[TEC] External cargo in SH5

[volodya61]

Originally Posted by Rongel

...Everything seems to work so far!

Well done

So, now we just need Trevally to make ​​changes to the campaign and put the edited .cfg and ship files to the mod

[Rongel]

Originally Posted by volodya61

Well done

So, now we just need Trevally to make ​​changes to the campaign and put the edited .cfg and ship files to the mod

Thanks! Yes, this needs some work before it can be released as a mod. I have now added missing nodes to three ships, it's a lot of work to get the nodes in just right position in GR2 editor. The way I have done it is to clone existing cfg-node, rename it and the start to edit it's position. Any better ideas for this, or is it the right way to do it? Maybe I'll release custom mission with the cargo stuff, so people can comment.

But help would be nice, especially with editing the campaign (Trevally??), or adding missing zones (boxes and spheres) to the cargo.zon file. Any brave volunteers?

[gap]

Originally Posted by Fifi

Might sound stupid, but is the Willis really needed?...tanks and trucks are already nice

No, not really, but being the iconic WWII Jeep, I thought that the Willys deserved a better treatment in game.
Here is a view of it with its brand-new textures:

Originally Posted by Rongel

I did a test and added these to the cargodef.cfg as new entries

...

And it worked! I could select them from the mission editor, and they appeared in game also.

After seeing the cfg file that you pointed out to me yesterday, I was almost sure that adding new cargo types was going to be possible. Who knows why devs left those cars out

Since we are at it, what do you think about some totally new cargo models? I was thinking about an assortment of barrels and sacks. I have found some good royalty-free meshes on the web. I could try combining them and putting them in a dat file for you to test them in game, if you agree.

Originally Posted by Rongel

Yep, the jeep is missing textures, and the Willis-car could maybe use better textures, looks a bit ugly to me. But I don't know anything about the UV-stuff (and I don't want to know ).

Here is the new Willys texture that I was mentioning before:

http://www.mediafire.com/?lmjaiazbpg8k2p9

Dropping it in the Textures/TNormal/tex folder is enough. As for the other Jeep that you are mentioning, I think you meant the one called "jeep1". If you tell me what is wrong with its texture, I can try improving it

Originally Posted by Rongel

I did another test as well, I think the most important test so far. I modded the Coastal Waters campaign, so that all the random traffic cargo ships have some external cargo. I added k-nodes to HogIsland ships and started a new campaign. While patrolling near Poland I met this one HogIslander, and yes it had external cargo! So this is a random ship, I haven't placed manually any cargo to it.

Everything seems to work so far!

Originally Posted by Rongel

I have now added missing nodes to three ships, it's a lot of work to get the nodes in just right position in GR2 editor. The way I have done it is to clone existing cfg-node, rename it and the start to edit it's position. Any better ideas for this, or is it the right way to do it?

Basically yes.

I have just one suggestion: when you are adding K bones to multiple hull ships, check that the parent object of the recently added bones is the appropriate hull part.

Originally Posted by Rongel

But help would be nice, especially with editing the campaign (Trevally??), or adding missing zones (boxes and spheres) to the cargo.zon file. Any brave volunteers?

I can help with zon files.

[Rongel]

Good work with the Willys Jeep-texture, Gap!

Should it be a little bit darker, SH 5 trucks and tanks are quite dark. They have the shadows painted in to the texture kind of. Anyway, nice fix, I already added it to the mod.

Since we are at it, what do you think about some totally new cargo models? I was thinking about an assortment of barrels and sacks. I have found some good royalty-free meshes on the web. I could try combining them and putting them in a dat file for you to test them in game, if you agree.

Why not! My only concern is that they should blend with the GR2 stuff (like some SH 3 stuff can look quite nasty in SH 5), otherwise sounds good!

I have just one suggestion: when you are adding K bones to multiple hull ships, check that the parent object of the recently added bones is the appropriate hull part.

Yep, that's the way I have done it!

I can help with zon files.

Great! Here is a link to the test version of the mod: http://www.mediafire.com/download/d7...rgo_testmod.7z

It has already modified .zon file, I have added zones to couple of items, you can continue from there or start from the scratch. One thing that bothers me little, is that I can't find a good way for the crates to be destroyed. Tanks and trucks can be blow up in the air, but if crates do this, you can see that they have no bottom at all. So if there is a way just to blow them up, so that they dissappear, that would be great!

This version also has a custom mission so that you can see the cargo ships easily. I think that now every cargo ship has the K-nodes, actually there was only three ships that didn't have them.

[Trevally.]

Great work guys

Yes Rongel - I would like to help and add your work to OHII.
I can update all the campaign layers to make the ships take the cargo.

I am having a little issue with my PC at the mo (I have kicked it down the stairs is a fit of rage) so am waiting for a new one.
When it arrives - I can join your team

[volodya61]

Originally Posted by Rongel

...But help would be nice, especially with editing the campaign (Trevally??), or adding missing zones (boxes and spheres) to the cargo.zon file. Any brave volunteers?

If I can help, just tell me exactly what to do

[gap]

Originally Posted by Rongel

Good work with the Willys Jeep-texture, Gap!

Should it be a little bit darker, SH 5 trucks and tanks are quite dark. They have the shadows painted in to the texture kind of. Anyway, nice fix, I already added it to the mod.

Okay, I have reworked a bit my texture. Here it is:

http://www.mediafire.com/?787hs5xs7sd8l67

This is a preview of it in GR2 Editor:



Much better, I think

Originally Posted by Rongel

Why not! My only concern is that they should blend with the GR2 stuff (like some SH 3 stuff can look quite nasty in SH 5), otherwise sounds good!

Currently working on this:



In theory we could clone the existing ship_cargo.GR2 file, and import the new models in it, but this would pose some serious limitations to the complexity of the objects we can model, since IIRC we cannot add new meshes but just replace the existing ones. On the other hand, we have several examples of "dat" equipments rendered on top of GR2 units (aircraft bombs, and leigh lights just to mention some). I think that as far as a dat object has no unified render controller, it is rendered correctly on top of any GR2 unit.

Originally Posted by Rongel

Yep, that's the way I have done it!

Originally Posted by Rongel

Great! Here is a link to the test version of the mod: http://www.mediafire.com/download/d7...rgo_testmod.7z

It has already modified .zon file, I have added zones to couple of items, you can continue from there or start from the scratch.

Okay, I will put myself at work as soon as possible. I hope it won't take too long

Originally Posted by Rongel

One thing that bothers me little, is that I can't find a good way for the crates to be destroyed. Tanks and trucks can be blow up in the air, but if crates do this, you can see that they have no bottom at all. So if there is a way just to blow them up, so that they dissappear, that would be great!

Yes, stock crates are just "cardboard dummies". Have you tried setting their respective zone to "destroyable", so that they just disappear instead of blowing up? The better way to do it, is by setting new zone definitions with custom settings. Maybe we can set them to spawn proper box meshes when they are hit, as if they were debris

Originally Posted by Rongel

This version also has a custom mission so that you can see the cargo ships easily. I think that now every cargo ship has the K-nodes, actually there was only three ships that didn't have them.

Are you going to add K nodes to OH's imported ships as well?

[gap]

Originally Posted by volodya61

If I can help, just tell me exactly what to do

@Volodya

If you want, you can take over for the zon editing stuff, while I am working on the new cargo models

[volodya61]

Originally Posted by gap

..Are you going to add K nodes to OH's imported ships as well?

I think this should be done because the convoys in OHII consist mostly of imported vessels

Originally Posted by gap

@Volodya

If you want, you can take over for the zon editing stuff, while I am working on the new cargo models

I want and I can.. '..just tell me exactly what to do..'

I downloaded the RosettaStone and ABBYY Lingvo apps and am now heavily engaged in the study/learn of English.. am tired too often use an online translator.. so, a slight reboot/re-load of the brain does not hurt

[Rongel]

Yes Rongel - I would like to help and add your work to OHII.
I can update all the campaign layers to make the ships take the cargo.

I am having a little issue with my PC at the mo (I have kicked it down the stairs is a fit of rage) so am waiting for a new one.
When it arrives - I can join your team

Great! I have some tips for that, for example almost all big cargo units fit to type 102-ships, but type 108 requires smaller cargo. But I'll post the details later! So we wait until your PC arrives.
PS. Maybe you should enlist to anger management class?

Okay, I have reworked a bit my texture. Here it is:

http://www.mediafire.com/?787hs5xs7sd8l67

This is a preview of it in GR2 Editor:

Looks good to me! Also the barrels look nice!

Are you going to add K nodes to OH's imported ships as well?

I'm not sure what happens when game tries to add GR2 equipments to .dat ships. If I remember right, there was some trouble getting GR2 guns to imported ships. I guess this needs testing. Maybe we can add SH4 dat-cargo to these units? Also if I recall, most of the imported units are transports ships or tankers, so there isn't that many actual cargo ships. But, yeah I'll look into this.

If I can help, just tell me exactly what to do

If you have time, you can also test the custom mission in the test cargo-mod. Just to check everything looks okay, and the game is stable! Maybe sink couple of them (just remember that only tanks, trucks and small crates have working damage modelling).

[gap]

Originally Posted by volodya61

I think this should be done because the convoys in OHII consist mostly of imported vessels

Originally Posted by volodya61

I want and I can.. '..just tell me exactly what to do..'

Before I start giving you unnecessary instructions: have you ever messed with damage boxes and damage zones?

Originally Posted by volodya61

I downloaded the RosettaStone and ABBYY Lingvo apps and am now heavily engaged in the study/learn of English..

Excellent plan
Should you decide to learn Italian as well, our communications will get even easier

[gap]

Originally Posted by Rongel

PS. Maybe you should enlist to anger management class?

Originally Posted by Rongel

Looks good to me! Also the barrels look nice!

Okay, unlike stock crates, each barrel will be a separate object, but I need to apply a trick suggested by Privateer in order to keep poly count as low as possible

Originally Posted by Rongel

I'm not sure what happens when game tries to add GR2 equipments to .dat ships. If I remember right, there was some trouble getting GR2 guns to imported ships. I guess this needs testing. Maybe we can add SH4 dat-cargo to these units? Also if I recall, most of the imported units are transports ships or tankers, so there isn't that many actual cargo ships. But, yeah I'll look into this.

Yes, you are right: GR2 objects don't look good when rendered on dat units. If, as I hope, dat cargo is going to work on both GR2 and dat units, maybe we can port stock ship cargo to the dat format, and get rid of the stock GR2 file

[volodya61]

Originally Posted by Rongel

If you have time, you can also test the custom mission in the test cargo-mod. Just to check everything looks okay, and the game is stable! Maybe sink couple of them (just remember that only tanks, trucks and small crates have working damage modelling).

OK, I downloaded test mod and will test it

Originally Posted by gap

Before I start giving you unnecessary instructions: have you ever messed with damage boxes and damage zones?

Not yet.. but all things are being made for the first time first time ..

Originally Posted by gap

Excellent plan
Should you decide to learn Italian as well, our communications will get even easier

Forgot to mention this - Longman Pronunciation Dictionary
And yes, Italian and Spanish are in my to do list

[Trevally.]

Originally Posted by Rongel

Great! I have some tips for that, for example almost all big cargo units fit to type 102-ships, but type 108 requires smaller cargo. But I'll post the details later! So we wait until your PC arrives.

Yes - a text editor should make easy work of any upgrade. Just as with the speed fix.

PS. Maybe you should enlist to anger management class?

Where is that dam postman........dam dam Dammm DAMMMM!

[gap]

Originally Posted by volodya61

Not yet.. but all things are being made for the first time first time ..

I agree, I just wanted to make sure that at least this time I wasn't going to give you unnecessary information. Here we go:

• Open ship_cargo.GR2 in Goblin and merge it with ship_cargo.zon.
  
  
• Click Ctrl D to recall the the Damage Editor.
  
  
• Click any item in the scene tree, to create a new SH3ZonesCtrl controller with that object as parent.
  
  
• Click on the "Box" button in the Damage Editor window to create a damage box centered around the previously selected object.
  
  
• Use the "Position" controls to edit size and position of the damage box. You can either use button inputs or mouse-drag inputs. Once you get used to both systems, everything gets quite intuitive.
  
  
• Once the damage box fits your object in size and position, you can select a zone that will be applied to your object from the "Zone Type" dropdown menu. Note that zone types listed are taken from the file Zones.cfg. If needed (I suggest you to do so), you can create new zone definitions by editing that file. Refer to this post by Observer on Submarine Sim Central forum for details on how to add new zones, and on what each entry in Zone definitions does.
  
  
• Set armor level of the recently created box in the "Armor" field. The default setting is -1, meaning that the box gets its armor from its respective zone definition.
  
  
• You can similarly add collision spheres if you want (sphere button), but equipments normally get collisions from their parent unit, i.e. adding new spheres is not strictly required for them to get damaged.
  
  
• When finished, drag the new controller on top of ship_cargo.zon (Project Tree), and save as usual. That simple

Originally Posted by volodya61

Forgot to mention this - Longman Pronunciation Dictionary
And yes, Italian and Spanish are in my to do list

I see you got your language learning program seriously. Spanish is a widespread and useful language indeed. As for Italian, if you are looking for a lucrative job opportunity, I would rather focus on German, Chinese, Arabic, or even Hindi