New Prop_Static Entity for WorldCraft

No worries, I was just wondering what was possible.

There is no limit to a prop_static since the object can be divided into separated files behind the scenes. i.e. The swat truck has 3 files, Each file can contain up to 5000 polys(in Maya the polys are triangles)

The maximum texture resolution is based on the last resort mod, both bmps can be used and targas with alpha channels adding transparencies to the object.

Scaling is not an issue since its not WC based modeling. so far on small intricate objects up to large objects with small intricate parts can be created.

As with all objects of a class type, FH1, Launcher, Rat, Gun, tactical gear, etc the object must be skinned, the best results are achieved by using the class with the most bones, SWT or TAC, it is not possible to export the launcher, FH1, PRI and the RAT classes since the export plugin for Maya doesn't support these classes. No naming convention needed since the object is static and has no animation.

During my testing of these objects it does appear to be dynamic lighting, My testing consisted of making the object nudgeable and pushing the object around the map and watching for shadow and highlights on the object.
Baking shadows is also possible, don't recall if it requires manually manipulation the texture to appear to have a shadow.

sorry for the late reply.

Here is my current progress.

Did this ever come to fruition? This would have been a modification to the swat.fgd? at least I was toying with that recently with J.A.C.K, had the viewports showing a .mdl file for a LitActor not that .mdl is useful for SWAT its just what I was testing with.

I just had the LitActor set to one of the SWT Officer Models in-game since figured it was easier to test with .GSMs already in the files, it didn't seem to have any collision though even with options like "Collide with World" set to Yes, I guess a quick fix would be throwing a clip round it.

Was there a reason you was using LitActor over Actor in the past?

This is on the back-burner like most of my projects, i know it is possible to do so I let it be for now until there is a need.

Currently I only use the feature to accurately place clip brushes around objects to stop players from walking thru them.

If a clip brush is over the center of the model it will not display so the clip brushes have to encapsulate the model.

Another issue I had with this is that mdl files can only be exported from milkshape 3d a costly 3d modeling program. when I returned months after to re investigate this feature I was no longer able to export mdl files due to trial period expiring.

UPDATE:
The reason I used lit_actor is because you can set the RGB values of the color that will affect the model. I currently use Launcher instead because it calculates shadows and still allows flash lights to illuminate them.

So no way to actually have the mesh have collision, clip brush is the best way?

Ah, wasn't aware nothing really output .mdl, I just took one from Half-Life to test with something I knew was working, maybe another format will work with JACK since it supports Quake as well would have to look into that.

So Launcher now sounds like the way to go? good to know.