Breaking Ships in Two - Need Help

[AG124]

Here are the processes which I am using, step by step.

Process A:

1. First, I select the half of the ship which I do not want.

http://img478.imageshack.us/img478/6848/1a4vi.jpg

2. Next, I scale it to 0%.

http://img478.imageshack.us/img478/4578/1b7ad.jpg

3. Last, I move the scaled node back to the edge of the broken half. This method allows the ship to break in half in the game, but the game crashed immediately after the ship begins to sink (as the explosions end). It worked perfectly the first time I tried it though.

http://img478.imageshack.us/img478/5276/1c8gd.jpg

Process B:

1. First, I select the half of the ship that I do not want (using faces instead of nodes) and deselect the main deck.

http://img478.imageshack.us/img478/7128/2a6qb.jpg

2. Then, I delete the selected parts, leaving only the deck to get rid of.

http://img478.imageshack.us/img478/3473/2b8eq.jpg

3. Then, I switch to node form and select the deck nodes Which I do not want.

http://img478.imageshack.us/img478/9633/2c6yn.jpg

4. Last, I either delete the nodes or move them back to the broken edge of the ship. Sometimes, I try to scale them to 0% and move them back. Either way, there is an immediate CTD when the ship begins to explode.

http://img478.imageshack.us/img478/2113/2d3ff.jpg

Now the question remains - what am I doing wrong? Method A worked once before. :-?

[iambecomelife]

All I can say is that it seems to be based on that deck crane/object issue that I spoke of earlier, and not the hull halves. Make sure you don't have any objects sunk deep inside the hull object (ventilators, cranes, deck cargo nodes, etc), and make sure that the cranes aren't touching the superstructure. Also, try not to have anything placed too close to the middle of the ship (although this might not make a difference).

A few hours ago I was working on another 5000-6000 ton merchant, and I started getting the CTD because catarg_01 (the forward crane) touched the ship's bridge. As soon as I moved it maybe 10 scale feet away, the ship broke up fine. You can get ctd's even using the original unmodded ship halves if the objects aren't placed properly.

I think you said you had a cargo node hidden in the hull of one ship - did you get rid of that?

[NoLine]

happy new year all :-j

iambecomelife you say i cant have nothing going true the main hull, no cranes, no vents, no bridge, the all have to "hover" above the hull ?
cause im getting some strange crashes aswel

and ag124 why dont you use the original broken up ship as a start iso making new halves


thanks Noline

[AG124]

I think you said you had a cargo node hidden in the hull of one ship - did you get rid of that?

No - Every ship which has experienced these CTD's has at least one sunken deck cargo node. Maybe this is what is causing the problem (although it did work once). In fact the Rose Castle (pictured above) has a container sunken into the hull right at the breaking point. This now seems to be a possible reason for the CTD's. :hmm: I don't think there are any vents, cranes, or other 3d objects sunk into any of my ships - although I do this all the time with superstructures.

To get rid of deck cargo nodes, you once told me to rename the nodes from K to an unused letter. But even the newest versions of Pack3d will not let me rename the nodes - I can change the letter but even after I click 'done' the change will not be saved. I have just downloaded to SH3 mini tweaker, will this toll allow me to get rid of the node?

and ag124 why dont you use the original broken up ship as a start iso making new halves

There would be the possibility that the edited halves would not be exactly the same as the main hull - for example, a lowered superstructure could be slightly higher on the full hull for example. I initially worked on the halves instead of making new ones, but now, I am trying this approach as I am hoping the halves will better match the original ship.

BTW - of the two approaches I outlined, which do you think is better?

[iambecomelife]

I went into the dat file with a hex editor to rename the node; it's probably not possible in Pack3d or Mini-Tweaker.

@Noline: It's not a problem if objects are maybe 1-2 scale meters within the hull. If they're extremely deep, however, crashes seem to occur, especially if they are objects capable of flying off the ship in an explosion. The game seems to have trouble determining how an embedded object should bounce/ricochet. In Wings3d I usually lower objects until their vertex dots start to penetrate the object plane that they are supposed to sit on.

Deck cranes seem to be an exception, though - I think they can't touch the superstructure at all.

[NoLine]

thanks :D , ill try that asap