Docking to a Carrier Questions (Making a custom ship)

[VengenceMkII]

Hello all,

Thanks to a renewed interest in modding, I've decided to give my old game of X3TC a try again. I have a few carrier models and some fighters lying about and I figured they'd be a good start. Thanks to a lot of tutorials around I've got a good idea of what needs be done (though many many questions remain but those will come when they come) but there is one thing I'm not really sure about and couldn't find a tutorial that explains it.

I'm looking at X3 imported models and I've noticed that the docking and launching bays for carriers are different than the normal convention I read. Rather than a directory like Bships\props\bigturret2_dummy_7b the launch bays are B19026_1 - B19026_8 while the docking bay is B19027a. I'm a bit confused by this and I'm wondering how does this work? Where are the physical docking bay models and how does these series of numbers link to the models? Script? Code? Properties?

Secondly is there a sort of 'waypoint' system launching and docking fighters use? Or do fighters always approach and launch on a straight vector? Is there a way to specify how long they stay on that vector and how far they taxi to dock? The models I have posses a sort of 'launch strip' down it that I'd like fighters to fly down before going hot, at the same time another model has fighters fly down a trench to dock inside the ship. Without a sort of waypoint system or taxi distance, I'm afraid the fighters will prefer slamming into my carrier rather than fly down the trench. Again the carrier might have multiple 'entrances' so is it possible for a carrier type ship to have multiple entrances?

There are a handful of other issues I'll have to look into, but those really only need closer reading. Really, my biggest issue is how docking works as I haven't found a tutorial for those and search brings up nothing.

Thanks for listening, I hope to make many good mods for X3 in the future .

[Killjaeden]

the B- parts are defined in dummies.txt
e.g. B192026 you'll find 19026 there
in dummies.txt the number you see at the end is 9026 which links to cutscene.txt
in this file you'll find the appropriate path to the file with this number.

Dont know about the waypoints myself, atm i think they are somewhat hardcoded

[VengenceMkII]

Thanks for the reply. With the original meshes I might be able to even form my own docking pieces.

Shame on the lack of waypoints, however do you think the behavior of launching and docking fighters use the collision box to determine where to rally and launch distance before engaging? Larger objects in X3 tend to have a significantly longer docking path. I don't really know if it will help with launching though.

[sartha]

In my experiences making the wing commander ships in X3 Reunion I learned a few things about dockinga nd launching fighters. Since wing commander carriers use an "open" hangar system where it's bassically a big hole from bow to stern of the ship, the fighters land from the back and launch from the front of that same hole.

To get the effect I tried placing the launch and landing dummies close to the center of the hangar. The landing was fine, the fighters would line up a couple of kilometers aft of the ship and move into the hangar and dissapear. The launches were not so perfect. Having 5 launching points in the hangar for quick launching of 200 fighters cause the fighters to peel off during launch. The outer most fighters would peel off while still inside the carrier's hangar and then the next 2 fighters would peel off almost after having cleared the hangar and the remaining fighter kept going straight. This was the case every single time. Oddly enough the fighters clipped through the carrier without incident each time, it still forced me to realise that the simple launching mechanism did not possess waypoints as would be needed.

The landing mechanism also lacks more than one waypoint because sometimes my fighters would land at an angle and clip through part of the carrier's aft section. My solution to both issues was to move the dummies further away from the center and closer to the actual openings. This information is pointless if you're trying to get fighters to avoid parts of the carrier that are close to the hangars but it's the only answer I have ^.^;

[VengenceMkII]

But it is a very good answer nonetheless. With this in mind I'll test out the model. From what you said I think that there won't be a problem with the fighters docking, as for launching the effect of seeing fighters race down the trench and into open space will be lost if I move it to the opening but if it works, it'll be worth it.

[Sam L.R. Griffiths]

With regards to docking problems which occur in a variety of ways including sitting dead in space there are a number of scripts in existence which make an attempt to resolve such problems via beam docking amonst other things.

[Triaxx2]

Have a look at CODEA for one of the solutions.

[VengenceMkII]

I've forgotten about CODEA, it could help for some of the issues. I have one final question just to make sure. What I mentioned about the B192026, sartha mentioned ships just appearing and disappearing inside the ship. If my original goals don't work out, is there a string that produces an 'invisible' launch/dock bay so I could put it nearer the exits and entrances without uh... having those bay doors around?