posted 05-05- 01:19 PM               

Next problem is the pilot, he's to big or his legs are in the wrong position, his damn feet are allways outside the plane (should I add extra drag for this ? ), also the position of the pilot related to the "pilot"-parent object is wrong. I still don't know a way to change things in the pilot.sm file without chrushing itīs structure.

Next problem - The tail gunner/navigator has 2 guns (depends on the version of the plane). One gun is below the fuse (remoted) and the other goes out to the left or right side-window. The navigator should only use one gun and we he turns to the right side the gune should disappear on the left side (DOFīs ??). It is not possible to let the bombardier and the navigator fire at the same time right ? ( )

Any tips ?

posted 05-05- 02:53 PM               

I guess we need to figure out how to build our own pilot.sm. Maybe it is easy to do with MultiGen, and some guys are getting a full license, right? ;-)

As for your gun question, are you saying that 1 gunner was responsible for both sides and the remote turret too?

I think it would be relatively easy to add a DOF for the side window gun, so that if you hit a key it swings from left side to right side. You would have 2 other DOFs that would define the arc the gun could shoot through at each window. Of course, if the gun was mounted, you would just have to define 2 DOFs, and then the player would turn the "turret" to point out the window. I imagine this was not the case though, and the gun was free firing, right?

Hmm.. how could you make the same guy handle the other turret though? Could you define another DOF that is activated by a keypress, such that it had oscBeginDisable gun1 and oscEndDisable gun2? Give this another hotkey, and thus move back and forth between the guns? You could also define a seperate crew position for the remote gun, but then when you weren't manning it the AI would fire it. (this could simulate the bombardier helping out with the guns).

Anyhow, those are my ideas.

posted 05-05- 05:20 PM               

It won't allow multiplayer planes though. You control a plane object, and all of the positions inside, not just a pilot guy.

charm

posted 05-06- 02:31 AM               

Only way for changing the pilot whithout loosing the chute etc. is this:

Modify 1 pilot.sm in OPS and extract it, copy and paste the changes in the .asc file to an unmodified pilot.asc file and replace the lods.
Of course you need to know exactly what is what in the asc file (and I dont..).

When I export the pilot body (Object "Ab" in the pilot sm) as 1 single obj.file (with OPS V1.2.0) and change its size or rotation of the legs etc. and re-import it to OPS - would it still be right textured ?

Question Did someone know why there are 2 pilot.sm file references in every plane ?

posted 05-06- 03:48 AM               

It is not possible to remove one of the two pilot refrences in OPS, the result is allways a reference called 'cement' or 'glass' or 'water'. I assume this has something to do with the same name/number of the reference files and OPS mixed them up somehow.

So I looked into the asc file:

[FileReference:166078:4]
105 ; filename: ./pilot/pilotSit.sm
[ENDGroup]
39 ; Group number
[Matrix:166090:64]
1.000000000 0.0000000000 0.0000000000
...
1.000000000
[Group:166162:12]
40 ; Group number
[FileReference:166170:4]
105 ; filename: ./pilot/pilotSit.sm
ENDGroup]
40 ; Group number
[Matrix:166182:64]
1.000000000 0.0000000000 0.0000000000
...
1.000000000

these are the two pilot references in the .asc file. Dont ask me why they use the same number (105). I removed the 2nd reference line and all lines below (bold) and started the builder waiting for the ultimate error message. Hmm - no error. In OPS - only one reference left. SDOE - no CTD. Chute works, pilot works, autopilot too. Hmm - maybe the second pilot stands for nothing and does nothing ? But maybe, maybe this is the reason for the strange behaviour under flak fire or for other things ? I donīt know. We definitly need someone or a whole team ( ) for testing this and telling us the truth.

posted 05-06- 04:21 AM               

quote:

---

These are very good questions Laika. I remember a long time ago that Parsoft had said they experimented with multiple chutes from a single airplane and almost had it working... It seems like it would be doable doesn't it? I don't know how to do it though!

---

Thanks charm

I wonder what to hell theyīre doing there, are you sure the parsoft guys still have a copy of SDOE on their HDs ?? It was easy (so far) to add a second pilot refrence to the Pe2!!! First I thought it is necessary to change the class CCrewPos to gun or obs or whatever but it seems that the parent object (i.e. Pilot or Bombardier) overwrites this with itīs own class description.
Anyway I set the 2nd crew member to obs and hey, I can't control the plane but the gear (?) and the bay doors. A test with class set to 'pilot shows that both "pilots" can control the plane. Radio works fine. I removed the engines from the engine-list to see if both jump out of the plane, this works too:

a really ugly pic !

Some things are left: the navigator (3rd crew member) should jump out when the pilot (I) does jump. When the bombardier (2nd cm) can take control of the plane (he is in the same cockpit as the pilot), can he still control turets ?

I say it again - this needs some intensive tests - I want to see a pic of a whole B-17 crew out of their plane !

So long - other things to do !