New Starspheres

    Ah, hey there, I have the same question. I have been very interested in making new starspheres for a long time, and the most I´ve been able to do with importing/replacing the existing texture files was changing the color of the &quot;bottom&quot; of the Tau 37 system´s swirling nebula background. (even though I replaced all of the files in the whole .CMP ...) Are .tga files the ones to use, or are .dds? And is there a way to just use Milkshape to make a huge sphere (custom-made with custom nebulae/features/phenomena, too), export it to CMP format, and use the FLModelTool to rezise as appropriate/ if needed? Thanks a lot. ________ <i> - Ro9ue </i> ___________________________ Edited by - Ro9ue on 7/1/2005 5:37:52 PM

    Essentially all you need to do is make a large cylinder (or box if you wanted..) and map your textures to the inside faces then export to a cmp file. Import the data from the .mat file into the cmp and it should be basically done.

    That´s one point I´m not entirely sure about. Are those objects really a sphere, if you put them all together? Of course it seems logical, considering there might be gaps if not so. Just exporting the CMP and rescaling it to the right size was my first though as well, though I haven´t tried it out so far. Ro9ue : It´s .tga, for if it would be .dds, the MIP-maps would be combined in one file. @Louva-Deus: Well, if it´s that easy, why are there all those sub-groups? I think it has something to do with there being three sphere models layed upon each other. If you export a simple sphere, maybe the other two won´t be displayed. Of course you could also fix this by puting stars and nebulae on the inner sphere. But you first have to determine which of them is the smallest one. BTW: Did you get it to work using your method?

    I knew some people in the past that made different starspheres. They where making a mod for the black clan, but that was a long time ago. I still got the links to the pictureshow site in my internet favourites. They made their own starspheres and other nice stuff. Maybe you can contact one of the modders (blackassimilation or blacktate). But as far as I know they only replaced the MIPS textures with photoshop. It had to turn out into a mod but never came for the ground I believe. I still wonder If they brought the fire jumptunnel out, because that looked awsome <img src=smilies/icon_smile_big.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle>: Here is the link to the pictures: http://members.lycos.nl/flshipmodels/screen

    Something new. When trying to load the CMPs into the FLModelTool to determine their radius, it turned out the system-specific star-backgrounds can be loaded without problems, but the nebulae-CMPs cause the error message: &quot;Invalid floating point operation.&quot; And judging from the radius I think the tool only loads one of the sub-objects. The basic stars cause another error message namely &quot;Floating point overflow.&quot;, but seem to load fine after that. BTW: The radius of the backgrounds is even smaller than that of a Rheinland battleship so it´s not just a large file. The radius of the basic star and the system-specific star is the same, which proves my theory of the different CMPs being layed over one another. Another strange thing is the background has different LODs. But the distance to it never seems to change in the game, so this really shouldn´t be necessary.

    So, instead of replacing/importing the exisiting textures and having to replace a buunch of LOD images, would it be theoretically possible to simply make a sphere in Milkshape, invert the faces, apply a custom texture to them, and export it as a cmp? Oh, well also add the flat panels for the nebulae/phenomena stuff, and maybe leave those as separate groups, like in the original starshperes...? Might this work? Or are there complications that I am not thinking of? When you are talkig about the radius of the files, does this mean htat you could make a starshepere that is as large as a planet and FL would still know how to render it the correct disatnce, so that it appeared behind everything else (planets, asteroids, ships, etc.)? Sorry, I´d be testing this on my own and not posting a bunch of questions/specualtions if I were at home - but since I am away, I can´t test anything yet <img src=smilies/icon_smile.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> So it´s just my curious and deprived modder-side that´s itching to know. Thanks. ________ <i> - Ro9ue </i> ___________________________

    Starspheres are not always spherical, in fact I would say that many are not based on being able to see corners in numerous systems. Also if you go into the Lower Unknown system and fly sideways in the system you can see as the background appears to stay static with you and if you go far enough the planets will dissapear into the background while you appear to be still in the middle of it.