this is a adress where you can get my modified blender + samples

www.rapidshare.de/files/15501075/blender-2.41-windows___samples.zip.html
put this into the adress field

you have to click "free" wait some seconds and then there is a button called "Download via netz-mirror alpha"
just click it and the download starts

I have successfully converted the first of 20 - 30 ships that i have, i am scouring for the net for more... I want to have 50 - 60+ ships available... I only have fed right now, but im going to grab other races next and stations as well, my intention is to replace the starbases with trek starbases, if i can figure out how the different modules work visually... I will have available all the models i have converted soon... Most definately screen shots when i get home this evening.

my.paradise@gmx.de this is the email where you can introduct yourself

nice... if you want to join us, write me an email (my.paradiese@gmx.de)

Also, I think that we should have some kind of IM chain up, if possible, for those who are able.

irt Kohta, http://forum.startrekgc2.net , join, post an introduction that inclides the fact that you wish to join the team, and i will add you to the team as well as put your email on the team mailing list. also, since everyone lives all over the world (eg. USA, Germany, UK, etc.) IM is difficult, what we do have is an online chat area so we can semi-schedule chats and post a newsletter of the chat afterwards. But also the forms private section where most of the plans are made.

IRT agiggal, since you are odviously quite aware of everything ST, maybe you could help by providing input/data. Though as a side note, the movies came before voyager (See voyager episode 176, season 4 episode 9, year of hell pt.1, about min 22 without commercials, as seven rescues harry and belana from the turbo lift, she replys to kims question about first contact, and mentions that the borg was present at that event.) Touche`

still impressive knowledge of timeline. To be honest, i havent seen any of the movies past first contact. I have been working on constructing a timeline of how everything ties into each other. Not easy by any means.

Oh, and here is another site for your vast database
http://www.st-intelligence.com/begin.html

@Galactic Ambassador

replying to your points of your post above:

2. use "ConvertTexture Map" the other options are not important from what I have seen. GC2 can handle it np

"Scale Texture to nearest power of 2" means that the exporter will convert the size of the texture to 256*256 ( 2 to the power of 8) or 512*512 etc ... whatever power of 2 is closest. I used non-conform texture sizes (like 256*100 or whateber) without problems.

"White diffuse override (texture)" maybe of use if you want GC2 to color your models. tho I dont know exactly how that works or if it has anything to do with it. as the basic textures are diffuse ones usually you wont need this.

Format should be PNG.

Overwrite/Not Overwrite declares whether the exporter will overwrite existing textures in the target directory or not. not really important. I have overwrite enabled so texture files get updated through exporting if I changed them.

"6. .fx Effect files" : you dont need them usually. .fx files are used for directx9 shaders. (read here for details: http://www.monitorstudios.com/bcloward/resources_shaders.html ). unless you really know what and how to do it and have the time and resources at hand to make us of shaders you can ignore this really. ^^

looking at your screenshot Id say the texture of the hornet has no or wrong mapping coordinates (UV maps).

in 3DSMax select your model and go Modifiers -> UV Coordinates -> UVW Map

Then you will have to decide what kind of map you need to use (planar, spherical, box, etc).

Then you have to decide in what dimension (x,y or z) the map is aligned (Alignment).

with that and the other options (size of the texture map versus size of the model for instance, use "fit" to make them equall in the dimension you picked etc ...) you can (and must) decide how the texture is applied to the model.

with the hornet you will probably have to use a planar map going through the model and you will probably have to try everything out until you find the right configuration.

if you only have the texture file, but no material for your model in Max you need to create the material yourself.

Hit M to open the material editor. pick an unused slot (grey globe default material). look down and expand the "Map" property. mark the box left of "diffuse color" and then click on the "none" of it.

Choose Bitmap and press ok.

then select your texture file from the directory it is located in (usually in 3dsmax\maps or so).

you can further modifie the map here now. if you are fine with it hit the pull down menu up top and select the name of the material you edited (like Y-default with map #XZ below). you are now back at the material level and should see the name of the texture at the diffuse color map slot.

you can add more maps for various effects. self-illumination for instance is the texture that will be used if the model is in a scene without any light.

now rename the model and with material -> put to library save it for use in other scenes.

then simply drag and drop it on the model/mesh you want it on. Use "Material -> Show Map in Viewport" to tell Max to show the texture on your model in your viewport (only works if that viewport is using "Smooth+Highlight" mode like the perspective or user viewport is by default).

then you can do the UV mapping as described above without having to render the scene to check the map.

one more thing. dont rename the texture. if the texture is exported as foo.png then dont rename it to S0_tiny_whatever.png. keep it as foo.png (the texture name is hardcoded into the X-File). you can rename the X-File how you want tho.

Iam using 3DS Max 8 (5,6 or 7 should work just as well for X-Exporting). you can download a 30 days free trial of it on their homepage.

you can also use Blender (http://blender.org) or anim8r ( http://anim8or.com/main/index.html ) which are totally free. Blender has X-Export, dont know about anim8r. cant help you how texturing and everything else works for those because I only use Blender for additional options of importing/exporting models into other file types.

as for 3DS Max I tried to describe above how to create a material with a texture-file and applying it to a model as well as how to export it with the Panda Plugin.

so after that if you have still a more specific question pls say so and I will do my best to answer it.

@ adrian: Yes thats the way I make the trek-like shipparts in x files (i use my modified blender)
I have just 4 saucer types 6 bodies 4 pylon types and 3 nacelle types
just for the federation at this moment, i'm advancing this parts at the moment, too.
little changes with much better looking
I'm testing with Hardpoints later...


@coplann: I use blender and i just wanted to know how to export into a png file in blender
if you could help me in that area, this would be very very nice...thx

I didnt find a way to do it directly in Blender. Its X-Export is simply not as advanced as the Panda Exporter for Max it seems.

However Blender should be able to make use of PNGs for textures without problems. Simply convert your tga's, Iff's, jpg's or whatever you have into PNG yourself before using them in Blender.

For this you can use Irfanview ( http://www.irfanview.net ) one of the best free picture viewers.

my version is older and it can open and convert to 19 different formats including PNG.

Hey guys I've been using this to mod since I learned hex code back for StarTrek:Birth of the Federation , lots of good info Link

hope that helps

@ coplann: first thanks for your detailed answer. The Problem was a bit more simple:

1. Using the default converting options helps a lot.
2. The Textures was somehow not "attached" to the model, but I managed to do this. And as you se in my thread everything looks o.k. now.

But I have some other questions: How can you manage it that the model is "self illuminating"? Like Engines and such things? I have Models that should do this but when I bring them into theg ame you see nothing "glowing".

What could be the problem?

I think it's bcause how the game works. As you know you cna "color" the engines and if you bring a own model in you can't use that "color your ship-feture". But I don't know,...