XWAU:

So Sax, let's get this running, okay?

Saxman:

You may fire when ready.

XWAU:

As always let's first find out why you started working for XWA at all. Is it Star Wars itself, or what hocked you onto the concept? Another question would be what made you start this project? How did that go, was it some sort of vision, a dream message from George Lucas, or simply too much coffee? ;)

Saxman:

Well, I’ve been a Star Wars fan for as long as I can remember, and the first time I ever had the chance to slip into the cockpit of the X-wing was at my cousin’s house a long time ago.  As soon as I had a computer that could run it, the first game I got was X-wing and it’s expansions (I still have the 3.5” floppies here, somewhere.  ;-) ).  I picked up TIE Fighter, then the X-wing Collector’s CD, and X-wing vs TIE Fighter was enough to make me get a job so I could buy a computer that could run the thing.

I first ran across the OPT Project when I started playing XvT online.  I was trying to hunt down an E-wing to add into my game (the first one I found was hardly worth noting, it was just an X-wing OPT with the upper wings removed) when I came across a little site known as Datamaster’s. I wasn’t hanging around long before I got the bright idea of trying my own hand at modeling.   When I showed up, ACE was not only still being worked on ;-) but it hadn’t even been released yet!  But I was determined to do the first scratch-built OPT for XvT, a new E-wing fighter (good ol’ AC3D was my first proggy.  The fun part was trying to get around the “can’t save” shareware crippling).  Well, that never really made it.   ACE was released, but I could never get the hang of handling the textures, and by the time stitching was introduced, X-wing: Alliance hit the shelves.   I immediately shifted focus, and not long after ACE supported XWA, I finally finished my E-wing as not only the first scratch-built XWA OPT, but the first one with an EXTERIOR and COCKPIT, as well!  Well, the textures stunk, and I caught a look at a Trade Federation Droid Fighter with textures by Darksaber and, well, you all know the rest.  That E-wing is STILL the highest-scoring starfighter OPT at Ypoknon’s site, with a whopping 98% ;-)

Starting up this project came about from looking at all the AWESOME fan models out there, and seeing how much they put Totally Games’ work to shame, especially in a game that could look FAR better than what TG’s models did with it.   I’d toyed around with a better X-wing model on a couple occasions, and finally decided to do something about it.

XWAU:

Did you ever thought about editing games like Quake, Unreal Tournament or the likes? The editing community for those games seems to be a lot bigger than XWAs, not to mention that the actual support for them is easier to get.

Saxman:

I’ve had an idea for a Star Wars mod for UT banging around my head for a long time (as well as some non-Star Wars sim ideas, a computer fantasy-adventure game, future developments for my fanfic, a SEQUEL to the fanfic, and all kinds of other stuff screaming to get out.  Those voices in my head are getting loud!!) and have already played around with a couple concept models for weaponry.  I originally planned this mod for Half-Life, but the apparent lack of interest in trying anything new and ambitious by the HL community (there’s an over-abundance of “Now that Counter-Strike is here, no one can ever make something that will succeed,” or “My mod failed, so yours will too because I’m so great” BS there) kinda turned me off.  The project is still kind of floating amid all the other unfinished ideas I’ve got, and I hope to be able to get something going in the future.

XWAU:

Do you think that the custom made editing tools for OPT editing can compete with any of the editors that come out of the box for other games?

Saxman:

I’ve always believed that the only people who know what the fans REALLY want are the fans themselves.   This gives fan-made tools a HUGE advantage, because they’re made by fans, for fans (and I’m not just trying to blow a lot of hot air around *rimshot*).

Seriously, though, I think a custom editor has a big advantage because it’s tailored specifically to what YOU want it to do, while out-of-the-box editors have had a history of being troublesome or user-unfriendly (I couldn’t figure out if Myth II’s editor had a manual written in English).

XWAU:

What is your opinion about today's XWA community. Since it is a small community compared to for example the UT community you should have a good overview of what is happening in it. What kind of future does the community have, with the apparent lack of support from LucasArts?

Saxman:

There’s an upside and downside to the community.  We have our hard-working and helpful guys, the guys that have been around for years still working hard on the same things they’ve been doing since they started (good ol’ Troy Dangerfield’s been pounding away at mission builders as long as I can remember, and your guess is as good as mine if Elim will ever finally show his A.S.S. to the community ;-) ) and we have the new people that genuinely care about what the community is doing and want to take part in it.

And then, we have the undesirables.  I’m talking people who come by just to cause trouble, (rapsuperstar and Admin5 from X-wing: Legacy) the cheaters, (ugh, someone at Datamaster’s actually OPENLY asked if he could use the OPT Project’s findings to cheat in XvT multiplayer) the idiots (BRL, anyone?) and then the total assholes.  The problem is, that there’s even some blending across the board.  The community has had its share of stupidity from the UPSTANDING members, and we’re all familiar enough with the clashing of egos in the past that I shouldn’t really have to say any more about that.

All-in-all, though, I think this is a good community with a lot of good people.  I don’t think the community is doomed now that LucasArts has apparently decided to pull the plug on X-wing.  XWA still has some STRONG potential for single-player expansion, and XvT’s multiplayer community is still alive and kicking (although many of the greatest pilots have long-since retired).  What we really need is to get together and work hard to crack open the mysteries of the game.  We’ve been able to alter what cutscenes are played in XWA, but we still don’t know how to make our own yet.   There’s still a lot in the engine that we have to learn, like getting S-foils to work right.   Regardless of what kind of support we’re not getting, that does NOT EVER mean that we’re fighting a lost cause.   It’s just a matter of making breakthroughs, and reminding the community that there’s still a LOT more to be discovered.

The Battle of Yavin ShipSet, Return of the Empire, The Atmospheric Ship Set, (the source of all those A.S.S. jokes we know and despise) the Babylon 5 and Wing Commander Total Conversions, and Dark Alliance (what, you expected me to do this without plugging my work every chance I got?) ALL have the potential to show X-wing: Alliance is NOT destined to rot at the bottom of the bargain bin.  That’s where bad clones and Wal-Mart titles go to die.

XWAU:

People joke that you're a walking SW library, and you've proven often enough that this is no simple BS, but in fact true. What is your favourite SW resource (the movies not counting) and what's the stupidest error you came across so far? (Or the most annoying)

Saxman:

The most annoying error has got to be the size of the Super Star Destroyer.  This aggravating debate finds it necessary to resurface every few months and fray the nerves of everyone in the community, when it can be solved by something no simpler than people WATCHING THE MOVIES and using their own eyes.

And well, it’s hard not to use the movies as a favorite resource since those are above all the most solid source of information.  The films are explicit, regardless of what other technical sources state.  The problem is too many people taking these secondary sources at their word and not thinking of what the films themselves show.

As for other sources, Curtis Saxton’s Star Wars Technical Commentaries has proven an excellent and mostly reliable source of information, largely based off observations directly from the films compared to real astrophysics (if you read his pages, be prepared for LOADS of scientific calculations and numbers crunching).   However like secondary sources such as WEG, you can’t take him at his word.  While an excellent source of information, many of Saxton’s evidence comes across as forced to fit his own specific beliefs (I tend to strongly disagree with his categorizing of the Imperial Star Destroyer as a true destroyer in our modern naval sense).  The many sites that link to Saxton’s have also proven helpful.  Robert Brown’s observations and his HUGE library of pics of the Millennium Falcon formed a large part of the resources I used for the XWAU models.

XWAU:

Interesting! Could you please tell us how you start a new project, does it take a lot of research??

Saxman:

If it’s a ship already existing in the Star Wars Universe, the first thing I do is try to find as many good images as I can.  I try to avoid sources like the Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels when possible, since they often skew or distort their drawings.  The Star Wars 3D Modeling Alliance is a toss-up.  While some of their models are excellent and quite well done, many of them are just wrong compared to the actual film models (their Nebulon-B frigate is off in many respects).   My choice to use their model rather than Totally Games’ when I originally did the T-wing resulted in a lot of shouting and stress, so much so that I just didn’t want to deal with that particular project anymore and passed it off.  And while this is non-XWAU, I DESPISE their K-wing.  First, because the modeler states that he wanted someone to contact LucasFilm so that he could make it the ONLY official K-wing design, and most important because it does NOT reflect creator Kube-McDowell’s descriptions.

Whenever possible I try VERY hard to find as many images of the film models themselves:  Either stills from the movies, or photos people have taken when they had the opportunity to view these models.

If it’s a ship of my own design, I come up with a concept first, try to figure out what I want it to do, and how that would affect the ship’s size and appearance.  This is a BIG thing for me, because a lot of fan-designed fighters are built without the creator’s realizing that you have to fit more than just a crew in there.   You have to be able fit EVERYTHING in that ship: fuel, weapons, controls, shields, engines, sensors, etc.  Those components take up room inside that hull, you can’t just make a little two meter-long cube and say it’s as well armed as a Star Destroyer, twice as durable, and can outrun and outmaneuver a TIE Defender.  But unfortunately, it’s much easier to kitbash a superfighter from other models, so there’s absolutely no thought put in beyond slapping as much firepower, speed and armor on a ship and making it look cool.

XWAU:

Right now you only do dxfs for the project. Have you ever considered trying to get started with texturing?

Saxman:

My texturing attempts thus far have only ended in disaster, and right now I’ve got so many other things going on I just don’t have time to work at it.  If I get a chance, I plan on downloading dec’s texturing tutorials, but I don’t see that happening in the immediate future.

XWAU:

What kind of program do you use to make your models, why do you use it??

Saxman:

Rhino 3D.  It can do pretty much everything you need to do to a DXF to prepare it for OPTing, and has a fairly nice interface.

XWAU:

Did you ever tried any other modeling program and if so why did you ditch it??

Saxman:

AC3D.  I used this for a LONG time before I decided to sit down and learn Rhino.  It was primitive and clunky, and the fact that as a shareware program I could only save in certain formats led me on a run-around of saving as one file and converting to another so I could reload it again eventually doomed it.

XWAU:

If you could make your own modeling program build up from components of today's 3d programs could you give us some features it would surly have???

Saxman:

Probably most of the same features in Rhino, but that’s just because I’ve been using it for a while and am used to it. ;-)

XWAU:

Are you pleased with the XWA game engine and the OPT format and if you could put one thing in the engine and one more function into the OPT format what would those be??

Saxman:

A REAL damage model.  It always bugged me that you couldn’t shoot an engine off a fighter, or that you could repair a fried system.  Give me X-wing with a damage model worthy of Jane’s and you have the best space combat sim ever.

XWAU:

You have been using ACE DXF all these time but now there is a new OPT program in making what do you expect from this??

Saxman:

I haven’t had a chance to download OPTTech  yet, but plan to soon.  Everything I’ve heard so far has been good, and the fact that we can now do engine glows and other effects in one program will REALLY help cut down on the hassle.   I’m still waiting for someone to integrate level-of-detail models.  Imagine flying against a traditional low-detail fighter, but when you’re right up in his face it switches to a high-detailed model that you can peek inside the cockpit!

XWAU:

How do you see the future for Star Wars space sims and do you expect LEC to come with any thing new soon or will we still be playing XWA the next 5 years?

Saxman:

Well, if LEC doesn’t get off its butt, I think we’ll still be playing XWA for a while.  However if they DO finally get something together, and actually give us something better than arcade junk, XWA will probably join the library of fondly remembered titles that we load up just for kicks and nostalgia.

XWAU:

Could you tell us a bit about your future plans can we expect anything from you beside XWAU work?

Saxman:

I’m still working on Dark Alliance (the ShipSet AND the FanFic) and once the Imperial Fighter Patch is released, and decoy is freed from the burden of texturing those TIEs and such, I have yet another E-wing on the way.  I also still hope to get that Star Wars UT mod done someday, too.

Oh, and Nob and I are working on a little something else…

XWAU:

Last but not least we have some short questions we would like you to answer short and firm

1. Why are you working on the XWAU project.
What do you mean work?  Work is something you hate to do, but do it anyway for the money.  This is a hobby:  You hate to do it but you DON’T get paid. ;-)

Seriously, though, it’s a lot of fun, and a great outlet for creativity.

2. Do you enjoy working in a team, or would you prefer to be able to concentrate more on your own projects alone?
Most of my projects here are in teams, like the part I played in the Rebel Fighters Patch.  Darksaber, decoy and others put as much or MORE time in on the various ships than I did, and ones like the Y-wing have almost nothing left of my original concept model.  I’m working with dec right now on that new E-wing, since I can’t texture worth a bucket of Hutt spit.  Really it depends on the project.  Some things you just can’t do alone, and XWAU is one of them.

3. What's the best thing going around in the XWA community right now.
XWAU, of course.  ;-)  Actually, there’s just too many cool projects going on to choose just one.

4. Who is the biggest upcoming talent in OPT editing?
There’s been a lot of GREAT guys popping up lately.  Sergione and Flavid to name just a few.  Just like with #3, there’s just too many to pick from.

5. What is the most important part of a good OPT, just one please?
Some people say textures, and they have good points, but I’m a model proponent (anyone surprised?)  Not even an awesome texture job can save a poor model.

6. Is it true that you keep a hardcover edition of the XWAU FAQs with you all the time to bash newbies with it?
I did until you took it away.

7. Will PC-games be abandoned by LEC?
PCs and Consoles seem to play this odd game of tag, where one pretty much goes dormant for a few years, then the other leads the way for a while.  Then, things switch off.  Right now, we’re seeing a definite advantage for consoles since these specialized systems are dedicated to gaming, and have standardized hardware.  However, give it five years, and PCs will be at the point where enough people have similar system capabilities that companies can finally do some serious work on games without having to worry if such-and-such game’s requirements are too steep for the general public.  Technology is just advancing faster than many people can keep up, and that temporarily hurts the PC gaming community.  HOWEVER, within a few years the PS2, Dreamcast and Game Cube will be blown away by the AVERAGE home computer system, not just the top of the line models that only Bill Gates can own.  I don’t think that the PC will be abandoned permanently for just this reason.

8. What's the best OPT (made by some one else) you have seen so far?
It’s hard to beat JM’s Mon Calamari Cruisers, especially the MC-90, MC-104 and Home One.

9. Will the XWAU ever be finished?
It’s a hope, for sure.

10. How did you like the interview?
It needs another layer of dirt…