Problem with sur splice

Hi Mindhunter.

According to Bejaymac, when you use a ship sur as a solar it will do this.

But in my experience it is not the case, my big ship surs test OK all over when I make the ship a satellite temporarily for testing.

Here’s my solararch.ini entry for my avioki:

[Solar]
nickname = test_ship3
type = MISSION_SATELLITE
DA_archetype = SHIPS\Babylon\brakiri\avioki\avioki.cmp
material_library = SHIPS\Babylon\brakiri\avioki\avioki.mat
material_library = fx\envmapbasic.mat
envmap_material = envmapbasic
LODranges = 0, 15000
mass = 100000
solar_radius = 450
hit_pts = 1000000
surface_hit_effects = 0, small_hull_hit
shape_name = NAV_smallstation
fuse = pirate_base_explode_fuse, 0, 1
explosion_arch = explosion_pirate_depot
destructible = true

In my experience,

1. boxes (i.e. cubes) do this. Never use boxes. They sometimes are OK but mostly are bad.

2. if you did not name your sur parts the same as the model groups. (i.e. if you didn’t name them xxx_Hull for the model hull and xxx_Hull_lod1 for the corresponding sur part, etc) then you must import the cons_fix.dat file after you splice the sur. If you use this naming method then you do not need to import the cons_fix.dat, it will be the same.

There are several tutorials out there, I’m not boasting, because it took me months to work out what other people meant and where they were going wrong, but mine works every time:-
http://forums.seriouszone.com/showthread.php?t=55837

If you have 3DS MAX then with Havok tools you will always get convex sur parts using this method :-
http://forums.seriouszone.com/showthread.php?t=56306

Back to your problem…

For the boxes there are two things you can do…

1. Replace all the boxes with spheres, and use “Scale” to adjust each one into the shape you need.

You can also use cylinders, but I found if I push up one end of the cylinder and scale it down, it will make a tiny dent in at least one face edge which is extremely hard to see but either crashes FL or the sur won’t work! Best way to see this problem is to do it, then you will know what I mean and you can then avoid it.

So for best results and time saving, use spheres as much as possible.

If you need to squash any section of a sphere by using selected vertexes, e.g. one of the sphere’s “rings”, then be very careful to not make an inward dent (concavity) anywhere over the sphere’s surface.

You can easily make a dent when you scale a “ring” section of the sphere smaller than the next “ring” section further out from the centre. This will kill the sur.

So be sure that as you start from the centre of the sphere and work outwards, that each “ring” section is smaller than the previous one, and you should be OK.

Ensure you have the same quantity of model groups as you have sur parts, because each sur part needs a model group with the same name to be attached to. If you need another group in the model, (e.g. if you have only 6 groups and the sphere sur will make it 7 sur parts) then make a very small sphere in the model and re-export your cmp again.

2. This second method is unconfirmed (i.e. I have not tested it personally to be sure): In cases when you can export your sur as a single group, then only the root sur part needs to be convex.

In this case…

Make one sphere that fits just inside the ship, and as large as you can make it without showing. Put it in the centre of the ship. Name it xxxxx_Hull_lod1 and make sure it is at the top of the list of groups, so it will become the root automatically.

Export your sur - remember this is only for single-part ships.

Good luck.