Adding some flair to a cockpit...

[FastCargo 412]

Hello folks.

 

Before we begin, realize this post is aimed at those modders who build aircraft, but do not build cockpits.

 

Also, those modders are the type who would consider building aircraft to take advantage of the OpenCockpit=TRUE parameter in the cockpit.ini file.

 

An example of this is the mods I've made to the F-111 ini files to be able to view your WSO (and incidently, this works in the A-6)...or the tweaks I used to be able to fly from either seat in the F-5F, while using the same cockpit for both.

 

Anyway, some of the cockpits out there (including the stock TW ones) are very nice, and certainly could be useful in other aircraft (for instance, using the MF F-5E cockpit in the F-5F). However, sometimes the cockpits don't have some of the things you would like...throttles, rudder petals, control stick, etc.

 

However, with the OpenCockpit method, these items can in fact be added to the cockpit and look good while doing it.

 

But, and this is really the cool part, those parts can be animated to work like they are supposed to...yep, rudder petals that move, control stick, throttles...hell, even a canopy opening lever and speedbrake switch...as long as they are built into the external model.

 

An example:

 

 

This is the current MF F-5A cockpit, modified slightly with ini edits to simulate the T-38 cockpit, placed inside the T-38A. Note, that like a lot of the eariler cockpits, and stock TW cockpits, there are no rudder petals, throttle, etc.

 

 

And here is the same cockpit, but the T-38A has been modified to have a control stick, throttle, etc (not textured at the moment). And the controls, including the canopy opening lever, work.

 

Finally, since these controls take up texture space and polygons, to avoid having all your aircraft have this much detail on screen, you can make 2 LODs...one with the controls and one without, with the LOD with the controls having a VERY short view distance (10 meters). That way, all those extra polygons are only for your aircraft alone...

 

Anyway, an interesting way to be able to add something to those cockpits you use in your models....

 

FC

[Lexx_Luthor 57]

Interesting stuff.

 

Is it possible to "add" a complete aircraft to the cockpit....to provide canopy structure for some aircraft that have none because of one-sided canopy polygons?

 

You need to hop inside MF F4U-7 model, and take a chopped MF Corsair cockpit with you. Just do it. Granted, Wrench is the Corsair kid here -- but its worth a peak.

[FastCargo 412]

Not quite the same thing.

 

Parts can be added by building separate LODs and adding them via the FakePilot method. However, they'll do nothing but sit there.

 

What I show is different. You can actually enhance cockpits by providing working controls...as long as you can include them in the original aircraft LOD. And most importantly, you do not have to have access to the original cockpit MAX file.

 

FC

[Lexx_Luthor 57]

Right, and that's what you meant by this being of interest to aircraft builders. Understood!!

[GASCAN39 7]

awesome discovery! I think a whole lot of folks will take interest in this...

[FastCargo 412]

What makes this even more interesting is the idea of a 'generic' cockpit. I believe Lexx you had brought this up already somewhere a while ago.

 

The problem with moving stuff around to make a cockpit 'fit' inside an aircraft using either the Lexx 'clip' distance method or the 'OpenCockpit' method is that:

 

A) Because of the way the cockpit is constructed, certain parts that you want out of the way may take parts that you want to keep (the F-105 cockpit is an example)...or worse, the mesh is of one piece, not 2 pieces.

B) You can normally only move the particular mesh you want in one axis (ie you cant move a guage left/right AND up/down, and/or rotate).

 

However, what I would propose is something fairly radical.

 

The idea is that future aircraft would be built as I stated above in the first post, except more detailed. There would be the proper dimensions, functioning flight controls, HUD, dashboard, glareshield, etc. Non functioning switches, (if you really want) etc. But no functioning gauges. And that there would be 2 LODs....one with all those details, one without, so as to not bog down machines with all the extra textures and polygons (limited to one aircraft).

 

And then, there would be the cockpit LOD. It would be generic...no walls, controls, seat. All the guage bezels would have invisible links behind them, to allow arrangement in all 3 dimensions with cockpit.ini edits ONLY. You could literally build your own cockpit with ini edits.

 

The really hard part about the whole thing is the initial build of the generic cockpit, with all the different guage types. But after that, anyone with a modicum of knowledge could use the cockpit. But after the initial effort, any future modeler of aircraft could get a reasonable emulation of their aircraft's specific cockpit just by building the frame work in the external model...and then using the 'generic' cockpit, ini edits, and texture edits to get a functional version of their aircraft's cockpit...eliminating the eye bleeding detail needed usually needed to build a cockpit from scratch.

 

Musings from a mad modder...

 

FC

[+Paladrian 11]

One pit for the US fighters, kings of the sky

One for the soviets, low tech and green tone

One for the bombers, with pilots to each side

One master pit concept that all can mod

In the land of Modders, where this mod flies

One pit to fit them all, one pit to fly them

With ini edits mod them all, and with the external 3D bind them

In the virtual skies, where this mod flies...

 

 

 

BTW it's an interesting idea :yes:

[+Crusader 2,094]

LOL .. 12 points for MEXICO!!1

[Lexx_Luthor 57]

Yea that's it FC. Spot on. Alot of planes can share the same guages. I'll *guess* a generic fuel guage could be used for MiGs 15 through 19, with any face numbers needing change through the bmp file and INI file for each plane. Just a guess though.

 

Just a note about this...

 

FC::

A) Because of the way the cockpit is constructed, certain parts that you want out of the way may take parts that you want to keep (the F-105 cockpit is an example)...or worse, the mesh is of one piece, not 2 pieces.

B) You can normally only move the particular mesh you want in one axis (ie you cant move a guage left/right AND up/down, and/or rotate).

You can Move and then Rotate, well at least its something.

You can Move a parent mesh and then Move a child mesh. That's what I had to do for A-6 for example. Drop the entire cockpit, raise the panels and other things...this allows leaving the rear wall dropped as additional benefit. Drop and Pop. I do the same for Thudwire Thud cockpit panel inside Thudwire Thud external model.

 

By missing parts, do you mean what may be the "drift guage" in F-105? See the blank spot on the panel here. I couldn't find this as distinct mesh.

 

 

 

More Thudwork down this page here ~> http://bbs.thirdwire.com/phpBB/viewtopic.p...a&start=176

 

An BIG potential for confusion in some cockpits is mixed up X,Y,Z coordinates, and some kind of mismatch of what should be positive and negative mesh movements. ie...drop a mesh 9 meters in Z and pop the child up 9 meters but it moves in another coordinate. Strange but true. Sometimes using another coordinate makes it work, sometimes not.

[+76.IAP-Blackbird 3,557]

Is it possible to move those parts, stick throttel?