My first project: Ticonderoga class

[+WhiteBoySamurai]

I'm a very infrequent poster here, but I've always wanted contribute more to this community rather than just mooch off everyone else's work (especially since I finally got SF2 and have been in a downloading frenzy recently). Over the past two years I've been slowly learning how to do this fancy CAD stuff and trying to put together this ship. It's much harder than I thought, and in hindsight I really bit off more than I can chew. Aside from a couple of simple missiles for practice and personal use, this is my first model for the Thirdwire series. I hope it doesn't suck too badly.

 

 

So here it is, the Ticonderoga class Aegis cruiser. More specifically, the early version (CG-47~CG-51) with the Mk26 launchers. Naturally once I'm done with this, I'll do the modern versions with the VLS system. (And then hopefully something less geometrically complicated...)

 

 

Currently, the ship is working in-game. The radars spin, the guns shoot, the missiles launch, and it's so totally sweet that it made all the hard work worth it.

 

 

 

So far so good, but there are still things I need to tweak, and some things I'd really like some assistance with.

 

1. How do I best determine MinExtentPositon/MaxExtentPosition of all the parts? So far I've just been eyeballing it for the major components, but I see in the data.ini supplied by other modders' objects it's calculated to like five significant digits.

 

2. I can't seem to get the rear missile launcher to work. Is the SF2 series still limited to one launcher and one missile type?

 

3. I am absolutely hopeless with making skins. The one I threw together is completely bare-bones. "Yep, this part is grey, I think." Can anyone lend a hand with making the textures look decent?

 

4. Speaking of skins, how do I add decals for a ground object? It would make the hull numbers and aft name plate much easier to read at the very least.

 

5. It's just shy of 15000 polygons right now. Is that too high? Should I try to make another .lod with some simplified features?

 

6. Also with regards to detail, I left out the Harpoon launchers since I figured they'll never actually do anything; should I add those in anyway and take the polygon hit?

 

7. Despite having radars all over the place, the ship only seems to track and engage a single target at a time. When I'm flying OpFor, the cruiser methodically picks apart my flight whereas the real deal would engage many targets at once. Is this a game limitation or is it something I can fix?

 

Any comments or criticisms would be greatly appreciated!

[Icarus999]

looks very nice great work.

It might be interesting to have a version with working harpoon launchers and no SAM's, as it would give us some variety for sea battles. Who knows whats in the works for the up coming tomcat release, perhaps we may get a big game engine upgrade?

[logan4]

Regarding question no1, There is a min-max extent script in the SF1 utilities section. It gives the extent data for all components comprising your model.

Downloads> Strike Fighters / Wings Over Vietnam / Wings Over Europe / Wings Over Israel by Thirdwire> Strike Fighters 1 Series by Thirdwire> SF/WO* Utilities/Editors> Min Max extents

 

http://combatace.com/files/file/10253-min-max-extents/

 

It has the description how to install it and use it. It does work in 3dmax2k9 also.

Great model, congrats!

[+Wrench]

in 1stGens, the decals were working, as I'd done all the nameplates and hull numbers for the Daring DDs. They stopped working (well, for me -- might have to recheck the decals ini)

 

TKs' carriers (CVA63) seem to have working hull numbers. At least, as I recall.

 

I'd say it's a damn fine looking ship!

 

For something less 'cruvy/faceted', we could use some auxiliries ... APAs, AKs, etc (and lots more early destroyers/cruisers!)

 

keep up the work!!

 

wrench

kevin stein

[+JimBeamer5]

Well,

 

3/ I may be able to help, what does your UV map look like?

 

4/ Decals work the same for ships as aircraft, at the very least. Is there a way of not having to use the bmp's in every ship folder? I don't know. I just do it the same way as aircraft.

 

5/ These days, 15K polys should be ok. The Daring Wrench mentioned is about that, and works well in game.

 

6/ The Harpoon launchers would be great, how many extra polys?

 

Thanks very much for the Tico BTW, we lack any sort of modern USN carrier escort, Spru-cans being the most modern IIRC. And a Burke (and a Kongo) are not a million miles away.

 

And I'm very glad to have another helo deck to operate from!

 

JB5

[umm]

Really nice model and excellent job.

 

 

[+WhiteBoySamurai]

Thanks for the help and encouragement, everyone!

 

Regarding question no1, There is a min-max extent script in the SF1 utilities section. It gives the extent data for all components comprising your model.

Downloads> Strike Fighters / Wings Over Vietnam / Wings Over Europe / Wings Over Israel by Thirdwire> Strike Fighters 1 Series by Thirdwire> SF/WO* Utilities/Editors> Min Max extents

 

http://combatace.com...in-max-extents/

 

It has the description how to install it and use it. It does work in 3dmax2k9 also.

Great model, congrats!

 

That's exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!

 

 

in 1stGens, the decals were working, as I'd done all the nameplates and hull numbers for the Daring DDs. They stopped working (well, for me -- might have to recheck the decals ini)

 

TKs' carriers (CVA63) seem to have working hull numbers. At least, as I recall.

 

I'd say it's a damn fine looking ship!

 

For something less 'cruvy/faceted', we could use some auxiliries ... APAs, AKs, etc (and lots more early destroyers/cruisers!)

 

keep up the work!!

 

wrench

kevin stein

 

Ah, okay. I just tried it out and got decals to show up, but how do I figure out the right coordinates? The ship's hull is a single mesh, and "Position=0.0,0.0" seems to be the center at one side, so it's tricky. Will it just take trial and error, or is there something I'm missing?

 

At some point in the future, I might try to do a Supply class fast replenishment ship (if I can find enough reference materials). She's got CIWS and Sea Sparrows! How's that for "auxilliary?"

 

Well,

 

3/ I may be able to help, what does your UV map look like?

 

4/ Decals work the same for ships as aircraft, at the very least. Is there a way of not having to use the bmp's in every ship folder? I don't know. I just do it the same way as aircraft.

 

5/ These days, 15K polys should be ok. The Daring Wrench mentioned is about that, and works well in game.

 

6/ The Harpoon launchers would be great, how many extra polys?

 

Thanks very much for the Tico BTW, we lack any sort of modern USN carrier escort, Spru-cans being the most modern IIRC. And a Burke (and a Kongo) are not a million miles away.

 

And I'm very glad to have another helo deck to operate from!

 

JB5

 

I still haven't gotten the hang of doing UV maps, so I'm sure they could be a lot better than this:

Superstructure

Hull

Salvagable, or should I just do them over?

 

The Harpoon launchers shouldn't be more than a couple hundred polys total, so I guess it wouldn't be too bad. I might as well add them in just in case the game engine gets an upgrade like Icarus999 said.

 

By the way, I intend to make two data.ini versions for the ship, one with a working flight deck (and thus invincible), and one without (and slightly less invincible). Maybe the flight deck version will have RGM-84s instead of Standard Missiles, and that way there'll be something for everyone.

[logan4]

That's exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!

 

Ah, okay. I just tried it out and got decals to show up, but how do I figure out the right coordinates? The ship's hull is a single mesh, and "Position=0.0,0.0" seems to be the center at one side, so it's tricky. Will it just take trial and error, or is there something I'm missing?

 

Glad to be help.

Regarding the decal positions I'm afraid to say it is a trial and error series. If you didn't yet checked out, then I suggest TK's decal tutorial, out of it page 4 is respective. For basic positions you can use the appropiate view of max and with the cursor you can determine approx value. Then in the game you can see howmuch more to move and if needed also what modifications you have to make to the scale and/or rotation of the decal. The values are in meters.

You can find it here:

http://combatace.com/index.php?autocom=downloads&showfile=345

[+PureBlue]

Very good work

Any plan to include a destroyed lod?

[+Julhelm]

I still haven't gotten the hang of doing UV maps, so I'm sure they could be a lot better than this:

Superstructure

Hull

Salvagable, or should I just do them over?

Rescale the pieces so you don't have any unused texture space. Also you can tile stuff that repeats so if you have two parts that look the same they can use the same texture space. Also make sure you have equal texel resolution all over. The checker map really helps with that.

[+Wrench]

shouldn't you be able to determine distance fore/aft in MAX? Given a known length of vessel; where the port/starboard bow is, and the aft facing surface of fantail??

 

or, given the known length, moving the hull number decal forward x meters, slightly less than half the length? The stern nameplate would DecalFacing=REAR, and the max extent of the stern mesh (at least, thats how the Daring worked)

 

wrench

kevin stein

[topcat II]

Looks Great!!!

[+WhiteBoySamurai]

Okay, the decals are working! I just needed to get the DecalFacing entered right like Wrench said.

I've decided not to redo the skins right now. UVW mapping has been extremely frustrating for me so far, and I'd like to get this model out at least in time for the heat death of the universe.

 

On the other hand, I made a second LOD with only 12000 polys. And the Harpoon launchers are now installed.

 

And here are some "proof of concept" action shots!

 

 

She's almost ready for launch. I could just whip up a .rar with all the folder trees and the ship would be ready to upload. The helo-carrier version will require some more testing though, and I could always add more hull numbers. Do you want to wait until I can release everything as a single package, or is there a pressing need for some AEGIS up in here?

[+WhiteBoySamurai]

I decided to upload the initial version (SM-2s, no helo ops). You can download it here. I hope I didn't forget anything; let me know if there are any problems with it!

 

Just a couple more questions before I start work on the next version:

 

--Could someone point me to a walkthrough of how to make a flight deck? I thought I knew what I was doing at first, but apparently the deck mesh has to be a completely separate .lod file or something??

 

--What's expected of a damaged/destroyed model, especially in terms of ships? I guess I could make a big hole (or more like a big dent) in the hull near the center where missiles are most likely to hit, but beyond that I'm not sure what to do.

 

Thanks again for all your help and support! I hope you enjoy the ship.

[+JimBeamer5]

OK, I've made a helo capable version of the Tico, see your support thread for details.

 

JB5

[+SidDogg]

That looks AWESOME!!!

 

...I don't mean to be a rivet counter but...

 

...did you plan to put in a RAST??? wouldn't be a smallboy without one

 

...just a question from another helo maintainer

 

 

 

 

SidDogg

[+WhiteBoySamurai]

Thanks JimBeamer for the flight deck settings!

 

That looks AWESOME!!!

 

...I don't mean to be a rivet counter but...

 

...did you plan to put in a RAST??? wouldn't be a smallboy without one

 

...just a question from another helo maintainer

 

 

 

SidDogg

 

 

That would be pretty cool, and it would certainly make landing easier, but I don't think it's possible within the game engine.

 

 

...UNLESS perhaps the Seahawk can somehow be modified to deploy a long cable that acts as a tailhook, and then have a small invisible arresting wire in the middle of the deck?

Hmm...

[+SidDogg]

well, check it out.

 

if you MAKE a node for the RAST Probe on the helo itself, and then add RAST(s) to your model...

 

You can use JB5's catapult effect on it, and map it to a RAST release animation...

 

Then, when you are RTB, the RAST will still be traversed outside on the flight deck...

 

...and you can just stick the probe in the middle of the shuttle and land (if you dare).

 

The arrester wire effect should do the rest...

 

 

 

 

SidDogg

[+WhiteBoySamurai]

well, check it out.

 

if you MAKE a node for the RAST Probe on the helo itself, and then add RAST(s) to your model...

 

You can use JB5's catapult effect on it, and map it to a RAST release animation...

 

Then, when you are RTB, the RAST will still be traversed outside on the flight deck...

 

...and you can just stick the probe in the middle of the shuttle and land (if you dare).

 

The arrester wire effect should do the rest...

 

 

 

SidDogg

 

 

Ah, I think I get what you're saying. But I'm not sure if I have the know-how to put it all together in game. Not yet, anyway.

 

I'll see what I can do in the near future, but for now I'm trying to get Harpoons to shoot from the canisters on the alternate version of this ship.

[colmack]

Wow she is one hard girl to get close to, tonite she engaged me at 38 miles when i was messing with with an older sister of her's nice job guys!!

[+WhiteBoySamurai]

Just uploaded a big update to the file. Sorry I couldn't get this out in time for the end of the world.

 

Changes include:

 

-Added Anti-surface/Anti-sub warfare version with RGM-84A

-Added the excellent high-resolution skins by JimBeamer#5

-Added a couple .ini tweaks suggested by Wrench

-Cleaned up the decals a bit

-Made slight imporvements to model

-Added textures for the SPY-1 arrays

 

This will hopefully be the definitive release of the ship. Enjoy!

[+SidDogg]

Hey.

 

have you thought of using VLS for Tomahawks later on?

 

Couldn't help but notice your arrangement...

 

 

 

 

SidDogg

[+WhiteBoySamurai]

Hey.

 

have you thought of using VLS for Tomahawks later on?

 

Couldn't help but notice your arrangement...

 

Yes, definitely.

 

I'm testing the VLS system right now, and it's performing even better than I expected.

 

I'll release the Baseline 2 Ticos next. CG-52 (Bunker Hill) will have Standard Missiles, and CG-53 (Mobile Bay) will have Tomahawks. They're almost ready to go, actually; the textures just need to be updated.

[+WhiteBoySamurai]

Sneak preview of CG-52 and CG-53, with fully-functional Vertical Launch System.

 

 

In one round of testing, I sat on a carrier deck and watched this one ship exterminate five separate enemy flights all over the desert map.

 

 

As promised, the Tomahawk version. Also really fun to watch in action, even if I can't tell what she's shooting at on the other side of the map half the time...

[+PureBlue]

Keeps getting better, great work mate