Missing LOD

[+Tommy2Fast 8]

Can somebody tell me the mesh name of the canopy in the A-4F_74_COCKPIT. Or how to get it?

There is no LOD file for this Cockpit.

 

thanks.

-Tommy

[+EricJ 4,428]

I would think that the LOD is locked in Cat02 if it's a 3D model. IF so then you're SOL man as you can't access it. It's a security measure by TK to prevent theft of his work. Or I'm ill-informed because you can't fly the bird without a cockpit anyway, and if there was no cockpit you couldn't know what to look for. If it is unlocked, then use the CAT Extractor in the Downloads section, extract all the files, and use mue's LODViewer to look for it.

Edited Sunday at 01:20 PM by EricJ

[+Jimbib 804]

@Tommy2Fast, as EricJ mentioned you can use mue's CAT Extractor tool found in his toolbox here:

to extract the A-4F 74 cockpit .ini file, and then load up that .ini file with the latest version of his LOD Viewer tool found below to look at the model:

 

[+Tommy2Fast 8]

Thanks. But i dont understand how to use the CATExtractor program.. Yes i have read the "readme" files...

[+Tommy2Fast 8]

No CAT files appear..  

 

[+EricJ 4,428]

I think there's an option to extract all, and I think you got to point it to the install directory, where it was installed,not the Saved Games area. That's where all of the Cats are at. Not the meow meow kind though, but I'm sure you understand.

[Wrench 10,475]

unfortunately, even with being able to extract the cockpit ini, the LOD Viewer won't open it because of them being locked away. to view a cockpit, you NEED the actual _pit.lod itself

Are you looking for the mesh name from the INSIDE, as from the cockpit lod itself, or the actual name from the external model??

[Blade 386]

2 hours ago, Wrench said:

unfortunately, even with being able to extract the cockpit ini, the LOD Viewer won't open it because of them being locked away. to view a cockpit, you NEED the actual _pit.lod itself

That is not true. You simply need an ini file (see my example below) pointing to the correct lod file and mue's viewer can load it.

[LOD001]
Filename=a-4f_74_pit.lod

 

[+EricJ 4,428]

Yeah my Super Hornets won't load unless I use an ini, so it's possible. Maybe

[+Jimbib 804]

@Tommy2Fast try the following:

1. Download and open up mue's latest LOD Viewer (v0.63) from the link in my post above

2. In the top menu of the LOD Viewer, go to Extras > Settings. On the first tab of the pop up windows 'CAT File Access', set the SF2 installation directory to where you have installed the games on your PC, this is where all the game .exe files live. It might be something like "C:/Program Files (x86)/ThirdWire/Strike Fighters 2".

3. Open up windows notepad and copy in the quoted text from Blade's post above:

Quote

[LOD001]
Filename=a-4f_74_pit.lod

4. Go to Save As and do the following: save the file wherever you want on your PC with whatever name you like, but a) add ".ini" at the end of the File name field, b) Save as type should be set to All files and c) Encoding should be set to ANSI

5. Now in the LOD Viewer, go to File > Open... and select your newly created .ini file. You should see the cockpit model loaded up which you can inspect.

[Wrench 10,475]

Quote

 Encoding should be set to ANSI

I wonder if that might be why, even with my extracted inis, the Viewer won't open them, as they UNICODE stock

edit:

that makes no sense, as the aircraft lod is unicode. Now, I'm confused!!!  (but have pre-lock LODs archived, so I can always open them)

[+mue 732]

The LODViewer should work with either encoding: ANSI or UTF-16LE (unicode).