Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Terrain Editor => Topic started by: Bogie603rd on February 03, 2006, 01:08:34 PM
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Well, it's quite obvious that i'm new with the Object Editor. But i'm not too un-experienced with it. See, I just finished building an airfield for one of my new team maps. It has 3 seperate runways almost like mafld0. Except this one is aligned differently and doesent look like an "X" crossing.
I got the texture to Build, and the texture is listed in the OE menu with a Star ( * ) to the right of the name of the texture. Also, I know the texture is not corrupt. Because when I select the object's name and press: Add in the OE, it places the entire texture in it's entirety on the screen. Nothing is missing, nothing is mis-placed.
My question is, how do I get the texture from the OE to the TE (Terrain Editor) so I can place the airfield in my terrain? I already attempted a few things both in the OE and TE. But I still can't get the texture name to appear in the object list in the TE.
What do I need to do to export the OE texture/object into the TE?:(
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You put the things together in OE. You use several shapes to build a shape compilation and "build" it. You get your built shape in teh newshps folder. Then you need to copy it to your map's texsrc in addition to all the custom shapes and textures (htx or bmp) from userlib you have used for building it.
In other words:
- newshps folder contains kind of location info of several shapes, custom and default
- userlib folder contain your custom shapes
You need both of those in texsrc. You only use the stuff from newshps in TE, if you e.g. want to place the whole airbase you have built.
Remember to define the base as group master in TE!
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Thanks for that info, and yes, I understood it from the first round. One other question though. Why do I need to assign the base as group master in TE?
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Air or vehicle base = Group Master :) .. dont ask me why they call it such.
Then there can be other objects belonging to that base... town, radars, acks, shorebatterie, etc.
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Okay, maybe that's why I had some trouble with the creation of excess objects in the TE.
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Hey, does anyone know of where I can find a begginers tutorial on generating objects such as a new airfield design? Cause I tried for the second time making a new airfield from scratch and it didnt work. When I build it and place it in the TE, only 1/4 of the airfield is pasted, almost as if 1/4 of the actual airfield design was extracted.
I'm plain frustrated, I put 3 hours of work into the details and such. I made sure not to place anything off the edge of the tile, and still it wont work. WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING WRONG?!?:furious
(NOTE, when I build the shape, the built shape does not appear in the "newshps" folder. It appears in the "userlib" folder as a .shp file. I transfer this file to the "texsrc" folder in my map, and then place it in the terrain. That is when the trouble begins.)
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Don't try to make it from scratch! Rather edit the existing airfields in OE.
With "build" command they come to your newshps folder. Remember to "save as" your stuff with some suitable name before executing the "build" command.
With "convert ac3d file" the shp:s come to the userlib folder.
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Well, some nice advise, but I would like to try making a new airfield. It gets boring always having lafld0, mafld0, and safld0.
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If you study any of those default fields, you will notice how they consist of e.g. lrgrwy, lafld0g and all the other objects.
It is easiest to move the other objects around.
The second easiest thing is to remove the rwy completely and define the actual ground as runway! Then simply edit the texture belonging to that ground object and put it to your texsrc with your newly built shp (from newshps folder). (You get the texture by exporting the ground object to export folder). Remember to place the spawn points in TE!!!
If you dont want to define the whole ground as runway, then use the lot0-3 etc runway objects. You can also hide these under the ground to define only some areas of your new ground texture as "landed successfully" areas.
The hardest thing is to mess with the actual rwy shape and its entry points in ac3d.
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Prob #1. I do not have ac3d, otherwise we might not be having this conversation.
Prob #2. I lost the actual design I worked so hard on. But i Managed to make a slight re-make. Just not with all the detail. I didnt place taxi-strips and detailed routes along the fields.
But what I did manage to do is get you 2 screen shots of whats going on. First one is of the actual airfield design.
Second is of the "Build" sequence.
Pic 1 (http://603rdraf.tripod.com/pic1.html)
Pic 2 (http://603rdraf.tripod.com/pic2.html)
I don't know if it helps any. But it shows the situation im in.
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Pic1) I wonder why those areas at adges are showing white when they should be transparent. Any idea? maybe you are using some drawing or such as a background for your base layout? You should get rid of that white stuff some way ;)
Pic2) reveals that your properties settings are not correct for an air base. File/properties ... uncheck the 1st box and leave the other 2 below it checked.
In pic2 the index number of lafl0g is covered.. I hope it is 0.
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It's white because I was screwing around in the settings and noticed an option for "Screen Display". So I made a screen snapshot of the airfield, edited it some in paint. Then uploaded it into the OE. That's why it's white, not transparent.
Either way, the OE has the same effect when "building" the tile. Also, when "Is Terrain Cell" is un-checked. The OE will build the shape/tile in 0.2 seconds and won't show me a results window.
Also, to put your mind at ease, lafld0g indexed number is set to: 0. I read around in the objects.txt file and it told me to index ground shapes as "0"
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Originally posted by Bogie603rd
Either way, the OE has the same effect when "building" the tile. Also, when "Is Terrain Cell" is un-checked. The OE will build the shape/tile in 0.2 seconds and won't show me a results window.
If you are not trying to make a terrain cell, do not check that box ;)
Your result will be in the newshps folder!
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Sounds great mate, let me check it out real quick!:)
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Okay, I got the shape, now im gonna try using it. I'm hoping for the best.
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IT WORKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH MY FRIGGIN GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!! IT WORKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU..... 2 hours later.... THANK YOU THANK YOU thank you....... sorry, my throat is dry!:D
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Okay, it worked on everything including loading in AHII. Now I need to know how to describe field gun positions as "capable to be manned by players" and how to make the spawn points on the airfield. And how to describe them as "Fighter Spawn", "Bomber Spawn" and "Vehicle Spawn"
Thanks again! :aok
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Spawn points are called "entpnt" in the object list.
Place them in suitable positions and define...
Object Type: Veh Ent / Ftr Entry / Bomb Ent
Ownership: Field Owned .. field no same as your field's (group master's) number
Uncheck the "Can Collide" box
Always place the "H" entry first, or alternatively remember to change the ID number as 0.
The other spawns are generated automatically according to the direction where they point at. So, when placing teh other spawns, remember to rotate them in suitable directions.
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I recommend placing the acks already in OE. The mannable ack is the shape called "bas0"... the auto acks are "gng0 - 2"
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Roger, I hear ya on the guns part. But the part I dont understand is the spawn points. I'm trying to place the spawns in the actual shape design in the OE. Not the TE. And in my OE, the spawn point is named "spawn" not "entpnt". In the TE, that's different.
Like I propably already said, I attempted to place the "spawn" shapes on the airfields. But the shape is just defined as "VOID". I'm not sure how to change that in the OE. I know how to change it in the TE though. But like I said, im trying to do it through the OE not TE.
Also, I started placing the "spawn" shapes on the runways before the hangar. And I did not make the ID number "0". Just so you know, when I built the shape and placed it in the terrain. I tested the map again and the spawn points still would not work. So that's why I wanted to know how to define the shape "spawn" as a "Fighter Entry" or a "Bomber Entry" in the OE.
One other small note. If I can only do this in the TE, not the OE. It will cause some problems. When I place an "entpnt" object on the terrain and define it as a fighter or bomber entry. The Fighter/Bomber will spawn anywhere within a 100 FT radius of the "entpnt" object. Not the exact location on the runway. That's why I am trying to make the spawn points through the OE.
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Difficult to explain, even more difficult to understand! :p
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Originally posted by Bogie603rd
Like I propably already said, I attempted to place the "spawn" shapes on the airfields. But the shape is just defined as "VOID". I'm not sure how to change that in the OE.
You can override the type definition also in OE, but I have not had any success either with placing spawns in OE.
Also, I started placing the "spawn" shapes on the runways before the hangar. And I did not make the ID number "0". Just so you know, when I built the shape and placed it in the terrain. I tested the map again and the spawn points still would not work. So that's why I wanted to know how to define the shape "spawn" as a "Fighter Entry" or a "Bomber Entry" in the OE.
I would also want to be able to do that in OE :)
btw. the index number in OE and ID number in TE are two separate things.
One other small note. If I can only do this in the TE, not the OE. It will cause some problems. When I place an "entpnt" object on the terrain and define it as a fighter or bomber entry. The Fighter/Bomber will spawn anywhere within a 100 FT radius of the "entpnt" object. Not the exact location on the runway. That's why I am trying to make the spawn points through the OE.
Hmm.. I have thought that only the vehicle entry points would do such randomizing. At least the AC spawns I have seen work perfectly from the assigned spot. I suppose they have to be on that particular base and maybe also on runway (?)
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Hang on, maybe I mis-calculated on the spawns a little. I propably got Vehicle spawns mixed up with the Fighter and Bomber Spawns. So, let me get back to you on that!:)
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Okay, good news, and bad news.
First, the good news.
The spawn point worked. and the planes are spawning in one area only on the airfield.
Now, the bad news.
AHII doesent seem to notice the difference between Bomber Entry and Fighter entry. Cause the designated "Fighter Entry" was being used by bombers as well.
Now, some more bad news. The bomber entry has an "arrow" so you can see the driection they will spawn. The Fighter entry doesent even show a shape, so I cant rotate it so planes will spawn going a certain direction.:cry
Let me know if you need a picture!
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Maybe a work-around:
Place bomber entries since you can see them and only later define them as fighter entries.
I am really not very experienced with the TE side.. mostly work with OE. I'll ask if e.g Kanttori could lead yo uto right tracks with those entry points. I know he has done such things.
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Defining the entry points is no problem. But my situation is once I place the object "entpnt" into my map, it asks me the first time what the object should be (that's where I select which entry it becomes) and such. But once I try to re-configure it and try to change that. I don't know how, because I can't get that same window to come back up for that same object.
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Off the topic for a quick moment.
You know, once this is done, we practically gave a quick overview-tutorial of the OE on how to make shapes! LOL:lol
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News Update. It turns out when I was assigning Entry Points my mouse budged over to "Boat Entry" insted of "Bomber Entry". But, the good news with this. I discovered how to re-assign shapes. And..... that's right, good news keeps coming:lol ... I'm using the "Bomber Entry" to align the "Fighter Entry" and "Bomber Entry" so that the planes run down the runway correctly!
Also I tested the map, and the entry points worked. Which means that your idea of using one object to "align" the shape and then convert it to Bomber/Fighter Entry works.
Yipee....:D
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Update:
Test Succesfull....
Spawn Points: Working
Airfield: Showing/Working
Guns: Operating
Mannable Guns: Working
Overall Scan: EVERYTHING WORKS!:D
Thanks for all the help mate!:)
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No worries.. I'm glad it worked well for you :)
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Yea, thanks again, I placed it in a map and hosted an H2H arena with it yesterday. Was a great success, 85% of the people that walked in LOVED the new design to the airfields.:cool:
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Hey, another quick question. How can I export custom shapes in the OE such as "rwy0" to ".bmp" style just like the TE does when you select an object and press "Save Texture".
I'd like to know because i'm trying to edit the airfield texture to make it look like a random "Airport-Airstrip" for my new "Airport" map.
Confusing Enough?:confused:
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Select the object, press export to ac3d, look into your ah2editor folder/export and there you have textures from that object.Hope it helps.
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You obviouslly didnt hear the ".bmp" part. I don't have / use ac3d. That's why I need the object to be exported as a ".bmp" file.
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Problewm is that rnwy isn't a texture, it's an object that can be edited in ac3d.
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Perhaps if I save the texture from the TE. Then edit it and somehow export it to the OE?
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Hey Blauk, another quick question. I placed "taxi-strips" on my airfield design. How do I list them as "Capable to be Landed on"? I already tried changing the definition of the strips to: Runway. Tested it, didnt work.
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"export to ac3d" also exports the bmp files to export folder. Runways use teh same texture as e.g. lot0-3 shapes.
These taxi-strips (lots?) should give landed result if/when they are defined as runway... did you do that in OE? Did yuo use teh new or old editor? At least with the old one it worked ok.
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I used the old editor, and these "taxi-strips" im using are not defined "lot0-3". I am using a shape named "rs100, rs1000, rs400, and rs500". And yes, I defined them as Runway.
Although I did use "lot3" for "Hangar-Grounds".
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Any suggestions on how I can transform "rs100, rs1000, rs400, and rs500" into landable objects?
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Hmm.... Apparently not:(
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Anyone have even an idea how to make it work?
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Those are streets, i think.
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OOOH.... any idea how to convert them to "Capable of Being Landed on"?:confused:
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Only in ac3d.
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No, cause Blauk was telling me about converting the lafldg0 to "Capable of being Landed on" to fix some of the things. But it might just get more confusing. Scroll up a little ways and you will see it. Somewhere he tells me that I might just try "Converting lafldg0 to landable".... So I know it's possible. Perhaps if Blauk were here...:(
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Here it is:
""The second easiest thing is to remove the rwy completely and define the actual ground as runway! Then simply edit the texture belonging to that ground object and put it to your texsrc with your newly built shp (from newshps folder). (You get the texture by exporting the ground object to export folder). Remember to place the spawn points in TE!!!
If you dont want to define the whole ground as runway, then use the lot0-3 etc runway objects. You can also hide these under the ground to define only some areas of your new ground texture as "landed successfully" areas.""
That's what Blauk Said
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Oh, great news. I got it to work. I used the "lot0 - lot3" shapes as suggested. Named them as runways, and it worked. Thanks for all the assistance, I think that's all I will be needing for now.:aok