[headdie]

Hi all, i'm having problems placing/scaling up the engine subsystems on a model I'm putting together.  as you can see from the images the engine block is made of 4 long, thin engines so when i place the empties I get areas I don't want inside the area of the subsystem.  I am already going to have the middle 2 in the same engine subsystem its just what do I do with the outer 2

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[Droid803]

You could just make them all one engine susbsystem.
If you look at the retail/mediavps FS ships, you'd notice that most of the engine subsystems aren't exactly where the thrusters are.

Unless you mean thruster points, then in that case you can just make row of like 3-4 small ones to fit in each slit (be warned: maximum thrusters per subsystem is 12).

[Spoon]

Unless you mean thruster points, then in that case you can just make row of like 3-4 small ones to fit in each slit (be warned: maximum thrusters per subsystem is 12).

I've got one with 18. Which works as long as it doesn't have an afterburner assigned to it.

[Droid803]

Oh, so the maximum might be 24, including afterburners?
interesting...interesting...

* Droid803 writes in notebook.

[FreeSpaceFreak]

For the engine subsystems themselves, you could make them separate subobjects. This not only lets you have subsystems exactly where and how you want them, but it also makes the subsystem actually disappear from the ship after exploding (you know, like most turrets do). You can even make a destroyed version of the engines, that will be made visible when the engines are destroyed.
Make sure that the player won't see gaping fly-through holes in the ship when the engines are gone, though.

[headdie]

For the engine subsystems themselves, you could make them separate subobjects. This not only lets you have subsystems exactly where and how you want them, but it also makes the subsystem actually disappear from the ship after exploding (you know, like most turrets do). You can even make a destroyed version of the engines, that will be made visible when the engines are destroyed.
Make sure that the player won't see gaping fly-through holes in the ship when the engines are gone, though.

Id not thought of that, thanks

[FUBAR-BDHR]

Not a good idea to have them disappear with engines though.  Repairing them leaves thrusters in the middle of space.  Copy the objects and make -destroyed counterparts.  Then you can modify those -destroyed versions to look damaged but maintain the same rough shape so that if they are repaired during mission they don't look silly.

[headdie]

Not a good idea to have them disappear with engines though.  Repairing them leaves thrusters in the middle of space.  Copy the objects and make -destroyed counterparts.  Then you can modify those -destroyed versions to look damaged but maintain the same rough shape so that if they are repaired during mission they don't look silly.

good point, I was thinking of having a darker texture with cracks and stuff, the engine is ion (or generic particle accelerator) drive type so nothing to really go boom in them

[Scooby_Doo]

For the engine subsystems themselves, you could make them separate subobjects. This not only lets you have subsystems exactly where and how you want them, but it also makes the subsystem actually disappear from the ship after exploding (you know, like most turrets do). You can even make a destroyed version of the engines, that will be made visible when the engines are destroyed.
Make sure that the player won't see gaping fly-through holes in the ship when the engines are gone, though.

Yup thats what I do.  In fact the engines themselves are tucked away in a seperate file for cutting and pasting.