Zeebrugge Naval Air Station Flanders 1

[The B24 Guy]

Here is a screenshot Ravenna sent me.

[aleatorylamp]

The Flanders scenery is definitely very impressive.
I was fortunate enough to get some pre-view editions that Kdriver sent me, and the richness in detail is fascinating.
Gontrode and St Denijs Westrem both complement Rami´s Ghent scenery very well indeed.

Then, Zeebrugge and Bruges on the coast are absolutely great...
The perfect place for the future Gotha G.1 UWD, WD7 and WD14 upgrades to operate from.
Meanwhile, if you like, I could try and convert FS98 versions of these 3 seaplanes into .Bgl´s and send them to you.

Fantastic work by your team!
Cheers,
Aleatorylamp

[Roxane-21]

Here is a screenshot Ravenna sent me.

Looks very good!

Do the trains have to drive through the crane, though?

[Ravenna]

Looks very good!

Do the trains have to drive through the crane, though?

Roxane,
You spotted what I've been looking at for the past few days. I seem to have used two types of crane on the mole. I'll fix this before we upload. Always good to have an extra pair of eyes!

[aleatorylamp]

Hello,
I thought it would be more like the crane itself that was running on the rails, to be able to attend to several ships loading or unloading seaplanes at the mole, but that´s only my guess...
Aleatorylamp

[Allen]

The attached mole should give you thinner tracks. If they need to be thinner or thicker change the z_railroad.bmp

Attachment 69402

[Ravenna]

Thanks Stephan. Now that you mention it, the cranes in front of the hangars were used to lift floatplanes off their dollies and lower them into the water (and vice versa). All the cranes were set on track runners and were equipped with different attachments (slings and braces) for lifting aircraft and ordnance. Torpedoes were often loaded at the mole to save weight in the run up the canal from Bruges.

[Ravenna]

The attached mole should give you thinner tracks. If they need to be thinner or thicker change the z_railroad.bmp

Attachment 69402

Thanks Allen. That was quick work! Off to try out the updated mole.

[Allen]

I hope it works as there is no real good way to stink the track mesh.

[Ravenna]

OK, here's what I have done: I've replaced the old files with the updates, had a look in the sim; no real change nototiced so I sent the z_railroad.bmp to PSP for editing. I kept the bmp dimensions, made a new image using those dimensions and placed a narrower rail line in the new image using Robert's rail line. Placed an alpha strip down both sides, outside Robert's rail line and saved. Replaced the z_railroad with the new version but couldn't see any real difference. Is the problem that I'm using the same dimensions?.......
Nope, tried making the rail line narrower but there is no real difference in the sim.

[aleatorylamp]

Hello Ravenna,
OK, thanks for the explanation!
Cheers,
Aleatorylamp

[Ravenna]

I'm a bit stumped here. Does anyone have a way to change the z_railroad.bmp to give a narrower gauge to the mole railway? I'm also wondering whether the mole could be "scrubbed" of the rail lines and have a section of Robert's track raised in the same way that the shed and floatplane, so that they sit on the deck. Possible?

[aleatorylamp]

Hi Ravenna,

I´ve just opened the bitmap with Dxtbmp.exe (The first time I´m using it...)
Impossible with anything else, I suppose, duhhh.. as you already know....

I made Dxtbmp.exe send it to its editor, who is waiting for further instructions.

By how many pixels do you want the image itself narrowed, i.e. how many pixels
shall I take out from between the rails?

There are only four pixels, so probably taking out 1 is the best. 2 will probably be
too much, although it would keep the same symmetry...

Nevertheless, the left area beside the rails has one more pixel than the one on the on
the right, so taking only one pixel out will centre things.

The black parts left and right will grow, but the whole bitmap will stay the same size.

Note: I did a trial, and took out 1 pixel. But there is a saving problem.
It appears that the editor it is using is MS Paint, and it saves 24-bit images with visible
thumbnails. These can be opened with any other program.
Obviously it is not the correct format, and something is different with the Alpha Channel.

Just in case you can do something with it, here it is attached.

Cheers,
Aleatorylamp

[Ravenna]

Thanks Stephan,
I tried using DXTbmp to send it to PSP, but I resized the image to 75% width and left the length as it was. I'll have a look at your image in PSP and try saving it as a 256 image.

[The B24 Guy]

Hi All,
You can resize the texture using DTX after reload into DTX use "save" function and choose "256 extended" option.

The problem is that the texture is stretched and does not look as good.

But all is not lost. I just have to change about 175 numbers in the SCA file. it will take a few days but I plan to do it.

Here is a shot with the texture changed.

Regards,
B24Guy

[Allen]

I have no idea why the BGL didn't update but there is the right one.

Z mole with tracks fix 2.1.zip

[Ravenna]

Thanks Scott and Allen. I'll try the update today.

I also tried to put the wandering hangar back where it should be but MB wouldn't save the file. I'll try using the GSLedit today.
Doing some reading on the German Marine Korps yesterday I came across information on the movement of AA units from Bruges to the port at Zeebrugge and around the major battery to the north-east. The AA I have in the current layout is really only accurate up to late 1916. If I do a fresh AA layout for 1917-18 it will be a pretty hostile environment for Allied aircraft. Is it possible to make a mission which allows alternative AA layouts, or do I have to make separate missions for each AA layout?

[The B24 Guy]

Ravenna, Allen

Ravenna, you would have to make separate missions.

Allen, I don't have your z_railroad.bmp file. Is it a copy of the v_railroad.bmp?

Progress went fast on the causeway tracks it was a repeatable pattern. Now that I am dealing with diverging tracks progress has slowed.


Regards,
B24Guy

[Allen]

Z_railroad.bmp is just a edited v_railroad.bmp. It is in the new upload.

[The B24 Guy]

Thanks Allen it works for me.

I will send Revenna z-mole train car.

Regards,
B24Guy

[Ravenna]

Thanks Guys!!

[Ravenna]

Allen, looking good. A lot narrower.

B24Guy, I placed your rail car. It sits well and matches the rails, but it seems to be missing some texture on the top and on one side.
I've replaced the cranes with craneb (straddles rail line) and moved the large Z_sheds which was needed due to their size increase.
KDriver has sent me an amended z_railroad.bmp which I will look at as soon as I'm allowed near the PC.

[The B24 Guy]

Ravenna,
Sorry about that. I did not check but Wolfi used a left and right textures.
Sent you new files.

Regards,
B24Guy

[Ravenna]

Ravenna,
Sorry about that. I did not check but Wolfi used a left and right textures.
Sent you new files.

Regards,
B24Guy

Thanks B24Guy. The train will be added to the Layout for Zeebrugge and I'll have to do some moving trains in missions.
Does anyone know of a steam train smoke fx that can be used in CFS2?

[The B24 Guy]

Hi Ravenna,

If you don't have them already DL Wolfi's Train files. The FX's are included.
They are vehicles and move, I made them static inf. and raised them to sit on the Mole.
If you want an engine on the Mole I think the FX emitter position should be moved up.
The engine uses effect=fx_engsmoke one should be able to copy, rename and change the emitter point.

Regards,
B24Guy