Taxiing Aircraft

[Daiwilletti]

Here is my first rough attempt to create a bit more life on the airbase...

http://www.mediafire.com/file/ane838...craft.mp4/file

[mongoose]

Looks interesting. I think you should get a hold of Clive who also worked on this. IIRC he did something with British bombers a while back which might be interesting to you re architecture.

[mongoose]

OK I've found it. ACC RAF Scamption Animation Pack.zip CFS3 other Add Ons page 1.

[Daiwilletti]

Thanks, James, I had forgotten about that one! The beauty of this one is it works for all generic versions of airbase_dual_1. Needs a fair bit of refining of the concept.

[gecko]

Gotta get those props turning! Looks like the wheels are turning though, which is good!

[Daiwilletti]

props turning, sound and dust are what I want at the least. All the guns work, interestingly.

I thought I might be able to hack the m3d to put in the prop blur texture.

Sounds requires a line in the sounds.xml, and dust is an easy chord in the xdp file.

But getting the paths right for all the generic airbases will take a little time.

[gecko]

Failing getting the props working, a prop disk could be created as a shockwave type effect and placed appropriately on the models and the static blades removed via alpha channel.

[Mixxer]

hmm interesting, nice work mate

[Pat Pattle]

That looks great David! Would be good to be able to get a/c taxiing without having to create anything in gmax.

Here's the old thread where we discussed this before:

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...light=scampton

[mongoose]

@ Clive.. Did you have to have the Gmax file for the airport to set the mission coordinates or is it easier than that; say first going to that aircase in QC and driving a vehicle around , noting the coordinates with 'z'?

[Daiwilletti]

Failing getting the props working, a prop disk could be created as a shockwave type effect and placed appropriately on the models and the static blades removed via alpha channel.

hey Daniel, I like the way you think! I was thinking about some sort of effect but you've gone past me quickly!

[Daiwilletti]

By the way, the video I uploaded is in QC mode - I see from the Scampton thread that getting stuff to appear in QC mode was problematic.

What I've found in both QC and campaign mode is that airbase vehicles do not always appear straight away and trundle around the roads set up in the airbase facility.xml. Sometimes you have to take off and fly a bit before the ground spawns appear.

So I've set up the b26 as a vehicle, added a new road to the airbase_dual_1.xml, added an entry for the b26 as a vehicle to the airbase xml, but no speed entry. The b26 as a vehicle has a default moving speed which I think is used when the "vehicle" spawns on its own road on the airbase.

I took off in the p51b on a QC flight and it wasn't until my landing approach that I noticed the medium bomber trundling around the airbase!

I am using Richard Eikland's Mission and Facility Editor to make the new paths in the airbase facility file. It works a treat on a 34" WQHD screen - there is ability to expand the crowded airbase to a useful scale where it is possible to fit in the features to be added. I think the best place for the new path is actually around one of the runways - probably the "notakeoff" one!

The hardest thing will be to position the propblur effect.

[Pat Pattle]

@ Clive.. Did you have to have the Gmax file for the airport to set the mission coordinates or is it easier than that; say first going to that aircase in QC and driving a vehicle around , noting the coordinates with 'z'?

It can be done in gmax but is probably easier in Richard Eikland's Mission and Facility Editor as David says. You don't use lat & long co-ords to make the paths, you use x and y points as per any other facility entry.

[mongoose]

Is that called "CFS3 Mission Editor"; something I do have ?

[Daiwilletti]

Is that called "CFS3 Mission Editor"; something I do have ?

Yes. IIRC, under the drop-down "other" is the way to change the path from one install to another.

[Daiwilletti]

What do I do to the alpha channel of the dds skin to get the propeller blades to disappear? I've had a look and it is easy enough to select the propeller blade on the b26 skin, but not sure what to do next.

I am using paint.net. Is there a simpler, quicker .dds editor for quick 'n' dirty jobs like this?

By the way, I have the dust track effect working, and ai sound specific for the b26 vehicle working.

My first rushed attempt to get the prop disk dds to render as a shockwave is nowhere to be seen - I started out by linking it to the coordinates for the engine exhausts.

[mongoose]

I use free Gimp for more difficult stuff i/o paint.net

[Daiwilletti]

Can anyone help me out with a simple explanation of how to create an alpha channel which only obscures the propeller blades in the texture?

I have sunk a lot of time searching forums etc but this information seems too basic for anyone to mention it.....

I would much rather be building new taxi paths than stuffing around editing textures without the right knowledge

[greycap.raf]

Can anyone help me out with a simple explanation of how to create an alpha channel which only obscures the propeller blades in the texture?

Everything else full white, propeller blades full black. Done.

[Daiwilletti]

Everything else full white, propeller blades full black. Done.

Thanks very much for your reply, Greycap! Unfortunately you assume I have some knowledge of these things. I don't!

Although I have read about applying an alpha layer to DXT1 textures, and I think that a transparent alpha layer makes stuff disappear, I have no direct experience with manipulating alpha layers. What is "white" and "black" really? How does one apply black to the propeller blades?

Are DXT BMP using Paint.net as the editor suitable software? Assuming that is the case, I assume the edits are actually done to the .bmp version of the .dds vehicle texture?

As you can see by the foregoing questions, I am not a skinner. My texture manipulating experience is limited to pressing the "auto correct" button in Office Picture Manager.

[mongoose]

First I would use Gimp. Use paint.net to change the dds to a bmp and use that in gimp which is basically like photoshop. Now I have to relearn every time I use it as it's always a while in between and being an old geezer, I forget! However I seem to remember Andy was getting me to do something with alpha files so maybe you could see the help forum for gimp. I think that's what I did.

[Daiwilletti]

Thanks to Gecko I have a detailed explanation that I think I can work with. Suddenly got lots of other things on; I hope to get back on the taxiing aircraft soon.

[Daiwilletti]

Well after getting in a bit of a tangle working out where an error was - xdp, m3d or dds - I finally got a taxiing aircraft as a vehicle, trundling around with the propellor masked. Thanks again to Gecko for his dummies guide.



I have the vehicle set up as an AI vehicle in the sounds.xml. The dust effect is a pathetic wisp coming from the rear of the vehicle. No sign of my attempt at a prop disc effectas yet - these things take a lot of time.

I could do a set of airbases with all the "chords" for taxiing vehicles - trouble is, at present an airbase_dual_1 in Germany would have taxiing b_25s - hardly an ideal arrangement. Seems to me this technique needs to be set up for Pat's Bob and ETO, where airbases can be country specific so you don't get odd aircraft trundling around where they shouldn't.

[mongoose]

looks interesting. I assume you can only do this with default airbases, not ACC or other modded ones?

[Daiwilletti]

looks interesting. I assume you can only do this with default airbases, not ACC or other modded ones?

Quite the opposite, James . I was just saying in the post that it is preferable to use the technique in Pat's Bob and ETO, so that bespoke airbases can be used. This avoids the problem of generic airbases where you have no control over which country they appear in. I just took a look at an airbase in ETO 1944 GSL - Strumpy or some such quirky British name. It looked fab and already has a lot of lancasters as facilities around the base. Makes it easier to be able to locate additional vehicles using the facility and mission editor.

My inclination is to do a few British bases with Lancasters, a few US bases with B_26s, and then not sure what to use for the German bases - maybe one of Airfighter55's aircraft he made as vehicles? Although for the Bob era a few earlier oddballs are tempting. Isn't there some rough early Avro floating around that Clive alerted people to? Or the Hampden would be a tempting choice.