[REL] Playable U-FlaK for SH5

[vdr1981]

OK, this would be realistic (and very badass ) U-flak configuration, you will agree gap, right?

It's interesting that in this configuration all flak stations are working fine !?

However, If I add 2x 37mm instead of 2xQuads, then forward two stations will become inoperable (for player)...Strange...

Here is the new U-flak mod (complete)...
http://www.mediafire.com/download/cd...+U-FlaK+II.rar

[Cybermat47]

Will this be incoporated into the next version of TWoS?

[gap]

Originally Posted by vdr1981

OK, this would be realistic (and very badass ) U-flak configuration, you will agree gap, right?

It's interesting that in this configuration all flak stations are working fine !?

Okay good. What about the manning crew? I have probably found why some guns had missing/flipped/wrong crew.

While I was waiting for your updates I tweaked a bit the conning tower to accomodate the new gun configuration (if you open the GR2 file you will understand what I am talking about). Talking on it, I am stil undecided wether to remove the flag staff or not...

Here are the files:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/5y...Turm_Tweaks.7z

Originally Posted by vdr1981

However, If I add 2x 37mm instead of 2xQuads, then forward two stations will become inoperable (for player)...Strange...

The more I mess with playable guns, the more I get convinced that there are some hardcoded values preventing the usage of more than one 37mm Flak (and probably making the twin 37mm buggy). I hope to be wrong though

[vdr1981]

Okay good. What about the manning crew? I have probably found why some guns had missing/flipped/wrong crew.

Please explain! My changes still have wrong/flipped crew (as you can see in my upload)

While I was waiting for your updates I tweaked a bit the conning tower to accomodate the new gun configuration (if you open the GR2 file you will understand what I am talking about). Talking on it, I am stil undecided wether to remove the flag staff or not...

I like it, very nice! I think you should remove it because there is no any flag staff on U-flak pictures...

The more I mess with playable guns, the more I get convinced that there are some hardcoded values preventing the usage of more than one 37mm Flak (and probably making the twin 37mm buggy). I hope to be wrong though

I dont think that anything is hard codded...It's just that we don't know how...
But, we are on good track...

[gap]

Originally Posted by vdr1981

Please explain! My changes still have wrong/flipped crew (as you can see in my upload)

Okay, don't quote me on that, what follows is just my guessing, but I think that bones named WP_* are used for crew placement. There are two copies of them, one in the turm GR2 and the other in turm's waypoints GR2 file. Looking more closely at them, I suspect the first determine crew position, and the latter crew rotation. Going by names and positions, it is easy understanding which WP bone goes to which gun; yet, I still cant find the logical linking among them. It is possible that settings associating each gun slot with its appropriate WP bone and crew type are found in an softcoded cfg file, or it is possible that this association is hardcoded so that WP_A01_GUN always means "light Flak crew linked to the gun in configurable bone A01", WP_FLAK_GUN is heavy Flak crew to the gun in bone S01", etc. If that was the case, there would be little space for assigning corret crew to the two Flakvierling (they would always display ligh AA guns crew), but for a start I would start renaming those bones WP_FLAK_GUN, WP_FLAK_GUN_01, WP_FLAK_GUN_02, and see what happens...

Originally Posted by vdr1981

I like it, very nice! I think you should remove it because there is no any flag staff on U-flak pictures...

I think the flagstaff was removable but no problem on that: I can delete it from the file, or move it to one side

Originally Posted by vdr1981

I dont think that anything is hard codded...It's just that we don't know how...
But, we are on good track...

I hope so!

[gap]

Good news

Using Notepad++ I have searched the data folder for the string "WP_FLAK_GUN", and I found instances of it in the following files:

\Scripts\AI\Crew\Crew_Idle_Actions_QR2.aix

\Submarine\NSS_Uboat7*\Submarine Parts\Conning_7*.GR2 (this was expected)

\Submarine\NSS_Uboat7c41\Submarine Parts\Conning_7c41_*.waypoints.GR2 (this was expected too, but I still don't get why only VIIc41's conning towers have their crew waypoints duplicated in an external GR2 file; makes me wonder whether the duplicated bones are actually used or not)

\Submarine\NSS_Uboat7*\waypoint_edges.txt

\Submarine\NSS_Uboat7*\waypoint_info.txt

Now we need to study those files, but I feel we are a step closer to the solution of the puzzle

[THEBERBSTER]

sober made a mod for Shaefer for using with VIIA and VIIB's where he moved the bridge crew to different positions.
Peter

[vdr1981]

Originally Posted by gap

Good news

Using Notepad++ I have searched the data folder for the string "WP_FLAK_GUN", and I found instances of it in the following files:

\Scripts\AI\Crew\Crew_Idle_Actions_QR2.aix

\Submarine\NSS_Uboat7*\Submarine Parts\Conning_7*.GR2 (this was expected)

\Submarine\NSS_Uboat7c41\Submarine Parts\Conning_7c41_*.waypoints.GR2 (this was expected too, but I still don't get why only VIIc41's conning towers have their crew waypoints duplicated in an external GR2 file; makes me wonder whether the duplicated bones are actually used or not)

\Submarine\NSS_Uboat7*\waypoint_edges.txt

\Submarine\NSS_Uboat7*\waypoint_info.txt

Now we need to study those files, but I feel we are a step closer to the solution of the puzzle

Heh, we are thinking the same. I reached the same conclusions yesterday while I was using advanced search options in Notepad++ , that's why I asked you how can I rotate bones with gr2 editor (I was trying to rotate WP_A02_GUN bone). However, I'm not happy to see that even script files are involved in crew placement...

One more question though...Your tweaked gr2 U-flak tower works great but it has been doubled in size (9MB, was 4MB), was that your intention or maybe not?

Also, I'm going to upload latest U-flak version with edited upgrade packs, restricted gun zones ect...You are free to grab it and , if possible, to tweak any spotted issue...

[gap]

Originally Posted by THEBERBSTER

sober made a mod for Shaefer for using with VIIA and VIIB's where he moved the bridge crew to different positions.
Peter

Hi Peter, thank you.

Unlike watch crew, gun crews need to be aligned with their guns, and their animation synchronized with gun's animation. Some of their settings might be different, in any case I would like to see sober's mod. Do you know where I can download it?

Originally Posted by vdr1981

Heh, we are thinking the same. I reached the same conclusions yesterday while I was using advanced search options in Notepad++ , that's why I asked you how can I rotate bones with gr2 editor (I was trying to rotate WP_A02_GUN bone).

WP_A02_GUN in your latest version of the conning tower GR2 file seems okay, but you can try rotating it in the waypoints.GR2 file.

Originally Posted by vdr1981

However, I'm not happy to see that even script files are involved in crew placement...

Today I had a look waypoint_edges.txt and waypoint_info.txt files. There is not much to be tweaked there, if not making sure that all the crew waypoints in the GR2 files are set within the two files above. I still haven't found what determines that waypoint "WP_A02_GUN" is connected with configurale bone "cfg#A02", and a light Flak gunner gets linked to it when that gun is manned.

Originally Posted by vdr1981

One more question though...Your tweaked gr2 U-flak tower works great but it has been doubled in size (9MB, was 4MB), was that your intention or maybe not?

No, that's a common problem: when GR2 Editor exports a model, that model gets uncompressed (i.e. some vertices are duplicated); compression on reimporting the same model is not automatic though. I will try and optimize the model before reimporting it. I can't promise I will manage bringing the GR2 file back to 4 MB, but its file size should decrease to some extent at least.