Help/Advice

[jaycee]

Hi Peoples, I am trying to do a flak-tower in gmax, i hope to add 4x 20mm quads to the turrets,Now what is the best way to go about this, as i am hoping to animate them, revolving/elevating, is this do-able as a building, or would i have to make it a vehicle,or even an aircraft, thanks in advance, Jaycee.

[Pat Pattle]

Hi Jaycee :wavey:

If you want guns then you can't do it as a building so it would need to be a vehicle or maybe even a ship model with the xdp tinkered with so that it stays put! One nice side affect of it not being a building is that you lose the rubble state which saves a bit of time.

(Btw if you make it as an aircraft it then appears in the aircraft drop down menu, but you could then crew the guns)

Or...a method I used with the Mohne dam is to have the building part as a 'building' then added the guns as seperate vehicle models via the facility file. They need to be custom made models that have their origin at height so that they appear on the ramparts (this means they can't be used anywhere else though). I can't think why I did it that way now but it works!

Clive :)

Edit - Ah I remember now, by creating it as a facility it meant that it could be added to the global layer more easily. Also vehicles added via facility files won't move about and are easier to use in the MB. I can send over some source models/files if you like, to explain things a little better, lol.

[jaycee]

Thanks Pat, This is going to be more difficult than i first thought, once i get the guns done i will try some of your suggetions, if i get nowhere i may have to get back to you if thats ok.
As to the damage model i was not planning on doing one, as far as i know, apparently these things were solid, and impervious to all but the grand-slam bomb,

[crossram]

Hi Peoples, I am trying to do a flak-tower in gmax, i hope to add 4x 20mm quads to the turrets,Now what is the best way to go about this, as i am hoping to animate them, revolving/elevating, is this do-able as a building, or would i have to make it a vehicle,or even an aircraft, thanks in advance, Jaycee.

Sure, it can be made as a 'building'!

(I'm pretty sure) If you have the ETO expansion, take a look in your buildings folder, for 'ber_flakturm_I', and look over the .xdp.

In a 'building' .xdp, you simply add in gunstations.
But, in the gmax model, and the CFS3 model, you need all of the 'guns' built into the model itself.

That's what I had to do on my Flakturm I, especially since the guns were at an elevated location, on top of the building. The bad part is, in the model, you need the actual gun model, added to the model itself, with all the needed gun dummy parts in place.
So, you either import (gmax) gun models, or build your own.

But, yeah, it works. Hehe, just take a flight over Berlin. (The guns won't work in freeflight, so try ground attack.)

[jaycee]

Thanks C. another option, Can the guns be animated?.

[crossram]

That one I'm not positive on. I've made a few attempts, but with no results.
But, since I know that a/c turrets, and their guns, can be animated while the AI are using 'em, I would have to guess yes.

You would need to dig into the SDKs, finding the references for the needed parts naming, and go from there.

[jaycee]

Thanks crossram, the tower is nearly done and so is the flak 38, i may try my hand at a couple of crew,then i have to bring it alltogether and go from there, i have read and found the naming conventions to animate,but the sdk. is not very helpful, Then if i manage to complete it, i just have to figure out what to do with the bl**dy thing, LOL!!!

[NachtPiloten]

Jaycee,

Would you mind sharing the flak38 with me. I am making a few bunkers with the correct AA and the quad you made is the quad 20mm (here) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-J08339,_Ausbildung_an_der_Vierlings-Flak.jpg) I need. I know the Germans had a twin 37 (here) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-301-1957-32,_Nordfrankreich,_Zwillings-Flak.jpg). Oh, I have German soldiers that are textured and ready to use if you want them .....

[jaycee]

Jaycee,

Would you mind sharing the flak38 with me. I am making a few bunkers with the correct AA and the quad you made is the quad 20mm (here) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-J08339,_Ausbildung_an_der_Vierlings-Flak.jpg) I need. I know the Germans had a twin 37 (here) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-301-1957-32,_Nordfrankreich,_Zwillings-Flak.jpg). Oh, I have German soldiers that are textured and ready to use if you want them .....

No prob N. do you want it as is, or do you want to wait until i have done a couple of seats, the offer of the soldiers is a blessing,i was i bit aprehensive of doing figures,

[NachtPiloten]

If you want to map it that would be ok. If not no big deal. The soldiers are standing and seated. PM with an email address.

[jaycee]

it needs to be mapped anyway, so i will finish it off and send you it, as soon as. another benifit for me is you can give it the once over, and point out my mistakes, lol.

[NachtPiloten]

Any inspiration to make the twin 37 mm???:wavey:

[crossram]

Jaycee,

The modeling is looking good! Keep up the good work.

Yeah, I wouldn't mind a german quad in my stash, too. MS was kind enough to leave out alot of needed parts and pieces, to work up a decent air war.

Your flak tower is a vast improvement over the stock one. In my own install, since it was only the germans who poured those types of flak towers, I deleted my a_ and b_ flak towers.
The germans made so many blasted types of those things, it would be a fair task to build 'em all, but some should be done.

??? Your screenshot on your tower, sitting on an airfield...don't know if that would be right. But, it would take alot of research to find actual locations they were erected. Lol, apples and oranges, eh.

Anyway, good to see your work!

[cristiano103]

Hi All

If someone is interested I have a little magazine article dedicated to flak towers in Berlin and Vienna IIRC, it's written in italian but I can try to translate it.
Let me know.

Cheers :ernae: and have always good flying
Cristiano

[jaycee]

Nacht, i will get back to you regards the twin 37mm,When i have finished this lot,, crossram i just planked it on the airfield to test it, once its finished i will have to figure out what to do with it, cristiano that would be cool especialy if there was any info on placement.

[NachtPiloten]

Nacht, i will get back to you regards the twin 37mm,When i have finished this lot,, crossram i just planked it on the airfield to test it, once its finished i will have to figure out what to do with it, cristiano that would be cool especialy if there was any info on placement.

These towers were located (here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flak_tower)). As per the article (careful with the source) the towers were built in the cities.

[dancat]

I have a single 20mm flak 38 if needed.

[NachtPiloten]

I do as well. We just need that twin 37....:wavey:

[cristiano103]

Hello Jaycee

I put my hands on the magazine I told of before but I discovered that there were no more info than the ones You can find in the posted links so it is useless. :gameoff:

Cheers :ernae: and have always good flying
Cris

[jaycee]

Hello Jaycee

I put my hands on the magazine I told of before but I discovered that there were no more info than the ones You can find in the posted links so it is useless. :gameoff:

Cheers :ernae: and have always good flying
Cris


Thanks for taking the time to look cris.

[cristiano103]

Hi Jaycee

surfing on the net I came across this http://www.avaxhome.ws/ebooks/history_military/Die_Flakturme_in_Berlin.html

It is in german but let take a look if it can help You.

Cheers :ernae: and have always good flying
Cristiano