Hexes - Crashes

[thunderchero]

I took a quick look at your files.

1. you need to center your model.

2. in trek.exe there is an incorrect entry. you have a 06 that should be 00

3. do not separate the phaser objects.

4. your hob file (looking at it in hex editor) is not correct format. This could be due to separating phasers.

So you will need to go back to creator and start over, sorry

thunderchero

[thunderchero]

5. model is 180 degrees out for BOTF (if round part is front)

thunderchero

[thunderchero]

well I played with it a little (still very transparent) But model will work.


thunderchero

[astrotrooper]

What did you do to fix it? Was it the phaser objects?

2. in trek.exe there is an incorrect entry. you have a 06 that should be 00

All I did was put in 8 - 01's I don't know where the 06 came from.

3. do not separate the phaser objects.

What do you mean by that?

8 faces copy paste, 8 objects, and attach a face to each one, rename slot01,02,03... and bring to front of your stack.. You have to keep them all in the original "stack" you mean?

What if you don't bring them to the front of your stack and just leave them where they are will that make a difference?

So to fix it just string the phaser objects together?

5. model is 180 degrees out for BOTF (if round part is front)

Yeah - I had no refrence for which way a model should face in max - I tryed to look at the video, and the pictures of the ships in creator on the forum.

You should put up a reference for creator - lots of different people use lots of different programs but they all use creator - so there should be a ref to which way it should face when you first import it.

[astrotrooper]

Ok I'll try fixing it.

[thunderchero]

What did you do to fix it? Was it the phaser objects?

All above I started from your 3ds

2. in trek.exe there is an incorrect entry. you have a 06 that should be 00

All I did was put in 8 - 01's I don't know where the 06 came from.

it was part of original code for damage texture and your model does not have damage texture and will cause crash if unchanged to 00

3. do not separate the phaser objects.

What do you mean by that?

8 faces copy paste, 8 objects, and attach a face to each one, rename slot01,02,03... and bring to front of your stack.. You have to keep them all in the original "stack" you mean?

What if you don't bring them to the front of your stack and just leave them where they are will that make a difference?

So to fix it just string the phaser objects together?

after looking again you did not separate the phaser slot, But they were in the BSP section and they need to be before that.

5. model is 180 degrees out for BOTF (if round part is front)

Yeah - I had no refrence for which way a model should face in max - I tryed to look at the video, and the pictures of the ships in creator on the forum.

You should put up a reference for creator - lots of different people use lots of different programs but they all use creator - so there should be a ref to which way it should face when you first import it.

The model in creator when it is loaded, front should be away and up since it loads at 45 degree angle.

thunderchero

[astrotrooper]

Ok I fixed the phaser grouping, the orientation, and the hex (I would have never guessed that part...)

Now the game actually launches into battle mode and there was no crash - except I can't see it.... Not a microbe of it... (I tried increasing size to 6000 in UE but still nothing)

The edo guardian does not fire at it - and no fire can be seen.. Any ideas what may be the problem?

[thunderchero]

never heard of that before...

I would need FLT, hot, hob files to look at again

thunderchero

[astrotrooper]

Ok I'll try something first and if that doesn't work I'll send them.

[thunderchero]

a couple things I thought about.

1. when you converted from flt to hot.

flttohot.exe [filename.flt] -s4.5Scale (4.5 = 450 meters from front to rear)

2. in Dr. Breen's post.....

Regiscol.exe color.lst

should be

Regiscol.exe color.lst [filename.hot]

thunderchero

[astrotrooper]

I got it working now. I left out the -s10scale off the conversion protocolls - I realized that when I opened up the hot file. (I had a ship size 0.0..)

But it's working now. I tested it phasers and torpedoes fire, I launched 18 ships against the EDO guardian - no crash or lag problems.

As you noted there are a few transparency problems from some angles with the bottom two nacelles and little bit with the back plate - but that is just from one angle - and from a distance it is not noticeable. Those problems crept up when I fixed the transparency problems with the bussard collectors - I've joined the bottom 2 nacelles together (the top one is 2 piece the bottom ones are each one piece) to sucessfully reduce the transparency, but the shafts still have a small problem. Maybe in the future I can do a totally perfect version (if you have any suggestions they are welcome too), but for now, and considering this is the 17th time I had to redo this, it's good.

Here are some screenshots. (I might just send one in to the Starfleet Museum "Cabbages Destroying Salem One Station" )

images no longer available


And here is the fully functioning ship -

http://www.gamefront.com/files/20414148/R-CabA2.zip



Thanks for all your help and to Dr_Breen for all his help, and excellent tutorial. More will be released with the mod.

(everything should be fine now - but - if I hit a snag I will post)

[anjel]

it´s really nice to see a very well done work, the ships looks fantastic, and i can feel a good mod it´s coming to reality, keep going that enthusiasm, and you´ll see that with every new ship a new frontier will open and new tips would come up, i´m still asking question for the same things i did with previous ship so to better understand how to manipulate the neccesary programs.
I´m eager to see your next model

[Dr_Breen]

2. in Dr. Breen's post.....

Regiscol.exe color.lst

should be

Regiscol.exe color.lst [filename.hot]

just to clear things up here. it works with both versions. if you don't specify a filename it will just register the color of all the .hot files found in the directory.

@astrotrooper

I'd greatly apperciate it if you could provide me a feedback about the tutorial. where did i leave something out? where do i have to be more specific? and so on.

thanks

[thunderchero]

2. in Dr. Breen's post.....

Regiscol.exe color.lst

should be

Regiscol.exe color.lst [filename.hot]

just to clear things up here. it works with both versions. if you don't specify a filename it will just register the color of all the .hot files found in the directory.

If "current directory command" is used. I drag and drop all files into command prompt so I have to type less since I type too many errors. lol Also I may have more than 1 version of the model in hot file in that folder.

thunderchero

[astrotrooper]

The export methods work fine - I only have one flt in there at a time so I don't know about multiples - but there is no problems there (so far) - except for the necessity of the scaling part which was not mentioned.

As for improving the tutorial. I was planning to write a text file on it based on my crash course/experiences.

Here are a few things:

You need to give reference as to which way is forward in BOTF - this came to light above.

You can show people which way a model should face when you hit the "T" or top wiev in Max, or since many people use many different programs which way it should face when you import into creator.

You don't need to bring the phaser slots to the front it's better just to leave them where you paste'em - bringing them to front and pasting them was one of the things that messed up my model. (I put them into the bsp area)

Now you probably bring them forward to avoid separating them too, - but you can separate right after importing - you don't need to do it at the end. I separate at the beginning because once I increase the size of the model it won't separate - so I separate right after I import - also I check for and recheck for transparancyes at the beginning - which results in a lot of tedious back and forth between creator and max.

Should mention the necessity of having the scale part added in the conversion protocolls (-s10scale) - without it you get a ship that is 0.0 size.

Register their text first, than bind it to hob, than export the hob and reimport in 3 parts (a,b,c)

You should tell people to use the name of an existing modell - ie. cl 2 - and replace it - that makes finding and editing it in hex and exporting the ship into a ship pack a lot easyer.

It's adviseable for new-bies to use a specific model at all times and one which has known hexes - I use cl2 cardassian because it has 8 phasers, and - now - I know what hex numbers I have to change for it - the 06 for the damage textures, and the 8 01's. So I just use that for all my ships.

Using one specific model as point of import and describing the exact procedures for it in hex makes things a lot easyer for people who know very little about hex editing.

Give clear specifics as to which hexes have to be changed.

That's about it - but otherwise your tutorial, and the topic posts in the D10 section were very helpful.

Basically it comes down to making ships in convex portions (some concave engine-wells you can also get away with), (and clean on the inside), adding phaser slots, shading/highlights, and the correct export and adding procedures.