Unregistered and have a question? Post here.

In reference to the question about one way trips, of course you can. Think about passenger missions from the mission computer. I have found that most missions have a similar one in the Nova scenario to look at

To all of you asking about IDs of desc, I just found(as in last night at about 1AM) that under one of the menu bars in NovaTools there is a list of al the mandatory ones(ex: mission briefing=IDx+4000) Check it out, I know it answered a whole hell of a lot of my questions

My password is gone and I'm reduced to this. Anyway.

NovaTools just seems to be a whole bunch of ResEdit things, but there aren't any editing windows to use like in the screenshot. I'm missing something big here, I can tell.

Also, to those who want 3D programs. Use Strata, if you think it can't model then you haven't really given it a shot and you won't make it with any better program. I can't think of a better entry level program.

Lightwave is an amazing program, with a very steep learning curve. Good luck if you want to learn 3D on it, it's not impossible, just difficult. Also, in the demo you can only model or render, but you can't save what you've modelled unless it's under 200 points.

**Making Textures)/b)
-----------------

There are some basic parts to a texture, and I will refer to them by the names in Strata (Sometimes the names differ a little from time to time.) because that's what you're most likely gonna be using. It's also quite simple, in case you don't know what you're doing at all.

Color Map
This is the basic color of the object. If you make one in PS, save it as a jpg. Anything you can draw can be mapped onto an object.

Go into PS and draw a simple little squiggly line that kinda goes all over. Save it as color.jpg

Now go into Strata and make a sphere and a box. Select them both (shift, click) In the Resource window --> new --> surface texture. Where it says "Map" click in the grey. Click "load" and find your file. "OK"

Now (still in the texture window) click the expert tab. This will display all your options. The process for making the textures is the same. For things like bump and specularity, lighter is positive and dark is negative.

Mapping

Make sure that the Object Properties window is open. Click on the texture tab. Click on either the sphere or the box. The little sphere icon with red wrapped around it is the different mapping options. Play around and see what they do.

(b)Texturing for Ships**
---------------------

Always make sure that the color looks a little worn (unless it's brand spankin' new) and that the bump map goes along with the color in terms of protruding boxes and things.

I have stopped explaining very well because I'm getting kinda of tired.

Jules (I think) has some great Strata texturing tutorials, I can't find a link right now though.

Persevere. Strata is quite capable if you know how to use it. It takes a lot of playing around. Don't set out to make a ship nessesarily, just have fun. (oh man, that sounds corny, but it's true)

Strata is the best free 3D app out there, in my opinion.

I am working on a plugin, and am curious on how to make custom ship Gfx. I can model in either strata or bryce 5, but don't know what to do from there, can anyone help?

In the second ship explosion field, a boom value of 7 (nuclear impact) refuses to work, while any other boom type is fine. The only reason I can fathom is that type 7 has a value of 30 instead of 100 for the frame advance field, but I cant imagine why that would make it inoperable. Ive tried duplicating the resource and retrying with a value of 100 like the other boom rsrcs, but to no avail; Nova continues to crash when a ship of that type is destroyed. Any ideas?

Also having some issues with newly created ships not firing secondary weapons, but Ive still got a few more things to check on that. If there are any prima facie mistakes on that realm, I would appreciate a heads up.

It will be nice when I can register for the board...

I just completed version 1 of the Shďp Bits plug. It is being distributed for plug developers at (url="http://"http://homepage.mac.com/mrlothario/")http://homepage.mac.com/mrlothario/(/url)

The plug standardizes a system of ncb set expressions in Nova's standard shďps. It is useful when you need an easy way to determine if the player is flying or has captured a specific ship, e.g. to make an outfit available only if the player is in a Rebel Carrier. The system is detailed in an included text file, and is implemented in the plug to allow copying and pasting of Shďp-Bitted shďps into your plug. Enjoy.

--Nathan

By the way, would someone please start a thread for the purpose of announcing plugs and/or asking for beta testers or play testers? Thanks.

Freighter->Capital Ship Refits beta 2 is available. No bugfixes or tweaks (it seems that no one is testing it) from b1 to b2. Rather, the new version consists of an internal change in the plug to bring it in line with my Shďp Bits "standard" and adding some stuff to the read me. Anyhow, you can get F->CSb2 at (url="http://"http://homepage.mac.com/mrlothario/")http://homepage.mac.com/mrlothario/(/url) Testers wanted.

--Nathan

I just DLed Strata 3d Base...

hmm...

I just found some things on the ship I would like to change... but this is it so far...

(url="http://"http://nemesisstuff.50megs.com/Barrel.jpg")Nemesis first 3d model ever turned out like this(/url)

what do you think? This is my first try, so be gentle with me

you've done stuff before I thought. To be honest, the modelling isn't very good. But the texturing is quite nice for a first try.

For some reason, I can't post to delta_v anymore (it worked once, then nothing. Hmm.) so here's my questions. I'm doing a TC of Robotech, using Novatools and Resedit 2.1.3, FYI.

1. I have quite a few fighter bays defined, and all but one work. This black sheep fires a ship that also carries a ship (I love keyCarried-it is extremely useful). Unlike in EV/EVO, this works :-). Props to Matt Burch for that one. However, when I say return to base, they won't re-enter the mothership. The sub-fighters dock fine, but the original, main fighters won't dock, but go through the motions like they are trying. Anybody else experience this?

2. The damage system seems a bit tweaked. Most of my weapons seem to do the correct amount of damage, but a few beam weapons seem to do ungodly amounts, when they are not supposed to. Example: 5 shots to kill a ship with 600 armor, no shields. The energy and armor damage are both 20. ?? Also, there is no more of this massDamage = massDamage + (EnergyDamage/4) and vice-versa stuff in Nova, right? The Bible seems to read that way.

3. The Trader Chär. Probably just because I am too lazy and tired right now to find where it has already been discussed, and because I want everything in one nice post, why can't I override chär resource 128? My replacement 128 shows up fine and works dandy, but the trader character is still there. I am using the chärs to establish storyline (unlike the hit-or-miss EVN standard style), and none of the storylines are for traders. Personally, with 4 major storlines in place already, I don't want to write another one.

Thanks for any help.

~Charlie
"Even the Buddha despaired of saving women" ~Takuan Soho

Quote

Originally posted by Masamune:
3. The Trader Chär. Probably just because I am too lazy and tired right now to find where it has already been discussed, and because I want everything in one nice post, why can't I override chär resource 128? My replacement 128 shows up fine and works dandy, but the trader character is still there. I am using the chärs to establish storyline (unlike the hit-or-miss EVN standard style), and none of the storylines are for traders. Personally, with 4 major storlines in place already, I don't want to write another one.

Everyone seems to be having this problem; I believe Regulus has submitted/is about to submit a bug report. Of course, if you want to do one too, two are more noticeable than one...

------------------
"A taco is merely a rigid, deformed tortilla."
- Thomas Castiglione
"There will be MUCH CRUSHING!"
- Pink

Quote

Originally posted by -Evil Penguin-:
you've done stuff before I thought. To be honest, the modelling isn't very good. But the texturing is quite nice for a first try.

I have not figured out how to do the advanced stuff yet. I dont even know how to change the shape of stuff, like rounded corners and things like that... Is that even possible in Strata 3D Base or do you have to upgrade to pro or plus?

I think that if you double click on the box tool you can specify a radius for rounding the corners, and you can create a new bevel shape after you extrude a shape (in the object properties box)

Want to make cool shapes? Go to Model --> Convert --> Beizer Surface and then hit the reshape button. This works with any of the primitives, but don't over use it, too many people just drag out a corner of a box and say "there's a ship" be creative with it.
If you want to see some examples, I'll have my site back up and running before long, and I'll post here again. (hopefully by the end of the week)

oh, and try going to download.com and finding a copy of Strata 3.0.2, because it's so much better! It's more like plus for free.

yeah, ok... I am gonna try it...

downloads

Quote

Originally posted by virus:
**Sorry, I wasn't specific enough-

I'm not working with one spöb here. There's multiple stations in this system. I'm trying to make it so that each station has all the outfits of a particular race (auroran, polaran, etc.) and nothing else. The Nova engine dosen't seem to be particularly supportive of this endeavor.**

Couldn't you add some if or or statment at the end of the required area that said "do such and thus a mission -or- go to this planet"
I'm not too confident with the statements yet, otherwise I'd put that here.

-Compleatly unrelated-

Is Anyone making an EVN Arena? I'm trying, but so far I get really strange crashes when I goof around in the outfitter/shipyard. I go in, look around to make sure everything is working, and it suddenly crashes ethir when I leave or well I'm in the place.
Help

Since I can't register...

I am thinking it would be cool if I went ahead and created a new mission plug for EV:Nova. I figure I should try to get the most out of my dollar. The plug idea I have is going to be a bit of a murder mystery, but I would like to add a couple ships and that sort of thing. Unfortunately, I'm no artist. If anyone does graphic design and would like to help out, please post a message in this thread.

Also, I have ResEdit and NovaTools, but I'm not sure how to get started. Anyone have any tips?

-Darkness

I downloaded EVO 3D models that were orignally used for EVO. Most of my ship designs are based from those models. Can anyone tell me where I can find 3D original models for EV as well, I've been to many shipyard websites that have modified versions of EV ships and they seem too modified to have been done by Photoshop, either that or they're really good at making duplicate EV models with 3D programming. I'd appreciate anybody who can help me out on this.

email me at prefectural@yahoo.com

-------------------------

Bumper Sticker: My freighter maybe very slow, but I'm in front of you.

How come I(and several others it seems) are unable to register at the moment? also if i write out a suggestion would someone be kind enough to post it? thanks a bunch

I have a question...

I am trying to add a new planet to the current universe. What do I need to do in order to get all of the descriptions to match up? Such as trying to get the bar description to match with the correct planet. I managed to change some of the descriptions of places already there, but what about adding new ones?

-Darkness

Another question to add to the one above...

What do I need to do in order to include music? Is it possible to play an MP3 at a certain interval?

-Darkness