[TEC] external cargo

tater · 07-29-10, 12:16 AM

Most SH4 ships lack K nodes, but that is easy enough to fix.

The question I have is where are the cargoes in cargos.dat pointed to from?

Lazi03, for example. A crate. The external cargoes are mentioned in zones.cfg, but it doesn't point to the name. It would make sense if it was like the EQP file, and the 3d object was as named in the dat, but it ain't. Where is it, or are they hard-coded?

keltos01 · 07-29-10, 12:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tater

Most SH4 ships lack K nodes, but that is easy enough to fix.

The question I have is where are the cargoes in cargos.dat pointed to from?

Lazi03, for example. A crate. The external cargoes are mentioned in zones.cfg, but it doesn't point to the name. It would make sense if it was like the EQP file, and the 3d object was as named in the dat, but it ain't. Where is it, or are they hard-coded?

look at the node's id

then look for it in other files using s3d

keltos

peabody · 07-29-10, 04:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tater

Most SH4 ships lack K nodes, but that is easy enough to fix.

The question I have is where are the cargoes in cargos.dat pointed to from?

Lazi03, for example. A crate. The external cargoes are mentioned in zones.cfg, but it doesn't point to the name. It would make sense if it was like the EQP file, and the 3d object was as named in the dat, but it ain't. Where is it, or are they hard-coded?

In the Sea folder is a file "CargoDef.cfg" which creates a dropdown list in the mission editor. (I think)

Peabody

tater · 07-29-10, 08:17 AM

cargodef.

OK, I looked in there a few times and didn't see it. I knew there had to be a cfg file, I was looking in Roster for it.

Thanks so much, I must have looked in that same folder a few times already, I just wasn't paying attention.

My goal will be to try and make deck cargo actually show up properly, even if it means more small sized cargos instead of larger blobs that only fit on a few ship types.

The benefit of large is that they confuse the silhouette a little, but then again, only about 2 ships can use them. My chief limitation might be a personal requirement that it not mess up the way ships look in RSRDC (I switch between RFB and TMO, but never even think about playing without RSRDC

).

peabody · 07-29-10, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tater

cargodef.

OK, I looked in there a few times and didn't see it. I knew there had to be a cfg file, I was looking in Roster for it.

Thanks so much, I must have looked in that same folder a few times already, I just wasn't paying attention.

My goal will be to try and make deck cargo actually show up properly, even if it means more small sized cargos instead of larger blobs that only fit on a few ship types.

The benefit of large is that they confuse the silhouette a little, but then again, only about 2 ships can use them. My chief limitation might be a personal requirement that it not mess up the way ships look in RSRDC (I switch between RFB and TMO, but never even think about playing without RSRDC

).

If you want a specific cargo, you could copy what you need from the cargo.dat, paste it into the ship.dat. Give them "new IDs" and names, including the 3D model.
Copy the material nodes it uses and paste them into the ship.dat with new IDs . Then link the 3D model to the ship. You could even make your own 'cargo' 3D model and use that.

If you look at the NLL, Liberty cargo, they have the cargo on the ship. Lazi03, Lazi04 etc.

The advantage to doing this is that nobody could put cargo on that doesn't belong there.

And one other thing, there is a missing piece of this puzzle that maybe someone else would know. I don't. Some ships allow allow a "Loadout" definition, for example a tugboat can be armed or not armed. Some ships allow external AND Internal cargo, some do not. I have suspected it is somehow linked to "shiptype" or a specific node type, but I really don't know. And since I have not built any 'new' ships I never tried to figure it out.

Peabody

tater · 07-29-10, 02:58 PM

Yeah, the idea is not to assign the cargo to a specific ship, though. I want it more variable, not locked onto the ship model.

I am making some new cargoes, including japanese disassembled planes.

In my current experiments, the idea is that any of the individual cargoes should be about the same footprint as the jap tank. (with a little slop). Then, instead of a single node in a given area, I can tile K nodes. Assign tanks, and it puts , say, 5 tanks on Nagara's forward space where there is actually a K node. Smaller ships might have cargoes in different places. We can even possibly place k nodes on DDs for tokyo express runs.

tater · 07-29-10, 04:18 PM

Hard to see the rear one, but left front is tanks, right is trucks, rear is crates.

Only a few ships have K nodes, Nagara, Heito, and Kinposan.

A couple more have deck cargo on the model itself---largely because the K node paradigm they used was 1 node per pile of cargo. My idea is multi K nodes, with smaller cargoes.

So before I'd have shown the trucks, but I could not put them on smaller ships since they had no nodes. In this case, I can put single units aboard smaller ships. Right now the only downside is the inability for LARGE piles of deck cargo (what you see right now for stacks of crates on the ships with K nodes)

07-29-10, 12:16 AM	#1
tater Navy Seal Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: New Mexico, USA Posts: 9,023 Downloads: 8 Uploads: 2	[TEC] external cargo Most SH4 ships lack K nodes, but that is easy enough to fix. The question I have is where are the cargoes in cargos.dat pointed to from? Lazi03, for example. A crate. The external cargoes are mentioned in zones.cfg, but it doesn't point to the name. It would make sense if it was like the EQP file, and the 3d object was as named in the dat, but it ain't. Where is it, or are they hard-coded?

07-29-10, 08:17 AM	#4
tater Navy Seal Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: New Mexico, USA Posts: 9,023 Downloads: 8 Uploads: 2	cargodef. OK, I looked in there a few times and didn't see it. I knew there had to be a cfg file, I was looking in Roster for it. Thanks so much, I must have looked in that same folder a few times already, I just wasn't paying attention. My goal will be to try and make deck cargo actually show up properly, even if it means more small sized cargos instead of larger blobs that only fit on a few ship types. The benefit of large is that they confuse the silhouette a little, but then again, only about 2 ships can use them. My chief limitation might be a personal requirement that it not mess up the way ships look in RSRDC (I switch between RFB and TMO, but never even think about playing without RSRDC ).

07-29-10, 02:58 PM	#6
tater Navy Seal Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: New Mexico, USA Posts: 9,023 Downloads: 8 Uploads: 2	Yeah, the idea is not to assign the cargo to a specific ship, though. I want it more variable, not locked onto the ship model. I am making some new cargoes, including japanese disassembled planes. In my current experiments, the idea is that any of the individual cargoes should be about the same footprint as the jap tank. (with a little slop). Then, instead of a single node in a given area, I can tile K nodes. Assign tanks, and it puts , say, 5 tanks on Nagara's forward space where there is actually a K node. Smaller ships might have cargoes in different places. We can even possibly place k nodes on DDs for tokyo express runs.

07-29-10, 04:18 PM	#7
tater Navy Seal Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: New Mexico, USA Posts: 9,023 Downloads: 8 Uploads: 2	Hard to see the rear one, but left front is tanks, right is trucks, rear is crates. Only a few ships have K nodes, Nagara, Heito, and Kinposan. A couple more have deck cargo on the model itself---largely because the K node paradigm they used was 1 node per pile of cargo. My idea is multi K nodes, with smaller cargoes. So before I'd have shown the trucks, but I could not put them on smaller ships since they had no nodes. In this case, I can put single units aboard smaller ships. Right now the only downside is the inability for LARGE piles of deck cargo (what you see right now for stacks of crates on the ships with K nodes)