9of9's Excelsior Class SOD re-texture

(10 votes)

Jetfreak, 2007-10-26

This is a re-texture of one of the older models around, 9of9's Excelsior class. It's not often you see such a nice re-texture. (It's also not often you have a total do-over of a mod review because the newbie staff completely outdid himself in muffing the original review.) All your favourite details of the Excelsior class are here, and it's nice to see the "elder statesman" of Starfleet so nicely represented.

Speaking of details, a brief note: Jetfreak went so far as to include two textures --one a "standard configuration" Excelsior and the other a "Dominion War Refit". You may think this means two .SODs, one for the Excelsior / Repulse style of Excelsior, and another for the Enterprise-B / Lakota style of Excelsior refit. This is not the case. The only evidence of a 'refit' comes in the form of some slight colour differences in the warp nacelle. If there were a difference present in the form of the .ODF then it might be justifiably so, but the difference in texture took me the better part of ten minutes to find. I could've found Waldo in that time, faster. (He's on deck 12, hydroponics bay.) Tongue

It's on the nacelles, however, that the .SOD lets these textures down. Hugely. Notably glaring are the intercooler 'fins' on the Excelsior's warp nacelles (they're right on the back)--- they stick OUT of the warp grille!! The blue strip on the Dominion War Refit makes this particularly pronounced. Not Jetfreak's fault, of course. There's only so much you can do with a .SOD that old. But it stands out.

Which, really, is where I'd have to ask Jetfreak: we've all seen your PotDs and the high caliber of graphics to which you've modded your A2, and we're all super-impressed. But surely there must be a higher-quality Excelsior model out there SOMEWHERE that'd be more deserving of such a beautiful refit. The octagonal not-quite-rounded low-poly saucer section is probably even more obvious on higher end computers than mine.... I realize Excelsiors are largely cannon-fodder by the DS9/VOY, so a low-poly well-textured Excelsior model is a welcome sight. Maybe a corrected .SOD to match Jetfreak's awesome textures is the next step.

Worthy of a look, especially if you're still using 9of9's Excelsior. The original textures have NOT aged well, and Jetfreak's work here gives an old .SOD new lease on life.

Cool

- the Kid

----Excelsior Class----
By: Jetfreak
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Mod Description:

- This is a re-release of 9 of 9's Excelsior model complete with all the necessary files (ODF, SOD, TGA's etc.)
- New Textures are included (Ship is retexured using p81's textures)
- The ship is balanced to the stock game
- Sorry, no Alpha Channel

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How to install: (Don't worry It's easy)

1) put the Fexcel ODF file in ODf/ships folder

put the Fexcel SOD file in SOD folder

put all the TGA Files in the Textures/RGB folder (NOTE: If you want to use the Dominion War variant texture, use the texture found in the "Alternate Texture Folder")

put the fexcel BMP File in the Bitmaps/admirals log/shipimages folder (NOTE: If you want to use the Dominion War variant pic, it is found in the "Alternate Texture Folder")

2) Open "tech1.tt" and insert the following line:

fexcel.odf 0

3) Open "fulltech.tt" and insert the following line:

fexcel.odf 0

4) Open "gui_global.spr" and insert the following:

b_fexcel gbfexcel 0 0 64 64

5) Open "fbase.odf" and insert the line

buildItem# = "fexcel" (replace # with the next number down)

That's it you're done!!!

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Credits:

Original Model and Textures: 9 of 9
Federation Textures: Rick Knox (aka p81)
Borg Textures: Rick Knox's Fed textures which I edited
"Borgified" Parts: Scanned from the Star Trek: The Next Generation Sketch Book

Enjoy!

Jetfreak out!