SUR Exporter Beta News

    Manhatten project? 5 minute job compared to this monster <img src=smilies/icon_smile_wink.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> If there aren´t already too many cooks then count me in (as long as I can find my caffeine pills and eye drops...)

    Nice to see you back Redeye, Good to see you maintain an interest.. you knowledge could be a great help here.. Harrier

    [img=http://members.optusnet.com.au/~audioele/mypic121.jpg] Retreat[!][!] ---- I`m too badly messed up now[!][!]

    I´m a surprisingly frequent lurker.. <img src=smilies/icon_smile_big.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> Its fantastic what is being done with the FL engine these days, I´ve always got this picture of MS/DA planners with a list of new features for FL2 on the wall, going on the forums each day and going : ´Bugger, those damn modders have cracked that one too, cross it off the list...´ Always regretted not being more open about what work I did with .surs, so if I can lend a hand to get them cracked for good then I´ll feel better about that <img src=smilies/icon_smile_wink.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle>

    I´ve sent out the current binary to several of our best modelers, so that we can begin developing documentation for what we have now, and release with the best documentation we can. We´re probably going to wait and see what progress Anton and other folks have made before we put out the current binary, though, so just hold on... we´re getting there <img src=smilies/icon_smile.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle>

    Source in the mail Redeye <img src=smilies/icon_smile.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> I think a w00t is in order for the quality of people interested in this project <img src=smilies/icon_smile_approve.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle>

    Ok... I´m not trying to be noobish here... and who knows, Maybe this is just the kinda off-the-wall question/suggestion you guys need.... Couple of things, actually, In looking at sur files in hardcmp, I´ve noticed a few things (at least about small ships... haven´t pulled any stations, etc up in it yet) Namely, .sur files use really simple geometry. a stretched out sphere for the shield, blocks for the guns, etc. For building these, (in any model tool) would it not be possible to have a standard library of these simple forms, ready to move into place, normals all pointed in the right dierction and everything? Obviously, the most difficult part of making a sur file would be the hull. Again, near as I can tell, surs are just dumbed-down versions of the hull. If I were to run a model through a few iterations of the &quot;Reduce polycount&quot;, thereby making an extremely low-res version of it, would that work as the hull surface? if these work, would making a sur file from a custom model be as easy as hitting reduce polycount until it´s too ugly to bear, dropping the standard library of mountables in, and hitting export? (i´ve no idea where linking the polys on the sur file to the actual hit points of the equipment/hull comes in... I assume that´s solved, tho, or it wouldn´t work at all)

    Argh, you mentioned conventional shapes able to be made. Have you perfected a PERFECT SPHERE? I can already put that to use... and since it is on an industructable object, all it needs to do is stop a player from flying through. MK

    I haven´t made a perfect sphere, no. To be perfectly honest, it just hadn´t occured to me- we already have several nearly-perfect sphere SURS. If you want to see a custom SUR, btw... go download the latest version of my Toolkit Mod and check out the SUR for the Streak. It seems to be working correctly, so it´s a pretty good proof-of-concept. I haven´t gotten any email back from the other modelers I sent the Exporter Beta to, though, other than Harrier (who´s been a bit busy lately) so I have no idea whether they´re getting anywhere in terms of helping to arrive at techniques other than the one I´ve perfected using Rhino3D <img src=smilies/icon_smile_tongue.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle>

    Ah yes, but we have no PERFECT SPHEREs. When and if you get around to it, let me know. I need it for that darned black hole that I can fly through. MK

    Hi all, this may be a redundant comment I´m about to make, but I don´t see the search option anymore on this forum to check first....if so please accept my apologies. I know nothing about sur files, except that it sounds like they are used for collision detection. I read that FL uses the Havok Physics engine, and I know from my (still-learning) experience with Macromedia Director and it´s Havok plugin, that havok can use simplified proxy objects for collision detection. I guess some developers create these in 3ds max using the reactor application. This generates a &quot;.hke&quot; file that director then uses with it´s stripped down havok physics engine to perform collison detection and other newtonian physics with that object (or scene if multiple objects are in the scene - such as a station with multiple modules(?). Anyways, if you´ve read this far, I hope that this is somewhat useful info. If one were to take a look at the havok structure, maybe it could help demysifiy the SUR (?).

    I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We`ve created life in our own image. ~Stephen Hawking ~

    Argh, Just to bring you up to date.. I have started on a model and will attempt to build the sur file as a separate group as I indicated .. I am at the moment trying to do about 4 things.. get the next version of Epsilon done, tidy up and finish off a couple of new ships, testing new encounters.. (making the mod fairer.. still bloody hard btw Argh.. <img src=smilies/icon_smile_wink.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> but fairer...) the d19 encounters <img src=smilies/icon_smile_shock.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle><img src=smilies/icon_smile.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> <img src=smilies/icon_smile_cool.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle>.... and move some new weapons about..., plus fix some of the commodity prices.. <img src=smilies/icon_smile_wink.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> I´ll get it done as soon as I can.. I have studied both the files you sent me, (nice job), and the freelancer .surs.. I have one question regarding the nature of the hardpoints, but that can wait till I´m a bit further down the track... Harrier..

    [img=http://members.optusnet.com.au/~audioele/mypic121.jpg] Retreat[!][!] ---- I`m too badly messed up now[!][!]

    I understand the whole &quot;being busy&quot; thing, trust me. At any rate, there are other developments on this front which have been interesting, but I´ve been too busy to really think much about it all.

    Good reason B-) you´re aiming to make it compatible (not to mention user friendly) with the less precise models milkshape makes I take it?

    Yeah... basically, without getting into it much... many times the files we´ve been able to create thus far aren´t valid. Some of them work 100%, but many don´t. And the current modeling process... is a little painful <img src=smilies/icon_smile_tongue.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle>