posted 01-22- 02:06 PM               

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Pete,

I know that you are quite interested in doing 'wierd' things with openplane. I'm eager to fly your jets, and I can't wait to find out what your next 'trailblazing' project may be. That being said, I would like to make a plea to you. For FS to become more complete, more immersive as a WWII war sim, and not just a 'plane game', we need vehicles. Right now, that domain is severely understaffed. I am begging you to, as an aside to one of your main projects, to dabble even in the creation of vehicles. Even if you do rough cuts of tanks or other vehicles and just toss them our way, you would be contributing enormously to the effort, without having to struggle with the tedium of polishing off the projects.

Please take a few minutes and consider this seriously. The only thing more frustrating about learning 3d modelling and how to use OPS is seeing an opportunity to add another dimension to SDOE's WWII passed up by so many people!

Sincerely,

Werner Molders
****

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posted 01-22- 03:14 PM               

I think Pete's right on with what the game needs.

Creativity.

He's doing stuff that lights a fire for him and also encourages other people to join in. That's always a good thing.

Be sure to take a look at the plane list for the contest as well as what other people are working on outside the contest. There are a lot of new WWII planes coming out or being worked on.

posted 01-22- 06:45 PM               

I've been so into the F-14 lately that a small diversion wouldn't hurt. Just don't ask me to make them driveable. I'd be happy to go that route if the next incarnation of SDOE can do it, but trying to throw a prop on a vehicle, and then seeing only one wheel steer... hmmm, I guess I'd be more excited about vehicles if SDOE could do them the right way (wheels which actually have power behind them, and can turn in pairs/groups).

But static objects shouldn't be a problem, or take hardly any time.

MH, thanks for jumping in, that was nice of you. My "wierd" or diverse projects won't go away. I can never be side tracked from things I'm so anxious to see in this sim. While at work "everyday" I look at our C-5's here and dream of having fully articulated ones in SDOE. And I mean FULLY! Here's a list of what I want to try...

1. Kneeling, obviously OpenPlane can do this! Cool Do forward, level, and aft kneeling of the gears... hmmm challenging.

2. Open visor (nose going WAY up), no problem.

3. Cargo doors, both forward and aft, should be a problem here either. I should be able to do it exactly how it really works! THIS IS EXCITING! This spells NO SLEEP for me bigtime. I end up getting this and more into this plane (like the complex landing gear) and I'll be up just cruising around with it, marveling at OP's power (like I've been doing already).

I can never say enough how great this all is!
Anyone care to join me on an Iraq type map/campaign? We could use the Africa map as a nice template to start from, add oil wells (maybe even the burning ones, or have them be able to explode and burn... I was there in Kuwait, it was intense!). I personally think this area of our recent history should DEFINITELY be OpenPlane'd. It'd be fantastic...

All the modern jets in it too. There are many things that'd really kick ass here, if we got them in OP or working in the sim now...

1. Catapults and wire trap landings.
2. Nighttime complete with lighting system.
3. driveable (really, the right way) ground vehicles that the AI could drive and follow intricate waypoints.
4. AI planes that would follow waypoints, from engine start to shutdown. A-10 Cuba! had this down! It was fantastic how that system worked, only trouble with that was you couldn't save your missions after creating them!! (MAJOR oversite!)

5. WATER!! Be able to land on it, drive boats, program their wayppoints...

etc...

It'd be a dream come true. You'd have to rip me away from my PC just so I could get to work on time! Imagine how much fun we are having now with SDOE, but how much MORE fun it'd be with those additions above!!

(Potatoe Head in Toy Story... "I can dream, can't I?")

posted 01-22- 08:00 PM               

Germany:

-Panzer Mks III, IV (and a few variants), V (panther), VI (tiger), VII (king tiger)

-Kubelwagen, SdKfz 250 (Halftrack)

Allies:
-Somua S35, Char B1-bis, MkVI Crusader, MkVIII Cromwell, MkI/II Matilda, M3, M4, M26, T34, KV1, IS2

-Jeep

***I know some of these vehicles are already in progress (PzVII) or modelled in the game (Matilda, etc). The models need to be worked on to allow for turret hatches that open and a rudimentary 'cockpit' (even a box inside the turret will do).

Once you've finished the modelling on one of these, please send it to me and/or Archy and we'll take care of the rest.

posted 01-22- 08:47 PM               

All these aircraft, vehicles and ships, I just think we need some space to use them now, like the Midway mission, I haven't looked at them, but are they on a new map with midway stationed on it, and also for the up and comming projects on Russia etc, I saw a post abut Finland, and it looked a great area to have a map for, but it'd have to be big, how do we go about making these?

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If you can't beat em.... out run em!

http://members.xoom.com/naturlich/

posted 01-22- 09:38 PM               

Also, any preference (of vehicle, I mean)? I'd prefer not to scan half my book collection when that time could be better spent on my site or on the nations project For the panzers, there is a really good site called 'Achtung Panzer!' (http://www.achtungpanzer.com/panzer.htm)

Thanks.

Nat- Isn't there already someone in opps working on this? If you email kopper I'm sure he can hook you up.

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posted 01-22- 10:50 PM               

Well, until we get someone working on new maps- I have made some suggestions. I am working on Midway missions for the Dauntless project at OPPs and am using the top half of the Africa map as a setting- the islands resemble Midway's Sand and Eastern somewhat- so I guess I'm working with what resources I have for now- if I could get Island to work- that would be good too.
As far as the Soviet nations go- using the Rhineland and Rhineland Winter terrains would suffice for now- as many Eastern battles were fought near the border and into Germany anyway. We could make some great Stalingrad missions on those maps.

posted 01-22- 11:26 PM               

Would you please start by adding turrets (bearing in mind Archy/I will eventually make them flip up) to the Matilda, Tiger VII and Sherman already in the game? Hopefully by the time you're done that I'll have some pics for you. First up: Jeep. I figure it'll be fun as hell to go tearing around north africa in one of those puppies!

Good points, Jeeves.

Thanks,

Werner

posted 01-23- 01:19 AM               

Good idea. It's worth a try. I was thinking that since the Lancaster's VStabs move in unison, if the front wheels of a Jeep, say, were assigned as VStabs, they too could move in unison. Controls would be a little funny, but hey, you can't have it all, right?

Werner

posted 01-23- 02:10 AM               

Werner

posted 01-23- 02:17 AM               

------------------
If you can't beat em.... out run em!

http://members.xoom.com/naturlich/

posted 01-23- 03:00 AM               

Mr Jeeves,
Remember when you offered to make a mission set of my choice? How about something for the ETO. Stalingrad? When you have time of coarse

As for making new maps, right now its a pain in the butt.

------------------
Zoycite {GS}
GUNSLINGERS

visit The War Paint Factory

posted 01-23- 07:58 AM               

I'm looking at the Matilda. It has a turret with Yaw (rudder) movement and the gun has pitch.

Please be more specific, you asked for turrets and they are there, in dof's as well.

posted 01-23- 09:09 AM               

As soon as I am done making these new squadrons for the Soviet and if Siggi and gterl need me- the Italian and Japanese nations- and I get done with the campaign for Midway (and I do some research on Stalingrad)- I will start that one up for you. Looks like Dover Part 3 may have to wait til summer Now I know what you're talking about by being busy- it's fun though. I am finding more ways to help than I ever knew before.

posted 01-23- 09:11 AM               

I figured he meant a hatch, so that's what I just made. On the Matilda I detached the hatch and gave it a 60 deg dof to open it up with the Q for canopy key. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. It won't open. I'll work on it more later today.

posted 01-23- 11:04 AM               

You're right (sorry jeeves). I forgot that if wheel direction was teathered to yaw, the turret has to be teathered to roll. Um... Is it possible to get both wheels to turn in unison with roll? In your experienced opinion, Pete, what is the best way to do this? Teather it to Yaw, Roll or another?

Thanks for working on the Matilda. If its skin is low-res like the Tiger's, it'll need remapping. (sorry!) I got 3 new graphics apps this week, though, so I promise to make it worth your while .

Did you get my emails last night? I sent two to your hotmail.

posted 01-23- 03:24 PM               

Joystick: turns left and right(aieleron controls, two front wheels turning+ steering)
Raise and lower the main gun.

Rudder Pedals: turn turret left and right.
2 rear wheels also turn in response to rudder pedal input.

All driving is done from the turret, so the viewpoint turns with the turret.

Itst not perfect, but if you look at it, you will see that vehicles are definately very doable. And not that far off from reallity.

I believe that the original FunkyTruck was kind of a proof of concept for the programmers, I don't think they put a great amount of effort into trying differnt things with it(I mean, look at how fast it goes). But the original funky truck is capable of having 2 front wheels steering simply by making both front wheels the children of a steering component which turns both wheels in unison. It is also possible to tweak it enough to get near real world performance properties.

[This message has been edited by Archy (edited 01-23-2000).]

posted 01-23- 04:18 PM               

I didn't know you had been able to get that fixed in the Tiger II. Actually I have been playing it a lot, but since those wheels are invisible it's impossible to tell if they both turn. To be honest, I've been struggling with aiming that turret- it seems to have a mind of its own!

In any case, the wheel fix will work well when the Jeep comes along!

Werner

posted 01-23- 04:27 PM               

Just thought with the ever increasing work being done on the ground vehicles, missions could really start to expand.

Does this sound pie in the sky? Or do the guys that do this kind of magic think it's a possibility?

posted 01-23- 05:53 PM               

What about switching the VStab/HStab links to the wheels/turret? I think for a one-position vehicle it is a better compromise to have auto-correcting wheels than auto-correcting turrets.

Just my 0.02

One more thing. I've asked Pete to make provisions on the tank models he's building for a hatch that can open (remember the discussion we had a while back about the commander and how the viewpoint would change with where his head is located?). We can add the commander(in OPS) and make him move, right?

Werner

posted 01-23- 07:03 PM               

Yes, I got your files at Hotmail. That T-34 blueprint is cool! It'll make a great texture map when colored and resized. Thanks! I LOVE the idea of desert sand/dust trails... cool!

Trying, I'm trying!

[This message has been edited by Pete Hawk (edited 01-23-2000).]

posted 01-23- 07:49 PM               

I'm glad you like the T34. At that site whose url I sent you, there are a bunch of detailed, AUTHENTIC camo schemes I plan on painting once that guy is finished.

Go Pete Go!

Werner

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