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Modding for the Original SWBF1 and SWBF2 => SWBF1 Modding => Topic started by: Shazam on March 11, 2013, 11:39:28 AM

Title: Scout Trooper with Jetpack?
Post by: Shazam on March 11, 2013, 11:39:28 AM
Does anyone know if there has been a Scout Trooper with a jetpack model made? I would like to use it.

Any help is appreciated!
Title: Re: Scout Trooper with Jetpack?
Post by: Unit 33 on March 11, 2013, 12:29:58 PM
You can give any unit jet packs thanks to these handy addon meshes.
http://www.swbfgamers.com/index.php?topic=5565.0
Title: Re: Scout Trooper with Jetpack?
Post by: Shazam on March 11, 2013, 01:22:50 PM
Thanks Unit!

Which jetpack would look best on the Scout Trooper? I'm putting the stock DT one on, but I don't know if it will look very good.
Title: Re: Scout Trooper with Jetpack?
Post by: RepComm on March 11, 2013, 01:27:24 PM
I'd recommend either DarkTroop's or Ep3, maybe if you're good at skinning, change the rep's jet to match scout, but that might get dull after a few plays on the mod.
Title: Re: Scout Trooper with Jetpack?
Post by: Shazam on March 11, 2013, 01:58:51 PM
Thanks, RC. I added the jump pack to the Scout Trooper and it looks... odd.

[spoiler](https://www.swbfgamers.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FWozdzKM.jpg&hash=097dc12a5d7b4914a94a97b1f80a7e7599c0f06c)[/spoiler]

Even after editing the skin of it, that pack just doesn't look right on the Scout. I think I'll try a different model.
Title: Re: Scout Trooper with Jetpack?
Post by: tirpider on March 11, 2013, 02:07:25 PM
The darktrooper pack is an oddball anyway, in the way that it stands off of the back so much.

It's because of the dark troopers posture. He stands like a hunch back compared to the other models.

Still lots of guesswork and compromises when it comes to kitbashing and manipulating parts and pieces.
Title: Re: Scout Trooper with Jetpack?
Post by: RepComm on March 11, 2013, 02:07:55 PM
Lol, he looks like a foot ball player^^
Title: Re: Scout Trooper with Jetpack?
Post by: Shazam on March 11, 2013, 02:20:44 PM
I added a CW jet to the Scout and it looks much better.

[spoiler](https://www.swbfgamers.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FA7OtaBJ.jpg&hash=03b873f7b34e64268920cb37b27780157d85d41b)[/spoiler]

The only issue I found was when I was flying. The flames seem to be detached from the jetpack and look kinda odd.

(BTW, the jet isn't green because I just took out the coloration of it. I'll change it so it matches the Scout later.)
Title: Re: Scout Trooper with Jetpack?
Post by: RepComm on March 11, 2013, 02:27:12 PM
I think you can change the jetpack animation and get that fixed.
What skin is that? It's really weird and sort of neat!
Title: Re: Scout Trooper with Jetpack?
Post by: D4R|< $1D3 on March 11, 2013, 02:32:15 PM
the jet effect your using is JUMP PACK effect if you want you could take the txt from jet trooper and take the effect jet and it will look right also it can be jump pack with jet trooper effect and still if you want it jumpack its possable as well [spoiler]
JetJump       = "6.0"   //7   //The initial jump-push given when enabling the jet
JetPush       = "9.1"   //The constant push given while the jet is enabled (20 is gravity)
JetEffect      = "jetpack"
JetType         = "hover"
JetFuelRechargeRate      = "0.20" //Additional fuel per second (fuel is 0 to 1)
JetFuelCost         = "0.0" //Cost per second when hovering (only used for jet-hovers)(fuel is 0 to 1)
JetFuelInitialCost      = "0.0" //initial cost when jet jumping(fuel is 0 to 1)
JetFuelMinBorder      = "0.0" //minimum fuel to perform a jet jump(fuel is 0 to 1)
[/spoiler] [spoiler]
JetJump          = "21.0"      //The initial jump-push given when enabling the jet
JetPush          = "0.0"   //The constant push given while the jet is enabled (20 is gravity)
JetEffect         = "darktrooper_jetpack"
JetFuelRechargeRate      = "0.06" //Additional fuel per second (fuel is 0 to 1)
JetFuelCost         = "0.0" //Cost per second when hovering (only used for jet-hovers)(fuel is 0 to 1)
JetFuelInitialCost      = "0.45" //4initial cost when jet jumping(fuel is 0 to 1)
JetFuelMinBorder      = "0.45" //minimum fuel to perform a jet jump(fuel is 0 to 1)
[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Scout Trooper with Jetpack?
Post by: Shazam on March 11, 2013, 02:45:27 PM
Quote from: Nɪɴᴇ-ʙᴀʟʟ on March 11, 2013, 02:32:15 PM
the jet effect your using is JUMP PACK effect if you want you could take the txt from jet trooper and take the effect jet and it will look right also it can be jump pack with jet trooper effect and still if you want it jumpack its possable as well [spoiler]
JetJump       = "6.0"   //7   //The initial jump-push given when enabling the jet
JetPush       = "9.1"   //The constant push given while the jet is enabled (20 is gravity)
JetEffect      = "jetpack"
JetType         = "hover"
JetFuelRechargeRate      = "0.20" //Additional fuel per second (fuel is 0 to 1)
JetFuelCost         = "0.0" //Cost per second when hovering (only used for jet-hovers)(fuel is 0 to 1)
JetFuelInitialCost      = "0.0" //initial cost when jet jumping(fuel is 0 to 1)
JetFuelMinBorder      = "0.0" //minimum fuel to perform a jet jump(fuel is 0 to 1)
[/spoiler] [spoiler]
JetJump          = "21.0"      //The initial jump-push given when enabling the jet
JetPush          = "0.0"   //The constant push given while the jet is enabled (20 is gravity)
JetEffect         = "darktrooper_jetpack"
JetFuelRechargeRate      = "0.06" //Additional fuel per second (fuel is 0 to 1)
JetFuelCost         = "0.0" //Cost per second when hovering (only used for jet-hovers)(fuel is 0 to 1)
JetFuelInitialCost      = "0.45" //4initial cost when jet jumping(fuel is 0 to 1)
JetFuelMinBorder      = "0.45" //minimum fuel to perform a jet jump(fuel is 0 to 1)
[/spoiler]

I knew what to do, but thank you though. :)

Quote from: -RepublicCommando- on March 11, 2013, 02:27:12 PM
I think you can change the jetpack animation and get that fixed.
What skin is that? It's really weird and sort of neat!
I made that CC skin last Friday. I might release it today, I've had a lot of people asking about it.  :P
Title: Re: Scout Trooper with Jetpack?
Post by: Shazam on March 11, 2013, 03:30:24 PM
Sorry for the DP...

Can you add the Shock Trooper gear (the thing they have over their shoulder) to a unit using the same method that you use to add a jetpack to a model? I would search it on the site but I'm not sure what it's called...  :unsure:
Title: Re: Scout Trooper with Jetpack?
Post by: RepComm on March 11, 2013, 03:40:07 PM
Quote from: Shazam on March 11, 2013, 03:30:24 PM
Sorry for the DP...

Can you add the Shock Trooper gear (the thing they have over their shoulder) to a unit using the same method that you use to add a jetpack to a model? I would search it on the site but I'm not sure what it's called...  :unsure:
I think you can, just need to know the bone to attach it to. (So it doesn't appear on his back or on his shoes :P)

I don't think there is a shoulder pad thing as a single MSH addon, perhaps someone can 'cut' it off for you^^
Title: Re: Scout Trooper with Jetpack?
Post by: tirpider on March 11, 2013, 04:07:08 PM
The thing on the shoulder is a pauldron.

It's setup a bit different and can't just be attached to a single bone.  It's usually weighted to several bones (clavicle and ribcage) so it would have to be added into the msh.

The troubles that you get with the packs would be more pronounced with things that are supposed to conform to the body.   Where some packs ride high or low, or to close or far off the back of the model, the pauldron would need to be scaled and repositioned to fit the msh it's going to. 

Folks that can get rigged msh's out of ZEtools should have no troubles adding one in.

Hex-editing it in is possible, but fitting is tricky and hard to do well.
Title: Re: Scout Trooper with Jetpack?
Post by: Shazam on March 11, 2013, 07:13:07 PM
Quote from: tirpider on March 11, 2013, 04:07:08 PM
The thing on the shoulder is a pauldron.

It's setup a bit different and can't just be attached to a single bone.  It's usually weighted to several bones (clavicle and ribcage) so it would have to be added into the msh.

The troubles that you get with the packs would be more pronounced with things that are supposed to conform to the body.   Where some packs ride high or low, or to close or far off the back of the model, the pauldron would need to be scaled and repositioned to fit the msh it's going to. 

Folks that can get rigged msh's out of ZEtools should have no troubles adding one in.

Hex-editing it in is possible, but fitting is tricky and hard to do well.

Oh, well all I wanted was to put the pauldron on a Scout Trooper. It's not that big of a deal, though. I just though it would look cooler for my mod.

Thanks for the feedback!
Title: Re: Scout Trooper with Jetpack?
Post by: RepComm on March 12, 2013, 10:08:41 AM
Speaking of hexing a one of those on, how might you do that?
I noticed that when I tried to change TGA names, it crashed because I didn't keep the file length the same...
Is there a byte in the file somewhere that tells it what size it's suppost to be?
It would be cool to have ability to 'sow' things on to troopers :P
Title: Re: Scout Trooper with Jetpack?
Post by: tirpider on March 12, 2013, 11:48:40 AM
I think there are hex-editing tutorials on site. (I hope, because I'm awful at explaining things.)

But yes, there is a byte (4 of them) that has the size for the name lengths.

...

Every tag (TX0D, DATA, ATRB, ect..) has 4 bytes after it, it is a number encoded as a long integer (sometimes refered to as longint or just long) and is the size of the whole tag starting with the first byte after the size field.

For the TX0D field (as well as most the other string fields) the string has to be padded with nulls (at least one) so that it's length is equal to a multiple of 4. Nulls are simply zero values and will look like double zeros because of the way hex editors display things. (00)

So, for "A.tga" (5 bytes long) you need to add 3 nulls.   
A.tga (00)(00)(00)
And it's size will be 8.

Now for fun.

If you change the length of a TX0D string, you have to change it's size, makes sense, right?

Well, you also have to change the size of the container that holds the TX0D (MATD), and the container that holds MATD (MATL), and the container that holds MATL (MSH2), and the container that holds MSH2 (HEDR).

The container tags don't hold data in the same way as the other tags, they just hold other tags.  They just have the 4 letter tag and a size field. The size is the byte-lenghth of all the tags it contains. (except MATL, it's a container, and holds all the MATD tags, but also has the number of MATD's stored as a longint after it's size field.)

If you miss any one of them, the data wont line up and the msh is broken.

I have a msh assembly kit floating around somewhere with a size validation tool that will read and correct all the size fields in a msh.  I don't know where that kit landed on site.. I'll dig up the link and post it here.

I recommend using it if you plan on doing any kind of hex-editing as it automated the process of updating all the size fields at one time. It reduced the possibility for error (And saves a ton of time for those times where 1 edit  leads to 5 or more size field updates.)

The rest of the kit is a pain to use. (found it) Here is that kit: pre-alpha_msh_kit.zip (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/58361588/MSH_Kit/pre-alpha_msh_kit.zip)

The program you want out of it is "TagSizeValidator.exe", just drop a msh file on it and it will save a copy of the msh with the sizes corrected. (It saves the copy as tst_inf_tst.msh cause I was mainly working on units at the time. It can be safely renamed.)... 

Hex-editing is basicly hacking. Taking what you want from here and putting it there, but you need to understand how a lot of the data you are moving works. The size fields are a big part of it, but there are tons of ways to fix or break a msh (or any file) my manipulating the data directly.  In the beginning, it's more art than science.
Title: Re: Scout Trooper with Jetpack?
Post by: RepComm on March 12, 2013, 11:56:50 AM
Hmm, very handy tool indeed!
I think it's funny that the files are so hard to 'hack', they (preverbial they) must have really not wanted us to modify that sort of thing without getting kicked in the hindquarters first :P
Title: Re: Scout Trooper with Jetpack?
Post by: tirpider on March 12, 2013, 12:03:32 PM
I don't think Pandemic was really trying to protect thier property with the msh format. It's just an intermediate format between the modeler and the munger. Every (software) company developes their own way of storing data and Pandemic had already put a lot of effort into molding the msh format with previous titles.

After hunting around the web, and diggging through other file formats, I find it to be rather nice as it has a regular structure throughout and places for a lot of 3d feattures that othe file formats ignore. (that one reason it's so hard to do msh conversions.)

-edit
I wish I was a better programmer, I really enjoy working with the format.
Title: Re: Scout Trooper with Jetpack?
Post by: RepComm on April 18, 2013, 12:47:52 PM
Yes, old topic, I know...
But if someone could get me just the pauldron MSH file, I can put it on the scout trooper in XSI this after noon (I can do it whenever really), I recently figured out how edit jetpacks and packs on and export as a single MSH.
It shouldn't be much different to get pauldron on, expect for putting it on both bones.
Title: Re: Scout Trooper with Jetpack?
Post by: Sereja on April 18, 2013, 01:48:28 PM
Quote from: -RepublicCommando- on April 18, 2013, 12:47:52 PM
But if someone could get me just the pauldron MSH file

Seems, I can do that :):
http://speedy.sh/66Y5n/imp-pauldron.rar (http://speedy.sh/66Y5n/imp-pauldron.rar)
Title: Re: Scout Trooper with Jetpack?
Post by: RepComm on April 18, 2013, 02:24:34 PM
Thanks Sereja! That was speedy :D
I'll get right to work on em.

EDIT: Its done! : http://www.swbfgamers.com/index.php?topic=6340.0
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