[Sandwich]

Could someone post exactly what the heiarchy of objects/subobjects in trueSpace's TrueView should look like? I'm talking about a capital ship, with 4 LOD's, 3 turrets listed (for simplicity's sake), etc.

I'm looking for an answer sort of like this:

Code: [Select]

+ vcarrier ;top level group
-- vcarriera ;LOD 0 hull object
-- H_vcarriera ;LOD 0 local light
-+ turret01a ;turret 1 group
--- turret01a ;turret01a object
--- H_turret01a ;turret01a local light
-+ turret02a ;turret 2 group
...
-+ turret30 ;turret 30 group
-+ detail1 ;LOD 1 group
--- vcarrierb ;LOD 1 hull object
--- H_vcarrierb ;LOD 1 local light
-+ detail2 ;LOD 2 group
-+ detail3 ;LOD 3 group

The main thing I need to know is how the heiarchy is ordered, and what objects need to be named a certain way to work.

EDIT: Also, can turrets be named (in TS) things like turret01a-AAA - will that work in the conversion?

EDIT 2: Where is everybody? Anyway, another question - I'm in the process of texturing a model, and when I do a preview render, the lights that are glued to the myriad of turrets disturb the texture display. ANy way to turn them off?

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"He who laughs last thinks slowest."
"Just becase you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you."
"To err is human; to really screw up you need a computer."
Creator of the Sandvich Bar, the CapShip Turret Upgrade, the Complete FS2 Ship List and the System Backgrounds List (all available from the site)

[This message has been edited by sandwich (edited 07-31-2001).]

[Kazan]

auto turret picks of turrets named "Turret[NN]<whatever>"

and multiparts

"Turret[NN]-Base<whatever>" parent of "Turret[NN]-Arms<whatever"

firepoints are lights named

"Turret[NN]-FP[II]" ( [II] is not used)

unfortunantly you cannot do anything but turn the lights down to zero

your hierarchy looks correct for COB files... why hasn't anyone picked up on the SCN hierarchy for PCS yet [because i haven't documented it ... bleh]

[Sandwich]

 

Originally posted by Kazan:
unfortunantly you cannot do anything but turn the lights down to zero

How?
 

Originally posted by Kazan:
why hasn't anyone picked up on the SCN hierarchy for PCS yet [because i haven't documented it ... bleh]

PCS? Vat's dat?


------------------
"He who laughs last thinks slowest."
"Just becase you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you."
"To err is human; to really screw up you need a computer."
Creator of the Sandvich Bar, the CapShip Turret Upgrade, the Complete FS2 Ship List and the System Backgrounds List (all available from the site)

[CptWhite]

PCS = pof constructor suite

its the best converter out there

Get It Here


i refer you here about the model tree:

Thread discussing the model tree for use wiith PCS

This should help you somewhat  


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[Sandwich]

  I'm horrible... I post a question and then manage to figure out the answer by myself before the post get's answered...  @me

Thanks for the links, CptWhite.  

Anyway, ummm... heiarchy, check. Turret names, check. Lights, still don't know, but it ain't crucial anymore. Just don't expect and TS renders of the ship (it's my Vasudan carrier, FYI...)

Now I have another question. For all the turrets, I first created a local light and then glued it to a turret. Then I did a test conversion to make sure things worked. Well, they did, but the bounding boxes on the turrets were way too big. That was expected. Then I went back into TS and moved all the lights, each to their respective turrets. Test conversion again, and nothing has changed.   Still has humongous bounding boxes on the turrets. Any ideas?

Also, I've created a number of subsystems, but some of them don't seem to show up. I assume that the game engine automatically recognizes subsystem names like "Weapons" and "Navigation", etc. Is there some sort of order in which I need to create the subsystems? I'm using the Descent Manager ModelView32 to do all my POF work.

------------------
"He who laughs last thinks slowest."
"Just becase you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you."
"To err is human; to really screw up you need a computer."
Creator of the Sandvich Bar, the CapShip Turret Upgrade, the Complete FS2 Ship List and the System Backgrounds List (all available from the site)

[CptWhite]

kazan...or eternal 1 .......im just a texturer and model setup sorter....your out of my league now  

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[Eternal One]

Ok, ok  

For the the boundbox thing, check where the object center/axis position of the object&light-combo. It's not where it's supposed to be, which is in the geometric center of the combo, or in the origo of rotation. That's what causes the large targeting brackets.

You can usually evade the thing by paying attention to the order of glueing. You see,in ts the center of the combo-object becomes the same as the object you're glueing to. So, in this case you have glued the cube to the light, you should do it other way around. I usually ignore the whole thing by moving the light to the center of the object before I do any glueing, that way I can glue in any order I want.

About the subsystems....are you sure you have entry for that particular subsystem in the ship entry? Just plotting it in POF editor isn't enough, it must be "prototyped" in the ship entry. There isn't any kind of limitations in order nor names (except for the obvious ones) of the subsystems.

[Sandwich]

 

Originally posted by Eternal One:
For the the boundbox thing, check where the object center/axis position of the object&light-combo. It's not where it's supposed to be, which is in the geometric center of the combo, or in the origo of rotation. That's what causes the large targeting brackets.

Err, where do I view all this? TS? ModelView? FS2?

 

Originally posted by Eternal One:
You can usually evade the thing by paying attention to the order of glueing. You see,in ts the center of the combo-object becomes the same as the object you're glueing to. So, in this case you have glued the cube to the light, you should do it other way around. I usually ignore the whole thing by moving the light to the center of the object before I do any glueing, that way I can glue in any order I want.

I've been using TrueView to glue things; I couldn't figure out how to use the "Glue as..." tools.   So let's say I have in TrueView a light and a turret sub-object under the model's hull tree. If I want the center of the final turret bounding box to be located at the turret mesh I drag the light to the turret, thereby glueing the light to the turret?

 

Originally posted by Eternal One:

About the subsystems....are you sure you have entry for that particular subsystem in the ship entry? Just plotting it in POF editor isn't enough, it must be "prototyped" in the ship entry. There isn't any kind of limitations in order nor names (except for the obvious ones) of the subsystems.

Err... yeah - I knew that. Really - I did! Honest!  

------------------
"He who laughs last thinks slowest."
"Just becase you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you."
"To err is human; to really screw up you need a computer."
Creator of the Sandvich Bar, the CapShip Turret Upgrade, the Complete FS2 Ship List and the System Backgrounds List (all available from the site)

[This message has been edited by sandwich (edited 08-02-2001).]

[Sandwich]

*bump*

[Eth]

 

Err, where do I view all this? TS? ModelView? FS2?

In TS.  There is an "AXIS" tool button.  Select your Turret/Light combo with Trueview.  Click the "AXIS" tool button.  It will show you where the axis is located both on screen and in the "Object Info" box.  To change it I always typed new values directly into the "Object Info" box.  When you have the axis where you want it, click on the "AXIS" tool button again to make the axis disappear from view (or push the up arrow).

Note: Always check to be sure the turret meshes' axis is properly positioned as well.

[Sandwich]

Ok, great - thanks for all the help, guys. You'll be seeing the fruits of my labor real soon...  

------------------
"He who laughs last thinks slowest."
"Just becase you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you."
"To err is human; to really screw up you need a computer."
Creator of the Sandvich Bar, the CapShip Turret Upgrade, the Complete FS2 Ship List and the System Backgrounds List (all available from the site)