AI Ships - Importing the Virtual Navy

[Guest pecrowther]

I may be the last person in the world to have figured this out, but:I had previously tried to use CFS2 ships as AI ships (using the method shown by Holger), but was unable to get them to work. This was apparently because the aircraft_radius is "n/a" and this value cannot be changed using the AFCAD2 aircraft editor.I just discovered that I can make them work by changing the radius of the Gates in the AFCAD files. I am using the MilCargo gates (although any should work) and have increased the radius values of the various gates to 500 and 999.I am now able to use all the WW2 ships of the "Virtual Navy", from battleships to escort carriers to destroyers. (I have not tried a full-sized carrier yet.) I have them "taxiing" in a pattern that is several miles long.Unfortunately, I cannot make the carriers landable.Now I have to tweak the smoke files to make the smoke match the smokestacks for each ship.Phil

[Holger 0]

Hi Phil,as far as I know you are the first to figure this out - nice find!!!I've just finished adding custom AI ships to a project (see sample below) and they are very popular with the beta testers, particularly when they come with dynamic effects, such as wakes, smoke, lights, water spray, etc.Here's a tip that Hama (Mitsuya Hamaguchi) pointed out to me: Using water and smoke effects with AI via the LIGHTS section, as I tend to do, leads to them glowing brightly at night. Instead, one has to combine these effects into one fx file and activate it via the concrete= parameter in the EFFECTS section. BTW, Hama has updated his cruise ship and Hovercraft, available here: http://f1.aaacafe.ne.jp/~rjnnhama/craft.htm Cheers, Holger http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/94927.jpg

[Guest pecrowther]

Holger,Looks like a great update to the Hama ship.Yes, using the lights gave everything a blast furnace effect. Looks like "concrete" is the only trigger that works. I have gotten to combining effects - the attached picture shows the Virtual Navy Battleship North Carolina. The effect combines your wake effect, plus 2 smoke effects.Soon there will be no reason for a empty seaport!Thanks for getting us all started.Phil

[Guest pecrowther]

HolgerI see that the virtual cockpit view in the Hama ship has several animated 2D and 3D people doing various things. We can definitely use more people in our 3D worlds. Normally, 3D people take a bit of computation because they have lots of points and planes. However, in virtual view, there is not a much of the vehicle to draw, so this may not be as much of an issue. A neat effort! Perhaps we can get some animated co-pilots.Phil