SEV shipset instructions?
 

The SEV release date is almost upon us, and this brings back memories from the days just before the release of it's predecessor SEIV.

Back then, several months before the release of SEIV, malfador posted a website with detailed info on how to build seIV shipsets,It can still be found at http://www.malfador.com/se4race.html

I was wondering wether it would be possible to post similar instructions for SEV shipsets, I already found some info about the filetypes and how to model ships ( http://www.spaceempires.net/home/ftopict-641.html ) what I'm looking for is an overview of all the shiptypes that a shipset needs to have, and info on other pictures like the raceportrait (what size is it, and what filetype, etc)
Also information about the amount of polygons recommended for each shiptype would be usefull (I guess fighters should have far les than normal ships, or bases)

With seIV the early release of shipset building instructions really paid of, a couple of shipsets were completed as soon as the game was available (the first versions of the taera, united flora and pyrochette among others if I recall correctly) from a marketing point of view it's a good thing to have new content come out as soon as possible. And more importantly it would give us something to pass the time with untill the game is out http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif.

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

If you make your models work in starfury, you'll be most of the way there...

And I'm not a modeller, but if you look at the screenshots already posted, that should give you an idea of the kind of scale you'll be looking at.

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

I emailed Aaron about this very question a few days ago, remembering a news post on SEnet saying the shipset specs should be released in July, and he said he'd have them out sometime this coming week! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

I guess the BIG question is will the DoGA files work in the new system and will they be able to be converted if not? A lot of the people on this site use DoGA and it would be a shame to loose all the current models out there that are already done and would be ready for use in SEV.

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

Doga can export to directX format (.x) but the models tend to be high in terms of polygons, which usually requires that they be optimized in another program prior to being important into SE5.

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

Ah, good news.

Also after some headbanging and frustration I finally got a working shipmodel into the starfury demo. (I thought I had everything set up the way I should, but no ship showed up when I started starfury, After trying everything possible I found out that the ship was scaled too small by a factor of thousand or more and had been on screen all the time as a tiny pixel.. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif.)

Anyhow here is a screenshot, 212 polygons, mainly an experiment in uvmapping and texturing, modelled in blender, texture made with The Gimp.
http://img400.imageshack.us/img400/3...ightsv2.th.jpg

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

Nice ship! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
What kind of ship is it anyway?

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

I don't know yet http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif, suggestions?

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

The pixel that roared!!! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

Looks like some sort of transport...

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

Seconded.

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

It looks rather similar to the ship from 'Firefly' so yes, a transport. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

Small transport.

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif I could claim it's a shipset for a race of intelligent bacteria, that would explain the size difference..

Thanks for the comments, I'll think I'll make the ship a transport or carrier.

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

Ah! Yes, bacteria with very LARGE weapons. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/eek.gif

It make my armor creek...

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

Hmm. No news yet.
Or maybe there is: I visited the good old universal shipyards earlier today and found this amazing shipset preview by John Beech:
http://mkv25.net/USy/se5.php
Not only is this a truely amazing shipset, it also gives some clues to relative sizes between ships and the different models that a shipset needs

We'll have to take into account that this was posted somewhere in 2005, and since SeV has been in development for quite some time since it's probably outdated and likely inaccurate and incomplete. But John Beech is on the development team if I recall corectly, and he comments that it's the "full sitting fleet of models". Anyhow it's probably the best information we have, if we can guess what type of ship each model represents..
The set has less ships than standard SEIV shipsets, but if i recall correctly shipsets were going to be smaller for SEV.

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

Tylmai ship set

Here's another link you may want to look at.

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

Great link Xrati. Very fun to look at.

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

The models you'll need for stock:

Ships:
Frigate - Destroyer - Light Cruiser - Cruiser - Battleship - Dreadnought - Baseship* - Carrier**

Colony Ship - Freighter**

Bases:
Space Station - Starbase

Units:
Fighter** - Troop** - Satellite** - Weapons Platfrom** - Mine** - Drone**

* - Uses starbase image if baseship image not available
** - Come in S/M/L sizes, but vehicle is scaled if specific S/M/L not available

You'll need several colour portraits (small, large) and a top-down b&w image for the slot layouts. You'll also need to make slot layouts for your ships as well, like in Star Fury. Lastly, you need flag/shield race images, race and population portraits, and some mini ship icons for lists etc. I can't recall all the dimensions off-hand, sorry. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

I should also mentioned they are specific Organic or Crystalline versions for all the ships/vehicles listed below. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/stupid.gif

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

Hey, he cut the Battlecruisers! Blah. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif Hopefully the slot adding process is easier than in Starfury, or SJ gets a new version of the Slotmodder out.

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

Thanks Kwok! I guess we can at least start making some 3D models and do the renders later once we find out what's needed http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif
BTW, could you tell us what kind of texturing SE5 supports? I know Starfury only let you have plain old diffuse textures, but will SE5 let you use bumpmaps, emissive (glow) maps, HLSL (High Level Shader Language, used for procedural textures), or whatnot? Since it's upgraded from DirectX 7 to DirectX 8, I'm kinda hoping there might be support for some of those http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif
Will any race use both normal ships and organic or crystalline ships, or are they more like the "paradigms" in Adamant where each race uses only one?
I'm kinda curious, too, if we do have to make the slot layouts, how are they balanced so you can't "uber up" your shipset by giving it a lot of extra slots of a particular type? Limits such as "destroyers have at most 4 armor slots"? Or was that issue never resolved? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

In terms of slots though, the stock races already come with more armor slots than are practial to fill. Also keep in mind there are only inner, outer, and armor slots - no dedicated weapon slots.

I don't think anyone has tried any advanced texturing methods. You can e-mail MM and ask though.

Now to clean up all those beans I spilled. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

Thanks kwok! That's very usefull information.

I'm going to worry about the rendered images and slot placement later, but it would be nice to know the dimensions of the race portrait, I have an unpleasant feeling that it's going to be near impossible to come up with something as good as the stock ones, but if I'm going to try I'd better start early http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

The main portrait I believe is 512x512. The stock races were hand-painted if you're looking to match the style. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

How about an 'Image and 3D Model mod'?

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

There's been talk of an Image Pack for SE:V, with the exception that the SE:V pack wouldn't use copyright images - so that it could be included with future SE:V releases etc.

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

I don't think any of the component images and such are 3D, are they? So really its just the ships, planets, asteroids to worry about on that end.

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

Facilities are 3D too, or so it appears...

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

Facilities are the only other items that use actual models. Planets and asteroids etc. are just textures on generic models.

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

Drat, no square Bizarro Worlds http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

Well, that's how it worked in Starfury, too..but there were ways around that.

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

You could always make planets that use different shapes... it's just a matter of adding a cubed .X file.

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

Well thats going to limit some the feel/look of some mods. Even though AT's Doga Star Trek ships are made from scratch, Paramount, would still consider it some form of intellectial property or something...if it looks like a duck, and quaks like a duck...

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

Shipsets are not part of the imagemod...

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

I just heard back from Aaron about bumpmaps, emissive maps, and HLSL. He said that the render engine is much the same as Starfury and doesn't support many of those advanced features, but that they could be added in a patch!

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

Yes, True...but what if I want a picture of a photon torpedo, or a transporter pad, or some other star trek device, weapon or what not?

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

That wouldn't be a problem if it was an original image. I was referring to images lifted from other games etc.

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

Could someone (maybe Aaron of David Gervais) post a small list of what is possible with the engine of SE V?
I mean stuff like particles (how many emitters) are possible, hypervoxels, bumpmaps, what kind of lights are possible, if moveable sections are possible, etc.
And how do I control the point(s) where weapons shoot from on a model?

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

Probably the same way as in Starfury- you'll specify X/Y/Z points in text files at the shots will appear there.

Actually, grab the Starfury demo. It'll give you a good idea of what SEV will support and will let you test your models to boot.

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

Yeah, that's a good idea.
I hope the size of the models is the same would be a pain in the rear to resize all your models.
But what about rotating/moveable sections?
Thanks for the reply Phoenix-D.

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

I know planets and such rotate in game, but I'm not sure if that's possible to do with ships.

There's scaling options available. You can also look at some of the models from Star Fury in your editor to match model scale etc.

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

Check at Malfador > SEV > Empire Styles for more information on ship styles.

EDIT: From www.malfador.com

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

What's with the multiple lines of red ** at the start of that page?

EDIT: and make sure you scroll all the way down- it has example AI data files, and the files used to define the ships in-game.

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

That's a neat page.

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

Very interesting indeed.
At the first look however I am a little bit scared that creating new races or modifying races may be much more complicated than in SE IV. It reminds me of Starfury where you need a large manual just to understand what the different lines in the campaign/empire files mean.

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

It will be more difficult than SE:IV to make new races, mainly because of the items connected with the ship models. Otherwise, most of the AI files are straightforward and like their SE:IV cousins.

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

I don't care much for the "one page" format where all the images are on one big bmp/jpg file and the pics are identified by the x,y coordinates. I've tried those in the past as in 'War Engine' and it just confusing when your working in the middle of the set on a blank image. You have to set rulers and guidelines up for all your images and remember what coordinate has what pic in it. It's much easier to just have one pic for one file. OR have a program that will edit the pic files on the larger one eliminating the need to track locations.

The cruiser looks like a varient of the 'battlestar' minus the fighter bays.

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

I usual make a standalone image of the correct size and then paste into the final image. Having a template file with an appropriate grid is not a bad idea either.

Re: SEV shipset instructions?
 

What is a .CSF file and what do you need to create/convert one??