Oolite Bulletins

mandoman wrote:

Zieman wrote:

I had similar displacement problems when I started making Far Arm ships Titan, and the solution was to move those displaced subents up in the .plist, to reside there before turrets.
So, I'm pretty sure your problem goes away by just moving the dock-entry up in your shipdata.plist, like this:

Code: Select all

		subentities = 
			(
			"example_dock 0 0 -850 0 0 1 0",
			"example_subent_a 0 0 360 1 0 0 0",
			"example_subent_b 0 0 375 1 0 0 0",
			"example_turret 79.55 192.05 314.0 0.8451 0.4978 -0.0990 0.1681",
			"*FLASHER* 0.0 0.0 650 240 0 0 64",
			"*FLASHER* 0.0 0.0 -750 270 0 0 200"
			);

I don't use that format. The Wiki said that all of the plist type scripts were heading to ns, and away from xml, so I just learned to do it in the ns. I think I see what you are doing with it in that example, though.

mandoman wrote:

Well, I put the subent entry for the dock ahead of the ball turret entries, but the dock is still hanging faithfully out in front of the ship. It really looks screwy, and I wish I knew how to fix it.

{
                        type = "standard";
         is_dock = "true";
         subentity_key = "andricodred_dock";
                        port_dimensions = "931.072 x 284.350 x 666.750"; <------ three decimal places
                        tunnel_corners = "4";
         position = (0.0, 242.3, 635.8);
         orientation = (1, 0, 0, 0);
         }

Zieman wrote:

remove the "port_dimensions"-key, just thought that it screws your dock big time. IIRC for a working dock you need:
....And port_dimensions is a key not longer used, position, orientation and actual model dimensions take care of that functionality with much more control and possibilities for every aspect.

Wildeblood wrote:

mandoman wrote:

Code: Select all

{
                        type = "standard";
			is_dock = "true";
			subentity_key = "andricodred_dock";
                        port_dimensions = "931.072 x 284.350 x 666.750"; <------ three decimal places
                        tunnel_corners = "4";
			position = (0.0, 242.3, 635.8);
			orientation = (1, 0, 0, 0);
			}

I've noticed three decimal place precision in other shipdata fragments you've posted in the past. Do you really need millimetre precision? Would doing those precise calculations hurt my poor computer?

Zieman wrote:

Could you send me the files, so I can have a look.

Zieman wrote:

the dock seems to be really big (931x284x667^3 oometers vs. standard 250x192x64 oometers^3), and[/s] the position is 242 oometers above and 636 oometers in front of ship center. Don't know if that's too much or too little (don't know your carrier's dimensions). Ah, one thing: when you determine the dock position, do you have the main model correctly centered in your modelling program?

Zieman wrote:

EDIT: remove the "port_dimensions"-key, just thought that it screws your dock big time. IIRC for a working dock you need:
- dock model (.dat)
- corresponding entry in shipdata.plist
- subentity-entry using thedock entry inside the carrier(or station)'s entry in shipdata.plist
And port_dimensions is a key not longer used, position, orientation and actual model dimensions take care of that functionality with much more control and possibilities for every aspect.

Eric Walch wrote:

Yes, in the first place belong port_dimensions and tunnel_corners in the carries definition and not in the subent definition. At the current location they are just ignored. So, the good thing is that this will not be a source of your troubles.

And as Zieman writes, you should just remove the port_dimensions altogether. It is just a key needed when your ship does not has a dock subentitie at all.

mandoman wrote:

Zieman wrote:

Could you send me the files, so I can have a look.

Yeah. What all do you want? Do you want me to compress the oxp, and upload it to Box for you to get, or what?

Zieman wrote:

Yeah, that would be great.

Zieman wrote:

Main model wasn't really centered either, and it is not completely symmetrical (left-right symmetry) + some faces were a bit funny.

Zieman wrote:

Ok, I've now gone through the models & shipdata.

The dock model was really screwed up when I imported it to Wings 3D (the polygons were several hundred Oometers off-center).

Main model wasn't really centered either, and it is not completely symmetrical (left-right symmetry) + some faces were a bit funny...

Exhaust definitions in shipdata.plist had one value too many and the turret orientations vere funny.

I have centered the dock, fixed many issues with the main model and amended shipdata.plist to reflect these changes & fix said oddities.

I'll test my changes once mora, and the upload the OXP for you to grab it back.

P.S

is this carrier really supposed to be so fast - 0.38 LM seem a wee bit quick for such a big ship...

Eric walch wrote:

Very visible when displaying bounding boxes. (Pause, x) one side had a length of about 27000 metres

Zieman wrote:

(hope the turrets' placement is ok for you, had to do some quesswork there...)

mandoman wrote:

What was wrong with how I had the turrets arranged? I admit they weren't in position just right yet, but I was working on them.

mandoman wrote:

You certainly nailed it, that's for sure. How did you get the dock into position? That is something I've been puzzling over now for several weeks.

mandoman wrote:

I have that quaternion calculator. The problem I have is determining on which axis to use, given any particular turret. If you are figuring from their own XYZ axis', how do you figure them in relation to the ship, and the position on the ship which you wish to place them? They look great, by the way. That wasn't what I was trying to do, but I actually like your design better, so thanks again.