Literally



This was testing one of the new SPAW planesets with a mission to Kieta Harbour.

The SPAW TMod.dat file was written well before some of the later 1.28 series exes, and there were no problems.
However, with the later exes, things like this occur.

Here is the cause- three values in theTMod.dat file:

The patrol boat is set to have no smoke, but it still has a SmokeOffsetX and SmokeOffsetY with values of 735 and 1638.
If there is smoke then these two values position the origin of the smoke.
However, if there is no smoke they have been used to help to position multipart TMods.
A simple example would be a two part windmill made of a tower and sails. With the sails set to have no smoke these two values can be used to position the sails at a higher level so that the whole thing looks like a single object.

I edited the file to make the values zero and the problem was fixed. Alteratively I could have set the smoke value to 1 or more.
I have no doubt that there could be more cases like this maybe in SPAW, and in the TMod.dat file for other theatres.


If you encounter a similar happening then please let us know

I've started work on a target upgrade for SPAW so this is very important info.

That's better



Jel

Any chance there's a way to raise the BOTTOM of the hit bubble above ground level?

In ETO2015 I have some planes, trucks and AA guns placed on the decks of freighters. They are the same as the ground model planes but raised up 60 3dz units about ground level which is the same height as the ship's deck thus giving the illusion that they are sitting on the deck. Since they're not that far above ground level the hit bubble radius isn't too badly out of wack but technically a player can destroy one of these targets by shooting anywhere below the actual target.

However, I'm building models to sit on the carrier decks in SPAW and that's a different story. The carrier deck is 200 units high so the models are very high up compared to ground level. The "height" hit bubble has to be raised quite a bit but the bottom of it is still at ground level meaning a player could destroy a model sitting on the deck by shooting at a spot a lot lower that the actual target.

This was a test.
I added some trucks to the target at Hawkinge, and was able to destroy them:




This was the setting:

The SmokeOffsetZ = 1000 so in theory they are at 1000 feet.
The experiment worked

Now the problem is is that the data applies to all TMod52 trucks. This means that to put them on carrier decks we would need a different TMod, a copy of TMod52.
I will repeat the experiment using the allied carrier to see if I can get the height right.

I wasn't clear.

The trucks and planes on the freighter decks aren't in the same TMOD slot as the ground models. They are the same model but raised up using 3DZ Studio.

In ETO2015 they are TMODs 301 through 308. So you don't have to figure out how to avoid the TMOD.dat data applying to all the TMOD's.

The carrier decks are 200 3dz Studio units high. I don't know what those units represent so it will have to be trail and error.

Bingo



TMod52 again and as the carrier deck is supposedly 60 feet high the SmokeOffsetZ was set to 60. The truck was positioned at the centre of the carrier. I attacked it in a 190A and was able to destroy it. This should give you something to work with
Maybe you can now position objects without having to raise them in the studio. With this system the hit bubble is located correctly-hence I was able to destroy some of those trucks at Hawkinge which were at an altitude of 1000 feet.

Ok, that looks like it will work, thanks.

Obviously I'll still need a separate slot for each of the plane models I plan to put on the deck but they are already done. I just have to bring them back to ground level.

Just to confirm I replaced the truck with TMod81 from SPAW-the Naval Fighter.





In all of these experiments I had deliberately set the damage level very low so that I could see that the hit bubble was working

Looks superb. It's a bit rivet-counterish, but would it be possible to populate the carrier-decks with a few engineers or sailors going about their business? It would be a little more immersive during take-off.

That's really up to Ray, but he can now see how this kind of thing can be achieved
His idea is to have ships carrying planes or vehicles which can be attacked. What you are seeing in the screenies is one TMod, the carrier, plus a second TMod positioned on its deck.
I just used the "Allied Carrier" target (introduced in 1.28c) as the ship. Using this technique other objects could be added as needed. Some might spawn people.

I could try the spawning action but as we know, the men just run around willy nilly and I'm not sure they wouldn't run right off the deck.

My plan is to place parked aircraft on the deck and AA guns at the perimeter.

The prospect of attacking carriers and blowing up planes on the deck is way more important than men on board. I actually worded my post wrongly-I really meant stationary people giving the impression of being about their business. Are there stationary 'people' objects?

Not presently but it could be done.

The only limitation is that there are only 255 TMOD models allowed at each target site. The carriers have plenty of room for this as even with AA and deck models there would only be about 30 models.

Let's see how the project unfolds.

Here's a shot with four Wildcat TMods parked out of the way, and the MB-3s ready for take-off

Thanks for the screenshot, looks good.

FWIW, I folded the wings on the ones that are going to be in the new target set. Plus, there are actually 3 or 4 different TMODs all with the same main model but with different damaged models which gives nice effect when perusing your work after an attack. Actually I'm doing this with all the aircraft ground models, not just the carrier version.

I did the same thing with the ground vehicles in ETO2015 so that a destroyed convoy doesn't have all the same wrecked vehicles.

Also, the damaged carrier models will be replaced with the undamaged models but with damaged textures because the damage models were either listing or sitting with their decks at water level which would leave the other deck models floating in mid air.

Eh Aldo,

Is it me, or am I seeing floating trucks here too?! :-) LOL!





As a reference to the others, I'm "that guy": http://SimHQ.com/forum/ubbthreads.p...quality-from-pe-ostpak-redux#Post4378617

Check the post with the original picture, and the post following it which indicates that the trucks were positioned 1000 feet high, and could be targeted

Don't worry, I'm fully aware that this was intentional. However, it defeats the purpose of the joke intended to Aldo.

While at it, I'd like to thank everyone for their continuous devotion in improving this fine game, which I've been enjoying for about a year now:
MarkEAW: Thank you for your website which is a goldmine on everything EAW in general. It especially allowed me to quickly get familiar with each EAW versions and their intricacies. It really made my introduction to EAW much less daunting.
FsFOOT: Thank you for your interesting website on everything EAW on Linux. I myself use Linux exclusively and got EAW easily setup in Wine thru POL, with joystick, Track-IR and all. Your site is full of handy hints and tips and the EAW Flight School pages to top it all.
VonBeerhofen: Your FXEXE improvements are nothing less than impressive. Especially considering that you achieve it all through hex editing only. I sure can appreciate EAWPRO's best traits which, in my humble opinion, focuses more on simplicity and fidelity.
MrJelly: Thank you for your high quality work. You honor your rights to the code base. I've been playing UAW mostly because of its exhaustive diversity of addons. I especially appreciate the way everything is so cleanly integrated, through your various mechanisms and tools.
Rotton50: What would EAW be without great plane models, and any other models for that matter. I adhere to your rule of "good enough" for the sake of having access to such a plethora of models.
iron mike: Another modders of EAW whom I understand to be part of the first contributor to EAW. A veteran of sorts. Thank you for keeping up with the old lady.
Modred: Thank you for your AOE mod. To be honest, I haven't tried it yet - Even 'tho I still own the original AOE floppy disks. I believe your mod is the latest of its kind and I hope it will encourage others to try.
RIBob: Keep on bringing in bright ideas. I believe your keen interest contributes to advancing EAW as an incentive to modders to raise up to your challenges.
SkyHigh: I already had my Track-IR setup to my linking in Linux by the time you started your relative thread. However, hadn't I not done so, I would have benefited from your experience. Thank you for sharing it.

That's pretty much it from the top of my head. Sorry if I forgot anyone. I wasn't planning to follow up although I've been itching to extend my thanks for a while.

Keep up the good fun gentlemen!

PS.: One of the very first thread I read when I got into this forum, was the one where two illustrious forum members were boasting about their windmill being bigger and better than the other. I almost left the forum there and then, fearing that I'd be wasting my time mostly reading thru rants. Fortunately, this forum produces much more greatness in compensation. It keeps me coming back regularly to keep up with every thread.