Bridges

[joltan 0]

Ok, how would I build a bridge in visitor, so the seperate parts fit together and connect nicely to the road (i.e. no tanks falling through the bridge when they try to drive on it)? What are the names for the bridge parts? Is there a bridge tutorial?

[Yamato 0]

I think you have to add it as artificial object (name : O\hous\mostred_30.p3d, I think it was)

I don't know how to set ABSOLUTE height in Visitor, so it's going to be a bit hard placing the bridge.

The height from the bottom to the bridge is 33.47m, I believe.

So, if you set the landheight to 30m and waterlevel to -3.47, it's going to be fine.

The only thing is the bridge part that connects the bridge over water and the land together. You have to average out both their height by calculation, i think

[-Seal- 0]

Little correction, the bridge's .p3d name is most_stred30.p3d, located just as Yamato said under O\Hous\.

And you can change the height in objects by selecting it, and clicking "Poloha Objectu" (Move) Button in tool bar, it opens new menu where you can set the Elevation relative to surface, not sure if you meaned that with Absolute height though...

I think there may be another way of placing bridges, so far i have tested to add bridge part to the special parts section in "Defination of Road MyRoad" menu, then you can add bridges to your road just like terminators & crossroads, only problem is that it connects to the road perfectly, but its like 10 meters above the main road... And you cant change its relative via the "Poloha Objectu" (Move) Button, as it is a road... But you can change the height by selecting it and right click on it, but there we come up to an another problem, because its a road, relative cant be under 0, so it doesnt accept any numbers starting with - (minus)... So you can only move it higher...

So, does anyone have any tips & tricks for this bridge thing? Or is the only way just made it "manually" using artificial objects as Yamato said?

[kegetys 2]

You can automatically place multiple bridge objects by shift-rightclicking  in the map. It asks how many you want to place, and they should end up perfectly aligned.

With those selected, you can move it around in buldozer. You can also adjust the objects height from buldozer by holding down the left mouse button and using the page up and page down keys.

[joltan 0]

I think there may be another way of placing bridges, so far i have tested to add bridge part to the special parts section in "Defination of Road MyRoad" menu, then you can add bridges to your road just like terminators & crossroads, only problem is that it connects to the road perfectly, but its like 10 meters above the main road...

Mhhh... I tried this, but all I get is an error: "Object doesn't follow requirements for road object. (Are there all named points present?)". How did you do this exactly? I tried to add it to the roads I already had defined (asfaltka, cesta, silicne), but I always get this error.

Also trying Kegetys method I get a bridge with all parts aligned in a row, BUT all have the same heigth from the ground, so it looks more like a big stairway than anything. I.e. they are only aligned in their horizontal positions, but not vertically.

[-Seal- 0]

I tested also the way Kegetys mentioned here, but the bridge parts doesnt fit together, there is like 30cm or so between each part... And the bridge follows the terrain somehow anyway, if the terrain isnt exactly flat, bridge will become curved/vaulted   Looks like big ramp... [Edit] Click Here to see screenshot about the problem [/Edit] Even if i move it lower/higher in buldozer problem is same    Is it a must for the terrain under the bridge to be exactly flat and place where bridge connects to the terrain to have sharp/acute angle/edge on the terrain? Like: \___/ Or is it possible to have it somehow like I tried, more smooth?  

And about the special part thing, I used "asf" road parts from o\roads\  and just added the bridge (most_stred30.p3d) to special parts, no error pop up for me   But you cant make multiple bridge parts/change the height that way I think...

[Yamato 0]

I tested also the way Kegetys mentioned here, but the bridge parts doesnt fit together, there is like 30cm or so between each part... And the bridge follows the terrain somehow anyway, if the terrain isnt exactly flat, bridge will become curved/vaulted   Looks like big ramp... [Edit] Click Here to see screenshot about the problem [/Edit] Even if i move it lower/higher in buldozer problem is same    Is it a must for the terrain under the bridge to be exactly flat and place where bridge connects to the terrain to have sharp/acute angle/edge on the terrain? Like: \___/ Or is it possible to have it somehow like I tried, more smooth?  

And about the special part thing, I used "asf" road parts from o\roads\  and just added the bridge (most_stred30.p3d) to special parts, no error pop up for me   But you cant make multiple bridge parts/change the height that way I think...

As for the ramped SS, I think you have to make the water level steady.

Also when I was messing w/ WrpEdit, I noticed that the bridge should be on land for only 1 grid, otherwise it's screwed ingame (when changing terrain detail level.)

Second thing is, I have sloped bridge like yours in Buldozer, but it works fine in OFP. I think what you need is some intense tweaking.

Thanks to Kegetys for telling us how to change object height in Buldozer.

...Someone wanna release list of shortcut keys in Buldozer/Visitor that are not known by many of us?

[joltan 0]

Ok, I'll give up on bridges for the time being (until someone makes a tut for dummies or tells me how to set the absolute height of an object). When using SHIFT-RMB to place a bridge in Visitor, my result always looks like this:

not only don't they have the same height, but there's also a gap inbetween each of the bridge parts. Adjusting the height in Buldozer is very imprecise, especially if as many parts are involved as in my case (a bridge spanning a wide bay), and it's easy to move the bridge parts accidentaly out of their designated position or orientation. While I tried to make the water depth constant (using the Visitor 'change height' menu) it doesn't seem to help it...

Can someone please make a "Bridge-making for Dummies" tutorial?

[masteri 0]

I found that it's quite easy to place bridges in this way.

Make sure the points where the brigde is connected are at same level and it also makes it easier if the sea is flat (see the pic).

The bridge is 50 meters long so place it in the middle of the square. (The x-coord doesn't have to be in the center but the bridge should be just on one square horizontally. My bridge is in north-south direction, if yours is in west-east then just swap the coords). In the case you didn't know that every square in the editor is 50m x 50m so the coords of the center of every square end with 25, for example x=2225 and y=4125. Then place the next piece and set its x-coord to the same as the first one and add (or substract) 50 meters to the y-coord. Repeat this for all pieces and they are perfectly aligned.

Still they are vertically messed up and I don't better way so I fixed them manually piece by piece with the object position tool. First set the land parts so that they connect the bridge smoothly and then the rest. You have to estimate the proper height because the parts are aligned to the ground. Don't mind what it looks like in the buldozer because it will be fine in the game as said already. I had to adjust my bridge about five times before I got it in the way I wanted.

You can connect the roads easily by placing the terminator to the bridge x-coord and y-coord + 25.

I hope this helped at least somewhat...

I know it's not very fast way but at least I got my bridge working.  

By the way, I don't know I you're already knew this but the smaller bridge located in the data3d.pbo doesn't work with cars, at least for me. Anyway it looks more like a pier than a bridge.

Oh and I forgot that if you change the height of the terrain near the bridge, the parts will lose their positions so you have to open the object position dialogue and then just press OK.

[sicilian 0]

But you've forgotten something!!!

All pierces which are placed in water have to be on the same height (e.g. -15)! So and the 2 pierces which connect the bridge to the land must be set manually to elavation level of something like -15 (usually it is 0 and therfore the bridge follows the land height)! It doesn't fit yet but if you watch in game and test with small changes like -15,5 or something like that you will see how it works!

But don't change elevation of pierces in water! Only the connection pierces!

Good luck

[edc 0]

Quote[/b] ]As for the ramped SS, I think you have to make the water level steady.

Uggh, how do I do that?

[sicilian 0]

Mark the area and go to tools\change height and then change number in second field from below. Press ok and all of the area is on same height.

[masteri 0]

All pierces which are placed in water have to be on the same height (e.g. -15)! So and the 2 pierces which connect the bridge to the land must be set manually to elavation level of something like -15 (usually it is 0 and therfore the bridge follows the land height)! It doesn't fit yet but if you watch in game and test with small changes like -15,5 or something like that you will see how it works!

Well, I think they don't have to be in same height but then you just have more work because you have to change the heights of all the parts separately.

[Vladmir 0]

Is there any way to have them not mold to the ground??

[edc 0]

It seems like they do in bulldozer, but not in game. Also the heights are different ingame.

[Vladmir 0]

Ah, thank you. So in buldozer the more jagged mountain edges will be softer? I figured this because of the terrain detail. Im talking mildly jagged, not razor sharp.