Step Two: The First Conversion
Well, now we have a 3d model and textures to work with, but not in the right format. So now we open up Deep Exploration and using the directory tree on the left, browse to the ship you want to build. In this case we are going to build the Kushan Attack bomber, so go to the r1 Directory and then attackbomber. There is a folder rl0 in there, so open that up and you will see lod0 through lod4. These are the different model that the game uses for various levels of detail. The most detailed model is in the lod0 folder, so click on that. On the bottom of the window, you'll see a list of files in the directory. The 3d models are always listed first, since this is a 3d modeling program. Click on the attackbomber.peo file and you'll see a nice little Kushan Attack Bomber pop up in the viewing window. Left click and hold on the model to rotate it and use the right button to zoom. This is important because of a memory saving feature that Homeworld uses. Once you rotate the model to the back you'll see a large grey panel where an engine should be. Hmmm... it's not like that in the game. What's going on?
We Have a Problem
Ok, here's the problem. When Homeworld came out in 1998, it pushed the limit of computer's abilities. So, to save memory and hard drive space, they reused the textures for the models whenever they could. This means that your missing texture is in a different folder. The easy way to find it is to double-click on the model in the viewing window and go to the material panel on the popup. Look at the textures list and see what's not in the folder on the hard drive. In this case, the texture engine_back.lif is missing. In the larger models, many can be missing since they not only re-use textures, but basic shapes for similar class ships. There are also multiple objects in the larger models, so be sure to check each object for missing panels. Do a search for the missing file in the r1 director (or the parent r1, r2, etc. folder). You will come up with a few files. Pick one that is from the same class ship and is in a lod0. Copy and paste into the folder that needs it, in this case attackbomber. If you can't find the file for a Kushan ship, try looking in the derelicts folder. There are a bunch of rejected Kushan ships that are used as derelicts and there are textures in there. There are also some pretty nice Kushan alternatives in there, so feel free to check them out too.
Problem Solved
Now, after cutting and pasting we click on the model file again in Deep Exploration and you'll see your missing texture. All the textures are in there, so don't give up looking. But keep in mind that some of the derelicts don't have all their panels textured. Once you have all the textures listed in the materials panel for each object, you are done looking. My derelict Heavy Cruiser has a few black panels on it because they didn't 'color' them, they just made it black and called it done.
There you are!
Much better!
Now, once you get all the textures in place, go to the File menu and then Save As. Select "trueSpace Object (.cob)" on the file format pull down menu, and then browse to the folder where the original Homeworld model is in. This is important because we will need to keep the textures with the models we are making. Once you click on "Ok" another popup will appear. Make sure Duplicate Polygons is set to "Never," and then click on the "Texture maps" tab. Make sure Export Textures is checked and select "Windows Bitmaps" for the "Convert Textures to:" option. Click on ok and you'll be set. You will see a new file in the list on the bottom with a little purple leaf for an icon. And if you scroll down, you'll see the new bitmaps too. Cool, we're all set for the next step.
Here's an advanced note: You can actually save the model to another directory with the textures by checking "Copy textures to another folder" and browsing to the place where you are saving your model. The draw back to this is when you are changing the default colors. You'll have to be working with a couple folders instead of just one. I say, "Work smarter, not harder," so I keep everything in one place.