Author Topic: WIP - Warehouse Station  (Read 7413 times)

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Offline Black Wolf

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[RELEASE] - GTI Veles Warehouse Station




DOWNLOAD: http://www.mediafire.com/file/ihd56x5ir1ue737/Veles.7z

So that was actually easier than expected. Still plenty of squashed bugs along the way, but it all came together much quicker than I feared, though largely that was the result of unexpectedly having a couple of days I could mostly dedicate to the project.

I'm really happy with how the animation and things have turned out. I could have continued for ages adding more dockpoints and more compatibility with more ships, but I felt like I was hitting a point of diminishing returns. It's compatible with the main terran freighters and has space for dozens of cargo containers. Adding more is simple if anyone wants to along the way.

A few nothes before the pretty pictures. The download includes some tips for FREDders, but I am replicating that document here because it's important. Read this before you play with the model! Or you will either fail to use it properly, or FS will break it and you'll blame me for making a buggy model. So read before you FRED!

Quote
Hi! Thanks for downloading the GTI Veles. Hopefully this station will be exactly what you need for your campaign, but in order to use it to its full capabilities, there are a few things you should know.

Almost all of these notes are focused on docking - the Veles has nearly 100 dockpoints, and is designed primarily as a place to transfer cargo. First and foremost:

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!DO NOT TRY TO FILL ALL THE DOCKPOINTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Many of them overlap, and will look bad, but also the sheer number of objects will cause FSO to slow down to a crawl. So avoid it. Use a sensible number of cargo containers and ships so that the station looks busy, but keep the number reasonable. Your players will thank you for it.

Second key thing - use the correct dockpoints for the correct ships/cargo containers. This will be explained in detail below.

========CARGO DOCKPOINTS========

Generally speaking, the docks are not generic, and are instead designed for specific ships and cargo containers. In most cases, a cargo dockpoint without a name in it is designed to fit a TAC-1, TC2 or TSC2. TTC 1 will work, but will probably be a bit sparse in most cases. VAC 5 and VAC 4 will generally also fit.

A few exceptions apply:

CargoDockShelf10 - Do not use a TAC 1 or similarly long container here or you will overlap the crane structure. a TC or TSC 2 will work fine.
CargoGas* - These are designed exclusively for the TGas-1. Anything else will clip badly into the geometry of the model.
CargoTCTRI* - These are designed exclusively for the TC-TRI. Anything else will just be sitting off in space randomly.
CargoSmall* - These are designed for the TTC 1. Other containers may or may not fit into the small spaces in which these dockpoints have been crammed.

========NON-CARGO DOCKPOINTS========

These are a bit more specific than the cargo dockpoints. Some are generic, and will work with a wide variety of ships. These are:

PadA, PadB, PadC - These are transport docks for ships landing on the pads on top of the main fighterbay.
Transport Dock* - These are the 4 normal looking dockpoints with the red and yellow lights leading to them on the angled side of the station.
DockingPoint* - These are the 3 normal looking dockpoints on the TC-TRI pad.
DockCPad* - These are the generic versions of the three Cronos exclusive dockpoints inside the main cargo bay.

The remaining dockpoints are ship specific, and must be used more carefully.

PosTACDock* - These are the animated dockpoints in the cutaway section above the main cargo bay. Use these dockpoints -only- when a Poseidon class freighter carrying a TAC 1 cargo container wants to dock. This ensures that the docking tube underneath the dock extends to the correct height and doesn't clip the geometry of the cargo container.
PosTCDock* - As above, these are the animated dockpoints in the cutaway section above the main cargo bay. Use these dockpoints -only- when a Poseidon class freighter carrying a TC 2 or a TSC 2 cargo container wants to dock. This ensures that the docking tube underneath the dock extends to the correct height and doesn't clip the geometry of the cargo container.
DockCronos* - These are the dockpoints which allow Cronos freighters/Amazon Advanced drones to land on the three large cargo pads in the main bay. For any other ship, use the DockCPad dock.
PoseidonDockA and PoseidonDockB - These dockpoints are used when a loaded Poseidon wants to drop cargo into the pits marked A and B on the top of the station. Docking is simple. Undocking is complex - simply using the Undock AI command will cause a lot of grief. Instead, to undock, the following is recommended.
1. Use the jettison-cargo sexp on the Poseidon to sever the link between the freighter and its cargo. Make sure to set velocity at 0.
2. Set the cargo and the Poseidon to the same collision group using the add-to-collision-group sexp.
3. Use the set-object-speed-y sexp to give the Poseidon a push up away from the cargo container. I've found an initial speed of around 120 moves it far enough up, but alternately use the every-time sexp to have a lower speed for a few seconds.
3. Have the Poseidon follow a waypoint up and forwards, away from the dockpoint.
4. Once the Poseidon has cleared, close the door. This is done using three copies of the trigger-submodel-animation sexp, using the following arguments:
      1. <GTI Veles Name>
      2. scripted
      3. 0
      4. 1
      5. false
      6. <relevant submodel name>

To close the door over Pad A, the three <releavant submodel name> entries are C1-A1, C1-A2 and Cover01.
To close the door over Pad B, the three <releavant submodel name> entries are C2-A1, C2-A2 and Cover02.

========GENERAL TIPS========

The Freespace docking system is messy, and has been since retail. The potential for screwy behaviour (small transports swinging huge stations around, for example, or stations smashing into the player and exploding) is enormous. Therefore, there are a number of things that are of great significance that you should do every time you use the Veles.

1 - Jettison Cargo at the start of the mission.

Ideally, the Veles' dockpoints should be used in FRED to easily position cargo containers. Then, insert a sexp that jettisons all docked cargo from the Veles at speed 0. This means that a maniac with a morning star can't shoot a docked cargo container and send the entire station flying. Same goes for an errant cargo explosion or whatever. The fewer ships you have docked, the better.

There is one caveat here. Unfortunately, at present, there is no way to only jettison cargo - if you jettison a ship docked to one of the dockpoints linked to an animated submodel, that submodel will retract. You can either manually extend the submodel using the animation sexps or manually jettison just the ships (i.e. cargo) that you choose.

2 - Make use of the set-immobile sexp.

Even using a jettison-cargo sexp, you should set the Veles to immobile, either using a sexp or using the "Does not Move" checkbox in the misc settings. More importantly, however, any ships docked to the Veles also need to be set immobile as soon as they dock. This is important. Otherwise, a docked Poseidon that has its cargo shot out from under it will throw the Veles hundreds of metres away, and often spin it around enough to hit and kill the player. This is bad. Therefore, as coon as a ship has docked, use the "set-immobile" sexp to keep it in place. It can be "set-mobile" again as soon as it undocks.

3. Be careful about Bay Paths

The Veles has 7 "bay" subsystems corresponding to its main bay (inside the cargo bay), it's rear secondary shuttlebay and its four drone bays on the side of the installation. FSO only really recognizes a single type of fighterbay, so in theory any ship can exit or enter from any bay. In practice, this will lead to some pretty bad clipping/collisions if a larger fighter or bomber attempts to enter/exit through a small bay. Therefore, all ships using the docking bays should have their bay paths restricted.

Bay*DB - Will direct the ships to enter/exit through the Drone Bays on the side of the installation. Use these solely for very small ships - repair drones such as MJN's Phidias, Dark's drone (3301 on the wiki) or the Amazon will fit, as will the Mercury class shuttle. There are 4 of these paths.
Bay*SB - Will direct the ships to enter/exit through the Shuttle Bays at the rear of the installation. These were designed for the Mercury class shuttle, however, in practice, most strikecraft up to and including some bombers will fit. There are 4 of these paths.
Bay*FB - Will direct the ships to enter/exit through the main bay inside the installation. This was intended to be the bay used by large transports, heavy bombers etc. There are 3 of these paths.

With that done, here are some more pictures. :) Enjoy the Veles!




« Last Edit: April 02, 2018, 03:34:24 am by Black Wolf »
TWISTED INFINITIES · SECTORGAME· FRONTLINES
Rarely Updated P3D.
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Re: WIP - Warehouse Station
Oh boy... This really comes in handy :) Very nice!

 

Offline 0rph3u5

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Re: WIP - Warehouse Station
Nice!

This has been one of the assets I've been most eagerly anticipating...
"As you sought to steal a kingdom for yourself, so must you do again, a thousand times over. For a theft, a true theft, must be practiced to be earned." - The terms of Nyrissa's curse, Pathfinder: Kingmaker

==================

"I am Curiosity, and I've always wondered what would become of you, here at the end of the world." - The Guide/The Curious Other, Othercide

"When you work with water, you have to know and respect it. When you labour to subdue it, you have to understand that one day it may rise up and turn all your labours into nothing. For what is water, which seeks to make all things level, which has no taste or colour of its own, but a liquid form of Nothing?" - Graham Swift, Waterland

"...because they are not Dragons."

 
Re: WIP - Warehouse Station
Wow, such a wonderful thing :)

 

Offline Goober5000

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Re: WIP - Warehouse Station
Wow, this is great! :yes:

 
Re: WIP - Warehouse Station
I recognized one odd problem: The station gets pushed around when Hit by mass drivers. Do i have to change density or $damp in the table?

 

Offline Black Wolf

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Re: WIP - Warehouse Station
I recognized one odd problem: The station gets pushed around when Hit by mass drivers. Do i have to change density or $damp in the table?

I increased the model's mass by a couple of orders of magnitude from the generated figure, and tested it against bombers, though not mass drivers - are those BP?

That said, before I make any changes associated with the station getting pushed around... Did you read (and follow) the instructions for FREDders? Because this kind of sounds like the behaviour you'd get if you didn't follow the instructions for FREDders.

I'm not saying that I couldn't have made a mistake - I make mistakes all the time. But make sure nothing is docked to it and test it again to tey to replicate the behaviour before you change too much in the tables or pof. There's also the "set-immobile" sexp that you probably should be using.
TWISTED INFINITIES · SECTORGAME· FRONTLINES
Rarely Updated P3D.
Burn the heretic who killed F2S! Burn him, burn him!!- GalEmp

 
Re: WIP - Warehouse Station
Ah, that's it. I only set the Veles to immobile, not it's containers. I also needed to include the jettison-cargo-sexp. Now it's solid like a rock ;)

Thanks! I read about the cargo-dockpoints, but not the General tips ;)

 

Offline Black Wolf

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Re: WIP - Warehouse Station
Haha, thought so. This is one mod where you really, really do have RTFM. ;) I've been messing with multi-docking one way or another basically since it was implemented. It's still, IMO, one of the single best things the SCP have ever done (shoutout to Goober IIRC). But the FSO docking code means it needs to be handled with great care, especially on an immobile structure. Something like the Atlantis is fine cruising along woth a few dozen cargo containers docked to it, but a static structure can go crazy pretty easily.

Anyway, glad it's working for you. I never tested it with any BP stuff (just assuming that's where the mass drivers are coming from) so if it looks cool with UEF stuff or whatever, post pictures. It's pretty photogenic! :P
TWISTED INFINITIES · SECTORGAME· FRONTLINES
Rarely Updated P3D.
Burn the heretic who killed F2S! Burn him, burn him!!- GalEmp

 
Re: WIP - Warehouse Station
Yes the mass drivers are coming from BP (originally, changed the values a bit), but I already changed the mission so the gunboats aren't shooting at the station anymore. It's floating close to a cargo depot I created with the construction kit for a mission. The new containers even fit at some docking points :)

Nevertheless, it looks nice in space without gunboats shooting at it, too :)




« Last Edit: March 26, 2018, 12:13:49 pm by bomb3rman »

 

Offline Black Wolf

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Re: WIP - Warehouse Station
So I made a foolish mistake which I should have picked up in all the screenshots - that glowing metal band on the side (very obvious in my second screenshot) shouldn't be glowing. I have changed the glowmap and re-uploaded the model. All the links are the same if you want a new version, or just eliminate the metal textured part from WHDD-glow.dds (it's pretty obvious it doesn't belong  if you're looking for it).

Sorry gents, I will try to make fewer silly mistakes in future! :)
TWISTED INFINITIES · SECTORGAME· FRONTLINES
Rarely Updated P3D.
Burn the heretic who killed F2S! Burn him, burn him!!- GalEmp