\WinSxS\x86_microsoft.windows.common-controls_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.6000.20533_none_4634c4a0218d65c1\comctl32.dll, loaded at 0x74810000 - 1648128 bytes - 45cbeb8e - file date is 5/30/2007 21:05:20
C:\Windows\system32\version.dll    , loaded at 0x749f0000 - 20480 bytes - 4549bde4 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:14
C:\Windows\system32\POWRPROF.dll   , loaded at 0x74a10000 - 96768 bytes - 4549bdd0 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:14
C:\Windows\system32\rsaenh.dll     , loaded at 0x74ba0000 - 228968 bytes - 4549bdae - file date is 11/2/2006 04:47:20
C:\Windows\system32\winbrand.dll   , loaded at 0x74c60000 - 869376 bytes - 4549be0a - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:14
C:\Windows\system32\CRYPT32.dll    , loaded at 0x75100000 - 974336 bytes - 45b96fde - file date is 5/30/2007 21:00:42
C:\Windows\system32\MPR.dll        , loaded at 0x75200000 - 69120 bytes - 4549bd14 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:06
C:\Windows\system32\NTDSAPI.dll    , loaded at 0x75220000 - 87552 bytes - 4549bdcc - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:14
C:\Windows\system32\MSASN1.dll     , loaded at 0x75240000 - 60928 bytes - 4aa10a67 - file date is 9/4/2009 07:38:12
C:\Windows\system32\NETAPI32.dll   , loaded at 0x75260000 - 425472 bytes - 48f6c541 - file date is 10/15/2008 23:40:38
C:\Windows\system32\DNSAPI.dll     , loaded at 0x752d0000 - 162816 bytes - 47650e6e - file date is 9/28/2008 22:39:10
C:\Windows\system32\apphelp.dll    , loaded at 0x75590000 - 171008 bytes - 4549bcaf - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:04
C:\Windows\system32\SAMLIB.dll     , loaded at 0x755f0000 - 56320 bytes - 4549bda8 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:14
C:\Windows\system32\NTMARTA.DLL    , loaded at 0x75610000 - 120832 bytes - 4549bddb - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:14
C:\Windows\system32\Secur32.dll    , loaded at 0x75640000 - 72704 bytes - 4a3668e2 - file date is 6/15/2009 10:29:00
C:\Windows\system32\USERENV.dll    , loaded at 0x75660000 - 107008 bytes - 4549bde2 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:14
C:\Windows\system32\PSAPI.DLL      , loaded at 0x757a0000 - 12288 bytes - 4549bd99 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:14
C:\Windows\system32\USER32.dll     , loaded at 0x757b0000 - 633856 bytes - 45d3dc0e - file date is 5/30/2007 20:43:34
C:\Windows\system32\WLDAP32.dll    , loaded at 0x75850000 - 288768 bytes - 4549be44 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:16
C:\Windows\system32\IMM32.DLL      , loaded at 0x758a0000 - 115200 bytes - 4549bd29 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:06
C:\Windows\system32\RPCRT4.dll     , loaded at 0x758c0000 - 788992 bytes - 49f066bd - file date is 4/23/2009 08:01:44
C:\Windows\system32\ADVAPI32.dll   , loaded at 0x75990000 - 770048 bytes - 4549bcd2 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:04
C:\Windows\system32\kernel32.dll   , loaded at 0x75a50000 - 875520 bytes - 49952034 - file date is 2/13/2009 02:26:38
C:\Windows\system32\USP10.dll      , loaded at 0x75b30000 - 502784 bytes - 4549bde3 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:14
C:\Windows\system32\iertutil.dll   , loaded at 0x75bb0000 - 268288 bytes - 4ae70b73 - file date is 10/27/2009 10:01:44
C:\Windows\system32\SHLWAPI.dll    , loaded at 0x75c00000 - 339968 bytes - 4549bdb9 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:14
C:\Windows\system32\CLBCatQ.DLL    , loaded at 0x75c60000 - 523776 bytes - 4549bce9 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:04
C:\Windows\system32\imagehlp.dll   , loaded at 0x75cf0000 - 152576 bytes - 462434a3 - file date is 9/28/2008 22:34:32
C:\Windows\system32\NSI.dll        , loaded at 0x75d20000 - 10240 bytes - 4549bdc7 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:14
C:\Windows\system32\MSCTF.dll      , loaded at 0x75d30000 - 805888 bytes - 4549bd4a - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:08
C:\Windows\system32\Normaliz.dll   , loaded at 0x75e00000 -  2560 bytes - 4549ad42 - file date is 11/2/2006 03:33:08
C:\Windows\system32\WININET.dll    , loaded at 0x75e90000 - 832512 bytes - 4ae70c5e - file date is 10/27/2009 10:05:12
C:\Windows\system32\SETUPAPI.dll   , loaded at 0x75f70000 - 1585664 bytes - 4757753d - file date is 9/28/2008 23:17:00
C:\Windows\system32\SHELL32.dll    , loaded at 0x76100000 - 11315712 bytes - 4912e93f - file date is 11/6/2008 07:57:08
C:\Windows\system32\urlmon.dll     , loaded at 0x76bd0000 - 1168384 bytes - 4ae70c23 - file date is 10/27/2009 10:05:04
C:\Windows\system32\msvcrt.dll     , loaded at 0x76d00000 - 681472 bytes - 4549bd61 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:12
C:\Windows\system32\ole32.dll      , loaded at 0x76db0000 - 1314816 bytes - 4549bd92 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:14
C:\Windows\system32\ntdll.dll      , loaded at 0x76f00000 - 1162656 bytes - 4549bdc9 - file date is 11/2/2006 04:47:28
C:\Windows\system32\WS2_32.dll     , loaded at 0x77020000 - 178688 bytes - 4549be0e - file date is 11/2/2006 04:46:16
C:\Windows\system32\LPK.DLL        , loaded at 0x77050000 - 24064 bytes - 4a366798 - file date is 6/15/2009 10:23:50
C:\Windows\system32\GDI32.dll      , loaded at 0x77060000 - 297472 bytes - 48fd644f - file date is 10/21/2008 00:16:22
C:\Windows\system32\OLEAUT32.dll   , loaded at 0x770b0000 - 558080 bytes - 4757753e - file date is 9/28/2008 23:13:36
D:\Program Files\Homeworld2\Bin\Release\MSVCR70.dll, loaded at 0x7c000000 - 344064 bytes - 3c36e574 - file date is 8/14/2003 18:08:58

[ajlsunrise]

we need the hw2.log file, not the crash log. put -luatrace in the command line as well.

[TonyOneBlairoby]

I don't understand, you said you do something with the ship / weapon / an other repertory that you havn't done with the other big?

But they should ALL be in the same repertory, i mean, the .bigs and your extracted directory (ship/weapon/...).


you should have something like that:


And your data directory should look like that:

[178thBG]

ok i hope this tread is still active... im trying to do some minor stat modding of homeworld 2. i know how to edit build times, ship health, costs and so on..

what i dont know is how to edit weapons..

i would like to add a burst fire to the hgn destroyers torpedo launcher and make it shoot 2 out of each tube for a total volley of 4.. and then i want to decrease the fire repeat time of each kinetic turret on the HGN destroyer and cruiser. also want to edit fire times on bombers and gun platforums. oh and damage too. maybe even swap weapons...

can some one please tell me how to make sense of the tiny bit of random data in the weapon folder.

back in homeworld 1 and cata every thing was in 1 file. and it was nice and labeled clear... i also have some weapon editor tool i downloaded but that's freaking useless and wont open any thing i tell it to.

please help

[BloodFleet]

Well first things first, I assume you have the weapon folder with the individual weapon folders in it, where each one contains a .wepn file you can open with wordpad or notepad. If the weapon editor doesn't work you'll have edit .wepn in wordpad/notepad which is somewhat more difficult unless you know what each number does.

In his thread here http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?p=763222, did you do what he said to do before trying to use the weapon editor? I really recommend trying to get that working, makes making burst fire weapons and stuff a lot easier imo.

[178thBG]

ill pm you with my MSN. i need to talk to some one who knows what to do, so i can explain in more detail.

that is the weapon editor i got. it just wont work because it refuses to import and open... i also downloaded the file above with all the decompiled folders and thats what im using.

like i said ill Pm you my MSN.

[178thBG]

grate i got a new problem.. i was working on making changes to the mod i started working on, and it worked fine, changes were holding -overridebigfile was working fine.. now when i click on the start icon to fire up the mod, it crashes on start up... i tried scraping the whole thing and pulling every thing out to see if it would start and it still will not...

has this happened to any one and what are some fixes?

[Dim@]

Um...

Pretty much any screw up anywhere will cause the mod to crash while loading a game...

So, open the Bin\Release folder, and have a look.
There will be 2 files generated every time the game crashes. One is an error log (*.txt) and another is a minidump (*.dmp).
DO NOT OPEN EITHER OF THOSE.

There is a third file "Hw2.log", which you need to post here (unless it shows you the problem straight away.)

Also, you may want to add -luaTrace to your shortcut command line, which will put more info into Hw2.log.

[Solyomszem]

hi Guys!

I am totally newby to modding or modeling but I'd like to export ship geometry to Blender and print out (RPT) the ship to use it in a tabletop game (4xmpl: Firestorm Armada). But don't know how...

I've already downloaded CFHodEd and managed to export the main geometry (Hull) of a ship and give it some details by exporting the "root goblins" also. But can not add any weapon system... I've read that I have to export the corresponding weapon system from ../subsystems/<ship> directory but I can only get some rough mesh that does not look like any turret or anything.

Can you point me out how or just direct me to the appropriate thread?

Thanks in advance,

Solyomszem

ps.:Or maybe I am getting the right mesh just the scaling is a way too different from the ships's?

[MatthCoFreak]

Scaling is the same. What ship have you tried to export ?

[Solyomszem]

Hi!

I've tried to export hgn_battlecruiser from Point Defense Systems V11 Beta 8. But I could only manage to get this:
.

Best regards,

Balázs

[MatthCoFreak]

I suggest you go in the .ship file and have a look at each of those lines :

StartShipHardPointConfig(NewShipType, "Weapon IonBeam 1", "Hardpoint_IonBeam1", "Weapon", "Innate", "Damageable", "Hgn_BattleCruiserIonBeamTurret")

The bold part is the name of the subsystem you're looking for, just dig up the hods of each of the weapon subsystems and you'll find your turrets.

[Solyomszem]

It seems that I am doing something wrong.

I have checked the appropriate .ships file:

StartShipHardPointConfig(NewShipType, "Triple Deck Gun 1", "Weapon_FrontUpperGun", "Weapon", "Innate", "Destroyable", "hgn_bbx_TripleBarrel")

I've found this weapon system BUT CFHodEd showed me this:



I suppose that means that the weapon system is made of several separate meshes.

After importing those meshes I've found that:
-they will appear in my model space's 0,0,0 coordinate,
-the scaling is a bit off the horizon compared to my ships scale

What I see in Blender after scrambling the bits to be able to see the ship:



So I suppose I have to assemble the weapon system, scale it down and place it to its proper place on the ship.

If I was wrong, how am I to export the meshes to get them assembled, scaled to fit and placed to the right place?

Thanks,

Balázs

[MatthCoFreak]

If the scale is off, then you have done something wrong, and I have no idea what.

When you select each mesh in the hod (Geometry tab), look at the Parent Name : it will give you the hardpoint (Hierarchy tab) where this mesh is located. Just grab the coordinates of this hardpoint and you'll know how to assemble your turret .

[Solyomszem]

Hi!

I was playing with exporting a turret and it's meshes and trying to place them. But FAILED...

So I'll just write down everything step by step. Maybe you'll figure out what I've done wrong.

So at first:

-I'll just use PDS v11b8's hgnws_4xhvyplasbty.hod
-I have exported the Weapon_Bottom_Position_mesh and Weapon_Bottom_Muzzle_mesh



I clicked NO when I was asked if I wanted to reverse the UV's.

-I've imported the two meshes to Wings3D (because it was obvius after 3 minutes how I can translate/move each mesh around...)
-I've selected each mesh separately and started to move them to their destination. Wasn't good.



What coordinates should I use for each mesh?

(For Weapon_Bottom_Position_mesh I've used . After importing Weapon_Bottom_Muzzle_mesh - a child of Weapon_Bottom_Position_mesh - I've positioned it to the same coordinates as it's parent, than moved it with these coordinates:
.

What did I do wrong? Thanks in advance!

[Djodar]

if you import the meshes to wings they will be placed right at the point they are attached to a hardpoint. they arent at position 0, 0, ,0. you have to move them in that direction the hardpoints distance from zero. you can leave the position meshes where they are but you must move the muzzle meshes by the distance the latitude and muzzle hardpoints are set. dont use the center of the mesh as reference but the position they are importet at. after that you can move the whole turret by the position hardpoint distance and you get it at the right place.

[charlesv2010]

Hello Im new to the whole mod thing and I cant seem to get my ship modifications to play in the game, like: health, cost, and build time. I have all the tools needed, and have followed all the steps, but with no luck. One ather thing, there is a cheat that allows you to multiply your exsisting fleet size by copying a segment from the mission persist files like this one:
{
index = 0,
type = "Hgn_Interceptor",
hotkey = 0,
teamColourHandle = 0,
size = 5,
tactic = 2,
},
, or:
{
tactic = 0,
type = "Hgn_AssaultFrigate",
subsystems = {
},
buildjobs = {
},
size = 1,
shiphold = {
},
name = "",
teamColourHandle = 6,
hotkey = 67108872,
},
Anyway I was wondering if someone can copy the Destroyers and Battlecruisers to see if I can get them early in the game.

[ancylostomiasis]

Without hindering the original file, as I have done excatly what was said in this post, my game works just fine.

Only that, the slightest change of the .ship file, will lead to a game crash not at the "universe" sequence of the preloading screen but right *AFTER* the entire procedure.

The log file will be:

Wed Mar 16 12:57:19 2011
Loaded Archive: 'Homeworld2.big'
UTIL -- filepath failure, path doesn't exists 'F:\PROGRA~1\Sierra\HOMEWO~1\data\locale\english'
Loaded Archive: 'english.big'
Uing ..profiles\ for profiles folder
GAME -- Using player profile Player1
Changing from a 32 bit colour depth in winNT (5.1 build 2600), Service Pack 2
Using ATI Technologies Inc.'s 2.1.7278 Release ATI Radeon X300/X550/X1050 Series renderer (Suspected driver is atioglxx.dll 6.14.10.7277)
Loaded Archive: 'englishSpeech.big'
Loaded Archive: 'Music.big'
SOUND -- created destination [ fdaudio ], handle [ 4 ] with [ 48 ] channels created
SOUND -- created destination [ fda streamer ], handle [ 5 ] with [ 8 ] channels created
Build name: The Dust Wars - AutoBuild3569 - Ordered by smmatte
Built by : mrbuild
Data path : F:\PROGRA~1\Sierra\HOMEWO~1\data
Resetting fp control word.
CmdLine: -overrideBigFile -luaTrace
Starting Level: Data:\LevelData\Campaign\ascension\M12_Rescue\M12_Rescue.level