Military AI Works

Since I have a few things going at the moment I thought it might be easier to have a single thread to put them in.

For now, I'm in the process of finishing the two Calspan learjets I posted pictures of in the repaints section, and have spent the last few hours putting this together for the Irish Air Corps. As with the Defenders I uploaded to the file library the window layout is a bit off due to the fuselage length, but it looks quite smart. I have a flightplan to upload it with-just got a bit of colour correction to do on the flag and see if I can find the correct font for the registration number and it should be good to go.

Now that the IAC BN-2 is available in the hangar I moved on to something a bit different. Kevin Reed kindly gave me permission to upload the FS9 Sopwith Triplane/Stow Maries package to the file library, which I have now done.

I have also been converting the Triplane itself to P3Dv4 native (image below, with credits to Tranquil for the paint scheme). Thanks again to Kevin for pointing me in the right direction for getting the pilot to show up. He also asked me to upload the converted version once it is finished off. Hopefully that won't be too long, but you know the thing about release dates...

Right, I'm pretty sure I'm there with the conversion, but if anyone with either FSX or P3Dv4 would like to beta test it then please do let me know.

Maybe one day I will get back to finishing the Albatross D.V. I started many years ago.
Was supposed to be a 'companion' to the Triplane.
If I remember correctly, the main LOD was all but finished.

Preview..

Very nice!

On the triplanes, the following issues have come up in beta

1. Prop next to invisible whilst engine running - I've created a new prop_hs file. Do people tend to prefer a "blurred but slightly visible" prop or a disk?

2. It handles "interestingly" on the ground-likely something to do with lack of brakes and being a taildragger. I'm torn between fixing the brakes and leaving it as intended (I'm fairly certain the Tripe doesn't have brakes).

Other than that the P3Dv4 native version seems to be operating without issue.

The FSX native version however has a couple of other different issues that I've not been able to fix yet. The first is that the wheels don't go round-they currently have the tire_blurred animations that the P3Dv4 version has, so I'm not sure what to do here. The other issue is that the LODs are treated rather differently in FSX and the plane vanishes rather quickly. That said though, that could very easily just be my copy of FSX as its a bit of a tip at the moment. I'll report back after I've finished ripping things out of it!

The final thing in FSX is that every so often it gets to just under 500 feet and then just seems to wander off in a straight line. Only run into this once myself but it was reported in beta so something seems to be going on-maybe FDE related.

Are you using FSX:SE? I discovered (while testing John's JPs) that SE has a minimum pixel threshold for simobjects below which the object will disappear. It's fixable with a setting in (I think) fsx.cfg, and is well documented around the Interwebs. As for the FDE, I've been having some hilarious times watching the P3D Piper J3 Cub used as AI by Traffic Global in P3Dv4.5. It does almost anything but what it should. I have no idea how you fix it, but it's good to know that even LM get it wrong.

I was using SE yes (opening it up again did make me rather glad I moved on to P3D though I must say). Thanks very much-glad they aren't issues with this model in particular then!

Yes, it can be very funny watching AI misbehave.

Right, model/texture issues are now, I think, just down to the gear not turning on the FSX version. You know, I'm sure the answer is staring me in the face.

For gear, I think you mean wheels (actually "tires") to animate in FSX, 4 things are needed:

- the 3 pivot points at the wheel centres must be in the right direction (for Gmax that's green up, red to the rear and blue to the left)

- rotational key frame animation must be applied (0-100)

- the appropriate animation tags need to be applied (c_tire_still, c_tire_blurred etc)

- viz tags must be applied so the "slow" and the "blurred" wheels show only at the appropriate speeds.

Hope that helps,

John

Thanks John, as it happens I was looking at one of your models earlier today to see how it should be done.

I'll give that a go and see where I get to.

Hmm, haven't had any luck on the FSX version. Still not sure exactly where the culprit is for now but at least for the time being I will get the P3D conversion files ready for release. The FSX version will have to follow at a later point.

Ok, I'll be sending the Tripe files to Martin this weekend.

In other news, I have done new 2048x2048 repaints for the USAF F-22 fleet to cover all currently active units. The plan is to upload them to the hangar in the next couple of days:

Martin is ready to pick them up... [emoji16]

From mobile hence short

Thanks tango234, many changes to the Raptor fleet after the hurricane devastated Tyndall AFB, FL.

You're welcome


In other news, I've been playing around with converting the SGAI Wasp to FSX-native. Very nice looking model in P3Dv4 . Mostly there, just a few niggles:


Current issues:
1.A couple of artifacts are visible below the airframe at mid-distance LODs when the helicopter is active and hovering/flying. Will have to track those down.

2.Rotor is stationary whilst the aircraft "lands" after the engine is switched off on parking. Will have to see how other hover-taxiing AI models address that. The stationary rotor blades/hubs are not set up for animation which might be part of the reason.


That airfield is ideal for testing-well away from any busy traffic hubs.

I don't know of any way to spin down the rotors after engine off on the parking spot, any more than props can be spun down in the same situation. It can be done with flyable aircraft of course, but the AI engine doesn't recognise animation of the still props or rotors and they just shut down instantly unfortunately. Nothing to do with hover-taxi.

John

Yes, looking at it again and comparing it with other others, unless the helicopter is already on the ground when it shuts down then it is probably just something we would have to live with. On the bright side though it is only for a second or so per flight. I think I'll be able to live with that.

I have some complex xml code for FS9 that Kevin developed for me that spins the rotor discs instead of using the conventional prop0_slow etc. It's tied to the beacon light and sets the rotors spinning about 15 minutes prior to departure and until the light goes out after shutdown. However it doesn't work in FSX.

I see Sean though has just achieved what you are looking for, but I don't know yet if that's in FSX.

John

Sean's xml is intended for FS9 use so might well/probably will lead to different results in an FSX-native model. Absolutely worth investigating though.

I know very little about xml coding in general, but if there is a way to delay the rotor appearing to stop until after the helicopter is parked on the ground that would be ideal. I did have a list somewhere of at what stages before/after flight things like nav lights and beacons activated/deactivated, but its obviously stored so well on my PC that I can't find it. I suppose that serves me right for tidying things up...