Latest posts made by Folrono
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RE: 3DS Max Exporters for BMS
That sucks about the missing code. Does any documentation exist about the LOD format? I canāt find much from cursory searches on the forums, but if any design documents exist for the file type or even info on the interfaces the graphics engine uses to load them would be helpful in getting a new set of 3DS plugins built.
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RE: Iowa Class Battleships
@Switch:
Nope I meant Triangles, and the Ticonderoga is actually closer to 80000ā¦
So we remade Osa II, Burke Class, Ticonderoga Class, Perry Class, Nimitz Class, Kuznetsov, Kirov, Sovremenny, Liaoning, Osumi, Shirane.
Whatās left, we have Wasp class, Spruance Class, Iowa Class, Jangwei. Probably a couple other but Iām not on the PC so I canāt double checkā¦
Jangwei and Wasp/America are on Radium to do list.
I would love to make those new Independence Class littoral ship though
Well then, it looks like the bulk of the work has already been completed. I will continue to add details to the four Iowas, since the geometry of each ship is a little unique in its own way.
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RE: Iowa Class Battleships
@Switch:
FYI, I just finished both variants of the Ticonderoga class. Ideally, I should model a dedicated deckhouse for the Mk 26 variant as I made only the Mk 41 one (for now) which I am using for both, maybe later.
But Iowa class battle ship are stil a good candidate :). America Class LHD and Wasp Class LHA would be nice too.
Thatās awesome. I would eventually like to put together a mod with all new models for every ship in the game; but perhaps there are a few I wonāt need to work on.
@Switch:
Btw, 40000-50000 triangles is not a problem for watercraft. Just have to be careful at not using many elements for a single objectā¦ my guardrails are from one box extruded, looped, duplicate for row and bridged together. That costs triangles but as long as you donāt cut it, it is a single element and is less costly in 3D rendering (less drawcalls).
Congrats on your dream job landing
40-50k tris?! Or do you mean polys? Either way, it sounds like I have some room for more details on the model.
Thank you about the job. After working on a level D simulator for a few months now, I really have an even deeper respect for the developers that made Falcon4:BMS what it is today.
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RE: 3DS Max Exporters for BMS
Is the source code for the 2013 version of the exporter available? I would be willing to write an updated exporter, but I really donāt know much about the exported file formats and so a detailed reference would be required.
If that code is not available, I will at least start looking into fabricating an exporter from scratch because all of my models are built in 2017 and I do not have the financial resources to invest in other legacy versions of the software; bear in mind that it will probably take me a significant amount of time to āreinvent the wheelā, so donāt hold your breath for anything incredibly soon.
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RE: Iowa Class Battleships
Wow, I canāt believe nine months have passed since I was last in here working on this project. I apologize for falling off the radar there but in that time I have since graduated (BS in Game Programming and Development), started a Masterās program (MSE in Software Engineering), and landed my dream job of developing high-fidelity flight simulators for one of the major aerospace contractors. That said, I think I am about ready to begin experimenting with importing these models into Falcon; and so if Radium is still available I would love to hear what you have to say. Thanks!
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RE: Iowa Class Battleships
The base Iowa model is nearly finished. It currently sits at about 21,000 polys; I believe the Falcon version of the model can be culled down to around 10,000 because of many hidden details, primarily on some of the weapon systems, that simply cannot be simulated in Falcon (like opening Tomahawk armored box launchers, etc). I will also cut the hull at the waterline, so that will eliminate many polygons as well.
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RE: Iowa Class Battleships
Hey guys, I just wanted to check in and let you know that progress is still being made on the base model. Through my research Iāve come to learn that there are some subtle (and some very not subtle) differences between the four Iowa class ships. Once I have the core of the model down I can start adding in the differences between the ships, and then comes getting them ready for Falcon instead of Unreal Engine 4. Needless to say, thereās still a lot of work to be done but I should have these ready by the end of summer, and then I can begin working on the rest of the neglected models in the fleet.
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RE: Iowa Class Battleships
Hello Folrono,
If you are interested, I can guide you step by step to make your models usable to BMS.
If you want, we can discuss by voice on a teamspeak server. If you want, my friend Dee-Jay, you can come also!
Regards,
Radium
Radium, thank you for the offer. I will check back in a few weeks from now when my class is nearing completion so we can work on getting this model ready for Falcon. I can then apply what Iāve learned to the other ship models Iām working on, and will hopefully have a nice new Navy mod package for BMS at the end of summer. Below is the Ticonderoga that is temporarily on hold.
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Iowa Class Battleships
Good evening everyone, it has been a very long time since I last visited these forums (been very busy wrapping up a new undergraduate degree in game programming and development). Back in 2008, I built a new Iowa model for the FreeFalcon community with the assistance of WaveyDave.
As part of my capstone project, I am rebuilding the Iowa-class again for a little project in the Unreal 4 engine, and plan to refine and submit the model for use in BMS along with texture maps for all four battleships. The imgur album linked below has some WIP pics for anyone that cares to take a look. There are also a few in-game shots of the āoldā model that WaveyDave sent me from FF6 back when he first put it in the sim.
I also have a Ticonderoga class CG that is partially completed, and will probably work on that next after the Iowas. This will likely turn into a complete rebuild of all the ship models in BMS as my time permits.
For those that are active in the modeling community here, I have a few questions:
What tools or plugins do I need for exporting the model out of 3DS Max and into a format compatible with F4-BMS? Are these tools available for Maya?
What sort of polygon count are you looking for as a maximum for a model such as this?
How many LOD layers are supported by F4-BMS?EDIT: What is the size limitation on the texture map? Iām using a 2048^2 for Unreal, but can scale it down if needed for Falcon.
Thanks everyone!