WIP - Three Freighters - CTD, some problems

[AG124]

I am trying to make two new freighters now. The two parent units are the Small Merchant and Liberty Ship. However, 3d changes are causing both new units to CTD. Here is what I did.

1. Small Merchant: I opened the bridge (which is a separate part from the main hull) and imported part of the bridge from the Transport. This part actuually worked, but the new bridge stuck out over each side. I resized it and tried again - this time it crashed the game. I tried something different - I used part of the SM's bridge itself, but the game crashed again. Here is a picture:

http://img473.imageshack.us/img473/6854/bridge010pt.jpg

2. Liberty Ship: I reduced the main superstructure by lowering it almost to deck level with the intention of importing a new superstructure. I made sure to do the same thing with the stern half of the damage model as well. But the game crashed instantly. I tested the ship without any changes, so it is named correctly and is cloned properly. Here is a picture.

http://img473.imageshack.us/img473/5773/hull018yo.jpg

Can anybody tell me what I'm doing wrong? Similar changes to the Transport caused no problems at all.

[AG124]

BTW - I am also working on converting the Tug Boat to a Coastal Tanker like the two from AOD and the one from Silent Hunter 1. I have never seen a real one, but it seems something must have inspired these three designs. The tonnage will be between 1000-2000 tons - I haven't decided yet.

I am encountering minor deck texture problems, as with the Transport, bu no CTD's.

[iambecomelife]

I can't tell what might be going wrong, unfortunately. I know I've already mentioned this, but did you ever use "extrude"? That always made my early ships cause Museum CTD's. Also, have you been inserting additional textures into the DAT file or Wings3d?

If you want to hide the Liberty Ship superstructure you should probably scale it to 0% instead of putting it in the hull. Is it necessary for it to be there, or did you just want to get rid of it? I'm not sure this is your problem, though.

A tip: resizing objects with that "connect-the-dots" pyramid icon seems to cause less compatibility problems (select adjacent vertices).

That's an excellent-looking bridge; I hope you get it to work.

[AG124]

did you ever use "extrude"?

No.

Also, have you been inserting additional textures into the DAT file or Wings3d?

No. Not sure how, anyway.

If you want to hide the Liberty Ship superstructure you should probably scale it to 0% instead of putting it in the hull. Is it necessary for it to be there, or did you just want to get rid of it? I'm not sure this is your problem, though.

It never caused aby problems with the Ammunition Carrier. This would be a better option anyway though, but won't the missing part of the superstructure leave a hole in the deck?

That's an excellent-looking bridge; I hope you get it to work.

Thanks. I had a better looking one though:

http://img334.imageshack.us/img334/7518/bridge039ou.jpg

It too crashes the game.

This is the version of the last one, but in which the Transport bridge part has not been resized. It sticks over each side as it way too wide, but it works in the game. :-? It appears black though, but no other textures are affected.

http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/79/bridge023gb.jpg

[iambecomelife]

Another thing: I don't work on the damaged halves themselves; instead I delete half of each model, distort the metal near the break with the "rotate" function, and save the halves as
[unitname]_F.obj, [unitname]_B.obj. I haven't worked extensively with these objects but I thnk the changes to NLL_F/B may be to blame.

[AG124]

I just got one of the bridges to work. Here is a shot - no other changes here yet.

http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/7739/dtemp019so.jpg

Now to see if I can get the better one to work.

[AG124]

Now I can't make changes to the hull. If I lower any part of the superstructure, or reduce it to 0%, the game crashes. It will load into the Museum, but I get a CTD when clicking on the freighter.

:damn:

[AG124]

Just tried to make another freighter from the Small Merchant - yet another CTD. :( No matter what I do, the game continues to crash. I just can't understand what I'm doing wrong. Has anyone else had problems with the Small Merchant?

[AG124]

Never mind - it's working now. I might have a 2,153 ton Norwegian freighter finished before I go to bed. The only problem will be that I will have to leave the flag floating in the air if I am to position the rear mast correctly. Maybe the dev's can fix this?

[AG124]

I am now working on making the Norwegan freighter Belize from the Small Merchant. It is going OK for the most part, but now I have a very strange CTD that I have never had before. :huh: The Museum loads fine, and I can click on the Belize and view her with no problem. But when I click on another ship and click on the Belize again, the game crashes. I have no idea why this would happen.

[iambecomelife]

You've got me totally stumped here. :hmm: All I can say is try not to use too many parts from other ships in a mod, since this seems to be a common source of trouble.

BTW, where's your photo of the Belize from? She doesn't have her pic on uboat.net.

[AG124]

My Source is Marine Disasters and Shipwrecks of Newfoundland and Labrador, vol. 2, by J. P. Andrieux.

It seems that importing part of the Coastal Merchant's bridge caused the crash. I think I can get around it, but I will have to wait until next weekend, as I am going back to University in 2 hours.

[AG124]

I've decided to let the two dev team members re-zone my ships, as this is one step that I cannot do myself. The Ammo Carrier is one which particularly needs to be re-zoned - it currently has the compartments of a troop transport, which just isn't realistic. :-? Also, they could fix the textures, change the position of the smoke, and change the position of the flag. Unless someone here has worked any of this out yet?

I will submit the Ammo Carrier first, to see how this works out, then I will send others. When I have at least 5 new ships I will release them together.

[snowsub]

With the flag position: how did the modders who made the various destroyers, etc get around that?

I've found no great crashes with my refrigerated cargo yet, and I've been widening the hull, and re-positioning the superstructure, creating a raised platform at the rear by stretching the hull and moving surfaces.
I've still goto widen the hull some more, from the 15m stock upto 23m. though stretching screws the textures, which I've yet to fully fix in some places.

Good luck with them :up: :up:

[thasaint]

can't wait to sink 'em ag124

[AG124]

With the flag position: how did the modders who made the various destroyers, etc get around that?

I don't know. Is there anyone here who could help me with that? I guess it's just as well to let the dev's change the positions though, as I still have to let them change the zones anyway.

I've found no great crashes with my refrigerated cargo yet, and I've been widening the hull, and re-positioning the superstructure, creating a raised platform at the rear by stretching the hull and moving surfaces.
I've still goto widen the hull some more, from the 15m stock upto 23m. though stretching screws the textures, which I've yet to fully fix in some places.

A refrigerated freighter :huh: ? I was originally going to make one from the Large Cargo (NKGN) but cancelled it. What are you using for your parent model, and what will the completed ship look like?

[snowsub]

AG124:

Base model for my modding is the Auxilliary Cruiser.
Type of Ship: Blue Star Lines series of sister ships: Australian Star, New Zealand Star, Sydney Star, Auckland Star etc Found on http://www.bluestarline.org/bluestarships_alphabetic.html
of which the wellington, melbourne, empire and auckland star were damaged/sunk during ww2 (soon to be us :lol: )

Basically chose the aux cruiser cause it was the closest length to the blue star ships, but i had to stretch the width from 15m for the aux, to 23m for the real thing, also added the raised rear to the aux and am in the middle of doing final width resize and changing most of the pipes to cranes, then texture etc.

Once I get the size and cranes in i'll show a WIP.

[AG124]

Back working again. This time I am making progress with the Rose Castle Ore Carrier - I am even changing the shape of the bow without trouble this time. The strange thing is, I have absolutely no texture problems at this stage (not even on deck), and no upside-down flag. However, when I click on the Rose Castle, and on any other modded ship, I get a CTD. Stock ships do not cause any problem, nor does either modded ship by itself. I've decided to send the dev team my models to let them add the finishing touches - tonight I will send the Pyro to see how it goes (after I make her flush-decked :cool:. Or at least try to.).

Here is a picture of the Rose Castle. The parent unit will be the Liberty Ship.

http://uboat.net/allies/ships/photos/ca/rose_castle.jpg

[AG124]

Never mind - making her flush-decked actually makes the textures and hull a complete mess.

[AG124]

Does anyone know how to get rid of deck cargo? I need to get rid of a couple of containers to get the superstructure right.

[iambecomelife]

Does anyone know how to get rid of deck cargo? I need to get rid of a couple of containers to get the superstructure right.

Several of the nodes (listed in Pack3d under non3d object) should control deck cargo. You could try substituting them for some 3d part that you then render invisible, but I'm not sure exactly how this is done. I typically use the NKGN to avoid this problem, so I'm unsure as to the exact solution.

Speaking of deck cargo, the containers that SH3 ships carry have always bothered me. They remind me too much of something that would be seen on a modern container ship, instead of a WWII vessel. I've disguised them as stacks of crates in an unreleased mod, but I doubt that crates would have been stacked that high.

[Der Teddy Bar]

I feel that there is too much regularity of deck cargo, very boaring and over the top.

The cargo.cfg file controls this.

[AG124]

I see the nodes you are talking about, and I think there are other nodes for the flag and smoke as well, among other things. I am not going to try to do anything with any of it yet.

[iambecomelife]

I feel that there is too much regularity of deck cargo, very boaring and over the top.

The cargo.cfg file controls this.

I edited the file to make all deck cargo appear after the war was over, but I still encountered merchants with it. Maybe something else controls it as well.