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[Cvan]

I know its rather odd to ask such thing during the alpha, but will there be any modding tools soon?? Something like ship creator, because I'm really confused about all this ship editing, at least for now. I managed to figure out even more complicated things, well I'd say its more time consuming rather than complicated. I would really apreciate something that would make ship editing easier or faster.

[Alex]

We're planning to release the ship editor shortly after the next version (0.35a). So not exactly "soon", but it's definitely on the roadmap.

In the meantime, if you're into making some ships, may I suggest that you get a head start on drawing the sprites? That seems to be the hardest part


... plus, once you have some sprites, you'll probably want to put them in the game, and will be motivated to slog through the ship definition by hand. Which is my ulterior motive in making the suggestion.

[Cvan]

Sprites don't concern me, but rather .ship, wpn. csv. etc. Well I'm at least glad to hear that editor is on its way, in meantime I think I'll have to do some reverse engineering. Thank you for your reply.

[Alex]

If you haven't seen it already, this thread has some info on the specifics, not to mention some very cool ships.

And of course, the mod format preview should give you some baseline info (though I'm assuming you probably looked at that already).

Good luck! I'm happy to answer questions as they come up, btw.

[Avan]

I just cheat on my bounds right now >.>

[Dibuk]

I just cheat on my bounds right now >.>

Same here. Bounds might vey well be the antichrist.

[mendonca]

I just cheat on my bounds right now >.>

Same here. Bounds might vey well be the antichrist.

Or possibly worse? I only have the spirit to do it once, and if it's wrong and a ship accidentally has a massive invisible protrusion that catches missiles, or a hole that shouldn't be a hole, I just shut my eyes and stick my fingers in my ears and shout and pretend I didn't see it.

[Trylobot]

Sprites don't concern me, but rather .ship, wpn. csv. etc. ..., in meantime I think I'll have to do some reverse engineering.

Try this: Custom Ships - Defining Bounds for *.ship data

[Cvan]

This might sound as ignorant question, but wouldn't it be possible to implement something that would automatically calculate bounds?

PS: Thanks Trylobot, this will help me with these annoying bounds. 

[Alex]

This might sound as ignorant question, but wouldn't it be possible to implement something that would automatically calculate bounds?

It does seem like you could do it automatically at first glance.

Doing it manually lets you make more informed decisions about just what you want the collision bounds to be, though.

For example, you might want a certain non-transparent area of the ship to not be collidable (say, a flimsy antenna - it would look silly if the ship stopped dead after hitting something with it, or exploded after it was torpedoed). You can also do a better job of optimizing the bounds manually so they consist of fewer segments, which is good for performance.

[Trylobot]

This might sound as ignorant question, but wouldn't it be possible to implement something that would automatically calculate bounds?

Not only is it possible, it's what Alex uses when he does ship data for official stuff. The only reason we're not already using it, I presume, is because it's not polished enough for the general masses. Further, I haven't actually bothered to write one of my own because it would not only be a waste of time, but could even be detrimental to the modding community once the official tool is released. So for now, as far as the bounding poly is concerned, I just grin and bear iy, because I know a usable tool is already near to being released.

[Alex]

This might sound as ignorant question, but wouldn't it be possible to implement something that would automatically calculate bounds?

Not only is it possible, it's what Alex uses when he does ship data for official stuff. The only reason we're not already using it, I presume, is because it's not polished enough for the general masses. Further, I haven't actually bothered to write one of my own because it would not only be a waste of time, but could even be detrimental to the modding community once the official tool is released.

I *think* he meant some code automatically figuring it out based on transparency values in the sprites.

FWIW, I don't think it'd be detrimental at all - but would end up falling by the wayside when the ship editor is released. Although, that's a couple of months away at this point.

So for now, as far as the bounding poly is concerned, I just grin and bear iy, because I know a usable tool is already near to being released.

Having done it manually for quite a few of the early ships, I feel your pain

[Cvan]

Oh well... I have managed to figure out how bounds work so its much faster and simpler now. I guess I'll start working on Star Trek mod.