Bridge Commander Central
BC Forums => BC Modding => Topic started by: Flux Capacitor on May 08, 2008, 11:51:23 PM
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I've been trying to come up with a more "realistic" damage texture for BC. I don't believe that in a real space battle, that fire would be visible from a hull breach. The vacuum of space would instantly extinguish any flame, as fire feeds off of oxygen. Several times in Trek we have seen damage to a ships hull after it has been inflicted and it has usually been blackened, scorched hull. Here's a preview of my textures. I'm still working on an animation, which will probably be subtle sparks and small interior explosions.
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Looks nice. Some very small sparking could work also. We are definitely in need for some different damage textures.
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Great start. I agree with you that the damage should look black and scorched, not on fire. I think right now the textures are a little blurry and not detailed enough, but keep at it because I sure like where this is going.
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I agree, I need to add some more layers of detailing. I'm also trying to work out the best way to add some sparks and electrical bursts, trying to keep it subtle. I think some small white flashes here and there might do it.
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Hey, neat stuff you've got here. All suggestions I can think of have already been made, so I'll just say good luck, and I look forward to seeing your progress. :)
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Thanks guys, this is my first mod (and honestly not much of one, compared to the guys who make entire ships) but I'm pretty happy with it so far. Here's a quick shot I took while blasting up the poor Century, and also I'll post a video I made showing it in action in a few mins once it uploads to the Tube.
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looking good. my poor ship tho. :(
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Looks good
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looking good. my poor ship tho. :(
Hah, I know...sorry. You're really not going to like this video then...
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Nice damage textures, and goodbye century class ship it was sacurficed for a good couse.
I dont think DJ Curtis well be happy though.
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"Boom", as they say.
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Does anyone know if making the damage texture files a higher resolution would work, or does the game require they be a certain file size?
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The file size should probably be limited, lest you lag lower-end machines... not sure I've ever seen a texture set higher than 2048x""... But I dunno about damage textures?
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Hey, I just tried that out. Turns out that you can, just you need to keep the aspect ration the same (ie 256x256 becomes 512x512. They need to be the same for X and Y.
So, it's possible, but as Aeries said, you need to keep in mind the people you're designing it for. I'd suggest 512x512 (already 4 times bigger than usual NFX2 ones, yet not too big)
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Well I could always release Low, Medium and High res versions so people with different classes of hardware could still get good performance. I was only thinking of doubling the size to have more flexibility with the sparking and detail. I'm at school right now but I'll give it a try when I get home later.
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By George, I think I've got it!
I experimented with a 256x256 texture rather than the stock 128 and I like the results, it makes the textures look much less uniform which is vital for a realistic damage texture.
I grabbed some texture from a screen grab of the Enterprise E and Scimitar smashed together (http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/nemesis/ch20/nemesis601.jpg) and overlayed them, then tweaked brightness and contrast. I then made some animation frames with some very subtle flares of fire. I am going to add some more, as I think theyre too subtle but I'm going to be careful not to over do it. Let me know what you all think!
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DUDE! EXCELLENT! :D Cookie!
Edit: You should TOTALLY put the first pic up for POTD!!
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Haha well I just might, there's some lovely specular-y goodness going on there. I'm sure it will get the "not much going on" votes though, so I might take another one with my second try at the animation cycle with an attacking fleet in the shot.
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One more, might be another POTD contender. BTW I think I have the animation perfected so if anyone would like to beta test these I can email a .zip of the files.
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Check your PMs. :wink:
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This might not do it justice since on YouTube the video gets to compressed but here's a test I did, blowing up yet another Nebula class :)
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Extremely good work. Well done, dude. very well done.
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Thank you very much! :)
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(come to think of it, I can't wait to try these damage textures on, say... my new Mithra... :P that ought to make for some interesting POTDs.
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Well I'm having them tested right now and pending the results, I may have this posted to BC Files soon...although I may need to find a tutorial on how to upload to BC Files, since this is my first mod.
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Talk to Lint for info on that. :)
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http://bridgecommander.filefront.com/upload/
Might want to take a quick peek there if you haven't already :)
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Tested, and I love them. These will make for some excellent POTDs.
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Thanks very much, sir! One of my teaser images made it up on BCFiles.com as the POTD, and its getting nothing but positive reviews there.
I do have to ask what this poster was talking about though:
"I must point out that damage textures depend a lot on how the model is scripted in the game, so to the author, I suggest packing a set of new scripts for the ships in the release.
you will avoid comments like "damage won't show up" when it's out"
I didn't know of any scripts that come along with the damage textures, I figured these would just be a straight through replacement. Anyone have any idea what they meant?
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Damage textures not showing often have to do with the model being used, it's nothing you can change. Your textures are amazing and, unless you have any changes to make, I believe they are ready for release.
I may be completely wrong. If I am, be nice, I thought I read this somewhere, but after seeing who posted that, I'm not so sure.
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Well that's exactly what I thought, I figured any problems with the textures showing up would lie with the model itself, as all these are are textures, I'm not changing anything else except what those textures look like.
I'll get started on a Read Me and then get these puppies uploaded :)
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Awesome, I expect to see you in the top downloads tomorrow.
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Looks nice. Some very small sparking could work also. We are definitely in need for some different damage textures.
agreed. I think it will look great once it is finished. I've been waiting for some nice damage textures to come along...I think this might satisfy my need :P
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Well I'd have to ask kirk2164 but I think you'll be happy with the subtle sparking animation. :)
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I do have to ask what this poster was talking about though:
"I must point out that damage textures depend a lot on how the model is scripted in the game, so to the author, I suggest packing a set of new scripts for the ships in the release.
you will avoid comments like "damage won't show up" when it's out"
I didn't know of any scripts that come along with the damage textures, I figured these would just be a straight through replacement. Anyone have any idea what they meant?
I'm not absolutely sure but the damage can be changed for every ship individually by changing something in the ship files (in scripts/ships/).
Search for a line like this:
pLODModel.AddLOD(pStats["FilenameHigh"], 10, 120.0, 15.0, 15.0, 400, 900, "_glow", None, None)
You can change the following things: PickLeafSize, Surface Damage Res, Internal Damage Res, Burn Value, Hole Value
pLODModel.AddLOD(pStats["FilenameHigh"], "PickLeafSize", 120.0, "Surface Damage Res", "Internal Damage Res", "Burn Value", "Hole Value", "_glow", None, None)
But it's a very time-consuming work to experiment with these things (at least it was for me)...
I hope I explained it correctly, it's a long time ago I tried it myself....
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Watching that last vid you posted gave me the eeby jeebies. It looks WONDERFUL!
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Well I'd have to ask kirk2164 but I think you'll be happy with the subtle sparking animation. :)
You don't have to consult me with every change you want to make. If you want to add some sparks, go for it, but make them subtle. I think this is a really good damage texture because it is subtle and doesn't jump out and say, "Hey Look! I'm on FIRE!"
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I think this is a really good damage texture because it is subtle and doesn't jump out and say, "Hey Look! I'm on FIRE!"
The Aeries is in Agreement with the Kirk. Textures are darn near... perfection. It will be assimilated... :assimilate
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hey flux, i just downloaded your textures and all i can say is "thank you." youve made my day. the first thing i did was re-enact "Year of Hell" with the CGI voyager. now that the ship isnt burning, it looks like it has been damaged for several days. i love these textures! thanks again.
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I'm very pleased that this is going over so well, and that I could bring something new to this game. Oh, and kirk2164 I simply meant that up until now you were the only member to have seen the textures in action and who had seen the sparking animations I used. I' glad you found them sufficiently subtle. The mod is up for download now, BTW!
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Hmm, if only there were a way to combine the fiery mod with the scorch mod. You know, when the weapons fire impacts, the hull is that fiery molten for a few seconds, then it goes to the dark scorch marks.
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The only problem with that is that it would then go back to molten when the texture cycle repeats.
Congrats Flux, I was right. You're number one on the top downloads list. Cookie for you.