Pers Resources.

Sixth Topic...

I've been having way too many problems with this at the moment. In one of my plugs, I created a pers resource that features one of my new ships, an upgraded striker. I set it to show up in a certain system, and it is part of a certain government, and is set to show up 100% of the time. It was suggested that I have to create a new pilot file in order to see this new pers ship. I did create a new pilot, and it still does not show up! Comments, helpful suggestions or questions are much appreciated.

Are there any other conditions for its appearance — a 'Show if' NCB test, or (less visibily) an AppearOn NCB in the relevant shïp resource?

QUOTE (Spartan Jai @ Aug 2 2010, 07:20 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I've been having way too many problems with this at the moment. In one of my plugs, I created a pers resource that features one of my new ships, an upgraded striker. I set it to show up in a certain system, and it is part of a certain government, and is set to show up 100% of the time. It was suggested that I have to create a new pilot file in order to see this new pers ship. I did create a new pilot, and it still does not show up! Comments, helpful suggestions or questions are much appreciated.

Did you set the the System in the pers resource so that it can show up in that particular system (or any system for that matter) because you have to reference the pers in the syst resource and then reference a syst in the pers resource as well.

QUOTE (David Arthur @ Aug 2 2010, 12:29 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Are there any other conditions for its appearance — a 'Show if' NCB test, or (less visibily) an AppearOn NCB in the relevant shïp resource?

AppearOn requirements in shïp resources have no bearing on përs ships.

This is what I have as far as the resource goes.
Ship name: Undying Retribution
Ship type: 163 Custom Striker
Weapon types 230 (hellhounds 100 ammo) 245 (custom beam) 201 (custom turret) 145 (wrathii 150 ammo)
Shield strength: 200%
AI type: Warship
Aggression: Close Range
Retreat when shields drop below 5%
Government: 383 (custom government)
Appears in specific system 2175 (in the syst resource it's set to show up 100% of the time)
That is it. I have it set to show up 100%. There aren't any NCB's. I even (again) started a new pilot.
The actual pers resource ID is 1151.

QUOTE (Spartan Jai @ Aug 2 2010, 06:17 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The actual pers resource ID is 1151.

This is your problem.

Decrease the ID by 2 or more.

That worked perfectly! And I have a really dumb question, was I taking the place of a different resource? 'Cause I'd rather not sift through or risk copying nova data (last time i copied it I had to restart my mac cause it freaked, it's almost ten yours old).

By the way, is there any 3-D modeling software that you can recommend for my computer? Yes, I know that has nothing to do with our current discussion.

Nope, you were not taking the place of a different resource. In fact, one of the beautiful things about plug-ins in the EV series is that when the game encounters duplicate resources, it uses the one that it loaded last. Since plug-ins are loaded after the data files, anything in a plug-in will supersede any resource of the same type and ID in the stock game. The problem was përs 1151 does not work, and përs 1150 uses the bounty hunter mechanic.

What do you want to model in 3D: ships or planets or landscapes or something else entirely?

Um, it would be nice if there was something for all three, but I want it primarily for creating ships.

The only thing I've used so far is Google Sketchup with Delphi's pieces. That said, I am having problems exporting the models to a renderer. If you can find a way to export them to a renderer with Free Sketchup, let me know. 🙂

Oh, and use the link in Delphi's signature, the link in the post only gives half of the collection (assuming Delphi didn't update the link).

It looks like the maximum ID for përs resources in the current version of MissionComputer was wrong. I've fixed it, so that the next version will properly warn against situations like this.

QUOTE (Spartan Jai @ Aug 2 2010, 05:35 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

...was I taking the place of a different resource?...

EV:NOVA Bible <_<

QUOTE (Spartan Jai @ Aug 2 2010, 05:40 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

By the way, is there any 3-D modeling software that you can recommend for my computer? Yes, I know that has nothing to do with our current discussion.

Sketchup is free and idiot-resistant. Blender is free and has a learning curve steeper than the sides of the Grand Canyon. I don't know what kind of computer you have exactly (I saw "mac" somewhere, so that's a start), but either of those should work well - my old original-style imac could run Blender better than my now 5-year-old PC laptop, despite the 300% processor power difference.

As for rendering, there are 12 renderers listed on Google's website for Sketchup, 8 of which are for mac. Blender has it's own renderer which is adequate for what you're doing.

I've actually tried blender, and I wasn't really satisfied with the way it wanted me to create the objects. Plus, it was impossible for me to add objects. I will check out Sketchup and others. I'll get back to you if they work.
Just a dumb question. Where the heck are you guys? When I post, it says at least 5 hours ahead of the time where I am! Like this edit was at 1:48, but it'll say 6:48!

And yes I have an old powermac g4.

This post has been edited by Spartan Jai : 03 August 2010 - 01:05 PM

One other dumb thing. I tried using stuff like SpinnApp to create spin resources, but it ends up saving it as a pict. How do I get it to make a spin?

Making a spïn resource is actually fairly easy; there are only a few fields to fill out, and their values are fairly obvious. The function of most such utilities is to turn the individual animation frames that most renderers produce into the necessary sprite grids.

For the older games, all you needed was the two grids and the spïn resource, whereas for EV Nova you'll want to convert those grids into an rlëD resource (which MissionComputer can do). MissionComputer's Make RLE utility also has the option of producing either a shän (for ships) or spïn (for everything else) resource when it creates the rlëD.

QUOTE (Spartan Jai @ Aug 3 2010, 10:46 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Where the heck are you guys?

Oh, you know... here... and there... various locations. 😛 Your problem with the time stamps is probably because you haven't set in your profile options the correct time zone for you. Near the top of the page, click on 'My Controls'. Then scroll down and click on 'Board Settings'. There you'll find an option for setting what time zone you're in so the forum will display the correct time to you for where you are.

QUOTE (Meaker VI @ Aug 3 2010, 03:41 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

EV:NOVA Bible <_<

Sketchup is free and idiot-resistant. Blender is free and has a learning curve steeper than the sides of the Grand Canyon. I don't know what kind of computer you have exactly (I saw "mac" somewhere, so that's a start), but either of those should work well - my old original-style imac could run Blender better than my now 5-year-old PC laptop, despite the 300% processor power difference.

As for rendering, there are 12 renderers listed on Google's website for Sketchup, 8 of which are for mac. Blender has it's own renderer which is adequate for what you're doing.

I don't know what your talking about I tried using sketchup and I couldn't even rotate something properly. I also hate its interface.

QUOTE (ReclusiveOne @ Aug 3 2010, 10:55 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't know what your talking about I tried using sketchup and I couldn't even rotate something properly. I also hate its interface.

Well, what I'm talking about is that, after some 10 years of 3d-modeling experience using a relatively wide variety* of programs, I've found Sketchup the easiest+ and most versatile^.

*Mechanisto, Blender, Maya, Rhino, Revit, AutoCAD, Sketchup, Wings3D, Bungie's Forge (the old one), Valve's Hammer, MasterCAM...

+"Easiest," referring to the ability of anyone to pick up and use the software as compared to the other 3D editing programs. All of the buttons you need to model with are, in fact, visible at the start of use. Most others put the baseline at requiring some degree of professional training in order to be be able to create geometry.

^"Versatile," meaning that it has the most diverse uses of the products sampled. While it does not lend itself to animation as well as Maya or Blender, it can do animations or at least set up a start for an animation. While it is not as great at making plans as AutoCAD or Revit, it can make plans fairly easily. It excels at quickly and easily visualizing an idea, but can also make much more finalized plans, perspectives, and models, which can be exported to nearly any other professional program. Additionally, you can install a constantly expanding variety of plugins made by the community to expand it's capabilities. Physics simulations, games, animations, and true-photo-rendering are all possible because of plugins.

So if I'm correct all SpinApp does is create the grids needed for a spin resource? And I wouldn't actually need a 3d image in order to create new ship? And, the time thing worked.

This post has been edited by Spartan Jai : 04 August 2010 - 06:47 AM