models then what?

[oksnoop2]

So i'm blindly stumbling through this mod making business. It's pretty painful. I figured out how to make models and wings and i texture them and give them hit spheres (i think, maybe?) anyway i have absolutely no idea where to go from there. Can some one help me out?

[MidKnight]

Once you have your model and a texture, you need to convert to Spring's s3o format using UpSpring.

[aGorm]

Sounds like your in teh same sort of place I am...
http://springrts.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=21299

In that thread there is FLOZi's simple mod, and also a link to a simple tanks script...

See if you can get that model in game (just replace FLOZi's cube with your model...)

hope this gives you soem help.

aGorm

[oksnoop2]

ok so i tried loading up my unit, i pasted over everything that said cube with my unit name "naut" then i replaced the cube s3o with my naut s3o.
but i guess i'm a little confused on the texture part. Where do i make this singular texture file? When i come of out wings i have two pngs. where did i go wrong?

[PTSnoop]

You can get the main unit texture as a file by uvmapping in Wings, then right-clicking on the created texture in Outliner (if Outliner's not there, select it under Window) and selecting Make External. Once it's external, you can edit it in your image editor of choice, then link to it in your model using Upspring (Texture 1, on the Mapping Tab).

Although you might have already done some or all of this; I'm not sure from your post. Where your second png's coming from, I'm not sure; could we have a look at both of them?

Also: Hi, person with a similar name. Snoops of the world unite!

[SinbadEV]

you associate your image files with your model in upspring.

http://springrts.com/wiki/Units:Textures

then your drop the actual texture files inside of the folder structure

<mod name>/unittextures/

[Pressure Line]

http://springrts.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=13034

*toots his own horn*

Its even a sticky. "Simple Mod Tutorial Part One: Model Prep"

[oksnoop2]

The two pngs i'm referring too are sphere2_au2 and cone4_auv2.

To PTSnoop, I was a big fan of peanuts.

To SinbadEV, Thanks for the posting the unit textures link that had some good info in it.

To Pressure Line, I was using your tutorial, I guess i just got a little lost.

[SinbadEV]

The two pngs i'm referring too are sphere2_au2 and cone4_auv2.

To PTSnoop, I was a big fan of peanuts.

To SinbadEV, Thanks for the posting the unit textures link that had some good info in it.

To Pressure Line, I was using your tutorial, I guess i just got a little lost.

Sorry Dude, you are going to have to re-UVmap... Spring uses a single map for all "pieces"... easiest way to do this is just to "combine" all the objects prior to UVmapping and then separate them out again before exporting to obj...

You need two textures, one for the actual texture and one for various effects.

ALSO: In before "Holy Polycount Batman"...

[oksnoop2]

Is it detrimental in some way to have a high poly count? Is there a reason all the spring units I see are blocky?

[SinbadEV]

Is it detrimental in some way to have a high poly count? Is there a reason all the spring units I see are blocky?

Yes and Yes, but until you get to the point where you have successfully gotten you model in game and scripted there is no reason to worry about it.

In case you are wondering there is a practical CPU bottle-neck of "tris" (triangles/polygons) on every video-card... in an FPS a 5000 poly player model makes sense because you have, at most, 20 of them on the screen at a given time... in spring the default Unit limit per player is something like 5000, you can see why having 5000x5000 polygons will be significantly slower then 5000x100 polys, especially when you realize that the average Spring player probably plays zoomed out to the point where your 5000 poly unit is going to be displayed in about 64x64 pixels of screen-space it's a waste of polygons (... regardless of if the engine can handle it) and you are probably going to have your model look better at that distance if you just put the detail into the texture...

It's also a HECK of a lot easier to UVmap a lower poly model.

[smoth]

100 poly unit is an exaggeration btw new guy, you are fine with 1000-2000 polies on grunts

[Guessmyname]

As for why most Spring models are blocky: it's because they've been taken from an 18 years old game, not due to any real technical limitations. For an idea of what Spring can really do, have a look at the Imperial Winter, Gundam and Spring 1944 mods.

As for polycounts, it varies on how often the unit is going to be used / appear. A 'spam' unit you make in hordes, for example, should be kept low poly (ie around 500 tris). Mid-range should try to stay below 1000-1500, and any high-level super units you have, you can basically go nuts on.

It also varies with size; large units will need large polycounts to look good. Small units won't.

[oksnoop2]

Ok, i got the texture right on a different unit. and i load it up and now it says something about not being able to find unit type.

[Saktoth]

You probably did something wrong to the unitdef, some bit of wrong formatting or such. Pastebin it.

If you want immediate, 1-1 help join #moddev (/j #moddev) in the lobby. Or #CA, since moddev is kinda dead- we're always happy to help.

[oksnoop2]

Here is the info log

LogOutput initialized.
Spring 0.80.5.2 (0.80.5.2-0-g67e2f5b{@}-cmake-mingw32)
Available log subsystems: mapinfo, CollisionVolume, unit, VFS-detail, VFS, ArchiveScanner, Sound
Enabled log subsystems: Sound
Enable or disable log subsystems using the LogSubsystems configuration key
or the SPRING_LOG_SUBSYSTEMS environment variable (both comma separated).
using configuration source "C:\Documents and Settings\Brock\Local Settings\Application Data\springsettings.cfg"
[CMyMath::Init] CPU SSE mask: 120, flags:
SSE 1.0: 1, SSE 2.0: 1
SSE 3.0: 1, SSSE 3.0: 0
SSE 4.1: 0, SSE 4.2: 0
SSE 4.0A: 0, SSE 5.0A: 0
using streflop SSE FP-math mode, CPU supports SSE instructions
OS: Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (build 2600)
AMD Sempron(tm) Processor 3400+; 2046MB RAM, 3939MB pagefile
OS: 32bit native mode
Using read-write data directory: C:\Program Files\Spring\
Using read-only data directory: C:\Documents and Settings\Brock\My Documents\My Games\Spring\
Scanning: C:\Documents and Settings\Brock\My Documents\My Games\Spring\maps
Scanning: C:\Documents and Settings\Brock\My Documents\My Games\Spring\base
Scanning: C:\Documents and Settings\Brock\My Documents\My Games\Spring\mods
Scanning: C:\Documents and Settings\Brock\My Documents\My Games\Spring\packages
Scanning: C:\Program Files\Spring\maps
Scanning: C:\Program Files\Spring\base
Scanning: C:\Program Files\Spring\mods
Scanning: C:\Program Files\Spring\packages
Video mode set to 1920 x 1080 / 32 bit
[ 0] SDL: 1.2.10
[ 0] GL: 2.1.2
[ 0] GL: NVIDIA Corporation
[ 0] GL: GeForce 6800 GS/PCI/SSE2/3DNOW!
[ 0] GLEW: 1.4.0
[ 0] Joysticks found: 0
[ 0] Joystick 0 not found
[ 0] Connecting to local server
[ 0] Starting GameServer: 70 ms
[ 0] Starting demo recording
[ 0] Using map Tropical.smf
[ 0] Recording demo demos/local_20091219_161706_Tropical_0.80.5.sdf
[ 0] Using script Commanders
[ 0] Using mod A(bsolute Minimum)
[ 0] Using mod archive A.sdd
[ 0] Loading client data: 9 ms
[ 0] User number 0 (team 1, allyteam 0)
[ 0] Loading console: 0 ms
[ 0] Sound: OpenAL info:
[ 0] Sound: Vendor: Creative Labs Inc.
[ 0] Sound: Version: 1.1
[ 0] Sound: Renderer: Software
[ 0] Sound: AL Extensions: EAX EAX2.0 EAX3.0 EAX4.0 EAX5.0 EAX3.0EMULATED EAX4.0EMULATED AL_EXT_OFFSET AL_EXT_LINEAR_DISTANCE AL_EXT_EXPONENT_DISTANCE
[ 0] Sound: ALC Extensions: ALC_ENUMERATE_ALL_EXT ALC_ENUMERATION_EXT ALC_EXT_CAPTURE ALC_EXT_EFX
[ 0] Sound: Device: Generic Hardware
[ 0] Sound: Available Devices:
[ 0] Sound: Generic Hardware
[ 0] Sound: Generic Software
[ 0] Sound: parsed 4 sounds from gamedata/sounds.lua
[ 0] Sound: Unable to open audio file: sounds/beep4.wav
[ 0] Loading sounds: 859 ms
[ 0] Sound: Unable to open audio file: sounds/button9.wav
[ 0] Camera and mouse: 254 ms
[ 0] Parsing unit icons
[ 0] missing return table from gamedata/modrules.lua
[ 0] Error loading modrules, using defaults
[ 0] missing return table from gamedata/modrules.lua
[ 0] Parsing definitions
[ 0] could not load buildOption data: missing file
[ 0] Error parsing units/brass bomber.lua: error = 3, units/brass bomber.lua, [string "units/brass bomber.lua"]:7: '}' expected near 'bomber'
[ 0] Loading all definitions: 0.010000
[ 0] Loading defs: 12 ms
[ 0] You are missing the "ARB_shadow_ambient" extension (this will probably make shadows darker than they should be)
[ 0] Loading map informations
[ 0] Opening map file
[ 0] Loading Map
[ 0] Loading detail textures
[ 0] Creating overhead texture
[ 0] Creating ground shading
[ 0] Loading .smt tile-file "maps/Tropical.smt"
[ 0] Loading 51399 tiles from file 1/1
[ 0] Reading tiles
[ 0] Reading tile map
[ 0] Creating projectile texture
[ 0] Number of damage types: 1
[ 0] Loading weapon definitions
[ 0] Loading unit definitions
[ 0] Sound: Unable to open audio file: sounds/beep6.wav
[ 0] Loading feature definitions
[ 0] Creating unit textures
[ 0] Initializing map features
[ 0] Reading estimate path costs
[ 0] Pathing data checksum: 4160241d
[ 0] Creating sky
[ 0] Loading LuaRules
[ 0] Loading LuaGaia
[ 0] Loading LuaUI
[ 0] Using LUAUI_DIRNAME = LuaUI/
[ 0] Reloaded ctrlpanel with: LuaUI/ctrlpanel.txt
[ 0] LuaUI: bound F11 to the widget selector
[ 0] LuaUI: bound CTRL+F11 to tweak mode
[ 0] LuaUI v0.3
[ 0] Finalizing...
[ 0] Spring 0.80.5.2 (0.80.5.2-0-g67e2f5b{@}-cmake-mingw32)
[ 0] Build date/time: Nov 12 2009 23:04:44
[ 0] Player added point: Start 1
[ 0] Player added point: Start 0
[ 0] -> connection established (given id 0)
[ 0] Player Player finished loading and is now ingame
[ 0] GameID: dd422d4b3b128d1c41fa00e096904c5c
[ 0] Player added point: Start 1
[ 0] <SkirmishAI: AAI 0.9 (team 0)>: Error: Could not load mod and/or general config file. For further information see the config file under: C:\Program Files\Spring\AI\Skirmish\AAI\0.9\log\AAI_log_team_0.txt
[ 0] Warning: AI for team 0 failed handling event with topic 1, error: 1
[ 0] Failed to handle init event: AI for team 0, error 1
[ 0] Caught content exception: Couldn't find unittype brass bomber

[smoth]

Do yourself a favor and try adding the unit to say.... Ba by replacing the model used by an already existing unit.

[SinbadEV]

the error you are getting appears to be related to the AI you have chosen... try the empty AI?

[ 0] <SkirmishAI: AAI 0.9 (team 0)>: Error: Could not load mod and/or general config file. For further information see the config file under: C:\Program Files\Spring\AI\Skirmish\AAI\0.9\log\AAI_log_team_0.txt

[oksnoop2]

To smoth: Have not tried the BA swap yet but will soon.

To Sinbad: I tried changing the AI to nullai I had the same effect.

I noticed that all the ba .s30s have no spaces in there name. My unit is called "brass bomber". Is the space messing it up?

[FLOZi]

So, everyone else is blind:

[ 0] Error parsing units/brass bomber.lua: error = 3, units/brass bomber.lua, [string "units/brass bomber.lua"]:7: '}' expected near 'bomber'

First off, spaces in filenames are not a great idea. Secondly, you are missing a } on line 7 of your unit def.