The picture groups are as follows:ī) I render the treads on the tank, so I leave 33-64 and 65-96 blank. A Jagdpanther is what SSII collectively calls a STUG type. (See the CDV SSII Forum for a thread on this issue).Ī) The Picture Groups: You must first identify what type of unit you are rendering. The 32 bmps are view of a rotating unit (the camera is actually moving) where each new view is exactly –11 degrees different from the previous view. These are the individual “moves” or “frames” in the animation. Iii) Animation Setup: If you look at the bottom of the sample screen above, you will see scale going from 0 to 31. Usually 90 degrees in the Y axis gets you the right orientation. I prefer to right click on the button after it is high lighted and type in the rotation. Again, this evolved, know its wrong, but it works and I didn’t want to start over with the camera.) You click the rotation button to activate the rotation help. (NOTE: Back view is actually the side of the unit. Ii) Rotation: Rotate the unit so that it matches what is shown in the sample screen shot. Remember in the scale that SSII uses, you don’t have to be too exact. Keep changing the scale unit the unit length and width approximate the known actual length of the tank. To scale up, change the percent to more than 100%, to scale down, less than 100%. To rescale a unit uniformly, right click on the scale button and a dialog box will appear that looks the image above. You can tell what each button is by letting the mouse hover over each button. To scale a unit, click on the SCALE button on the top menu. So a tank that is 15 feet long should be 1.5 squares long. I) Scale: The grid in the setup scene is your best scale. That way when you find a new model, you just import it into the new scene and you’re well on your way. I recommend saving and empty scene file (.max) with no model in it and call it something like “New Scene SSII.max” or something like that. The camera and lights are the same in every scene. This is done to allow rapid setup of a new model. Ii) With this method, the camera and the lights move, the unit stays still. Do all your 3D work in the other 3 views. I) The premise is this: The lower right view is the camera. Some things seem counter intuitive only because of the evolution of the scene over time.
Just click OK again.Ī) Blank and Unit background = All pink (RGB Color = 255,0,255)ī) Shadow = Grey (RGB Color = 128,128,128Ĭ) Shadow Background = Blue (RGB Color = 0,255,255)Ħ) Basically the scene setup was developed over a couple of months of trial an error. It will ask if you want to merge with the existing scene, click OK. Click FILE, then IMPORT, then change the file type to. dfx = You will need to import this file time. Then go FILE, then EXPORT SELECTED, then save as a. Select the tank by clicking on it and the parts. If you do get a scene model, we can export it into a 3ds file. Remember we’ve got a standard scene setup, so all we really want from this is the model. Save it to your mesh subdirectory in 3dmaxĬ). I have 1 gig of Ram memory on a 1.5 mhz machine.ģ) Model Selection for use in 3D Max softwareĪ) Type: 3ds is preferred.max scene file is second, and. II) As far as new units go, 3D Max is a memory pig. Required to decompile and recompile the main SSII programs files that have the file extension of. VIII) Sue and Unsue: These two programs started it all. VII) Sust_HOT: This freeware program is one of the essential tools for tweaking hot files. VI) Sust_units: Created by the famous D_Sprague, this freeware program is required to compile and decompile the. V) Total Commander: This little shareware is critical for renaming files and moving them in bulk, easily. Others may work, but this one does for sure. IV) Adobe Photoshop: This is the top of the line image editor software. III) 3D MAX: Top of the line 3D Design Software.
It lets you install most of the mods and jump right to a preloaded map. This tool removes much of the pain from the trial and error process.
II) Multi Mod Switcher (By Sardaukar): You will really want to have this installed as much of the final rendering process involves trial and error. I) SSII You need to have the game, Sudden Strike II, fully installed and fully patched. Many people when into the reverse engineering process, and I learned from reading the threads. Please search there before hitting people up with questions. Then I was able to start the production line so to speak.ī) Second point, 90% of the knowledge for getting new units into the game comes from the CDV forum.
I invested several months at the urging of my friends just fooling around with software until I got the results I wanted. It is not an exact science, but it is a repeatable procedure to the point that rendering a unit can be significantly sped up. A) As several of my modding friends warned me, building and rendering units is a process.