[UNIT] Mighty Ships Et Al

[SaibotLieh]

So I tried adding this unit to Civ Col, same way as other units I've been adding so there shouldn't be any mistake on that front, but when checking the unit in the pedia the game freezes, and if spawning it on the map the game crashes. What am I missing?

If it has a custom button, my first guess would be that there is still a comma at the start of the <Button> line.

Otherwise, there could be something wrong with the nif file. Maybe it has a NiSkinPartition, but no shader, or it is shadered, but the format of the model is not set up correctly.

Edit: I had a quick look at the nif file, and the model is shadered, but is missing a NiSkinPartition, which can cause problems. Also I removed the four "Extra Data" entries which are usually not included in units.

 

[Vaeringjar]

I don't understand what you did but it works

 

[MightyToad]

The TCiv4MechNonShader doesn't require a skin partition in BTS. Sabotlieh, I think you found the reason for the crashes Schmiddie has experienced.

 

[SaibotLieh]

The TCiv4MechNonShader doesn't require a skin partition in BTS. Sabotlieh, I think you found the reason for the crashes Schmiddie has experienced.

Interesting how Civ and Col handle details differently. I also removed the NiIntegerExtraData nodes from the NiTriShape, so if adding the NiSkinPartition does not fix Schiddie's problem, maybe removing those does.

 

[MightyToad]

Interesting how Civ and Col handle details differently. I also removed the NiIntegerExtraData nodes from the NiTriShape, so if adding the NiSkinPartition does not fix Schiddie's problem, maybe removing those does.

Blender includes the NiIntergerExtraData things if you have the "Export extra shader textures" enabled in the export settings. I've since disabled that. I know the NiStencilProperty draws both sides of a face instead of one. And the SpecularIntensityIndex makes the unit appear to have gloss. No clue that the rest do.

 

[Walter Hawkwood]

In my experience, TCiv4MechNonShader is a thing to avoid actually - even if it means losing damage states. It's the only "shader" (or rather lack thereof, but specified in the same place) that actually degrades the visual quality on a unit. It somehow messes with Civ 4 lighting and the end result looks much more "flat" than just a non-shadered unit. Its shader counterpart does no such thing and results in much nicer units. But if making a non-shader version of a mechanized unit, I'd rather go for a total lack of shader, as with bipeds.

 

[SaibotLieh]

Blender includes the NiIntergerExtraData things if you have the "Export extra shader textures" enabled in the export settings. I've since disabled that. I know the NiStencilProperty draws both sides of a face instead of one. And the SpecularIntensityIndex makes the unit appear to have gloss. No clue that the rest do.

The standard way to add gloss to units in Civ4 is having a gloss texture entry in the NiTexturingProperty, SpecularIntensityIndex might have a similar effect though.
This is what I know about the standard entries of the NiTriShape/NiTriStrips node:

NiAlphaProperty -> Defines how the alpha channel of the dds file is used for transparency (click on the flag symbol in Flags for options). No NiAlphaProperty mean no transparency.

NiMaterialProperty -> Don't know much about what this does, but if different NiTriShape/NiTriStrips share the same NiMaterialProperty, they all will fade if one is faded via a kf file (during the Die_Fade animation for example).

NiTexturingProperty -> All the references for dds texture files you want to use for the NiTriShape/NiTriStrips go here.

NiTriShape/NiTriStripsData -> Holds the information about the triangles/strips of the model (which is basically the 3d body).

NiSkinInstance -> Information about the rigging of the 3d body to the animation skeleton.

NiStencilProperty -> Can be added to the NiTriShape/NiTriStrips and will make the texture appear on both sides of the triangles/strips instead of only one. However, this can cause problems with illumination effects, since the two sides cannot have different brightnesses (for example, a cape will bright on the inside and outside, although it should be dark on the inside and bright on the outside).

 

[MightyToad]

In my experience, TCiv4MechNonShader is a thing to avoid actually - even if it means losing damage states. It's the only "shader" (or rather lack thereof, but specified in the same place) that actually degrades the visual quality on a unit. It somehow messes with Civ 4 lighting and the end result looks much more "flat" than just a non-shadered unit. Its shader counterpart does no such thing and results in much nicer units. But if making a non-shader version of a mechanized unit, I'd rather go for a total lack of shader, as with bipeds.

Giving up damagestates is difficult choice. But, I think I will start leaving them out of the non shadered nifs. If only for the sake of the colonization guys.

 

[Walter Hawkwood]

To be quite honest, these days I see no reason not to make shadered versions of every unit - and then non-shadered will hardly ever be seen. Their initial "duality" was more relevant back in the days of Civ 4 release where pixel shader 2.0 was far from a given thing to expect from hardware. Nowadays people will only see non-shader units when shadered versions are available if running Civ 4 on legacy hardware. I think even on-board Intel video chips these days support DirectX 9.

 

[MightyToad]

I agree. Who even uses nonshadered units when the shaders version is available? The laptop I use now is 3X more powerful than the desktop I was using when this game came out.
The main drawback is the skin partition can dramatically increase the file size. Still, it's really not a lot. I only see it becoming a problem on huge mods with hundreds of units.

 

[Sword_Of_Geddon]

In tribute to your work I made some missing links and such. Early ship based on Clanky's toonship, War galleon based on Purple's work, thankyou Purple.

Early Mesoamerican Sailing ship, predecessor to the Galley.

Mesoamerican WarGalleon, In between a Galleas and the Frigate.

 

[MightyToad]

The first one is adorable.
The second is a Frankenstein. Lets see... The vanilla galley figurehead. The frigates rigging (maybe privateer). I think the hull is the from the pirate xebec I forget who originally made it. With some extra cannons.
Not bad though. Is this purely reskinning, or did you have any luck with blender?

 

[Sword_Of_Geddon]

just reskinning I just dled and installed blender.

With the War Galleon I know the front is less than ideal. But it was an example of how I imagined an Age of Sail Mesoamerican ship to look. I can import objects if they are a unique file, but I cannot create new ones(yet). For example if you had a seperate nif file for your masthead for the Trireme, I could attach it and make a better war galleon. Probably use a different hull. I think the reskinning for the primitive sailing ship turned out great though.

 

[MightyToad]

just reskinning I just dled and installed blender.

With the War Galleon I know the front is less than ideal. But it was an example of how I imagined an Age of Sail Mesoamerican ship to look. I can import objects if they are a unique file, but I cannot create new ones(yet). For example if you had a seperate nif file for your masthead for the Trireme, I could attach it and make a better war galleon. Probably use a different hull. I think the reskinning for the primitive sailing ship turned out great though.

Yeah, I could probably do that. I actually was thinking that very thing just now. I've started on the first Sherdan unit. I thought why not just make the horned helmet, and just attach it to the Philistine units head bone.
But then you'd have to do the whole shrunken head thing, or make it comically big to hide the original.

 

[MightyToad]

Here it is.

 

[Sword_Of_Geddon]

Yeah, getting the size right, and making it look right can be trouble. For example. I've been looking at a proper base for a Philistine leader. Thinking this:

Thankyou I'll do something with that and spruce it up. War Galleon. I'm assuming you still have plans in the future to do a true Frigate, and Galleas too. I will probably make a Medieval War galley. Using your Trireme.

 

[MightyToad]

That dude looks cool. Yes, I intend to make a mesoamerican galleass as soon as these sea people are in the rear view. I don't know if it will be an entire Renaissance line up yet. I think the grenade slinger idea for Matsudas japanese unit would be better for a grenadier.
That is really the extent of the thought I put into it so far.

 

[Sword_Of_Geddon]

They had guns at one point that fired grenades. Napoleonic times I think. Ancestor of Grenade Launcher. Are you talking about Philistines/Sea People with guns? That is madness.....the horror

Galleas looking forward to. Frigate I imagine something like your african ship.

Found out about the Putun, a seafaring, trading civilization that were related to the Mayans, said to be direct descendants of the Olmecs, and had an extensive trade network all the way up to Canada. They had cities up the Mexican coast. They traded with the Taino in the Caribbean, Mississippian culture, spreading knowledge and ideas.

This was a ship they had:

Make a good UU perhaps if one wanted to make a Putun Civilization.

Also I made this:

New Sails, and I redid the hull with a wood texture from another ship. What do you think?

 

[MightyToad]

No, not sea people. I'm talking about a mesoamerican grenadier. One that uses peltast animations like Matsudas Japanese grenade slinger. Sea people with grenades is just madness.

I like the sail texture. The wood needs more work.

 

[Sword_Of_Geddon]

I could do more with the EU4 Early Frigate I think, with the quetzal head. Also, I could retexture a Eu4 Ship of the Line. I have something alittle different with that in mind. Up to you.

The Putun sailing canoe looks like the Haida Trireme/Sailing Galley you made. I could probably make it by retexturing...hmmm