Fortran

Ah ok I didn't think that was a possibility ? You mean literally adding the proxy as a selection in the model.cfg ? Thanks UNN.

Looks absolutely fantastic! Great work guys!

Thanks Gnat, will give that a go. Cheers to both of you for the help.

Does anybody know of any method to force additional geometry (outside of the original vehicles P3D file) to render inside one of the vehicles other LOD's such as View Pilot ? For example, try park a jet with it's nose into a building far enough in so the wall of the building intersects the cockpit, look at the jet from the outside (or spawn a camera inside the jet's cockpit) and obviously you can see the wall is cutting through the middle of the cockpit, however jump into the jet and the wall renders outside of the view-pilot's LOD. Obviously this is how its meant to work but is there any way to force geometry to render inside the view lod ? I basically need to render some extra P3d's inside the cockpit which aren't part of the vehicles p3d file. I can't see any way of doing this personally but I just thought I would ask in-case anybody has any ideas.

Hi Sakura Chan, many thanks for the info. So what your saying is if the geometry is a proxy it will render inside the LOD?

Great work guys, good to see the KA50 in A2. Many thanks for the conversion.

Thanks SA :) already grabbed a copy of it earlier but appreciate your help mate.

Magic thanks again teaCup, just needed to get it straight as to how the engine handles anims, my experience with other engines always usually includes a skeleton plus the weighting in the actual gamefile. Thanks again for clearing this up for me, much appreciated.

Hi teaCup, many thanks for replying mate, will give your suggestion a run through and see how I get on. Which file is the skeleton/bones exported in for the ARMA engine ? Or is the animation RTM format literally just a set of vert positions over each frame, thus no need for an actual skeleton in the p3d ? If so how to keep the vertex weights without the skin modifier ? If i collapse it then weighting will be gone and if I export with the modifier in the stack O2 won't recognize it ? Would I have to bake the vertex weighting ?

Fantastic addon! Goes perfectly with my F-117A so I can see what the hell im dropping bombs on from 2000 up in the air. Is there any way to access or manipulate this value dynamically Kju ?

Looking fantastic mate, real happy to see this essential system coming to A2! Great work :)

Ooh just found textures can be displayed in the O2 viewport now! Great stuff!

Great news! Many thanks BIS!

Thanks again guys, yes as Schilly said, its a wip and there are several reasons behind why the first image is partly textured and the ingame model is not yet. The first 3ds max render in this thread is the initial model on the day that I finished the UVW work on the mesh so I wanted to throw a quick base texture on it and see how it came out. The next day I started doing name selections and mempoints and began testing some of the anims in max....only to discover I had made an epic mistake when modelling the hatches/bays for the landing gear and that they were too far out to the sides of the main body, therefore when I tested the gear retraction animations I found that the wheels stuck out the sides of the plane when stowed, which was a very sad moment lol. Had to then go back in and fix the mesh, re-do the UV's on the bottom of the jet. I then exported out a copy to test the mesh in-engine and this version is the one in the video, although since then I have finalized the model and the UV's. As it stands at the moment here is a quick run-down on the status: Main mesh - %99.9 (just need to fix some smoothing groups) Main mesh UV's - %100 Main mesh textures - %0 (want to do a better job than that shown in the initial render) Main mesh mempoints/axis/selections - %100 1p Cockpit mesh - %90 1p Cockpit UV's - %40 (did some as I modelled) 1p Cockpit mempoints/axis/selections - 0% LOD's - 1 (5 to go) Other LOD/FireGeom etc - not started Config - %80 (have most of the config ready to go) ModelCfg - 10% (have two or three anims working so far) Pilot Model %0 - Might just stick a proper flight helmet on the original A1 MLOD pilot model and re-texture it. Scripts - So far have DLIR Sensor / BrakeChute / Weapon Delivery. Have planned GPS, Waypointing system, FLIR sensor etc. Also want to try and get as much visual flight data and feedback into the 1p cockpit model as I can so each gauge, MFD and readout performs it's real-life role or as close as my knowledge of scripting will allow. Have also concepted (on paper) a method which might possibly allow for internal cockpit switches to function and respond i.e. the player looks at a switch and can toggle it which in-turn performs a real function, although until I test the idea I can't be sure it will work or not, if it does though it could add a lot of functionality including a startup procedure etc. Anyway still plenty of work to go, but I will plod on relentlessly until its released lol.

@RKSL-Rock: Not as of yet, but the main script is based around a multiplayer spectator script so I am hoping that it won't be too much of an issue, although obviously without testing it in MP I can't say for sure yet, will report back once I have had a chance to. Update #1 Just been testing a scripted Air-Brake parachute for the F-117A. As you may know the aircraft has no flaps thus making the landing speed very high. This is solved by an automatically deployed braking chute on touchdown. Currently no anims in the chute and no cloth behaviour, two things I need to get worked out (any info?), but the scripted side of it works fairly well. Here is a short video demonstrating it on my test model. YF1X8u5JTI0 Also some quick and dirty clay renders of the 1p cockpit which im currently working on.

As far as I understood the Laser designator, although linked to the optical sensor, is capable of moving independently? Thus even if the pilot is not looking directly at the target the laser designator is. Will go back and check this though your probably right. If so I will lock the camera to the designator. Thanks for the info! Definitely mate, dont want her to be invincible, especially when its possible to cause so much damage with the 2000lb bombs. Tough to hit but not impossible to bring down would be the key I guess. Hmm, well the real plane isn't invisible, only to radar. I think "cloaking" it might be a little too much of a reach for realism. Is quite a cool idea though :)

Wow thanks very much guys, really appreciate all the kind comments, very much appreciated. As for the questions: The zoom isn't actually too jerky really, the scripts running are quite demanding but it's mostly down to FRAPS adding extra strain to the system while recording. It is still possible that if it ends up too taxing to have a full scrolled zoom I may substitute it for 2 or 3 fixed FOV steps. I believe the actual NightHawk only has wide and narrow FOV settings. The colour of the target range-to-target text on the lockbox can be changed for sure, its mainly for testing at the moment as its easier to see in red. The final versions on-screen controls will be more consistent with the real-thing and will keep the colours consistent. Also with the ability to switch from white to black on the GUI. Camera turning, as far as I know, for the sensors is fluid and not fixed, although the viewing angles are constrained by the actual distance the sensor turrets can rotate. Another method might be (once the forward looking sensor is setup and can pick the initial target) would be to only allow the DLIR sensor to be slewed onto the target instead of fully rotated and instead have the camera rotate on its own to keep aligned with the selected target. Thanks for the feedback, will definitely consider these ideas. Nope once the target has been selected and the laser designator begins to fire at the selected position as soon as you press the fire button and release the bomb you are free to leave the sensor view and return to the normal cockpit view. The LGB will continue to track onto the target on its own. Although I think its standard practice in the real jet for the pilot to monitor the drop until impact. This is something I have been debating and wondering about myself to be honest. The F-117A has a very small RCS which makes it pretty much invisible to standard radar system, it also has a very low heat signature from the engines due to the upward sloping vents at the rear. Aside from this though it usually only flies at night time and at fairly high altitudes. I think its fair to remove it from the radar (if its possible) and as a balancing issue, as it has no countermeasures that it should not be lockable by AA missiles, or if not lockable instead maybe make it "harder" to hit. Using the incoming missile event handler it might be possible, instead of scripting a flair system to simply decrease the chances of an AA missile hitting the jet by making some random recalculations to the missiles flightpath with setVelocity. As it only carries 2 LGB's and has no cannon/aa missiles or chaff/flair system the player will need to fly it more like its real-life counterpart and stick to higher altitudes etc. If you have any suggestions on some better ways to implement the stealth side of the plane more realistically I am very interested in hearing from you or anybody else about it. The ideas above are pretty much what I am thinking so far though. Thanks man, wouldn't be anywhere without your mouse-look script though, glad you like what im doing with it :)

You are THE man!!! this is truly excellent! Saving texture & Rvmat assignment alongside the P3D export is just a godsend! Amazing work, truly amazing! Can see a month or so from now O2 will be entirely obsolete in the export process!! Literally been checking the 2 threads twice or more per day waiting for some news lol! Fantastic stuff mate!

For some reason I cannot get SetDir to operate using a variable in a particular part of my script, however earlier in the script before the "while" loop it works perfectly. Here is the script as it stands so far: // Plane Vars _plane = f117a; _PlaneVelocity = velocity _plane; _PlaneDirection = direction _plane; _PlaneVectorUp = vectorUp _plane; _PlaneVectorDir = vectorDir _plane; // Bomb Vars default 2 _AddSpeed = 2; // Target Vars _Target = target2; _TargetPos = getpos _Target; _TargetVectorUp = vectorUp _Target; _TargetVectorDir = vectorDir _Target; //spawn bomb and set initial velocity & vector + speed _WorldPos = _plane modeltoworld [0,0,-5]; _bomb = "GBU27_LGB" CreateVehicle _WorldPos; _bomb setDir _PlaneDirection; _bomb setVectorUp _PlaneVectorUp; _bomb setVectorDir _PlaneVectorDir; _bomb setVelocity [(_PlaneVelocity select 0)+(sin _PlaneDirection*_AddSpeed),(_PlaneVelocity select 1)+ (cos _PlaneDirection*_AddSpeed),(_PlaneVelocity select 2)]; _BombVelocity = velocity _bomb; _BombDirection = direction _bomb; _BombSpeed = speed _bomb; _BombAddSpeed = 20; sleep 1.0; while {alive _bomb} do { _BombPos = getPos _bomb; _TargetDirection = [(_TargetPos select 0) - (_BombPos select 0) atan2 (_TargetPos select 1) - (_BombPos select 1)]; _bomb setDir _TargetDirection; player sideChat format ["%1",_TargetDirection]; sleep 0.01; }; Now the line im talking about is _bomb setDir _TargetDirection; . For some reason if it is present in this codeblock then the code stops working from that point onwards. If I remove that code then it works again. I have tested without and the sideChat is spitting out the correct angle I want setDir to operate with but if the setDir line is present it just doesnt work. If I remove _TargetDirection var and replace it with a number, or even a random it works again. Anybody see what im doing wrong here?

Thanks very much guys, seems to be sorted now, appreciate the help. I am attempting...or more realistically struggling, to replicate the guidance system found in the original Arma1/AII LGB's laserbombcore system. As part of the weapons system for my F117A NightHawk I have managed to replicate the sensor system of the plane to some extent and can now self designate laser targets with the mouse from the sensors switch to FLIR etc etc.. However as the DLIR sensor is mouse and dialog driven I wanted to allow the player to stay in the sensor view to both fire and monitor the payload drop as in the real plane (as seen in the F117A over Baghdad videos). As it is impossible (or so I have been led to believe) to force a laser-lock (TAB key) without physically pressing the key and I don't want to have to jump out of the sensor view and then press Tab to lock up the designated target, my only other option is to try and spawn then make the LGB's fly and track to the designated target on their own without the player having to lock it up. Unfortunately being very new to scripting its proving to be quite a headache lol. EDIT: Ok well scratch this I think, just found out the key parts I need to make it work are still working in Mando's missile suite so I will be using that instead as its infinitly better that what I would probably end up with.

Just started getting into Dialog to try and build some extra functionality for my F117A. Having a major headache as the learning curve feels quite steep (have read the Dialog Control biki entry numerous times). Basically what I am trying to achieve is simply to add a crosshair (image) which moves with the mouse when the dialog is open. Everything is functioning how I want, but I just cannot get an image to attach and move with the mouse. Ultimately I would really like to totally replace the arrow cursor which appears during the dialog and just use an image. Here is where I am at so far but no matter what I try I just cannot seem to get the "marker" control to use an image, or if I do it is static and then the mouse handler functionality no longer works. The background image ("Picture") part works just fine. If anybody can help me out with this I would seriously appreciate it.

Its possible perhaps, the trouble is you can't fire during a dialog which occurs when the turret is in operation, but I am sure there would be a method to jump in and out of the script between shots perhaps. Maybe Gigan might be able to assist with that.

Have you added that ability to export P3d from Max ??? :bounce3:

In about 2 weeks from now lol. I am just finishing up getting the F117A fully animated in O2 and the question in this thread is directly related to the FLIR/DLIR sensor turret system I am implementing for it. As in real-life the jet can now self laser-designate targets and has it own mouse driven scripted turret system (thanks to some major help from Gigan). Basically attempting to replicate the real-life sensor/weapon system of the F-117A as closely as my knowledge and the engine will allow me to.

Good news! Will do then, think its easier to rename the parts in O2 anyway after import as the mem points already have the correct naming convention _axis for each part. Will be looking forward to 1.1!