GrinchWSLG

Its a definite improvement. Nice work.

Just my 2 cents. I think the top of the clouds could be a lot lighter as they'll be reflecting a lot of sunlight. If these clouds were underneath a higher ceiling then yeah they'd look natural, but with that sun shining bright over head they just don't match what I see every day.

Multiplayer is rather disappointing. Especially now that all the kiddies have the dual shotgun and tactical knife unlocks.

We got a GI message this morning saying McChord was closed for a TFR. Didn't know this was what it was till someone came up and told us at the end of the shift.

lol, what's a cargo bird need a jetway for?

Dur hur. It was the channels. Full steam ahead, no more annoying questions for you guys.

Well, I figured out a pretty efficient method of texturing that I thought the sim would stomach, but as always when I try to try new things, the sim bites back. This is how my mapping appears in Max prior to export. Notice I've used rotation to carefully place the textures where I want them. The runways have been rotated 90 degrees so they obviously face the right direction. Now follows the result I get in the game. Problematic to say the least. The only thing facing the right direction is the taxiways and hold lines, including a hold line that is 180 degrees opposite its mate. This is interesting because the game seems to have thrown out my angle settings on the curving taxiway boundaries and for whatever reason has reversed my runway markings. I've tried reversing the textures in the material editor, and reversing the mappings, but none of it has any effect on what the game produces. My mapping method is as follows. Select area to be mapped in editable poly mode Assign Material to selection Add Mesh Select Modifier and select area to be mapped Add UVW Map modifier and position the texture correctly Go back to the bottom of the modifier list to editable poly mode and start over with next section Once everything is done collapse modifier stack Select material groups by material ID and detach them into their own objects Reassign materials from material editor to each new object (else the exporter assigns the default material) Export I was using map channels thinking it might help me in the long run, but it hasn't shown its usefulness. That's the only thing I haven't experimented with in figuring out whats going on.

Can't wait to see it. Maybe it'll be done by the time I finish texturing this *%&$ airfield.

Actually I just experimented with that this morning. Its only displaying one material with no texture for the whole model. I applied 3 different materials, each with a different diffuse color, to different areas of the object and exported. Only one material showed in the .out. Not really sure what's going on, my other models don't seem to suffer this effect.

Erm, in game I mean, not in Max. They show fine in Max.

Anyone have any ideas why I can't get textures with these settings to show? Its just the stock runway texture bitmap. Or if anyone has any better methods of airbase texturing, let me hear them.

Hey swamblast, how goes the HDD recovery? I've got a fairly large project coming along that would benefit greatly from your tool, hopefully you can get things going again.

Is there some reason I can never see Suicidal's pictures? I can help if you need it, you can also just grab the Fletcher and take a look at the .ini file to get a good idea. It really was a bit of a process to get all those guns a workin' though. Quick example of setting up a three barreled turret: [GroundObjectData] DamagedModel=Fletcher.LOD DestroyedModel=Fletcher.LOD DestroyedEffect=TankerDestroyedEffect EmptyMass=2000000.0 Component[001]=Hull Component[002]=GunTurret1 <- We'll make this our 3 barreled turret. [GunTurret1] ParentComponentName=Hull ModelNodeName=5inchturret01 <- Important to make sure it matches up with the 3D model DetachWhenDestroyed=TRUE EffectSize=1.0 MinExtentPosition=-1.423,36.335,4.44 <-Here you can see where the max/min comes in handy MaxExtentPosition=1.423,40.295,7.673 StructuralFactor=1000.0 HasArmor=TRUE ArmorMaterial=STEEL Armor[FRONT].Thickness=20.0 Armor .Thickness=20.0 Armor .Thickness=20.0 Armor[REAR].Thickness=20.0 Armor[TOP].Thickness=20.0 Armor[bOTTOM].Thickness=20.0 SystemName[001]=gunner1 <-First system should always be the gunner. Each gun gets a different gunner, so SystemName[002]=gun1 Gunturret2 would have gunner2 as a System SystemName[003]=gun2 <- Each "barrel" or gun gets an entry, the numbering continues for each gun SystemName[004]=gun3 just like gunners, so GunTurret2 would have guns 4,5, and 6. [Gunner1] <-Each gunner gets their own data entry. SystemType=GUNNER GunnerID=1 <- This is why numbering them in the name helps a lot TargetType=AIR_AND_GROUND GunRange=16500 PitchAngleRate=10 MaxPitch=85.0 MinPitch=-15.0 DefaultPitchAngle=5.0 YawLimited=TRUE YawAngleRate=10 MinYaw=-140 MaxYaw=140 DefaultYawAngle=0 <-For rear facing turrets, this is 180. +/- on Max/Min Yaw will also be reverse. GunMinAltitude=0.0 GunMaxAltitude=11300.0 YawModelNodeName=5inchturret01 <-this is the name of the turret's 3D model PitchModelNodeName=5inchgun01 <-For multiple barrels they should be a single object and named as such, so they GunStabilization=TRUE move together. I think this can be done with grouping and group names. GunRadarTracking=TRUE DataLink=TRUE ReloadGunAtAngle=TRUE RangeFinder=8 BallisticComputer=6 VisualSearchTime=2.0 ViewportPosition=-0.0231,7.3419,21.8052 IndependentSearchChance=80 [Gun1] SystemType=GUN GunTypeName=5IN_MK12 GunnerID=1 <-Make sure each gun has the right gunner MuzzlePosition=0.0,43.245,6.559 <- This is the barrel end "at rest" will explain below.* MaxAmmo=1000 TracerLoading=1 BurstAmount=5 EjectShells=FALSE *When you have the model ready to export to the game, all turrets should be level and either facing straight forward (0) or straight back (180). Guns that usually don't have a specific facing (like AA guns) can just face forward and then you can set the default facing in the ini. For example, my 40mm turrets face straight forward and level in the model, but in the ini the default yaw is about 67 degrees and the default pitch is 25 degrees, so it defaults to a forward facing angle with the guns slightly up. Maybe I'm not too great at explaining this, but if you have any questions I'll try to answer them. It helps to look at ini's others and compare that to what you want to accomplish.

There will be a beta/development package eventually. Just need to find time and willingness to iron out a few things.

Same as it was before. I'm too busy telling pilots how to do their jobs and keeping runways deiced to bother with this or the two other SF projects I have. (Snow, ice, and fog, it was a really long day, and I get to get up in 7 hours and do it all over again)

Ah, makes sense. That answers all my questions about the runways and taxiing then. Still can't get those bitmaps to show up in the viewport. Odd, never had this problem before. A google search showed at least one other person with the same problem but no solution.

Well heck. I've looked a bit more into the airfield ini's and i've found these terms; takeoffhead, takeofftail, taxihead, taxitail, etc. I've searched the forums but couldn't find a good explanation of exactly what these mean. I can gather a few guesses but I'd rather have the detailed description. Another one of those times I wish we had better SF design notes. Also, more related to 3DS Max than airfield building, I can't get materials to show up in the viewport with my airfield. All other models work just fine, but applying any sort of material to the airfield's plane has no effect. It shows up in rendering just not in the viewport. Any ideas?

Hmm, I'm not sure how all this applies to what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to model an airport that has 4 parallel runways with a civilian and military side. Its fine that only one runway can be used at a time by the AI, this setup allows it pretty easily. My concern is can I create a real airport to scale including all the high speed taxiways, displaced thresholds, non-uniform runway distances, within the game's limitations? Come to think of it, what's stopping me from making the entire airfield on the plane. For example, the grass areas in between the taxiways, and then breaking up a satellite image of the airport into pieces and texturing the airport that way?

Hmm, what are the different types of Runways? IE, Target[001].Type=Runway1. Do the runways have to be preset distances? Can you only have one operational runway per airfield and does it have to be a 18/36 runway? Should the centerpoint of the model be the center of the operational runway? Too many questions I know, but as I've learned with the aircraft, better to get them out of the way now. Thanks for your help BTW.

I'm going to model it myself,long with some new buildings. I'm just curious how the game recognizes a 'runway' and a 'taxiway' and how the taxi routing works.

Not to dig up old threads, but I see there's a few active members that posted in here and I'd hate to make a whole new thread for something that goes right along with these posts. Does anyone know of notes on airbase creation and setup? I presume you just model it and then the runway and taxi configurations are set up in .ini files correct?

PC version comes out today just like all the other versions...

Wow, that pit is gorgeous!