WIP 38 gun Frigate Révolutionnaire of 1794

[Captain Armstrong]

Thanks mate! sounds good I tried changing the encounter line to false for the ships I dont want, but it doesn't seem to work, I set all ships using the stock warship hull and xebecs to false and the first thing I encounter is a squadron of stock warships, and the second a pirate xebec I also changed the encounter chances (I think) for many ships and made the one I like more common, but I havent seen much to indicate this worked either, here is an example to show what I changed
// HMS Bellona 1760 by pgargon

//Period
refShip.period.0 = 0.0; //
refShip.period.1 = 0.0; //
refShip.period.2 = 0.0; //
refShip.period.3 = 0.1; //
refShip.period.4 = 0.9; // *
refShip.period.5 = 0.9; // *
//Nation
refShip.england = 1.0; // *
refShip.france = 1.0; // *
refShip.holland = 1.0; // *
refShip.portugal = 1.0; // *
refShip.pirate = 0.0; //
refShip.spain = 1.0; // *
refShip.america = 0.6; // *

*raised value
should these changes make the ship more common for the countries they are raised for? will I need to start a new game for changes to take effect?

 

[Armada]

You need to press F11 in a loaded savegame for the code changes to take effect; no new game required.

 

[Captain Armstrong]

Great! my changes worked! : work on the revolutionnaire is progressing, and there should be another update soon

 

[Captain Armstrong]

Here is a big update! The masts and standing rigging are complete
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64339105@N08/6094088592/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64339105@N08/6093551609/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64339105@N08/6094088920/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64339105@N08/6094089112/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64339105@N08/6094089342/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64339105@N08/6094089552/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64339105@N08/6093552761/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64339105@N08/6094090180/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64339105@N08/6093553459/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64339105@N08/6094090670/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64339105@N08/6094091020/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64339105@N08/6093554309/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64339105@N08/6093554555/in/photostream/

Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[Captain Armstrong]

The modeling is about 95% done.. all thats left is the figurehead! I improved the rigging, added a (historically accurate) supporting crosspeice for the bowsprit which looks like it could carry a square sail but shouldn't. http://www.flickr.com/photos/64339105@N08/6178819157/in/photostream I also added the shrouds that attach to the fighting tops, and moved the yards up and down so that the topsails and topgallants are the right proportion to each other. http://www.flickr.com/photos/64339105@N08/6179345830/in/photostream Gave her anchors, http://www.flickr.com/photos/64339105@N08/6179345462/in/photostream and improved the stern windows. more pics below

http://www.flickr.com/photos/64339105@N08/6178818989/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64339105@N08/6178819633/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64339105@N08/6179345924/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64339105@N08/6178820231/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64339105@N08/6179346122/in/photostream

 

[Armada]

She looks wonderful! Nice work so far.
How many triangles does she have, may I ask?

 

[Captain Armstrong]

Thanks Armada! She is now just over 100000 polygons. I am not shure my count is correct for the triangles, but I think it is about 120000 tris? I know the poly count is right though.

 

[Armada]

Well provided you have used triangles (the game doesn't support polygons), that should be correct.
If that's the case, you might want to consider removing some of that rigging, since it can pretty much all be done with rope locators.
It's preferable to try and keep below 100k if possible, just to ease the load on your HD when the game displays the ship.
Don't worry if you can't manage it, because most PCs can cope with ships like these fairly well.

Could you tell me how many triangles are used for an individual cannon (and any differences between the guns on each deck)?
I'm just asking so I can compare them to the low-poly yet high-detail guns that a lot of new ships now use.
If there's a huge difference, then would you be willing to use these cannons? It helps keep uniformity in the game, anyway.

Another thing you need to consider is lifeboats (probably two of them), which would go in the middle of the deck atop the gratings.
It might be a good idea to remove most of the gratings and leave perhaps 2-4 large beams remaining, on top of which the boats would sit. It's up to you, though.
Rather than having to make your own, I can send you the boat that most ships use, which isn't too poly-heavy. Which format would work for you? :mm

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Looks wonderful, mate!

Indeed removing all the ropes will help a lot with decreasing the polygon count and then they can be added with locators afterwards.

 

[Captain Armstrong]

Well provided you have used triangles (the game doesn't support polygons), that should be correct.
If that's the case, you might want to consider removing some of that rigging, since it can pretty much all be done with rope locators.
It's preferable to try and keep below 100k if possible, just to ease the load on your HD when the game displays the ship.
Don't worry if you can't manage it, because most PCs can cope with ships like these fairly well.

Could you tell me how many triangles are used for an individual cannon (and any differences between the guns on each deck)?
I'm just asking so I can compare them to the low-poly yet high-detail guns that a lot of new ships now use.
If there's a huge difference, then would you be willing to use these cannons? It helps keep uniformity in the game, anyway.

Another thing you need to consider is lifeboats (probably two of them), which would go in the middle of the deck atop the gratings.
It might be a good idea to remove most of the gratings and leave perhaps 2-4 large beams remaining, on top of which the boats would sit. It's up to you, though.
Rather than having to make your own, I can send you the boat that most ships use, which isn't too poly-heavy. Which format would work for you? :mm

Im not sure what the difference between polys and tris is, but I think all I need to do is convert to a mesh from editable poly which is no problem. Wouldve been good to know about rigging along time ago, I heard i needed to model all standing rigging ( which I did, none of what I have should move with sails) anyway I will see about other ways of reducing polys first cause the rigging took alot of time. The carronnades on the top deck are 652 polys/ tris each (I get the same # for both) but I want to keep them regardless because I like the way they look compared to the kind ive seen used on a few high detail ships already.
There is no gun deck, and the cannon barrells fit into boxes extending inward from the gunports. each gun barrel is 392 tris/polys and the chase guns that include carriges are 1092 each. I dont think removing gratings for the boat booms would work, because there is no gun deck for the hatches to open up to. I would still like to use the boats though, can you send me its file in either *.3ds, *.DXF, or *.obj ? if none if those will work, please let me know what will. Also if you want to send a file of the cannons that would be great, because I would replace the ones I made simply for the sake of not needing a new texture.

 

[Armada]

OK, the lifeboat is in OBJ format for you here: http://www.pyratesah...in/Lifeboat.obj. 302 triangles, so it's nice and compact.
Bear in mind that you'll need to remove the double-sided attribute from the boat, and reverse its normals for it to show up correctly.

Your carronades sound good at 652 tris, so that's fine. However, I've got gun barrels for the hull which have only 132 tris, and still look detailed, if you're interested.

Just to clarify, a polygon is exactly what you'd expect: any shape with four or more edges. All you need to do is 'triangulate' any polygons, for the game's sake.
Sorry for not mentioning the rigging sooner. I know it's a pain to undo all your hard work.
Of course, if you can find any other ways of reducing the poly count, then use them first.

 

[Captain Armstrong]

OK, the lifeboat is in OBJ format for you here: http://www.pyratesah...in/Lifeboat.obj. 302 triangles, so it's nice and compact.
Bear in mind that you'll need to remove the double-sided attribute from the boat, and reverse its normals for it to show up correctly.

Your carronades sound good at 652 tris, so that's fine. However, I've got gun barrels for the hull which have only 132 tris, and still look detailed, if you're interested.

Just to clarify, a polygon is exactly what you'd expect: any shape with four or more edges. All you need to do is 'triangulate' any polygons, for the game's sake.
Sorry for not mentioning the rigging sooner. I know it's a pain to undo all your hard work.
Of course, if you can find any other ways of reducing the poly count, then use them first.

Thanks! That would be great if you could post the file for the 132 tri gun barrels, and could you by any chance post the version with the carriages as well? I might as well keep to one type of cannon and replace the chase guns too. I have a few ideas about where else I can reduce tris, but i'll wait to act on those till I have the boat and the new guns on board. Also, if you happen to have/ know of any figurehead models lying around, I would be very interested doesnt matter to me if the have already been used on another ship.

 

[Captain Armstrong]

I have added the boats and reduced the polcount by about 2000 by reducing the number of gratings and rescaling the others to fit in the waist of the ship. The boats dont want to show up in any color other than black, but they are all there, as you can see in this pic: http://www.flickr.com/photos/64339105@N08/6225308744/in/photostream The polycount is now below 100000 at 98644, but the tri count is 120508 low-poly cannon barrels for the gundeck and full cannons with carriages for the chasers should take that down a bit though, if you could still send them to me

Here are some pics of how she looks overall now, I made a blue plane at the waterline to show how she would look in the water http://www.flickr.com/photos/64339105@N08/6225308534/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64339105@N08/6225308360/in/photostream/

 

[Armada]

She looks brilliant! I'll upload the other cannon parts for you soon.

To make those boats show up correctly, try using the method I explained in a different thread for smoothing the edges. The processes you go through should fix the problem.

 

[Captain Armstrong]

She looks brilliant! I'll upload the other cannon parts for you soon.

To make those boats show up correctly, try using the method I explained in a different thread for smoothing the edges. The processes you go through should fix the problem.

Thanks! I will do the edge smoothing thing you explained to me when I get her into maya, right now she is still in gmax, where I have no idea how to accomplish the same thing.

*EDIT*
Nevermind, I figured out how to do it in gmax
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64339105@N08/6226839781/in/photostream

I also borrowed the figurehead from the unite class frigate (called surprise1 in the gm viewer) I hope that is okay, and I'll try to make one myself if the creator of that figurehead doesnt want me to use it
the figurehead shows up a little weird right now, but it should be fine when I export to maya http://www.flickr.com/photos/64339105@N08/6226839235/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64339105@N08/6227357610/in/photostream/

*EDIT*
I exported the cannons from the vincejo/ sophie, I have replaced the chasers and I am working on the main battery now. I might add a quarterdeck carronade port and disarm the bridle port if I can. will post pics when I have finished this

 

[Post Captain]

Just some of my thoughts:

The yard on the bowsprit, the "sprits'l yard," would have had a sail bent to it, and it would have given a fairly high advantage when sailing in a broad reach. (wind abaft the beam, but not directly behind the vessel) It was slightly useless with the wind at most other angles, though, so I support your decision to leave it out.

Other than that, beautiful job. I didn't notice anything wrong, except that all the standing rigging, (shrouds, stays, etc) should be tarred black. And I would know, since I spend most of my free time up there.

Keep up the good work.

and a slight request: I have no idea, but if you are the one who determines what sails are to be set for the two settings, I think it wold be nice to see full sail, and a more accurate array set, such as this:

that would be accurate enough for both battle and storms, a good compromise overall.

Thanks,
Post

 

[Captain Armstrong]

Just some of my thoughts:

The yard on the bowsprit, the "sprits'l yard," would have had a sail bent to it, and it would have given a fairly high advantage when sailing in a broad reach. (wind abaft the beam, but not directly behind the vessel) It was slightly useless with the wind at most other angles, though, so I support your decision to leave it out.

Aye, I think they were dropping out of fashion in general by the time of the napoleonic wars, but I could be mistaken, I just went of the fact that they arent very common in paintings of battles and such. There were also some practical in-game reasons. In every square-rigged ship I can find, the chasers always fire directly through this sail, filling it with holes. and it makes it damn near impossible to see the ship I'm chasing!

Other than that, beautiful job. I didn't notice anything wrong, except that all the standing rigging, (shrouds, stays, etc) should be tarred black. And I would know, since I spend most of my free time up there.

Keep up the good work.

and a slight request: I have no idea, but if you are the one who determines what sails are to be set for the two settings, I think it wold be nice to see full sail, and a more accurate array set, such as this:

that would be accurate enough for both battle and storms, a good compromise overall.

Thanks,
Post

Thank you! She isn't textured yet so the standing rigging can easily be made black when she is. Just curious, but on what ship do you spend your free time in the rigging? As for the sail settings, I agree, but maybe topsails and t'gallants? I don't know how that sort of thing is decided yet Ideally I would have 4 settings: all sails, all sails but courses, topsails, t'gallants, gaff, a few staysails, jibsails etc, and topsails, gaff, and less staysails and jibsails.

 

[Post Captain]

Thank you! She isn't textured yet so the standing rigging can easily be made black when she is. Just curious, but on what ship do you spend your free time in the rigging? As for the sail settings, I agree, but maybe topsails and t'gallants? I don't know how that sort of thing is decided yet Ideally I would have 4 settings: all sails, all sails but courses, topsails, t'gallants, gaff, a few staysails, jibsails etc, and topsails, gaff, and less staysails and jibsails.

I spend literally all of my free time aboard the Brig Pilgrim, with some work aboard the Spirit of Dana Point. I'm usually able to snag all of the jobs aloft, and I've actually almost fallen asleep while skylarking up there.
I personally like the sails I posted above, since they are what would traditionally be used during battle, and they are close to what would be used in very heavy winds. In my opinion, and according to personal experience they also give you the most versatility when changing courses. (nothing to adjust or set or take in) The only times I haven't seen courses set while all other sails were set are when there aren't enough people to furl them. I wish there were four options though. At any rate, the frigate will still look amazing.

edit: I found a picture of Pilgrim and Spirit, so here they are: That's a horribly unflattering picture of Pilgrim, though.

 

[Captain Armstrong]

I spend literally all of my free time aboard the Brig Pilgrim, with some work aboard the Spirit of Dana Point. I'm usually able to snag all of the jobs aloft, and I've actually almost fallen asleep while skylarking up there.

edit: I found a picture of Pilgrim and Spirit, so here they are: That's a horribly unflattering picture of Pilgrim, though.

Sweet! They both look like fine ships, I've certainly heard of them before. I wish I had local tall ship to go sail on. :

I personally like the sails I posted above, since they are what would traditionally be used during battle, and they are close to what would be used in very heavy winds. In my opinion, and according to personal experience they also give you the most versatility when changing courses. (nothing to adjust or set or take in) The only times I haven't seen courses set while all other sails were set are when there aren't enough people to furl them. I wish there were four options though. At any rate, the frigate will still look amazing.

Fair enough, though other than the Shannon vs. Chesapeake I dont know many battles fought according to those traditional rules. But there double use as storm sails is excellent, I will try to make your sail set her battle sails if I can. Would it include any staysails? or just topsails, gaff, and two jibsails as in the picture?

 

[Post Captain]

I spend literally all of my free time aboard the Brig Pilgrim, with some work aboard the Spirit of Dana Point. I'm usually able to snag all of the jobs aloft, and I've actually almost fallen asleep while skylarking up there.

edit: I found a picture of Pilgrim and Spirit, so here they are: That's a horribly unflattering picture of Pilgrim, though.

Sweet! They both look like fine ships, I've certainly heard of them before. I wish I had local tall ship to go sail on. :

I personally like the sails I posted above, since they are what would traditionally be used during battle, and they are close to what would be used in very heavy winds. In my opinion, and according to personal experience they also give you the most versatility when changing courses. (nothing to adjust or set or take in) The only times I haven't seen courses set while all other sails were set are when there aren't enough people to furl them. I wish there were four options though. At any rate, the frigate will still look amazing.

Fair enough, though other than the Shannon vs. Chesapeake I dont know many battles fought according to those traditional rules. But there double use as storm sails is excellent, I will try to make your sail set her battle sails if I can. Would it include any staysails? or just topsails, gaff, and two jibsails as in the picture?

Generally it was just the sails shown- even less for a storm.

I appreciate the work you're putting in- it breaks my heart every time I see royals flying in a tops'l gale.