Because 'we' are not a unified group, and it is not a developer tool, but a community tool compiled by a community member. 'We' do this in our free time, and 'we' decide what we publish for. I can tell you as a game designer myself, that MANY companies maintain legacy versions of suites because most places DON'T update plugins for every new version.

There's no trick for 'fl-ready' models. There are two exporters - the MS3D exporter, and the 3ds Max 2010/2011 Exporter. The Max Exporter supports smoothing groups, and DX9 vmesh data.

There are some general poly count limitations, but there are ways around it in both exporters, though 3ds is more flexible. I don't remember the numbers off the top of my head.

Its reaaaaaaaaaaaaly not that hard, gentlemen. The most annoying part of it is generating good UVs. After that, its a cakewalk, just time spent. Sit down, and just do it. That's really all there is to it.

Be epic. Know what, screw it. School's out till late June for me, I'm free for a while. Add me on skype, anubis714. I'll run a seminar. I can get ya'll up to pro-grade in a day.

I've not posted anything in a while, so here's my final project for this semester - Phaser Type III (Rifle) Circa 2373, Cinematic Resolution.

Beyond that, getting the old pack to work is drag'n'drop, broski.

First, a suggestion. If you're having problems, SHOW WHAT YOU ARE GETTING. Seeing your problem visually will probably tell us the problem.

Yeah, FF's pretty right on this one.

I'm a fan of harder mil sci-fi, so I guess I could talk about classifications in the wider arena of that genre. Note, that most of this is an overarching generalization, derived from many different authors, plus some of my own understandings. I will attempt to characterize them by the general tropes that emerge around each class.

-Light Combatants-

Light Combatants tend to be the most numerous of any navy's forces. They are small, so tend to be very specialized to maximize effectiveness for volume spent. That being the case, there tend to be many variants on each hull size, to fulfill many roles and arms mixes.

Corvette/Gunship - small, fast. Bridges the gap between fighters and proper warships. More often than not, does not feature dedicated FTL in most universes.

Frigate (FF) - usually, the smallest FTL capable warship in most universes. Used for light protection duties in less important zones, and as fleet escort. Possible variations: Guided Missile Frigate (FFG), Battle Frigate (FFB), Escort Frigate (FFE), Light/Fast Frigate (FFL)

Destroyer Leader (DL) - Destroyer sized command vessel designed to lead squadrons of frigates.

Destroyer (DD) - Mid range combatant, typically somewhat larger than a frigate. Essentially a more capable frigate. Possible Variations: Escort Destroyer (DDE), Heavy Destroyer (DDH), Scout Destroyer (DDS)

-Patrol Combatants-

Patrol Combatants, being larger, tend to take a more generalist approach to construction, making them more of a jack of all trades. Very few variants.

Light Cruiser (CL) - Cheaper, less capable cruiser. Typically configured for escort

Heavy Cruiser (CA) - The core of any navy's maritime patrol forces. Tough enough to travel alone and deal with any pirate or military threat below that of a Capital Ship, a true generalist warship. Typically portrayed as the 'dream ship' for many a fictional captain.

Battlecruiser (CB/BC) - Heavy warship that bridges the gap between patrol classes and capital ships. Usually equipped with weapons similar to those mounted on Capital Ships. Faster than anything that can kill it, and nasty enough to wipe the floor with anything smaller than it. Cannot directly engage Capital Ships in combat.

-Capital Ships-

Titans of the stars, Capital Ships form the core of the battle line. Characterized by massive cost, but massive firepower, only the richest nations are able to afford their material and manpower costs. Note, that because of the sheer scale of these vessels, they tend to be specialized, similar to light combatants. They have the opposite problem - too much space. While this seems odd, it makes sense. If one capital ship with a generalized loadout went up against a specialist loadout, the specialist capital would win within its parameter set. The generalist capital usually cant apply damage as effectively as a dedicated set up. This is especially true when a binary weapon paradigm is in place, such as Missiles for range and Lasers for close. A ship heavily biased towards missiles would dominate a mixed weapon ship at long range, and a ship with a laser biased loadout would dominate a mixed ship at close range.

Battleship (BB) - The lightest of capitals, tend to be too small to fight in a proper line of battle, good for holding territory for nations that can afford to divert the construction costs. This is usually either by design, or because they were the first class of Capital developed, now considered small and outdated by comparison.

Dreadnought (DN) - Main combatant of many a sci-fi series. Dreadnoughts combine massive armor with massive batteries of weaponry to dominate the battlespace. Rarely deployed alone, these ships are often supported by squadrons of their kin, and supporting cruiser and destroyer squadrons.

Super Dreadnought (SD) - A true king of battle, the SD is typically the largest warship built. Massive in cost, defense, and firepower.

Monitor (MT) - Depending on the universe, either A) Larger warship than an SD, or B) A more defensive oriented capital. Sometimes sacrifices FTL for more defensive capability or firepower. BBs often could be considered MTs, depending on the universe and author taste.

-Carriers-

Not all universes use fighter or carried craft tech, but because of their prevalence in modern navies, they usually make an appearance.

Escort Carrier (CVE) - Small, usually destroyer sized hull. They tend not to have any room for anything but the hangar. Good for staging fighters quickly and cheaply.

Carrier (CV) - The basic all around carrier. Usually cruiser or battlecruiser scale.

Fleet Carrier (CVF) - Usually evolve with capital scale developments. Dreadnought scale monstrosities. Massive flights, but tend to be very vulnerable.

Attack Carrier (CVA) - Usually the last class of carrier developed. Designed with more protection in mind. Sacrifices some of the capacity of the CVF for the survivability of a proper Capital Ship.

-Other-

Q-Ship - A warship disguised as a freighter, these can range from tramp sized pirate traps to dreadnought sized anti-commerce-raiding bastions. Depending on the universe, may have a mix of capital scale weapons or fighters. Super-freighters converted for the role are more fragile than hulls built from the ground up for the job, so there's a lot of room to play with for interesting ideas. Because they're not meant to fight proper warships on fair fighting ground, they can have more 'exotic' weapons configurations, designed to take advantage of the fact that all the hostile sees is a helpless freighter.


A quick note on Hull Symbols - Hull symbols tend to be 2 or 3 letter codes used in the registry of a ship as its class marker. Some universe use detailed suffix-based symbols, and others only use general symbols with ships all under one class, with its role simply understood. Some often used suffixes are -

-E : Escort. Usually equipped with massive point defense batteries and advanced sensors to protect a fleet or ship against a fighter or missile bombardment threat

-G : Guided Missile. In a universe where missiles are not a primary weapon system, the -G prefix is used to denote when a ship is heavily biased towards them in its weapons mix. Often features enhanced or more missile control links.

-B : Battle. Often used only on frigates, used to note when a frigate is specifically configured as a brawler, sort of a mini-capital ship. Lots of armor, lots of weapons for its size.

-S : Scout. Pretty self explanatory

-R : Ranged. Sometimes used to denote a ship specifically meant to snipe with various long ranged weapons. Sometimes used in universes where missiles are the primary weapon system to denote ships using missiles a ship class up from what they'd usually have, IE, a destroyer using cruiser sized missiles, or a battlecruiser using dreadnought sized missiles. This creates smaller, fast ships with superior range and firepower, at the sacrifice of magazine space and/or protection.

Top one's a battlecruiser, bottom's a heavy cruiser.