Crimson Skies aircraft

[tn_prvteye 36]

I did these two Crimson Skies planes in Blender so I could print them out at www.shapeways.com. These are my first attempts at 3D modeling, so they're not very detailed. They're designed to be built as scale models, not for use in a game. They have no moving parts, no textures...just the basic mesh.

 

 

 

However...if some enterprising soul wanted to take them, clean 'em up, skin 'em, and give them an FM to use in Strike Fighters, I can upload them if you want.

 

I'm not that talented as a 3D modeler, otherwise I'd do it myself.

 

I CAN say that this experience has given me a new respect for you modders. I don't see how you can do it!

[+Julhelm 266]

The models look accurate and nice but you are using way too many polys for that level of detail. Generally you can get away with only 12 sides on cylindrical objects like guns or oleos in order to make them appear smoothly rounded.

 

Generally, for realtime graphics, smoothness is not a valid excuse to use lots and lots of polies. 10.000 is a good goal for a plane with most details modelled. Anything more than that and there should be geometrical detail that cannot be faked with textures to justify it.

 

If you can optimize these down to a reasonable polycount like that I can help you get the models ingame.

[tn_prvteye 36]

Cool, I see what I can do. Like I said, I designed them for scale models, not any game, so I wanted a smooth surface...here's a pic of the Devastator I got:

 

 

 

So, keep them under 10,000 polys? I'll try it out.

 

Thanks!

[tn_prvteye 36]

Okay, I got them down under 10K...the "decimate" tool in Blender is Awesome! What file format would you like them in? 3DS?

[Wrench 9,679]

I LOVE "What If stuff (as most everyone knows.... Never got to play Crimson Skies, so this looks like an interestering mod.

 

can't wait to see what develops!

 

wrench

kevinstein

[tn_prvteye 36]

Well, I wouldn't call it a "mod" just yet. The meshes are quite messy...if Julhelm can help, he'll have his work cut out for him. :D Someone else was working on a CS mod a few years ago but it never materialized. I would LOVE to see the CS universe in the SF series. Zeppelins and all!

[Wrench 9,679]

Hinch made a Zep for FE some time ago ... needs some data ini work, but we got one!

 

wrench

kevin stein

[tn_prvteye 36]

Oh yeah...I've already started tweaking it...

 

I'm trying to figure out a way to make it an aircraft carrier. Is it possible to have a carrier 1000 ft in the air? Wouldn't have to replicate the whole hook and crane approach...just add some wires and catapult to an area underneath the zep.

[+Julhelm 266]

Could you post some wireframe images?

[+EricJ 4,053]

Oh yeah...I've already started tweaking it...

 

I'm trying to figure out a way to make it an aircraft carrier. Is it possible to have a carrier 1000 ft in the air? Wouldn't have to replicate the whole hook and crane approach...just add some wires and catapult to an area underneath the zep.

 

I'm sure it is, just some fanagaling. Even then though... it'd still be cool to fly them, like the top wireframe aircraft anyways.

[+Baltika 84]

I have very fond memories of flying the old Crimson Skies, sadly it is rather porked for Nvidia cards these days - new drivers conflict with the text bitmaps or somesuch - so to see these birds fly in SF series would be great

[+EricJ 4,053]

hehe, I played the original RPG when it came out, it's definitely got it's own mystique around it.

[tn_prvteye 36]

I have very fond memories of flying the old Crimson Skies, sadly it is rather porked for Nvidia cards these days - new drivers conflict with the text bitmaps or somesuch - so to see these birds fly in SF series would be great

 

Check this thread...there's a fix for certain cards. It worked on my 8800. I'm running at 1600 X 1200 with no corruption in-game (menus are small but readable).

 

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=47481&st=80

 

Link to file that they are talking about (bottom of page on left...called csfix):

 

http://timeslip.chorrol.com/

Edited September 6, 2009 by tn_prvteye

[+Baltika 84]

And Nathan Zachary flies again

 

tn_prvteye, you are the man

 

Thanks very much for flagging up this fix. Now have Crimson Skies running at 1600x1200, no corruption or crashes in-flight (menus are small), superb

 

WinXP, Gainward Bliss nvidia 7800 GS+ AGP, for those with an interest.

 

Brillaint!

 

For those who haven't tried it, I throughly recommend getting a copy from somewhere. Sure, it's an arcade flight shooter, not a sim, but for atmosphere, fun missions, action, and crazy thirties planes, you can't beat it.

 

Nursing your shot up Devastator back to the "Pandora," your pirate Zeppelin carrier for a hook trap, is very satisfying.

 

Great work

 

(I'd still love to see these birds in SF series )

[+EricJ 4,053]

Well it's got me searching for references on the Fury, so...

[tn_prvteye 36]

I've got the FASA manuals...I can upload them if you want.

 

Oh, and here's an on-line plane builder that gives you more color options:

 

http://crimsonskieselites.free.fr/builder-main.htm

 

Note: It doesn't work in Firefox...only IE.

Edited September 6, 2009 by tn_prvteye

[tn_prvteye 36]

Well, the material is a bit more difficult to work with, so I had to order my model again. THIS time, I broke it down into seperate parts like a real model airplane.

 

I've also cleaned up the mesh some, and re-worked certain parts.

 

Here's the Devastator the way I had it printed out:

 

 

And here's what it'll look like completed:

 

 

Now, all I gotta do is get these into Strike Fighters and I'll be a happy camper! And yes, I know these are High-poly, but again, these particular models are not intended for a flight-sim...yet.

[tn_prvteye 36]

And here's the Fury...

 

[+Spectre_USA 7]

I am not at all into the Crimson skies era, as I went through it once and uninstalled it,

but this is one cool and novel approach!

 

Get a plastic model, render each part, then do a virtual assembly!

 

No stinky glue mess, nor paint thinner spilled, put the "kit" together, then fly it,

virtually.

 

Oh, we gotta get Revell on the horn, we got a WINNAH here!

 

Oh, ahem, sorry, got a litttle carried away, but I like it...