Thunder on the Horizon Naval Sets

[dacubz145]

So i followed your instructions a lot better than i thought i would I get lost on the third step, everything else went pretty well. First got a question - when you load in your new unit, do you delete that skeleton? So when i got to step three i got into edit mode, selected the verticy, found out how to change the vertex group thing but i dont get it. I am doing a carrier - and everything is under DUMMY_carrier_hull already. I thought that is what i should be changing them to. Do i change them all to that, or how do i know which ones not to. Also the skeleton is like 10 times bigger than the mesh of my carrier. does that matter?

 

[GeneralMatt]

First got a question - when you load in your new unit, do you delete that skeleton?

Do you mean the unit you are attempting to convert? I imagine you would as it would be the skeleton attached to whatever animations it uses in the game it is from.

So when i got to step three i got into edit mode, selected the verticy, found out how to change the vertex group thing but i dont get it. I am doing a carrier - and everything is under DUMMY_carrier_hull already. I thought that is what i should be changing them to. Do i change them all to that, or how do i know which ones not to.

Which unit did you import? If it was a Civ 4 unit already it would already be rigged. I do not have any experience with the Civ 5 units, so perhaps they use a similar system. If so, as in the first case, if you delete its original skeleton, without "Clearing Parent" it will retain the vertice weighting which does save some work if you are trying to convert a unit with quite a few bones, like say, a human figure. Just be aware that bones one one skeleton are often not named the same as bones on other skeletons, even of human figures.

At any rate, if you want to test it out, in object mode, with the mesh selected, go to Parent/Clear Parent/Clear Parent before attaching the mesh to the skeleton.

Also the skeleton is like 10 times bigger than the mesh of my carrier. does that matter?

Not necessarily as long as everything lines up well. It might be simpler to just scale the mesh up though ('S'). That reminds me, 'R' also rotates.

Hopefully that all makes sense.

 

[Hian the Frog]

GeneralMatt,

One simple request: when you don't add the anim, please tell us what to use. If possible, add a readme.

I have added and tested some of your ships. It's perfect, as usual.

Thanks.

 

[GeneralMatt]

Ah, I apologise, I was going to mention it but it slipped my mind. In the case of the Ship of the line units it would be the ship of the line from BTS, the Constitution would use the frigate's animations I imagine.

 

[dacubz145]

Do you mean the unit you are attempting to convert? I imagine you would as it would be the skeleton attached to whatever animations it uses in the game it is from.



Which unit did you import? If it was a Civ 4 unit already it would already be rigged. I do not have any experience with the Civ 5 units, so perhaps they use a similar system. If so, as in the first case, if you delete its original skeleton, without "Clearing Parent" it will retain the vertice weighting which does save some work if you are trying to convert a unit with quite a few bones, like say, a human figure. Just be aware that bones one one skeleton are often not named the same as bones on other skeletons, even of human figures.

At any rate, if you want to test it out, in object mode, with the mesh selected, go to Parent/Clear Parent/Clear Parent before attaching the mesh to the skeleton.



Not necessarily as long as everything lines up well. It might be simpler to just scale the mesh up though ('S'). That reminds me, 'R' also rotates.

Hopefully that all makes sense.

Yes I am converting Ark Royal class which obvoiusly was first a civ 4 unit, but it has been improved in civ 5 i beleive, but really i am doing it since it is the only carrier i have previously converted

 

[dacubz145]

So i figured out that for whatever reason, when i change one vertex to dummy_carrier_hull that they all change, but when i try to export it says it cant because i have unweighted meshes. It then says it has selected the verticies that arent weighted, to make them easily indentified but i cant tell which ones arent weighter and really dont even know what i means for them to be weighted

 

[GeneralMatt]

The term weighted comes from the fact that you can attach a vertice to more than one bone but you can have some bones have more "weight" than others, so they will move the vertice more than the other bones.

In our case we just need it to attach to one.

'A' selects/deselects all, you can use that to your advantage when trying to make sure you get everything. You do not have to weight one vertice at a time.

If I were trying to attach a turret, I'd do the following. I would first attach the turret to the appropriate bone and then I would "invert" the selection, (Ctrl+I) which would give me every other vertice in the mesh, and attach that to the hull.

One way to 'un-weight' any vertices from just one bone is to hit 'Remove' instead of 'Assign' when the appropriate vertices and the appropriate bone (in the list) are selected.

Select/Deselect select or deselect, respectively, all the vertices attached to the bone that had been chosen in the list. That is also useful.

 

[dacubz145]

Still cant get it to work although what you just said helped, this is what i did
1)Import original carrier, deleted mesh.
2)imported ark royal, deleted skeleton.
3)Clicked ark royal mesh and removed parent.
4)parented the skeleton and mesh.
5)Press a (selected all)
6)Changed it to DUMMY_carrier_hull
7)Pressed Assign

says there is unweighted meshes so what did i do wrong? Do i need to delete the skeleton now? Because if I do it exports fine. Here is what i am working on

Edit: If i remove skeleton and export it, it works in game, meaning if i set it up with carrier kfm in xml then it shows up in pedia fine (usually doesnt), but it is not animated (I am assuming once i animate it, that means when it dies it sinks etc.) as when it battles nothing happens

 

[GeneralMatt]

It seems to export for me, with the skeleton, so I am not sure what the problem is... What is the "weight" number immediately under the drop down list of the bones? Make sure that is set to 1.00.

You do need to export it with the skeleton or otherwise it won't animate as the skeleton is necessary for that.

 

[stolenrays]

Nice to see more ships. I've noticed there are usually tons of new ground/air units, but few naval ones.

 

[dacubz145]

It seems to export for me, with the skeleton, so I am not sure what the problem is... What is the "weight" number immediately under the drop down list of the bones? Make sure that is set to 1.00.

You do need to export it with the skeleton or otherwise it won't animate as the skeleton is necessary for that.

Hmm weird... I did two ships already and both i need so save it, exit and load it and then it works Weird but atleast it works. But thanks for the help! Got two ships already done. I am assuming that making them break + sink is more complicated but i will worry about that later

 

[GeneralMatt]

Making them break on sinking would require a new animation as I do not believe there is any current sinking animations that work as such.

If they work correctly, they should use the sinking animations of whichever unit to which they are attached.

 

[dacubz145]

Making them break on sinking would require a new animation as I do not believe there is any current sinking animations that work as such.

If they work correctly, they should use the sinking animations of whichever unit to which they are attached.

They do not sink They fire great and everything but when battle ends it just ends and the unit disapeears.

 

[The_Coyote]

great models

 

[GeneralMatt]

Thanks Coyote, and everyone else.

dacubz: I honestly am not sure what is up with that, unless the sinking animation is not in the correct location. Perhaps you forgot to paste it into the folder of the new unit?

 

[dacubz145]

That would probably be it...what files do i need to place in the units folder?

 

[GeneralMatt]

If you are linking to a kfm file in a non default location (ie, if you copied and pasted the carrier kfm into the folder for your new unit) you just need to make sure to copy all the important kf files in that folder as well. You need not worry about the "damage" kfs but, in the case of the carrier you want carrier_md_diea.kf, carrier_md_diea_fade.kf, carrier_md_fortifya.kf, carrier_md_fortifya_idle.kf, carrier_md_hurta.kf, carrier_md_idle.kf, carrier_md_strikea.kf, carrier_md_xfadein.kf and carrier_md_xfadeout.kf.

Keep in mind that, if you do this, for the unit to work in the interface (ie, Civilopedia and on the bottom left in the main screen) you must also have in the folder a copy of your main nif file named whatever the name of the default unit is, ie, carrier.nif, for the carrier.

 

[dacubz145]

Is there an easy way to see which verticie is pointed to what? I know how to set it but I want to know what it is currently on since I want to try to animate some planes and i think it would be easiest to just see another persons work to see where to point things