Some shots from my barely-started mod...

Eder

Eder

Mr. Standoff
Some of you have seen my thread on the community forum, where I was talking about my planned WC mod. Now that I have got some more background info, I planned it out a little better, and also, I've finished another model today... So, I thought I'd talk about my plans for the mod in this thread :)

First of all, I've chosen to do all the work by myself. I've been editing games since 97 and something I learned is that it's better to depend on others as little as you can. The downside to that is that this mod can take a really long time to be finished, but I don't really mind, after all, I'm doing this more for the kicks I get out of doing it than for the desire of seeing it finished.

Now for the mod itself. It'll take place along the frontier systems of Gemini and Vega, around the year 2663. I've got the plot pretty organized in my head (nothing too epic, I never liked that type of plot). I haven't decided for sure which engine I'm going to use, though I'm partial to the XWA engine for now. However, I still need to make 12 more craft, so by then, if there's a better engine out, I'll use it. (If someone has got any suggestions, let me know!!!) Depending on the engine chosen, I plan to include as most weapons from WC1-WC2 as I can. I've also got a list of the ships that will be in the mod. The list may change, but it probably won't. There's not many ships, I know, but I gotta be realistic about what I can do (so it's gonna be quality over quantity, I hope). Well here's the list:

Flyable craft: Ferret, Rapier G, Raptor
Other confed craft: Drayman, Gilgamesh, Bengal, Starbase
Enemy/civilian craft: Talon, Sartha, Dralthi, Krant, Jalthi, Drayman, Dorkir, Ralari, Fralthi
(That accounts for 16 craft total)

Now for the screenshots... Since I can't put three images on a single post, you'll have to click the links:
http://stallions.hypermart.net/wc_stuff/rapiermk2small.jpg
http://stallions.hypermart.net/wc_stuff/raptorsmall.jpg
http://stallions.hypermart.net/wc_stuff/gilgamesh.jpg

Now I've already wrote too much, so let me wrap it up. I'd like you guys to give me all the feedback you can, and also, if someone wants to help me perfect the storyline, or make textures, please let me know. Most of all, suggestions of which engine to use are appreciated.

I think that's all.... hope someone gets interested by all of this :-P

--Eder
 
If anyone wants any of the models, I'm willing to send it to you, as long as I get credit (of course), and maybe some other model I'm in need of (I like to base my models on more primitive ones, just to have a 3D reference). Just email me at eder_hc@terra.com.br if you're interested.

Two potential problems, though...

The models are about 700-1000 faces (triangles and quadrangles (does that word even exist? english is not my forte :))). Your engine better have some endurance (For instance I don't think SO has any ships with this number of faces)

The models are in Rhino 3D format. I can easily convert them to most formats, but you'll most likely have to re-do about all of the textures. They were applied to the models once they were already in XWA format, and therefore, the application of textures is done quite a bit differently from other formats I know (in truespace for instance it's done totally different).

--Eder
 
Ah, you toad, you left us for greener pastures! I see your foul deeds at work!


Now I won't even tell you whether quadrangles is a word!
 
SO engine can handle up to 1200 polys i guess, so the poly count might not be a problem, but i would need someone to texture it in a 3d format before i can convert it...Wildcat, do you texture it before getting it into armada? If so it would be great...:)
Eder, if you need any model for reference, you can use thomas 3d exploration plugin to get them directly from SO...if you dont find a model you need, let me know and i can always extract it from a old wc game ;)
Btw, you're going to make a wc3 kilrathi transport? For some reason i cant extract one from the WC3 files...
 
Originally posted by KillerWave
Eder, if you need any model for reference, you can use thomas 3d exploration plugin to get them directly from SO...if you dont find a model you need, let me know and i can always extract it from a old wc game ;)
Btw, you're going to make a wc3 kilrathi transport? For some reason i cant extract one from the WC3 files...
Click to expand...

Sorry, I've chosen not to use any WC3-WCP ships in my mod, for a number of reasons:
1- You can get a 3D model of those just about anywhere (even straight from the game like you mentioned). I'm much more tempted by the idea of making 3D versions of ships never seen in 3D (hard as that may be...)
2- The gap between WC2 and WC3 in terms of technology is just too big for me to justify it with any in-game reasons. Therefore, mixing WC1-WC2 era ships with WC3 or later ships wouldn't work well IMHO.
3- I'm a purist. The golden era of Wing Commander for me was when you flew with cartoon wingmen, inside bitmapped ships :D

--Eder
 
Many WC1-WC2 ships can be found in SO format...;)
And while WC1 and WC2 are great, i like better the 3D game style :D

[Edited by KillerWave on 04-17-2001 at 23:27]
 
Actually, I just skimmed though most of the projects descriptions, really...
But I meant that SOME of the ships I'll make have never been done in 3D before (at least not with much detail) while ALL the WC3-WCP ships have already been seen in a 3D engine (again, not necessarily with much detail.... look at WC Armada's models :-P)... And I think there's no comparison between a bitmap or a 50 faced model and a 500 faced model. (that works in terms of framerate, too :D)

Oh, and I dropped the Hades nickname the last time I disappeared from the XWA and JK editing communities.

--Eder
 
Originally posted by Eder

2- The gap between WC2 and WC3 in terms of technology is just too big for me to justify it with any in-game reasons. Therefore, mixing WC1-WC2 era ships with WC3 or later ships wouldn't work well IMHO.
Click to expand...

Yeah it would. The Hellcat, Arrow, Longbow, Ranger, and i'm sure most of the other cap ships were around during WC2. In fact, the WC2 stuff is probably MORE advanced than the WC3 stuff, seeing as the Concordia was still a powerful ship as we get the idea of at the beginning on WC3.
 
Of course you can justify those tech differences with something from the games. But like I said, In My Humble Opinion, all the dramatic changes in overall ship design wouldn't have happened if they hadn't switched to the 3D engine and FMV cutscenes.

Anyway, starting a debate on this is pretty pointless, I'm sure there are quite a few people who defend each point of view.

--Eder
 
Originally posted by Eder
Of course you can justify those tech differences with something from the games. But like I said, In My Humble Opinion, all the dramatic changes in overall ship design wouldn't have happened if they hadn't switched to the 3D engine and FMV cutscenes.
--Eder
Click to expand...

I'm almost afraid to ask, but what the hell is FMV???
 
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