WIP Steam Gunboat

[Robert Nutter]

That's great! From what I know (from Inzane's guide), all I need to do that is a ships_init entry and the model itself, no? Would it work if I just copied another steamship one for now? As I do have one prepared based on Astrea, but not sure how accurate it is as there are a few parameters I didn't really get, which deviate from Thagarr and Inzane's guides.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

That's great! From what I know (from Inzane's guide), all I need to do that is a ships_init entry and the model itself, no? Would it work if I just copied another steamship one for now? As I do have one prepared based on Astrea, but not sure how accurate it is as there are a few parameters I didn't really get, which deviate from Thagarr and Inzane's guides.

Just copy an existing entry, yes. The stats don't matter so much; those are easily tweaked.
Getting her in the game at all is the biggest step.

 

[Robert Nutter]

Ok so she's in albeit smallish, with all of Astrea's locations for the people and smoke etc. But she works fine. Even the steam engine! Maneuverability isn't bad either, though I don't know what Astrea's entry may be helping with on that...

EDIT: Scale-wise it's just hard to tell just *how* small, though I'd say a little smaller than the tartane so it obviously needs to be made a big bigger. But no crashes or missing textures or anything after ten minutes of sailing around so that must be good, right?

 

[Robert Nutter]

Ok now I know how small she is...LOL...I don't get it though, as I followed the guides precisely to avoid this... To fix, is it a simple matter of increasing the scale in Maya? I don't want to try without knowing as I'm scared of messing it up now I'm at this stage!

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Ok so she's in

Wow, that's INCREDIBLE! Very large congratulations!

Ok now I know how small she is...LOL...I don't get it though, as I followed the guides precisely to avoid this... To fix, is it a simple matter of increasing the scale in Maya? I don't want to try without knowing as I'm scared of messing it up now I'm at this stage!

@Armada, I do believe your advice is required here....

 

[Robert Nutter]

I'm as surprised as you are I was expecting all sorts of weird and wonderful issues...even the bow wave looks good!

Do you think I should just go into Maya and fiddle with the scale? May save Armada a headache or two if it's as easy to fix as that!

Oh and of interest to you I think, @Pieter Boelen ; when I press w and s I don't get any dialogue or anything, which could mean she's moving independent of the sail mechanic, no? In which case that's great as she's pretty maneuverable...though granted the tiny scale could help with that!

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Do you think I should just go into Maya and fiddle with the scale? May save Armada a headache or two if it's as easy to fix as that!

That is indeed all I can think of.

Oh and of interest to you I think, @Pieter Boelen ; when I press w and s I don't get any dialogue or anything, which could mean she's moving independent of the sail mechanic, no? In which case that's great as she's pretty maneuverable...though granted the tiny scale could help with that!

Once you're finished with the model, that part probably will need checking.
I am not at all sure what happens for ships without any masts and sails.

I have a very faint memory that ships MUST have sails to be able to make speed in a normal way.
Of course the steam engine takes over that purpose, BUT I also recall that ships don't turn very well without sails set.
That gets worse on Realistic Game Mode.

 

[Robert Nutter]

Well with all sails furled she still turns at a good rate, but as you say that may all change once she has her own ships_init entry.

Will try that now and post an update if I fix the size issue!

 

[Robert Nutter]

Problem fixed I must've fluffed up the measurements in Cinema 4D, then Maya carried them over. She's sitting a bit high in the water, but I'm guessing all I need to do to change that is move the locator I added in Maya? Also concerned that I have the camera bug...probably because the flagpole is the same model. Do I need to split the models to fix that, @Armada ?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

She's sitting a bit high in the water, but I'm guessing all I need to do to change that is move the locator I added in Maya?

I don't know what locator you added; I imagine the (0,0,0) position of the model should be somewhere inside the hull, no?
If it is, then you can change the waterline through ships_init.c with:

refShip.WaterLine = 0.4;

 

[Robert Nutter]

Ah! No I made a noob error. I placed the locator on the workplane with the ship sitting on the workplane! That would explain why it's almost completely out the water! Should've thought of that.... but I'm learning

 

[Robert Nutter]

I've changed the locator and it's done the trick. I'd say that's the big issues sorted; and as you say I can always sort waterline out later. She seems to be right at home in the game otherwise, so that's encouraging.



So now It's just a matter of locators, paths and the ships_init entry I'm guessing. Though I'm not 100% on all the parameters on it, as I said above. As the steamship ones seem to have a lot of extra sections over what i read in the tutorial...:/should I post my draft one up?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

So now It's just a matter of locators, paths and the ships_init entry I'm guessing.

Think so, yes.

Though I'm not 100% on all the parameters on it, as I said above. As the steamship ones seem to have a lot of extra sections over what i read in the tutorial...

Just post whatever questions you might have.

 

[Robert Nutter]

Sorry, I know I'm a pain! Just don't want to ham it up at this point with some badly written code!

This is what I have so far; I've filled all the most obvious parameters in which seem to working ok in-game. There's still a lot left from Astrea though and I'd like to first get those out the way if unnecessary/incorrect.

//-------------------------------------------------------------------------
// STEAM GUNBOAT "CHARLOTTE DUNDAS"
//-------------------------------------------------------------------------
    makeref(refShip,ShipsTypes[n]);
    n++;

    refShip.Name = "Dundas";
    refShip.SName = "DundasSteam";
    refShip.All        = "Frigate1"; *
    refShip.Nation      = ENGLAND;
    refShip.id = refShip.Name;
    refShip.Walk                = "Dundas";
    refShip.Class                = 7;
    refShip.Cannon                = CANNON_TYPE_LONG_LBS32;
    refShip.MaxCaliber            = 32;
    refShip.Weight                = Tonnes2CWT(200);
    refShip.Capacity            = 800;
    refShip.CannonsQuantity            = 1;
    // NK cannon qtys 05-04-18 -->
    refShip.Cannons.Borts.cannonf.qty    = 2; *
    refShip.Cannons.Borts.cannonb.qty    = 2; *
    // NK <--
    refShip.MaxCrew                = 20
    refShip.MinCrew                = 8;
    refShip.Price                = 80000;
    refShip.HP                = 1000;
    refShip.SP                = 300;

// Steam-driven vessel. Reduced cargo space from machinery & bunkerage, significantly increased tonnage relative to size.

    refShip.BigPicTexName = "SHIPS4"; //Armada
    refShip.BI.Tex = 14;
    refShip.BI.Pic = 8;
    refShip.QDeck = "ShipDeck1";
    refShip.CannonsDeck = 1;
    refShip.CargoHold = 1;
    refShip.Cabin = "Cabin_medium";

    refShip.Model = "Dundas"; //Armada

    refShip.Flags.Mast3.Flag1 = FLAG_PENNANT; *
    refShip.Flags.Mast4.Flag1 = FLAG_ENSIGN; *

    //Period
    refShip.period.0 = 0.0; //
    refShip.period.1 = 0.0; //
    refShip.period.2 = 0.0; //
    refShip.period.3 = 0.0; //
    refShip.period.4 = 0.0; //
    refShip.period.5 = 0.45; //
    //Nation
    refShip.england = 0.15; //
    refShip.france = 0.10; //
    refShip.holland = 0.0.5; //
    refShip.portugal = 0.0.5; //
    refShip.pirate = 0.0; //
    refShip.spain = 0.0; //
    refShip.america = 0.10; //

// Cheap steamboat occasionally seen in the late period.


    refShip.CanEncounter    = true;
    refShip.CanBuy        = true;
    refShip.Type.Trade = false;
    refShip.Type.War = true;

    refShip.WaterLine = -0.6;
    refShip.SpeedDependWeight = 0.3;
    refShip.SubSeaDependWeight = 1.0;

    refShip.GeraldSails.rey_a2    = 1;
    refShip.GeraldSails.rey_a3    = 1;
    refShip.GeraldSails.rey_b2    = 1;
    refShip.GeraldSails.rey_b3    = 1;
    refShip.GeraldSails.rey_b4    = 1;

// Slightly increased maneuvrability from differential thrust options
// Constitution defaults TR = 65, yaw acceleration 1.9 *
// Ship sits considerably lower in the water due to increased tonnage.

    if(iRealismMode>0 || REALISTIC_SHIP_INERTIA){
        refShip.SpeedRate        = 15.0;
        refShip.TurnRate        = 85;
        refShip.InertiaAccelerationX    = 4;    refShip.InertiaBrakingX        = 0.5;
        refShip.InertiaAccelerationY    = 1.95;    refShip.InertiaBrakingY        = 0.5;
        refShip.InertiaAccelerationZ    = 2.5;    refShip.InertiaBrakingZ        = 2.0;
    }else{
        refShip.SpeedRate        = 15.0;
        refShip.TurnRate        = 85;
        refShip.InertiaAccelerationX    = 0.2;    refShip.InertiaBrakingX        = 2.0;
        refShip.InertiaAccelerationY    = 10;    refShip.InertiaBrakingY        = 4;
        refShip.InertiaAccelerationZ    = 4.0;    refShip.InertiaBrakingZ        = 2.0;

    }

// Constitution default sails *
    refShip.ClosestPoint = 0.25;
    refShip.BestPoint = 0.8;
    // KK refShip.RigType = sDet;

// PB: Steam Ships -->
// Coordinates adjusted as ship is now 1.24 times larger - Armada
// Stack 1 = coal furnace exhaust
   refShip.steamship = true;
   refShip.stack1X = 0; // Width
   refShip.stack1Y = 5.58; // Height
   refShip.stack1Z = 7.44; // Length

//SWS Prop Wash
    refShip.prop1X = 0; // Width
    refShip.prop1Y = 0; // Height
    refShip.prop1Z = -1.86; // Length



// End Dundas Steamboat

I've addressed the wash and smoke co-ordinates; they seem to be doing what i want, just need to get accurate co-ordinates now. As for the encounter chances, i can only assume I've filled that bit in correctly.

I guess my first question is, how do I adjust speed of the engine? As tweaking the regular speedrate doesn't work, I'm guessing because it's for sails only; ideally I want something around 13-15 for it, to make having the steam engine beneficial to the player.

My second question would definitly be how to remove the dependence on sails altogether? Or was that something you were hoping we could address later on once everything else is sorted?

Thirdly, I'm guessing much of the inertia section is steam specific?

And finally, I've marked any bits I don't know how to change with a * at the end of the line. I'd love to find out what they are and if I need them

 

[Pieter Boelen]

"0.0.5" doesn't look like a good idea in the encounter chances.

I guess my first question is, how do I adjust speed of the engine? As tweaking the regular speedrate doesn't work, I'm guessing because it's for sails only.

Assuming you ARE indeed using the engine to make speed, this is the code that controls that:

       float PowerScalar = stf(GetAttribute(rCharacter,"Ship.Power"))/100;
       float SpeedRateScalar = stf(GetLocalShipAttrib(arship, MyShipType, "SpeedRate"))/10;
       float DamageScalar = makefloat(GetCurrentShipHP(rCharacter)) / makefloat(GetCharacterShipHP(rCharacter));
       float SailCompensation = 1.0;
       if(sti(rCharacter.LastSailState) == 0)   SailCompensation = 0.5;
       rCharacter.Ship.Impulse.Rotate.z = 0.2 * PowerScalar * SpeedRateScalar * DamageScalar * SailCompensation;

The ship's "SpeedRate" IS factored in there, so increasing that should make her faster too.
It probably isn't a 1:1 scale though. Actually, because of that "\10" in there, it might be a 1:10 scale.
Can't remember now.

And there is some effect of whether the sails are hoisted/lowered.
It doesn't actually make sense to have the code like that, but I had to do it or the steam frigates would go faster with no sails set than with them.

Anyway, I imagine this will need a bit more thought and experimentation.

My second would definitly be how to remove the dependence on sails altogether? Or was that something you were hoping we could address later on once everything else is sorted?

Yep, later is good.

And finally, I've marked any bits I don't know how to change with a * at the end of the line. I'd love to find out what they are and if I need them

refShip.All = Existing ship ID that missing stats can be copied from (doesn't matter so much)
cannonf.qty = Number of forward chasers
cannonb.qty = Number of stern chasers
refShip.Flags.Mast3.Flag1 = to indicate which of the flags on the ship are ensigns/pennants
refShip.ClosestPoint = closest angle in radians that the ship can sail into the wind (should end up being meaningless for this ship)
refShip.BestPoint = wind direction on which the ship makes the best speed

 

[Armada]

Right, let's see...

Just a tiny query. I notice on the walkthrough that the model is grey for most of it. However, my model has been black throughout the process so far, despite at one point the walk-through said it shouldn't be anymore. Is this correct? I'm pretty sure I'm doing everything correctly...

If you check section 4.5 in the tutorial, it mentions turning on "Two Sided Lighting" in the viewport. That should display the model correctly if it came in looking black (i.e. with reversed normals).
However, this is only a temporary fix. When you change the render stats in section 5.1, the model will look black again. You have to reverse the normals as shown in section 5.2 to display the model properly.

Also, bear in mind this tutorial was written to address the issues you get when importing an OBJ file from GM Viewer, which is notorious for screwing everything up. It's possible that some of these steps don't apply to your model since you imported it in a different way. If you can send me the file you imported, I'll check it over and see what needs to be fixed when bringing it into Maya.

I also have a problem with the funnel; turning off two-sided has made it invisible from the inside, but of course I need it visible from outside too. Is there an easy fix for this or do I need to go back to C4D and add a second skin? As that'll really up the tri count with the detail on the top...

Yeah, unfortunately you need to have distinct faces for both the inside and outside of any object you want to appear two-sided in-game.

I'm also having a fun time learning Maya's needlessly complicated materials system In 100 clicks it feels like I did something I could've done in 1 click. But anyway, it won't let me 'Assign Material to Selection' in the normal way as the screen goes white whenever i click off it (that bug we mentioned before @Armada ), meaning I can't select both the object and material at once so I need to do it using the hierarchy...but I guess that's more an inconvenience than a real issue.

This is perhaps the only area where I prefer 3ds Max to Maya. The Slate editor in Max is much more intuitive, but Maya's system has been greatly improved with the 2016 releases, so I'd rank them fairly equally now.
As for Maya 5, you can use Assign Material to Selection even if the viewport goes blank, so long as you haven't deselected the object. You can also hold the right mouse button over an object and go to Materials > Assign Existing Material in the context menu if you find that easier. OR you can middle-mouse-drag a material from the Hypershade window onto an object in the viewport if you're feeling adventurous.

I've also changed COPPER to weathered_copper in the GM file, so it looks a little tidier in the directory now.

Ah... one thing you need to know is that you can only swap textures between ships if those textures have the same number of characters in their name.
For example, if you wanted a ship to be able to use a weathered or non-weathered copper texture, the names could be "Copper1" and "Copper2" to keep things simple.
That said, it might be better to match the number of characters in "Plank_white", in which case your names could be "CopperTex_1" and "CopperTex_2".

Ok now I know how small she is...LOL...I don't get it though, as I followed the guides precisely to avoid this... To fix, is it a simple matter of increasing the scale in Maya? I don't want to try without knowing as I'm scared of messing it up now I'm at this stage!

If you've set the working units to metres per section 4.3, make sure the model looks right on the grid. If necessary, make a 1x1x1 metre cube and compare its size to the ship just to check it by eye.
Then, make sure you use the correct export settings from section 7.5 (i.e. leave "0.01 Scale" UN-ticked).

Also concerned that I have the camera bug...probably because the flagpole is the same model. Do I need to split the models to fix that, @Armada ?

Yes, you'll need to separate the mast and parent it to another locator to export it separately. Then, you need to add a Geometry locator to the hull model at the same coordinates.
It's easiest to keep the locator at (0,0,0), unless you want the object to behave like a mast, in which case you should call it "[ShipName]_mast1.gm" and place the locator at its base so it pivots correctly if it gets destroyed.
If you don't want it to act like a mast and just want it to be static geometry, call it something like "[ShipName]_flagpole.gm" (anything other than "mast", "rey" or "path").

In both cases, you must name the Geometry locator after the model suffix. If you go for "[ShipName]_mast1", the locator should just be called "mast1".

 

[Armada]

And finally, I've marked any bits I don't know how to change with a * at the end of the line. I'd love to find out what they are and if I need them

I've added some comments to these lines to explain them a bit more:

//-------------------------------------------------------------------------
// STEAM GUNBOAT "CHARLOTTE DUNDAS" //<-- Add your name here so others know who made the ship ;)
// <-- Add a brief description of the ship and what it's based on here, if you want.
//-------------------------------------------------------------------------
    makeref(refShip,ShipsTypes[n]);
    n++;

    refShip.Name = "Dundas";
    refShip.SName = "DundasSteam";
    refShip.All        = "Frigate1"; * //<-- Defines another ship entry to default to for any attributes you don't specify. Rarely used, but you can leave it as-is.
    refShip.Nation      = ENGLAND;
    refShip.id = refShip.Name;
    refShip.Walk                = "Dundas";
    refShip.Class                = 7; //<-- Remember this will be overridden based on the ship's MaxCrew value
    refShip.Cannon                = CANNON_TYPE_LONG_LBS32;
    refShip.MaxCaliber            = 32;
    refShip.Weight                = Tonnes2CWT(200);
    refShip.Capacity            = 800;
    refShip.CannonsQuantity            = 1;
    // NK cannon qtys 05-04-18 -->
    refShip.Cannons.Borts.cannonf.qty    = 2; * //<-- Number of "front" (cannonF) chasers; set this to 1
    refShip.Cannons.Borts.cannonb.qty    = 2; * //<-- Number of "back" (cannonB) chasers; set this to 0
    // NK <--
    refShip.MaxCrew                = 20
    refShip.MinCrew                = 8;
    refShip.Price                = 80000;
    refShip.HP                = 1000;
    refShip.SP                = 300; //<-- You can reduce this to 100 like most ships, though it won't matter much.

// Steam-driven vessel. Reduced cargo space from machinery & bunkerage, significantly increased tonnage relative to size.

    refShip.BigPicTexName = "SHIPS4"; //Armada //<-- The texture the interface screenshot belongs to; this will depend on where you put the screenshot later on.
    refShip.BI.Tex = 14; //<-- The texture ID containing the battle interface picture; Tartane belongs to 10.
    refShip.BI.Pic = 8; //<-- The ID of the ship picture within the above texture, starting at 0 and counting left-to-right in the grid; Tartane is #11.
    refShip.QDeck = "ShipDeck1"; //<-- The main ship deck model for boarding and exploring the ship with your character. Tartane uses ShipDeck4.
    refShip.CannonsDeck = 1; //<-- Number of gun decks used for boarding; set this to 0.
    refShip.CargoHold = 1; //<-- Number of cargo holds used for boarding; if you think it makes sense, keep this at 1, otherwise set to 0.
    refShip.Cabin = "Cabin_medium"; //<-- Cabin model used for boarding; set this to "Cabin_none" for no cabin or "Cabin_small" if you want her to have a small cabin.

    refShip.Model = "Dundas"; //Armada //<-- Keep this the same for any other variants of this ship with different textures, so you can switch between them in the Shipyard.

    refShip.Flags.Mast3.Flag1 = FLAG_PENNANT; * //<-- Controls where flags and pennants go on the ship. In your case, once you've added flag and penn locators to your mast, use the following line:
    refShip.Flags.Mast1.Flag1 = FLAG_ENSIGN //<-- The correct line for your setup. Delete any other flag lines.
    refShip.Flags.Mast4.Flag1 = FLAG_ENSIGN; * //<-- Since you'll only have one flag, you need to remove this line.

    //Period
    refShip.period.0 = 0.0; //
    refShip.period.1 = 0.0; //
    refShip.period.2 = 0.0; //
    refShip.period.3 = 0.0; //
    refShip.period.4 = 0.0; //
    refShip.period.5 = 0.45; //
    //Nation
    refShip.england = 0.15; //
    refShip.france = 0.10; //
    refShip.holland = 0.0.5; //
    refShip.portugal = 0.0.5; //
    refShip.pirate = 0.0; //
    refShip.spain = 0.0; //
    refShip.america = 0.10; //

// Cheap steamboat occasionally seen in the late period.


    refShip.CanEncounter    = true;
    refShip.CanBuy        = true;
    refShip.Type.Trade = false;
    refShip.Type.War = true;

    refShip.WaterLine = -0.6;
    refShip.SpeedDependWeight = 0.3;
    refShip.SubSeaDependWeight = 1.0;

    refShip.GeraldSails.rey_a2    = 1; //<-- Each of these lines define which sails emblems or reeflines appear on. Since you won't have any sails, you can remove these lines.
    refShip.GeraldSails.rey_a3    = 1;
    refShip.GeraldSails.rey_b2    = 1;
    refShip.GeraldSails.rey_b3    = 1;
    refShip.GeraldSails.rey_b4    = 1;

// Slightly increased maneuvrability from differential thrust options
// Constitution defaults TR = 65, yaw acceleration 1.9 * //<-- This is just a comment mentioning the Constitution's default TurnRate and InertiaAccelerationY. You can remove this line.
// Ship sits considerably lower in the water due to increased tonnage.

    if(iRealismMode>0 || REALISTIC_SHIP_INERTIA){
        refShip.SpeedRate        = 15.0;
        refShip.TurnRate        = 85;
        refShip.InertiaAccelerationX    = 4;    refShip.InertiaBrakingX        = 0.5;
        refShip.InertiaAccelerationY    = 1.95;    refShip.InertiaBrakingY        = 0.5;
        refShip.InertiaAccelerationZ    = 2.5;    refShip.InertiaBrakingZ        = 2.0;
    }else{
        refShip.SpeedRate        = 15.0;
        refShip.TurnRate        = 85;
        refShip.InertiaAccelerationX    = 0.2;    refShip.InertiaBrakingX        = 2.0;
        refShip.InertiaAccelerationY    = 10;    refShip.InertiaBrakingY        = 4;
        refShip.InertiaAccelerationZ    = 4.0;    refShip.InertiaBrakingZ        = 2.0;

    }

// Constitution default sails * //<-- The lines below define the ship's best point of sail, i.e. how it behaves relative to the wind direction.
    refShip.ClosestPoint = 0.25;
    refShip.BestPoint = 0.8;
    // KK refShip.RigType = sDet;

// PB: Steam Ships -->
// Coordinates adjusted as ship is now 1.24 times larger - Armada
// Stack 1 = coal furnace exhaust
   refShip.steamship = true;
   refShip.stack1X = 0; // Width
   refShip.stack1Y = 5.58; // Height
   refShip.stack1Z = 7.44; // Length

//SWS Prop Wash
    refShip.prop1X = 0; // Width
    refShip.prop1Y = 0; // Height
    refShip.prop1Z = -1.86; // Length



// End Dundas Steamboat

 

[Robert Nutter]

Right, let's see...


If you check section 4.5 in the tutorial, it mentions turning on "Two Sided Lighting" in the viewport. That should display the model correctly if it came in looking black (i.e. with reversed normals).
However, this is only a temporary fix. When you change the render stats in section 5.1, the model will look black again. You have to reverse the normals as shown in section 5.2 to display the model properly.

Thanks for getting back to me

I followed this stage exactly, but two sided lighting does nothing; in fact, checking it on only makes non-shadowed parts of the deck slightly brighter. I don't know if we have an issue here anymore though, as she looks fine in-game and all textures/faces are responding as expected under all the differing lighting conditions. I did also turn 'Hardware Textures' on, mostly on a whim, which then made a HUGE difference as I could of course see what i'd applied without the renderer constantly crashing (which it'd do with more than one texture applied). Turning it off again also eliminated the black...weird, huh? Could this also be why she works fine in-game despite the blackness?

Yeah, unfortunately you need to have distinct faces for both the inside and outside of any object you want to appear two-sided in-game.

After seeing her in-game it doesn't really bother me *that* much anymore, as most of the time you're seeing it from an angle anyway. But would you say it's something that *needs* fixing? No problem either way.

This is perhaps the only area where I prefer 3ds Max to Maya. The Slate editor in Max is much more intuitive, but Maya's system has been greatly improved with the 2016 releases, so I'd rank them fairly equally now.
As for Maya 5, you can use Assign Material to Selection even if the viewport goes blank, so long as you haven't deselected the object. You can also hold the right mouse button over an object and go to Materials > Assign Existing Material in the context menu if you find that easier. OR you can middle-mouse-drag a material from the Hypershade window onto an object in the viewport if you're feeling adventurous.

That's actually pretty much how I ended doing it Though it is good to know new Maya is different; after using nothing but C4D's excellent material editor, I was just gobsmacked at how unintuitive Maya's was by comparison...

Ah... one thing you need to know is that you can only swap textures between ships if those textures have the same number of characters in their name.

Ok, so I should change it to 'Copper2', as there's already a copper in there? Neat that'll be my next move thanks for flagging that

If you've set the working units to metres per section 4.3, make sure the model looks right on the grid. If necessary, make a 1x1x1 metre cube and compare its size to the ship just to check it by eye.
Then, make sure you use the correct export settings from section 7.5 (i.e. leave "0.01 Scale" UN-ticked).

This seems to have remedied itself upon changing the global project scale. Works ok in-game so I'm assuming that's fixed, unless I'm mistaken. I do like the cube idea though...I'll be stealing that!

Yes, you'll need to separate the mast and parent it to another locator to export it separately. Then, you need to add a Geometry locator to the hull model at the same coordinates.

Is it bad that I was dreading doing this, even for such a simple model? I think because I can't get my head around how it stays put just by using one locator. So I simply use the same locator method I did with the whole model but on the mast, then export selection? It's adding the new one to the hull I get caught up on. If I add that in Maya, TOOL will see it and I'll be able to add it to the table? Then the mast will be anchored to that locator's origin and the engine will make sense of that? I couldn't find where Maya shows position info though...just rotation, scale and translate (which I tried entering co-ordinates into but definitely doesn't control position!!) Sorry to be a nuisance...once I get it I'll get it...I'm just having trouble grasping this even with the tutorials, and maths; even this type of maths, is seriously my weak point I had to mostly guess the smoke/wash co-ordinates!

@Pieter Boelen , where is that engine section? Unless I'm being really blind i can't find it...so I modify the top '100' number and if it is 1/10, I take that into account for what my final speed factor is? Else I don't want it zipping off the map at 100mph


As for ships_init, thanks to both of you for taking time out to give me some advice on that; I *should* now be able to sort it out by my onesies.

EDIT Just one tiny little further Q: what does ship weight do? As it doesn't seem to make a difference whether it's on 10 or 3000...

 

[Pieter Boelen]

After seeing her in-game it doesn't really bother me *that* much anymore, as most of the time you're seeing it from an angle anyway. But would you say it's something that *needs* fixing? No problem either way.

Are you saying the funnel doesn't have an inside? That might look a bit odd. Some possible ideas I can think of:
- Copy the funnel and flip the normals so they point inwards
- Or do the same, but have the flipped version scaled so that the funnel "walls" get some thickness
- Or just close the top of the funnel so it doesn't stand out that the inside is invisible

@Pieter Boelen , where is that engine section? Unless I'm being really blind i can't find it...so I modify the top '100' number and if it is 1/10, I take that into account for what my final speed factor is? Else I don't want it zipping off the map at 100mph

It is in PROGRAM\SEA_AI\AIShip.c . Feel free to experiment with it, but eventually we'll probably need to work together on it a bit.
I think the "/10" was because I figured that the engine of a steam frigate cannot propel the ship at 100% speed of the sails; so the engine ends up doing only 10% extra.
In your case, I'd suggest taking the "/10" out and see if the speed then DOES match with your SpeedRate value.

We may have to start adding an extra attribute to ships to indicate their "speed from engine power".
That could be "1.00" for your ship, but "0.10" for the steam frigates. And then both cases are covered.

EDIT Just one tiny little further Q: what does ship weight do? As it doesn't seem to make a difference whether it's on 10 or 3000...

Maybe @Hylie Pistof would know that best? Isn't that something related to "cargo capacity"?
The normal speeding up/slowing down related to the "intertia values". But I'm pretty sure the steam engine completely bypasses all that....

 

[Robert Nutter]

I'll probably do that then, Pieter! Just reverse all the normals of the copy, I guess, then scale it down slightly? I can't work out how to proportionally resize using the arrows in Maya so I'll have to find out how to do that...but no biggie. Not sure I'm a fan of doing it in C4D at this stage!

I'll try it without that line altogether then and if that does something weird, just keep it in for now and fiddle with the speed modifier. I do like that idea of having an extra attribute; seems more logical as it gives us a baseline.

Ok so I'll just leave inertia alone for now then.