[WIP][Tutorial] Building your own ship for dummies 2
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Re: [WIP][Tutorial] Building your own ship for dummies
I haven't seen ANY X:R assets apart from potentially some station modules in X4. I just uninstalled X4 (due to other...issues, not going to derail topic though). I can hit up X:R and pull a list of station modules later tonight though.
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Re: [WIP][Tutorial] Building your own ship for dummies
well i dont really care. and you guys discussing here keeps my post up so im kinda thankfull
also i ported the split raptor from X rebirth to X4 and had to add most connections myself. i wonder why people ignore me on that. in fact only the assembly of the mesh stays the same, like coods of the different nodes from blender. thats because of weapons, docking bays, cockpits got all handled differently in X:R. mostly there were none.
X4 Connections:
<connection name="con_playercontrol" tags="playercontrol">
<connection name="con_weapon_01" tags="weapon large standard arg_destroyer_01 ">
<connection name="con_storage01" tags="storage ">
<connection name="con_cockpit" tags="cockpit cockpit_visible">
this one actually just refers to the macro file
<connection ref="con_cockpit">
<macro ref="bridge_arg_xl_01_macro" connection="con_cockpit" />
</connection>
<connection name="con_engine_01" group="group_back_engine " tags="engine large ">
<connection name="con_countermeasures_002" tags="countermeasures ">
<connection name="con_shieldgen_xl_XL-shield-template_3" tags="extralarge shield hittable">
<connection name="con_dockarea_arg_s_ship_03" tags="dockarea">
<connection group="turret_large_front" name="con_l_turret_left-top-bat-1_1" tags="turret large standard hittable">
while the X:R connections look like this
[ external image ]
also i ported the split raptor from X rebirth to X4 and had to add most connections myself. i wonder why people ignore me on that. in fact only the assembly of the mesh stays the same, like coods of the different nodes from blender. thats because of weapons, docking bays, cockpits got all handled differently in X:R. mostly there were none.
X4 Connections:
<connection name="con_playercontrol" tags="playercontrol">
<connection name="con_weapon_01" tags="weapon large standard arg_destroyer_01 ">
<connection name="con_storage01" tags="storage ">
<connection name="con_cockpit" tags="cockpit cockpit_visible">
this one actually just refers to the macro file
<connection ref="con_cockpit">
<macro ref="bridge_arg_xl_01_macro" connection="con_cockpit" />
</connection>
<connection name="con_engine_01" group="group_back_engine " tags="engine large ">
<connection name="con_countermeasures_002" tags="countermeasures ">
<connection name="con_shieldgen_xl_XL-shield-template_3" tags="extralarge shield hittable">
<connection name="con_dockarea_arg_s_ship_03" tags="dockarea">
<connection group="turret_large_front" name="con_l_turret_left-top-bat-1_1" tags="turret large standard hittable">
while the X:R connections look like this
[ external image ]
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Re: [WIP][Tutorial] Building your own ship for dummies
Ok, that lines up with what I thought.. I read your post, but clearly my brain is a bit fried as of late lol. It's possible there are changes in the .xmf format too, but I wouldn't be surprised if a big part of this is just xml. But the fact you didn't need to mess with the xmf to get it to work suggests that if they changed the format, they added to it rather than removed or changed it. Since the converter doesn't expect this other xml stuff it just ignores it. That's at least part of why putting stock ships back and forth breaks things, I think... It basically splits out junk for the new ships xml. Animations are probably a factor too, not sure... I'll look into it more.
Re: [WIP][Tutorial] Building your own ship for dummies
Quick update on progress - unfortunately not too much to show, but some good progress nonetheless.
Managed to source the original description of the binary format that arc_ reverse engineered (before he even put together the converter I believe) that appeared to be lost. This is nice since it gives me essentially the specification which arc_'s implementation was built for, and I will probably write a quick program to validate whether there is anything that X4's files does which doesn't align with the specification.
Many thanks to the wonderful TargetLost (who you may remember from his great X Rebirth converter stuff from before arc_ showed up and performed a miracle, not to mention his awesome blender renders of X Rebirth models) for digging through his hard drive and finding them for me. Honestly, I'm impressed he was able to dig them up in short order given how long ago it was, and he had all 4 - I'll put them up at some point (probably on github or similar so that they never vanish again). Consider this your daily reminder to backup your data well - you never know what random stuff you worked on years ago might be relevant years later. And yes, the internet never forgets when you want it to, but it can forget if basically nobody cares.
If anyone is interested in the info on the character models, those are included in that info dump (though arc_'s converter may be working properly anyway - no clue honestly).
Haven't figured out whether I'm going to write the converter from scratch or work off of arc_'s converter or what. I'll try to find some time to work on it this weekend.
My current priority list (open to input here though):
Managed to source the original description of the binary format that arc_ reverse engineered (before he even put together the converter I believe) that appeared to be lost. This is nice since it gives me essentially the specification which arc_'s implementation was built for, and I will probably write a quick program to validate whether there is anything that X4's files does which doesn't align with the specification.
Many thanks to the wonderful TargetLost (who you may remember from his great X Rebirth converter stuff from before arc_ showed up and performed a miracle, not to mention his awesome blender renders of X Rebirth models) for digging through his hard drive and finding them for me. Honestly, I'm impressed he was able to dig them up in short order given how long ago it was, and he had all 4 - I'll put them up at some point (probably on github or similar so that they never vanish again). Consider this your daily reminder to backup your data well - you never know what random stuff you worked on years ago might be relevant years later. And yes, the internet never forgets when you want it to, but it can forget if basically nobody cares.
If anyone is interested in the info on the character models, those are included in that info dump (though arc_'s converter may be working properly anyway - no clue honestly).
Haven't figured out whether I'm going to write the converter from scratch or work off of arc_'s converter or what. I'll try to find some time to work on it this weekend.
My current priority list (open to input here though):
- Check format against actual files
- Decide best way to implement things (arc_'s converter vs from scratch)
- Handle new XML stuff - e.g. a valid x4 file should go thru the converter and back with no significant changes resulting (ideally, identical files, but failing that, equivalent).
- See if I can figure out why collision meshes are so finicky
- See if I can figure out animations
Re: [WIP][Tutorial] Building your own ship for dummies
Hey BrummBear, got a link to the Discord Server I've heard so much about? got some questions about the collision mesh stuff you discussed in the post.
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Re: [WIP][Tutorial] Building your own ship for dummies
Gebt mir einen Spiegel dann schlage ich ihn mit seinem eigenen Gesicht
Re: [WIP][Tutorial] Building your own ship for dummies
The links expire apparently, I tried an old one before.
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Re: [WIP][Tutorial] Building your own ship for dummies
small update. Pictures will follow tomorrow.
I know you might get tired of me saying this but please tell me if u tried the tutorial and ran into any issues or if it works fine.
I know you might get tired of me saying this but please tell me if u tried the tutorial and ran into any issues or if it works fine.
Gebt mir einen Spiegel dann schlage ich ihn mit seinem eigenen Gesicht
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Re: [WIP][Tutorial] Building your own ship for dummies
pictures added. should be all understandable now.
Gebt mir einen Spiegel dann schlage ich ihn mit seinem eigenen Gesicht
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Re: [WIP][Tutorial] Building your own ship for dummies
in light of the increasing ammount of people trying to add ships i added the collision mesh part of the tutorial since i thought it might help someone.
well, enjoy.
also: if someone wants to add a part to this tutorial just write it here and ill add it to the post as long as its not an like "open materials.xml and add the desired material. then use it in blender" tutorial.
also i might need more posts soon, is it possible to slip in some or do i need to trouble whoever posted first under my reservations?
also i added the multimat material to the agenda since this one is great and a big hassle at the same time. i asked lino about it and i think i understand how to make use of it now but this requires some testing...
well, enjoy.
also: if someone wants to add a part to this tutorial just write it here and ill add it to the post as long as its not an like "open materials.xml and add the desired material. then use it in blender" tutorial.
also i might need more posts soon, is it possible to slip in some or do i need to trouble whoever posted first under my reservations?
also i added the multimat material to the agenda since this one is great and a big hassle at the same time. i asked lino about it and i think i understand how to make use of it now but this requires some testing...
Gebt mir einen Spiegel dann schlage ich ihn mit seinem eigenen Gesicht
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Re: [WIP][Tutorial] Building your own ship for dummies
BrummBear02 how do I just bring your ship into blender, so I can learn that part and then if I have the time (Spring Football starts soon) I can learn how to convert the files and eventually upload if I ever get good enough. I have several ship ideas from S to XL but I want to get good at Blender first if I can.
Thanks Mate,
Hawker.
Thanks Mate,
Hawker.
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Re: [WIP][Tutorial] Building your own ship for dummies
im having trouble to understand what u wanna know.Sgt Hawker wrote: ↑Sat, 13. Apr 19, 04:19BrummBear02 how do I just bring your ship into blender, so I can learn that part and then if I have the time (Spring Football starts soon) I can learn how to convert the files and eventually upload if I ever get good enough. I have several ship ideas from S to XL but I want to get good at Blender first if I can.
Thanks Mate,
Hawker.
the "Creating a copy of a existing ship, rename it and add it to a shipyard - Getting prepared" and "editing the mesh" part should cover everything needed to get x4 ships into blender. u need to convert the x4 ships to .dae and then simply import them
Gebt mir einen Spiegel dann schlage ich ihn mit seinem eigenen Gesicht
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Re: [WIP][Tutorial] Building your own ship for dummies
Thank you that covered it. I just want to build ships in Blender first. So I only needed the where to start, without having to do all of the steps. I usually do not have the time to learn everything, and just wanted to get my feet wet with trying to edit ships, so that when Spring Football is over with I may get into it more. As a Coach I wont have much time to game let alone learn all the steps to bringing in new ships.BrummBear02 wrote: ↑Sun, 14. Apr 19, 03:20im having trouble to understand what u wanna know.Sgt Hawker wrote: ↑Sat, 13. Apr 19, 04:19BrummBear02 how do I just bring your ship into blender, so I can learn that part and then if I have the time (Spring Football starts soon) I can learn how to convert the files and eventually upload if I ever get good enough. I have several ship ideas from S to XL but I want to get good at Blender first if I can.
Thanks Mate,
Hawker.
the "Creating a copy of a existing ship, rename it and add it to a shipyard - Getting prepared" and "editing the mesh" part should cover everything needed to get x4 ships into blender. u need to convert the x4 ships to .dae and then simply import them
Thanks again.
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Re: [WIP][Tutorial] Building your own ship for dummies
hi
thanks for this tutorial
i have some questions:
how it works for texture? i m working on the nodan S+ i add parts,collision, all is ok but how do i add a texture on this new added parts?
in the way of a new ship i have seen that ships have lod0 lod1 lod2 lod3 so ships will disapear if we make only a lod0 or it will keep the lod0 for all distances?
i saw another post where someone decrypted the .ani file with heximal editing so we can we had existing animation now?
(exemples: my ship have 3 landing gear and i want it to have 4 with the animation of the 3rd one (clone) can i? with editing the ani ,the xml and the dae)
is there any way to have a X3like invisible docking bay where the ship don t disappear but player teleported (to tube or cockpit)
the last one how to make glass parts?
thanks
thanks for this tutorial
i have some questions:
how it works for texture? i m working on the nodan S+ i add parts,collision, all is ok but how do i add a texture on this new added parts?
in the way of a new ship i have seen that ships have lod0 lod1 lod2 lod3 so ships will disapear if we make only a lod0 or it will keep the lod0 for all distances?
i saw another post where someone decrypted the .ani file with heximal editing so we can we had existing animation now?
(exemples: my ship have 3 landing gear and i want it to have 4 with the animation of the 3rd one (clone) can i? with editing the ani ,the xml and the dae)
is there any way to have a X3like invisible docking bay where the ship don t disappear but player teleported (to tube or cockpit)
the last one how to make glass parts?
thanks
my textid range: 909700-909799
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Re: [WIP][Tutorial] Building your own ship for dummies
no. animations will take a while i guess. but lately i was busy with other stuff and didnt do much on modeling and so im not up to date what cg has achieved. maybe its possible now?
the landing gear thing u asked about isnt a problem. u could just add a mesh to your landing gear. it will have no collision but the visuals are there.
i added the uv texturing part. its not really in depth but that would be out of scope for this tutorial. so i just gave you guys a rough idea.
will add the vertex paint part soon.
i also want to add a "troubleshooting" part so if u get errors from the compiler or run into issues post the exact error here or describe your problem as acurrate as possible.
the landing gear thing u asked about isnt a problem. u could just add a mesh to your landing gear. it will have no collision but the visuals are there.
i added the uv texturing part. its not really in depth but that would be out of scope for this tutorial. so i just gave you guys a rough idea.
will add the vertex paint part soon.
i also want to add a "troubleshooting" part so if u get errors from the compiler or run into issues post the exact error here or describe your problem as acurrate as possible.
Gebt mir einen Spiegel dann schlage ich ihn mit seinem eigenen Gesicht
Re: [WIP][Tutorial] Building your own ship for dummies
Mega thanks for this thread. Without it, I very likely would have not been able to add ships to the game.
Requested feedback (just stuff that comes to mind, all and all - it worked well enough for me):
(1) Thank you, again.
(2) It is a lot of information and is a little cluttered.
(2a) Intro paragraph trimmed and labeled as disclaimer section.
(3) .pdf or video(s) might be a friendlier format (subject to audience).
(4) Update example model, simpler modeling change, include model stages and annotations in code.
(5) "What can be done and what cant be done" move this to end or condensed for additional disclaimer.
(6) "Editing the mesh" updated model with annotated files and build stages could be helpful.
(7) "UV textures and vertex paint" Understand why included and agree it is a big topic on its own but I'm torn on if it is necessary.
(8) Troubleshooting Common errors when converting: Node part_detailXlod0XgenericXgeneric_p1_hulltexture has multiple meshes attached.
-faces in that node part intersecting (existing) in the same plane and so not unique; and/or/not that UV Map is off texturing?
(9) Thanks again, these are just mentioned in response to the feedback request.
(10) Came into this with a familiarity with Blender and .xml files so it wasn't all new.
Requested feedback (just stuff that comes to mind, all and all - it worked well enough for me):
(1) Thank you, again.
(2) It is a lot of information and is a little cluttered.
(2a) Intro paragraph trimmed and labeled as disclaimer section.
(3) .pdf or video(s) might be a friendlier format (subject to audience).
(4) Update example model, simpler modeling change, include model stages and annotations in code.
(5) "What can be done and what cant be done" move this to end or condensed for additional disclaimer.
(6) "Editing the mesh" updated model with annotated files and build stages could be helpful.
(7) "UV textures and vertex paint" Understand why included and agree it is a big topic on its own but I'm torn on if it is necessary.
(8) Troubleshooting Common errors when converting: Node part_detailXlod0XgenericXgeneric_p1_hulltexture has multiple meshes attached.
-faces in that node part intersecting (existing) in the same plane and so not unique; and/or/not that UV Map is off texturing?
(9) Thanks again, these are just mentioned in response to the feedback request.
(10) Came into this with a familiarity with Blender and .xml files so it wasn't all new.
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Re: [WIP][Tutorial] Building your own ship for dummies
i understand some of your points, on others u need to provide me with examples so i understand you. also keep in mind my english isnt the best so use simple words
Gebt mir einen Spiegel dann schlage ich ihn mit seinem eigenen Gesicht
Re: [WIP][Tutorial] Building your own ship for dummies
I'm mostly nit-picking the format. For a forum post, it is wonderful and I thank you again for putting it together!
The error using the export .dat :
"Node part_detailXlod0XgenericXgeneric_p1_hulltexture has multiple meshes attached"
Model's mesh has overlapping faces. Duplicate triangles or triangles that have intersecting areas are present in the mesh. Every triangle in the mesh needs a unique area.
There might also be something with UV Texture Mapping that can cause error, I'm not 100% on error message.
Thank you, again!
The error using the export .dat :
"Node part_detailXlod0XgenericXgeneric_p1_hulltexture has multiple meshes attached"
Model's mesh has overlapping faces. Duplicate triangles or triangles that have intersecting areas are present in the mesh. Every triangle in the mesh needs a unique area.
There might also be something with UV Texture Mapping that can cause error, I'm not 100% on error message.
Thank you, again!
Re: [WIP][Tutorial] Building your own ship for dummies
"Node part_detailXlod0XgenericXgeneric_p1_hulltexture has multiple meshes attached" - that means the mesh uses multimaterial and converter won't to convert it, replace multimaterial by standart material before export.
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Re: [WIP][Tutorial] Building your own ship for dummies
actually none of the two is what the converter has an issue with. it doesnt like linked UV maps and multible materials on one node and thats what is says if you have done that. i havent run into in error i was unable to fix but i hardly remember them. sadly very few people create ships and even less report their bugs to me so the troubleshooting section will be empty for a long time^^
Gebt mir einen Spiegel dann schlage ich ihn mit seinem eigenen Gesicht