Start from ramp single mission

[Happy308]

Maybe this has been posted before, but I could find the answer using the search option.

If you want to start from the ramp in a single mission. edit this line in the MSN File.

Change Waypoint[01].Command=TAKEOFF in to Waypoint[01].Command=TAXI

 

[AircraftMission001]
Name=SHOWTIME
AircraftType=MiG-21bisN
Size=1
Alignment=ENEMY
RandomChance=100
MissionType=RECON
TargetArea=Bad Hersfeld
ObjectiveID=5
RatingForSuccess=50
StartOnGround=TRUE
CarrierBased=FALSE
Position=569000.000000,557000.000000,500.000000
Heading=239.487961
Speed=207.887314
StartTime=0.000000
BaseArea=Köthen Airbase
LandArea=Köthen Airbase
Waypoint[01].Command=TAXI
//Waypoint[01].Command=TAKEOFF
Waypoint[01].Position=568081.500000,557000.000040,0.000000
Waypoint[01].Size=100.000000
Waypoint[01].Speed=202.929993
Waypoint[02].Command=DEPART
Waypoint[02].Position=559147.825109,554563.392422,3048.000000
Waypoint[02].Size=1500.000000
Waypoint[02].Speed=202.929993

 

Notice the different "Tower" command (Tower taxi to runway 27 etc)

Edited December 8, 2019 by Happy308

[+GKABS]

Nice, Thanks for sharing

[+Menrva]

Great thinking out of the box, @Happy308!

Please, let's pin this thread, this is a very nice discovery. I bet it can be made as default with some hex editing in the .dll files, but it would be a little risky.

EDIT: unfortunately, the bad object detection of SF2 makes it impossible to move outside of the pit area, the plane soon gets FUBAR.

Edited December 8, 2019 by Menrva

[+Stratos]

Pretty impressive find!! Only problem I find is that the AI keep turning and never taxi to the runway.

[+Sundowner]

The ai probably keep turning because they dont know where to taxi to......maybe a series of taxi waypoints are needed before the take off point.

This is where a more sofisticated mission editor would be useful.

[+GKABS]

46 minutes ago, Sundowner said:

The ai probably keep turning because they dont know where to taxi to......maybe a series of taxi waypoints are needed before the take off point.

This is where a more sofisticated mission editor would be useful.

This is exactly what happened to me too.

[+streakeagle]

If you delve back into the depths of SFP1, this capability has existed since the very first Walmart release. Kreelin's mission editor provided the option to enable this. But it was an unfinished, unsupported option that caused lots of problems, so at some point TK had patched it out of existence. I didn't realize it had been re-enabled. I don't think TK meant to make this option available again, but sometime he accidently re-introduced old code/bugs in later patches, so maybe that is why this is available again? I can't recall ever trying a ramp start since SF2 was introduced, so maybe it has been there all along?

[+streakeagle]

Relatively recent thread on this topic: https://combatace.com/forums/topic/91885-an-important-question/?tab=comments#comment-742990

[+EricJ]

This is a cool find, as I fly solo on my missions.

[+Menrva]

6 hours ago, Menrva said:

EDIT: unfortunately, the bad object detection of SF2 makes it impossible to move outside of the pit area, the plane soon gets FUBAR.

It seems you guys do not have this issue I told about. I cannot taxi, my plane gets damage and explodes as soon as I move. This happened to me with an add-on aircraft, maybe the stock aircraft do not collide with the pit and shelter objects. The add-on aircraft does have correct hit boxes. I also had all difficulty options set to hard, that may cause different behavior.

Anyway, as pointed out by others, this taxi feature is not polished at all. Coordinates must be fixed manually for the AI and, as I said, there may be some bad ground object hit boxes. Still, nice discovery.

Edited December 8, 2019 by Menrva

[+Coupi]

I suppose we need to keep the "Take off" waypoint and taxi from a new "Taxi" one.

Edited December 8, 2019 by Coupi

[+Sundowner]

The exploding on exiting or entering the pit is an old issue....there is a fix but I cant for the life of me remember what it was......something to do with the pit .col lods .......I think.

Kreelins mission editor was a great tool....sadly missed.

[Happy308]

Menrva, the aircraft exploding on the start of the mission , or during taxi only happens on my modded Germanyce Terrain with airfields from Rends (Drewitz Airbase for example)

Nellis air force base in the SWUS map works like a charm . And I don't have this problem with stock airfields. 

Making a separate entry for the taxi waypoint, does not change anything .

Waypoint[01].Command=TAXI
Waypoint[01].Position=896450.000000,774779.422852,0.000000
Waypoint[01].Size=100.000000
Waypoint[01].Speed=191.740005
Waypoint[02].Command=TAKEOFF
Waypoint[02].Position=896450.000000,774779.422852,0.000000
Waypoint[02].Size=100.000000
Waypoint[02].Speed=191.740005
Waypoint[03].Command=DEPART
Waypoint[03].Position=895148.481312,783947.500721,3048.000000
Waypoint[03].Size=1500.000000
Waypoint[03].Speed=191.740005

EDIT:

I did make one change last night that made my mentally challenged wingman take off,  but he did not use the runway.

He just took of in a random direction, on unpaved ground.   It was my own plane when I used auto pilot when parked on the ramp.

Also pressing alt + n makes your wingman  magically appear.

 

 

 

Edited December 8, 2019 by Happy308

[+Menrva]

1 hour ago, Happy308 said:

Menrva, the aircraft exploding on the start of the mission , or during taxi only happens on my modded Germanyce Terrain with airfields from Rends (Drewitz Airbase for example)

Well, it happens on stock terrains on my end. I guess this is either due to the custom aircraft I am using or due to the Hard difficulty settings which change the physics a bit.

[+russouk2004]

IIRC some a\c explode because of shock settings...some are too soft so plane bounces as spawns and blows up....seem to recall some issue with this

which a\c happens to ?

Edited December 8, 2019 by russouk2004

[+Coupi]

After several tests with add on and native game planes I think there is effectively a problem with the "PIT1".

I succeed with my taxi starts if I don't cross the red line and I follow the green one....... 

[+Wrench]

Not surprised, given the shadow issue with it. You want to see one that really messed up, try the SF2/WoV "VVehiclePort" -- damn thing is nearly 75 meters OFF any given center point!!!

Maybe try commenting out or remvoing the Collison Mesh statement in the terrains _types ini?? (just a shot in the dark)

 

[TargetType017]
Name=pit1
FullName=Arming Pit
ModelName=pit1.LOD
TargetType=MISC
Reported=FALSE
ActiveYear=0
TargetValue=0
UseGroundObject=FALSE
DamagePoint=100
ArmorValue=0.0
ArmorType=0
RepairRate=10.0
StartDetectChance=0
StartIdentifiedChance=0
IncreaseDetectChanceKey=0
MaxVisibleDist=8000.0
CollisionMesh=pit1_col.LOD   <---remove maybe???
DamagedModel=
DestroyedEffect=SmallRocketGroundExplosion
DestroyedModel=pit1.lod
SecondaryChance=25
SecondaryEffect=SmallExplosionEffect
 

 

[+Menrva]

On 12/8/2019 at 11:59 PM, Coupi said:

After several tests with add on and native game planes I think there is effectively a problem with the "PIT1".

I succeed with my taxi starts if I don't cross the red line and I follow the green one....... 

Thanks, Coupi. I was sure everything was right on my add-on aircraft. I had suspected the issue could be due to wrong collision boxes for those ground objects. BTW, that object actually is PIT16, not PIT1 which is not used on stock airbases AFAIK.

In the small Runway 2 and Runway 3 airbases, I cannot move past the shelter objects, the plane soon explodes.

The solution by Wrench should work, but it's less than ideal, I would prefer stock objects to have a better collision LOD. SF2 is not really a good example of "hitbox porn" (a fun way of saying when a game does have impressively accurate hitboxes). Other games have much better physics when it comes to object/hit detection.

Edited December 31, 2022 by Menrva

[combatace444]

On 12/8/2019 at 2:15 PM, Stratos said:

Pretty impressive find!! Only problem I find is that the AI keep turning and never taxi to the runway.

wooow

how to get marshaling and ground crew ?

[+Stratos]

 

1 hour ago, combatace444 said:

wooow

how to get marshaling and ground crew ?

Part of YAP 3 IIRC.

[+EricJ]

It's only too bad you can't do this with carriers. Would be kinda cool to move from the parking spot to the catapult, and then fly off. But that would require massive engine changes too, so yeah nice stuff but I won't be using it much.