Tradelane Effect in wrong position!

Fri Nov 18, 2005 6:03 am by Black Eagle

Hi everybody!

I'm currently working on the next version of the Monkey Universe Mod and added a new feature for my Nomad systems.

I replaced their tradelanes with so called hyperlanes: They work in the same way and just have some different outward appearance (not just the old tradelane model).
The hyperlanes have only one starting and one ending point and no rings in between. Each end consists of the following parts:
1. The actual tradelane ring, which is invisible (just no mat file assigned).
2. A changed model of a jumpgate (without some parts of the original jumpgate model.
3. A shipyard, which is directly behind the jumpgate part.
4. The bl_hazard effect (seen from Benford Station during the story).

If the player docks, he flies towards the bl_hazard effect in the middle of the jumpgate model, the normal tradelane docking ring appears and he then speeds through the shipyard. Here are some pictures to make clear how it works:

The whole construction:

Docking with it:

In the hyperlane:

Now the problem is that after adding this I sometimes get a visual bug (yes, that's the strange thing, it's only sometimes!!!).

All other tradelanes, sometimes have the ring effect, which is created, when docking at a tradelane, in the wrong position. Like this:

And also the hyperlane has this problem then, so that the ring is in the wrong position. It's only visual, because the ship still goes in in the right position (see the red arrow in the last picture). So, it's just the effect, which is somehow misplaced.

Now, what exactly can cause this and how to solve this? I already thought that it might be a problem, because I duplicated the tradelane ring model. However, I did it with FL Model Cloner, to prevent problems (like the texture shifting when not changing all the material names and so).
Can it be this (maybe I forgot something in Model Cloner and have to do it again), or what can be the problem? I just cannot immagine, what it is and it only appears sometimes and then when I play again it is away and the next time it is back again.

It would be great, if you could help me, thanks!

One more question, is there any way to change the visual effects, when in a tradelane (for example changing the color to pink or so)? I know that ale files are not editable yet, but is there any way to change the tradelane visual effects?

Thanks to everyone, Black Eagle, Leader of the Monkey Universe Modding Team

Fri Nov 18, 2005 9:15 am by Mace_166

Hi Blackeagle, did you use FLE to generate the position of the hypergates or did you do it by hand?
Otherwise, you could use FLE to work out the rotation for the rings and then you could edit the ini to change the archetype and get it to what you wanted.

Fri Nov 18, 2005 2:44 pm by Black Eagle

Thanks for the help, but this is not the problem.

The tradelanes work very well and everything was right at first. Only after I added the hyperlane, the bug appeared.
It has nothing to do with the position or rotation of an object in my system. The tradelane rings and so are positioned correctly. The only problem is the effect (the white shiny ring, which is out of position in the last two pictures). This effect is created, when docking at a tradelane and normally should be perfectly in the middle of the tradelane model. However, as you can see the effect is suddenly created at the wrong position and this is the problem. It has to be something with the effect assigned to the tradelane or maybe it is a conflict between the old tradelane model and the new model (As I said, I cloned the tradelane rings and added the second one as an invisible model to the hyperlane).

Here's some code:

Solararch.ini:

[Solar
nickname = hyper_lane_inv
DA_archetype = solar\dockable\hyper_lane_inv.cmp --> This is a cloned version of the original tradelane rings model
LODranges = 0, 1500
ids_name = 60245
ids_info = 60246
type = TRADELANE_RING
mass = 10000.000000
loadout = hyper_lane_inv_loadout
solar_radius = 300
shape_name = NAV_tradelanering
hit_pts = 999999961690316250000000000000000000.000000

loadouts.ini:

[Loadout
nickname = hyper_lane_inv_loadout
equip = ge_s_scanner_03
equip = basic_hyper_lane_eq
equip = infinite_power

select_equip.ini:

[TradeLane
nickname = basic_hyper_lane_eq
tl_ship_enter = basic_tl_ship_enter
tl_ship_travel = jump_tunnel_interior_player
tl_ship_exit = basic_tl_ship_successful
tl_ship_disrupt = basic_tl_ship_traumatic
tl_player_travel = basic_tl_player_travel
tl_player_splash = basic_tl_player_splash
secs_before_enter = 2
secs_before_splash = 0.200000
secs_before_exit = 0.300000
tl_ring_active = jumpgate_rings
spin_max = 50
spin_accel = 15
activation_start = 750
activation_end = 500

Thanks for any help!

Sun Nov 20, 2005 1:41 pm by Black Eagle

Is there anyone here, who can help me with this? Please, post your ideas!!!

Thanks!

Sun Nov 20, 2005 2:27 pm by Moonhead

First of all: very cool concept!!

I've no experience at all with cloning models, but could the problem be something like the same nickname (e.g. of the effects hardpoints, HpFX01 etc.)and/or reference appearing twice in different models?

Maybe you should not just clone the model, but also rename the hardpoints and the references to it. And / or maybe also the effects, the loadouts, the jump_tunnel stuff etc.

Maybe not, i'm just brainstorming... (from a theoretical point of view, and no experience with the matter

)

Good luck with it!!

O, a drawback of this concept (apart from whether you get it working or not) might be (depending on what value you add to it) that there are no pirate interruptions possible (if you only use a begin and an end "ring" ).

Edited by - Moonhead on 11/20/2005 2:29:07 PM

Sun Nov 20, 2005 7:36 pm by Louva-Deus

Open the model(s) in HardCMP and see where the hardpoints are located.

Mon Nov 21, 2005 8:29 am by Black Eagle

Hi again!

Actually I already changed the names of the hardpoints and also the effects, etc. (Everything needed for the hyperlane was cloned and renamed from the original tradelane entry). However, I will once again look into this and see, if I have forgotten something.

Louva-Deus: Sorry, but it's not because of the hardpoint positioned or orientated wrongly. Sometimes the effect is in the right position and I did also not change anything in the original tradelane model. However, as you can see, even with this original/unchanged model the bug appears.
So it has to be some conflict with the new hyperlane.

Thanks for your thoughts, any more help is very welcome!!!

Black Eagle

Thu Nov 24, 2005 2:55 am by zazie

Most probably a dumb question - but who cares ?

As you know tradelanes change 'position' = orientation. It is not always the same when you enter. Once it is the upper for departing, sometimes it's the lower.

I don't know if FL changes rotation or if there are two different sets of tradelanes (or of tradelane effects). But:

If this is true then your (cool !) concept could use the wrong orientated tradelane or tradelane-effect.

Thu Nov 24, 2005 6:32 am by Black Eagle

Hi!

Thanks for your post zazie. However I checked and the orientation is right and the problem is also not only my concept model. Thanks anyway.

So, once again (maybe it was difficult to understand):

The problem is not the new concept!!!

The problem is that EVERY tradelane in my mod (original ones and new ones) has a wrongly situated entering effect (like in the last two pictures). My new concept model works very well. The problem is that the effect is not in the right position for the new model AND for the old models.
So, if you dock on a tradelane in NY for example, it will look like in one of the two last pictures. The effect is not in the right position, although I did not change anything on the tradelane in NY and also not on the original tradelane model and effects.

The only thing I did was to add the new concept and therefore I think it is some sort of conflict.

So, please, if anyone has an idea, what could be wrong, please post it here!

Black Eagle

Sat Nov 26, 2005 4:28 pm by Moonhead

2. A changed model of a jumpgate (without some parts of the original jumpgate model.

What did you do with this one? What parts did you remove, what functionality did you leave? Is it still opening like when you dock at a Jump gate? Or is it just a non-moving satellite you added to make it look cool?

If it has still some functionality, I can imagine that that could cause all sorts of conflicts beyond my knowledge. If it's just a "parent = " satellite, then I wouldn't guess there would be a problem (but even then, wouldn't be sure).

=============================

EDIT: A question about the problem: is the effect just dislocated? Or is it exactly in the opposite tube of the trade lane? (PS you mention some pictures and probably you linked to them, but I don't see a link...)

Edited by - Moonhead on 11/26/2005 4:46:15 PM

Sun Nov 27, 2005 5:35 am by Black Eagle

Hi, thanks for your post!

The new jumpgate model is just a satellite, which has as parent the tradelane ring. Therefore there shouldn't be any problems.

The problem is just that the effect is dislocated and nothing more. It's just in the wrong position, but not in the opposite tube.

For the pictures, see the starting post of this thread. I posted them there and when you click on them, you can see them larger.
In the first two pictures you can see, what I changed on the jumpgate model and in the last two, you can see, how the dislocated effect looks.

If you have any idea, let me know.

Black Eagle

Sun Nov 27, 2005 10:03 am by Moonhead

For the pictures, see the starting post of this thread. I posted them there and when you click on them, you can see them larger.

The point is: there are no links! it's just plain text, unclickable... also no thumbnails or whatever... I remember seeing the pics when I first read your post, but they are gone now.

Just for narrowing the your mod-problem down, remove the jumgates, even if they are just satellites. Probaly won't matter much, but it'll only takes 10 minutes of your time just to see how it all works without them.

Sun Nov 27, 2005 10:42 am by Cold_Void

just a thought but attaching the jumpgate model to the tradelane as a mounted cargopod would save a lot of work

Sun Nov 27, 2005 2:05 pm by Black Eagle

Hi again!

moonhead: that's quite strange, because for me the thumbnails still appear and I can also click them and see the images. Don't know why you cannot see them, but now it doesn't really matter, because I very probably solved the problem.

Cold Void: Nice idea, however as I solved the problem now (at least the first tests were ok) I will not change anything, because I'm glad that it works now and need to go on with other things in the mod.

So, I'm very sure that I solved the problem. I will do some more tests, but I think it works now.

The problem was somehow Fl ModelCloner. As I said before I cloned the original tradelane model, removed some harpoints and then removed the mat file. As I could not see it therefore, I did not recognize the problem.

I'm not sure what exactly happened, but after cloning the model with FL ModelCloner (new names for all parts) the exported model was somehow not complete. Some parts were missing (I just realized this, when I looked at the model with HardCMP, because ingame it is invisible) and also some of the hardpoints were situated wrongly. However, I did not change anything except of cloning the model.
Therefore I think that this was an error of FL ModelCloner, which "ruined" the model.
I now just cloned it again and this time it worked right (the only difference this time was that I chose a different new name for the VMesh thingy in FL ModelCloner).

So, the effect is now in the right position (at least in the first tests) and the hyperlane works well.
I hope that it is really fixed now.

Many thanks to everyone, who helped me!!!

Black Eagle

Sun Nov 27, 2005 2:17 pm by Dark_Angel

WOW! that's a GREAT tradelane, Black Eagle! I might download and play the mod JUST for that tradelane!

*two thumbs up*

I've stopped listening....
Why are you still talking?

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