Create using segletouch, or create a triangulated object, glue a light to it(sibling) and name the combo 'shield', glue it to the main hull as you would an LOD and convert.
If you already have pof data done for everything else, then create another pof (using the same hull model) using the same methods as above, and import the shield data from that.
For the shield display - I use PSP7 for this. Extract a suitable existing shield ani file (i.e. one with a close shape to your fighter). Extract all the frames from it. Then, render an overhead view of your own model (no thrusters), with a plain blue/green/etc background. Load it into PSP and crop it to remove the extra spaces. Create a 'magic wand' mask over the areas of the same colour - the background. convert to greyscale (this stops you losing the edges between background and image). Adjust the brightness, etc so the image is lighter. Fill in the masked background with black.
Select your fighter, and copy it. Then, create a mask in the first frame of the extracted shield ani, which completely covers the ship there - and paste into the mask (ctrl-shift-l). Save as PCX.. and recombine it with the previous frames . You should have your ani now.
That's the hard bit done. Extract hud.tbl from the VPs, and add a new entry down at the bottom like so (you'll see);
$shield: newshieldname
Now you can use yer shield
Let me know if this works, ok?
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The Ghost and the Darkness [email protected] ICQ: 119819902 "Well I believe ther's someone watching over you. They're watching every word you say. And when you die they'll take you down and take you through. You'll realise one day that the grass is always greener on the other side, the neighbours got a car that you wanna drive, and when time is running out you wanna stay alive. There is no wrong, there is no right, and the circle only has one side...."(c)2001 Travis
