GR2 aircraft debugging (Whitley)

[gap]

Originally Posted by kapuhy

Have you looked already into the books and websites that I pointed you to?
I have some more information that I can share with you when you are ready to process it

[kapuhy]

Originally Posted by gap

Have you looked already into the books and websites that I pointed you to?
I have some more information that I can share with you when you are ready to process it

Sadly, I didn't have time so far - or to be more specific, I used the time I had to push work on plane models and textures a bit forward.

[gap]

Originally Posted by kapuhy

Sadly, I didn't have time so far - or to be more specific, I used the time I had to push work on plane models and textures a bit forward.

To cut short, I sent you very detailed information on RAF Squadrons with aircraft models/variants operated, main stations and detachments, duties assigned/operation area and start/end dates for all of the above.

Moreover I sent you a link to a book listing all the Fleet Air Arm squadrons with their WWII histories. From there, you can grasp information on their equipment, bases, etc. though not as detailed as the one we have about RAF squadrons.

Take your time on it

[kapuhy]

I'm having a weird issue with Goblin Editor while modding planes. In short, Goblin doesn't seem to recognize the fact that bones have been moved using GR2 Editor. Thankfully, game does, but planes look weird in Goblin.

Here's the example: I moved stock US Heavy Bomber's wing up to make it look like Liberator. Since engines were moved, I had to adjust position of propeller bones. In game and GR2 editor everything looks fine, but Goblin fails to register that bones were moved:



It might be harmless (doesn't seem to affect planes in game) but is kinda annoying especially when trying to edit damage zones in Goblin.

[gap]

Have you noticed anything similar with any other part but spinning propellers?

[kapuhy]

Originally Posted by gap

Have you noticed anything similar with any other part but spinning propellers?

Rudders, gun barrels, glass covers of turrets. Only common thing between them I can see is that I repositioned these parts.

[gap]

Originally Posted by kapuhy

Rudders, gun barrels, glass covers of turrets. Only common thing between them I can see is that I repositioned these parts.

Did you change only bone position data, without editing mesh coordinates?
Does GR2 Editor show the repositioned parts correctly?

[kapuhy]

Originally Posted by gap

Did you change only bone position data, without editing mesh coordinates?
Does GR2 Editor show the repositioned parts correctly?

Yes to both, btw I didnt even know you can change mesh coords in gr2 editor - always simply imported meshes already placed where they need to be in blender.

[gap]

Originally Posted by kapuhy

Yes to both, btw I didnt even know you can change mesh coords in gr2 editor - always simply imported meshes already placed where they need to be in blender.

So correct me if I misunderstood you: you simply changed bone position data; you did not edit mesh position in Blender. Is that correct?

[kapuhy]

Originally Posted by gap

So correct me if I misunderstood you: you simply changed bone position data; you did not edit mesh position in Blender. Is that correct?

I did, but that's not when this happens. After I edit mesh position in Blender and import the mesh back, everything is ok and both Goblin and GR2 editor show the same result. However, when I change bone position (regardless if mesh was earlier edited with Blender or not), this happens:



On first image, my current Heavy Bomber's rudder: bone position was earlier moved to have rudder's rotation center in right place.
On second image, the same plane after editing rudder bone position again.
I did not export/import anything between these images - just edited bone position data. In GR2 Editor this didn't result in moving the mesh, but in Goblin mesh itself has moved with the bone.

So, it's not as I initially thought that Goblin doesn't recognize moving bones, it just moves meshes along with them (except, apparently, in opposite direction?)

[gap]

I get your point. Unlike nodes in the .dat format, the working of bones is a bit confusing; not always what you see in GR2 Editor or in Goblin is equal to what you see in game.

This is an issue I had reported long ago:

https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/sho...postcount=2259

BTW, the misplaced rudder in stuka's lod model has been fixed by a fellow subsim member:

https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/sho...d.php?t=215466

Maybe you can download his fix and get inspiration from it.

Other than that, my suggestion is that you move rudder's bone in the desired position, and after doing that you re-import its mesh displaced in Blender so that it will show up correctly in game, and hopefully in Goblin Editor as well...

[gap]

@ kapuhy

Not entirely related to our recent conversation, but in case you want to take in consideration a proper alternative to the stock US Heavy Bomber, I cant point you to several Liberator models, including one model ripped from "Enemy Front" and two models coming from a popular SHIV megamod.

All of the above represent different variants of the aircraft, so if you don't want to trash the work you have already done on the stock model, you can use the alternative models as templates for checking proportions and for creating different variants of the bomber