Much needed ship models found!

[DeepIron]

I spent most of my afternoon trying to convert the .mdl files... to no avail. I set up GMAX, etc... almost got the file to convert to .dxf but the converter barfs...

I can also convert them into intermediate formats, MD2, MD8, BGL and SCA but no further. What's ironic is the converter I'm using in this case has a switch to convert to .dxf as well, but the author won't enable it in his freeware version...

It appears that they are converted to the .mdl format that various versions of MS Flight Simulator uses and cannot be readily converted back to the original formats easily, if at all... They are not simply geometry, they also have a bit of code embedded in them, like a .dll in some aspects.

Too bad, as according to the website, the models are Freeware (used Google Translate on the webpages). The only way it seems to do anything with these is to contact the author for the original files BEFORE they are converted to .mdl

[AG124]

I think it's about time someone contacted the builder of these fine vessels - I just checked over that site, but I don't see an e-mail address anywhere (I can't find one in the readmes either) - at least not one in English. Can anyone help me find one?

[DeepIron]

The author has a blog link on his homepage. You can access the blog and leave a comment for him I guess. I couldn't find an emai link either...

Here's the tranlated URL.... Hit the back button on the top of the page and you'll get his homepage... Good luck!

http://www.google.com/translate?u=ht...&hl=en&ie=UTF8

[AG124]

I'm considering posting a request - I'll have to tell him to contact me through Subsim though, as I don't want to post an e-mail address on a public blog. Thanks.

[miner1436]

A request for what?

[DeepIron]

Originally Posted by miner1436

A request for what?

Sushi... and ice cold Kirin beer....

Nah, seriously... I think AG124 is going to try and contact the creator of these fine ship models for use in SH...

[AG124]

Deepiron is correct. However, I haven't yet decided whether to ask or not.

[miner1436]

Ask him if he would be so kind as to convert them to .obj.

[rodan54]

Is there really a need to scoure the internet, and ask permission, for new ship models? I'm sure there are plenty of capable modelers residing here on subsim that are already modeling new units, and if they haven't already started then they will eventually.

Besides without S3D's import/export support all efforts to add new units are essentially in limbo.

Not trying to downplay your efforts to get new ships ingame miner, but just because no new SH4 models have been shown on Subsim thus far doesn't mean they don't exist.

[zaza]

I had posted this...a few days ago.

SH3 IJN sub chaser modeler CHOMU asked him to
JOIN SH3 modding ships.
CHOMU is Japanese and asked in Japanese ofcurse.
But he is not intersting in sh3 and sh4.....



I dont know he permit convert thease data.
If he will not permit convert data, ask him to where thease
data get from. Hard to get thease plans so on.

[DeepIron]

Is there really a need to scoure the internet, and ask permission, for new ship models?

Well, it's kind of reinventing the wheel in a way. If you've got something to start with, and it's good, and it's free, why not?

I've been buildng new vessels for SH in anticipation of importing them into the sim, and it's a lot of work...

[AG124]

Originally Posted by DeepIron

Well, it's kind of reinventing the wheel in a way. If you've got something to start with, and it's good, and it's free, why not?

Originally Posted by DeepIron

I've been buildng new vessels for SH in anticipation of importing them into the sim, and it's a lot of work...

What ships might you be building?:hmm:

[DeepIron]

What ships might you be building?

I've been working mostly on small coastal craft, both IJN and Maritime. Patrol boats, sea trucks, barges and the like... Sea craft to "fill in" the missing types, like sea trucks which were a mainstay of inter-island and coastal traffic, along with some smaller IJN boats for historical perspective. US subs sank smaller tonnage freighters as the war continued basically because the larger vessels were already "deep sixed"...

I'm also going to do some of the more "huntable" vessels like the Kaibokans (for variety) and I want to do the Yubari (because it was unique). I've also got some of the IJN subs on my list too...

What's holding us up is the inability to create SH4 .dats, something that Skwasjer is actively pursuing in S3D. That, and being able to create an entirely new vessel "from scratch" with all the appropriate config files for testing. tater worked out a lot of the necessary configs and details for the new vessel files, we just need to complete the process.

Try this site.

http://www.the-blueprints.com/index....s/ships-japan/

[DeepIron]

Originally Posted by privateer

Try this site.

http://www.the-blueprints.com/index....s/ships-japan/

Yes, it's a worthy site. I use it to look for details I might be missing...

What's interesting though, is that a number of the images are lifted from the US Naval ONI Recognition Manuals, which I have...