Formats for Carriers and Warship with the Mission Editor

[+Dave]

I see some of you have built missions using the editor with ships in it. I have lots of ship but when I go to choose them to make a mission, they arent there. Are there any ini entries that should be looked at?

 

An example is that I cant even choose the default CVA-63. I did change the Ark Royal from WARSHIP to CARRIER and it shows up HOWEVER I cant get the plane to be on the deck. The ship sails right over the plane.

 

CrazyhorseB34 and I spent a good couple hours on this last night. We are sure it is some simple edit or button we're not hitting but can't seem to nail it.

 

Any thoughts?

[+daddyairplanes]

if your looking to do anti ship i just selected antiship then chose a new group and selected CVA-63. as to flying offa them haven't gotten that far yet. howver is a angle deck Essex class always been part of stock TW? only mods i've reloaded to date are my Phantoms.

[+Dave]

I was trying to make a mission start from a carrier. Just no luck.

[galoub]

Hi all

For me it's worst as i don't even have a single ship appearing when i want to add a new group in the mission editor. more when i play a antiship random mission, there's no boat to be sunk.

This pb only happens when i play on my custom install.any idea?

thx

Edited December 5, 2010 by galoub

[+daddyairplanes]

no ideas i'm afraid. with out much messing to the stock install so far ran 3 antiship missions, one against kitty hawk, one against an essex class and one against 12 destroyers! they are royal pains to kill though (all of the above)

[+Crusader]

thats what the new water bmp files are for, e.g desert_water.bmp

its a 512x512x8 bbp BMP format file , see it attached, converted to jpg.

Seems like all 3rd party terrains need a new custonm file to make it work with the msn editor for placing ships.

Should be doable by exporting the map with the terrain editor then recoloring and saving in 8bbp BMP format, or maybe in some other way

[+Gr.Viper]

Dave, make sure the plane you're trying to put on the carrier is designed for it. Otherwise the editor won't even show the carrier group in the select home base menu.

[+JSF_Aggie]

Dave,

 

I have not had any issues putting a carrier down, and starting on it. I have not tried placing other ships in a mission.

 

I've only tried on the Vietnam map, which is the only default map with carrier stations defined in the _targets.ini. However, I'm not placing the carrier at that particular location.

 

I did the following steps:

 

- Start a single mission with the F-4J, on the Vietnam map.

- Add a new ground object, stock CVA-63

- Dragged the CVA-63 to location of choice, gave it a heading and velocity. Did not give it any waypoints.

- Hit the checkmark, "Finish Editing This Group"

- Edit the F-4J flight

- Change the Home Base to the carrier ground object name "G001 if you didn't rename it".

- When you change the home base, you should see the F-4J's route update to start from the carrier

- Save the mission

 

I've attached one I just created. Compare it to what your saving and see if you can see any difference.

 

If not, call me and we can walk through one together.

F-4J Phantom II Carrier Test3.rar

[+Dave]

That's exactly what I did. I will test your mission when I get home. I have to be doing something wrong.

 

 

[+Dave]

Also Im not even getting the stock CVA-63 to even show up as something to add. It just isnt in my list although it is very much in my groundobject folder.

[+Crusader]

Yea, the bloody ships dont show in the GO list .. weird .. only got one add-on carrier to select so far

I made a water bmp for DBS map, experiments continue...

[+Gr.Viper]

Dave, press "Add new ground object group" when the map in centered (i.e. the black crosshair) on the sea. Then the editor creates a ship group instead of tanks. Then you pick a ship of yor liking.

[tn_prvteye]

Just adding the WATER.BMP doesn't work for me. I created one for Iceland, and the ships still don't show up in the Selection. I made sure the "cursor" was over water, but it only gave me ground vehicles as an option. I think there's some more magic somewhere.

 

I was going to ask TK at the offical forums, but I figured he's got his hands full with bug reports...besides, the man could use a break!

Edited December 5, 2010 by tn_prvteye

[+Crusader]

Same for stock maps, then default Tanker and CargoShip dont show in the GO list

might be not related to the new water bmps at all.. something else..

[+Crusader]

Just adding the WATER.BMP doesn't work for me. I created one for Iceland, and the ships still don't show up in the Selection. I made sure the "cursor" was over water, but it only gave me ground vehicles as an option. I think there's some more magic somewhere.

 

I was going to ask TK at the offical forums, but I figured he's got his hands full with bug reports...besides, the man could use a break!

 

also add this line to the terrains main ini :

[Terrain]

...

WaterMap=terrainname_Water.bmp

[+JSF_Aggie]

Dave, press "Add new ground object group" when the map in centered (i.e. the black crosshair) on the sea. Then the editor creates a ship group instead of tanks. Then you pick a ship of yor liking.

 

Yep. I didn't notice this until you posted it. Ships are only available in the pulldown list if the black crosshair is over water, and ground objects are only available when the black crosshair is over land.

 

And water must be defined as Crusader says, because on my 3rd party maps (lacking the water.bmp), only ground objects are available regardless of where I place the black crosshair.

[+Dave]

Dave, press "Add new ground object group" when the map in centered (i.e. the black crosshair) on the sea. Then the editor creates a ship group instead of tanks. Then you pick a ship of yor liking.

 

It doesnt give me a ship at all. I think I might need to scrub all the extra objects out of my installs and start adding one by one. I dont get any stock ships as selectable at all.

[tn_prvteye]

also add this line to the terrains main ini :

[Terrain]

...

WaterMap=terrainname_Water.bmp

 

 

I did, still no go.

 

Here's the BMP I'm using (converted to JPG for web viewing) 8-bit 512 X 512. I just used the terrain editor to export to BMP then re-colored it to match the stock BMPs.

Edited December 5, 2010 by tn_prvteye

[+Crusader]

update.. works for me on DBS, but I had to zoom in to get stock and add-on ships to be selectable in the GO list

[tn_prvteye]

update.. works for me on DBS, but I had to zoom in to get stock and add-on ships to be selectable in the GO list

 

Can you post the BMP you used, I'd like to test on my DBS, too. Maybe my colors are off?

Edited December 5, 2010 by tn_prvteye

[+Dave]

Yep. I didn't notice this until you posted it. Ships are only available in the pulldown list if the black crosshair is over water, and ground objects are only available when the black crosshair is over land.

 

And water must be defined as Crusader says, because on my 3rd party maps (lacking the water.bmp), only ground objects are available regardless of where I place the black crosshair.

 

I did put the cursor on the water.

 

In regards to water defining thing? Does every 3rd party map need to be updated then? If so anyone willing to take on that task? I would think the main ones that have been just updated for SF2 section.

[+Fubar512]

Disregard this thread everyone......I texted Dave the answer.....

[malibu43]

So what was it?

[+Crusader]

[+Fubar512]

So what was it?

 

It was an answer tailored specifically to Dave......