swambast

I don't know what blender allows for import/export (been years since I last used it). But in general at least with 3ds max, I like to natively import .obj files because they tend to retain texture mappings and then work on the model from there. I am not a fan of .3ds format personally, because you tend to have to remap textures and the smoothing groups are typically awful resulting in blocky models.

If you're joining all the wire frames together as one mesh, there will be no hierarchy. Hierarchy would exist if you have separate components of the vehicle, like a "body" mesh, "front right wheel mesh", etc. then link them. I use the native 3ds max so blender doesn't really apply to me, but point is you would have to find out how to do equivalent linking in blender. Here to help you out even more, this should describe it: https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/dev/editors/3dview/object/properties/relations/parents.html

Hmmmm, not necessarily. Many modern 3d models especially make use of Multi/Sub-Object material properties to assign different materials to faces that share a single mesh. I bring this up because when working with these models you must of course change those assignments so there is only a single diffuse texture map or color applied so the game engine recognizes them. Russouk2004, I am sure you already know this but just putting it out there for the benefit of others that might stumble across models with multi-sub-object material assignments!

Great to hear your plans Mue, and of course even better will be active updates. For what it's worth, my vote is #2: I believe this will be beneficial for a greater majority - plus there is a tremendous opportunity and need to enhance basic functionality in these tools (e.g., copy/paste in TAE, etc). And also selfishly, I'd love to see the requirements/wish list I drafted up a while ago come to reality some day! Thanks for your update and consideration...

Wow, I usually don't tread into the Gen1 Forums these days so not sure exactly how I arrived here...but anyway relevant to this post. This totally reminds me of an old program I had developed for some of the CombatAce Leaders to solve the exact same issue back in the day. Think it basically did exactly what you were looking for at least regarding the Aircraft. Here was an old screenshot. Program was super simple, checkbox which aircraft you want out of your build and it gets automatically moved out. Then one press of a button to swap paths and restore the aircraft. The nice thing is once you set it up, you could set "defaults" that remembered your selections so you didn't have to re-select anything. Here was an old screenshot, not even sure if the thing works anymore these days or if I still have the source code around...

I have not seen any evidence to support the engine can handle more than 999 target areas - but I could still be proven wrong. For what it's worth, for my dev tools I also program only to 999 max entries Mue. Even then, depending on the flight engine settings, object counts that high typically will get cut off anyway not rendering the full desired effect depending on values like maxmesh/model, maxvertexcounts, etc.

Awesome Mue, THANK YOU for the advice - and for your ground breaking tool, much appreciated!

Does anyone know what is the logic used in Mue's LOD Viewer to read _Data.ini files? I don't understand why so often I open aircraft models that clearly have the correct _data.ini called out in their base .ini file - but the top of the viewer still reads <no ini file> <no data file>

OK Ed, I'll bite...F-18 or F-35?

Does anyone know how priority is given between similar .ini entries. Specifically, let's say one has MaxVisibleDist=12000.0 defined in the _Types.ini file. But within the object's separate .ini file, let's say the MaxVisibleDist=8000.0 What entry is used? Which one takes priority?

I thought I might have saw this one time in the Knowledge Base but I can't seem to find what I'm looking for, or it doesn't exist. Anyway, do we have a "master list" of all .LOD files that would be found in each of the respective directories for Vietnam CATs; for example: \Terrains\VietnamSea \Objects \Objects\GroundObject etc. I know some of them are protected, but I would think one could reference the earlier versions or we might have a list of what .LODs were later locked away. Thanks for any insight.

Understood Gerwin, yes that is not what I would need - actually it would be VietnamSea July 2013 which were the latest, let me see what info I can pull together for you, thanks again for your help.

Thanks everyone - Gerwin since you already have the lists compiled, hate to ask, but would it be possible to create a text file listing now that has: Only and all of the Vietnam .LOD related files is one text file (e.g., without any .bmp, .ini, etc. and that combines all the .LODs from the other CAT Files into one "master list")?

Awesome - thanks a lot, I'll give this a try and this should be incredibly helpful...

Gerwin and Mue, thanks both for the tag team support. @Mue, isn't there a way you can just point CATExtractor to a base folder that already has just the .CAT files in there? From the looks of it, would I have to install the entire game and patch it, etc. to use your program? I say that since it is specifically coded for the "Strike FIghters 2 Installation Directory" and just needed some clarification.

Gerwin, that is a great start and should be very helpful - THANK YOU! Do you happen to have or could obtain listings specifically for the Vietnam CATS which includes the list of protected .LODs by chance? And just in case, is it possible to get the listings without the file size info - literally a straight sequential dump of just the file names?

Thanks Wrench and Sundowner! I'm not interested in the actual .LODs themselves. Just literally a text listing of .lods that would be found in each directory. Sundowner, that sounds like exactly what I need - I'll keep looking as I was almost certain someone had dumped out and listed the contents at one point. Not sure if it's exactly going to be what I need, but I can picture that post in my head and thought it was in the knowledge base...time to search again!

Hi all, perhaps more appropriate question for hard core weapons modders with experience...? But anyway, what .ini entries or reference points do we have in order to make a weapon's behavior be absolutely non-random and "FIXED" when released. For example, there would be no tossing and tumbling such as with a bomb effect. The desired outcome is that once the weapon is loaded into the aircraft and released of course on the ground, it does not deviate at all (ideally). It always "lands" in the same general direction and distance. I've tried to illustrate an example below of the effect I'm after. Any insight or suggested starting points would be greatly appreciated...!

Thanks for the replies. Sounds like there's a few conflicting theories out there. If anyone is interested in helping me with a series of test scenarios, please PM me, thanks.

Hey 3d Max Gurus - what techniques are you using to identify and select all mesh objects that share a common texture?

Yakarov, that really helps - thank you very much for your quick reply and explanation!

Yakarov, thanks - much appreciated! I'm trying to optimize some mesh/textures... The challenge I'm also having is identifying which ones I could collapse and smooth into a single mesh element without affecting something like cockpit functions defined in the _data.ini Therefore, is the only way to ensure I don't screw something up would be to consult the _data.ini and ensure those elements are not selected and their hierarchy maintained?

Yes, of course it does Niels...it can do both (e.g., renumber target entries and target types).

Niels, I have created an arsenal of helpful tools for this series, some private and some public. Anyway, I thought the limit for target limitations was also 999. But more importantly perhaps for you, is that I have a development tool with a built-in targets.ini renumbering function. Feel free to PM me your file and perhaps it will save you a tremendous amount of time and effort...