Old Diego

Yep, sounds like a dilemma. I'll test it out to see if they eventually join or just hang on the cat. From what I remember, I've been left behind on the cat while my flight took off. POST test results..... The AI will "jump" the plug = GOOD The plug attempts to rejoin after Alt+N. I say attempts because it can't fly and the cat default launch animation forces it off the cat = SO-SO but definitely not BAD.

1. As far as I know, yes. The campaign engine has no way of knowing what cat to place the plane on. 2. In the above example, yes. BUT you can have as many cats as you need. So say you have a ship with 100 cats on it, you will place the plug on #100. You can also place as many plugs as you want. You could skip a cat by placing a plug with no objects linked to it...just an invisible place holder. I don't think placing your player on #1 and your wingie on #2 but skipping #3 with a plug and placing a live AI plane on #4 would work. I think #3 has to launch before #4 could launch....hmmm, will have to check that. 3. I tried to make it - FORCE it to show up but I couldn't get it to. I heard it give the correct response that it was rejoining but it was still on the cat. I waited about 30 min and nothing.

This is a very basic instructional - not a tutorial, on how to add things to a ship. I will assume that you have a basic understanding on where to place files, make changes to data inis and if you don't know where your mod folder is located - move on because this is over your head. This will not be the place to explain any of that and you're better off reading up before you tackle this mod. Now, you will need a few things - a ship - in this case a carrier but any ship or sampan will work if you mod it correctly. a plug - in this case its a plane that can't take off. The plug should be as simple as possible. By this I mean paper airplane with wheels and very ultra low poly. You don't need to make it pretty because you won't see it at all. You must have the 3d model for this plug. a data ini for the ship - latest one is always best. an object to place on the deck - a crew, a plane or whatever you want. an image editor - Photoshop or whatever a 3D modeling program - Max if you got it or anything else and a friend who has Max and the latest exporter. ability to UV map Lets prepare our ship first. What I do first is start a mission with the ship, clear skys and noon settings. Launch the plane and wait for the cats to retract. What you ant to do is take a screenshot of the deck from straight above. I hit pause and Ctl+F12 or Shift+F12 - I forget which one gets me in roaming camera mode. Anyway, line you shot up so that you get the deck to fill up the screen without cropping the edges of it. Take the shot and save it - use BMP for this because JPGs look ugly...you want a clean crisp shot without any major distortion. Create a folder with the back up copy of your ships data ini, the screenshot of the deck and the plug model. Take that image and open it up in Photoshop or whatever image editor you use. What you want to do is make it a bit sharper and crop all the unneeded ocean out. Look at this image of the KittyHawk as an example of what you want...I reduced the size for forum purposes BTW. Now open Max up and create a rectangle that has the same dimensions as your cropped deck image. Make sure that rectangle is set to XYZ 0,0,0 and facing Z or UP for those who don't understand modeling lingo. Now would be a good time to UVmap that rectangle to the deck image. While Max is open, go ahead and import/merge your plug model and whatever object you want to SEE on the deck. Ensure you link the deck object to the plug model so that the hierarchy is linked to the fuselage. What I do is make a simple box and name it LINKER and link all my deck objects to it - things get messy when you have a full deck of planes, crew, vehicles and clutter. Place that linker at XYZ 0,0,0. Now link the linker to your plug and you can keep things nice and neat in Max. Ok, go ahead and place the objects wherever you'd like but stay within the bounds of the deck image below you...don't need to have objects blocking #3 and #4 catapults.Save the model and close up Max. Open up the ships data ini and add another catapult. How you ask? Like this - Add this line to the HULL section [Hull] ModelNodeName=Hull EffectSize=1.0 MaxExtentPosition= 28.98, 181.63,19.58 MinExtentPosition=-28.98,-120.50,-3.98 StructuralFactor=10000.0 HasArmor=TRUE ArmorMaterial=STEEL Armor[FRONT].Thickness=100 Armor .Thickness=100 Armor .Thickness=100 Armor[REAR].Thickness=100 Armor[TOP].Thickness=100 Armor[bOTTOM].Thickness=100 SystemName[001]=Engine SystemName[002]=Deck SystemName[003]=Cat1 SystemName[004]=Cat2 SystemName[005]=Cat3 SystemName[006]=Cat4 SystemName[007]=Cable1 SystemName[008]=Cable2 SystemName[009]=Cable3 SystemName[010]=Cable4 SystemName[011]=Plug01 <========== add the entry here...notice that 011 comes after 010? ...and after the last catapult section add your plug data block [Plug01] SystemType=CATAPULT CatapultID=5 <---------this number should be the next one in line. If you have 4 cats, make this 5. If you have 2 make it a 3 etc StartPosition=0,0,123456789 <------XYZ of where you want to place the catapult to start. EndPosition=0.0,0.10.0,123456789 <-----XYZ of where you want the end of the catapult to be. LaunchTime=999.0 <------VERY important number - this tells the game how long to wait for the launch - make it 999.0 LaunchEffect= CatapultEffect= ReadyAnimationID=5 <---should be same number as catapult ID number ReadyAnimationTime=999.0 <------VERY important number - this tells the game how long to wait for the launch - make it 999.0 Whats with that 999.0????? That was the missing key to using fake catapults. They would always launch and form up on your wing. BTW, make sure you drop a copy of your edited and BACKED UP data ini into your mods ground objects folder. While you're at it, make a folder with you plug name and drop a copy of everything you will need to make it "fly" - that means all ini , you texture folder and the LOD. Ok, you have the basic plan set and now all you need is to do is make sure your objects are where they should be. This is where things get tricky and a knowledge of decal placement comes in handy. Firstly, know that this is tough but not impossible. If you have the ship model, this makes things much easier. Start a mission that has the same amount of cats + one more. If you have 4 the make it 5. In the loadout section your first 4 planes are whatever you want but the fifth MUST be your plug. I name mine something obvious like F4plug. Make sure that your plug is the last one in the mission because its basically going to be married to that cat forever. Launch the mission and hit F7 so you can find the linker model. Its not always where you think it is. Now, if you're lucky it will be ON the deck without sinking or floating. If its close just adjust the height of the plugs catapult until it sits right on it. If its floating way up there or sunk way down there, check your Z coordinates in Max - it should be set to 0,0,0 Once the deck elevation is set. Don't mess with it. I usually move the deck rectangle in Max until the objects are just resting upon it. Now comes the part where you move deck objects around the X and Y coordinates. If your deck rectangle is off, move it around the X and Y until it closely matches. Takes some time but in the end it pays off. Once all the axis are set, feel free to move the deck objects around by using the deck rectangle with the image as your guide. BTW, you are not limited to just objects. Remember that this is a fake plane, a fake catapult and plane can take any shape - like an entire squadron of A-4s ready for some action. What else do planes have? Lights, props and sounds. All these things can be added with a bit of imagination and thinking...err...hacking outside the box. Ask questions here so that I know if I left anything out or just need more clarification. Do you have a better way to do something or explain it better? Please do it here so that all the info gets compiled in one spot and people don't go looking all over for it.

Actually, Kevin, I would rather keep in it in a place where questions can be asked for clarification and answers given. If it is a perfect tutorial (yeah right) and nobody asks questions, then I guess we can move it there so it can be referenced.

I guess you must be part of the Modder group instead of the Senior Member group. What I will do is make a separate thread on this so that everyone can see it and keep this thread focused more on the mission instead of the behind the scenes modding. Give me a bit and I'll spell it all out.

I'm pretty sure Thirdwire games will always be sparce when it comes to deck or airfield clutter. Dave and I both have strong machines, so we don't see a FPS hit. I am planning on eveyone else to get stuttering, so I will scale the amount of clutter back. What you see is just a limit test. Next up is recovery. Should be interesting.

You got the easy part right. I practically spelled it out for you guys over a year ago. If you read through this thread on ship lighting, you will get your answer. Last screenies from me for a while. Fixed the dog pile error...

Soon.....and yes, you can even add it to a sampan if you wanted. In fact I think I've already divulged the info long before but nobody cared or caught on to what was possible.

Thanks for the kudos. This will not require any different carrier models. This system is so easy that its laughable. You don't even need to wait for it, you can do this right now in WOX or SF2 and you don't have to pay some thief one dime to get the immersion. I won't spill the beans until its all released, though.

Lets play what's wrong in that picture LOL

Dave, show 'em the good version. That was the early test version.

This is exactly what got me hooked on to SFP1 so many years ago. Damn, that is looking so great.

I don't know but I'll ask one of my stupid and lazy kids to translate it for us intelligent grown ups.

More stolen property for sale yipee!

Damn it. I was hoping it wasn't affected. There seems to be two problems that I see with some of these props - funky shadow and odd TGA/mesh combo. The funky shadow looks like a double sided mesh. The TGA issue is more complex. I only use single sided meshes so I don't see the funky shadow but I do see the TGA issue....my prop mesh is domed on both sides and I do see some sort of shadow. I see some towards the top but way more at the bottom. That shadow appears to not be cast on the ground and somehow contained to only cast on itself.

Thanks, Dave.

Well, I actually meant my third party O-1 LOL. I just wanted to see if it suffered from this issue. Also, your O-1 shows off a feature that I may want to keep or at least control- the TGA is casting a shadow. That never happened in a Thirdwire game.

As a side note, does anyone else notice that the TGA/mesh combo is casting a shadow on the "unfixed" props? I wonder if this change was made so that the canopy would cast a shadow. I would like to know more about the changes that were made and if they are something that will be "fixed" or left alone. I'd hate to rework my mods to take advantage of this only to find out that TK reverts back. Like Dels, I don't plan on installing Exp2 right away. I wonder if the O-1 prop is broken????

Thanks for looking.

Because it was there originally. Now whenever I make a weapon or aircraft that was specific to the US Army for download, I have to keep other people's installs in mind. Kind of sucks to have to make the USAF the owners of a Cobra - just something basically wrong with that. For myself, I can mod to whatever I want to but for other people, lets just put it this way - the less work they have to do, the less questions I have to answer. So, is that nation there this go around?

Finally! Glad to know it wasn't my computer's imagination.

By any chance did the US Army nation make a return since it was deleted in SF2V?

Might be worth the price of a movie ticket. There are a few spots in LA I'd like to see get blown to bits.

The very idea that it's unknown makes it a threat - assuming it really is unknown.

Wow, I love the detail