Removing the Sea Kings on deck

[+allenjb42]

I can’t remember if this was investigated back when SF2:NA was released, but has anyone successfully edited the data.ini files of the Nimitz and Kitty Hawk to hide the Sea Kings?

it would be useful if they weren’t showing for missions/campaigns set after the SH-3 was retired from USN service.

Also it would free up the elevator behind the waist cats for additional slots for parked aircraft.

[+Menrva]

You can't. Unlike with aircraft, it's not possible to hide nodes of the 3d model for ground objects. Only a 3d model edit could fix that, but those are stock LODs. Unless someone makes new ones from scratch, we're stuck with the SH-3 on them.

Edited February 3, 2024 by Menrva

[+allenjb42]

That’s a bit disappointing, but thanks for the swift reply Menrva.

Case closed, I guess.

Edited February 4, 2024 by allenjb42

[Wilches]

Try to convert the skins to .TGA via HEX and then make them invisible. Am I clear? Should work, I believe...

[Gatling20]

The problem with that, I think, is that Gen2  LODs cannot be extracted from the ObjectData CAT file (ObjectData026.CAT for these carriers), and unless you can extract them I don't think you can hex-edit them. Unless, of course, someone has worked out how to find and then hex-edit the CV-63 LOD inside the CAT file, without extracting the LOD, but that risks screwing up the entire CAT file, which has a heap of other ships and aircraft in it.

Alternatively, if you have SF1 (Gen1) you could extract the CV-63 LOD and use it  instead of the Gen2 version - it has a bare deck, with no Sea Kings on it.

 

[Blade]

It seems that TK wanted to implement a function to add deck object variety for his stock carriers, though it does not appear to work. There are entries in the stock SCB-125_Data.ini which seem to serve this purpose (to no avail, apparently):

[Cargo1]
SystemType=CARGO
NodeName=tractor_01
RandomChance=60

In theory, it might be logical to set the RandomChance value to 0 to make the node in question disappear. I tested it a couple of times several years ago but, unfortunately, it did not seem to work. You might test it again, maybe I simply missed something back then.

(PS: Needless to say, you have to define these among the SystemName[...] entries in the [Hull] section, e.g. SystemName[011]=Cargo1.)

(PS2: 'seaking01' is the node name for the chopper on the elevator.)

Edited February 4, 2024 by Blade

[AcariaPlainum]

10 hours ago, Gatling20 said:

The problem with that, I think, is that Gen2  LODs cannot be extracted from the ObjectData CAT file (ObjectData026.CAT for these carriers), and unless you can extract them I don't think you can hex-edit them. Unless, of course, someone has worked out how to find and then hex-edit the CV-63 LOD inside the CAT file, without extracting the LOD, but that risks screwing up the entire CAT file, which has a heap of other ships and aircraft in it.

Alternatively, if you have SF1 (Gen1) you could extract the CV-63 LOD and use it  instead of the Gen2 version - it has a bare deck, with no Sea Kings on it.

 

Maybe if a lod could be extracted then placed in the mod folder? Still would need to figure out how to access and extract LOD in cat file

[Gatling20]

A LOD in the Mod folder will, as we all know, be used by the sim ahead of the original in the CAT file, that is one of the fundamental bases of modding, but TK locked the CAT files in Gen2 for the very reason that he didn't want LODs extracted from them.

So it is probably piracy to extract and use (and certainly to post or distribute) LODs from a Gen2 CAT file (even if anyone knew how to do it, which I have never seen mentioned).

[+whiteknight06604]

my memory is really hazy and I'm not sure if this was SF1 or SF2 but I think I recall someone long ago adding the deck aircraft on YAP carriers as "missile launchers" or "guns" and having them rotate into the deck? I think they limited the travel of these "launchers" so that they couldn't move . I'm just throwing this out there in case someone has a better recollection than me. I don't know if it even worked. 

[Wrench]

and YAP was 1stGen. There's was a lot of things that could be done, that can't any more in SF2. But you could NEVER remove meshes from GroundObjects. I tried that myself, years ago, trying to remove cranes from a ship.

As for using 1stGen lods, be advised that some items got severely remapped for SF2. And they might not be compatable in the SF2 enviromnemt with "NA carrier" usage.

There's a LOT of stuff that TK never finished or if finished, ever implemented. So the "cargo" bit is prolly one of them.

The question has been answered .... it ain't possible.

[snapper 21]

Depending on model you can hide certain items using missile or gun then setting the min max Pitch to a minus.

Spruance for example forward ASROC launcher can be flipped upside down and in effect hidden in the hull.

unfortunately TKs helicopters and most YAP deck objects can be flipped but only upside down and not beneath the flight deck.

And yes TK didn’t finish quite a bit, like Phalanx on the Nimitz or Tarawa. I never go up North without them 😀

Edited February 5, 2024 by snapper 21

[snapper 21]

On 04/02/2024 at 1:07 AM, Wilches said:

Try to convert the skins to .TGA via HEX and then make them invisible. Am I clear? Should work, I believe...

I tried this on a YAP model looks great in the Lod viewer where plane can’t be seen but in game plane is just white and still sitting there 

[Wilches]

6 hours ago, snapper 21 said:

I tried this on a YAP model looks great in the Lod viewer where plane can’t be seen but in game plane is just white and still sitting there 

That´s so weird...