Fulby

Hi all, Just saw this thread on the Quarter To Three forums about a new game which is a bit like X-COM. It's called Supremacy: Four Paths to Power and the game's home page is here. From the looks of it there isn't tech research but it has both space and ground combat. It will also have multiplayer apparently. Fulby

The actual interception combat might not be that different, but X-COM had more detail in buying/building craft and arming them. Loosing craft was a far more important event in X-COM than in UFO:AM because you had fewer craft and more invested in them. Fulby

Blender supports custom importer/exporters through plugins written in the Python scripintg language. Some example scripts are here. IMO someone who knows Python and can find the relevant parts of the Blender API wouldn't have difficulty making an importer/exporter for the UFO:AM format. I've give it a shot myself (good project to learn Python on) but I haven't the time at the moment (*gags Slaughter before he gets any more bright ideas*). Fulby

More chance of Slaughter writing it Fulby

You may be able to change the position of hte muzzle flash by editing the PIVOT points. Most weapons have a "point-f" with two matrices. From looking at the files it looks like the non-PARENT pivot determines the flash point (the 'f' in "point-f"). The position of the pivot is normally near the muzzle on the model. If you look at the RPG7 model file ("tactical\models\weapons\h_ml-rpg7_3d.txt") it also has a "point-b" which is behind the model, which could be the Blowback point for the exhaust when the weapon fires. Some models (like turrets) have other pivot points which I doubt are to do with muzzle flashes but are probably related to weapon animation. Fulby

Check to see if the missing body part is the last one stored in the file. If there's something wrong with it than that might explain the problem but I would expect it to crash the game. It could also be the mesh before the missing one has a problem but that's less likely a cause. Fulby

LOL, such faith in me. Fulby

I think other people (BA maybe?) had problems with disappearing meshes but I can't remember the details. Sorry I can't be more help but it's been a while Fulby

By "doesn't work" do you mean it crashes the game or that it doesn't look correct? Fulby

You're free to use the Ethereal model (and any other models/textures from my plugins). The model was based on the morelman I think, I don't know how well the game would deal with that as an armour model but try it and see . Fulby

'fraid not Slaughter BlackAlmaz: GMax is free for users because the makers charge games companies for releasing the importers and exporters. Milkshape is pretty much the standard for cheap modelling*, so buying a licence would be a good investment if you're serious about modding. * The standard for expensive modelling is 3D Studio, which is what GMax is based on. I think the appropriate phrase here is TANSTAAFL - There ain't no such thing as a free lunch Fulby

I think you edge ahead on post-count (just) Not worried about being unlucky 13? Fulby

Highlander Personally I just enjoy having a lower member number than the main Admin Fulby Edit: Should've typed faster than the main Admin

Thanks guys Anyone is welcome to use the model and texture in their own mods. It could work either as a replacement for a weapon using enemy or as a mutant with an intrinsic psionic attack. Fulby

Here's a quick model and texture replacement for the Morelman. Try and guess what it is : http://fulby.v21hosting.co.uk/pics/psimutant.jpg Get the plugin here (117KB). Fulby

Is it missing the arm and hand or just the arm from shoulder to wrist? If you're using male light body 1 or 2, the right arm mesh (shoulder to wrist) is called "ruka-kosile-l01". If you're using number 3, it's called "ruka-bunda-r". The easiest way I know to check this is to load the model into Milkshape and select the Groups tab at the top right. Click on a mesh to highlight its name, then click Select to show it on the model. Click Select again to deselect it. Go through the meshes until you find the one for the part of the model you're interested in. Fulby

In what way isn't it working? Is it causing a CTD, is it invisible or something else? Fulby

If you compare the armours I posted in the other thread to the originals you should be able to see how it's done. I'm not sure of the specifics of alien models but I think they are similar to armours. If the altered model causes a CTD, try replacing one mesh at a time. That should let you find out which mesh is causing the problem. Fulby

Each mod having its own database isn't really different from each having its own copy of listofweapon.txt, listofarmor.txt, etc. They both store the game data, just in different formats and you use different editors (Notepad vs. Access) to modify the data. It still doesn't address the problem of merging data from multiple mods. If each mod's data store (database or directory with files in) only holds the modified data then the game could scan available mods (say in a \mods or \plugins directory) and add the data from ones the player selects. You still have a problem of changing existing items - it's easy to add new items to the game data but changing existing items could lead to conflicts between mods. Fulby

You can set up a local server, which is what Silent Storm does using Microsoft SQL Server 2000, but that in itself doesn't allow you to mix mods from different people. You have to send/publish/distribute the mod in such a way that it can be added to the other player's local database instead of replacing it. Silent Storm does it by comparing the mod's database to the original and storing the difference in a file using a custom format. You publish the file which the game can interpret into what changes need to be made to another player's DB. This was the reason I wrote ALPine, instead of modifying and sending the entire (for example) weapon file - which there could only be one of so only one weapon mod works at a time - you send just the new weapon data and instructions to let ALPine add it to another game's existing weapon file. Using separate files for each item can avoid this. If all the items are placed within one directory (or all weapons in \weapons, etc), and the game scans the directory when it starts and loads every item file it finds. This only works if the game scans the directory, if each item is referenced in an index file and the game looks in there then you still have a similar (but simpler) problem. Fulby

Adding to a database is easier if you're sending commands to a server running on a computer, but with a game you'd be editing the database files on the HD which will be the same as editing text files but much less transparent than plain text. Fulby

New version of the importer/exporter available here (54KB). Bone position is now imported and exported. If you change the position of bones it requires cutting and pasting the new data into the model file, but this may help with resized models. Fulby

Short of replacing the outside map sets with the base interior sets (which would change every mission not just the pilot one) I'm not sure how to do it. Regarding Area51, I think special mission objectives are defined in the executable - at least I've never seen anything like that in the game files. Fulby

I've uploaded a zip file here, 26KB. It has a male light helmet and male heavy armour, both with extra vertices. Fulby

Sorry but I'm not interested in an AvP mod, or any modelling beyond that needed for testing the plugins. Like I said, I'm a programmer not a modeller Fulby