@StarTrader:

CzW, Mirkha…

As far as options go, select “Back To Front”, collision must be “Shrink Wrapped” and scale down set to “1”, mass on 100.

Once all good, click on OK; you will have a file bsl_S06.sur.

Doing this will bridge the gaps and hollows in the sur, as part of the shrink-wrap export. So all sur parts will be made convex automatically by the exporter.
So when you make a shape with a dock cut into it for example, I don’t understand how a ship will pass through as yet. I haven’t made one to check. Any comments please?

i don’t know exactly how the shrink-wrap works but i have made two dock with the bolean tool.
one example :

and the two work perfectly.

@StarTrader:

Also…

When we change the name of the root part in the cmp, we are replacing the ship root with the 1st sphere. Why exactly?
This will leave us one group short, remember we only made x-1 spheres, because the first is the root - i.e. the ship.
Could it be that this method is working precisely because we have removed the root group?

Thanks.

in fact with the v3 exporter, to make your cmp functional you don’t have to rename the first group.
but you have noticed that i don’t rename the cmp groups in milkshape before the export.
so i have one group called : Group1.
and you know each part of a cmp must have a unique name.
if not freelancer doesn’t considere them and doesn’t show the object ingame

and no, the first group is not a sphere. the firt group is the entire ship.
here you see that the first sphere is not made in milkshape

and here you see that the first group is the reunification of all cmp groups.

i hope that’s help you

@StarTrader:

Right, got it.

Well since you are naming the root group I think it’s not changing anything, is it? As long as the name of the 1st root group (in this case it should still be the ship or station groups) is in the root’s file name then all will be ok.

Can you post up the cmp’s UTF tree so we can see the group names please? That will clarify it.

And a screenshot of the model and its sur in HardCMP will show that it is convex or not, if you can try to angle it so we can see the sur wireframe.

Thanks.

All the best.

by default when you import the cmp/3ds in milkshape, just before add the spheres, milkshape juste give Group1, Group2, Group3 ect … for the ship’s groups names.
so when you export, the exporter give to your cmp the “Group1_lod1.3db” name for the first group.
just like this.

not a problem, the cmp/sur are functional
but when you make another ships/bases, milkshape will do the same thing and give your cmp the “Group1_lod1.3db” name for the first group.
and when you put the two ships/bases in game you cannot see them because for freelancer two object have the same group name.

and this model have a docking part.
the root is in one part and it present a concavity

no bubble
never !! bubbles is the dark side !!!
hum … sorry i don’t have take my pills ;D

most seriously, only Shrink-Wrap.
and as you see on the video the boolean tools cut the face and make some others faces not to leave an open mesh.
i don’t know how but i just see it in 3dsmax.

the question is not that if the author of the exporter is here, but is anyone else can make an exporter pack for 3DSMAX ?
because all the game was made with 3DSMAX … and obviously it is possible … just need a C++ programmer with some free time … and a lot of bravery ;D

radius is managed in the lodrange of the object in the solararch.ini
and maybe you need to hack you freelancer.exe

for great objet in our mod (2600 meters) i use lodranger = 40000 at least

and for the sun/bolean.

i have made a lot of tests the last week
and when i said a lot of tests … it’s an euphemism …
even when I make the boxes only with milkshape it’s still the same. only the root part is not transparent to the sun …
it’s just a freelancer limitation.

no difference between splines and shapes for the sun : a good new and a bad one in the same time.
a good because you can do better sur and more easily with splines.
a bad one because we need to fix the problem
i have already a method.
the only problem is the flare.

I have not yet tested with the file stararch.ini and particulary this settings :

[Texture]
file = fx\sun.txm
tex_shape = sunglow
tex_shape = glow2
tex_shape = glow2_ring
tex_shape = ice_halo
tex_shape = lenscircle
tex_shape = lenscircle2
tex_shape = hexagon
tex_shape = lensglow1
tex_shape = LensGlowSpike
tex_shape = stripe_narrow
tex_shape = stripe_flare
tex_shape = suncircle

but i have find another way.
you can add a particular field to your system.

just add a noflare.ini in the data\solar\asteroids folder
in this ini you need that :

[Band]
render_parts = 6
shape = asteroid_belt_04
height = 5000
offset_dist = 3000
fade = 1.000000, 1.350000, 15, 17
texture_aspect = 1.000000
color_shift = 1.000000, 1.000000, 1.000000
vert_increase = 2
ambient_intensity = 1.000000

[AsteroidBillboards]
count = 400
start_dist = 1000
fade_dist_percent = 0.350000
shape = mine_rock_tri
color_shift = 0.800000, 0.800000, 0.800000
ambient_intensity = 1.000000
size = 60, 120

and in your system ini file you must add this :

[Asteroids]
file = solar\asteroids\noflare.ini
zone = Zone_noflare

[Zone]
nickname = Zone_noflare
pos = 0, 0, 0
rotate = 0, 0, 0
shape = ELLIPSOID
size = 1000000, 1000000, 1000000
property_flags = 0
visit = 0
damage = 0
spacedust = 0
spacedust_maxparticles = 0
interference = 0.000000
sort = 20

and that fix the sun who pass throught the model …
i give you news as soon as possible for the stararch.ini ( i hope that’s work this way because it will be easier )

and for the boolean ^^
the method work good and i have made other tests
but you’re right, from outside you hit the box and from the inside not.
so 2 solutions :

add simple surface around the hole
or use the spline to draw the contours of the object, including hole
i will make a video today to show you

@Buck:

Thx Mirkha

This maybe bad practice but I use
Lod = 0, 999999 for all models

your freelancer.exe is hacked ? because if not the limit is about 10000 i think …

@Buck:

So the only downside to using Splines instead of Standard Primitives is the solar flare, but the surface hit detection works better.

no, with the splines and with the shapes, we have the same bug.
fixed by add a particular field to you entier system or just near the base.
but keep in mind that the problem is for bases AND ships, so if you don’t fix for the entire system, you will have the bug for ships. in fact for small it’s not a problem but for big one …
as strartrader has said i think it’s a limitation of the sursplicer…

here a video for the use of a spline tool, and a solution for the boolean inside problem ;D

http://files.filefront.com/3dsmax+spline1avi/;12470336;/fileinfo.html

especially for the sphere shapes i thinlk that the splines are useful
keep in mind that spline tool mean also circle, ellipse, arc, ect …

@StarTrader:

Well, here are my findings…
I made a large sphere 200m diameter with a large boolean box removed from the front to the centre of the sphere, making a wide entrance dock in the sphere.
As usual the sphere was not visible in-game until I fitted an HpMount hardpoint.
It also disappeared from view when the centre is off-screen, until I made a sur for it. Resizing the model cmp itself and saving it with the new bounding box (radius) in FL Model Tool did not stop this.

you use the cmp exporter V3 ? with this I have not seen this problem, but with the v2.1 yes

@StarTrader:

The freshly-exported untouched sur crashed FL. Still crashed after using FL Model Tool to resize it x 1 as scenery then as ship/station again. Tried several times and ways, still same. This sur also has bridged the dock entrance with faces, which we knew the exporter does…
Incidentally, FL Model Tool adds the HpMount shield bubble (0xF00FB9DE - “Unknown_Mesh_f00fb9de”) to the sur too when you make the type = ship/station! I found that out a couple of days ago.
Surprise though - after passing a freshly-exported sur (not the resized one) through sur-splicer, the bridging across the entrance is removed, and the dock roof, floor, backwall and sidewalls are properly shaped into the sphere!!
And this sur did not crash FL, I was able to launch and approach the sphere.

yes … the only way is to use the sursplicer

@StarTrader:

But - it’s not working as you described it in your tutorial, guys! You didn’t test extensively enough - tsk! tsk!

i don’t see how … i don’t have write to user flmodeltools.exe for other thing to find the radius of your object.
if i understand well your first sur exported have a bridged entrance ? so you not use the sursplicer and obviously you sur crash the game. just normal …

@StarTrader:

From outside the sphere my ship bounced off everywhere, but passed through when approaching the dock from the front and below the dock floor level. When inside, it bounces off the dock roof and back wall once but still passes through them. There is no collision with the floor or side walls.

use splines and you can do a hitbox who work at the inside too
but i have to said that for me it’s a little problem for a docking part … when you go inside a dock … you dock …
obviously you will find players who love pass througt the dock just for fun ^^ … well you have the choice :).

@StarTrader:

I made an entry for the sphere in concave.ini - no change. I set the sphere as type = MISSION_SATELLITE, PLANET, FIGHTER in solararch.ini - same performance from the sur.

no change at all you’re right

@StarTrader:

My guess is it is something to do with normals, Lancer mentioned that he spotted that the collision detection method uses normals. So somehow the sur exporter/sur-splicer is almost there but not putting all the info that’s needed into the sur file.

i think too. i have ask for dev (he wrote the sur-splicer) but he doesn’t know why did this …

@StarTrader:

Sun flare is shining through the sphere.

just fix it with the shield for the system or near your base
it’s not a choice. if you want use this technique you need the sursplicer and if you use the surplicer you need to fix the sun …

@StarTrader:

It seems to be nearly there, it’s likely that the sur-splicer reverses some faces when it constructs the internal sur parts. If only we had someone to make us a new sur exporter plugin! (Hint! Hint!)

^^
if you find somenone, just ask him to make exporter for 3DSMAX too ^^

hope this help

sorry for the double answer …

more testing and I think yes, the problem seems to be with the sur splicer
if I work with lines or shapes, it’s the same, you pass througt from the inside …
i don’t understand how with the splines, it’s possible … You have saw the video … it’s juste an object … no hole inside in fact
o__________O

at this point, i don’t know more but give you news as soon i find