Bongodriver

OK back to square one, Can one of you genius modellers explain the animation process for jet pipes please, I have the jet pipes animated in 3ds max by basically expanding the vertices at the periphery of the jet pipe (is this right?), I assigned all controllers as TCB and this is when the trouble starts, when testing in game the game just hangs when at 80% into the loading screen, but if I reassign all animation controllers on the jet pipes to the default then the game loads but as expected jet pipes don't animate. Craig

Hi Jedi If you look in a data ini of an afterburning aircraft type you will see reference to a nozzle node, this is how they animate the jet pipes, so if you make a model and make a part animate in the same frame as the nozzle, in theory you will have an animation linked to throttle position, for a non afterburning type you might just have to edit the ini so it has an afterburner in the engine section and hey presto the same job done. as far as linking an animation directly to throttle position I couldn't comment. Craig

Oddly enough I found the solution immediately after this post, it's all about using auto key as opposed to set key.

Hi Folks, Another modelling question, I thought I had all the knowledge I needed but I can't figure out how the jet pipe is animated, I thought it was something as simple as scaling the diameter of the rim with keyframe animation, but it does not seem to work in max, from looking at how the jet pipes animate in game it seems to be the way. anyone know how? Craig

I tried to mention that it's easy to use, I really meant it, no messing about with alpha channels and masking, just erase the background colour and start painting/writing or whatever you want.

I would edit the .ini to ask for the file you have.

Oh and I forgot to mention, when saving .tga files in paint.NET I seem to recall they must be uncompressed 32bit

I have found a really usefull and easy to use paint prog called paint.NET, it's free. It's what I use to create .tga files from scratch, it can handle just about all picture formats including photoshop .psd files etc. Craig

In principle yes changing the C of G will affect handling, but I think in this case a shift up on the Z axis of about .5 meters probably won't make any real impact. Handling is mostly affected by C of G changes along the Y axis. as I mentioned though there is an entry in the cockpit.ini which reffers to offset, this may be something to do with it.

I noticed that by changing the C of G in the aircraft data.ini it changes the position of the cockpit, this may not be the correct way but it did change it, I also susspect there is some relationship with the offset value in the cockpit.ini but haven't figured it out yet.

Hey yeah I saw those tuts too, I couldn't believe it when I actually found something so usefull for once, a very big thanks for those, since watching them modelling was a whole lot easyer and quicker too. my vote for patron saint of flight sim modders :yes: Craig

Well thanks for the speedy and informative replies so far, I sense even more midnight oil being burned now I have this idea in my head.

So the key to the idea working would be support for more weapon effects I guess, what are the chances of third wire making further patches to this series? additionally to the original question, would it be possible to make troops/vehicles self unload (or launched on ground) from the Herc in true airfield assault stylee?

I am modelling the RAF stretched C3 at the moment I think that is the K model isn't it? I will make the regular no stretched and the J model too, I know the J has been done but I just wan't to cut my teeth on modelling and have chosen aircraft I like. Back to the para question, what factors affect the issue of dissappearing when it hits the ground, I dont see any entries in the weapon editor that touch the issue, I was wondering if the troop or vehicle could be made as a ground object but use a parachute delivery system as the weapon entry.

Hi, I noticed in the weapons folder there is a lod for a paratrooper, but it does not show up in the weapon editor or in game, is it possible to make a working para, i.e. one that will drop say like a retarded bomb and then function on the ground as say a gun platform, I notice there are entries in the gundata for small arms. and while on the subject could it be possible to make an air droppable vehicle with similar effect? Yes, I have started moddeling another Hercules (still haven't finished my Hawk) and wan't to make some realistic loads for it.

Where can we get hold of this aeroconvert? sounds quite usefull.

Bring it on, couldn't agree more

Oh! Well theres proof I know jack s#*t about missiles, but anyway, as eraser said I managed to turn some flankers into expensive fireworks with 9M's, haven't got x's showing in the loadout options, I guess I need to put something in the weapon station entry for it?

Thanks guys, both replies got me on the right track, yes the versions do make a difference, and I was being impatient waiting for the tone, some versions seem to take longer to get tone, one other question (I know nothing about misiles) :) even how to spell missile :), the cap-9 gives tone but I cant fire it?

Hi, I'm testing my Hawk model in some combat and I can't seem to get my sidewinders to lock, what ini entries affect this? is it a function of the avionicsxx.dll? I know sidewinders arent100% effective but man I am bugged by having to finish everything of with guns? Craig

Yep all as above, but still no joy, all I can think of is that having the external and internal animations set on the same ID are a problem somehow, both are set as ID 5 i.e both lod's are set with frames 41 to 50 for the canopy animations. just to be clear, the external canopy is animating no problem,

Well on the face of it it sounded very usefull, I tried it immediately and no joy, Here is an outline of how I have my external and cockpit models are set up, simple really, I made the external model with an opening canopy set as animation 5 (keyframes 41 to 50) and basically to build the cockpit i chopped off the front of my external model and made the cockpit from that, retaining all the same animation ID My external model canopy is set in the ini to open manually, I tried setting a similar ini entry for the cockpit but no joy, I then tried your method and still no joy, my suspicions lead me to believe that the cockpit model doesn't support Manually deployed user defined animations. I am still waiting on some more info from another member, perhaps the answer will be found, I think it would be quite a nice asset to have for modelling, perhaps inspiring alot more virtual pits to be made.

Yes basically that is exactly what I am talking about, I did see the mig 21 with the opening canopy but I noticed that it is set as an AUTOMATIC type of animation, linked to airspeed I believe, I tried changing the ini file for it in a similar manner one would to change an external models canopy animation to MANUAL, but it did't work (my guess is that it wasnt modelled that way as you mentioned) so you suggest the animations CAN be set to opperate manually as long as the cockpit model is animated in 3ds max right? and would the ini entry be set the same way as for an external model?

As the post title suggests, do virtual cockpits alow for user created animations i.e. if I chose to make a model with manually opening canopy, could I make the same effect with the cockpit?

Ah! OK that makes sense if the limit is 4, it was actually my fuselage that was vanishing, the pictures i posted were before and after I had modelled pylons and the last picture was a before. I solved my decal problem by combining the decals into one as they were in the same location (roundel on side with squadron bands)