Ship Model Animation?

from GalCiv2 Forums
So i think this is a no go as Stardock would have animated parts of ships if it was possible. Buuuut is it possible to animate parts of ship models? Like have a rotating dish jewelery? or had a base that rotates and everything attached to it roates with it?

Also can you make a new base hull type, instead of the defaults? Like have the defaults plus your that you
create, seems to be everyone is just subbing models out for custom ones.

I have downloaded the sample ship but what are the basic specs for stardock models ie small hulls are so big and have so many polys, and so many mount points while medium are so and so etc etc. Also i imagine i could get this from the sample file but i have yet to open it and i'm at work so whats the default angle of the nose of the space craft. I assume 0,0,0 then with the mount points we would rotate based on that.

Also is Stardock going to release the source so maybe if we wanted we can muck around with the internals?

Just some wants from little o me.. Any replys would be liked As i am about to start making some ships for this game.
modding
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Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I have not tried adding ship animation (however I believe it is possible, because missile weapons are animated), however adding new ship types is very easy. Just copy an existing hull and name it something else. The only thing that you can't seem to do is specify another "type" of ship (IE: you can't make a "massive" tag to store ships even bigger than "huge" - although you CAN make massive ships and put in under "huge").
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Animations?
I don't think so. At least the basic .X animations won't play in the game (I've tried, it just displayes the last frame). Well at least in the ship editor and the galactic map that's the case. Like Kalin said, there are animations in the battle simulator. That's not something I've tried yet, so it might be possible.

Additional Hulls?
Sure. Add your ships, give them unique hull names (ie S0_Cargo_3) and in the GC2Types.xml file add another Hull, fill out the attributes you want and have the Model and Thumbail your new model and graphics.

size and poly count?
I don't know how the engine scales units on the galactic map.
From about 300 units on up to about 1000 units long seems to work well for me in the ship editor.
I recall some one from stardock saying they tried to keep hulls under 2000 polygons (triangles I assume), with hulls that are more prevelant (like tiny or small or cargo, things you'll have lots of in the mid to late game) coming in well under that. Of course StarDock was targeting an 800mhz CPU and generic 32mb DX9 video card as their hardware. If you want to look more at some high performance hardware, several times that at least is feasible. StarDock has said the engine has no built in polygon cap - if you want to make a 100,000 polygon model you're free to put in the game. (And watch your 7800GTX grind to a hault...)

Mount points: as many or few as you like. The more points the more jewlery and components you can add and the greater freedom players have to customize. With fan art ships (like Trek, Star Wars, whatever), you many not want jewlery stuck all over the place as the base model itsel conveys the intended look of the ship. A few mount points for required components may be all you really want.

The nose of the ship should be pointed along the positive Y axis.

An SDK to allow us to modify game rules would be a welcome gift from StarDock. But I have not heard anything regarding the release of an SDK, and a release of the full source would be years away if ever. Modding and this community seems to be more in StarDock's eyes than it was with GalCiv1, but the original never had an SDK released, and StarDock has opted (so far) to not release the source to that title.
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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Animation is possible, but i've encountered a few problems with it. Using the turret model as my test, I've had the hardpoints move to strange locations and also had the model disappear completely. These problems could be related to how the turret is animated, so something simple like a rotating sensor dish might not have any problems.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Yes and know, in the future we will be able to get it useable for normal ships. You cant use stadard animations as thay need to be striped. It will most likely not get into the game for a while.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Thanks for the info Mormegil.
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
going to work on the Omega Class destroyer from Babylon 5 next. my first tries with GC2 were with one high-poly version of it and animation of the rotating hull section worked. of course I had no hardpoints added there yet so dont know i those are effected. I will try I guess.
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Thanks for all the cool info guys. i guess its now up to me to get crackin and model away. i have drawn up a few ideas and will probly be releasing a jewerly pack first then go from there