Wing Commander Prophecy: Secret Ops Model Update Pack

@DefianceIndustries
I love the work you have done. It looks Amazing!

If I may dream for a moment. Several years ago the WCNews team got the MED tool that Origin used to create the Prothecy/SO games. I think it would be awesome if a windows wrapper could be placed around it and all your updates could be added to it as well. That we fans could create new WC games with your new updated glorious features. :D Just a thought. :D
 
Shades2585 said:
If I may dream for a moment. Several years ago the WCNews team got the MED tool that Origin used to create the Prothecy/SO games. I think it would be awesome if a windows wrapper could be placed around it and all your updates could be added to it as well. That we fans could create new WC games with your new updated glorious features. :D Just a thought. :D
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But it's a Windows tool already, and last I checked, it works fine on modern systems. No need for a wrapper :).
 
I thought I remember having an issue with it but that was some time ago. It would still be nice to add all the new update he has been working on into it.
 
So I was trolling through some of the info stored here and found some notes on the Murphy destroyer from Sean Murphy that seemed to indicate the engine pods should swivel like the Vampire's E-PODs:

The openings for the engine "intakes" had shield doors that opened and closed; most of the other renders were done with the doors closed. It would have been a cool effect in any cinematics we would do - that, and the fact that the engines were to have rotated around the axis of the ship, allowing it to corkscrew...
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At least I assume that meant the X-axis and not the Y.

I wonder if the Engine can support E-PODS on capships...hmmm. I'll put that on my list of things to try.
 
MUPdate time! Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone who's helped out on the project thus far (you know who you are!!!). Getting a Runner Up honor is awesome! So thanks again and also thanks to the community for the encouragement!

I'm back with more model updates. I'm rounding out the last of the "legacy" Confed ships with the HF-66 Thunderbolt VII. Here are some Blender renders. I'll post more shots post-conversion. For the paint, I chose the WC4 version with some modifications: I liked Sean Murphy's lightning bolt nose art, and I also used the more traditional shark mouth paint on the Excalibur; but I felt that it needed a Confed roundrel on it as the original doesn't, so I borrowed a bit from the WC3 texture. And speaking of, when I get some time I'll add the other schemes so soon you can have your Thunderbolt in "Heart-of-the-Tiger" Grape and Spicy Piratical Cinnamon.

tbolt_final5.png tbolt_final2.jpg tbolt_final3.jpg tbolt_final4.jpg
 
DefianceIndustries said:
MUPdate time! Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone who's helped out on the project thus far (you know who you are!!!). Getting a Runner Up honor is awesome! So thanks again and also thanks to the community for the encouragement!

I'm back with more model updates. I'm rounding out the last of the "legacy" Confed ships with the HF-66 Thunderbolt VII. Here are some Blender renders. I'll post more shots post-conversion. For the paint, I chose the WC4 version with some modifications: I liked Sean Murphy's lightning bolt nose art, and I also used the more traditional shark mouth paint on the Excalibur; but I felt that it needed a Confed roundrel on it as the original doesn't, so I borrowed a bit from the WC3 texture. And speaking of, when I get some time I'll add the other schemes so soon you can have your Thunderbolt in "Heart-of-the-Tiger" Grape and Spicy Piratical Cinnamon.

View attachment 8436 View attachment 8432 View attachment 8433 View attachment 8434
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At last, my lead sled!

Gorgeous as always.
 
Congratulations on the Fan Project of The Year Runner Up award!

I've been working some more on Wing Blender. The latest version of the Wing Blender master branch now allows users to exclude the FAR chunk. I've created a new branch for the next version (1.7) of Wing Blender, and it will be merged into master when I'm done with it. The next version of Wing Blender will feature child object exporting, smarter LOD detection, and consistent texture assignment for main and child meshes.

BTW, it's called Wing Blender because someone already made a tool called Blender Commander.
 
Kevin Caccamo said:
Congratulations on the Fan Project of The Year Runner Up award!
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Thanks! You share some of the credit as well my friend.

As promised, here's the t-bolt in the game!

shot0000.jpg shot0002.jpg shot0003.jpgshot0001.jpg

There's something fishy about how the turret acts in the simulator though, the barrel will detach from the mesh and when it fires, it shoots a crazed volley of laser fire, enough lasers to wipe out a Vampire in one hit. :) I'll get around to it tomorrow, along with giving it a proper entry in the ship viewer...
 
Fixed the Tbolt turret issues. Turns out that the mass laser fire was caused by a PEBCAK error. When I exported the mesh, I somehow failed to check all the hardpoints. So the turret barrel actually had all the gun hardpoints that the base mesh had (all 9 of them in addition to the two for the turret) so it was a mega-turret of death! Once I cleared out all the hardpoints except for the two for the barrels, the ship started firing as expected.

I also fixed the rotation issue, the hardpoint that joined the barrel to the base mesh was off causing the barrel position to shift off the mesh as the turret rotated. There is still a clipping issue (see image) caused by the fact that the original barrels were mounted on the turret dome and not in a swivel mount beneath the cupola. I'll tinker with the rotation matrix and see if I can iron that out. (@gr1mre4per 's turreting tool to the rescue!!)

A couple of last errata on the Tbolt: The original WCP scaling was waaaay of on it. The Thud should have a length of 34 meters, but the original mesh is only 16. The new Tbolt is sized properly at 34 making it slightly larger than the Excalibur at 32m.

I also tweaked the specular map a bit, the cockpit was waaaay to shiny for my taste, so I dimmed it up a bit.

***Edit: completed the viewer entries for the Tbolt. Pic attached

The original Tbolt also had a mass driver turret instead of a laser turret, while giving it a rear-mounted pair of dust cannon seems excessive (not to mention terribly deadly), I was thinking of changing it to a pair of Ion guns instead. It's closer to the stopping power of the mass driver, and it will increase survivability against the Nephilim. Any objections?


Tbolt_HUD.jpg Tbolt_turret_Fix.jpg Tbolt_Turret_Tracking_Example.jpg TboltTurretClip.jpg TboltViewer.jpg
 
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DefianceIndustries said:
The original Tbolt also had a mass driver turret instead of a laser turret, while giving it a rear-mounted pair of dust cannon seems excessive (not to mention terribly deadly), I was thinking of changing it to a pair of Ion guns instead. It's closer to the stopping power of the mass driver, and it will increase survivability against the Nephilim. Any objections?
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I think you need to consider what the Thunderbolt in its current iteration is actually designed to fight against, which is... not Nephilim :). It may well be that the Thunderbolt variant we see in SO carries inferior weapons to the one we saw in WC3, because it's basically a cheaper, reserve fighter. So, no, I wouldn't change it for Secret Ops.
 
Quarto said:
I think you need to consider what the Thunderbolt in its current iteration is actually designed to fight against, which is... not Nephilim :). It may well be that the Thunderbolt variant we see in SO carries inferior weapons to the one we saw in WC3, because it's basically a cheaper, reserve fighter. So, no, I wouldn't change it for Secret Ops.
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I'm going to have to disagree with that assumption.

A Thunderbolt VII is exactly what it says it is. The scaling is likely a concern among whomever originally modeled the craft, likely to fit a size requirement during a couple cutscenes since we never actually fly one. Another assumption of course but the key issue is the sizes aren't copacetic. I just can't see a smaller T-Bolt carrying a torpedo either. If the Thunderbolt VII was retired from frontline service they would not be a brand new design that is smaller, they would be the retirees from the front-line carriers. Otherwise it would be a Thunderbolt VIII.

A change in firepower would not equal a change in the size of an existing fuselage. It just does not make sense from a cost or lore standpoint. I would prefer the T-Bolt be returned to it's WC3-4 size.
 
Whistler said:
I just can't see a smaller T-Bolt carrying a torpedo either
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Actually the Valiant LT would have to be pretty small, considering the Panther can carry one in its internal missile magazine, and it's about 15m if I remember correctly. Though I don't disagree that Confed would randomly make a half-sized Tbolt makes no real sense. Instead it would make sense that existing Thuds are retired to second line duty. Especially when they have Shrikes and Devastators as their front-line bombers, and you can throw torps on Panthers and Vampires.

That said, I'm not sure Quarto was arguing against the scaling, I was asking about changing the rear turret loadout from lasers to ions because the original WC3/4 version had a mass driver turret and I felt the laser was under-powered. He was stating, I believe, that I should leave the laser as is.
 
Yes, exactly - I was only referring to the laser :).

Regarding the scaling, had the Thunderbolt played a bigger role in Secret Ops, I would be arguing against that as well, though not on the grounds of how big the Thunderbolt circa 2681 could be (obviously, canonically, it should be as big as it was in WC3). Rather, I would be warning about the fact that even fixing an obvious mistake can be a problem if it affects game balance. However, since the Thunderbolt is pretty unimportant in Secret Ops, upscaling it should not be a problem for the overall game balance.
 
Quarto said:
Yes, exactly - I was only referring to the laser :).
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Disagreement retracted. :D

Now that I know exactly what Quarto meant I can form a real opinion. Seeing as how Thuds in WCIV were piloted by pirates as well as Confees I don't see why they couldn't be flown with either guns. It ultimately boils down to who is maintaining the craft.

For example, a T-Bolt operating out of, let's say Ella, would likely have a similar loadout to the WCIV variant. Whereras light militia units out near old Kilrathi space would likely have to make do with whatever they can scrounge. A certain Landriech Ferret from Fleet Action comes to mind.

For the sake of the game it might be simpler to just leave it as is, or it may not. Consider what flag (if any) it flys under and who maintains it. Backwater systems might be using lasers as a cheap means in a peacetime fleet so either configuration could make sense.

Then again, Mass Driver technology (as far as WC tech) is in the same era as Lasers in WC1. Anything is possible.
 
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