I mean, the fact remains that not everyone would be capable of doing it that way like they could with a simple-to-use mod, even IF someone happens to still posess this Lost Knowledge of the XML to bestow upon us again (which I would still be interested in, eitherway...) :D
Guess that makes the need for such an in-game menu method (ie this mod) all the more important!! heh
@Bobyo I got'chu don't worry: Smol Brain Explanation:
I made "ropes" from a LOT of Hinge Rotators that I had set to Floppy (which is what it says when moving their "Speed" slider all the way to the left), all connected front-to-back, with each one rotated 22.5deg from the next one.
.
-If you go to this link: https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/12OUw1/DERPAs-Derpship-I-Staged-RocketSRB-with-Launch-Tower
-Then download it to load into SimplePlanes.
-Click on "Play" so it spawns on the map.
-Zoom the camera out.
-Move the camera around to the Right side, up near the top of the Tower, where the arm extends out to the Rocket.
-You'll then see the "rope" i made physically swinging around.
Smoller Brain Explanation:
I MADE A BENDY ROPE IN SP! YAY ME ^_^ lol
The amount of times I've instinctively tried -- and continue to try even now -- to move the Throttle knob, Fighter throttle, or the Levers... number enough times that it makes me perplexed as to why it wasn't like this in the first place... (at least on PC/Mac; not enough screen realestate on mobiles)
Check out the Fueling Hoses I made on this build -- as in, load it, not just look at it in the designer.
A hose is just a rope which is capable of transferring liquid internally, expediently, and without leaking :P (a rope used to transfer liquids would be a Wick, which would not be expedient at the task OR leak-free lol)
.
However, I forgot to change their massScale and sure as hell wasn't about to do it after the fact, so they weigh a LOT more than a rope would (or perhaps a hose, even) <_> I considered loading it in Notepad++ and doing it via Find And Replace, but meh, I countered their imparted forces through a simple Time Delay on the Detatchers.
.
In the end, the reason I made them that way was exactly the one @AWESOMENESS360 stated: the need for cable physics!
PHOTO CAPTION: "Tow, tow, tow your boat
gently through the sea...
Push a Bobyo overboard
and listen to 'em scream!"
November 11th Changelog:
- Additions and Improvements to the "Helpful Tips" section.
---- Opted to utilize sub-bullet points since we're unable to use Line Breaks in bulleted lists :( Not optimal, but, a massive mega-paragraph is even worse, so this at least breaks it up like I desired.
---- Added "EXAMPLE 2" for the use of Negative values
---- Added a blurb about how Spaces of any kind are not utilized if added at the end of lines.
---- Added a Ted Talk on the "em" unit, describing how it works and gets applied in game with our Font(s).
---- Added the mentioning of <color=> apparently not. supporting Strings like the document page indicates.
---- Updated Tip #1 based on findings while adding Color's tip.
@Prince1747 Cross your fingers and *hope @BigBushy updates it for SP v1.11 (that came out a couple weeks ago), as it apparently broke any mod that added parts, like this one. :\
I was considering making a request to FineTuner, but it seems now THIS mod is more suited for it... REQUEST #1: Allow for pasting in of Overload-formatted position, rotation, and scale sizes, AND/OR the ability to Copy those values right from the "Axis" mod's window... so that I can easily copy-paste the full string of values between different parts :D
.
I do a lot of that, and as it is now, I have to: click on a part, open Overload, copy whichever variable's value, then select the other part, open Overload, paste in said values.
Having that ability within a single menu that remains open would be super helpful!
Actually, if by chance Axis can hook into FineTuner as well, to provide this feature while I have a parts Multi-Selected, that'd be even more. helpful! lol
REQUEST #2: A simple button to let me "Zero" my built on the X-axis!
Please please please...
With how painful the game's drag system is, and how glitchy even the Mirroring can be at times, I often end up manually having to mirror stuff in order for my plane to fly straighter. (Though, often the Drag is to blame which is outside the scope of this mod heh)
So when god only knows what. has caused SP's Designer to skew my entire build by X: 0.000130 (or some other random value), it makes my brain hurt due to being genuinely that bad at math... well ok mostly just not wanting to do the math because that's not fun, and fun is why I'm playing SP! :}
I could ask for more, but I'll shush since I'm undoubtedly -- as usual -- about to exceeded the character limit for posts... lol
For anyone curious, the two old original engines are Engine-Prop-2 (used here) and Engine-Prop-1.
They lack any ability to increase power despite their same-as-Jet XML entries.
As such, I cheated a bit... Since I needed to have a way to paint the engine cowl blue, I just used a second engine clipped inside, thus doubling the performance. :}
.
Seriously though, they are trash lol The only reason I did this was cuz that engine block in Engine-Prop-2 is great!
Not a problem :)
I only wish I could've figured out a solution for the Prop vanishing!
Though I am still sort of working on it, as it is quite weird that it's happening. (Which in doing so, I've discovered other legitimate bugs with Props, which may be related; not certain, though.)
Ran out of message space lmao C'est la vie....
.
Was going to end with this:
(Note: there are lots of vanilla actions you can perform which will not trigger the auto-save/creation of an undo point, but using Nudge is the quickest way to initiate it. I either nudge, or just clone a part to a random empty area, and delete it. Still, not fool proof.)
Also, @exosuit thankfully you only need to use the "period" trick in these comments. Forum posts and Shared builds allow you to use conventional line-breaks with the Return key. Though I suspect maybe this had been a comment that you decided to transform into a dedicated post, and thus had Cut-and-Pasted it here. :P
I'm the same. I prefer the Fine Tuner mod over the in-built variant; however, after I only recently found out the in-built version lets you "Nudge Selected+Connected", that's pretty handy...... when it works....... It's hard to know what Grand-Parent", "Parent", and "Child" parts are, and which one you need to have selected in order for all the other ones to nudge with it. As a result, I often end up having to REMOVE connections from the main build in order to make it so whatever I have selected will move everything no matter which is the actual parent. (Unless there's a "next connected part" cycler hotkey I don't know about that works similar to going "Forward" or "Backwards" along fuselage pieces...)
I mean it saves a lot of time from having to manually select every part of a section, but that's only when it works as you want/need! lol
.
I've never used the DesignerSuite connection editor though, but it sounds like I really ought to give it a go...
.
As mentioned, the Scale feature on Fine Tuner is one of the reasons I can't drop using the mod. The other is "Multi-Select". That is just too powerful to do without, and I simply don't understand why either of those didn't make it in.
Another big reason that keeps me using it, is the much better and smaller interface. The vanilla menu is way too big, and without the ability to... well lol "Fine Tune" the UI to suit our own personal desires and screen size, it ends up being too scrolly for me.
. HOWEVER I do still use the vanilla Nudge! In actuality, I love that I have TWO nudges now. I leave vanilla set to 0.01, and then Fine Tuner mod set to 0.001 for defaults. :P Now if only using vanilla Rotate-by-90 didn't randomly Auto-Connect nearby parts, I'd be able to use that more, too!
.
But yea, I made a similar post, albeit about things to add into the mods, to skip the red-tape of adding it right into the game. Similar community support, but didn't gain any traction with WNP (and HellFire didn't chime in). :(
.
The biggest UGH of all, is that not even the "Now Vanilla" features apply their actions to the Undo History... -_-
Change a connection point, only to have it removed at a later Undo.
Adjust a part's rotation, only to have it reverted at a later Undo.
Make a bunch of changes to a Text Label... (or Input; anything that uses the underlying TextMesh Pro Unity plugin)
I'm sure adding/changing Variables result in their changes being deleted as well, if you happen to Undo later.
I feel the exact same way, and considering we can't vote on new stuff until the others are closed by a dev, we don't get our points back to distribute. Sorta defeats the purpose. (I think you also need points to post there, further complicating things)
.
I've given up using it and post everything here, instead.
Well most devices support 10-Point Touch, as of probably the last 5 years or more. So there's no reason they couldn't add a whole bunch of other features like that for mobile.
ie Assign it to 4-touch, where you could use the Thumb of your off-hand as Input#1, then a 3-finger touch on the primary hand to do the rest.
Although, since I suspect you would need to do all of that within a very quick span of time for it to register as 4-fingers... maybe just a simple button in the corner on mobile, that when it's held-down it toggles "Alt" functions for 1, 2, 3 finger touching. Akin to what Shift and Ctrl do on PC.
@CC1010 If you ever feel like making something, and uploading it as an Unlisted "rough draft" that is in need of tedious fine-tuning of part locations... Feel free to ping me. I'd actually considered making a post to offer that, as I for some reason enjoy that sort of thing. (I often end up doing it on builds I've downloaded anyhow, but don't feel right uploading them often times...)
Indeed, all engines definitely need to have the same volume XML option that the Cannon does!
Engines can get insanely loud in Contra-Rotating builds :( Particularly the Turbo Props...
I had been contemplating making this suggestion for awhile myself! :)
@rfostoria I totally agree!
.
That being said: there currently is a way... though sadly it's not the best solution, but you can edit the scale in XML to make it shorter. However, you also need to change its Length value by the same amount, otherwise it will be an oval shaped wheel <_> lol
The downside to this, is the wheel's physical size gets smaller, hence why it's "not the best solution". Still, a solution.
.
Alternatively, making your own by 'hand' with a Rotator. Fuselage, and Resizable Wheel would be a roughly *thinks....* 5-part solution. 6, if you want a 'fancy wheel cover' lol
Yea, I have a slight issue with being unable to type short posts... lmao Sorry :(
I also now realize that I may have misunderstood you originally... :}
I was under the impression that the "issue" you were presenting was solely that it vanishes during IDLE.
However, I now think I understand what you're saying, in that compared to other prop engines, when they change from the modeled-to-2D visual, their 2D "blurred propeller" texture is MUCH darker (has more contrast) compared to what your Demonstrator/Video show off. Yes?
If interested, since I was getting so many Overspeeding situations when throttling down, I was curious if the reported RPM in the Warning Text was accurate, so I went about adding an RPM gauge (Tachometer) to watch.
.
2 things of note:
1) was that setting up the gauge, using the input code provided by the gauge that the Twin Prop plane uses, was a pain in the butt! Foremost, because after having already presumably "fixed" the gauge in that plane, I've come to find out I have actually NOT. Long story short, I went into this using abs(Rpm1/1200) with the Gauge's "Input Multiplier" set at 70. (and "Zero" indication at 110)
After roughly 45minutes I've narrowed down the CORRECT code, at least for the Turbo Prop engine: Rpm1/28, with -no- "Input Multiplier". (and "zero" set at 108, but that might be[?] irrelevant)
I reach that by first having DebugExpression Rpm1 displayed, and then by watching that as I increased the engine's throttle to make it sweep around the dial (quite hard with this setup!). All the numbers now matched up correctly based on the typical """x1000""" values used in Tachs... Which despite this Turbo Prop never really exceeding 1000RPM in normal operation, is actually required to be x1000 because...
.
2) The on-screen Overspeed Warning does not show the Max RPM the blades are hitting. It's also not the "Shaft" speed, either, because... well first off, it doesn't look to be a gearbox equipped Turbo Prop so I figured must be 1:1 Shaft:Prop (I could be wrong, if torque converters can have differential outputs?). Secondly, because the Debug readout DOES match with the Overspeeed Warning text; however, the text will eventually 'settle' on a reported RPM, and yet the Prop's RPMs are still increasing!
.
In my configuration, using "Almost-blurring" code, and a slightly tweaked Propeller Pitch code, the Warning displays an RPM settling at ~2950RPM... whereas the Debug (and my Gauge) reach a PEAK of 3550RPM!
Thankfully, the "blow-your-engine-up" Overspeed RPM seems to be around 5000RPM... So even with that disparity in what the Warning shows, it's quite a ways off from blowing up. Alas, that's in the ground-test rig at sea-level, so thinner high altitude air might cause all sorts of different results!
. [Hurray for long posts... Continues below]
Want to make an Tachometer for your plane? Use this for the Gauge's Input: Rpm1/28 and replace 1 with the engine's RPM you want to read -- which is trial and error unfortunately, but seems to base it on Engines furthest forward (higher Z coordinate) come first, and then those along the same X-axis are from Left to Right. At least in my one case I'm basing this on. I had 4 props, 2 front-center (contra), 2 on wing.
Front-front was Rpm1, Front-back was Rpm2, Left Wing was Rpm3, and Right Wing was Rpm4. EVEN THOUGH the two Wing engines were there first, which meant some troubleshooting later, when that engine's gauge was reading 0 despite rotating.
(Also lastly, the engine being off doesn't matter, if your plane is moving and prop is spinning, it generates an RPM because it's not the engine's speed *sigh*)
@zwen Indeed. FT Code requires the = for most stuff, but it also DOES use a : quite often. Such as in the IF?THEN:ELSE which using it there does not functionally break FT, on the contrary, NOT using it there will break the FT code lol
.
Whereas with the Labels, use of the colon inside the < > Rich Text brackets, results in TextMesh Pro being unable to "parse" where's there, which causes it to literally be displayed on the label.
So if you wanted a label to say: Engine FIRE Warning
Where "FIRE" is also in larger in size in addition to bold, you would type in:
Engine <b><size=200>FIRE</size></b> Warning
However, typing it out like HTML formats it, using the Colon instead of Equals:
Engine <b><size:200>FIRE</size></b> Warning
Would result in the Label literally displaying: Engine <size:200>FIRE</size> Warning
SimpleCheats is rather outdated now and there's a number of things either missing or lacking a full explanation, but even so, it indeed is still incredibly helpful! (Might even be some things that are incorrect now, but I don't know enough to say that with certainty)
EXAMPLE: There's no mention of partCollisionResponse and what it accepts for values. By default it is filled in with Default, but None also works and that makes the part become invincible from taking kinetic damage (not sure about bullet or rocket/missile explosion though) -- as far as I can tell, at least. So crashing doesn't damage parts, nor do parts of your own built that can move and might make contacting other parts cause damage to themselves. The latter is the more useful aspect since that means mechanized contraptions won't harm themselves :)
ANOTHER EXAMPLE: Certain parts Input or Action Group can be XML modified to None and others with Disabled, even though it isn't a choice in the Parts Setting menu, nor mentioned on the SimpleCheats page. Though, it does produce a Warning in the console, that said part is wanting a "True/False" but had "None" or "Disabled"... and yet not only does what you made function as you want, those parts also non-functional as you want! lol
. (Granted, in that last example, it's probably more the game being like "HEY I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THIS! So..... I'm not going to do anything with it at all." Which, as it just so happens, that's exactly what we want it to do: nothing! heh)
@OtakuNekoToT No no, I get that it's due to how your FT code is. My point was that the way it's setup is:
1) applying too much throttle at Idle, which means...
2) the engine produces too much power, which...
3) causes the blades to spin too fast (ie RPM) because...
4) at Neutral Pitch there is not enough drag to slow the blades down
.
I totally get that it's all setup with the Neutral Pitch to act correctly, in that at idle it won't move the plane. I only included that in my original explanation in order to point out the chain of events that lead to the issue you're experiencing.
.
That being said, the solution is to lower the RPM (via Throttle applied at idle). The question is, how slow or fast are you wanting it to spin?
JUST slow enough not to blur?
or
Quite a bit slower?
Here's what I managed to work out for ya either way (this code is [obviously] only for engine's Throttle, not Pitch, since we don't want to touch that any): Almost-burring
(smooth(Engine2*0.01,0.1)+(smooth(Engine2*0.01,0.1)?Throttle:0)*0.99 Medium-speed
(smooth(Engine2*0.007,0.1)+(smooth(Engine2*0.007,0.1)?Throttle:0)*0.993 Windmill-speed (ie slow rotation)
(smooth(Engine2*0.002,0.1)+(smooth(Engine2*0.002,0.1)?Throttle:0)*0.998
NOTE:
You might want to add a smooth to that final "ELSE" output, because in my testing, quickly throttling down (or using Brake, which instantly throttles to 0%) can cause the Blade Pitch to flatten out too much and produce an Over-rev warning. (3648RPM, 2x the "safe" limit)
I don't know if that'll cause a similar situation when in flight, but thought it at least merited mentioning.
@CenturyAerospace True, yes, that too. I just figured that the models would've inherently blurred on our screens by spinning faster. So the end result would've (presumably) been the same, and as a result I figured they swapped it out with a 2D blurring image just to save CPU & GPU cycles. (Same reason we use 1 part when we can, instead of 6, as less total part count means it can run better for lower-end systems/mobile.)
.
Grant I only have limited knowledge in rendering, being only a gamer and not a dev of any kind :} Thus, I could easily be wrong, which is ok! heh
@DrenasPort Ye-olde Batman DID use a bubble-canopy helicopter (aka Batcopter) in the original TV show! lol So it's not a stretch of the imagination...
Wings? Got'em
Skids? Got'em
Big derpy bubble design? Got'em
.
And arguably, its involvement is just as cringy as my ROFLcopter, based on this scene clip. EDIT: Just to clarify, I only tagged it with Batman for the lawls :P
Anyways, as to your issue...
They don't disappear. They just reach the needed RPM to trigger their "fast-rotation" effect.
.
From my understanding, the Propeller engines (and maybe even the internals of Turbines, though I've never looked that close), when their blades rotate fast enough the game stops rendering their 3D models, and switches to a 2D texture -- presumably to save performance by not having to calculate the location for multiple points in a 3D model anymore. (note: I'm not certain SP actually ""models"" things in the same way most games do, with skins, but I digress...)
.
I think this is combined slightly with the way you set up its Variable Blade Pitch through FT, to have it zeroed out during idle (ie, no "thrust" is produced by the blades), which might impart a different 2D effect or perhaps a different contrast gets applied to it.
When you throttle-up, their pitch changes, which would actually cause drag on the blades and that's why they "show up" again for a moment after increasing throttle. Because the blades experiencing drag and aren't able to spin as fast with the amount of throttle they're given at idle.
On my PC while playing, after starting the engine I can faintly see the momentary glimpse of the blade. If you turn on Slow Motion (in the Pause menu), it shows it a bit easier. However, we know for certain that the blades ARE still there as far as the game is concerned, because their Shadow continues to be rendered. :) (also because they show up again as soon as you increase throttle heh)
@OtakuNekoToT They're talking about tags, like Bug, Teaser, WWII, Multi Role.
Not the @ mentioning a user to Notify them. :)
.
Tags get used on lots of websites, such as here, news sites, and YT, as a way to categorize entries so that people can search for just that "Tag" text and turn up all related content.
@SnoWFLakE0s I might be not following you correctly here, which wouldnt't be surprising given my lack of FT knowledge, but this <rotate=[value as degrees]> that I'm talking about is specifically for the Text inside the Labels and unrelated to FT. (as far as I understand it, since it's Rich Text related)
.
I imagine that with the proper know-how, that it could be, in combination with Variables -- and is probably how the 1-part HUDs -- it can have the [value in degrees] dynamically defined based on something determined by FT... However, that was beyond the scope of this post. The only reason I mentioned said 1-part HUD was to credit PlanariaLab and give a reason to link their upload heh (admittedly, I could've simply mentioned them, and left it at that)
.
On its own, the <rotate=#> is useful for many things, in reference just to using it in Labels. In conjunction with other Rich Text modifiers, it would effectively allow you to use a single Text Label to suffice for labeling any number of various different parts, despite the fact they're rotated 90; i.e. a 2-person cockpit with a center console that has text oriented for the person on that side to read it and would be 180deg rotated from the other person. Furthermore, that same Label part can still tackle any controls with seat-agnostic orientation -- technically if it were me, I'd have the Text Label facing that way to begin with, then the Left and Right side-specific labels would get Rich Text rotated by -90 and 90, respectfully.
.
If they had mentioned TextMesh Pro in the release notes/beta post, I must have somehow missed it. I did read both of them in full, but there was a lot of text to take in from both, which was why I had thought it mentioned HTML or CSS.
Though it also might've been added after-the-fact, as I noticed on the Beta blog post that WNP had followed up with a couple comments, and I didn't even consider until now that the post itself could been updated (as I didn't read it over again, only doing a cursory CTRL+F a few days ago when trying to find where I thought I'd seen mention of HTML)
While I have you, and am thinking about stuff I'd read but can't find details on again...
Isn't there an XML item for the Rotators (not Hinge) that we could add, similar to disableBaseMesh, which would allow the Rotator to not ""unwind"" itself when deactivated? zeroOnDisable or resetWhenDiabled or... something?? I swear I saved it in a build or a .txt file of notes, bu
@FairFireFlight
lol *dja-djan-djun* big trucc *dja-djan-djun* BIG TRUCC *dja-djan-djun* big trucc *dja-djan-djun* BIG TRUCC!!!
.
(Although I do suggest listening to the entire song, too lol And for anyone interested, while that band is no more, some members [lead singer for sure] did form back up to become Devil Driver, whose first album at least was great and worth checking out... subsequent ones, eeeh...)
Question 1: How tall is it? Question 2: Is it possible to somehow have one or two Naval Ships (USS Tiny, or one of the Destroyers) be made to spawn inside the caldera, with their flag set to have them spawn pre-damaged?? :D Reason being, this will cause them to emit a tall cloud of black smoke (and a bit of fire), to give the volcano some visual effect!
. Suggestion 1a: Add a hidden, but quite large, water entrance to a big cavernous area... You know, for a villain's secret lair! Something ships can enter, maybe where there's some ground vehicles that spawn (stationary) for us to blow up... Suggestion 1b: A runway that exits the side of the mountain, for the villain's air fleet/private jet. Suggestion 2: Assuming the terrain editor being used allows for making that cave runway... it'd also be cool to have a really long and hollowed out lava tube (ancient, inactive) that's somewhat high-up on the mountain. Large enough in diameter for a fighter-sized plane to make it through -- about the size of the bridges in other words. However, not just a straight hole through the mountain of course, to give us a bit of a challenge to fly though it (like the Kraken, but, not moving at the same time lol)
.
Which 1a and 1b combined, could be the replacement for the Bandit base and runway, as well as the Water Spawn/shipyard/dock area. This would also provide a legitimate reason for such a large Convoy to be making their rounds, as they'd be the evil henchmen. ;)
. Observation: Updooted by @VolcanicAsh .... username checks out.
Yep, that did it! Does exactly the same thing as mine now but shorter!
Thanks :D (Although, as to why adding the outer parenthesis solved that issue, is definitely beyond me! lmao)
.
I've pinned the functional code and am leaving this line of text to hopefully avoid confusion, should anyone read the comments :P
"Updated List: Now with ONE Bug!!" :P
It's related to what I already had in there, so instead of making a new post for such an innocuous issue, even though it IS truly a bug now, I opted to merge it here instead.
They also updated the game's entire "engine" it runs on, which in addition to all the stuff like graphics and user interface, it also handles physics related things.
Since your Celeron is from 2008, it is only a Single Core CPU (lacking even basic HyperThreading). So my guess is that the issue is actually your CPU being TOO overloaded.
.
You might have better luck trying to turn settings down instead of up. :(
.
But to directly answer your question:
Is it my specs or the game????????
I think it's a bit of both. Your computer was never meant to play games, even when brand new. Only as something for typing documents or light internet usage.
L: Roll - Roll=0 ? clamp01(Yaw)*0.055 : 0
R: Roll + Roll=0 ? clamp01(-Yaw)*0.055 : 0
Now it ends up canceling out Roll from working, period lol
... And also makes the Aileron move in the opposite direction :}
.
Though, I can't even figure out how that manages to even react with Yaw with that code, given from what I can tell the "IF" part is looking solely for Roll related Input, and the "THEN" is the performing of Yaw-based stuff. EDIT: Nevermind, makes sense now. "IF there is no Roll input" "Then, do this if Yaw is present" EDIT 2: The Aileron being just a lack of Negative in front of the decimal value.
.
The "ELSE" being zero explains the lack of any Roll input getting applied, and I presume that it should be : Roll instead of : 0? EDIT 3: Nope, I'm a derp! That wouldn't work since the "IF" part means it never will make to the "ELSE" part lol
@rexzion lol Yea me too :sob: I know enough to kludge together code and get it working (usually...), but I don't actually know the more-advanced stuff that would let me properly get it done.
@edensk Yep I never would've came up with that result.
However, while using yours DOES yield functional results, it actually doesn't produce identical results as mine. (as determined through using DebugExpressions)
.
Situation A:
YOUR CODE:
YAW Left = 0.055
ROLL Left = -1
YAW Left + ROLL Left = -0.945
.
MY CODE:
YAW Left = 0.055
ROLL Left = -1 YAW Left + ROLL Left = -1
Situation B:
YOUR CODE:
YAW Left = 0.055
ROLL Right = 1
YAW Left + ROLL Left = 1.055
,
MY CODE:
YAW Left = 0.055
ROLL Right = 1 YAW Left + ROLL Right = 1
I only mention that because I was intending to also apply this to the Tail Elevators and they would require significantly more compensation applied than just 0.055, to adjust for the amount of Nose-Down that occurs. Which would actually lead to a situation where if I were applying Yaw+Pitch, my Elevator's input would either be far less-than its max, or far over its max. (depending on whether I'm pitching up or down)
.
It's the latter situation that would be of concern, since it could result in those Elevator flaps stalling-out.
BUT! All examples of functional code like you provided is actually really helpful for me, since I learn better through examples than I do being giving explanations for how to use stuff and trying to get it working. :D
You read my mind... Or, well given this has clearly been something you've been working on, I guess I read YOUR mind. lol
.
I was (lightly) considering making a Challenge that was basically "If Star Wars vehicles were built using WWII tech."
Which, naturally you have done exactly that! :D
If you can remember to @ me when you finish and have uploaded it, that'd be great! :)
A way you can perhaps get a rough-estimate on how the cone would look, would be to actually start off by using a Standard Fuselage part instead...
This way you have access to change its Front and Back Fill values through the Menu!
.
Once you have it where you think it will be needed, open up Overdrive.
Instead of changing anything in the Fuselage menu, now you will actually modify the partType in the main window!
You'll currently see: Fuselage-Body-1, and what you'll want to change it to is Fuselage-Cone-1
.
Save it, and you'll get a text warning on the screen about it changing and removing all its Attachment Points. A small price to pay, really. :) (Alternatively, you can save your build, and then open its actual file in a text editor, then modify its entry that way, save the file, and load it again in SP. That makes the changes AND retrains all the Attachment Points. Though it's not something very good to use in practice, since a Cone has only 2 attachment locations (Back and Center) compared to a Fuselage's 7 (Front, Back, Left, Right, Up, Down, Center), which could cause problems.)
Feature Corrections and Unmentioned Additions/Changes:
(tagged as [c] or [n], respectfully; 'correction' may also get used to indicate I have provided clarification or further info)
- [c] The ability "hide parts" is sadly only a Designer-Only feature. We are not able to toggle whether a part is actually hidden -- such as, to have a wing added but toggled "hidden", leaving its physics present but no model rendered while playing -- and it's limited to that Design Session as well, resetting once you spawn your build and return to the Designer screen. You also have to go through the process of clicking through menus after selecting each part, to keep on hiding things. (just cumbersome in my opinion, unless there's a hotkey I've not uncovered?)
- [c] The hideCowl for WWII engines does not "hide the engine cowl", but actually hides the entire engine leaving just the Propeller and its Domed Hub. (Hiding the cowl would technically leave an exposed engine, like ol-timey Radial and Rotary engines [SP does not have any "Rotary" style engines though, which rotated all the cylinders with the propeller affixed to them, around a stationary-crankshaft that was bolted to the plane's frame])
- [n] For the Fuselage part, now when you have a Rise set and change the Length of the fuselage, it no longer causes your Rise to be thrown off. YAY!!
- [n?][This may have already been in SP but I seriously don't remember it happening...] Jet Engines now have dynamic exhaust! When your engines lack enough Inlets for air (therefore, are 'starved for sufficient air') and are thereby running ""fuel rich"", their exhaust becomes realistically blacker/darker! Also, the exhaust becomes longer or shorter depending on altitude and/or speed. [In my limited testing thus far, the faster you go at low altitude (under 12K ft) the longer the exhaust scale becomes. At typical airliner cruising altitudes, the exhaust is significantly shorter even though you're at roughly the same TAS.]
- [c] The slant option only imparts it on the Back of that fuselage part. This is just here in case anyone else had a different expectation of what would be possible... like in my case... lol
- [c] Not all parts allow you to CTRL+Click their Input to open up the Funky Editor. It's hit-and-miss on which parts actually do let you access it (Wing control surfaces don't for their "Type" field, which is Input governed in XML; Beacons don't for their inputId, but DO for their AG; but most surprising is Switches and Buttons do not for anything, nor do they let you even type anything in to their AG field)
. <and because OF COURSE my post was cut short, CONTINUES BELOW>
<CONTINUATION FROM ABOVE>
- [c?] There are actually Two buttons for the Variables; one is as mentioned in bottom-right corner of the screen, whereas the other one becomes available when you've selected a part and go into the "Rotate" menu (which is a horrible place for the Variables, Attachments, and Fine Tuner menus BTW...).
SUGGESTION: Merge them together and offer a simple Tabulated setup on the menu that opens to switch between Global and Part variable screens; if a part is selected when clicking the icon in bottom-right, it could automatically go to that Tab then.
[This is more of a suggestion./grievance, so I've separated it]
The Variables system sounds awesome, but I feel like we're not being offered the info needed about it, as virtually none has been provided beyond what WNP78 offered in the ""previous beta post"" (linked at bottom of Andrew's post). I feel there's likely tons of unknown capability with even general XML options on parts that we don't know about, simply because there's no resource for us to access. (The SimpleCheats page is outdated with info missing or incomplete for the stuff it does have, and is outright missing other stuff. Such as what are valid choices for partCollisionResponse beyond Default? Only recently, through another player's build, did I learn that None was also valid!) I worry the same is true for FT (although Sn0wflake's FT Guide is amazingly helpful!), but is definitely true currently, regarding capabilities, possibilities, and limitations of Variables. :(
.
Basically, SimplePlanes.com needs its own integrated Wiki (the Reddit one is... kind of awful...). There already is a system in place to limit who can add or edit content: our profile ranks!
Devs/Mods would have full access (create pages/edit/upload and remove images/rollback/lock/delete pages)
Platinum could be allowed to create/edit/upload pics/rollback
Gold... create/edit/upload pics(?)
Silver... edit
Bronze... comment on the Talk page?
Unranked... read-only
.
But that's just my 2-cylinders worth... :P
lawl Ran into the character limit again, but thankfully it was just this that got cut off:
If that doesn't solve it, feel free to Upload your plane, but set to "Unlisted". After it uploads, place a Comment with @Formula350 in it, to summon me there, and I can download it to see if I can figure something out to help.
@AdmiralCrab Re: Wing Scaling
I don't know if this will work out, but it'd be something to try... (this is assuming use on PC, as that's the only platform I have SP on)
1) After you've got them scaled how you want, select it and open up Overdrive, select everything in the location field and CTRL+C to copy it to clipboard. (then close the window, that's all we needed)
2) Now on that selected wing, Right-Click-and-Drag with the mouse, to make a Copy of it. Preferably somewhere that it isn't connected to anything, although it's fine if it is.
3) The "Copy" of it will automatically (or should be) selected, so once again open up Overdrive.
4) Highlight the contents of the Copied wing's location field, and CTRL+V to Paste the coordinates of the original wing.
.
So now we've made it so there are two wings in the exact same location.
.
5) Open up the "Wing Properties" menu, and change the Root and Tip thickness to slightly less-than whatever it is. This is just to 'fix' the issue of the one visually showing up partially through the other (in texture/gaming, this is called "Z-Fighting", as both try to be rendered).
6) If while Copying the wing, you allowed it to attach somewhere, open up the Attachment Editor and remove all of them, then click Auto-Reconnect.
7) Now press Tab on your keyboard, to mirror that part over to the other side. [Note: I personally prefer to do the mirroring before the connecting, but it takes a couple more steps to make it easy on yourself, and not zoom inside the other part to select it. Either way I prefer it only because I often run into situations where WAY MORE parts than I wanted, also get mirrored, resulting in more work in the end.]
.
Now both sides should have 2 wings, which hopefully will translate into 2x the lift. I don't know if the "violent shake" you experienced is due to lack of lift, or the Center-of-Lift changing drastically when scaling the wings down, or something else. My hope is that it's just lack of lift, and this improves that, but if it doesn't make any difference it could be due to the CoL being in the wrong spot.
.
OR it's just that you're going way too fast for the wing physics. Even full-scale wings can experience this, and while you may not have had the issue before, changing their scale could very well have changed how their Physics are calculated. (Basically, I could see it as if you scaled them down 50%, that they may experience this speed-wobble at a 50% lower speed than before.)
[apologies if this results in a double or triple post... the forum software (not my browser) keeps giving me an error when I click Submit, after ~30sec]
@AeroAeroTheMen Unity to the rescue once again! <3 :\
Yea I guess at this stage they would indeed need to provide an input capability (named trigger, sounds fitting) for Bomb's that would in turn be able to govern their detonation if modified.
@MrShenanigans & @jamesPLANESii
None of the New/Updated (v1.11) builds are listed from what I see. They probably just forgot to publish them after the update went live. We all auto-downloaded them when updating anyhow.
However, here's the list of the other new/updated builds just in case anyone needs or wants them (their originals versions now have a (Simple) suffix appended to their name and filename): Bush Plane Gator 2 Hellkeska Kicking FIsh P-51-B P-51-D Pigpen Sea Plane Vertigo Wasp
[Jackhammer and Little Bugger were not updated; Quadcopter does not have a URL provided in its file and is Unlisted.]
@AeroAeroTheMen You can make your "proximity" currently, assuming you're referring to them not exploding on contact with water. Someone made that already, though unfortunately I don't have the link :\
.
I kinda-sorta made a remotely-detonated nuke... although it's a flying nuke, that you pilot remotely (with the new Flight Computer, I can officially make it a drone in that sense). The triggering mechanism was a Cannon that I scaled to being pancake size, placed at the bomb's nose. You just armed its AG, set it to either Air-to-Air or Air-to-Ground, and fired it when you wanted it to explode. (Which, coincidentally, is almost exactly how a nuke goes nuclear! Just not man-triggered, like mine)
.
I think you'd want to use the AltitudeAgl in whatever it is you make that triggers the bomb, since that's the FunkyTrees code for "Above ground level". Setting it to AltitudeAgl = 1 then would make it detonate at exactly 1 meter(?) above ground-level; or if over water, at exactly that height above sea-level. :) And I believe with the new Variables system, you could even set it up to fire the cannon attached to it (though I can't say that with certainty). Otherwise perhaps a very-fast-moving Piston extending into the bomb's nose may be enough force to trigger it into exploding...
I think using the Text is the way, here.
However, the Text part currently is quite limited and not super user-friendly with a couple bugs it has, which those two things combined really hamper our true potential with that new part.
.
If we were given a far far larger "Character Support" than it currently has, we could use "Special Characters", of which there are some amazing things available through that.
For example: If you're on Windows, go to Start Menu, type in charmap and hit enter; in that window, up top select "MS Gothic" (a font your system should have by default). Scroll through all the stuff that font has, to get an idea what I mean. 98% of what's there does not work in SP :( We're basically limited to the various "Latin" characters, which the best of them I think is the letter "Delta" in terms of a shape (a triangle). There's also the Arrows in 4 directions, but I'm not sure what all this Forum supports, as I've tried to paste stuff before and it doesn't show up.
I made this, for a "warning" label on a Contra-rotating Twin prop setup I made (if both arrows work, copy everything and paste it into the Text Editor window to ACTUALLY see how it looks; replace every # with a press of the Spacebar. as the forums only let us place 1 space at a time):
That being said, some of the characters that DO work, can only be seen when the Editor window is open and on the actual Text part. The "input" field in Part Settings doesn't show some of them.
.
Worse than that, though, is that these special characters also BREAK the "Curvature" function, as they're not supported :( Thankfully, that won't matter too much for Wing Art, but for anything on a curved Fuselage, it limits our possibilities of using text as art.
Those who know HTML/CSS will have a lot of fun, since the Text parts support a number of that coding.
UNFORTUNATELY, their implementation of it is odd, and it's not a case of 100% support, nor 1:1 support. For example, anything in HTML/CSS that uses a colon will need to be replaced with an equals. line-height: 10% is how HTML does it line-height= 10% is how SP wants it. (I think this part may have something to do with the XML format our builds are saved in)
Also that the code originally is stuff like:
<p style="line-height: 10%"> YOUR TEXT HERE </p>
So for me as a n00b to HTML or CSS, that made figuring things out even more complicated lol
When you say "scaled down", do you mean the actual XML entry which by default is 1,1,1?
OR
Are you referring to using the Edit button in the Wing menu and then dragging around the Arrows?
Afterburners...
A couple ways I've seen it done: A) through adding more Engines and then having them turn on when a new Action Group (AG) is toggled, to provide the extra thrust, both visually AND physically.
I'd configure that like this...
The Primary (non "Afterburner") engines would get whatever settings and AG to operate them. If you have 4 Engines (as it sounds like), each one gets turned on by its own AG and are controlled via Throttle
The Afterburner engines would then have their AG all set to the same, say 5, because this is only needing to toggle them when you want "Afterburners" enabled. The trick then is in their input code where you include the AG of the Primary engine it is providing the Afterburner for (so replace X with that number):
ActivateX=1 AND Throttle=1 ? 1 : 0
This is a dual purpose "IF" statement that needs to have two things satisfied to work: The AG has to be enabled (that's the =1), and also the Throttle has to be 100% (also =1). The ? then is what to do if both are true, and in this case it's "make this Engine's input value 1" (which is it's throttle level, aka 100%). The Colon is what to set if they both are NOT true, which is 0 (throttle = 0%).
. B) The other way, which I kind of think is better as it uses less parts (but may not offer the same function you're after), is to NOT use additional "Afterburner" engines, and let the Primary engine do its own Afterburner! Basically here we use the same code from Method A. First we tweak it so that your engine normally works as it would, but in Afterburner mode it increases its own power. Second, and more importantly, we put it in a totally different spot; max instead of input!
This method, itself, has multiple ways to tackle it, but the simplest way is to add this to each Primary engine's max field:
ActivateX=1 AND Activate5=1 AND Throttle=1 ? 1 : 0.5
<CONTINUED IN NEXT POST... I hate these forum's character count limits!>
<CONTINUED FROM ABOVE>
Now it's "If these are both True" it lets the Max Throttle be 100%, but if they are not, it's Max is only 50%. It's only the Engine's throttle though, your red-bar while playing will still show as it always has. This may seem confusing, but keep reading...
Then you go over into the Engine XML category and change powerMultiplier to also be 2, as well as set the exhaustScale to something like 3,3,3 (ideal to make the scale be all the same number). Combined, this is what gives them "Afterburners", because now the engine's internal throttle is only 50%, giving it the same power it normally would have at 100%. HOWEVER, when you toggle AG5, it has twice the power, and its exhaust gets much larger to match! :) NOTE: Your "Throttle" while playing, you'll still set to 100%, as everything here is happening behind the scenes.
.
After you set all 4 engines this way (Method B) you will be able to toggle each one On/Off with AG1-4, and then any that are turned on, when you press AG5 they will enter Afterburner mode, just as you desired.
@jamesPLANESii Sn0w updated his site to include a small guide to PID: https://snowflake0s.github.io/funkyguide/pidtuning/
It's of limited use for someone like me unfortunately, as I'm a huge FT (and coding) ignoramus, but maybe you may have better luck? :)
. [Fun Fact: When the FT guide mentioned PIDs, I had actually thought that was referring to PartID, like some GUID that you could make powerful scripts by having a part control another part, or something to that effect. Comically, all these months later, that seems to kinda be what the new Variables system is capable of doing! heh)
@PlaneFlightX *le gasp* Well that's. unfortunate.
I mean, the fact remains that not everyone would be capable of doing it that way like they could with a simple-to-use mod, even IF someone happens to still posess this Lost Knowledge of the XML to bestow upon us again (which I would still be interested in, eitherway...) :D
Guess that makes the need for such an in-game menu method (ie this mod) all the more important!! heh
@Bobyo I got'chu don't worry:
Smol Brain Explanation:
I made "ropes" from a LOT of Hinge Rotators that I had set to
Floppy(which is what it says when moving their "Speed" slider all the way to the left), all connected front-to-back, with each one rotated 22.5deg from the next one..
-If you go to this link:
https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/12OUw1/DERPAs-Derpship-I-Staged-RocketSRB-with-Launch-Tower
-Then download it to load into SimplePlanes.
-Click on "Play" so it spawns on the map.
-Zoom the camera out.
-Move the camera around to the Right side, up near the top of the Tower, where the arm extends out to the Rocket.
-You'll then see the "rope" i made physically swinging around.
Smoller Brain Explanation:
I MADE A BENDY ROPE IN SP! YAY ME ^_^ lol
The amount of times I've instinctively tried -- and continue to try even now -- to move the Throttle knob, Fighter throttle, or the Levers... number enough times that it makes me perplexed as to why it wasn't like this in the first place... (at least on PC/Mac; not enough screen realestate on mobiles)
Check out the Fueling Hoses I made on this build -- as in, load it, not just look at it in the designer.
A hose is just a rope which is capable of transferring liquid internally, expediently, and without leaking :P (a rope used to transfer liquids would be a Wick, which would not be expedient at the task OR leak-free lol)
.
However, I forgot to change their
massScaleand sure as hell wasn't about to do it after the fact, so they weigh a LOT more than a rope would (or perhaps a hose, even) <_> I considered loading it in Notepad++ and doing it via Find And Replace, but meh, I countered their imparted forces through a simple Time Delay on the Detatchers..
In the end, the reason I made them that way was exactly the one @AWESOMENESS360 stated: the need for cable physics!
PHOTO CAPTION:
"Tow, tow, tow your boat
gently through the sea...
Push a Bobyo overboard
and listen to 'em scream!"
November 11th Changelog:
- Additions and Improvements to the "Helpful Tips" section.
---- Opted to utilize sub-bullet points since we're unable to use Line Breaks in bulleted lists :( Not optimal, but, a massive mega-paragraph is even worse, so this at least breaks it up like I desired.
---- Added "EXAMPLE 2" for the use of Negative values
---- Added a blurb about how Spaces of any kind are not utilized if added at the end of lines.
---- Added a Ted Talk on the "em" unit, describing how it works and gets applied in game with our Font(s).
---- Added the mentioning of <color=> apparently not. supporting Strings like the document page indicates.
---- Updated Tip #1 based on findings while adding Color's tip.
@Prince1747 Cross your fingers and *hope @BigBushy updates it for SP v1.11 (that came out a couple weeks ago), as it apparently broke any mod that added parts, like this one. :\
+1This and Variable Fuselage, both need to be added to the vanilla game! :P
+4But simplifying their menus would be the really hard part... :( heh
I was considering making a request to FineTuner, but it seems now THIS mod is more suited for it...
REQUEST #1: Allow for pasting in of Overload-formatted
position,rotation, andscalesizes, AND/OR the ability to Copy those values right from the "Axis" mod's window... so that I can easily copy-paste the full string of values between different parts :D.
I do a lot of that, and as it is now, I have to: click on a part, open Overload, copy whichever variable's value, then select the other part, open Overload, paste in said values.
Having that ability within a single menu that remains open would be super helpful!
Actually, if by chance Axis can hook into FineTuner as well, to provide this feature while I have a parts Multi-Selected, that'd be even more. helpful! lol
REQUEST #2: A simple button to let me "Zero" my built on the X-axis!
Please please please...
With how painful the game's drag system is, and how glitchy even the Mirroring can be at times, I often end up manually having to mirror stuff in order for my plane to fly straighter. (Though, often the Drag is to blame which is outside the scope of this mod heh)
So when god only knows what. has caused SP's Designer to skew my entire build by
X: 0.000130(or some other random value), it makes my brain hurt due to being genuinely that bad at math... well ok mostly just not wanting to do the math because that's not fun, and fun is why I'm playing SP! :}I could ask for more, but I'll shush since I'm undoubtedly -- as usual -- about to exceeded the character limit for posts... lol
+4For anyone curious, the two old original engines are
Engine-Prop-2(used here) andEngine-Prop-1.They lack any ability to increase power despite their same-as-Jet XML entries.
As such, I cheated a bit... Since I needed to have a way to paint the engine cowl blue, I just used a second engine clipped inside, thus doubling the performance. :}
.
Seriously though, they are trash lol The only reason I did this was cuz that engine block in
Engine-Prop-2is great!Not a problem :)
I only wish I could've figured out a solution for the Prop vanishing!
Though I am still sort of working on it, as it is quite weird that it's happening. (Which in doing so, I've discovered other legitimate bugs with Props, which may be related; not certain, though.)
Ran out of message space lmao C'est la vie....
.
Was going to end with this:
(Note: there are lots of vanilla actions you can perform which will not trigger the auto-save/creation of an undo point, but using Nudge is the quickest way to initiate it. I either nudge, or just clone a part to a random empty area, and delete it. Still, not fool proof.)
Also, @exosuit thankfully you only need to use the "period" trick in these comments. Forum posts and Shared builds allow you to use conventional line-breaks with the Return key. Though I suspect maybe this had been a comment that you decided to transform into a dedicated post, and thus had Cut-and-Pasted it here. :P
+1I'm the same. I prefer the Fine Tuner mod over the in-built variant; however, after I only recently found out the in-built version lets you "Nudge Selected+Connected", that's pretty handy...... when it works....... It's hard to know what Grand-Parent", "Parent", and "Child" parts are, and which one you need to have selected in order for all the other ones to nudge with it. As a result, I often end up having to REMOVE connections from the main build in order to make it so whatever I have selected will move everything no matter which is the actual parent. (Unless there's a "next connected part" cycler hotkey I don't know about that works similar to going "Forward" or "Backwards" along fuselage pieces...)
+1I mean it saves a lot of time from having to manually select every part of a section, but that's only when it works as you want/need! lol
.
I've never used the DesignerSuite connection editor though, but it sounds like I really ought to give it a go...
.
As mentioned, the Scale feature on Fine Tuner is one of the reasons I can't drop using the mod. The other is "Multi-Select". That is just too powerful to do without, and I simply don't understand why either of those didn't make it in.
Another big reason that keeps me using it, is the much better and smaller interface. The vanilla menu is way too big, and without the ability to... well lol "Fine Tune" the UI to suit our own personal desires and screen size, it ends up being too scrolly for me.
.
HOWEVER I do still use the vanilla Nudge! In actuality, I love that I have TWO nudges now. I leave vanilla set to 0.01, and then Fine Tuner mod set to 0.001 for defaults. :P Now if only using vanilla Rotate-by-90 didn't randomly Auto-Connect nearby parts, I'd be able to use that more, too!
.
But yea, I made a similar post, albeit about things to add into the mods, to skip the red-tape of adding it right into the game. Similar community support, but didn't gain any traction with WNP (and HellFire didn't chime in). :(
.
The biggest UGH of all, is that not even the "Now Vanilla" features apply their actions to the Undo History... -_-
Change a connection point, only to have it removed at a later Undo.
Adjust a part's rotation, only to have it reverted at a later Undo.
Make a bunch of changes to a Text Label... (or Input; anything that uses the underlying TextMesh Pro Unity plugin)
I'm sure adding/changing Variables result in their changes being deleted as well, if you happen to Undo later.
I feel the exact same way, and considering we can't vote on new stuff until the others are closed by a dev, we don't get our points back to distribute. Sorta defeats the purpose. (I think you also need points to post there, further complicating things)
+3.
I've given up using it and post everything here, instead.
Well most devices support 10-Point Touch, as of probably the last 5 years or more. So there's no reason they couldn't add a whole bunch of other features like that for mobile.
ie Assign it to 4-touch, where you could use the Thumb of your off-hand as Input#1, then a 3-finger touch on the primary hand to do the rest.
Although, since I suspect you would need to do all of that within a very quick span of time for it to register as 4-fingers... maybe just a simple button in the corner on mobile, that when it's held-down it toggles "Alt" functions for 1, 2, 3 finger touching. Akin to what Shift and Ctrl do on PC.
@CC1010 If you ever feel like making something, and uploading it as an Unlisted "rough draft" that is in need of tedious fine-tuning of part locations... Feel free to ping me. I'd actually considered making a post to offer that, as I for some reason enjoy that sort of thing. (I often end up doing it on builds I've downloaded anyhow, but don't feel right uploading them often times...)
+1Indeed, all engines definitely need to have the same
volumeXML option that the Cannon does!Engines can get insanely loud in Contra-Rotating builds :( Particularly the Turbo Props...
I had been contemplating making this suggestion for awhile myself! :)
@rfostoria I totally agree!
+1.
That being said: there currently is a way... though sadly it's not the best solution, but you can edit the
scalein XML to make it shorter. However, you also need to change its Length value by the same amount, otherwise it will be an oval shaped wheel <_> lolThe downside to this, is the wheel's physical size gets smaller, hence why it's "not the best solution". Still, a solution.
.
Alternatively, making your own by 'hand' with a Rotator. Fuselage, and Resizable Wheel would be a roughly *thinks....* 5-part solution. 6, if you want a 'fancy wheel cover' lol
I suspect you may already have seen it, but if not, here it is:
Calibrated Tachometer for 1000-6000RPM
Yea, I have a slight issue with being unable to type short posts... lmao Sorry :(
I also now realize that I may have misunderstood you originally... :}
I was under the impression that the "issue" you were presenting was solely that it vanishes during IDLE.
However, I now think I understand what you're saying, in that compared to other prop engines, when they change from the modeled-to-2D visual, their 2D "blurred propeller" texture is MUCH darker (has more contrast) compared to what your Demonstrator/Video show off. Yes?
As for the gauge, yea I can share that for ya. :)
+1@PHURH I concur on all points lol
If interested, since I was getting so many Overspeeding situations when throttling down, I was curious if the reported RPM in the Warning Text was accurate, so I went about adding an RPM gauge (Tachometer) to watch.
+1.
2 things of note:
1) was that setting up the gauge, using the
inputcode provided by the gauge that theTwin Propplane uses, was a pain in the butt! Foremost, because after having already presumably "fixed" the gauge in that plane, I've come to find out I have actually NOT. Long story short, I went into this usingabs(Rpm1/1200)with the Gauge's "Input Multiplier" set at70. (and "Zero" indication at110)After roughly 45minutes I've narrowed down the CORRECT code, at least for the Turbo Prop engine:
Rpm1/28, with -no- "Input Multiplier". (and "zero" set at108, but that might be[?] irrelevant)I reach that by first having
DebugExpression Rpm1displayed, and then by watching that as I increased the engine's throttle to make it sweep around the dial (quite hard with this setup!). All the numbers now matched up correctly based on the typical """x1000""" values used in Tachs... Which despite this Turbo Prop never really exceeding 1000RPM in normal operation, is actually required to be x1000 because....
2) The on-screen Overspeed Warning does not show the Max RPM the blades are hitting. It's also not the "Shaft" speed, either, because... well first off, it doesn't look to be a gearbox equipped Turbo Prop so I figured must be 1:1 Shaft:Prop (I could be wrong, if torque converters can have differential outputs?). Secondly, because the Debug readout DOES match with the Overspeeed Warning text; however, the text will eventually 'settle' on a reported RPM, and yet the Prop's RPMs are still increasing!
.
In my configuration, using "Almost-blurring" code, and a slightly tweaked Propeller Pitch code, the Warning displays an RPM settling at ~2950RPM... whereas the Debug (and my Gauge) reach a PEAK of 3550RPM!
Thankfully, the "blow-your-engine-up" Overspeed RPM seems to be around 5000RPM... So even with that disparity in what the Warning shows, it's quite a ways off from blowing up. Alas, that's in the ground-test rig at sea-level, so thinner high altitude air might cause all sorts of different results!
.
[Hurray for long posts... Continues below]
TL;DR -
Want to make an Tachometer for your plane? Use this for the Gauge's Input:
+1Rpm1/28and replace 1 with the engine's RPM you want to read -- which is trial and error unfortunately, but seems to base it on Engines furthest forward (higher Z coordinate) come first, and then those along the same X-axis are from Left to Right. At least in my one case I'm basing this on. I had 4 props, 2 front-center (contra), 2 on wing.Front-front was
Rpm1, Front-back wasRpm2, Left Wing wasRpm3, and Right Wing wasRpm4. EVEN THOUGH the two Wing engines were there first, which meant some troubleshooting later, when that engine's gauge was reading 0 despite rotating.(Also lastly, the engine being off doesn't matter, if your plane is moving and prop is spinning, it generates an RPM because it's not the engine's speed *sigh*)
Glad everyone's gotten a kick out of it! :D
@zwen Indeed. FT Code requires the = for most stuff, but it also DOES use a : quite often. Such as in the IF?THEN:ELSE which using it there does not functionally break FT, on the contrary, NOT using it there will break the FT code lol
.
Whereas with the Labels, use of the colon inside the < > Rich Text brackets, results in TextMesh Pro being unable to "parse" where's there, which causes it to literally be displayed on the label.
So if you wanted a label to say: Engine FIRE Warning
Where "FIRE" is also in larger in size in addition to bold, you would type in:
However, typing it out like HTML formats it, using the Colon instead of Equals:
Would result in the Label literally displaying: Engine <size:200>FIRE</size> Warning
SimpleCheats is rather outdated now and there's a number of things either missing or lacking a full explanation, but even so, it indeed is still incredibly helpful! (Might even be some things that are incorrect now, but I don't know enough to say that with certainty)
EXAMPLE: There's no mention of
partCollisionResponseand what it accepts for values. By default it is filled in withDefault, butNonealso works and that makes the part become invincible from taking kinetic damage (not sure about bullet or rocket/missile explosion though) -- as far as I can tell, at least. So crashing doesn't damage parts, nor do parts of your own built that can move and might make contacting other parts cause damage to themselves. The latter is the more useful aspect since that means mechanized contraptions won't harm themselves :)ANOTHER EXAMPLE: Certain parts
InputorAction Groupcan be XML modified toNoneand others withDisabled, even though it isn't a choice in the Parts Setting menu, nor mentioned on the SimpleCheats page. Though, it does produce a Warning in the console, that said part is wanting a "True/False" but had "None" or "Disabled"... and yet not only does what you made function as you want, those parts also non-functional as you want! lol.
(Granted, in that last example, it's probably more the game being like "HEY I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THIS! So..... I'm not going to do anything with it at all." Which, as it just so happens, that's exactly what we want it to do: nothing! heh)
@OtakuNekoToT No no, I get that it's due to how your FT code is. My point was that the way it's setup is:
1) applying too much throttle at Idle, which means...
2) the engine produces too much power, which...
3) causes the blades to spin too fast (ie RPM) because...
4) at Neutral Pitch there is not enough drag to slow the blades down
.
I totally get that it's all setup with the Neutral Pitch to act correctly, in that at idle it won't move the plane. I only included that in my original explanation in order to point out the chain of events that lead to the issue you're experiencing.
.
That being said, the solution is to lower the RPM (via Throttle applied at idle). The question is, how slow or fast are you wanting it to spin?
JUST slow enough not to blur?
or
Quite a bit slower?
Here's what I managed to work out for ya either way (this code is [obviously] only for engine's Throttle, not Pitch, since we don't want to touch that any):
Almost-burring
(smooth(Engine2*0.01,0.1)+(smooth(Engine2*0.01,0.1)?Throttle:0)*0.99
Medium-speed
(smooth(Engine2*0.007,0.1)+(smooth(Engine2*0.007,0.1)?Throttle:0)*0.993
Windmill-speed (ie slow rotation)
(smooth(Engine2*0.002,0.1)+(smooth(Engine2*0.002,0.1)?Throttle:0)*0.998
NOTE:
You might want to add a
smoothto that final "ELSE" output, because in my testing, quickly throttling down (or using Brake, which instantly throttles to 0%) can cause the Blade Pitch to flatten out too much and produce an Over-rev warning. (3648RPM, 2x the "safe" limit)I don't know if that'll cause a similar situation when in flight, but thought it at least merited mentioning.
@CenturyAerospace True, yes, that too. I just figured that the models would've inherently blurred on our screens by spinning faster. So the end result would've (presumably) been the same, and as a result I figured they swapped it out with a 2D blurring image just to save CPU & GPU cycles.
+1(Same reason we use 1 part when we can, instead of 6, as less total part count means it can run better for lower-end systems/mobile.)
.
Grant I only have limited knowledge in rendering, being only a gamer and not a dev of any kind :} Thus, I could easily be wrong, which is ok! heh
@DrenasPort Ye-olde Batman DID use a bubble-canopy helicopter (aka Batcopter) in the original TV show! lol So it's not a stretch of the imagination...
Wings? Got'em
Skids? Got'em
Big derpy bubble design? Got'em
.
And arguably, its involvement is just as cringy as my ROFLcopter, based on this scene clip.
EDIT: Just to clarify, I only tagged it with Batman for the lawls :P
Anyways, as to your issue...
They don't disappear. They just reach the needed RPM to trigger their "fast-rotation" effect.
.
From my understanding, the Propeller engines (and maybe even the internals of Turbines, though I've never looked that close), when their blades rotate fast enough the game stops rendering their 3D models, and switches to a 2D texture -- presumably to save performance by not having to calculate the location for multiple points in a 3D model anymore. (note: I'm not certain SP actually ""models"" things in the same way most games do, with skins, but I digress...)
.
I think this is combined slightly with the way you set up its Variable Blade Pitch through FT, to have it zeroed out during idle (ie, no "thrust" is produced by the blades), which might impart a different 2D effect or perhaps a different contrast gets applied to it.
When you throttle-up, their pitch changes, which would actually cause drag on the blades and that's why they "show up" again for a moment after increasing throttle. Because the blades experiencing drag and aren't able to spin as fast with the amount of throttle they're given at idle.
On my PC while playing, after starting the engine I can faintly see the momentary glimpse of the blade. If you turn on Slow Motion (in the Pause menu), it shows it a bit easier. However, we know for certain that the blades ARE still there as far as the game is concerned, because their Shadow continues to be rendered. :) (also because they show up again as soon as you increase throttle heh)
@OtakuNekoToT They're talking about tags, like
Bug,Teaser,WWII,Multi Role.Not the @ mentioning a user to Notify them. :)
.
Tags get used on lots of websites, such as here, news sites, and YT, as a way to categorize entries so that people can search for just that "Tag" text and turn up all related content.
@SnoWFLakE0s I might be not following you correctly here, which wouldnt't be surprising given my lack of FT knowledge, but this <rotate=
[value as degrees]> that I'm talking about is specifically for the Text inside the Labels and unrelated to FT. (as far as I understand it, since it's Rich Text related).
I imagine that with the proper know-how, that it could be, in combination with Variables -- and is probably how the 1-part HUDs -- it can have the
[value in degrees]dynamically defined based on something determined by FT... However, that was beyond the scope of this post. The only reason I mentioned said 1-part HUD was to credit PlanariaLab and give a reason to link their upload heh (admittedly, I could've simply mentioned them, and left it at that).
On its own, the <rotate=#> is useful for many things, in reference just to using it in Labels. In conjunction with other Rich Text modifiers, it would effectively allow you to use a single Text Label to suffice for labeling any number of various different parts, despite the fact they're rotated 90; i.e. a 2-person cockpit with a center console that has text oriented for the person on that side to read it and would be 180deg rotated from the other person. Furthermore, that same Label part can still tackle any controls with seat-agnostic orientation -- technically if it were me, I'd have the Text Label facing that way to begin with, then the Left and Right side-specific labels would get Rich Text rotated by -90 and 90, respectfully.
.
If they had mentioned TextMesh Pro in the release notes/beta post, I must have somehow missed it. I did read both of them in full, but there was a lot of text to take in from both, which was why I had thought it mentioned HTML or CSS.
Though it also might've been added after-the-fact, as I noticed on the Beta blog post that WNP had followed up with a couple comments, and I didn't even consider until now that the post itself could been updated (as I didn't read it over again, only doing a cursory CTRL+F a few days ago when trying to find where I thought I'd seen mention of HTML)
While I have you, and am thinking about stuff I'd read but can't find details on again...
Isn't there an XML item for the Rotators (not Hinge) that we could add, similar to
disableBaseMesh, which would allow the Rotator to not ""unwind"" itself when deactivated?zeroOnDisableorresetWhenDiabledor... something?? I swear I saved it in a build or a .txt file of notes, bu@FlyingPatriot "Great minds think alike" is, I believe, how the saying goes! ;)
+1@FairFireFlight
+1lol
*dja-djan-djun* big trucc
*dja-djan-djun* BIG TRUCC
*dja-djan-djun* big trucc
*dja-djan-djun* BIG TRUCC!!!
.
(Although I do suggest listening to the entire song, too lol And for anyone interested, while that band is no more, some members [lead singer for sure] did form back up to become Devil Driver, whose first album at least was great and worth checking out... subsequent ones, eeeh...)
Question 1: How tall is it?
+4Question 2: Is it possible to somehow have one or two Naval Ships (USS Tiny, or one of the Destroyers) be made to spawn inside the caldera, with their flag set to have them spawn pre-damaged?? :D Reason being, this will cause them to emit a tall cloud of black smoke (and a bit of fire), to give the volcano some visual effect!
.
Suggestion 1a: Add a hidden, but quite large, water entrance to a big cavernous area... You know, for a villain's secret lair! Something ships can enter, maybe where there's some ground vehicles that spawn (stationary) for us to blow up...
Suggestion 1b: A runway that exits the side of the mountain, for the villain's air fleet/private jet.
Suggestion 2: Assuming the terrain editor being used allows for making that cave runway... it'd also be cool to have a really long and hollowed out lava tube (ancient, inactive) that's somewhat high-up on the mountain. Large enough in diameter for a fighter-sized plane to make it through -- about the size of the bridges in other words. However, not just a straight hole through the mountain of course, to give us a bit of a challenge to fly though it (like the Kraken, but, not moving at the same time lol)
.
Which 1a and 1b combined, could be the replacement for the Bandit base and runway, as well as the Water Spawn/shipyard/dock area. This would also provide a legitimate reason for such a large Convoy to be making their rounds, as they'd be the evil henchmen. ;)
.
Observation: Updooted by @VolcanicAsh .... username checks out.
Yep, that did it! Does exactly the same thing as mine now but shorter!
Thanks :D
(Although, as to why adding the outer parenthesis solved that issue, is definitely beyond me! lmao)
.
I've pinned the functional code and am leaving this line of text to hopefully avoid confusion, should anyone read the comments :P
"Updated List: Now with ONE Bug!!" :P
It's related to what I already had in there, so instead of making a new post for such an innocuous issue, even though it IS truly a bug now, I opted to merge it here instead.
They also updated the game's entire "engine" it runs on, which in addition to all the stuff like graphics and user interface, it also handles physics related things.
Since your Celeron is from 2008, it is only a Single Core CPU (lacking even basic HyperThreading). So my guess is that the issue is actually your CPU being TOO overloaded.
.
You might have better luck trying to turn settings down instead of up. :(
.
But to directly answer your question:
I think it's a bit of both. Your computer was never meant to play games, even when brand new. Only as something for typing documents or light internet usage.
@edensk
Now it ends up canceling out Roll from working, period lol
... And also makes the Aileron move in the opposite direction :}
.
Though, I can't even figure out how that manages to even react with Yaw with that code, given from what I can tell the "IF" part is looking solely for Roll related Input, and the "THEN" is the performing of Yaw-based stuff. EDIT: Nevermind, makes sense now. "IF there is no Roll input" "Then, do this if Yaw is present"
EDIT 2: The Aileron being just a lack of Negative in front of the decimal value.
.
The "ELSE" being zero explains the lack of any Roll input getting applied, and I presume that it should be
: Rollinstead of: 0?EDIT 3: Nope, I'm a derp! That wouldn't work since the "IF" part means it never will make to the "ELSE" part lol
@rexzion lol Yea me too :sob: I know enough to kludge together code and get it working (usually...), but I don't actually know the more-advanced stuff that would let me properly get it done.
@edensk Yep I never would've came up with that result.
However, while using yours DOES yield functional results, it actually doesn't produce identical results as mine. (as determined through using DebugExpressions)
.
Situation A:
Situation B:
I only mention that because I was intending to also apply this to the Tail Elevators and they would require significantly more compensation applied than just 0.055, to adjust for the amount of Nose-Down that occurs. Which would actually lead to a situation where if I were applying Yaw+Pitch, my Elevator's input would either be far less-than its max, or far over its max. (depending on whether I'm pitching up or down)
.
It's the latter situation that would be of concern, since it could result in those Elevator flaps stalling-out.
BUT! All examples of functional code like you provided is actually really helpful for me, since I learn better through examples than I do being giving explanations for how to use stuff and trying to get it working. :D
You read my mind... Or, well given this has clearly been something you've been working on, I guess I read YOUR mind. lol
.
I was (lightly) considering making a Challenge that was basically "If Star Wars vehicles were built using WWII tech."
Which, naturally you have done exactly that! :D
If you can remember to @ me when you finish and have uploaded it, that'd be great! :)
QUICK-CHEAT:
A way you can perhaps get a rough-estimate on how the cone would look, would be to actually start off by using a Standard Fuselage part instead...
This way you have access to change its Front and Back Fill values through the Menu!
.
Once you have it where you think it will be needed, open up Overdrive.
Instead of changing anything in the Fuselage menu, now you will actually modify the
partTypein the main window!You'll currently see:
Fuselage-Body-1, and what you'll want to change it to isFuselage-Cone-1.
Save it, and you'll get a text warning on the screen about it changing and removing all its Attachment Points. A small price to pay, really. :)
(Alternatively, you can save your build, and then open its actual file in a text editor, then modify its entry that way, save the file, and load it again in SP. That makes the changes AND retrains all the Attachment Points. Though it's not something very good to use in practice, since a Cone has only 2 attachment locations (Back and Center) compared to a Fuselage's 7 (Front, Back, Left, Right, Up, Down, Center), which could cause problems.)
Huzzah!
Again, happy to help :D
Feature Corrections and Unmentioned Additions/Changes:
(tagged as [c] or [n], respectfully; 'correction' may also get used to indicate I have provided clarification or further info)
+4- [c] The ability "hide parts" is sadly only a Designer-Only feature. We are not able to toggle whether a part is actually hidden -- such as, to have a wing added but toggled "hidden", leaving its physics present but no model rendered while playing -- and it's limited to that Design Session as well, resetting once you spawn your build and return to the Designer screen. You also have to go through the process of clicking through menus after selecting each part, to keep on hiding things. (just cumbersome in my opinion, unless there's a hotkey I've not uncovered?)
- [c] The
hideCowlfor WWII engines does not "hide the engine cowl", but actually hides the entire engine leaving just the Propeller and its Domed Hub. (Hiding the cowl would technically leave an exposed engine, like ol-timey Radial and Rotary engines [SP does not have any "Rotary" style engines though, which rotated all the cylinders with the propeller affixed to them, around a stationary-crankshaft that was bolted to the plane's frame])- [n] For the
Fuselagepart, now when you have aRiseset and change theLengthof the fuselage, it no longer causes yourRiseto be thrown off. YAY!!- [n?] [This may have already been in SP but I seriously don't remember it happening...] Jet Engines now have dynamic exhaust! When your engines lack enough
Inletsfor air (therefore, are 'starved for sufficient air') and are thereby running ""fuel rich"", their exhaust becomes realistically blacker/darker! Also, the exhaust becomes longer or shorter depending on altitude and/or speed. [In my limited testing thus far, the faster you go at low altitude (under 12K ft) the longer the exhaust scale becomes. At typical airliner cruising altitudes, the exhaust is significantly shorter even though you're at roughly the sameTAS.]- [c] The
slantoption only imparts it on the Back of that fuselage part. This is just here in case anyone else had a different expectation of what would be possible... like in my case... lol- [c] Not all parts allow you to CTRL+Click their Input to open up the
Funky Editor. It's hit-and-miss on which parts actually do let you access it (Wing control surfaces don't for their "Type" field, which isInputgoverned in XML; Beacons don't for theirinputId, but DO for their AG; but most surprising is Switches and Buttons do not for anything, nor do they let you even type anything in to their AG field).
<and because OF COURSE my post was cut short, CONTINUES BELOW>
<CONTINUATION FROM ABOVE>
+4- [c?] There are actually Two buttons for the
Variables; one is as mentioned in bottom-right corner of the screen, whereas the other one becomes available when you've selected a part and go into the "Rotate" menu (which is a horrible place for the Variables, Attachments, and Fine Tuner menus BTW...).SUGGESTION: Merge them together and offer a simple Tabulated setup on the menu that opens to switch between Global and Part variable screens; if a part is selected when clicking the icon in bottom-right, it could automatically go to that Tab then.
[This is more of a suggestion./grievance, so I've separated it]
The
+5Variablessystem sounds awesome, but I feel like we're not being offered the info needed about it, as virtually none has been provided beyond what WNP78 offered in the ""previous beta post"" (linked at bottom of Andrew's post). I feel there's likely tons of unknown capability with even general XML options on parts that we don't know about, simply because there's no resource for us to access. (The SimpleCheats page is outdated with info missing or incomplete for the stuff it does have, and is outright missing other stuff. Such as what are valid choices forpartCollisionResponsebeyondDefault? Only recently, through another player's build, did I learn thatNonewas also valid!) I worry the same is true for FT (although Sn0wflake's FT Guide is amazingly helpful!), but is definitely true currently, regarding capabilities, possibilities, and limitations of Variables. :(.
Basically, SimplePlanes.com needs its own integrated Wiki (the Reddit one is... kind of awful...). There already is a system in place to limit who can add or edit content: our profile ranks!
Devs/Mods would have full access (create pages/edit/upload and remove images/rollback/lock/delete pages)
Platinum could be allowed to create/edit/upload pics/rollback
Gold... create/edit/upload pics(?)
Silver... edit
Bronze... comment on the Talk page?
Unranked... read-only
.
But that's just my 2-cylinders worth... :P
lawl Ran into the character limit again, but thankfully it was just this that got cut off:
If that doesn't solve it, feel free to Upload your plane, but set to "Unlisted". After it uploads, place a Comment with @Formula350 in it, to summon me there, and I can download it to see if I can figure something out to help.
@AdmiralCrab Re: Wing Scaling
I don't know if this will work out, but it'd be something to try... (this is assuming use on PC, as that's the only platform I have SP on)
1) After you've got them scaled how you want, select it and open up Overdrive, select everything in the
locationfield and CTRL+C to copy it to clipboard. (then close the window, that's all we needed)2) Now on that selected wing, Right-Click-and-Drag with the mouse, to make a Copy of it. Preferably somewhere that it isn't connected to anything, although it's fine if it is.
3) The "Copy" of it will automatically (or should be) selected, so once again open up Overdrive.
4) Highlight the contents of the Copied wing's
locationfield, and CTRL+V to Paste the coordinates of the original wing..
So now we've made it so there are two wings in the exact same location.
.
5) Open up the "Wing Properties" menu, and change the
RootandTipthickness to slightly less-than whatever it is. This is just to 'fix' the issue of the one visually showing up partially through the other (in texture/gaming, this is called "Z-Fighting", as both try to be rendered).6) If while Copying the wing, you allowed it to attach somewhere, open up the Attachment Editor and remove all of them, then click
Auto-Reconnect.7) Now press
Tabon your keyboard, to mirror that part over to the other side.[Note: I personally prefer to do the mirroring before the connecting, but it takes a couple more steps to make it easy on yourself, and not zoom inside the other part to select it. Either way I prefer it only because I often run into situations where WAY MORE parts than I wanted, also get mirrored, resulting in more work in the end.]
.
Now both sides should have 2 wings, which hopefully will translate into 2x the lift. I don't know if the "violent shake" you experienced is due to lack of lift, or the Center-of-Lift changing drastically when scaling the wings down, or something else. My hope is that it's just lack of lift, and this improves that, but if it doesn't make any difference it could be due to the CoL being in the wrong spot.
.
OR it's just that you're going way too fast for the wing physics. Even full-scale wings can experience this, and while you may not have had the issue before, changing their scale could very well have changed how their Physics are calculated. (Basically, I could see it as if you scaled them down 50%, that they may experience this speed-wobble at a 50% lower speed than before.)
[apologies if this results in a double or triple post... the forum software (not my browser) keeps giving me an error when I click Submit, after ~30sec]
+2@AeroAeroTheMen Unity to the rescue once again! <3 :\
Yea I guess at this stage they would indeed need to provide an input capability (named
trigger, sounds fitting) for Bomb's that would in turn be able to govern their detonation if modified.@MrShenanigans & @jamesPLANESii
+7None of the New/Updated (v1.11) builds are listed from what I see. They probably just forgot to publish them after the update went live. We all auto-downloaded them when updating anyhow.
However, here's the list of the other new/updated builds just in case anyone needs or wants them (their originals versions now have a
(Simple)suffix appended to their name and filename):Bush Plane
Gator 2
Hellkeska
Kicking FIsh
P-51-B
P-51-D
Pigpen
Sea Plane
Vertigo
Wasp
[Jackhammer and Little Bugger were not updated; Quadcopter does not have a URL provided in its file and is Unlisted.]
@AeroAeroTheMen You can make your "proximity" currently, assuming you're referring to them not exploding on contact with water. Someone made that already, though unfortunately I don't have the link :\
+1.
I kinda-sorta made a remotely-detonated nuke... although it's a flying nuke, that you pilot remotely (with the new Flight Computer, I can officially make it a drone in that sense). The triggering mechanism was a Cannon that I scaled to being pancake size, placed at the bomb's nose. You just armed its AG, set it to either Air-to-Air or Air-to-Ground, and fired it when you wanted it to explode. (Which, coincidentally, is almost exactly how a nuke goes nuclear! Just not man-triggered, like mine)
.
I think you'd want to use the
AltitudeAglin whatever it is you make that triggers the bomb, since that's the FunkyTrees code for "Above ground level". Setting it toAltitudeAgl = 1then would make it detonate at exactly 1 meter(?) above ground-level; or if over water, at exactly that height above sea-level. :) And I believe with the new Variables system, you could even set it up to fire the cannon attached to it (though I can't say that with certainty). Otherwise perhaps a very-fast-moving Piston extending into the bomb's nose may be enough force to trigger it into exploding...I think using the Text is the way, here.
However, the Text part currently is quite limited and not super user-friendly with a couple bugs it has, which those two things combined really hamper our true potential with that new part.
.
If we were given a far far larger "Character Support" than it currently has, we could use "Special Characters", of which there are some amazing things available through that.
For example: If you're on Windows, go to Start Menu, type in
charmapand hit enter; in that window, up top select "MS Gothic" (a font your system should have by default). Scroll through all the stuff that font has, to get an idea what I mean. 98% of what's there does not work in SP :( We're basically limited to the various "Latin" characters, which the best of them I think is the letter "Delta" in terms of a shape (a triangle). There's also the Arrows in 4 directions, but I'm not sure what all this Forum supports, as I've tried to paste stuff before and it doesn't show up.I made this, for a "warning" label on a Contra-rotating Twin prop setup I made (if both arrows work, copy everything and paste it into the Text Editor window to ACTUALLY see how it looks; replace every # with a press of the Spacebar. as the forums only let us place 1 space at a time):
That being said, some of the characters that DO work, can only be seen when the Editor window is open and on the actual Text part. The "input" field in Part Settings doesn't show some of them.
.
Worse than that, though, is that these special characters also BREAK the "Curvature" function, as they're not supported :( Thankfully, that won't matter too much for Wing Art, but for anything on a curved Fuselage, it limits our possibilities of using text as art.
Those who know HTML/CSS will have a lot of fun, since the Text parts support a number of that coding.
UNFORTUNATELY, their implementation of it is odd, and it's not a case of 100% support, nor 1:1 support. For example, anything in HTML/CSS that uses a colon will need to be replaced with an equals.
line-height: 10%is how HTML does itline-height= 10%is how SP wants it. (I think this part may have something to do with the XML format our builds are saved in)Also that the code originally is stuff like:
So for me as a n00b to HTML or CSS, that made figuring things out even more complicated lol
When you say "scaled down", do you mean the actual XML entry which by default is
1,1,1?OR
Are you referring to using the
Editbutton in the Wing menu and then dragging around the Arrows?Afterburners...
A couple ways I've seen it done:
A) through adding more Engines and then having them turn on when a new Action Group (AG) is toggled, to provide the extra thrust, both visually AND physically.
I'd configure that like this...
The Primary (non "Afterburner") engines would get whatever settings and AG to operate them. If you have 4 Engines (as it sounds like), each one gets turned on by its own AG and are controlled via
ThrottleThe Afterburner engines would then have their AG all set to the same, say 5, because this is only needing to toggle them when you want "Afterburners" enabled. The trick then is in their
inputcode where you include the AG of the Primary engine it is providing the Afterburner for (so replace X with that number):This is a dual purpose "IF" statement that needs to have two things satisfied to work: The AG has to be enabled (that's the =1), and also the Throttle has to be 100% (also =1). The ? then is what to do if both are true, and in this case it's "make this Engine's input value 1" (which is it's throttle level, aka 100%). The Colon is what to set if they both are NOT true, which is 0 (throttle = 0%).
.
B) The other way, which I kind of think is better as it uses less parts (but may not offer the same function you're after), is to NOT use additional "Afterburner" engines, and let the Primary engine do its own Afterburner! Basically here we use the same code from Method A. First we tweak it so that your engine normally works as it would, but in Afterburner mode it increases its own power. Second, and more importantly, we put it in a totally different spot;
maxinstead ofinput!This method, itself, has multiple ways to tackle it, but the simplest way is to add this to each Primary engine's
maxfield:<CONTINUED IN NEXT POST... I hate these forum's character count limits!>
<CONTINUED FROM ABOVE>
Now it's "If these are both True" it lets the Max Throttle be 100%, but if they are not, it's Max is only 50%. It's only the Engine's throttle though, your red-bar while playing will still show as it always has. This may seem confusing, but keep reading...
Then you go over into the
EngineXML category and changepowerMultiplierto also be2, as well as set theexhaustScaleto something like3,3,3(ideal to make the scale be all the same number). Combined, this is what gives them "Afterburners", because now the engine's internal throttle is only 50%, giving it the same power it normally would have at 100%. HOWEVER, when you toggle AG5, it has twice the power, and its exhaust gets much larger to match! :)NOTE: Your "Throttle" while playing, you'll still set to 100%, as everything here is happening behind the scenes.
.
After you set all 4 engines this way (Method B) you will be able to toggle each one On/Off with AG1-4, and then any that are turned on, when you press AG5 they will enter Afterburner mode, just as you desired.
@LarryTad since you seem interested too.
@jamesPLANESii Sn0w updated his site to include a small guide to PID:
+1https://snowflake0s.github.io/funkyguide/pidtuning/
It's of limited use for someone like me unfortunately, as I'm a huge FT (and coding) ignoramus, but maybe you may have better luck? :)
.
[Fun Fact: When the FT guide mentioned PIDs, I had actually thought that was referring to
PartID, like some GUID that you could make powerful scripts by having a part control another part, or something to that effect. Comically, all these months later, that seems to kinda be what the newVariablessystem is capable of doing! heh)