Request from the Fate of the Galaxy team

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Request from the Fate of the Galaxy team

CountBuggula
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Post by CountBuggula » Mon Mar 09, 2015 3:39 pm

Hello and greetings from the FreeSpace Open Star Wars total conversion mod! We're all big fans of the work you guys have done over the years, and while we've up to now made a commitment to only using our own model and texture resources, we've come across a situation where we'd like to look into the possibility for an exception: the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer.

We don't have any plans to make it a full-fledged in-game model, as we're not sure how we'd manage to balance it within our engine. We are, however in need of a LOD model to use in the background for missions, where you'd never be able to actually approach it - and the model made by Dragon/ General Trageton would be perfect for that, if we can get your permission to use it.

We did some preliminary tests to see how well it would work in our engine (these are internal-only tests and not to be distributed in any way without your permission), and the results were great. In Zookeeper's own words:
What I did is re-UV the model and bake the original textures into one single large 4096x4096 texture (FS2O can't handle a huge number of separate textures), as well as making it completely symmetrical on both sides to save on unwrapping effort and texture space (because for a backdrop model we don't need it perfectly film-accurate). I also somewhat crudely split the resulting texture into a diffuse map and a glowmap so the lights stay bright even in shadow, and baked in some engine glows to the glowmap as well. I might end up adding some simple blisters or lines to the surface plating as normal map details.

Due to the way the textures have been re-baked, some close-up details such as the bridge and hangars have much less detail than on the original due to their UV area (in pixels) being much smaller than on the original; this is not a problem for us since you're not supposed to see the ship up close in the first place.
Here's a few screenshots of what the end result is in our engine alongside some of our other models:
image1
image2
image3
image4

Please let me know if we're able to get permission to use this model for this purpose, and feel free to contact me by PM if needed for any additional details or questions you might have.

P.S. Great work on the new Craft Pack! I'm so glad to see you all still breathing life into such a great old game.

Fek'LeyrTarg
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Post by Fek'LeyrTarg » Tue Mar 10, 2015 1:19 pm

Hi there. FekLeyrTarg from the Hard-Light forums here. :)

Yes, using that model to see the Executor from the distance sounds good.

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Forceflow
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Post by Forceflow » Tue Mar 10, 2015 3:31 pm

It would be best to contact Dragon and GT directly via PM. They are the only ones who can give you permission to use the model. They are both still active and frequent the forum. Shouldn't take too long to get an answer.
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Vince T
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Post by Vince T » Tue Mar 10, 2015 4:31 pm

You got my OK, as long as full credit is given(remember to include Enterprise-E as well)
Your ship, Captain. I need a drink. - Vince Trageton
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Dragon
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Post by Dragon » Tue Mar 10, 2015 9:42 pm

You got my OK too.
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Post by durka » Wed Mar 11, 2015 2:09 am

Just wanna throw my two cents in here to the modellers. That ship you built is stunning! I bought the game originally, but by that time I had been burned out on the franchise. Coming back and flying through its "trenches" for the first time was an amazing experience, and I don't think it would've been so with the old textures/graphics.

*thumbs up*

CountBuggula
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Post by CountBuggula » Wed Mar 11, 2015 5:57 pm

Thank you so much Dragon and GT! I really appreciate the generous use of your resources, as well as the prompt response to our request. We'll be sure to include detailed credits for you.

Feel free to come over and check out our mod as well whenever you get the chance - we love to have feedback and support from other teams around the world.

CountBuggula
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Post by CountBuggula » Thu Aug 19, 2021 4:03 pm

Just wanted to stop by and check in. I saw that the SSD model has been updated since we last talked and wanted to make sure we're ok to use the new version before doing any work on our end. Thanks again, and I have to say you guys have been doing some great work over here in the last few years. Fun stuff.

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Vince T
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Post by Vince T » Thu Aug 19, 2021 4:15 pm

Hi there and welcome back!
No worries about the SSD we‘re still good here. The updates I made weren‘t to the model itself but the texture, consolidating all the smaller snippets back into larger HD textures and adding a LOD model.
Your ship, Captain. I need a drink. - Vince Trageton
Vince T's X-Wing HQ - where the bad guys get their gear

CountBuggula
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Post by CountBuggula » Thu Aug 19, 2021 4:17 pm

Vince T wrote:
Thu Aug 19, 2021 4:15 pm
Hi there and welcome back!
No worries about the SSD we‘re still good here. The updates I made weren‘t to the model itself but the texture, consolidating all the smaller snippets back into larger HD textures and adding a LOD model.
Awesome. Would you be willing to share any working files you have (psd, etc) to make our import process easier?

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Vince T
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Post by Vince T » Thu Aug 19, 2021 7:51 pm

Hmm I'll have to check if I have anything useful left for that particular one. Lemme get back to you on that later this week.
Your ship, Captain. I need a drink. - Vince Trageton
Vince T's X-Wing HQ - where the bad guys get their gear

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