Collision Bubbles

[Ivan]

I seem to remember a method for changing the collision bubbles in a model so that air to air collisions were reduced. This method involved using a hex editor to tweak a visual model MDL file. Does anyone have a good reference for this?

- Ivan.

[Ivan]

Found what I needed.

Thanks.
- Ivan.

[hubbabubba]

Hi Ivan!

I know I'm late but, just out of curiosity, is it for a project in particular?

Hubbabubba

[Ivan]

Hi Hubbabubba,
Actually it is for ALL of the projects. I have been flying my planes against one another and am getting tired of them colliding so easily. Problem is that it is yet another step to be included into the build process.

This problem is getting my attention more often these days because my almost 4 year old likes to fly multiplayer. I think he figured out that even with a single computer, if you crash in multiplayer, you respawn without having to click anything.

Michael is also going through the CFS lessons though I don't know that he understands what the computer is telling him. Funny thing is that he has figured out that <Ctrl> <Shift> <F1> cuts the engine. I know *I* never taught him that!

- Ivan.

[Ed Philly]

Ivan,

since multiplayer and quick combat are similiar in its intent, that is fighthing against another aircraft be it real person or AI, collisions bubble is still a factor.

in your combatfs.cfg file scroll down to ...

[MULTIPLAYER]
TICKS_PER_SYNC=90
TIME_BETWEEN_PACKETS=250
COLLISION_SECS=1

change your collision secs from 2 to 1

you'll not collide unnaturally

i know of some utilities that do the same thing. this simple fix should solve your problems. no need to adjust each bird.

take care,

Ed

[Ivan]

Hi EdPhilly,
I would rather adjust the bird that flies through the virtual worlds than hope the everyone in all the virtual worlds adjust their physical laws to suit the bird.
It also avoids the problem where there are two computers with different settings in their installation of CFS.

I hope things go well in your neighbourhood.

- Ivan.

[hubbabubba]

Not only that. My settings were already at 1 in my combatfs.cfg file and the result is still unsatisfactory . You can't dive under the belly of your opponent without blowing up most of the time. The problem is even worst with First World War a/c, they explode just passing by.

Your post sent me on the warpath. I found a Hex-editor - freeware of course - that performs even better than frhed and a small tutorial on adjusting bubble collision parameters. If anyone is interested, just let me know.

Hubbabubba

[smilo]

Greetings All,
A couple of comments or requests, actually.
Hubbabubba, I would be interested.
Ed, Looking at your Thumbnail, I see that you know how to move your Tactical Display, like in CFS 2. Care to share?
Thanks,
smilo

[hubbabubba]

Hi smilo!

For the tutorial, go to:
http://members.optusnet.com.au/raaffurball/Readme-HexEdit.zip

For the HEX editor, go to:
http://www.handshake.de/user/chmaas/delphi/download/xvi32.zip

For the tactical display... ooop! I will let EdPhilly tell you that one:jump: , but I know the answer.

Bye!

Hubbabubba

[Ed Philly]

Ed, Looking at your Thumbnail, I see that you know how to move your Tactical Display, like in CFS 2. Care to share?
Thanks,
smilo

Hi smilo,

my brain is going into mush-whatever, so i'll defer to Hubbabubba.

"For the tactical display... ooop! I will let EdPhilly tell you that one:jump: , but I know the answer"

please take over buddy.

thanks,

Ed

[hubbabubba]

OK then EdPhilly!

1- Under Quick Combat, Mission or Campaign, hit "P" for pause;

2- Click on "[" key to open a new window;

3- Resize to your wishes with the cursor;

4- Click in the main window to activate while the secondary window you just created is still visible;

5- Hit "P" once again and have fun.

If you want to erase the secondary window, click on it with the mouse cursor to activate and hit "]".

A more detailed procedure could be found in the help file (F1) under "Introduction to Using Game Windows"

Hubbabubba

[smilo]

Thank you for the "Mirror" and the Hex Editor links.

smilo

[hubbabubba]

Hello Ivan!

Reviving that thread for one reason. While playing multiplayer, I made the following modifications to my COMBATFS.CFG file:


[MULTIPLAYER]
TICKS_PER_SYNC=90
TIME_BETWEEN_PACKETS=250
COLLISION_SECS=-1
FOLLOWING_MULTIPLIER=5
ALLOW_PLANE_MODEL_SEND=1
ALLOW_PLANE_MODEL_RECEIVE=1
ALLOW_TEXTURE_SEND=1
ALLOW_TEXTURE_RECEIVE=1
MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE=100
MAX_SEGMENTS_PER_SEC=10
I know that EdPhilly was suggesting "1" for that value - this is the value suggested by J-Op BTW - but others - especially the 45th squad - are opting for "-1" and I personally think that they have "hit the jackpot" with that number.

I know your objection about multiplayer: everyone playing must have the same numbers for it to work.

But I have discovered that it also works in QC! I'm now capable of following Hartmann's proverbial "When you think you're close enough, get closer" advice (BTW- I don't think he was the first to say it).

To try to convince you here is a little AVI movie that could not have been made without that tweak:27660
this is simply impossible to do with "stock" numbers.

Hope you will find the information useful.

[Ivan]

Hi Hubbabubba,
I looked at your little film, but forgot to respond to your message. Have you checked whether you CAN collide with the target? It would be quite silly if you could not.

I still think altering the model would be the best approach though.

- Ivan.

[hubbabubba]

Hi Ivan!:wavey:
I looked at your little film, but forgot to respond to your message.Was starting to think that it was overlooked.:d
Have you checked whether you CAN collide with the target? It would be quite silly if you could not.Yep; you can (and will) collide if you're getting any closer. What you see is the borderline limit of how close you can get. That's why I made it in a little AVI so you could see it "in action" (a bit of show off too:icon_lol:! ). Tried the same pass in my original untouched install and went KABOOM!
I still think altering the model would be the best approach though.Would agree with you if that tweak was only working in multiplayer but, in fact, it works in QC as well - and probably in missions and campaigns too (but not tested) - so it is a "quick fix" for anyone tired of exploding for no reason.

Give it a try and come back to me.

[smilo]

I tried it in my 190 attacking a flight of Lancasters in QC. Works very well and you will collide if you get tooo close. I will give it a try in Single Missions this evening.
BTW, I've been using this setting since it was suggested in Multi a month or so ago.
I think Hank gets the credit for that one, if I'm not mistaken, or was it you hubba? Whom ever, it's a great fix. Thanks.

smilo

[hubbabubba]

Nope, its not me. I think Hank get it from 45th.

[JG57_Rall]

I think Hank gets the credit for that one, if I'm not mistaken, or was it you hubba? Whom ever, it's a great fix. Thanks.
smilo

I believe it was me Smilo,Thanks for the credit. :ernae: I think I was the one to tell Hubba. And it does work quite well in restricted games where modifications to the MDL or airfiles wont let you play

45th_Hank_OB.

[smilo]

Just got done with a couple of Single Missions, Axis Practice and Fat Cars. I was able to get in very close in both.
My wing man dropped a B-17 above and slightly in front of me. It fell right in front of my wind screen. Made me jump for sure. No collision though. Had several close calls as that is what I was going for.
Finally did collide, but was very close indeed. Sorry, no pictures. Wish I had a gun camera.

smilo

[Ed Philly]

Smilo,

you mean like this. i just blew up the trailing B-17

[hubbabubba]

Hi smilo! Hi EdPhilly!:wavey: :wavey:

smilo, if you want a good "gun camera", go get this prog:
http://www.mnwright.btinternet.co.uk/download/mgrab.ZIP
Its one of Martin Wright's wonders... and its free! No commercial tags, no fees, no nothing. I do my own little AVI with it. Simply use low grade JPG pictures and fast frame per second and work on the picture through any decent AVI editor.

EdPhilly, what is that gauge under the P-47 gunsight marked "Snake Eye"? What does it do and can I have a copy of it please?

If you have followed our conversation on collision bubble, you now that I'm now using "-1" for "COLLISION_SECS" instead of the "2" of the original file. Your setting was on "1" if memory serves me. Try it at "-1" and you should get quite closer. Look at my small AVI (http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=27660&d=1153227188) to get an idea.

Send me a PM if you wish to go into a friendly IP game with me. I could then give you my MSN address.

[Ed Philly]

hi hubbahubba!

EdPhilly, what is that gauge under the P-47 gunsight marked "Snake Eye"? What does it do and can I have a copy of it please?

Snake Eyes is a "mod detector"; that is, any bird that is not stock. when the gauge is green, everybody is flying a stock bird. when the gauge goes 'red' and 'danger' shows up, then somebody has a non-stock bird. see the attached pix where a HE-111 is the target under the bridge. there is also a half-screen popup panel that you can activate that lists all the flyers in the room and identifies who the pilot with the non-stock bird is. you then have the choice to boot him from the flight; and also the ability to ban him from re-entering. it comes in handy for those folks who have modified their warbirds and sneak into a stock room. how does it work? man, you are making me delve way into the past; but as i seem to remember, it works on comparing CDPs transmitted, whatever they are. i tried looking for it on my old 10 gig drive that i had with my old WinMe machine. no joy. then went to my CD RWs that stored my backup zips where i stored all of everything i ever downloaded. wouldn't you know that 2 out of 4 CDs wouldn't read without a UDF Reader installed because i assume, they weren't 'closed' in Direct CD. i told XP to go ahead and load it but then on re-boot, XP said it wasn't going to load it or else XP would become unstable. good ole XP for you. ergo, i don't have access to retrieve the Snake Eyes zip. its been so many years that i can't remember where i got it from. sorry buddy.

If you have followed our conversation on collision bubble, you now that I'm now using "-1" for "COLLISION_SECS" instead of the "2" of the original file. Your setting was on "1" if memory serves me.

yeah,....i've been using that since around the year 2000 per some squadron's advice/orders for collisions, along with the 'allow send/receive textures and something else' in the CFG file. can't remember if it was the JG 54 or 303 Koscieuko Squadron that introduced me to it, since they all had different paints for their birds and flew tight formations. near the beginning of this thread is where i pass it along.

anyhoo, i'm glad to see that multiplayer still lives. another utility i used is called "Easy IP". it small and sits on your desktop; and by just clicking it, it shows your IP number. came in handy for game get-togethers via Messenger when i had dial-up and my IP kept changing. that i can send you if you want. another utility that was popular in those days was MCR [multiplayer combat records] that recorded all typed TXs from the screen. mainly the COs of the squadrons used it for record purposes. you could print out everything that was said and did. but i think its outdated now with everybody using TeamSpeak, Roger Wilco, and Battlecom.

glad to see you enjoying flying with other folks. its a blast!

take care,

Ed

[smilo]

Ed,
Yeah, that's it, only closer. Fill the windscreen with half the fuselage.

smilo

[smilo]

hubbabubba,
Thanks for the lead, I can feel a AVI Editing Tutorial coming on. What do you say?

Check you email, There should be a small token of my esteem within. I hope it's what you are looking for.

smilo

[Ivan]

Detecting Mods? Just about NOTHING I ever fly is stock! ;-)

Hello Ed, Glad you are well. I remember way back when I was having issues with the CD's you were burning....

For those of you who don't know this fellow, he bears a pretty good resemblance to the avatar he has here. My daughter thinks he is an Indian!

Later folks.
- Ivan.

[Ed Philly]

Detecting Mods? Just about NOTHING I ever fly is stock! ;-)
.

Hi Ivan!

yup, good ole mods. i used to hate it when i went on the zone and rooms would say 'stock only'. i wanted to fly some of my other birds that were not stock. but some of it was justified by some clowns who would come in with a jet-powered P-40 blazing away with vulcan cannons. the mod detector was used by a lot of the squadrons i belonged to; and it was a requirement for the WEC [WeekEnd Challanges] competitions where legitimate squadrons would fight and fly, and be scored, much like any sport with tiers dwindling down until there was a champion.

which brings me to some thoughts. how come repaints do not set off the mod detector? is it because of the CFG file entries of Allow Send/Receive Textures and Model ? and what exactly is and does the CDP file do? from what i know its what the mod detector works on. and i also wonder exactly what "restrict" aircraft in CFS multiplayer looks for. i know of some guys who got past that on the zone.

Ed,
Yeah, that's it, only closer. Fill the windscreen with half the fuselage

smilo, your wish is my command. you made me pick up my stick which i haven't touched since XP won't allow Sidewinder sticks to be programmed with custom profiles; ergo i had to cross-keyboard with my arms to reach the Hypersnap key to take the picture attached. it shows 60 ft. no,...i didn't collide with the plane to my surprise as i finally ducked under it. had i had my keyboard button on my stick i would've gotten a better pic of its underside. my first attempt i did collide with what i remember to be about 30 ft.

late edit: heck, i had this pic of the 213 Hornets Squadron all along in some other folder. look carefully are the distance from me. poor ole CO had trouble with nose-overs. lol. Warhammer is 32 feet from me [it shows clearer in BMPs but is too big to upload]

Ivan, thanks for the kind words. and thanks for not mentioning that in those days i was a complete jackass when we connected via modem IP.:costumes:

take care,

even tho i don't fly anymore, i still enjoy reading.

Ed

[Ed Philly]

Guys,

in looking at that squad picture again, besides old good memories coming back, another thing i'm reminded of is that Bustergut, who had trouble with his brakes, would explode, but without damaging us. maybe the shrapnel box is as small as the collision box. we kept waiting for him to land again, nose over and land again about three times; and i was ready to take his picture. it was good timing and provided a lot of laughs for us. it was posted prominently [sp] on the squad's bulletin board.

for the record, the following distances are from the BMP picture. they are taken from my bird as i was the flight commander that day.

Warhammer - 32 feet
Bustergut - 58 feet
Merlin - 62 feet

hmm, now i wonder just exactly where the point of measurement starts at. regardless, the collision secs = 1 works.

Ed
ps: come on guys. somebody gotta know something about the CDP file in the aircraft folder.
ok, one more picture then i'll quit [applause]. i got to clean out my attachments here at SOH. and yes, that's a rear view mirror there.

[hubbabubba]

Hi guys!

This is a "gun camera" showing a very close attack on a FW190A. Sorry for the quality as I had to make compromises to get it on the server. I came as close as 27 feet this time but, not having to take pictures at the same time, I can do even better.
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/9109/chewingtailawl5.gif

Ed, I know that you can get very close to another a/c with "1" setting... as long as you are on the ground! I don't know why, but as soon as you get airborne, the collision bubble seems to expand.

Concerning CDP files I'm no expert but I can tell you that:
- You can erase it and, next time you fly it will come back;
- It's a "place holder" for transient data, big words that mean that it keeps score of hits taken and damaged suffered;
- It imports from DP and - maybe - MDL files information about loads (fuel, ammo) and basic performance. That's probably where "Snake Eye" looks.

Good day all:wavey:

[Ivan]

Hi EdPhilly,
Glad things are well. Not sure if we are still arguing over Saburo Sakai. You still have an invite to check out the head-to-head CFS systems I set up. My in-laws are staying with us at this point.

Problem with checking out the computers is that every time I turn them on, the kids gather around and take them over. This is the reason I haven't been able to get any screenshots.

-Ivan.

[hubbabubba]

This is the reason I haven't been able to get any screenshots.
LOL!!

A trick - do it while they're asleep. Works for me!

[Ivan]

Problem is that I wake up several hours earlier than they do, so my bedtime is not a whole lot later. Also, I am still working on trying to get the Logitech joystick working right on one of the boxes.

BTW, regarding the cdp file, I believe it only is a summary of the static DP file and nothing else. It gets created if it does not exist, but I don't believe it changes if it already is there.

- Ivan.

[hubbabubba]

Problem is that I wake up several hours earlier than they doIt is not a problem but a "window of opportunity":sleep:

BTW, regarding the cdp file, I believe it only is a summary of the static DP file and nothing else. It gets created if it does not exist, but I don't believe it changes if it already is there.Yes it does. How do I know that? I erased my CDP and went in QC to get shot at and pause the game, copy-pasted the CDP on the desk and went for another QC after rebooting CFS1 but paused before getting hits and then compared both CDP. They're were 6 changes. I don't know what changes exactly but changes did occurred.

[Ivan]

I wake up earlier because I leave the house earlier to get in to work. Yep, sometimes I do a bit of messing around with CFS before the other folks get up.

Nice to know about the CDP. I wonder what happens if the file is not writable such as on the archives to CD?

- Ivan.

[Ed Philly]

Not sure if we are still arguing over Saburo Sakai

no problem buddy. that's in the past now. thanks for the invite.

Ed, I know that you can get very close to another a/c with "1" setting... as long as you are on the ground! I don't know why, but as soon as you get airborne, the collision bubble seems to expand

your film, which is great, i see 27 feet while in flight before he blows up and you bitchin'??? :icon_lol: how 'bout trying the same flight with collisions set back to default, -2, and see what happens.

btw,...how do you "insert" pictures into a post? its better visually than an attachment.

Ed
sorry this ain't as short as my other posts. :costumes:

[Ed Philly]

hubbabubba,

since you have the ability to film a flight, how 'bout picking a wimpy bird [C-47] in QC on it being defensive; creeping up to it in level flight and finally colliding with it, while still filming. that would be interesting to see.

Ed

[hubbabubba]

For you EdPhilly;
http://www.mega-file.net/video/view.php?video=517f82654d1ad8dc1d41d29e87a78db3
It was done two-three days ago.

As for inserting pictures, use an image hoster such as http://imageshack.us/
and "hot link" (it's not a dirty word) to the hole image using the "insert image" tool in the post editor. If you are using "moving pictures" as it is the case at the beginning of this post (an AVI file) insert a link with the "insert link" tool (duh!). Use a video hoster such as http://www.mega-file.net/
for that. GIF files are considered as picture and can be d/l as such and hot linked as I did on my precedent post. AVI files are considered as video and must be linked to the way I did in this post.

The FW did not "blows up", it simply dive on my left. I'm good, but not THAT good!:cost1:

[vince]

Nice videos and good tips. I'll try and reduce the collision bubbles here too.
About the .cdp file; it looks like a compiled temp dp so I guess a 'read-only' CDP could cause errors. Deleting them when you install new a/c is a good tip; also, any change in a .dp file will only take effect after the CDP is deleted cos apparently the sim reads this one and not the DP, whenever it exists.

[Ed Philly]

Hi hubbabubba!

that film strip on that website is great! but you didn't have labels on! no matter, i think the point is made. i'm going to look into that program you suggested. i don't know diddly about film editing,...but maybe some day. thanks.

The FW did not "blows up", it simply dive on my left. I'm good, but not THAT good!:cost1:

au-contraire! the film clip you posted a few posts ago shows you giving a FW190 a good licking [unless i need new glasses, LOL]. see attached. on my screen it shows a clear 27 feet of distance.

regardless, i think people have benefited from this thread, and i don't mean for CFS folks only but for CFS2 and CFS3 folks as well. i'm sure that might have visited this thread when the topic showed up in the master menu. now however, i think it has run its course. i've enjoyed it.

take care,

Ed
hi Vince! going over to look at your thread. if i have a comment, i'll do it in the morning. its beddy-bye time for me.

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