Matrix Games Forums

Ok..now we're cookin with gas...got it in game and textured,just needs a few tweaks for the thrusters and lights and its good to go.Hold tight, it should only be a few days or even less.Now here the BIG question...

what ties the avonics to the virtual cockpits???If we're to built dedicated pits with avionics,we need to know what files control the co-ordinates and separete it from the 2d view...ie...what tells the mfd that its connected to the mfd housing in the virtual pit...Anyone????

ORIGINAL: Badger343rd
what ties the avonics to the virtual cockpits???If we're to built dedicated pits with avionics,we need to know what files control the co-ordinates and separete it from the 2d view...ie...what tells the mfd that its connected to the mfd housing in the virtual pit...Anyone????

Materials. If you open Ships/Alliance_Fighters/cockpit7b.mag in Magic 2.0 you can find out there's polygons with materials named HUD, mfd1, mfd2 etc.
I'm assuming the game uses either these material names or the actual .pcx filenames to decide what HUD part goes where.

EDIT: Actually, not quite. Actually used models like FalconPit.mag or StormPit.mag seem to only have two materials, HUD and MFD. These are both textured with hud-512.pcx. The game could be using the texture coordinates and then render the live MFD's onto the correct polygons...

yep..my setiments exactly...we don't know frak all how the avionics work and I couldn't find any files in the un-datted dat that indicates where these instructions are???We definately need some input from whom ever built these pits in how the avioncs get transposed from the 2d view to the 3d virtual one.Anyone who might have any sort of clue to this problem please feel free to post....cause we're rather stuck on this one.[&:]

I tested it and it's like I described above -- only material names aren't important. The game continuously renders the MFD's and HUD into a texture called hud-512.pcx. I textured a cube with it and got a very unpractical heads-up display [:'(]

This is how the texture is divided for the MFDs: http://shmup.org/filedump/mfds.png[/align][/align]

If it turns out to be too painful, just forget it for now, and get some playable stuff released!

Odd coincidence, by the way, that you're working on a viper. Here's something I've been throwing together for the last few days: [:)]

throwing together??[X(]
 
Olias7, you need to speak to DamoclesX...once modder, now graphics designer for Matrix.
 
I have always been of the belief that, in part, TGS was a result of what he was putting out in 4.5. Many of the ships you have seen in TGS are very close to some of what he created two years ago. He also created the B5 mod, perhaps the best mod ever created for the original SS.
 
You have talent, I consider following that road if I were you.
 
Keep up the great work.

Thanks Zanthras, I really appreciate that.[:)]