Bridge Commander Central
BC Forums => BC Modding => Topic started by: flarespire on March 28, 2014, 06:23:32 PM
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Well, since my college class on 3DSMAX has finally started and I've learned a few things, Ive decided to work on a design ive had around for a while but never properly attempted. The ship is a Late 24th/Early 25th Century Ambassador class offshoot. I was thinking of calling it either the Dissidia Class or Uematsu Class, but now id like to hear what names you guys think would suit her and a possible registry for the ship.
Here is what I have done so far:
(http://i.imgur.com/Q5ZX9Rv.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/vCuZNWw.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/zLqTd4u.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/kN1Etl3.png)
Enjoy!
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To properly name her; gives us your inspiration for your idea, her roles, her history, any significance to her creation, based on a war, future conflict, exploration, etc...
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Something is not quite right with the indents in the saucer. It could be the smoothing.
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To properly name her; gives us your inspiration for your idea, her roles, her history, any significance to her creation, based on a war, future conflict, exploration, etc...
That's the problem, I can't remember my reasons for designing her...
Something is not quite right with the indents in the saucer. It could be the smoothing.
I may need you're assistance with her at some point, as I'm still learning the basics.
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Well this is an interesting mission. I love to speculate on new starship designs. Well since you don't remember, how many phasers or torpedoes will be on her. You intend on making a primary and secondary hull similar to the ambassador right, what noticeable difference can you tell us. Smaller or larger. Engines? Long range or for short range. Same engine type or a cross between ambassador / galaxy or the experimental engines like the Cheyenne or Springfield.
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Hmm... well From what I can recall, shes a Deep Space Exploration vessel, so she has some decent degree of protection and armaments, I believe she is also prototyping a new Nacelle setup for more efficient use at Warp velocities and that she is roughly the same size as the Ambassador Class itself, I think there's like 1 or 2 decks difference. But other than that I can't remember anything else about her.
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A small update to the ship, added an Impulse Engine and attempted to tidy up the mesh for the "cut-ins" on the saucer.
(http://i.imgur.com/0NyfgLR.png)
Enjoy!
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This looks like a real promising start. Where you going to chamffer the edges of the bridge super structure?
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Probably will, right now im just getting things in place so I know what goes where.
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Update time!
Secondary Hull is under way!
(http://i.imgur.com/oqD6C7o.png)
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Good to see you making progress in modelling mate :thumbsup: keep up good work !
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Another Update.
Some more work on the secondary hull done and edges of bridge structure chamfered.
(http://i.imgur.com/cVQHBAJ.png)
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Another Update.
Finished off the secondary hull (excluding some adjustments I may make in the near future).
Also I am aware that the smoothing looks a little off near the rear shuttlebay's doors.
(http://i.imgur.com/QjuQc3J.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/FtwYRRJ.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/jGMRxnc.png)
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i like the saucer but the secondary hull is too big ib my eyes
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I think it looks fine. From the side, you can see it's size, while the perspective view kinda distorts the actual proportions.
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im not seeing pics anyone have any ideas on why?
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Sean mentioned image hosting is still not functional, for now we will have to put links to images until image hosting is fixed
Although I can see pictures already added to the forums so it might be working ;)
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Huzzah! I have a somewhat small(-ish) update on this ships progress, enjoy!
(http://i.imgur.com/C9GeNpu.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/CymT8cb.png)
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Hmm seems if i use Chrome i can see pics (was using firefox)
awesome work :)
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Weird, I'm using Firefox and I can see images fine....
Anyways, glad you like the progress :D
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No. Those pylons looks completely out of place ... look at overall shape of ambassador, pylons look too boxy for overal shape of the ship
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It IS still a WIP... Things will get sorted with time, anyway its an offshoot class, doesn't have to follow the ambassador class design THAT strictly, it's allowed to deviate.
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No I didn't mean it should look more Ambassador like ;) I meant the Pylons should be less boxy, also I would bend them little bit forward ;) but avoid direct similiarities to Galaxy class so it looks more original.
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I did toy with forward swept nacelles, however it seemed to look very odd and broke the flow of the ship, and TBH, ever since STO introduced the regent Ive been put off forward swept nacelles in most designs (Prometheus excluded.).
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Looking good. How about having the pylons connect in a similar location to the Constitution's, if you want something a little different?
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I'm loving it so far! I also like how you've shortened the neck. It definitely makes this design style look exceptional! Pylon location looks fine to me...maybe have them sweep backward slightly (30 degrees perhaps?)
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Its been a while, but thanks to some help from FarShot with the nacelles (a.k.a making them for me after my attempts failed misserably, thanks for that!) the ships model is pretty much complete, just needs its phaser and torpedo placements and texturing and then shes ready to be hardpointed. Here's some renders:
(http://i.imgur.com/LwwwL8G.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/F8EVfWl.png)
Enjoy!
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Well after a lot of discussion with some friends, Iv'e decided on a name for this ship and its class, I give you the Branford class starship, U.S.S. Branford, NX-79885.
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I'm loving the warp engines. Massive improvement. The shape and designs of the warp engines remind me of the ones on the Type 7 shuttle(Andrew Proberts design); you can almost say it's your rendition of the predecessor of that shuttles warp engines.
Name is good too. Very very nice. But why such a high registry number?
Adam
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Well the ship, even though using an archaic design, is a test bed for a new experimental warp engine efficiency setup, and several other systems launched a few years after the events of ST:Nemesis. The systems used on the Branford are later distributed slowly throughout the fleet after her first successful test flight, meaning that she is the only ship of her class.
Also, I didnt make the nacelles in the end, I had done a couple attempts but FarShot kinda just, made them and gave em to me one night and after a bit of tweaking I got em to work with the ship, so he gets credit for those.
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I love the engines. You really nailed it but I question the time frame you are suggesting, esp since during the Dominion wars (Prometheus, Nova, Sovereign) and everything after; we've since an architectural design change from the spherical/cylindrical design to triangular and much sleeker designs. This seems to be a more TNG look rather than a Post Nemesis. But I respect your decision nonetheless. Can't wait to see more.
Adam
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looks neat
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very nice... awesome ship but i agree with adam on the time frame
good work dude
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It's starting to look really nice :)
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I can't wait to see her when she's finished. Nice work!
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Coming along nicely!
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Well whilst I try to figure out good phaser and torpedo placements for the Branford, how about you guys take a look at a design I'm working on. (Note, she is not the same size as a Nova or Rhode Island class starship, she is more akin to the size of the Avenger Class starship.)
(http://i.imgur.com/oyAyl3n.png)
God dammit forums stop thumb-nailing it :L
Heres a link to the full size version...
http://i.imgur.com/oyAyl3n.png
Enjoy!
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Looks like a good start.
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With the help of Wiley on the design front, construction of the Valhalla class has begun:
(http://i.imgur.com/WXEQOvd.png)
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looking good flarespire :D.... that would make a cool seperated saucer section :)
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Hmm, perhaps saucer separation may be something to look into on this design....
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great start, I would recommend adding some extra polys to the nose of the saucer to smooth it out a bit, currently it looks pointier compared to the concept design that you posted.
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Hows this? Also I've added in the Defiant Style Torpedo Launchers on the saucer.
(http://i.imgur.com/GbnHSPJ.png)
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It looks like the Avenger from STO if it was regular Starfleet Design. I like.
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I did take a little inspiration from the Avenger, I'm glad you like it.
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Looking good so far!
Early to mid 25th century design?
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Somewhere around that time-frame, haven't really got the specifics down yet...
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its better, but I would say on the edges you could still add more. one of the things I learned from studying Wiley's work is that game models look ten times better when the edges have more poly's. see image below for what I mean, the inner circle has 24 polys then each level from there 48, and 72. each layer has more poly's so look smoother.
(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3952/14973263753_ee5ae070a2_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/oP8TDT) (https://flic.kr/p/oP8TDT)
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With Wiley's amazing help the ship now has its deflector and the start of its secondary hull. Now to be clear here, Wiley did the connecting piece of the saucer to the deflector and behind the deflector into the secondary hull, I built the deflector itself.
(http://i.imgur.com/xi6h6to.png)
Here is how the side profile of the ship should look:
(http://i.imgur.com/vMEEHx9.png)
Should have some more Pics soon.
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looking good :)
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Looks like a sleaker/more streamlined version of the Sovereign. Looking good indeed :)
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Looks Awesome!
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That's looking rather nice, it's like an evolution of the Rhode Island
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Made a bit more progress today, flattened off most of the scoop in front of the deflector to make room for 2 forward torpedo launchers and a captains yacht (that I don't know if I'm going to actually make as an MVAM detachable ship yet) also as I'm adding those 2 forward torpedo launchers, the defiant style ones have become pulse phaser cannons instead of torpedo launchers.
(http://i.imgur.com/F66eEoe.png)
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More Progress, Secondary Hull is complete, again a MASSIVE thank you to Wiley for helping me fix up the secondary hull, esepecially around the shuttle bay area, your sir are a god send!
(http://i.imgur.com/TixHtNl.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/JYzV9Ii.png)
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Been a while since I posted anything to this thread, College has had me really busy, but rest assured that the Valhalla is not dead.
Changes Made:
-Shortened the secondary hull back to its original length (it looks weird at some angles without this change)
-Added the basic Pylons (No nacelles yet though)
-Images:
(http://i.imgur.com/k1vdyxT.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/TddWzVN.png)
I hope you all like this update, I aim to have the model finished pretty soon, as I have another use for it aside from BC planned.
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I really like the shape of primary hull (dunno if it still qualifies for saucer, more like arrowhead :P) keep it up mate ;)
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Thanks Bones! I still count it as a saucer mainly by section names, so I can plan what needs to go where, even though it does not conform to a shape that qualifies as a saucer.
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I've never been a fan of ships having the bridge module so far back on the saucer. I've always felt that they should be centered. Like what you have going, though.
Selecting your whole mesh and recalculating should get rid of that black squiggly line.
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yeah I think Ill do that at the end once everything is build and symmetry'd...
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I like the inlets on the sides of the saucer section. One thing I'd say is to smooth the leading edges of the nacelle pylons separately from the ventral on dorsal faces unless you're going to add more segments. It will actually look smoother.
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Thanks for the advice DJ, glad your liking her! I'm hopefully going to be on Skype with Wiley later on, so Ill ask him on the best way to sort that out.
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It's been a while, but College kinda stepped up on the workload, anyway here's a new update, Big thanks to Wiley for all the help hes given me on the nacelles (a.k.a sending me a half finished nacelle design we did from before I actually knew how to model and letting me finish it off.)
(http://i.imgur.com/J4Lbv0D.png)
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Really good job there well Don you ate mastering ship modelling it seems...I hope I get as good
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My God, Its full of Win. It's like an STO era nova class.
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Emphasis on the word "Like", I intend her to be around double the size of a Nova.
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Looking awesome.
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i like it!
i has a Nova-ish Class feel to it, and my fav ship is the USS Rhode Island (my home state in the US lol) - looking forward to watching this unfold :)
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Well she ain't small anymore! Coming in at a total deck count of 24, here is the weaponized Valhalla! With a indescribably large amount of thanks once again to WileyCoyote for helping me fix her up, smooth her and get her ship shape. Cheers Wiley! :D
Images ( :eek pretty...) :
(http://i.imgur.com/4DORHlH.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/fGym5CN.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/4sgttG9.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/pOiGmHT.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/yCb8ksN.png)
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Started to map the ship after having a 3 hour long argument with 3DS Max on whether or not it actually wanted to start working:
(http://i.imgur.com/Jb9CwQ8.jpg)
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There's a lot to like about this one. It's a solid design. The only thing I'd recommend changing, if it isn't too late, is the angle of the cutout for the deflector. On the side view, it looks rather sharp and doesn't flow with the rest of the ship. Something more akin to Eaves' original Ent-E concept sketches may work better there.
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To be honest, I did try that out, and although it gave the ship a little bit of a better flow to it, it felt wrong, especially considering the size of the deflector and how that area is constructed. At this point I really just want her out of the modeling and texturing phase, but I will keep that revision in mind if I decide to do a refit version of the design.
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I think it flows rather nicely, like a Prometheus Intrepid lovechild
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More like a replacement for Nova. I've got to say she looks ace ! very clean design, can't wait to see what will you come up with texturing her ;) keep up good work :)
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guys, she isn't a replacement for the nova, as I stated earlier, shes got 24 decks and is roughly the size of a sovereign... :roll
But I'm glad you guys like her, did anyone happen to notice rather different phaser strip placements for the aft-ventral quarter?
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If she is that big, might want to scale down those Defiant style torpedo launchers.. just a suggestion :)
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they're not torpedo launchers, they're pulse phasers and I'm not doing any more modification to the model now that Iv'e started to UVMap it.
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I'm just glad you haven't killed it by adding one of those Voyager style secondary deflectors on the saucer.
Haven't noticed the phasers.
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Hey, secondary deflectors are cool.
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Oh, I remember it started as something smaller :P I missed the deck count info
Pulse phasers looks right to me, also I don't like saucer deflectors, so it's good you didn't put it there ;)
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Well the UVMapping of the ship is complete, will post a new render when I have started to do the texturing.
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I just realised I never posted Texture Progress Renders here, welp, Image dump incoming!
(https://i.imgur.com/D3mYuUB.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/wQzR1gp.png)
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Lookin good man!
Loving the look of her!
took ya long enough. I mean, the last post was in march, but, y'know.
And also no windows!? I know ya don't like windows but come on XD
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Had to re-render out my registry progress hooray for returning smoothing errors I though id fixed!
anyway, heres the render, ill have more when I get off my butt and finish these damn textures off:
(https://i.imgur.com/KZlqCtg.png)
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windows :icon_lol: :funny
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i like where this ship is going!
it is somewhat resembling ChiefBrex's Poseidon Class, which was always one of my fav ships...
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Yeah I do like the look of this
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whats the size of this ship?
is it smaller in size like a Nova Class?
or larger like the Prometheus Class or Intrepid Class? or perhaps larger like the Sovereign Class?
is it designed with powerful defense weapons? or average?
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awesome ship dude :Metal: really like your design.
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going by my deck heights shes about Prometheus size. She has about average weapons, (phasers, photons & quantums) but she also has defiant styled pulse phasers in the front, hence the defiant inspired cut in panels on the front of the saucer. And yeah I remember seeing stuff for Brex's Poseidon Class, cant be sure if I used it for any inspiration on this or not though as its been a few YEARS since I originally conceptualised this one.
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Cookie on the textures. Very realistic plating, custom made for the ship?
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yeah, the plating is custom for the ship, though it wasn't me who initially made it, I had help from Wiley.
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Like it
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So, it's been a while, However, I am pleased to announce I have FINALLY and with help gotten her textured and in game, she now uses a single 2048x2048 texture for the entire ship.
I am also pleased to announce the Beta Test Release of the ship here!
I am aware of a couple of issues, like Phasers firing through the hull, but she seems to work and be a spry ship!
Download the Beta here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/yckv6z8cj1j6y6d/USSValhalla_Beta.7z/file
Here are some images of her in game:
(https://i.imgur.com/CE7Xer0.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/mSkKhxP.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/IuuVC40.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/civZvtT.png)
There are Credits in the README, but, I would like to personally thank King Class Scout, WileyCoyote and the rest of the community here for the help and support in getting her in game in a "finished" state!
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Well done :thumbsup:
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THX!!!! :Metal:
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Ok so, Beta update time. To avoid a conflict with another ship that goes by Valhalla, all the scripts have been renamed to "USSValhalla" and appropriate script changes made, still working out the HP fix for the beam arrays firing through the ship, but I have also fixed the one beefy red array coming from the saucer.
Please be sure to delete the old Valhalla.py and Valhalla.pyc scripts from your install before trying this beta update.
Locations of old scripts are as follows
<BC Install Root>\scripts\custom\ships
<BC Install Root>\scripts\ships
<BC Install Root>\scripts\ships\Hardpoints
Download the Updated Beta 3 Mod here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/k1j9fmxavrws5jk/USSValhalla_Beta_3.7z/file
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OK Folks! Beta update time!
We are now on Beta 4, Elijah did an amazing job fixing the HP and scripts and optimising the mesh!
Just drag the data and scripts folder to your BC install as usual, should overwrite all the Beta 3 Files and the Readme has an updated manifest of the files this uses.
Grab Beta 4 here! https://www.mediafire.com/file/kcepxbootw2p8zm/USSValhalla_Beta_4.7z/file
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Great Looking Ship. I just downloaded it and will look into it after work. But, you should not give up on that original idea though. That Ambassador variant was a great idea. Should do both.
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Great Looking Ship. I just downloaded it and will look into it after work. But, you should not give up on that original idea though. That Ambassador variant was a great idea. Should do both.
I would finish off that ambassador variant, however, I lost a lot of my old model work a few years ago when my windows install of the time went nuclear on me.
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Well. Great ship, and I think something went wrong in the install. I played the ship in my game and the glows aren't on. I see the glows like deflector and impulse when we're shooting at each other, but not alone. Looks blacked out.
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that seems like an issue with your installe or graphics settings in game, might be worth double checking them, enabling enhanced glows usually helps. Haven't really had that issue be a thing with any other beta testers or my own install, but ill take a look in case.
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OK Folks! Beta update time!
We are now on Beta 4, Elijah did an amazing job fixing the HP and scripts and optimising the mesh!
Just drag the data and scripts folder to your BC install as usual, should overwrite all the Beta 3 Files and the Readme has an updated manifest of the files this uses.
Grab Beta 4 here! https://www.mediafire.com/file/kcepxbootw2p8zm/USSValhalla_Beta_4.7z/file
:yay: :yay: :yay:
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Man, that is a real beauty. Great work.
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Thanks, I appreciate it! Stil got some tweaks to make (most likely removing the cloak) and then I should be able to fully release her.
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Heads up people, I'm still undecided on weather or not to keep the Valhalla's Cloaking capabilities, so I have put a poll up, feel free to vote!
Ill lock voting in a few days, this is basically the final script change I need to make before she can be released (I have one texture addition I wanna do but thats gonna take me a little bit)
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Voted to Keep. However, if we wanna get technical about it...
If this ship is commissioned prior to the fall of the Romulan Empire (in 2385), the Treaty of Algeron would still apply. No Cloaking Devices on Federation ships other than with special dispensation from the Romulans (such as on the USS Defiant).
So if you're backstory for the ship is commissioned post-2385, cloak away! The Treaty would no longer be valid :P
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well, she is supposed to be a late domion war/ post dominion war ship, the idea was for her to be the federations "crap hit the fan so lets get rough" ship but, im still a tad bit ambiguous on the details myself right now.
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Create a narrative that suggests the Romulans withdrew from the Treaty of Algeron after the Dominion War. There are many reasons it might do this...I have a reason that I wrote into the lore for Star Trek Infinity that I can share if you wish.
We are of course precient to the fact that the Romulan homeworld is destroyed later in the timeline, so there is that as well.
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Yeah, thats what ive been trying to do, ultimately, the results of the poll once I close it, will help me flesh that area of back story out and give her a more detailed description.
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I'm generally not a fan of cloaking devices on fed ships.
But honestly, do whatever feels right to you!
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Well, its been a few days and the concensus overall, accoding to the poll is to scrap the cloak, so, it will be removed for the final release. now I just gonna make my texture change I've been toying with and I SHOULD be able to release her properly!
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She has been released! http://www.bc-central.net/forums/index.php/topic,10786.0.html