Updating Thargoid gates

[jackiebean]

OK, i know i have been guilty of thread necromancy about this before, and maybe it has not gotten noticed due to it being an older thread. I have chosen this OXP first because it is the most ready to complete. the models and textures are done, all the way. texture variants can be added later.

The issue i know will become paramount is the difference in the configuration of the new models compared to the old models. especially the alien gate. since they may have more subentities, it will be very important to have help figuring out the best way to import the new models to an older OXP template.

since i have no experience at all in editing the scripts related to such an OXP, i will probably need some intensive help getting it all tested and working.

any takers?

[Rustem]

Hi, seen the code of the scripts for this OXP. I think that if you
- will replaced only the models and textures of gates (saving for gates shipdata, placement, size and orientation);
- want to save the spawning rules and behavior of the previous version;
- also the subentities do not contain active functions.

Then scripts changes are not required for new version.

[montana05]

if nobody currently maintaining this OXP a quick shipdata-overrides.plist will do. Since the code doesn't need any modifications (I certainly trust Rustem on that) only a replacement of the models and textures is required.

[jackiebean]

none of the subentities have any moving parts, they just fit together so i guess it is straight forward, i just dont want it to assemble wrong in the game and be confusing. i used a different method than the originals to create them and they have to be divided into parts, but my question is, can i export each part and expect them to orient/assemble exactly how they appear in blender? i have no idea about coordinates or if they are even needed to determine things like this. i realize some people use more complicated methods of assembly such as rotation of parts to create a larger whole out of duplicates, but this is a little different. more parts no duplicates. i imagine if someone wanted to they could assemble them as duplicates to make the file size smaller, but im not that experienced, yet.

[montana05]

As I mentioned numerous times in the past, when it comes to graphics in general and 3D particularly I am a complete noob. For the modifications I did in my WIP's I used Photoshop and only with basic knowledge.

However, if you can provide me with models (.dat), textures (.png) and shaders usable in Oolite I will be happy to change and test the new shipdata.plist for you.

[Norby]

You can save subentities into different files where the models are positioned relatively to the main hull, so if you load them over the hull then you see the wanted ship. The hull should be centered on all axis, the x axis is the top and z axis points forward. Then in shipdata.plist you just define all as standard ships and attach them to the zero position of the main ship, using forward orientation (1,0,0,0).

There is a frangible property, if enabled then you will get nice separated explosions when attacked, as each subentity holds its own armor and blows up separatedly, like in the next example.

Code: Select all

  "thargoidgates" = {
               //place other ship properties here 
               frangible = "yes";
               model = "thargoidgates.dat";
               name = "Thargoid gate";
               roles = "thargoidgates";
               subentities = (
                      {
                              subentity_key = "gates_sub1";
                              orientation = ( 1, 0, 0, 0 ); 
                              position = ( 0, 0, 0 );
                      },
                      //...
               );
  };
  
  "gates_sub1" = { //first subentity of the gates
    ai_type = "nullAI.plist";
    auto_ai = no;
    energy_recharge_rate = 0;
    explosion_type = ("oolite-default-asteroid-explosion");
    forward_weapon_type = "WEAPON_NONE";
    max_energy = 128; //some armor
    model = "gates_sub1.dat";
    name = "gates_sub1";
    roles = "gates_sub1";
    smooth = no;
  };