B-52G, FSX native...VC HELP!!!

[lazarus]

So'kay...Alpha's B-52, done , good, it's all there, except the dumb dragchute door stuck open- a defect I can live with...however. The fercockt VC radius is defeating resolution.
It's there, it all works, but the radius of the omgapotchket will not respond to the usual fixes. Pan the view 90 degree's or aft, views are fine. Look forward, nothing. Move the eyepoint aft to the GiB's, you can see forward. Move the eyepoint up, the VC disappears, the eyepoint moves out front. I've gone through hundreds of radius values, nothing is working.
RATS. This sucks if you aren't a payware sycophant! (yeah, you can use the CS VC if you have it. I don't and won't. Something grates about putting money in the pocket of the opforces...) This is also holding up a whole conga line of B-52 fun, as KBT's B-52 fleet all convert up fine and look great, as well as the -H's, EVS G's and H's and Mike Stones B-52 M mega-fortress what-if.
Help! I'm stumped, I've not had a VC so recalcitrant, and I know there must be a way to salvage with out spending hard earned sheckles to buy vodka for CS.
So. Try it out, lets see if anyone can find a fix (Probably not, but I might be surprised...) I could also use some eyes on some 'unmentionable devices'. While a releasable object is no mystery, I got damned tired of blowing myself off the map on a lay-down strike, and had to fit the lay-down 'shapes' with working retarders. It's a LOD hack, but seems to work well, and the 'unmentionable' devices now slow down. Even the B-36 has time to get away from the Mk-17.
Attachment 34758Attachment 34759Attachment 34760Attachment 34761Attachment 34762Attachment 34763

[DaveWG]

Downloaded it to have a look, but there's no B52 in the zip.

[lazarus]

#*&%^@?! Standby. For some reason, this seems to happen lately, anything over a couple of KB goes the thin air route. Your server does not like me...joins the club... Gordon Bennet! Slow mojo wire today...




https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bym...ew?usp=sharing

[StormILM]

I have a question, have you considered converting KBT's B-52 series to FSX Native? Seems like it might be a better external model for use with the CS B-52 VC (for owners of the model). I'm not all that certain if it would work properly but it might be worth looking into (if all permissions can be secured).

[lazarus]

"...(yeah, you can use the CS VC if you have it. I don't and won't. Something grates about putting money in the pocket of the opforces...) This is also holding up a whole conga line of B-52 fun, as KBT's B-52 fleet all convert up fine and look great, as well as the -H's, EVS G's and H's and Mike Stones B-52 M mega-fortress what-if..."

[StormILM]

If you have the KBT B-52D & G files converted, please do share.

[lazarus]

Thanks for the helpful input.
If I can sort the VC, and if I feel like it. Not Aladdin's lamp, last time I checked the makers marque. Lotta folks pursuing the hobby on limited to no budget, so with out some kind of VC, what's the point? Might as well save a bunch of grief and stay with the FS9 port's. Generally, I stay away from payware, especially, I will go a long way out of my way to avoid trafficking with the denizens of darkness. Virtavia is the exception simply because of their policy of cycling old models into the freeware pool, and a level of customer support that others could take note of, buys a whole lot of good will. CS...the idea of doing any business with those communist monstrosities- including canadastan!- grates on my moral filter.

[Chris Sykes]

Had a small testing session last night when I tried to use the CS 52 in Prepar3d creating a flight and adding in the xml code for a releasable weapon, sadly this doesn't work, think the CS 52 doesn't like being loaded in a saved flight.

[lazarus]

Huh. Well, I couldn't say, one way or the other, not being a party to any of that softwear, though all are welcome to butcher about the unmentionable devices as you wish- excepting commercial use, of course.
While you're about, Chris, a question. On your missiles, you used a 'ground vehicle' hack to get those moving. I tried out the same thing a couple of years ago on some sunburns, skybolts and what not. While it worked impressively, I ran into a CTD after the weapons had hit max V and 120 NM from launch.
I back burner'd the lot, didn't look too hard for the cause. Did you ever note anything like that in the course of developing your weapon packs?

[Chris Sykes]

Hadnt noticed the issue but then I don't think I tested for range IIRC...

Could I ask how you managed to get the laydown bombs to slow down?

[lazarus]

In the sim cfg are some extra lines the game engine will action for stability, size and mass, I expect it's the mass entry that does most of the work if you enter an arbitrarily low number. Between 40-100lbs, and a acceleration/deceleration constant with the deceleration notched way up, then fiddle until it looks like it should. I'm not totally happy with the LOD hack for animation, but my animation skill level-some where between brain damaged hillbilly and high functioning russian with a jug of wood alcohol only resulted in the chute animation cycling on and off; the LOD hack is much easier for a multi-stage animation like the Mk.53. While LABS is a whole lot more fun, at least laydown works like it should, even if it seemed a suicide tactic forty years ago. With the improvements in point air defences, laydown attacks in wartime seem like a complete waste of a good bomber and weapon, I also have to wonder if a CIWS of some sort might be able to disable the fusing of the thing while its hovering under the chute, or would that just trigger the impact fuse. Anyway, at the current rate of geo-political hillbillyness, I'm sure we will find out shortly. Did you try out Maj.Kong?

[Essex]

Lazarus, try changing the radius of the external mdl to 30, say.

[lazarus]

Tried that one already just about every radius combination imaginable. It's a very weird and frustrating snag. I've gone through about a hundred different combinations. Oddly, with a 20+ , 5,5,5,5,5,5 setting, the VC functions above 18,000 feet in a slight climb
It's a very intractable snag. Still plugging away at it, though.

[Essex]

Was that the radius of the external mdl you tried?

[lazarus]

Roughly the dimensions of the aircraft in meters, typically 18 to 25 meter, set to the external view. Usually, I'll saw a few decimal points off the FS9 values as read by MDLX. IE: 24109.9 gets turned into 24 meters. What have you got in that screencap?

[Essex]

All I did was change the radius of the external mdl to 30 using MCX.

[lazarus]

Huh. Well, outstanding! I'll apply that, and on with the rest, then. Have to chase down KBT, too. I hadn't thought of fiddling the external. Other eyes on project= winnage. BTY, Essex, I'll have to pick your brain some about the propeller visibility conditions. Almost there on that. Got the added rotation animations working and displaying. I read through all of the FSdev forums on the subject, but I am still not clear on where the visibility conditions are at for the prop still/prop slow blur/start/stop, or even which values to apply. I get the impression you've cracked that.

Thanks, dude! I should have thought of that. I know VC eyepoint is tied to the external model centroid. Good catch, good information. Got fixated on the VC model.
Updated test file here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bym...ew?usp=sharing