I guess that does sound like a good idea, although it might be a good idea to release a couple of smaller merchants early as there is a demand for this type of ship. It's entirely up to you, of course. I personally don't have much time to play right now anyway because of university, but I would like to receive a new MVP over the holidays (early 2006 is alright too).

Sorry, but I'm not that familiar with the modifications you describe. I've only been repositioning 3d objects and occasionally modifying dimensions, vertex points, etc - not UV mapping.

BTW - Iambecomelife, I know you're not releasing your merchants yet, but I was just wondering how it was coming along and if you are having succes with any new ones?

I am trying some 3d editing with the Transport and Small Merchant, but it will take some time to get used to it (what is this option I should select when making 3d changes? The one which keeps the textures from being screwed up, I think?) I haven't made any real progress yet.

Hopefully, someone will eventually post a brief tutorial on how to import objects from other ships (cranes, funnels, etc.) and how to position them.

I can't really give advice about preventing texture problems because I'm having a LOT of them right now. I'm working on the C-2 and it keeps on getting displayed with the deck textured as the hull, and vice versa. This isn't funny anymore :damn: . I thought I'd found out how to avoid this, but apparently not.

Inserting objects from other ships is easy; just use pack3d to extract all 3d objects on a ship and save the extracted funnel, mast or whatever as the corresponding object on the unit you're editing. For instance, if you wanted a small merchant funnel on a C-2 you would extract all of the small merchant's files in pack3d, save NKSS_cosh as NKLS_cosh, fire up Pack3d, and import the modded NKLS_cosh where the original went. There is a directory tree in Pack3d that opens up to list all of the 3d components, making it easy to insert the objects you've modified. I use trial and error to position the objects correctly.

Still no progress with the textures. Strange that I managed to edit the hull of the NKGN just fine for the ore carrier and short-funneled merchant, but ran into so many texture problems with the stock ships. The error always occurs when I edit the hull, and occurs immediately after using pack3d. When I detail in Pack3d what texture each portion of the hull should be, Pack3d gives me a Java error.

What are you making from a C2 anyway? Could another hull be sufficient, or could you use an unedited hull - probably not but I don't know.

I'm using the C-2 for a class of freighter mass produced by the British starting circa 1941. Many of these ships had the "Empire" prefix to their names, although this could be applied to any British merchant vessel regardless of class. A typical example would be the "Empire Tide", one of the few survivors from PQ-17. Here's a pic of her postwar:

http://www.clydesite.co.uk/clydebuil...E_TIDE_945.jpg

I think her superstructure didn't have those "streamlined" corners until after the war.

@ iambecomelife (or anyonelse)

Please lets us know if you get a handle on the texture mixups with new ships.
I've been modding the AuxCruiser for my model of the sister ships of Blue Star Lines - Refrigerated Cargo Liners (www.bluestarline.org/sydney1.html)
And the adjustments I've made to the superstructure made the textures go to sh*t lol.
I've got timber deck textures all over the hull and bits and pieces everywhere. :oops:

At the moment I'm concentrating on changing the model and getting the cranes in and places changed etc (this being my 1st model, you'd think using solidworks in my job this would have been easy, but no so :damn: )
I'm also gathering to get rid of some of the guns from the auxcruiser I'd edit the .esp (sp??) file to make then non-existant until latter on??

Anyway i'll keep plodding on and get around to textures later.

Snowsub

Did you see my Pyro class Ammunition Freighter thread? I am working on the same parent unit (Transport) and have had relatively minor texture problems. The changes I made to the superstructure involved mainly lowering most of it so that the deck was flush aft of the bridge; I also replaced the vents with cranes, moved the funnel and rear mast without any effect on textures. Have a look at the screenshots in that thread. There are problams visible - are they as bad as your problems with textures?

BTW - Iambecomelife and Sergbuto, are your merchants coming along all right? How many do you have completed, and how many are you still working on? With so many people starting to work on new ships, I have the feeling we will be seeing a lot of them soon, maybe in a month's time. :hmm:

Yep AG124, saw your WIP, looks cool :up: :up:
My current changes are sliding the rear face of the front superstructure forward nearer the bridge, extending the rear half of the middle supertructure and moving the square piece back nearer the rear, near where the funnels are going to be.

After updating the dat textures went awry :down:

But as noted before I'll try and get the Model down pat 1st.
Notice instances of reflect and shd in the dat (obj's) gathering they do the water reflection and shadows? (Have changed them yet though).
Should I be doing them as I do the main body changes to stop having alot to do later on or just wait till later and update?

At the moment my texture issues are so bad I'm not close to releasing anything new. The frustrating thing is that Pack3d used to at least let me work with the NKGN; now, even this is acting up. I might try out an older verion of pack3d. I am also trying to use Maya instead of Wings3d but I'm just not comfortable with it yet. Not only that, but I have no idea if Maya will prevent the texture problems seen with Wings3d. I know that for the ore carrier I had exactly the type of texture error your new model has but in that case at least the hull skin was on the hull. I successfully assigned the deck skin to the correct surfaces with Pack3d's materials menu. Now the NKGN gives me totally blank ships, and the other vessels have the deck all over the hull. I can't wait until someone nails this issue. There's no point in working on 3d editing if the ship's skins are going to be nonexistent or freakish-looking.

AG124, what version of Pack3d are you using? Can you take me step by step through your importation process? Your Pyro Class is noteworthy because you got a vessel other than the NKGN to show the hull correctly. Sorry to be a pain.

BTW, snowsub, I'm really glad someone's working on the Blue Star Line's ships. I've always liked their layout and paint schemes. It would be nice if we could have actual Blue Star passenger/cargo vessels in game, instead of the current Merchant Variety Pack's Victory Ships in Blue Star drag.

i've also problems with the texturing when editing the hull. For only doing objects-things, i still use the last non-windows pack3d. Works fine and fast.

I had an idea for a working trap-ship/Q-ship, but the hidden guns do not work fine yet.

As long as the texture problem is not solved, i stop the work on Mahan, and i think and i will complete the Q-ship. Although the Mahan looks very fine so far, 12 meters or ten percent in lenght is nothing you could overlook :roll:

I'd trade a chance to submit 100 models to be adapted by Ubisoft's devs for one program that could handle texturing, node placement, and 3d editing accurately. I definitely don't intend to slight Sansal or any other tool-makers, who have done amazing work for comparatively little recognition and no pay.

However, I have a feeling we can solve this. I remember when it seemed impossible to get the Merchant Variety Pack to work, but eventually it happened. I rememeber creating the Hospital Ship shortly after getting SH3 and thinking it would never be released becuase of the museum CTD-bug, but sure enough, we found a way around that. I also remember cloning units the old-fashioned way for hours on end, knowing that one mistake could ruin the file and thinking it would take us weeks to produce a mere aircraft. Now, the process takes secconds. We've come too far for a couple of puny mtl files to stop us - we'll definitely find a way. :up:

Don't worry, you're not being a pain. I will see of there is anything I can do to help. :up:

I am not sure what version of pack3d I am using - I think it is the first Windows interface release. I downloaded it quite some time ago; I know that.

These are the steps I took with the NPTR:

- I copied them to a folder on the desktop and named them NFRT - I originally intended to make a regular style freighter first (SS Rose Castle).

- I cloned the unit, then extracted the files. The program only extracted an empty folder first, so I closed it an tried again. This doesn't always happen. I didn't rename any of the extracted files.

- After opening them in Wings3d, I used the function you showed me to eliminate the superstructure parts I didn't want - I right clicked, chose to move on the y axis, and lowered the superstructure to deck level. The first lowered part caused the mistexturing you see in the screenshots, the rest of the changes caused no problems.

- I removed some of the vents and lifeboats by reducing their uniform scale to 0%.

- I replaced three sets of double vents with cranes, and eventually replaced the forward mast as well. The double cranes appear to be the same colour as the hull, except for the small one from the troopship, which is still white.

- Each time I made a change, I reimported the model - one change at a time (well, after a while, 2 or 3 changes at a time). I accessed the .dat, chose the part I wanted to replace, and imported over it.

I am going to try some changes to the Small Merchant, TugBoat, and maybe the Liberty Ship starting this Thursday. I may have the Ammunition Freighter ready for release at this time as well.

One thing I can't figure out is how to reposition the flag, and smoke. I would also like to know how to set compartments and deck cargo areas. :-?