Oolite Bulletins

So I've mentioned my 'issues' with the Fer-de-Lance before here and here, but not done much about it.

Well, my time seems ever more limited but this one's been amusing me, so to work.

Starting fom something closer to the elite model than the oolite one, and borrowing a name from the elite manual, I've been working on something sleeker, faster but still very much (I hope) with 'Fer de Lance' written all over it.

Despite the above, I can't help feeling I've turned it into a Ford Capri ... See what you think (with the oolite model alongside for comparison).







In the last pic the red lines mark the wireframe of the oolite model in the background.

I plan to call it the 'Fer de Lance Lightspeeder' and give it a speed of 0.375 - that puts it between a Cobra MkIII and an Asp MkII, which to my mind is about where it should be (although that's starting to make it sound like the Mussurana...)

I've made a version without the fins, in case they drive me mental trying to texture them. I have an interesting idea for a texture (not seen it in this game before) but not sure if I can pull it off.
I may also make a version of this ship that overwrites the standard FdL, as it is likely to do in my game.


P.S. Does anyone else find themself making low, involuntry engine noises as they model ships?

Nice! I like it.. and I hope you manage to keep the fins.

Redspear wrote:

...I can't help feeling I've turned it into a Ford Capri

Well, that's as good as it gets to my mind
<Smivs has owned a Ford Capri for the last 30 years - best car ever>

Redspear wrote:

P.S. Does anyone else find themself making low, involuntry engine noises as they model ships?

No, but I do make sucking noises when I'm doing the Hoovering

As for the Lightspeeder, yeah, I like. Maybe a bit fussy in the detailing, but a nice re-working. I'll look forward to seing it when it's finished (and good luck with texturing those fins!).

lovely modelling work, looks really sleek and fast, the vents on the sides really give it a vicious barbed profile, smashing stuff!
good luck with the texturing idea, sounds really interesting

Thanks guys.

Diziet Sma wrote:

.. and I hope you manage to keep the fins.

Me too

Smivs wrote:

Maybe a bit fussy in the detailing...

Quite possibly, although that seems to be my 'style'

Griff wrote:

...the vents on the sides really give it a vicious barbed profile, smashing stuff!

Ah, I'm glad someone else saw it too
How much that will show up in game, I'm not so sure...

More to do but here's where I'm up to...

OK, so I've got my texture, I've even made an effects map and a normal map, I've followed a few of the tutorials lying around but no luck: I can't seem to get the texture in the game, the model, yes, but not the texture.

Relevant section from the Log:

[mesh.error]: ***** Failed to find TEXTURES data (will use placeholder material)
..... from lightspeeder.dat (from file)

Upon comparing the dat file to those from other ships, I see that no texture information is contained in the lightspeeder.dat file.
This seems odd having selected 'make texture internal' (using Wings3d).

Do I need to load all 3 texture maps into wings or just the diffuse?

Any advice from experienced modellers/texture smiths please?

Well, it looks like I've finally made a model that a texture will stick to...



Probably not as generic as it should be (might need to make another version) but for a rare vessel it might be acceptable.

Needs some lights and other effects which I'll get around to in my usual leisurely fashion.

Here it is in game, more or less as I imagined it.



The red behind the vents glows a little as it picks up speed, and a normalmap has been used to raise the logos/badges on the ship just a little.
Whilst the image of the underside might look like a misplaced exhaust, I actually think it looks better than the 'full' exhaust emerging at the start point.



A little bit of lighting on those two internal triangles and some glimpese of the text standing out under different lighting conditions.

Could be a bit 'samey' seeing a few of these flying around, so in future I think I'll need to do another texture for it.
More to do but I might just be starting to get the hang of it.

Looks great. I like the fins. It looks mean and fast. What are the specs?

Thanks.

Spec wise this is my take on the fer de lance as I think it should have been. That might sound a bit pompous but I was always surprised as a kid that it wasn't faster than the cobra III (after reading the description in the manual) and now in oolite it's the slower of the two...

I think I get it: the mk III, as the default ship, had the speed boost to better cope with mass-locks (I'll spare you my thoughts on that one ) and have a reasonable chance of fleeing but I always thought it was the FdL that was the more worthy as a fan of the original 'literature'.

So, to finally answer your question, it's very similar to the standard FdL with a speed about half way between the mk III and the Asp Mk II.

Looks fantastic! That texture was definitely worth waiting for! Really smashing stuff!

Thanks Griff

Some more plist tweaking to do and then a licensing check (it's currently using a Neolite shader).
The FdL is currently expensive enough, so I was thinking same/similar price but greater rarity for this ship. That might appear to fly in the face of typical supply and demand models of pricing but if it's too steep then it's not competitive.

I like this.

Here, for comparison (in case it is useful to you) are the specs of my Fer-de-Lance ships (in PDF form).

EDIT: try this link instead.

Thanks UK_Eliter, I'll check those out before I finalise the specs on this thing.

Now available for download via the in-game manager.

This is my first oolite ship so I've probably messed something up.
Gave it a quick dust-off however and all seems to be working so v1.0 it is.

Credit to Simon B for the shaders.

Hope some of you have fun with it.

P.S. UK_Eliter, I couldn't get your file above for some reason but checked out some of the specs from the wiki. Thanks.