Oh I see! Sorry for the rather unnecessary tip, haha
.
As for rotator, at least on my iOS version (1.12.203.1), they don't rotate unless something is attached to the shaft/moving bit. This goes for the basic one, joint, and probably mini too.
So you need to either attach a block to the rotator, or attach rotator to a 'base' of sort, and I think there's always gonna be some shake. Looking at your autopilot FT, former method might add too many blocks.
I use a single rotator to store altitude for my own autopilot mechanism (much simpler than yours), and with this 0 mass, 0 drag, 5000 damperMultiplier basic rotator, I experience very little shake for my use (negligible), but I can't say how much it's gonna affect your FT.
.
(Mine stores 0.01 degree (of the total 180 degs) as 1 meter, and a custom variable multiplies it back again by 100, rounds it up, then a gyro (which does the holding) uses this value as target altitude.
.
I'm not sure if the size (scale) of the rotator affects the shake though. Also, I'm not sure what you were referring to by engine power, can you elaborate on that part?
In case you are on iOS like me... I use a free file manager app called Documents (one from Readdle) to add back predecessor ID and edit FTs and such. It lets you import/export text files (including .xml used by SP), and also open and edit them.
I'm not sure if you can add back custom variables via this method, though.
I also use a text editor app called PWEditor (free) as a bulk-replacer, when I want to replace the name of multiple custom variables or the values at once. (There's a newer version but I haven't used it yet)
You just to need to
1)first import the plane file in question to the Documents app,
2)open & copy-paste the entire contents, ie. text, to the PWEditor (or any other app that does the same) and bulk replace,
3)then copy-paste that back to the plane file in Documents,
4)then finally export it back to the SimplePlanes directory in Files app.
You just gotta be careful with how you phrase your search terms when you bulk-replace. And also, always keep a back up of the plane file you are editing.
@ThomasRoderick @griges
If rotators shake too much, I'd also add damperMultiplier parameter to "JointRotator" field and experiment with various numbers (1000, 2000, 5000, and so on). It will slow down the speed of the rotator, but it'll (it should) make it more stable and a tiny bit more precise.
@YarisSedan
I have some improved/updated versions of my past builds. Low-part machine gun AAA, AI fighter (that can be spawned both mid air and on the ground), etc. I have new builds too but I don't know if any of them will be finished.
@MonsNotTheMonster
Nah, thank you for the cool build, man! x)
I really felt & appreciate the effort & attention to detail/accuracy that went into this build, and it was quite a joy to fly this plane.
Man, what a nice, great build!
The combination of simple style & accurate looks, attention to detail, functional yet intuitive features & control, and flight performance is just really great. To me, it's almost exactly the kind of plane/thing I try to build and aim for myself and love to see from other people. Like, I can probably count the times I've seen G limiter (especially for negative G) implemented on SP builds with one hand (I'm sure I've seen them, but honestly I can't recall one at the moment; I could just be forgetting all 100+ builds that had them though, so maybe I should just say "I love this feature!" lol), and airbrake angle getting automatically limited based on AGL just made me smile. Also, small but important features. Like having a cockpit view is great, and the tracer (bulletScale) of the guns made it look quite satisfying to fire the thing.
.
A couple of suggestions I would make is to add a toggle option for the airbrake using AG (so you don't have to pressing down the the throttle button), and maybe to add a hidden engine so the engine flame is visible only when you have the afterburner on. The latter especially is just my preference though. As for airbrake, "or" symbol works. Here's what I have on my build that limits brake power by half when gear down: (Brake | Activate2) * (LandingGear=0 ? 0.5 : 1).
But nonetheless... great build!
Here's some features I'm building into my second proof-of-concept bailout plane (or, more like pilot).
As for rescue helo, I still haven't found a suitable candidate for it.
-Automatic Airbrake that activates when the pilot is in the water (to stop or slow down sliding - it's very hard to catch the guy when they are sliding in the water at 100kph)
-Flare launcher for signalling
-Parachute for safe landing
.
And some features I'm hoping to implement
-Rudimentary pose-changing mechanism using rotators (stretching legs after bailout, head or body turning towards player if you lock onto the pilot - not sure how well I can implement this)
-Ability for the pilot to tell when its in close proximity to "safe zones" (eg Wright Airport etc.) based on map coords
--This would be used to trigger some stuff stuff which tells the player that they've successfully delivered the pilot to a safe zone (maybe like a little hand waving animation)
@rexzion
I'm thinking of simply using cumulative VerticalG or sum of positive G time as a trigger for bailout. Plane can be a normal one without FT-autopilot. This should allow for some randomness (given how randomly AI flies planes) without having to do crazy stuff. Making a stable enough helo seems like the harder part to me.
I have some new pilot themed figurines that can be used for this, so I should be uploading them soon (fingers crossed).
@LM0418
"You stole fizzy lifting drones! You bumped into the factory self destruct control which is now enabled and cannot be reverted! You get nothing! You lose! GOOD DAY, SIR!"
You can modify your airplane's data file (.xml), and edit the url field (copy-paste the URL of the predecessor build) and save the file. If you are on PC, you can do it by opening the file with notepad, and if u r on iPhone, there's an app that lets you move and edit docoments (I use use one called Document by Readdle).
The part you want to replace is the six-letter part.
.
You may have moved on from this, so in that case I'm posting this for the benefit of others who sees this post looking for info.
Here's some quarks I've noticed/learned about this trick as I messed with this system. Might help people who want to build other AAA build for AI based on this build:
.
.
-Gun seems to stop firing if the cockpit is moved too much after spawn. And once it stops firing, it seems they never fire again. So spawning the gun on moving objects such as USS Tiny or Beast makes it not work, at least on my game (latest iPhone 1.12.203).
.
I tried making a moving version of this AAA by combining it with 11qazxc's automatic gift truck, but couldn't get it to fire a single round for some reason. I gave up on the project, and later realized that even static versions stop firing when something moves the cockpit, or so it seemed. There might be a different, actual, precise cause for guns stop firing, but for the time being I presume this is the cause.
.
.
-Gun and cockpit can be misaligned due to movement caused by rotators (seems to be a characteristic/bug of the game). When this occurs, naturally the gun becomes inaccurate as it always aims at a wrong spot.
This can be mitigated by attaching a second cockpit to the base of the gun (in this case hull of the static vehicle), setting up Current Heading part variable of the second cockpit (by giving it a name), then modifying the rotator's FT by replacing all the Heading with the name for the heading variable of the second cockpit.
@Lwillswith2sentryguns
Indeed I have returned.... and now, I, the King Kendog84 the third, hereby declare myself the second deputy Emperor! Muwaha.. waha... WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
I did not expect this to push me past the 25k, but thank you all nonetheless for downloading, commenting, upvoting and highlighting.
Happy Simple Planing!
@Ye4567
!https://www.simpleplanes.com/Notifications/View/51382749
Here it is, I've included all wings as it was easier in a way. It says RF-84, but it's identical to my F-84's (G, I think). Flap is assigned to trim, and trim tabs are assigned to VTOL
@Ye4567
No, I don't mind, go ahead!
I have actually built flyable versions before turning them static, but I never completed them. I'll link one here if I still have it somewhere, you may use that as the base, instead of one of those static models, if you like:)
@Monarchii
Glad to be of service;)
I couldn't find the Natter though, unfortunately. But if I remember right, I think it used sum(clamp01(condition)) (=shows/gives you the time since the condition is met in second) to limit its engine run time.
Something like the following for engine activationGroup. Disables the engine 10 sec after AG1 is turned on.
sum(clamp01(Activate1)) < 10
Here's some I could find on my phone chii, I may find a few more on my computer if I'm lucky. (Don't get your hopes up for the Natter though!)
Did you figure out the AI gun thing btw? Sorry I haven't looked into it much yet, I've been away x(
.
.
Chii's builds
Airplanes
Doug AI https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/K8tZHr/AI-Fighter-Doug-Redesign-by-Tsuchiisan
@Ceilies
I assume you used an explosive cannon or one with high impactDamageScaler? System doesn't work with large explosion or too high an IDS due to the way the game works.
@UnidentifiedStapler
Yeah, the hitbox thing happens when you change the Z scale of the wheel part. Enabling the built-in suspension fixes it (as long as the suspension values aren't too low). Drawback is that... you have to enable the built-in suspension.
If you are interested, here's some stuff I made which use rotator as number-storing memory.
You can see how much it shakes on the coords recorder.
.
Earlier version of my autopilot
https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/GXJVvB/Auto-climb-wing-leveler-gyro-TALT-3-2
Coords charter (records XYZ coordinates of your flight)
https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/Wo4LgC/XYZ-coord-recorder-Route-charter-Mk1-record-longitude-altitude-and-latitude-au
@griges
Oh I see! Sorry for the rather unnecessary tip, haha
+1.
As for rotator, at least on my iOS version (1.12.203.1), they don't rotate unless something is attached to the shaft/moving bit. This goes for the basic one, joint, and probably mini too.
So you need to either attach a block to the rotator, or attach rotator to a 'base' of sort, and I think there's always gonna be some shake. Looking at your autopilot FT, former method might add too many blocks.
I use a single rotator to store altitude for my own autopilot mechanism (much simpler than yours), and with this 0 mass, 0 drag, 5000 damperMultiplier basic rotator, I experience very little shake for my use (negligible), but I can't say how much it's gonna affect your FT.
.
(Mine stores 0.01 degree (of the total 180 degs) as 1 meter, and a custom variable multiplies it back again by 100, rounds it up, then a gyro (which does the holding) uses this value as target altitude.
.
I'm not sure if the size (scale) of the rotator affects the shake though. Also, I'm not sure what you were referring to by engine power, can you elaborate on that part?
@Rob119
It took a while for some reason...
In case you are on iOS like me... I use a free file manager app called Documents (one from Readdle) to add back predecessor ID and edit FTs and such. It lets you import/export text files (including .xml used by SP), and also open and edit them.
I'm not sure if you can add back custom variables via this method, though.
I also use a text editor app called PWEditor (free) as a bulk-replacer, when I want to replace the name of multiple custom variables or the values at once. (There's a newer version but I haven't used it yet)
You just to need to
1)first import the plane file in question to the Documents app,
2)open & copy-paste the entire contents, ie. text, to the PWEditor (or any other app that does the same) and bulk replace,
3)then copy-paste that back to the plane file in Documents,
4)then finally export it back to the SimplePlanes directory in Files app.
You just gotta be careful with how you phrase your search terms when you bulk-replace. And also, always keep a back up of the plane file you are editing.
+1@ThomasRoderick @griges
+2If rotators shake too much, I'd also add
damperMultiplierparameter to "JointRotator" field and experiment with various numbers (1000, 2000, 5000, and so on). It will slow down the speed of the rotator, but it'll (it should) make it more stable and a tiny bit more precise.@MastaCheefondaSoda
No, it's all made in vanilla SP
All too relatable.
+1Thanks for sharing it with the rest of us, it looks beautiful.
@THEBIGGAKLIPA
There used to be one, but I can no longer find it. I think it's been deleted.
@SPsidearm
Yeah, it should work. Put secondary cockpit (orange one) on the turret and primary on the hull.
@YarisSedan
Oh... hey, you are RoadTrainGuy. Didn't realize right away haha
@YarisSedan
Nah, not really.
@YarisSedan
I have some improved/updated versions of my past builds. Low-part machine gun AAA, AI fighter (that can be spawned both mid air and on the ground), etc. I have new builds too but I don't know if any of them will be finished.
@YarisSedan
If it comes to iOS, I'll probably get it. But at the moment, I'm not sure if I'll be active in making & uploading things.
Thank you for your work! It's been and continues to be a great resource.
Oh wow. Hinge rotator for the exhaust is pure genius. I love it.
+1Looks great! Gotta play with (against) this later.
+1Looks great and fun to fly & play with. Love the camera aim gun.
+1Nice modification on the original!
Looks nice and handles nice!
@MonsNotTheMonster
+1Thanks!
Hey, one question, would you mind if.. or rather could I publish a custom weapon with this plane? As a successor to this, with proper credit and all.
+1@MonsNotTheMonster
+1Nah, thank you for the cool build, man! x)
I really felt & appreciate the effort & attention to detail/accuracy that went into this build, and it was quite a joy to fly this plane.
Man, what a nice, great build!
+1The combination of simple style & accurate looks, attention to detail, functional yet intuitive features & control, and flight performance is just really great. To me, it's almost exactly the kind of plane/thing I try to build and aim for myself and love to see from other people. Like, I can probably count the times I've seen G limiter (especially for negative G) implemented on SP builds with one hand (I'm sure I've seen them, but honestly I can't recall one at the moment; I could just be forgetting all 100+ builds that had them though, so maybe I should just say "I love this feature!" lol), and airbrake angle getting automatically limited based on AGL just made me smile. Also, small but important features. Like having a cockpit view is great, and the tracer (bulletScale) of the guns made it look quite satisfying to fire the thing.
.
A couple of suggestions I would make is to add a toggle option for the airbrake using AG (so you don't have to pressing down the the throttle button), and maybe to add a hidden engine so the engine flame is visible only when you have the afterburner on. The latter especially is just my preference though. As for airbrake, "or" symbol works. Here's what I have on my build that limits brake power by half when gear down:
(Brake | Activate2) * (LandingGear=0 ? 0.5 : 1).But nonetheless... great build!
@Ngoc83619
+1That's a B-36 I made before, you can find it among my published builds.
@Ngoc83619
+1Thank you for the kind comment, glad you liked them!:)
Here's some features I'm building into my second proof-of-concept bailout plane (or, more like pilot).
As for rescue helo, I still haven't found a suitable candidate for it.
-Automatic Airbrake that activates when the pilot is in the water (to stop or slow down sliding - it's very hard to catch the guy when they are sliding in the water at 100kph)
+1-Flare launcher for signalling
-Parachute for safe landing
.
And some features I'm hoping to implement
-Rudimentary pose-changing mechanism using rotators (stretching legs after bailout, head or body turning towards player if you lock onto the pilot - not sure how well I can implement this)
-Ability for the pilot to tell when its in close proximity to "safe zones" (eg Wright Airport etc.) based on map coords
--This would be used to trigger some stuff stuff which tells the player that they've successfully delivered the pilot to a safe zone (maybe like a little hand waving animation)
@rexzion
I'm thinking of simply using cumulative VerticalG or sum of positive G time as a trigger for bailout. Plane can be a normal one without FT-autopilot. This should allow for some randomness (given how randomly AI flies planes) without having to do crazy stuff. Making a stable enough helo seems like the harder part to me.
I have some new pilot themed figurines that can be used for this, so I should be uploading them soon (fingers crossed).
Nice build!
Love the destructible smoke stacks.
@LM0418
"You stole fizzy lifting drones! You bumped into the factory self destruct control which is now enabled and cannot be reverted! You get nothing! You lose! GOOD DAY, SIR!"
@SPsidearm
Image doesn't display for me unfortunately, is it a link to discord image perhaps?
@SPsidearm
Cool! Were you able to find the file?
Incredible, love it!
You can modify your airplane's data file (.xml), and edit the url field (copy-paste the URL of the predecessor build) and save the file. If you are on PC, you can do it by opening the file with notepad, and if u r on iPhone, there's an app that lets you move and edit docoments (I use use one called Document by Readdle).
+1The part you want to replace is the six-letter part.
.
You may have moved on from this, so in that case I'm posting this for the benefit of others who sees this post looking for info.
Here's some quarks I've noticed/learned about this trick as I messed with this system. Might help people who want to build other AAA build for AI based on this build:
.
.
-Gun seems to stop firing if the cockpit is moved too much after spawn. And once it stops firing, it seems they never fire again. So spawning the gun on moving objects such as USS Tiny or Beast makes it not work, at least on my game (latest iPhone 1.12.203).
.
I tried making a moving version of this AAA by combining it with 11qazxc's automatic gift truck, but couldn't get it to fire a single round for some reason. I gave up on the project, and later realized that even static versions stop firing when something moves the cockpit, or so it seemed. There might be a different, actual, precise cause for guns stop firing, but for the time being I presume this is the cause.
.
.
-Gun and cockpit can be misaligned due to movement caused by rotators (seems to be a characteristic/bug of the game). When this occurs, naturally the gun becomes inaccurate as it always aims at a wrong spot.
This can be mitigated by attaching a second cockpit to the base of the gun (in this case hull of the static vehicle), setting up Current Heading part variable of the second cockpit (by giving it a name), then modifying the rotator's FT by replacing all the
Headingwith the name for the heading variable of the second cockpit.@DimitriIqbal91
Thanks! And I did not think of that, I gotta try that. Seeing these fall seems fun lol
@Lwillswith2sentryguns
Indeed I have returned.... and now, I, the King Kendog84 the third, hereby declare myself the second deputy Emperor! Muwaha.. waha... WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
jk thanks lol Don't expect high output!
+1@AluminiumFX
Thank you!
@LunarEclipseSP Imgbb, I'll check it out, thanks!
+1@Monarchii
+2Nobody told me about the ritual! AUGHHH!!! (thrown off an aircraft, into kraken's mouth)
I did not expect this to push me past the 25k, but thank you all nonetheless for downloading, commenting, upvoting and highlighting.
Happy Simple Planing!
@Ye4567
!https://www.simpleplanes.com/Notifications/View/51382749
Here it is, I've included all wings as it was easier in a way. It says RF-84, but it's identical to my F-84's (G, I think). Flap is assigned to trim, and trim tabs are assigned to VTOL
@Ye4567
Sure thing
@Ye4567
No, I don't mind, go ahead!
I have actually built flyable versions before turning them static, but I never completed them. I'll link one here if I still have it somewhere, you may use that as the base, instead of one of those static models, if you like:)
Oh btw--is there a good alternative image hoster to discord? Thanks
+1Five, six, seven, o, nine.
+1@DatTrainGuy19
+1My habit/policy to always include the name of the creator when saving a build has paid off:)
@Monarchii
+1Glad to be of service;)
I couldn't find the Natter though, unfortunately. But if I remember right, I think it used
sum(clamp01(condition))(=shows/gives you the time since the condition is met in second) to limit its engine run time.Something like the following for engine activationGroup. Disables the engine 10 sec after AG1 is turned on.
sum(clamp01(Activate1)) < 10
Looks good and very fun to fly! (even on smart phone!)
Great build.
Here's some I could find on my phone chii, I may find a few more on my computer if I'm lucky. (Don't get your hopes up for the Natter though!)
Did you figure out the AI gun thing btw? Sorry I haven't looked into it much yet, I've been away x(
.
.
Chii's builds
Airplanes
Doug AI
https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/K8tZHr/AI-Fighter-Doug-Redesign-by-Tsuchiisan
Geoff AI
https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/WekXVr/AI-Fighter-Geoff-by-Tsuchiisan-lpfighter
Nachute AI
https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/I8g2uI/AI-Fighter-Nachteule-by-Tsuchiisan
E-3 Bandog AWACS
https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/28k28v/AI-ASAP-AWACS-E-3-Bandog-by-tsuchiisan-chiis-old-build
Hamuko - single seat fighter
https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/VIPN43/Hamuko-by-Tsuchiisan
Giant Seaplane Zephyr II
https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/GR78ON/Giant-Seaplane-The-Zephyr-II-TT3-by-Tsuchiisan-LPplane
Air ship
Grand Explorer
https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/9IKs07/Airship-Grand-Explorer-Holy-Lyre-TGT2-by-Tsuchiisan
Hover bike Sleipnir
https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/614Z0k/Dieslevr-Aeroflotmotorwerks-H-11L-Custom-Sleipnir-by-tsuchiisan
Senko pilot fig
https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/g9Yn4O/Figure-G_suit-Senko-by-tsuchiisan-anime
Ships
HMS Reaper, CVE
https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/0uNXFU/HMS-Reaper-escort-carrier-TT2-by-Tsuchiisan-LPS
I-15 sub carrier
https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/4tochL/SSV-I-15-Floatplane-Submarine-TT4-by-tsuchiisan-lps-AIS
@Ceilies
I assume you used an explosive cannon or one with high impactDamageScaler? System doesn't work with large explosion or too high an IDS due to the way the game works.
@UnidentifiedStapler
+1Yeah, the hitbox thing happens when you change the Z scale of the wheel part. Enabling the built-in suspension fixes it (as long as the suspension values aren't too low). Drawback is that... you have to enable the built-in suspension.