FastCargo

No. LODs for cockpits are like for aircraft, once they are created, you cannot alter them other than deleting parts. For aircraft LOD, you can add parts that will not move on their own either by making them weapons or pilots using creative ini methods. But the parts would still have to be created. You could in theory do the same for cockpits, using a combination of the OpenCockpit and FakePilot method. But this would still result in parts that cannot interact in ANY way. FC

What, you mean the Pandora battery? FC PS Oh wait, I see what you're talking about now...I'm not THAT interested in retro gaming...

Well, cockpits are complicated, and depending on what you want them to do, VERY complicated. To keep it simple, for the most part, anything and everything that lights up, moves, rotates, spins, etc, within a cockpit must be built in the cockpit LOD file. Those individual meshes are called 'Nodes' and can either be found within the LOD file using a hex editor, or the OUT file. The OUT file is preferred, because it can tell you what texture is assigned to a particular mesh and how the meshes (ie nodes) relate to each other. Now, there are exceptions to the above note...mirrors, radar, rwr, and HUD do not require lots of parts. The HUD is a seperate 'overlay' and so doesn't require a physical node. The radar and rwr only need a single node each defined, and the sim will texture it with the appropriate display specified and takes care of all the sweeps, numbers, etc. The mirrors just need their own texture. For the other stuff, needles, stations, tape gauges, etc, must be built a certain way, to include things like specific mapping, pivot points, hierarchies. Those building specifics are then taken advantage of in the cockpit.ini, depending on the Type and MovementType. ItemNumber tends to refer to a specific station, engine, fuel tank, etc. The other numbers listed simply determine the relation of what is being measured to the movement, light, etc of the node in question. In short, if the cockpit is incomplete (like the one above), there is no way to fix it because the rest of the parts are not there yet. FC

Try operating the sim with and without the inis and see if there is any change. FC

There's been emulators for portable consoles too...been doin some old school gaming on my PSP...fun stuff! FC

A laser is going at the speed of light...no aircraft is going to maneuver out of it unless it hits the gimbal limit of the turret. In addition, the beam is invisible...the first time you know you're under attack is when your aircraft malfunctions...or you smell smoke... And a laser that is capable of destroying aircraft is not like a sunbeam (which is what most people think of)...it has FAR more energy behind it. There are a LOT of misconceptions about what lasers are and how they work... FC

The problem is that TK reduced the NearClipDistances, so now parts on the aircraft will show closer to the cockpit. 3 ways to fix it: 1. Move the cockpit in the cockpit.ini. This may or may not work depending on the configuration of the external model. 2. Change certain parts of the external model in the data.ini to ShowFromCockpit=FALSE. Depending on how the external model is built, this is the preferred solution. 3. Extract the FLIGHTENGINE.INI, then change the following line noted in bold: The larger the number, the farther away the parts of the external model have to be to be seen from the cockpit. FC

These aircraft are not flyable in the stock version of WOV, so no such thing exists. There are 3rd party mods for things like this... FC

That could have something to do with the MinBaseSize parameter...if the airfield is MEDIUM, but the aircraft are LARGE, that may be why they don't get selected...assuming other things like USERLISTS, etc, work. FC

MoonGoose, First, ezlead was a actual combat pilot, he's been there, done that, "Got my ass shot at by SAMs" t-Shirt...maybe it's just me, but I'd probably defer to him in terms of what makes a good combat pilot judgement call. Secondly, because a pilot is qualified in that aircraft, doesn't make him an expert in that aircraft. All the real pilots here can tell you of the bros who are mission qualified in an aircraft, go up for a sortie against some of the squadron tactics officers, or Weapon School grads, or combat vets, and come back asking what the hell just happened. I've flown with a guy who actually liked flying A model Eagles instead of C models, because he could regularly school guys at it...guys with superior equipment. Hell, I'll even tell you of a guy who actually was an exchange pilot with the Polish AF. Call sign 'Snapper', he was an American who was an instructor pilot for the Polish, teaching them how best to use the MiG-29...because the training they got from the Russians was subpar at best. I know, I instructed those guys as part of their transition to the F-16. They were done a disservice...the training they received would have gotten them slaughtered had there ever been a conflict. Even our own history has shown superior equipment can be outflown by inferior equipment with a skilled pilot...ask the Rhino guys who were foolish enough to be pulled into a turning fight against a MiG-17 with a good stick at the controls. FC

Anyone with the WOI addon, could you download and install the Northrop 2 seater pack. It has the latest exporter LODs. I'd like to see what works and what doesn't so I can revise the KB thread on importing Gen 2 models into Gen 1 installs. FC

Something interesting streakeagle brought up in the ThirdWire forums is that now you can have SF2 coded aircraft in multiplayer. So, some experiments needed: 1) Drop tanks format supported? 2) Avionics supported (VECTOR, TEWS)? Could make things more interesting... FC

That's where you need to alter the parking slot locations...or limit the size of aircraft that can park there... FC

But you can adjust the seams using detach, left/right/front/back/top/bottom map, then stitch to get nice looking maps and have proper alignments. Box mapping is only the start. Better and faster then trying to align everything by hand. And I'll agree that for small parts (such as landing gear), line alignments aren't as critical, so cylindrical mapping is much better. FC

I would personally start with this tutorial right here: http://www.waylon-art.com/uvw_tutorial/uvwtut_01.html I use the Box Mapping function while having all the meshes as elements of one mesh...doing this BEFORE I start animating anything. I find that's a good starting point for mapping in that now you have the same size maps in alignment. Before: After: Again, this makes a great starting point. You can now resize, rotate or select parts and move them off to one side for later, etc. While keeping nice, line matching alignments. FC

For your first question, there are a couple of ways to do it: 1) Change the diameter of the fuel tanks in the individual tank's data.ini. The smaller the diameter, the higher the tank will sit. or 2) Make duplicate data.ini entries for the weapon stations. Then break out one set for weapons only, and the other set for fuel tanks only. As an example: Note these occupy the same position in space, but one can only carry weapons, vs the other can only carry drop tanks. You can adjust the position of the drop tanks without affecting the weapons carry. As far as the rocket racks go, I'd have to see what they look like before I can recommend an adjustment. FC

What friggin BS. You got screwed my friend, pure and simple. Some guy with his own private fiefdom decided to exert his power for the hell of it. FC

Yea, I'm fine...more pissed than anything. We were lit up on about 5 mile final at midnight tonite...the captain noticed it at the same time I did, even though it was about a 3 o'clock position (my side). He noticed it because it lit up the cockpit (no pen laser this). I caught it partially, but was able to turn away quick enough that it only left an afterburn streak (like a flashbulb). I got a great positional fix on it because the dumbass turned it away, so there was this great beam pointing straight at his location, and since we were relatively close to the ground, it was easy to pinpoint. FC

You are a wet blanket, and who the hell cares. Everyone who enjoyed the movie got what they wanted out of it, doesn't matter if it was Tom Cruise, the F-14, Kelly McGillis, or men in shorts playing volleyball. If you can't contribute to the purpose of the thread, then don't post. FC

Combined topics...you both posted right at the same time. FC

Personally, I've always though these kinds of polls/surveys were dumb. Now, before anyone gets offended, I didn't say the person giving them was dumb, just the surveys themselves. These, along with the 'what's the best fighter/plane' surveys, always have several flaws, starting with the most basic - What's the purpose...what do you plan to accomplish here? The minute you limit your responses, you've already skewed any results you'll get. Also, these surveys depend a lot on personal opinion, of which everyone has one. I've seen flame wars erupt over these things, or go off into tangents unknown...all for a friggin multiple choice question. And you're already getting answers outside of your original list, which should tell you something right there. Before you post something on an online forum, ask yourself what you are trying to accomplish...and if it's worth the post. Besides, the fact you didn't include the B-1B, an aircraft that positively radiates power, speed, and beauty means your choice criteria is seriously flawed. FC

You have to convert it to a file that 3D Studio Max can read. Then you have to find someone willing to work on it to export it to the LOD format that First Eagles can read. FC

A C-5 doesn't have to support a specific aircraft...it could just be brought in as part of the airshow. FC

You normally won't see transports except during campaigns. FC

Just make sure the aircraft's mission is TRANSPORT in the data.ini, which puts it into the available 'pool' to be used. Now, depending if the map you are using has a NATIONS entry, that will limit what nations can be on the map. As long as the aircraft's USERLIST matches the NATIONS entry in the terrain, it should show up at random intervals. FC