Special planet with CMP or 3db?

Allright… I’ll try to dig in the old files… I know there’s a fix!

EDIT:

I think I remember now… Open up your model in FLModelTool and check if all radius lines are correct! If your planet is size 5000 but the radius is smaller than that in the model it’ll dissapear too soon on the screen! It’s the same with ships… Or any other 3D object for that matter!

Thx Legion, i’ll try that and report back

If it is a custom mesh then you need to make a sur for it, also, set the type as PLANET. If you want it to appear without a sur, simply add a HpMount to the mesh, it will still disappear though when the HpMount goes off of the screen.

Legion might be right as i’m too tired to think. The radius of my planet is smaller so i’ll increase that and see how it goes. It was all working fine until i made the planets bigger so i suspect it’s to do with the radius.

LS,

It’s defined as a planet. It was working ok until i messed with it rofl

That’s exactly what it needs… and HPMount. Either that or delete the whole hardpoints node using UTF edit. There is also an EXE hack that helps with viewing issues for CMP type planets… but if you adjust it too far, you will have problems with the SPH based planets.

its SUR related. you need to have a sur for it lol =P simple

Wait a min, I thought he already had a SUR?

if the model pops into view when the center of the model hits the screen itll appear aslong as HpMount is in view. to fix it you make a sur thats the same size as the mesh used lol, usually the same mesh for teh planet

It turns out the sur i had was square so obviously no good. I don’t have a sphere shaped sur file and no idea how to make one (unless someone is kind enough to throw one my way), so for now i’ve decided to use an sph file. this has stopped the flicking out problem, i’m now suffering from the planet distance not being shown correctly…

I’ll send ya a link tonight for a sphere sur, I yanked it out of FL and use it for most of my models…

Appreciate it LS, all i need is a sphere shaped sur lol. Apart from the distance issue i now have its all working quite nicely using an sph file and a nice super sensitive death zone

Gibbon, you can try the dyson_city_shield.sur or space_arch_shield.sur.

Its been so long ago since I found that sur, it might be one of the 2 that Rimshot just listed.

**Been using it for years, works like a charm, one caveat though, don’t resize it twice, it screws up badly, usually resulting in a crash. Replace it with a fresh copy if you need to resize again. Also, change the type if you use it for a ship.

http://www.digitalbrilliance.org/FL_Dnlds/MISC/SphereLowPoly.sur**

Sometimes i wonder after all these years. Thanks Rimshot, forgot about those, i went with the space_arch_shield.sur because it’s rounder. Now why didn’t i think of that? lol

Thx for the tip LS, unless i get the urge to resize the planet again then once should be enough

you could alternitivly make the custom CMP like normally then use a SPH file on the same co ords as the CMP… just edit out the textures on the SPH so its invisible and then you have a flawless sur to use. all you need to do is punch in the radius of the planet and jobs a goodun. advantage of this is you get a atmosphere too… so it doesnt leave planets with that nasty hard edge

In my opinion that’s implementing a bug cheese… It’s better to crack the real problem! Especially this one with custom planets…

Let me check through my backups and my “Mess Folder” because I’m pretty sure I have a custom .cmp planet where the values are right, it doesn’t disappear and there’s no need for hardpoints to make it work! Though I could remember terribly wrong… I’ll check and if I have something that works I’ll put it up for DL…

@Legion:

In my opinion that’s implementing a bug cheese… It’s better to crack the real problem! Especially this one with custom planets…

its not… ive done this method countless times…

using pretty much the start of my tutorial going through it and then just adding the SPH file in with no textures is a grand way of making custom planets and such.

I know what you mean and no bash intended or anything…

What I meant is “why use two objects if we can fix the whole thing and only use one”

Sure this works the way you describe it and you in the systemX.ini add the .cmp planet to the invicible .sph by using “parent = SystemX_sphPlanet” on the .cmp planet… Also what you meant right?

I would say its a good workaround like most advanced modding tricks ;D