These are things that I've been curious about but haven't drummed up the motivation to ask, but are finally bugging me enough that I need to...
[Disclaimer: I am not a coder, but can generally follow along and understand code snippets thanks to spending enough time on GitHub heh]
1) Is there a way to code an Input so that it's an "either-or"?
Some situations:
... A] - have a single control surface to react when I apply Pitch or Roll input; similarly, where it can have Trim and Pitch, since a Rotator doesn't have the "Trim: Yes/No/Inverted" choices. (example: having a tail fin that does pitch up-down normally, but can double as an aileron, yet maybe not fully override the pitch values)
... B] - have a control surface that will react to Roll input normally but then if it detects a specific Yaw input (say only Yaw Left), will react but in an opposite way. (say if my design has a lot of roll when using the rudder and I want to counteract it by having an aileron activate to counter the roll)
The only thing I can come up with for A] is to have a tail fin with its usual control surface, but then mount that fin to a Rotator which gets attached to the plane. That way I can set the control surface to Pitch and the Rotator set to Roll, but that ends up adding +2 parts...
As for the Trim and Pitch on a Rotator, only solution I can come up with for say my SuperSonicTransport which uses a Rotator to turn the entire rear fin, would be to then use two more Rotators for that
2) How does one go about making their wings rigid and not twist under load?
I've used the Attachment Editor and tried various combinations with the 3 attach points and nothing seems to solve my problem. I've also tried reconfiguring the wing so its primary attach point (visually; the block in Design mode) is not at an extreme edge, but that has also seemed to not do much good.
To add insult to injury... the wing on the other side doesn't do it, even though after mirroring, I manually add all the same attachment points... -_- Since it was the original wing section (the Mirrored side is the one that doesn't do it), I even tried removing all the attachment points by hand in case that's why, with no luck...
The closest solution I've come up with is a bit of a kludge IMO, by taking the Wingtip attachment point, and then connecting it to the opposite Wingtip's connection point. Unfortunately, that doesn't work in every occasion it seems, and also can make things a bit unrealistically rigid. T_T
3) Wings again!
A] How do you/can you know when using "Wing" part -- that is, any of the parts that have wing physics enabled -- when it is you need to modify its XML Wing setting to Inverted: True?
B] When should a person use Flat Bottom? In my designs, I'm tending to find that Flat Bottom is way more 'well-behaved' than Semi-Symm... But while building my SST whose wings are comprised of multiple "Wing Panels" to get the needed shape, I wondered if those panels which are surrounded by other, is generally when one should use "Flat Bottom", whereas the edge panels connected to it are what should/could remain Semi-Symm?
4) Lets talk about Wings for a second... lol
The XML setting for angleOfAttack, is there a way to explain in layman's terms, how to use it, and when a person might want to toy with adjusting it to something other than its default of 0?
5) Using parts in ways they weren't intended... ie as a non-functional "static prop", only being utilized because of how it looks: Is there a way to definitively disable it?
Example: I used a Heli Small Rotor due to how it looks, which worked well in my non-vehicle build. PROBLEM is, despite my best efforts, and even when there's no fuel OR movement... it insists on trying to act like a rotor! :(
I tried changing EVERY input to Disabled -- though the Part Settings menu, not XML, since some parts don't like it, or flat out won't allow it when I try to set it with Overload -- and that didn't solve it.
I tried setting various physics settings from 1 to 0, that I thought MIGHT help, but, they didn't.
Even with its Power Scalar set to 0, it still has a lot of oomph.
Even with NO BLADES* it exerts on my build *basically 'no blades', they're at like, 0.068, albeit the Chord is set to 8, leaving a finger-sized blade; all of the above is also in place so logically it shouldn't do anything...
6) Is there a way to set a Hinge Rotator's starting/default position (angle)?
I'd like to have it start 90deg from where it's at (ie L shaped), but seems like if you can, I've overlooked it
7) Is there a Wiki page or something, that has a list or breakdown for the parts for XML editing?
Something that contains all the valid input entries each part supports (even ones they may not expressly have by default, like secondary exhaust color for example), then also the valid/supported values for those entries... A huge cheat-sheet, basically?
I'm often running into times when I'd THINK that the value I'm inputting should be supported, based on other parts that have similar entries, but then get that error after hitting OK (in-game, using Override) that what I've input is no good.
There's also the myriad of accepted inputs for stuff that I may come across used by others, but have no idea how to use them myself heh Like that inverseslerp (or whatever its called heh)
8) It's presume it's a bug/limitation of SP that prevents Mirroring of parts from retaining all the manually-created Attachment Points?
Whooo-boy is that frustrating! lol The whole reason I'm mirroring the part is to spare myself the time and effort... only to be left with having to go through all that time and effort again, just so I can re-attach everything exactly the way the other side is :(
THANKS!
I'm sure I could think of tons more questions but this is probably exceeding the character count for a post already. (A common issue I have lol)
Thanks to all and any!
1.
clamp(Pitch+Roll,-1,1)you will have to use - instead of + on the other side2.
use structural wings, you can set allowControlSurfaces to true with overload, or change an existing wing's id or whatever it's called to Wing-2
3.
A) You usually don't have to (I've never had to do it)
B) take a look at this graph, flat bottom also creates more drag than semi, which creates more drag than symmetric. For realism I never use symmetric and choose between Flat and Semi depending on the wing shape (delta and swept wings stall at higher angles irl)
Also, wing parts don't interact with each other at all
4.
I never noticed that attribute until now, but my testing indicates it's useless
5.
heli rotors are weird in sp
6.
Funky trees, use something like
1+Roll1 will be the maximum output (90 degrees if that's the rotator's angle)7.
SimpleCheats (not up to date)
Funky Trees Guide
8.
I guess you can call it a bug, most experienced players are used to reconnecting everything manually
@ChiChiWerx No apology needed, I appreciate you taking the time to drop some knowledge :D It may not have been entirely related to what I had asked, BUT it was still valuable info you shared nonetheless! After all, my entire goal of this post was to learn about stuff, particularly in relation to them fffunky, funky trees haha
@Formula350 SB = Speed Brakes. And gotcha that you were referring to changing the AoA attributes as they pertain to the wing, while I was discussing how to utilize AoA as an input in an FT formula! Anyway, sorry for the confusion.
@edensk yeah, gotcha now. I also looked it up to ensure that I was in the ballpark wrt AoA values; critical AoA values for most airfoils is around 15-20 degrees, so not too far off the quoted 10-13 degrees, but admittedly my value is probably more correct for thinner symmetrical airfoils vice more cambered wings as you already explained.
@ChiChiWerx
I feel bad about you having to type all that due to a misunderstanding, and Formula350 already explained what we were talking about (an xml attribute for the wing part which you can find in overload, not the FT variable), and I agree with the huge importance of angle of attack (I've also used its FT variable countless times, even created realistic, functional wings out of engines and FT taking AoA and multiple other parameters into account).
However, as far as I know very few aircraft (those with very thin, uncambered and sharp airfoils, and not including the ones with high incidence angles or with flaps extended, as flaps reduce the stall angle considerably) stall in that AoA range (10-13)
@ChiChiWerx " I usually use AoA to extend SBs"
What does SB mean in this context? (I might've missed what it's referencing, sorry...)
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Also, I think the AoA you're referring to might be physics engine related, whereas what I was asking about (and edensk replying to) is an XML entry that's part of Wing surfaces. It's default is 0, and I've also tried changing it to no observable effect on performance or flight behavior. Which seems to be corroborated by what was listed in the SImpleCheats document. Granted, the document is old and updates have undoubtedly been released which might have changed it to having some impact. Similarly, it could be as you're pointing out and requires actual direct use through input scripting, and only then does it do anything... *shrug* heh
Still, that's very handy info to have, thank you! :D
The ‘angleOfAttack’ (‘AoA’) attribute is not useless, @edensk, at least it’s very useful IRL and useful in game to command actions which would occur at certain AoAs or AoA ranges. Angle of attack is the angle that the airflow hits the mean chord line of the wing; so, if you’re flying slowly in level flight, with the nose at a high angle, but not losing or gaining altitude, you are at a high AoA. Likewise, if you’re turning hard pulling a lot of Gs. However, if you’re flying relatively “flatly”, such as at high speed in level flight, you have a low, or close to zero, AoA. Why is this even important? Well, a wing stalls when exceeding a certain AoA, both IRL and in game…it doesn’t matter the speed, altitude or attitude you’re at…if you exceed that “critical AoA”, the wing stalls. Granted, stalls often happen at slow speeds, because to produce increased lift at slow speeds the wing has to fly at an increased AoA, which puts it closer to the critical AoA. Additionally, greater AoA also produces more drag, as induced drag increases with increased lift. Though SP does use accurate lift and drag curves for the three airfoils present (you can actually look at the RL attributes for each NACA number that the SP airfoils represent and they are pretty accurate), I usually use AoA to extend SBs to simulate the increased drag present at high AoA using the FT formula: clamp01(-angleOfAttack - X), where “X” is the AoA, in degrees, where you want the action to occur. The negative sign is present as SP reverses the RL measure, so that what would be positive AoA IRL (nose up), is represented by the negative measurement and vice versa. Not confusing in the least. Also, to remember, most airfoils, both IRL and in SP, stall (reach their critical AoA) before 10-12 degrees, so I don’t generally link actions beyond that AoA range.
@Formula350 you're welcome, enjoy the new knowledge!
Well hot damn. Wasn't quite expecting anyone would be able to single-handedly answer them all... So many thanks, @edensk :D :D
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EDIT: Yea, I can see how the SimpleCheats guide is out of date, as some of it is different now, but also some of it isn't exactly accurate. (Though that could just be due to author's choice in wording; "Numbers" being inclusive of Whole or Decimal can be confusing since not all support Decimal, and some that do will only allow changing/setting it in 10ths)
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I wish I would've thought about setting the Hinge Rotator to
1+<input>(or minus) hah That immediately sounded like it'd indeed do the trick! :)And of course, I can't wait to try out that
clampfor things. I feel like that's going to make my life much easier AND more interesting! <3