By
VonBeerhofen
Next to the added control surface animations and added animations on groundobjects, I've managed to add two new animations, bulletholes and oil leak, and created the possibillity for 4 more to be used for other plane damage or whatever comes along.
These are not really animations in the true sense of the word but more a state change of a textured polygon. Some of these animations can use multiple states making them a true animation, but most only use one or two states. The new ones only use a single state, so on or off, but their placement on the 3D models can be anywhere and for instance turn the front canopy into a partially blackened window with bulletholes, which will make it harder to see properly. It can also be used to blacken the engine area or cowlings, remove plating and show underlying struts or add tearing or cracks in the windshield, etc.
These animations work both inside as outside the plane but there are a few snags. First of all the cockpit can be switched on or off with a key pressure, unless this feature is disabled in the EAW.INI, but when switched off the animation is also switched off and you'll have a clear view inspite of the animation being active. A huge advantage is that the realtime event triggers for these animations have always been there already, so there's no additional cost to framerates.
Ofcourse new plane and cockpit models have to be created which will use these animations, 30 planes is probably doable but it will take a long time to get them all working. Besides that none of the default cockpits have glass panels in them and adding them is another tough job which requires proper knowledge about the Rendering Sequence and the use of 3DZ parts. However I have a few new cockpits which do have glass panels already, so these are most likely to get these new animation codes first.
I can't see any issues for the stock planes but I can't say how far it can be taken, they need sufficient room in their textures to add new drawings, plus new polygon overlays and possibly a recalculated R/S, which is always a pain. So further devellopment is on a plane to plane basis as there is no easy bulk solution yet, but there are a few old tricks I may be able to use.
VonBeerhofen
By VonBeerhofen
By Centurion-1