Kifir cockpit modifications

[LightningIII 0]

As part of a Cold War LANDJUT/BALTAP focused mod I'm working on better cockpits and avionics for the Danish F35 strike Drakens. Turns out that the Kifir C.2 looks darn similar. Only thing I'd like to move (using the fake airspeed trick) is those two (AoA and vertical speed?) indexers on the sides of the HUD. What would be the best way to figure out what node to call out?

Second question: is it possible to reconfigure at least one of those RWR status lights as a threat notifier (SAM, airborne intecept etc) so that the RWR is more useful as a non-tews unit? (The Kifir has tews but the F35 doesn't pre WDNS). I can't seem to find those lights in the cockpit ini.

Third question: what's the best solution to that clipping going on with the engine nacelle?

 

Alternatively, if there is no good solution to this using the Thirdwire stock pit, is there a community made Kifir cockpit or look-alike that you know of and would recommend for more flexibility?

 

Thanks.

 

(real draken pit for reference: http://www.britmodeller.com/walkarounds/aircraft/draken/mar4.jpg)

Edited February 2, 2016 by LightningIII

[Wrench 9,807]

use mue's lod viewer to id the meshes

 

as to that clipping issue, there's a couple of ways:

 

check the actual position in the cockpit ini vs positioning from external view

 

locate the offending node (again with the lod viewer) and add to cockpit ini (3rd section)

Example only...

 

[CockpitSeat001]

HideExternalNode=
ModelName=Skyraider_Pit
Offset=0.0,0.0,0.0
Position=0.0,0.26,1.10
ViewAngles=0.0,0.0,0.0

 

 

or in the data ini for nose or fuselage (whichever mesh it is)

 

ShowFromCockpit=FALSE

[LightningIII 0]

Got ya - problem is I'm not sure where to find the LOD. It doesn't seem to be in the CAT file that has the rest of the Kifr cockpit stuff.

[+Crusader 2,084]

Box01 (left)

Box04 (right)

Edited February 2, 2016 by Crusader

[LightningIII 0]

For future reference, what CAT file has that lod?

[+Crusader 2,084]

dont know the # its the locked cat

to view stock cockpits with the lod viewer, I copy or make a ini file , name it ShowCockpit_xxxx, then place it in the Aircraft folder.

ini contains only two lines :

 

[LOD001]
Filename=A-4F_pit.LOD 

 

use the cockpit ini's to get the specific lod names

[Wrench 9,807]

all lods are stored in the ObjectData002.cat -- that 's the locked one

 

mue's lod viewer only requires the main ini (ie: KfirC1_77.ini) to function.

 

to open the cockpit lod, you'd need the cockpit ini extracted. It doesn't even need to be IN the aircraft folder; the viewer will find the lod from an "extracted to..." folder.

 

but I see Crusader already answered the question.

 

just a thought .. if those boxes are part of the external model, perhaps the cockpit position is too low?? .. just thinking out loud...

[+Stary 2,427]

yes seems the position is a bit too low, also the near clipping of mesh WILL result when not using modified flightengine.ini data on most aircraft that have meshes close to the cockpit mesh, be it intakes, aprons and such

 

edit:

 

neat idea with Kfir usage for Draken

Edited February 2, 2016 by Stary

[LightningIII 0]

Awesome I've made great progress on the pit. While I have the attention of the mastermodders, I'm having an issue with editing the TGA file of the F-16 (stock) cockpit. After modifying it I placed it in the folder for the aircraft that is using the F-16 Netz pit, which is I believe the correct procedure. However, it seems that the game is not displaying the TGA, it is as if it is totally transparent. I opened it in gimp, made an edit and overwrote it, but it seems there's something I'm missing with an alpha channel or something. I've attached the file to see if anyone can help (I'm changing the SAFE/ARM indicator to an ECM indicator). 

tga edits.zip

[Wrench 9,807]

all stuff for cockpits goes into the /cockpit folder for each particular aircraft. so, you might need to create the folder, and just drop the tga in there

the game looks in specific folders first, then cats.

[+Stary 2,427]

also any radar or HUD related graphics also should go into their respective folders inside of the cockpit one

[+Crusader 2,084]

also any radar or HUD related graphics also should go into their respective folders inside of the cockpit one

Only if the avionics ini is set up to look into the subfolders.

By default / with stock avionics, all Radar/HUD tgas are in the cockpit folder.

[+Stary 2,427]

Thanks Crusader, I learned something new today

[LightningIII 0]

Unfortunately, it's still not seeing the TGA. In fact, the other lights that were on that TGA (the LGB weapon selection light) are also not showing up. Still thinking it's an alpha channel problem.

[+Cliff7600 1,148]

Try this, just in case

 

tga re_edited.rar

Edited February 3, 2016 by Cliff7600

[LightningIII 0]

Worked like a charm. Can I ask what you did? I use gimp not Photoshop, maybe that's the problem?

[+Cliff7600 1,148]

I only did one thing (with Paint.Net)

 

- open the file

- create a layer

- make the layer not visible

- save as it is  in a TGA format

 

The software asked about the layer if I wanted to "merge" it or not -> yes

 

So it was an alpha channel problem as you thought.

[LightningIII 0]

Upon having the same problem with some other lights, I did what I thought you described (see attached) but no joy?

[+Cliff7600 1,148]

As far as I can say, there's two possibilities

 

- You must not flatten the file before saving it. It's the action of saving that will flatten it.

When done and saving it, the file has 2 layers, the image itself and the "alpha channel".

 

- Maybe the version of Gimp you use doesn't deal with multi layers file (or something like that...), and I can't tell precisely what to do to fix that. (<- probably wrong...)

 

(I never managed to make a decal with Gimp because of this problem, though I know some people know how to do it the right way.

I switched to Paint.Net for that reason. I don't say that it's the path to go, but that's the same issue that I never solved.)

 

EDIT : see next post below, best answer for sure ;^)

Edited February 6, 2016 by Cliff7600

[+logan4 847]

I personally never create an alpha layer when using gimp. When I set up my first layer I chose transparent and put my stuff on it or onto several layers. When Exporting it as tga, gimp itself create the alpha stuff as the layers are translucent.

 

 

[+yakarov79 11,004]

to post above:

in gimp export as .tga without RLE compresion

otherwise it will not apear in game..