[WIP] I want to put a model of my captain in the conning tower

[james_nix]

I want to put a model of my captain in the conning tower. There are already sailors up there, I want to put a model in that blank space when you pan out in camera view.

The models are already created in game, I just need to find the script that puts the people where.

Anyone have any ideas?

[james_nix]

I thought I was close. My theory was to edit the crew cfg's. Add a new person, my captain, then assign him permanent watch on the conn tower.

I just can't figure out how to get that fifth person up there. I wonder if it has something to do with the 3d sub model?

I have Sil3nt Editor but I can't find anything about where the crew goes. Is there another editing program out there?

[ReallyDedPoet]

Do a search for the member Ducimus, he has a thread for SH4 about adding crew members. Might be some helpful info there.

Welcome to SUBSIM by the way :-).

[james_nix]

Originally Posted by ReallyDedPoet

Do a search for the member Ducimus, he has a thread for SH4 about adding crew members. Might be some helpful info there.

Welcome to SUBSIM by the way :-).

Thanks! I play for short increments, get frustrated and quit. Read some more and try again. I don't want to start a campaign until I get the basics understood, so I am just experimenting with quick missions.

I just discovered that during battle stations a crewman fills that empty spot, the spot where "you" stand looking through the binoculars. If I can just find that flag, I think that would be the ticket!

[james_nix]

Wow. I can't figure out that watch rotation on the bridge. I think I have to play around with the sil3nt editor and hone in on that WCS_05dummy.

I have a weird customization mania. I want to edit the .dds files and see my own custom caption on the bridge.

I'd be happy to put him in that one spot on the conning tower where the officer stands but after tweaking the .upc files I couldn't find the pattern for that either.

I'll try again later. Sometimes you just need to step back and get a fresh perspective.

[james_nix]

I just want to make the conning officer of the watch look the same all the time.

I wonder if I'm wasting time in the upc files and my solution is in the cfg files?



Actually I just had an idea. I can make the sailor in the wcs_05 slot NULL for battle stations, then add an officer crew member there in Sil3nt3d. It might work!

EDIT: No because of the shift rotations....???

[james_nix]

Ok! I think I got it!

I copied the rank of ENS and renamed it XXX. The three ensigns/XXX stand watch, so I linked the new rank to a different and new uniform set. So those three officers on the conn watch rotations where unique uniforms!

All I have to do now is edit an officer hat with some scrambled eggs and add a commander rank and voila! Captain on the conn!

All that is left is to is make a new crewman3d.upc with the new uniform set and make all of the heads the same. I'll have too fool with that tomorrow.

EDIT: Well poo. The games crashes if I make a new entry [CrewMember3D 7] in th eupc. Back to the drawing board.

EDIT: I figured it out! I had to add an entry int the UPClocalization

[james_nix]

NM

I so close! I have all of the ENS on the conn wearing agent clothing!

[james_nix]

Ok. All I have to do is add a hat with the scrambled eggs.

This model is totally unique, only he has this head or the uniform with the commander rank.

In short, I just made all the the deck watch officers have the same model.

I could use any head, maybe I will change it later.

I'm going to put another random model behind him, and add a smoking animation if I can.

Wow! You can't believe the frustration to get this far. I think I was modding more than playing!

EDIT: He is transparent because I have the AA and graphics settings modded and tweaked way up to squeeze all the life I can out of the old SHIV graphic engine.

[Lt commander lare]

Looks Good don't give up I have found modding is a lot of fun but also tasking too looks great so far.


Lt Cmdr Lare

[TorpX]

Originally Posted by james_nix

Wow! You can't believe the frustration to get this far.

Oh, I believe it.

You're doing good, though.

[derekb525]

if you really want to get into it. Maybe you could add a new node for a character model to each compartment. Then assign a new slot in the crew management page to each of those compartments. That way you can move your captain around the boat. Just leave the spot empty on the crew page if he's not in that room.

[merc4ulfate]

Toprx isnt there a fix for that translucent head on crew like in his photo?

[iambecomelife]

Great job... I have learned from this thread. I'd always assumed new ranks would cause the game to crash, but apparently they can work.

[TorpX]

Originally Posted by merc4ulfate

Toprx isnt there a fix for that translucent head on crew like in his photo?

I've always just gone with the RFB 'fix'. I don't know if that is optimum or not. His screen looks about as good as mine, though.
My graphics card is an Nvidia GT8500, and is not the best, so I don't expect perfection.