Prbl. with Textures / white ship

    Hi


    i'm working on my first ship.


    I allreday got it into the game, but it doesnt show any textures :(
    (white ship)


    I'm using Drizzt4's tut, which says something about fliping the texture, but i dont get what he means:



    -->

    I dont think he mmeant this, did he?^^


    please, need help!

    my Shiparch.ini : (I replaces li_elite )


    [Ship]
    ids_name = 237033
    ids_info = 66567
    ids_info1 = 66568
    ids_info2 = 66608
    ids_info3 = 66569
    ship_class = 1
    nickname = li_elite
    msg_id_prefix = gcs_refer_shiparch_Libhf
    mission_property = can_use_berths
    LODranges = 0, 75, 150, 1300
    type = FIGHTER
    DA_archetype = ships\liberty\fighter.cmp
    material_library = ships\liberty\fighter.mat
    material_library = fx\envmapbasic.mat
    material_library = ships\liberty\li_playerships.mat
    envmap_material = envmapbasic
    cockpit = cockpits\liberty\l_elite.ini
    ...


    (i called my ship "fighter" )


    the mat-file should be ok, becouse when i did it wrong, the ship was transparent^^ (if he cant find the .mat file)


    my problem is to "flip the texture vertical"
    what is ment in the Tutorial?


    Quote

    "Remember that the textures you import to the .mat have to be flipped vertically to work in freelancer otherwise you get a white ship."


    how can i flip it?

    not sure but it looks like you have the textures flipped horizontally.... needs to be flipped top to bottom .... not from side to side - based on the pics you have posted.... ( i just create a folder, in the folder your textures are in, named " for export" so i dont get them confused in case the exporter asks to locate the files. I then flip all the textures vertically as i place them in the texture folder - so that i actually have them twice - once for milkshape, once for the exporter..... helps me keep track......)


    also : are your textures square like in the tutorial?? and uncompressed ( its usually a check box when you save your texture for the first time - if you are making them that is....) and i usually use 24 bit textures seem to work well.... oh and i use tga files...i seem to have less probs - though they are bigger.....


    good luck mate - making ships is enjoyable isn't it??? :D

    well, I'm no expert - I'm rather new to modding but i Have sucessfully made several ships that work very well in game. I have had crashes in the first stages of learning ( and prob will again... :lol: ) My crashes were caused by the ini entries i made - when i found my errors I couldn't see my ship...... empty landing block.... I then went back and remade my ship with no textures ( just to see it ) and when it was there - I fiddled with the textures until It worked. My main problem with textures was that i didn't realize that Paint.net ( an awesome free prog with many, many free plugins throughout their forum board ) has a default setting to compress tga's. When i noticed the lil check box - I understood what the tut was saying - unchecked the box and voila there was my ugly lil ship..... ( sniff, sniff all teary eyed and high-fiving myself :lol: ) and i didn't mess with a sur.... I just wanted to get the basics down first... I just wish i was better at making textures ( I have all the artistic ability of your average chimpanzee - well i suppose im not giving enuff credit to chimpanzees )

    and

    very simple but let me know i was on the right track...... ( very simple on purpose )
    It's a prototype for a Troop Transport for a new faction called The Ja - It will be the Ja Lancers' XT Troop Transport

    as i said - im no expert - but that could be your prob. the tuts i read said to use a smaller file. I used 256x256 for the ship above. make sure your texture is flipped vertically when exporting your ship - that also could cause your prob. ( make or pick your file for milkshape - then immediately go back and flip the texture for export...). should do it. and you might check your video options when you play - if its too low the ships will turn white...... i know thats kinda basic but its sometimes the small things that trip us up....

    thats exactly what it means - most graphics programs have the command " flip horizontally" as well as " flip vertically". here is a pic of the proper command in Paint.net ( what i use for all my textures :) it manages TGA, DDS, and has a wheelbarrow load of plug-ins written by the community ( Paint.net community ). Free program and I like it very much.

    a little side note and update : I just went back to make sur files for my first ships and in the process flipped on of the ships upside down. When i went to the ship dealer - ship was gone!!! i was about to be confused when i hit the launch button here's what happened...
    no ship at dealer -
    from the depths comes - my ugly lil ship!!!.....


    and i was a second away from making a whole lot of changes to see what was wrong..... :? :evil: :shock: :o :D :roll:

    OMG i made it !!!!!


    I made a realy stupid mistake xD


    I wrote : MIPO in the .mat file, not MIP0


    [0] ,1,2,3,4,5...


    not [O] P,Q,R,S,T...





    Great thanks to you!
    I'll post my ship later ;)

    I am running into a similar problem.


    Answer to OP question. To flip a texture vertically use the Pic2Pic application mentioned in Drizzt's tutorial. It is a simple application with a easy to see and use graphical user interface. Simply select "Flipped vertically" toggle to save your texture in the Freelancer-approved texture orientation.


    My own procedure is to have both texture files available but only one of them in the same folder with the .cmp ship file it is associated with. Both texture files have the same name so I can switch them out easily enough. This means I have two folders, one says Flipped texture, the other says Normal Texture.


    My problem is a white ship also. I believe my problem is with the .cmp exporter as the resultant .cmp file is missing it's textures.


    I am using Milkshape 3D 1.8.4 with version 3 cmp exporter. Somehow the texture doesn't export with the other data such as hardpoints. I use the HardCMP Editor to view the model after exporting it. I can see textures on other ships just fine. I am puzzling over the UTF editor, as I am confused where Freelancer actually stores and look up the textures stipulated by the .cmp file and it's associated .mat file. I am writing MIP0 correctly.


    My importer is ver 2.7 and it has issues, it loads the .cmp file as a .3db file and loses the hardpoints. Fortunately I have a .ms3d file saved at the step prior to exporting.


    Doesn anyone know of a .cmp importer and exporter add-on update for Milkshape 3D ver 1.8.4?