Driving me nuts

[Fubar512]

that for su-33 ? if so can I take a look too plz

 

Check PMs, Russ

[FastCargo]

Yep, the Su-33 appears to work correctly...though the actual positions are all jacked....

 

Hmph.

 

FC

[+russouk2004]

heres how I set the wingfold.

on the 33 you linked the anim to fuselage as parent ? as its under fuselage in data,ini?

[+russouk2004]

ok...made small mesh named leftouterwing02 and (ROW02)

linked pylon to that,,,then them to left and right outer wings and result

IRMs in right place...but now they dont move right.

Just realised this is April 2012 patch level...

also flanker points are off.

this is insane and im deffo going nuts lol

[+russouk2004]

This gets stranger

REM`ed out movingpylon=true

and the rotate ok weapons are now nowhere near pylon and one floats above wing again

REM out rotatingpylon=true and the weapons are in right place,move but move in wrong positions...

I give up

unless keeping rotate entry but set to false...mebbe it needs the entry even if its set to false?

if this dont work im giving up

[FastCargo]

Okay, I think I have figured this out. I actually fixed this for the Super Hornet (which means the legacy Hornets can be fixed too).

 

First, unlink and Reset XForm EVERYTHING in the hierarchy from the Fuselage to the weapon pylon. For example, the Super Hornet:

 

Fuselage

--LeftInnerWing

---LeftOuterWing

----LeftWingtipRail

-----LeftWingtipRailMount

 

I had to unlink all those meshes, do a ResetXForm, then for the pivot points, I did a Center to Object and Transform.

 

I then moved the pivot point and reanimated the appropriate part (in this case, the LeftOuterWing).

 

Then, for the specific mesh mentioned in the Weapon Station (in this case, LeftWingtipRailMount), put the pivot point for that mesh in the exact location and alignment as you wrote in the data.ini (ie if the weapon is 1.0,1.0,1.0 position with 0.0,-3.0,-90.0 rotation, do the exact same thing with the pivot point of the pylon).

 

Then relink, verify everything looks correct in MAX, and export.

 

FC

[+russouk2004]

will try...I did reset

Fuselage,leftouterwing,pylons etc...

[FastCargo]

Couple of things:

 

First, I verified that this works from the Oct 08 patch for SF1 all the way to the Ju1 2012 patch for SF2.

 

Second, my theory is that the RotatingPylon parameter was meant for aircraft with vertical pylons on swing wings. The critical thing is that it ignores ALL rotational inputs in the data.ini for that weapon station. It assumes the weapon is hanging straight down, parallel to the centerline of the aircraft.

 

Lack of ResetXForm has caused all sorts of issues, which are multiplied in a hierarchy. Because the game looks at the pivot points and their relationship to each other, that's why missiles don't seem to mount where they should.

 

It doesn't help that 3ds MAX is notoriously buggy sometimes with positional and rotational data. Half the time I input rotational data in one axis, only for it to apply the rotation in a different axis...

 

FC

[+russouk2004]

Tried everything...given up now...do summat else..

[FastCargo]

 

Okay, solved the issue...but you're not going to believe how.

 

First, like I talked about eariler, I went through the hierarchy and did the unlink, ResetXForm, pivot point Center to Object and Transform for all meshes related to the weapon pylon. I reanimated the wing fold, and simplified the pylons (they were asymetrical on the wings...I assume they were for testing). Didn't have to rotate the pivot points since the missiles are mounted with 0,0,0 rotation.

 

Result...missiles hanging forward and below the pylons. Proper alignment, proper distance from the centerline, and symmetrical (both outer missiles were incorrect in the same direction). Also, they followed the wing fold properly.

 

So...everything worked, but the missile were in an odd place...and it was specific. Went back to the MAX file, redid the pylon pivot points (disregarding the positions of the pivot points...just Center to Object instead)...same result. No change at all.

 

Then on a hunch...I commented out one line in the data.ini...and immediately everything was fixed. Mounted properly, rotated properly with the wingfold, both outer stations.

 

Here's the line: CGPosition=0.00,-1.20,0.15

 

WTF....

 

FC

[+KnightWolf45]

game was looking for the center of gravity of the weapon?

thats just weird!

[Fubar512]

Oh no!

 

So now you left poor Russ with a knackered shadow to fix.

[+russouk2004]

FC look at fuselage pivot...I found its not centre of mesh,I wondedr if the cog is where it would have been if centred to middle of mesh...are co-ords the same?

I found if u set cog to 0.0.0.0,0.0 its ok if comment outa\c bounces...but anyways if u fix it thnx :)

Edited January 7, 2013 by russouk2004

[+76.IAP-Blackbird]

So the solution is setting the CG to 0,0,0 in the ini or reseting the Pivot in max to 0.0.0?

[FastCargo]

I checked the pivot point in MAX for the fuselage after the XForm/Center To Object/Transform shuffle and it isn't centered.

 

So the solution overall is to do the unlink/XForm/Center To Object/Transform/relink shuffle on all related meshes.

 

Animate the particular meshes you need to.

 

For the pivot points on the pylons themselves, you will need to rotate them to the proper alignment you need for the weapon if it is other than 0,0,0 (this is important for wingtip rails).

 

CGPosition should either be commented out or be at 0,0,0. If you can't do that for ground handling, then offset the position numbers in the data.ini for the weapons the appropriate amount.

 

FC

[+76.IAP-Blackbird]

Ok thanks, will try it out on my bird, the next question is, how will you solve the gap in the ground shadow?

[FastCargo]

Two things:

 

1) Check the mesh Properties, specifically the User Defined tab, and make sure of the following flags:

 

AllowDecals = True

CastShadow = True

CatchShadow = True

UseFlatNormal = False

 

2) In the Materials Editor, make sure not to use 2-sided...I've noticed that this causes more problems then it solves (this method worked for the MiG-29K).

 

FC

[+russouk2004]

well theres definitley something wrong in the model...I used these entries for the fuji and it works perfect. anyways...will get the mig29 K out with what we have done as is.

under

[Leftwing]

blah

blah

blah

SystemName[004]=wingfold

 

under anims

[wingfold]

SystemType=ANIMATION

InputName=ANIMATION_10

DeploymentMethod=MANUAL

AnimationTime=6.0

AnimationID=5

Edited January 8, 2013 by russouk2004

[+KnightWolf45]

may use the wing fold only in the parked animation?

[+76.IAP-Blackbird]

stupid question, have you linked the pylon to the wing?

[+SkateZilla]

and the control surface should be linked to the wing too.. as it's just hovering ..

[+russouk2004]

cocas no...

Black...its just for test...yes on proper model

skate...yes it just a test tho..

[+76.IAP-Blackbird]

yes I thought the same, looks good! One of the rare birds

[+russouk2004]

Right...ive been doggedly having another go at this...so the folding wings are seperate from canopy opening.

created dummy copilot and canopy.parented to nose.

set arrester hook as custom animation slot shift_0

so now...wingfold is H key

Canopy shift 9

just got to fix the cog and redo some co-ords and its fine.

 

[coPilot]

CanopyNodeName=hook

CanopyAnimationID=2

 

[Canopy2]

SystemType=ANIMATION

InputName=ANIMATION_10

DeploymentMethod=MANUAL

AnimationTime=3.0

AnimationID=2

 

[Tailhook]

SystemType=ARRESTER_HOOK

MaxDeflection=60.0

Retractable=TRUE

DeployTime=6.0

AnimationID=4

//ModelNodeName=Hook

HookArmLength=1.608

//AttachmentPosition=0.0,-5.906,0.017

[+76.IAP-Blackbird]

Seems i have to check out my Mod, looks promising that result! If I will have some problems to solve the pylon thing and Shadowing of the bird, hope you dont mind when I contact you again ;)