I've been helping someone port over Star Trek models that happen to be owned by activision (and thus I do not forsee a problem with copyright as far as blizzard is concerned) into starcraft 2.
Now the models are in the star trek game as a .mod file (special filetype for the star trek game). Given that this game came out back when directx 8.1 was fairly new that meant hunting down a copy of 3d studio max 5 (the last version that supported the .mod import/export plugins) and importing them. So far everything looks fine.
I then saved it as a .max file and opened it in 3d studio max 9. still looking good, all the textures which are in a .bmp format (which i plan to convert to .dds before import) are still applied to the model and look great in the 3d viewer.
Just one issue, when I open the materials tab I dont see any assigned materals of any kind - yet the textures are applied to the model right in front of me. Now I need to replace the textures that are in the .bmp format with the exact same ones that are in .dds format so it will all fit into starcraft 2 nicely (these .bmp textures are 256 by 256 pixels and in .dds will fit easily - especially now that the max map size is 20 mb).
I am still rather new to 3d studio max and I need help to find a way to get the textures I am seeing applied to the model in the 3d viewer into actual materials so I can export it as a .m3 file. I would *really* rather not have to pull off new uvwraps and make them all fit again if at all possible. Somehow these textures are being applied correctly in 3d studio max even without materials.
After that its a matter of invisible turrets with appropriate weapons and I can release these star trek ships as a dependency so everyone can make star trek maps with them.
Can anyone help me figure out how to get these materials assigned so I can port these models into starcraft 2?
Thanks!
A little FYI: The game I'm getting these from is called Star Trek: Star Fleet Command 3. The maker of this game was a company called Taldren. Taldren folded quite a ways back and since activison was the publisher, they if anyone are the owners of these models. Because Blizzard is owned by activison I do not forsee an issue with using these models.
FockeWulf. Have you thought about 3rd party trek models?? Theres a shed load available at Armada Fleet Command. I'm not sure on the poly counts of SC2 assets as so far the most I've gotten out of the game is a bare few hours of game play. Mind you. If you want some to "experiment" with then give me a shout. I've built quite a few trek models myself for (primarily) Star Trek Armada 1+2 and Star Wars Empire At War (and its expansion) and have had quite a few of them converted to other games (including SFC3).
I know about the StarTrek models for those various games. Used more than a few myself.
The chief reason I'm avoiding this for now is because A: Need to start small and B: A lot of those models are made by 3rd party people who have asked they be contacted about their model being used in another game. We will probably get there but making units out of 4 races all the way from frigates to battleships will take some time.
If you have models that we could use (texture resolution of 256x256 or 512x512 is best.. we use .dds to reduce texture size so that means it has to be a multiple of 4) we would most certainly LOVE them.
Even better if you would like to join the project, since you seem to have more of an idea of what your doing than we do (we are learned the 3d studio max just to do this shit) we would more than welcome you helping or even joining the project :)
Like my WW2 Diplo map and its full amphibious system including realistic naval warships I am not adverse to consolidatating it and releasing to others as a dependency. So we can have a WW2 Dependency (so map makers who want to make maps but not dig into it too much or are new to it can simply download the dependency from bnet and use the units in there) and a Star Trek Dependency :)
We are debating between making an armada style game that is centereed around your main starbase (like wc3 and the castle) with simple resource harvesting etc or making an AOS, since our weapon attachement points are based off realistic 2d firing arcs.
Well whilst I can model I've no idea where to begin modding SC2 but anything I have in my personal archive your more than welcome to use. PM your email addy and I'll send you a complete list of all my models. Every single one comes with full credit to anyone else involved and I can personally vouch for alot of modellers listed as many are no longer with the Armada community. As for other trek based game community (SFC3, BC and ST Legacy) I have some good ties and am fairly well known within the communities. Almost all my own meshes use 256*256 or 512*512 but there are a few that use larger ones (easy to reduce the size though) and are in TGA format so conversion isn't a problem. Poly counts are anywhere between a few hundred polys to about 10,000 but the higher poly count models tend to be used for rendering purposes only.
This is the only image I have of my currently in progress Armada 1 based mod. Whilst the Tactical cube textures aren't mine (I've tried on many occasions to create texture files I've never got it right) the mesh is and is one of my best (As far as I'm concerned)
Howdy all,
I've been helping someone port over Star Trek models that happen to be owned by activision (and thus I do not forsee a problem with copyright as far as blizzard is concerned) into starcraft 2.
Now the models are in the star trek game as a .mod file (special filetype for the star trek game). Given that this game came out back when directx 8.1 was fairly new that meant hunting down a copy of 3d studio max 5 (the last version that supported the .mod import/export plugins) and importing them. So far everything looks fine.
I then saved it as a .max file and opened it in 3d studio max 9. still looking good, all the textures which are in a .bmp format (which i plan to convert to .dds before import) are still applied to the model and look great in the 3d viewer.
Just one issue, when I open the materials tab I dont see any assigned materals of any kind - yet the textures are applied to the model right in front of me. Now I need to replace the textures that are in the .bmp format with the exact same ones that are in .dds format so it will all fit into starcraft 2 nicely (these .bmp textures are 256 by 256 pixels and in .dds will fit easily - especially now that the max map size is 20 mb).
I am still rather new to 3d studio max and I need help to find a way to get the textures I am seeing applied to the model in the 3d viewer into actual materials so I can export it as a .m3 file. I would *really* rather not have to pull off new uvwraps and make them all fit again if at all possible. Somehow these textures are being applied correctly in 3d studio max even without materials.
After that its a matter of invisible turrets with appropriate weapons and I can release these star trek ships as a dependency so everyone can make star trek maps with them.
Can anyone help me figure out how to get these materials assigned so I can port these models into starcraft 2?
Thanks!
A little FYI: The game I'm getting these from is called Star Trek: Star Fleet Command 3. The maker of this game was a company called Taldren. Taldren folded quite a ways back and since activison was the publisher, they if anyone are the owners of these models. Because Blizzard is owned by activison I do not forsee an issue with using these models.
@FockeWulf: Go
Nvm figured it out... We're gonna have actualy star trek ships in SC2!!
FockeWulf. Have you thought about 3rd party trek models?? Theres a shed load available at Armada Fleet Command. I'm not sure on the poly counts of SC2 assets as so far the most I've gotten out of the game is a bare few hours of game play. Mind you. If you want some to "experiment" with then give me a shout. I've built quite a few trek models myself for (primarily) Star Trek Armada 1+2 and Star Wars Empire At War (and its expansion) and have had quite a few of them converted to other games (including SFC3).
I know about the StarTrek models for those various games. Used more than a few myself.
The chief reason I'm avoiding this for now is because A: Need to start small and B: A lot of those models are made by 3rd party people who have asked they be contacted about their model being used in another game. We will probably get there but making units out of 4 races all the way from frigates to battleships will take some time.
If you have models that we could use (texture resolution of 256x256 or 512x512 is best.. we use .dds to reduce texture size so that means it has to be a multiple of 4) we would most certainly LOVE them.
Even better if you would like to join the project, since you seem to have more of an idea of what your doing than we do (we are learned the 3d studio max just to do this shit) we would more than welcome you helping or even joining the project :)
Like my WW2 Diplo map and its full amphibious system including realistic naval warships I am not adverse to consolidatating it and releasing to others as a dependency. So we can have a WW2 Dependency (so map makers who want to make maps but not dig into it too much or are new to it can simply download the dependency from bnet and use the units in there) and a Star Trek Dependency :)
We are debating between making an armada style game that is centereed around your main starbase (like wc3 and the castle) with simple resource harvesting etc or making an AOS, since our weapon attachement points are based off realistic 2d firing arcs.
Well whilst I can model I've no idea where to begin modding SC2 but anything I have in my personal archive your more than welcome to use. PM your email addy and I'll send you a complete list of all my models. Every single one comes with full credit to anyone else involved and I can personally vouch for alot of modellers listed as many are no longer with the Armada community. As for other trek based game community (SFC3, BC and ST Legacy) I have some good ties and am fairly well known within the communities. Almost all my own meshes use 256*256 or 512*512 but there are a few that use larger ones (easy to reduce the size though) and are in TGA format so conversion isn't a problem. Poly counts are anywhere between a few hundred polys to about 10,000 but the higher poly count models tend to be used for rendering purposes only.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y279/major58/Armada1mod/testshot.jpg
This is the only image I have of my currently in progress Armada 1 based mod. Whilst the Tactical cube textures aren't mine (I've tried on many occasions to create texture files I've never got it right) the mesh is and is one of my best (As far as I'm concerned)
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y279/major58/atlantis_gate1.jpg
Another example above shows that I don't just stick to trek. Mind you. I wouldnt consider myself to be fantastic at modelling but I'll try anything.