aircraft carrier Lights on flightdeck

[Cobber]

Hi guys,
may be something close to my problem has been written.....but I didnt find a complete solution
so who can explain me how to add "lights" on a flightdeck to have a real flightdeck for my carrier?
I designed this ship with 3dmax v.9, yesterday you explained to me how to export , I know how to add simple effects using MCX, but now it is to design a complete set of lights including RWY C.L. and all around ...like a big apron and so on.....
waiting for a great help
best regards
Cobby

 

[Cobber]

how can I add lights on a flightdeck using 3dmax and exporting with aces tool?

 

[SkippyBing]

All you should need to do is create a small plane where you want each light and then use the attach point tool from the ACES menu. This will let you attach effects to the planes, just select a suitable one, select the plane and click Add Effect. Then repeat until you're done, you shouldn't clone the planes once the effect is attached as the effect doesn't get renumbered which will cause an error later on. You can also add a visibility effect at the same time so they only show up at night etc.
The planes, or anything else with an effect attached, won't show up in game as they're replaced with the effect.

 

[Cobber]

Ok , If I have understood well these are my steps:
1.create a Plane (my rwylight)
2.use attach point from aces menu
3.select the effect
4.add the effect to the plane
5. repeat al for an other plane.

question which effect I have to add?
regards

 

[Cobber]

what I have to do is add green lights along the flightdeck perimeter
I'm attaching a shot of a part of my flight deck....
consider in the Night time we have to see only green lights so the white lines will be deleted or with a low opacity in LM texture
which method I have to use
show me step by step how add a single green light and I'll do all
I confirm I'm using 3dmax and I have ace tool
regards

 

[SkippyBing]

Okay in the screenshot you'll see I've selected the plane and opened the Attach Point Tool.
I've then selected Effect and Visibility in the tick boxes which opens up the two drop downs below.
In those I've selected fx_navgre, which will give me a green light, there's also red and white available from the standard FSX effects in various strengths or you could add your own.
In visibility I've selected visible_Night, this is so it only appears between dusk and dawn, otherwise it would be on all the time.

That isn't a standard visibility option so you'll have to edit your modeldef.xml file to add it.
The file is located in: H:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X SDK\SDK\Environment Kit\Modeling SDK\bin
where H is the drive you've installed things on. You can edit it with notepad or the text editor of your choice.

The code you need is below, copy and paste it to the main part of the file, i.e below all the Animation name= and AnimationGroup stuff at the start.

       <PartInfo>
        <Name>visible_Night</Name>
        <Visibility>
            <Parameter>
                <Code>
         (E:TIME OF DAY, Enum) 1 !=
         if{
            1
          }
         els{ 0 }
                </Code>
            </Parameter>
        </Visibility>
    </PartInfo>

Hope that helps!

 

[Cobber]

thank you
I have understood as follows:
1. create a plane on the flightdeck
2.select the plane and open Attach point tool
3.follow your instructions (using fx_navgre as effect)
5.edit modeldef.xml file adding the code as you show me... below all the Animation name= and AnimationGroup stuff at the start
are they right steps?
question: is it possible to create All Planes , attach them as a single polygon and use the attach point tool?
what I have to do is in the image you see:

so pls tell me which effects I have to use
best regards
Cobby

 

[SkippyBing]

You'll want to edit the modeldef.xml first so that the visible_Night option shows up when you open the tool.
As far as I know you have to have a plane at each point you want an effect, basically the plane gets removed with the effect placed at what was its pivot point.
The easiest thing to do would be make a plane and then clone it to where you want all the lights of one colour. Then use the Attach Point Tool to work through them in turn adding the effect you want.
Repeat for the other colour lights.
For the ship in your picture fx_navgre should work for the deck edge lights. fx_navwhi should work for the lift edge lights. fx_navred may work for the runway centreline ones or you may want to make a new more yellow effect.
For that copy the fx_navred and rename it fx_navyel and then play around with the R,G,B values in it, again you can use a text editor or the fx tool that comes with the SDK.

 

[Cobber]

here you have my modeldef.xml
I have edited the xml and I Put a <--visibility--> green note where I add your code
can you check pls?

 

[SkippyBing]

That should work, does it show up in the drop down menu in the Attach Point Tool?

 

[Cobber]

Yes it works: see attached file
Now I have to create all the deck lights and for each have I to add the effect?
or is possible to create all lights first than attach them so we have a single entity than add attach the effect in single operation?
this is my first question
second : can I see how the effect works, I would like to see a preview if possible
third : may I have your Nav effects if these are well used for a deck?
may I send you a PM ?

all my best

 

[SkippyBing]

As far as I know you have to do each effect individually. Each effect is numbered, the tool automatically increases the number every time you apply one. If you did them all at once they'd all have the same number which causes the compiler to crash when you make the MDL.
To see the effects I think Arno has written an effect viewer tool which is somewhere on this site.

Drop me a PM and I'll see what effects I have.

 

[Cobber]

FXeditor you mean, I suppose
I have it but when I loaded fx_navgre effect I do not see any on the preview
why?

 

[Cobber]

Drop me a PM

@SkippyBing my e-mail is ml6294atgmail dot com
pls write to me[/quote][/quote]

 

[Cobber]

hi guys,
I decided to follow a tutorial:
How to do your Taxi Edge Light by Jirayu Tanabodee

to design a Taxi-light.

as you see I followed the first steps of the tutorial but I do not know if I did well since now.
I made several planes and I used 2 side material for taxi_light01 and taxi_light02 with a texture: taxi_light.tga that has an alphachannel
the same with base_taxi_light using base luce. tga with alpha channel
and I did the taxi-light
Now I do not know which use had the two triangles and which texture I have to use with; Idem for the main base taxi-light
than there is a box.....which material have I to use and if which texture?
I use 3ds max 9
Can you help

 

[jtanabodee]

I am not good at English either and I am not quite understand the question.
However, I would like to say that the light has to be one texture with unique material setting. Please follow this thread http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/new-way-to-make-light-splash.273813/

The light pole is the FSX material with default transparency, Z-alpha write, Z-alpha test.

 

[Cobber]

ok mates,
I did finally the lights;
but which angle Have I to use?
x=0; y=0 z=-155 ?
a vasi has 3 degree if I remember but for an aircraft carrier?
regards