Posts by larrylynx

Hi Alex

Making good progress

To align a hinge I use a method I found on FSDevelopers, I think.

Lets assume were going to setup the hinge for an aileron.

First, Draw a tape measure helper object that roughly aligns with the aileron. Use snap to move the end points of the tape to the places where you want the hinge line to be.

Now the important bit, make sure you are in local mode for the screen view your working in.

Select the object you wish to setup the hinge for, open the hierarchy tab, select affect pivot only.

Now select the align tab and select the tape helper. A dialogue box opens. Make sure all x y z positions are selected and align orientation x y z, click apply and ok.

Your done, perfect alignment

There may be occasions when the object moves unexpectedly when clicking the x y z orientation, if this happens, undo what you did, apply a reset Xform to your object (in hammer tab), click reset selected. un-select reset Xform, right click on your object and select, convert to editable poly, try again with the axis align.

For knobs and switches etc, if you didn't model from scratch and the pivot is miles out then use centre to object in the hierarchy tab and manually adjust, near enough is usually ok for these small items. Animating in the aircraft TMD and controls TMD for switches etc are whole different story but still use the pivot (axis) point, so best to get it right

Steve

In answer to which tmd to edit, if you want quick feed back and no changes to the model ahve been made then use the documents one. If you make any changes to the model and need to convert, copy all the documents tmd (that you made all the changes to) and overwrite the intermediate one, then convert. The converter will kick up an error and not convert if the intermediate tmd is older that the one in the documents folder, goes for controls TMD as well. A good safety measure. I would issue a WARNING here, make sure your happy with the overwriting before you convert as what ever is pasted here will overwrite the documents TMD. I pasted the controls TMD into the aircraft TMD and lost a lot of work so its easily done when your editing both files, also make backups regularly of both aircraft and controls TMD, it can save a lot of screaming and shouting

Hi Donny

It's ok to attach objects using different materials, it can cause problems in max if you need to update a material, as when you update the objects with a material from a differnt texture map they will get replaced and you need to re-apply to those elements that used a different map.

Try not to overload an object with attached object's. By this I mean don't have everything attached to the fuselage. For the interior I have 3 main cockpit objects and try to attach other objects so they are even and roughly in the same area. Ejector seat, pilot, pilot head, needles, controls, knobs, switches are individual objects.

Never attach the wings to the fuselage unless you do not want wing bending, even the Starfighter has wing bending, things like elevator, ailerons, flaps, wheels etc remain separate. For the undercarriage, try to think where things move or rotate around, if it all stays together when moved than by all means attach. So the nose for example would have NoseUpper-Oleo-NoseLower-NoseWheel and a retraction setup, probably 2 struts. You have to think like an animated system would be in the modelling program and then do it all manually in the TMD.

Axis are very important so plan ahead, gauge needles, knob and switch axis. All these need to be separate objects. Might seem a lot of objects but they get scattered around the TMD like confetti in the end so you don't notice them. This I have 5-600 objects in the Starfighter. So if you want to animate it, it's a separate object. If you want a moving map, its a separate object, like wise a hud screen

It's all pretty much common sense stuff but FS2 is different so you just have to be aware of it.

Steve

Well I patted myself on the back too soon.

Whilst the HUD works on my development machine it crashes FS2 on my games machine in VR. More investigation needed.

I did manage to get it to work one time, I noticed the missing speed indication is way off to the left and the altitude is where the speed should go, the joys of being a developer

Steve

Hi Jan

Managed to get a working HUD so cross that off the list, no airspeed shown but at least everything else works.

Steve

Hi Donny

Welcome to the mad house.

For item 1..ignore it, it will always be there, or at least it is for me

for 2 to 6...have you re-applied the textures in max and applied a uv map to them.

For the moment you can pretty much forget 2, 4, 5 and 6, number 3 is the most important to see if the model in the sim, the rest are eye candy. Any material you make in max, I would recommend to included all the texture slots, even if you don't plan to use them at first, it help later if you do. Sure you will get the errors listed above but the sim works just as well. A stand in bmp can be used, ie all black.

Tm.log from the exporter does not get over written by the converter, that produces the report.txt, get used to looking at this, some errors can be ignored some need attention. The main sim also produces a tm.log (popular name) this can be very useful to track down your errors. If the Sim crashes as soon as you launch your model then check for duplicate names in the TMD, Converter tm.log is useful for pivot point information, which you will use a lot.

The TMD can be a pain in the butt but it is very powerful and worth getting to know, As you already know Jan is very helpful and will solve pretty much everything.

Steve

After a request from my test pilot Ray I added smoke dispensers (honest Jeff they are they are coloured blue, they just look like Sidewinders)

Plan to include multiple TMD files so you can pick your load out, will have to be manually done but as painless as possible, would be nice if IPACS could add this facility to the sim.

Hi Jan

I have noticed none of the aircraft have sounds for gear travel, flaps and speedbrakes, can I assume this is not possible.

Steve

Hi Matt

FS2 Likes thing to be named in a certain way, LeftWing or LeftWingThingAttachmentPin. If you look in the aircraft TMD you will see entries like this

<[hingedbodygraphics][AngleOfAttackNeedle][]

<[uint32][PositionID][Fuselage.R]>

<[uint32][OrientationID][Fuselage.Q]>

<[string8][GeometryList][ NeedleAoA ]>

<[uint32][InputAngle][AngleOfAttackMapping.Output]>

<[tmvector3d][Axis][ -0.9659 0.00000 0.2588 ]>

<[tmvector3d][Pivot][ 6.1033 0.0385 0.4647 ]>

<[float64][AngleMax][1.00]>

<[string8][InputIllumination1][InstrumentLighting.Output]>

<[string8][InputIllumination0][PanelLighting.Output]>

>

Everything is written the same way, for the GeometryList the name is NeedleAoA and this is what AC3D should output and not needleaoa

ReducesTheNeedForExtraSpaces

Surprising how quickly you get used to reading it

Steve

Hi Jan

As always thanks for the information, just what I needed.

I have the external sounds, with the famous starfighter howl, pretty much done. A sightly softer volume when sat in the cockpit with the canopy open but with it closed its deathly quiet ( 9 sound files in total). Now I have the info it will help get that done and fine tune the others. Would it be easier on the sim to have 3 sets of 3 sound files ie exterior, interior canopy open and canopy closed and not have sound reduction mapping or is it better to just have one set of files and 6 sound reduction mapping entries. Hope this makes sense.

I also note the use of <[bool][External][false]> and <[bool][Internal][false]>. Any reason not to use <[bool][Internal][true]>, I know that would be the same as <[bool][External][false]>, is it a sim thing to always use [false]

Steve

Hi Jan

I get what the mapping is doing its just the numbers inside the brackets,

<[soundmapping][EngineVolumeIntern2][]

<[string8][Input][EnginePercentage.Output]>

<[tmvector2d][Map][ (0.0 0.0) (0.8 0.0) (0.81 0.1) (1.0 0.8) ]>

>

Is it (volume and percentage) or (Percentage and volume), in the case of (1.0 0.8) is it 100% volume at 80% engine speed or 100% engine speed at 80% volume. Reason I ask is some numbers go to (1.0 2.0) as in the canopy reduced figures

Steve

Hi Jan

TMD help required again, was that a groan I heard

In the sounds section there is mapping for volume and pitch. I understand the need for mapping but what do the figures refer to.

<[tmvector2d][Map][ (0.0 0.0) (0.8 0.0) (0.81 0.1) (1.0 0.8) ]>

Is it EnginePercentage (in my case) and wav file volume/pitch or

wav file volume/pitch and EnginePercentage or

Something else completely

Steve

Hi Sylvain

Have you checked the tm.log in your Documents\Aerofly FS 2 folder, it normally tells you why things failed

Steve

Hi Jeff

Thanks for the encouragement.

Missiles are dummy ones, the nose is painted blue.

Hi all

Finally getting around to flight testing in my new paint job, 69100 ft and she stalled out.

Some nav instruments to sort out and get the sound to work but she's getting there. Still no HUD but all switches and radios complete, interior lighting finally working, specular maps next on the textures list.

I think Autopilot is beyond my TMD skill levels so it will have to wait. Would also like to fully complete the electrics in time but things like this would only hold up release dates so maybe a patch in the future.

Steve

Hi

I have noticed that nose up elevator trimming is also required in my Starfighter, perhaps some balance issues could also explain the nose tipping over This could be the models centre point being slightly off when it was modelled, only guessing here. The starfighter has a habit of the nose lifting when it comes to rest on the brakes.

Steve

Hi Jan

Thanks for that, you've made an old man happy, At least I had the time to get my inlet temperature gauge working so I wasn't idle. And, I realised I have forgot to model the standby compass, it's normally folded backwards when on the ground so I missed it. Something else to add to the smaller "to do' list

I had tried the very same as you instructed, with one slight difference. As I was using the example of a binary input I only used one input_active as they were both using the same FireTest in the controls.tmd file.

Steve

Hi Jan

Still struggling with my fire test button coding

I have 2 Fire annunciators. I would like to be able to press either one of these (through a hidden button behind each annunciator) to activate a simulated fire test system. The coding below allows me to press the right hand one and the annunciators light up, pressing the left turns them off. Pressing left first does nothing. This I would expect as it's coding to transfer from one to the other

If I input different names in each input_button from the controls.TMD, either will turn them on but nothing turns them off.

I guess I am barking up the wrong tree but I have tried discrete, active and event and they do not even light things up.

Put me out of my misery PLEASE !!!!!

<[input_button][FireTestButton1][]

<[string8][Input][FireTest]>

<[float64][InputValue][0.0]>

>

<[input_button][FireTestButton2][]

<[string8][Input][FireTest]>

<[float64][InputValue][1.0]>

>

<[input_binary][FireTest][]

<[string8][Input][FireTest]>

<[float64][Value][0.0]>

>

<[output_free][FireTestOutput][]

<[string8][Input][FireTest.Output]>

>

Edit, Forgot to add, if I just use a single input_button and output this to my annunciators they both come on when the button pressed and go off on button release, so I know it can be done, for one button anyway

Steve

PS, I guess this topic is fast becoming a TMD wiki

Hi Jan

What is so special about buttons

When ever I try to use a button as an input the code fails to find the button output. If I use the same code using a switch for an input it works just fine.

Why do some buttons use an "input_active' before the output and others don't

Steve

Hi Matt

Still working on some texture maps, specular and reflection should allow bare metal. Finishing up the switches, just autopilot left, (and there have been oodles of them), then a final blast at the textures, paint kit to tidy up and oh yeah, sounds.

Light at the end of the tunnel

Steve

Hi Jan

I tried -0.1 to -0.3, never occurred to try the other way as you are going from zero to -1

Thanks Steve