Tutorial for added ship models with UE With new ship packs

HOW TO: add ship models with UE (ship packs); support/discussion/questions

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Tutorial for added ship models with UE With new ship packs

Post by thunderchero »

Hi Everyone,

This is a tutorial for importing and exporting ship models using DCER's Ultimate Editor (UE).

The new function can be found here;

Image

This is the screen we will be working with the most.

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first tutorial; How to do simple replacement.

Select "Open Ship Pack" and locate the ship packs you have created or downloaded.

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Now just select the model on right you are wanting to import. And on left select the model you want to replace. And click on import. And save.

NOTE; You may get a warning message that palette is over 127 if you get this message you will need to reduce palettes manully. if this is not done model will not display properly.

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Now, new model has been added and is using all the same info as the model you replaced. (ship stats, upgrades, cost, mantinace, ect) And should have no problem using and building this model in game.

____________________________________________________________________________

Second tutorial; Adding model using 2 models on same phaser slot.
(Note: this all works the same if tring to put 3 models on same phaser slot).

Open UE and open Ship Pack you want to use. (see images above)

Before we begin just some rules;

No model can share a phaser slot with any Vanilla models. There phaser slot numbers are random so errors would be common.

Before a ship can be imported both models (imported model and model selected to share phaser slot) must use same scale and amount of phasers.

You must plan out what models you plan on using before making any changes.

Example 1;
Using Oberth we just added this will be the slot that will be used for next model imported and will share phaser slot.

click on "rename" in new window input new prefix for model (if 2 models on same slot use 2 characters like "H1" here) (if 3 models on same slot use 1 characters like "H")

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Now you will see under renamed model "H1" and "Not used" spot named "H1_"

Next, I need the scale model to match scale for both models. With the first model of shared phaser slot selected click on "edit Scale" In new window change scale to the same as model you plan on importing from Ship Pack.

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Now that phasers amount and scale match you can select not used spot "H1_" and model you want to import from ship pack "HU". And click on import.

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and save.

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Now H1 model is in game working but H1_ model files are in game but model is not in uses.

Note; you have also changed scale of H1 model from 75% to 95% so you could change scale as before to even out both models and split differance to scale of 85%for both models.

____________________________________________________________________________

third tutorial; adding new not used model to shiplist.

There are many ways to add new models to shiplist I will show 2 ways of added to shiplist

Example 1 "basic" using an upgrade slot.

Open UE and open ship stats.

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Now select the slot you want to use and in dropdown list find the not used model you want to add. and edit name, class, and any stats and if it is an upgrade ect.

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And save.

Now you have 2 models sharing the same phaser slot and working in game.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Example 2 "Advanced" Adding model by extending shiplist

Open ship stats as before (see above)

Select a used model that is close to the model you are adding then click on "Create Copy"

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Next you will see an exact copy of that model. now it is time to edit everything. First open drop down menu and locate the new ship file you just added and select the tga file that use that model. And then edit all stats, so that model will be unique.

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Now you have increased shiplist and added a new model.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Fourth tutorial; How to edit ship scale.

This is now a lot easier to do just go to Edit->Graphics->Add/Remove Ship Models then select the ship you want to edit scale on and select Edit Scale. In the new window change scale value to scale you want.

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And save

now you have edited scale for that model.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Fifth tutorial; How to change what ships are seen in screensaver.

This also been made much easier to do go to Edit->Ship stats You will find a check box Appers in Screensaver Just check this box. only catch is there is a limit to how many ships that can be used by screensaver so you might have to uncheck a model you do not want to see in screesaver.

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and save

Sixth tutorial; How to uses of behave as if built by.

This option will be rarely used by most people and has limited testing. UDMIII will use this to add assault command to all major races colony and troop transports by selecting built by Klingons.

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and save

Sixth tutorial; How to select What special ships are used.

With the use of this option you can select what ships are considered special ships. this was only for federation but with a little hex editing this also can be changed. for more info on how to edit read this post.
Special ship post

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Seventh tutorial; How to lower palettes used.

this will reduce used palette from 119 to 102. By all races and minors using the same explosions textures.

Fisrt you will need to download these files;

palette.zip

Download and unrar to location of your choice.

Next open UE and add files to res file from edit\Other\Files.

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Next use add button and browse for the file you just downloaded. Then add all file from "gifs and hobs" folder.

If you have made no changes to res file you can also add palette.lst from "vanilla palette.lst" folder.

If you added palette.lst you are done. and save.

If you did not add palette.lst you will need to set palette for gifs.

With UE from edit\Graphics\Textures.

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Next select cbboom.gif from drop down menu and select "use own palette"

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next repeat last step with cgndexp.gif, csboom.gif, cshock.gif from drop down menu.

Next select fbboom.gif and click on remove.

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next repeat last step for fgndexp.gif, fsboom.gif, fshock.gif, hbboom.gif, hgndexp.gif, hsboom.gif, hshock.gif, kbboom.gif, kgndexp.gif, ksboom.gif, mbboom.gif, mgndexp.gif, msboom.gif, rbboom.gif, rgndexp.gif, rsboom.gif, rshock.gif.

Next click on trim palette list and save.

That is all I have for now, I hope this tutorial helps

thunderchero
Last edited by thunderchero on Sat Mar 28, 2009 10:19 pm, edited 5 times in total.
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Post by thunderchero »

Here is just a few ship packs that can be downloaded:

Just remember this is for personal use only. If you Plan on releasing any model in a mod with someone elses work you need to contact the person who did work first.

UMDIII Ship Packs

UCW 1.0.2 Ship Packs

older ship downloads ship pack

Some of these ship pack have some unreleased models :wink:

more ship packs will be added later and put in download section of forum

thunderchero
Last edited by thunderchero on Fri Dec 26, 2008 1:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Tutorial for added ship models with UE With new ship pac

Post by Spocks-cuddly-tribble »

This is a really great tutorial


I never modded shipmodels/phaserslots before, so I hope you'll forgive me these noob questions:


If I understand correctly, there are 127 phaser slots in trek.exe.
And every slot can be used by a maximum of three ships.
Thus consequently a maximum of 381 phaser-firing ships in the game ?


thunderchero wrote:Fourth tutorial; How to edit ship scale.

This is now a lot easier to do just go to Edit->Graphics->Add/Remove Ship Models then select the ship you want to edit scale on and select Edit Scale. In the new window change scale value to scale you want.
Will this always affect all models using the same phaser slot ?




@DCER & thunderchero,
Words can’t express how great this is. :D 8)
I don't know how many bugs is too many but that point is reached somewhere before however many in BotF is.
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Re: Tutorial for added ship models with UE With new ship pac

Post by thunderchero »

Spocks-cuddly-tribble wrote:This is a really great tutorial


I never modded shipmodels/phaserslots before, so I hope you'll forgive me these noob questions:


If I understand correctly, there are 127 phaser slots in trek.exe.
And every slot can be used by a maximum of three ships.
Thus consequently a maximum of 381 phaser-firing ships in the game ?


thunderchero wrote:Fourth tutorial; How to edit ship scale.

This is now a lot easier to do just go to Edit->Graphics->Add/Remove Ship Models then select the ship you want to edit scale on and select Edit Scale. In the new window change scale value to scale you want.
Will this always affect all models using the same phaser slot ?




@DCER & thunderchero,
Words can’t express how great this is. :D 8)
there is 74 phasers slots in trek.exe

10 cards
14 feds
10 ferengi
10 klingons
10 romulans
10 minors
9 monsters
1 temp

since there is only 26 letters A-Z for 3 ships per slot the other would have to be 2 per slot for a total of 174 but this does not count upgrades that uses same ship.

as far as scale yes all ships that share a slot would be scaled the same. only way around this is to edit scale when converting hot to hob for each ship before adding.
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Post by Spocks-cuddly-tribble »

Thanks for your explanations
thunderchero wrote:You may get a warning message that palette is over 127 if you get this message you will need to reduce palettes manully.
I misunderstood this as phasers slots.

thunderchero wrote:only way around this is to edit scale when converting hot to hob for each ship before adding.
Wouldn't this affect fleet to fleet initial distance ?
I don't know how many bugs is too many but that point is reached somewhere before however many in BotF is.
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Post by Dr_Breen »

Spocks-cuddly-tribble wrote: Wouldn't this affect fleet to fleet initial distance ?
intrsting question, it does so for starbases, not sure what happens with ships...i hope thunderchero knows this
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Post by thunderchero »

Spocks-cuddly-tribble wrote:
thunderchero wrote:only way around this is to edit scale when converting hot to hob for each ship before adding.
Wouldn't this affect fleet to fleet initial distance ?
yes it does, but change is so small I have never notice any ill effects.

so if say all models are converted at 10 scale (most common scale) and you change it to 20 or 5 scale to adjust size you just notice ship being bigger or smaller.

Starbase need to changed from 10 scale to 450 scale sometime to move it behind fleet.

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Re: Tutorial for added ship models with UE With new ship pac

Post by Spocks-cuddly-tribble »

Sorry for persisting you with another noob questions:
thunderchero wrote:10 cards
14 feds
10 ferengi
10 klingons
10 romulans
10 minors
9 monsters
1 temp
Is this just a default that can be ignored - i.e. is there any known issue with sharing monsters slots (or the temp slot) by usual ships ?
thunderchero wrote:since there is only 26 letters A-Z for 3 ships per slot the other would have to be 2 per slot for a total of 174 but this does not count upgrades that uses same ship.
Are unarmed ships or ships without phasers (only with torpedoes) already included in this total of 174 ship models or can they additional added ?

And is there a way to use different textures for the same ship model (for example for upgrades) without "wasting" more than one of the total of 174 ship models ?
I don't know how many bugs is too many but that point is reached somewhere before however many in BotF is.
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Re: Tutorial for added ship models with UE With new ship pac

Post by thunderchero »

Spocks-cuddly-tribble wrote:Sorry for persisting you with another noob questions:
thunderchero wrote:10 cards
14 feds
10 ferengi
10 klingons
10 romulans
10 minors
9 monsters
1 temp
Is this just a default that can be ignored - i.e. is there any known issue with sharing monsters slots (or the temp slot) by usual ships?
DCER feels the temp slot is ok to use but I have always left it alone.

monsters slots should also be left alone but can be used but this could cause problems due to they are special slots with special uses but nothing has been tested. I have done simple replacements with no change of prefixes.

minor slots should have no problem being used, except M05 bajorian slot it is strange but not sure why. In UDMIII it is not even used by any ship.

major ship slot use as you wish I have had no problems there.
Spocks-cuddly-tribble wrote:Are unarmed ships or ships without phasers (only with torpedoes) already included in this total of 174 ship models or can they additional added ?
even in vanilla unarmed ships use phaser slots so testing would be needed NOTE; most new troop transports and colony ships have phasers now.
Spocks-cuddly-tribble wrote:And is there a way to use different textures for the same ship model (for example for upgrades) without "wasting" more than one of the total of 174 ship models ?
If I understand you right, you would also need new hob files and tga file so yes they would need slots.

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Re: Tutorial for added ship models with UE With new ship pac

Post by DCER »

Spocks-cuddly-tribble wrote:Is this just a default that can be ignored - i.e. is there any known issue with sharing monsters slots (or the temp slot) by usual ships ?
UE won't allow you to rename monster slots, because the T01-T09 files are referenced in botf's code. Probably for the borg smiley and such. It's best to leave those alone. You can replace them with your own ships, but renaming them would very likely cause problems.

Because the monster slots have three letter names, they can't be shared.
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Post by Oblivion »

Hey DCER what denotes the number of phasers used in a model?

Can it be changed in UE or does it have to be edited elsewhere?
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Post by DCER »

Phaser hardpoints are part of the hob and can't be changed, unless you have the original model before it was converted to hob and edit it in a 3D modeling program.
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Post by Oblivion »

DCER wrote:Phaser hardpoints are part of the hob and can't be changed, unless you have the original model before it was converted to hob and edit it in a 3D modeling program.
Thanks for that, just means I am gonna have to fire up the 3D modelling suite's again then :)

I guess 3DSMax is the one used for BotF models isn't it?

Hmm I see Blender seems to be the 3D of choice. Well off to blender I go :)

Just glad Rhino 3D exports in Blender format too :D
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Post by DCER »

I'm afraid I'm not the right person to answer those questions, as I haven't modeled a single ship yet :)

But maybe this link will also be helpful to you: Dafedz ship creation tutorial

The tutorial is missing info on adding phasers though, so you'll have to check the sticky in the forum for that.
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Post by thunderchero »

here is a single ship pack

Soyuz ship pack

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