Galactic Civilizations: Can't use some Ship Mods

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Do you still think GalCiv 1 is fun even with GalCiv II out?

758 votes

1- Yes

2- No

Can't use some Ship Mods

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by Citizen Amaymon - 1/13/2005 12:43:37 AM

Hello, can anyone tell me why some of the ship-mods don't work with my GalCiv?

I have no problems at all using Chippoka's Borg Cube, but the FireHawk from the EvilPack and the Patrol from the OmegaShips appear "invisible" in the blueprint screen, the fleet screen, and the main screen.

I have no such problems with turgotZ files (some StarTrek ships and the SpaceShark) either.

#1 by Citizen Chippoka - 1/13/2005 6:07:49 AM

Were they suppposed to have an associated MDL file? And was there an MDL file? I have noticed some ship mods only use existing models of existing MDL files. The nuclear missile mod is an example of such, as it uses the antimatter missile model. I have created missile MDL to add a new graphic for the nuclear missile (see my ftp for it): TftMDL.zip. I originally was going to use it for my Borg mod as a Trans-Phazic Torpedo... instead I'm going to design a better torpedo.

#2 by Citizen Amaymon - 1/13/2005 10:16:07 AM

Yes, they have their own mdl files. I tried both the mods/data & mods/gfx and the standard data and gfx folders, but the ships are invisible.

#3 by Citizen Amaymon - 1/13/2005 6:23:48 PM

Tested all the ship.mdls available. All check fine, except the Hawk from Tolot's Evil Pack, and the Apollo from the Omega Ships. Don't know why those two won't work, they keep being invisible, regardless if i use the mdl for own ships or in the original way along with their mods.

#4 by Citizen Chippoka - 1/14/2005 6:00:00 AM

Invisible? In my learning this stuff, I've seen that happen when the color pallet is unsuitable to the game engine (for lack of a better way to explain it). It can happen if certain other error exist, I'd imagine, like an extra sprites which the creator forgot to delete during developement? Perhaps incorrect syntax in the Spite name. Hard for me to say, as I'm still learning this stuff. But the pallet issue I've seen for sure, as I fixed it once I swapped over to "acceptable" pallets (not sorted by "hue," etc). Perhaps these are the problems, perhaps not. I would think the creator had the stuff working, so it might be something else?

[Message Edited]

#5 by Citizen Amaymon - 1/14/2005 7:12:46 AM

extra sprites

I don't own AP. Perhaps the two ships have additional Drath or Korx (or whatever) sprites that can't be used in GalCiv without AP.

By the way, great work with the new Borg Cube. I have not tested the TFT yet, but i'm looking forward for your next creations.

#6 by Citizen Chippoka - 1/14/2005 5:16:19 PM

Thanks on the Cube.... I thought they turned out pretty good too... especially after so much fuss, trial and error, and coffee.

New TFT model ... real close to making it blink... the animation process is a pain, but I think it is needed for the effect... for those interested, I first drew a base 64x64 png picture, rotated it 64 times (32x2), then imported it as a sprite (Sprite Editor), then exported the same sprite out as 70x70, 1 collumn x 64.... that makes a horizontal strip with 64 frames with white borders to use in Paint Shop. In Paint Shop one needs to copy every-other frame to the next adjacent frame so that the each frame of 32 rotations appears twice. Next, filled every-other dupicated frame with a new color... make back ground transparent, then import as new sprite... pesto! I just did all this.... might be counting my chicken eggs too soon, but I think it'll work... on to testing...

Edit... hmm... need to figure out how to shave from 70 back to 64... but I still think the game will accept it. Back to tinking around....

Edit...

Rats... it blinks and rotates in the game... darn... perhaps it is impossible... back to tinking... I could do it as a sphere, lol, that'd solve the problem.

[Message Edited]

#7 by Citizen Chippoka - 1/14/2005 5:37:19 PM

Edit...

hmm, duh to me... maybe I can do the same thing in a vertical strip... why I didn't try that the first time... arg...

#8 by Citizen Chippoka - 1/14/2005 7:10:18 PM

Got it... pretty darn neat, even the player identification color mask works, appearing as force field around the torpedo... I need to clean it up some more... the blink is too strong over too much area... and I need to add a little more detail. I'll have it at my FTP this weekend some time. But I was right the first time. It needs to be a horizontal film strip, not vertical. I just had the commands wrong in the name of the sprite. I have 64 frames, but only 2 animations per frame (for color change) for 32 facings of rotation through 360 degrees, so its name is:

35Tft_Default_A32C2F20

"A32" is the facings in 360 degrees and "C2" is the number of animations per facing.... F20 is how fast it plays the animation (blinks).

[Message Edited]

#9 by Citizen Amaymon - 1/15/2005 6:34:07 AM

for those interested

It seems your skills are improving quite fast. Perhaps you should collect your progress in some sort of tutorial or perhaps create a complete new post about your mods and how you dunnit, what worked and what not, etc.
I believe many players and modders would find this very interesting, but as you were the only one who answered me in this post, i think not many other players have read it.
Since you have created two mdls in rather short time and are more and more getting the hang of it, i think your mods and modding experiences deserve their own post, so that other modders can find them and benefit from them more easily.
If you deceide to do this, you should post a remark or hint in the general GalCiv forum, too, as the Mod section of the forum seems pretty dead from time to time.
I'm looking forward for your next work.

[Message Edited]

#10 by Citizen Chippoka - 1/15/2005 8:04:57 AM

I'll do some kind of walk-through eventually if there is interest, but there doesn't seem to be at this point. So far, this effort is mostly because I wanted some new ship graphics, but I don't mind sharing them.

Anyway, I finish the Nuclear Missle Ship.

So there are three now:

Trans-Phazic Torpedo
Borg Cube
Nuclear Missile

All three are here (readme text files included, easy to install an will work on any existing installation of GC or AP, but will require user modifications of Ship Data files eventually to suite user preferences (that too is pretty easy in Windows Note Pad).

http://users.rcn.com/aulonacara/Galatic%20Civ/

Link

Next is a simple mine since some people made some mods for mines (perhaps... still toying with the idea)

Or a Babylon ship (Membari Battle Ship).

#11 by Citizen Chippoka - 1/15/2005 11:06:32 AM

I like your proton mine mod.... going to make them a graphic, ok?

BTW, looked over the Omega Ships mod package. The Patrol ship (a Babylon 5 Membari cruiser, I think) has a problem in the MDL where the sprite graphics are not yet associated to the respective pallets in the MDL. A simple over site, it seems. But that one is working and the Apollo isn't? The Apollo (Vorlon ship) seems ok in the MDL.

[Message Edited]

#12 by Citizen Amaymon - 1/15/2005 2:43:22 PM

The Patrol works fine, just the Apollo is invisible. Strange.

The proton mine isn't from me (my mods are the StellarWarfare Package [which includes missiles, sadly with the old mdls], the StarFighter Mk2 and the Wasp, the MonstrousMod [with turgotZ]), but a mine-mdl would be a fine thing anyway.

Could you kinda load and save the apollo-mdl with your tools and make it available for download? Perhaps this solves the problem.
[Message Edited]

#13 by Citizen Chippoka - 1/15/2005 4:03:37 PM

Well, it had your name there... I thought... guess not. Anyway, I completed it. It's at my ftp.

I'll look later more closely at that Apollo ship.

I'll put the Apollo MDL up shortly... but the tools you should have already from Dark Rain (?). That's what I'm using (The Suite Tools: Palette Editor, Easy Ship Rotator, Sprite Editor).

#14 by Citizen Amaymon - 1/16/2005 6:55:20 AM

Yes, perhaps it is high time to use those programs myself. I downloaded them, but didn't find the time for tinkering with them (i also don't have a decent gfx program - my paint shop pro is version 3.x, from about '97).

I took a look at your mines and the white star conversion, i especially like the light pulses und the fog animation around them, this is really really a nice touch, a masterpiece so to say!

The mines itself could be a little bit smaller (just my personal opinion), as they are a little bit big compared to a Scout or Starfighter (but making them smaller could perhaps cause problems to see the race-colours - got that thought right now).

Adding race-color to the WhiteStar model was also just perfect.

I was thinking about asking you to do this (cause i don't like if the ships look the same for all races), but as i was told by another modder some time ago that this is very, VERY time-consuming, i didn't. (if you can find the time it would be nice if you could do this for the other omega-ships, too - sorry that i want so much - but i still don't have much skill, knowledge & time for doing this)

[By the way, if i sound impolite or too straightforward sometimes, please excuse this, it is not meant that way. If this is so, it is due to a lack of my english skills, sometimes i don't seem to find the correct words or phrases.]

#15 by Citizen Chippoka - 1/16/2005 8:55:48 AM

I did do a smaller version of the MK 1 mine... and yes, the color was a no-show on the stage... they needed to be bigger for it to work well... even then, I thought they turned out pretty good; especially the MK 1.... it looks a bit like a satelite, but I can live with it. I may try modding the starbase and give it some blinking lights and more detail... and perhaps mod an existing Dreadnaught or Battleship graphic to add some haze from the engines or blinking running lights as well... we'll see. Not much today... I have some other commitments to another game (Settlers IV).

Time consuming... to a point. Doing anything sphere-like isn't too hard (no rotation of the picture to worry about). Doing a ship model which is the same for all races, but different in color only is much easiers than doing all the races! Much! Using race 35 and the mask (HL) in the sprite names means on two files comprise the MDL (the overlay underlay mask)... that is a huge time saver! Trying to use the existing graphics saves some time too. The biggest issue is have a decent Paint Program (about $130) then learning it! And this Paint Shop Pro 9 is really a sweet program now that I've learned how to use it a little - I'm becoming "dangerious," lol. Any tute on doing this graphics work means discussing how to do stuff in Paint Shop Pro 9, as that is where a mistake will mean wasting an hour or two to copy and re-paste 32 to 80 frames of images.

(if you can find the time it would be nice if you could do this for the other omega-ships, too - sorry that i want so much - but i still don't have much skill, knowledge & time for doing this)

I need to know if this is going to piss-off people if I do that? I don't know the internal clique ethics here in the GC/AP community.

Your English skills? You're doing fine. I spent several years on internal game boards, mostly with Germans (Settlers IV) and lots of other nationalities. Compared to them? You're doing great. Begs the question... where you at and language you normally speak?

[Message Edited]

#16 by Citizen Amaymon - 1/16/2005 2:42:47 PM

I'm from Germany, as is Icho Tolot (i believe).

I don't really know if the creator(s) of the omega ships would make a fuss about changing their mdls. When i asked turgotZ if i could perhaps use and submit some of his StarTrek ships in my mods, he told me that they're meant for sharing, and that it would be ok as long as i stated whre the original files were from (i didn't submit any of his mdls though, except the monster, which turgotZ did for me when requested). I think Coplann and MrKorx (or so) are the creators of the Omega-Ships, but i'm not sure.

It may be that i won't post here anymore until friday (21-01), because i'm not at home until then.

#17 by Citizen Chippoka - 1/16/2005 5:46:31 PM

Germany, eh, so have you heard of Settlers IV? It was developed by Blue Byte, a German Co, since bought by UbiSoft. Anyway, for the most part it has been one of my all time favorites, though it is aging. If you like GC/AP then chance are you'll like Settlers IV. Our fan site is (I'm part of a close knit group that formed over several years; but you are welcome to visit the Party Room of the Forums):

Link

And the Home Page (where you can find my profile - either as Chippoka or Auratus):

Link

Friday? See you around sometime...

#18 by Veteran Icho Tolot - 1/19/2005 7:39:37 PM

You would have to get in touch with Mr.Krox if you have problems with the so called "Omega Ship Pack" I do not support that on, since I have nothing to do with it. Krox is german, as I am.

Its strange that you have problems with the Hawk, I had never problems, did you try to place it in the different gfx folders, that sometimes helps

#19 by Citizen Chippoka - 1/20/2005 6:00:27 PM

I haven't tried the Omega Ship Pack myself, but have seen the contents of the MDLs... so I'm personally not aware of any issues regarding it. However, the Babylon 5 ships it contains are fairly basic - I'm thinking it would be cool to add blinking running lights, etc.
[Message Edited]

#20 by Citizen Amaymon - 1/21/2005 7:03:02 AM

Its strange that you have problems with the Hawk, I had never problems, did you try to place it in the different gfx folders, that sometimes helps

Put them in the different folders, tried the single folders and tried with the mdl in both gfx folders at once, but unfortunately there was no improvement. Nevertheless thanks for the advice. Your excellent Halut ships work without problems, as do the three other omega ships from M.Krox. Strange that i get the two exceptions. My current GalCiv is totally unmodded (just looking at mdls if time permits), up to date, but without AP.

Chippoka, perhaps you should get in touch with MadMaz from the StarWars Mod also. He did a lot of mdls for his StarWarsTC. I'm also eager to see your first GalCiv ship conversion with animations (as your time permits).

#21 by Citizen Epochalypse - 1/21/2005 11:06:48 AM

Put them in the different folders, tried the single folders and tried with the mdl in both gfx folders at once, but unfortunately there was no improvement.

Have you tried dumping the .mdl & .ship files directly into the galciv/data galciv/gfx folders?

Are you playing Altarian Prophecy or just regular Galciv? 'cause when I made the "FireHawk" model I didn't add the Korx or Drath. Maybe that could be giving you problems.

#22 by Citizen Epochalypse - 1/21/2005 11:07:53 AM

I'll add the other 2 races then give you a link to the new .mdl file so you can try that.

#23 by Citizen Amaymon - 1/21/2005 2:04:27 PM

Yes, i tried

a)galciv/data + galciv/gfx

b)galciv/mods/data + galciv/mods/gfx

c)both at the same time

I get the statistics of the ship, but no blueprint screen, no fleet-model, no ship model, just an empty cursor with ship statistics.

I do not play with AP. Right now i have a totally unmodded, basic GalCiv. (At first i thought the ship(s) would not work because they were made for AP.)

I thought i had modded too much, so i did a comlete deinstall and downloaded a clean GalCiv via StardockCentral, but that didn't help. Sigh. Do you have a screenshot how the firehawk looks like?

#24 by Citizen Chippoka - 1/21/2005 4:57:47 PM

If run in AP? Looking at the FireHawk MDL, it has 6 files for each race; 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. All that is missing is race 7 and race 35 (the minor races set by a mask - "HL"). So it seem there would be missing fields in AP game play.

But if running in GC? There are five races plus the minor races, so 6 races - and there are six races in GC (including minor races set as one race) - seems it should work, but the correct identifier for minor races is "35"... assuming I read the Dark Rain's Suite Tools web pages correctly - but this "35" identifier isn't contained in the StarHawk MDL. Perhaps that is the reason for problems? Don't know... maybe the GC game engine defaults to using one of zero through five indentifiers in order to have a model to use for the minor races - but I would suspect the game engine might get "confused" (for lack of a better way to say it at the moment).

This would be easy to fix, because all the race models are the same, simply delete them all and use only the race 35 identifier for all races (even the main races) - the game engine will automatically set the ship color to that of the race owning it as permitted by the mask allowing an underlay to show through transparent spots; such set as "HL" in the file name in the MDL; e.g.:

35FireHawk.SPR1 (containing the three normal files)

and

35FireHawkHL.SPR1 (containing the one mask file, typically pink, named 35FileHawkHL_Default_A1C1)

Those two SPR1 files would be used by all 5 or 7 races, depending on which game is played (GC or AP, respectively).

[Message Edited]

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