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Destination Board

mad_schatz

mad_schatz

Messages
34
Country
belgium
Hi,

I want to create a Destination Board that can display predefined Text. ( like Los Angeles, Brussels etc. )

But I don't know where to start. Any idea ?
 
Last edited:
Hi,

How interactive should this board be? Putting the text on it should not be that hard when using a texture. But how do you want to determine what is shown?
 
Here is what I think:
I want to display a destination name that anybody can define by the help of little VB program. It can be triggered by Nav Freq.
For example:
Let’s say we have 10 variables of destination names. Each one is connected to one unique Nav freq.
108.00 -- > Brussels
108.10 -- > Los Angeles
108.20 -- > Amsterdam
Now, when user choose 108.00 from Nav freq, I want the board to display correspondent text.
Also I want to give an effect like real destination boards. Each digit will start to scroll the letters from A to Z and when it reaches correspondent letter that digit will stop scrolling.

To create the scrolling animation is not difficult, but to stop that animation in exact place is challenging. And I don't have any idea to do this.
 
Hi,

That sounds like quite a challenge.

If you have a list of possible destinations, it is not very hard to put them on the object based on the NAV frequency. It is a bit like I made my docking systems, you need to define a different texture mapping for each variant and show it according to a condition (the NAV frequency in your case).

I don't know what you mean with a VB program to change it. That is not very easy, as the information about the possibilities should already be in the BGL file. So that only works if your tool can create a new BGL file on demand.

About the animation part. Doing something like that is possible, but you would have to use a stop condition for the animation that depends on the name you try to write. That would require quite some ASM code editing, so I would only advice doing that to somebody who understands the ASM animation format.
 
Hi Arno,

arno said:
Hi,

That sounds like quite a challenge.

If you have a list of possible destinations, it is not very hard to put them on the object based on the NAV frequency. It is a bit like I made my docking systems, you need to define a different texture mapping for each variant and show it according to a condition (the NAV frequency in your case).
Click to expand...

Actually I want the destination list variable. Maybe It can come from another bgl file. So that It can easly change.
arno said:
I don't know what you mean with a VB program to change it. That is not very easy, as the information about the possibilities should already be in the BGL file. So that only works if your tool can create a new BGL file on demand.
Click to expand...
VB ( Visual Basic ) tool that can change some bytes of variable bgl file.
arno said:
About the animation part. Doing something like that is possible, but you would have to use a stop condition for the animation that depends on the name you try to write. That would require quite some ASM code editing, so I would only advice doing that to somebody who understands the ASM animation format.
Click to expand...

Like I told you It's really challenging

Actually there is a sample of this board. But like you already know, decompiling someone's bgl is violation of copyright.:censored:
So I would like to create mine and distribute it freely.;)
Hopefully I want manage to make it.
 

Attachments

Last edited:
Hi,

Looking at that movie, it seems they used animated textures there, instead of a real animation to switch the letters. That might make things a little bit easier.

PS. Is this a scenery by Oliver Pabst? Looks like it, he made some really fantastic and complex stuff. Which is not that easy to replicate without knowing a lot about the scenery code. So that would be something that you have to handcode yourself in ASM/SCA.
 
arno said:
Hi,
PS. Is this a scenery by Oliver Pabst? Looks like it, he made some really fantastic and complex stuff. Which is not that easy to replicate without knowing a lot about the scenery code. So that would be something that you have to handcode yourself in ASM/SCA.
Click to expand...

You got me Arno .... :):)
From the first time I see his scenery, I can't take it of my mind. It is very cool. :cool:
And I find it very :( that he doesn't want to share his knowledge.

arno said:
Looking at that movie, it seems they used animated textures there
Click to expand...
How is it possible to use animated texture ? I never heard of it? Do you know somewhere where I can get some info about this stuf.

Thanks
 
Hi,

mad_schatz said:
And I find it very :( that he doesn't want to share his knowledge.
Click to expand...

For someone now working on commercial addons as well, I can understand that. If you give away your secrets your scenery will become less special.

mad_schatz said:
How is it possible to use animated texture ? I never heard of it? Do you know somewhere where I can get some info about this stuf.
Click to expand...

You should see it as a cartoon movie. There are different textures and you display them one after the other. This can for example be done from GMax, have a look at the MakeMDL SDK it talks about these animations (can't remember the correct name now).

If you want more control over the textures shown, you will need to get into the code tweaking yourself again. For anymore more complex you will have to code it yourself.
 
Hi Arno,

While I was digging forum threads yesterday, I found this thread :
http://www.scenerydesign.org/forum/showthread.php?t=741

So I looked up all the MakeMDL SDK (FS2002 and FS2004) I did not find anything about material prefix name ANIMATE. All I found is LINE_,ZBIAS_,ZBIAS_##,DS_,BRIGHT_,LIGHT_BEACON,LIGHT_STROBE,LIGHT_RECO,LIGHT_WING,LIGHT_LOGO,LIGHT_NAV,LIGHT_TAXI,LIGHT_LAND.

So nothing about prefix name ANIMATE. Also I tried the last reply that you gave that thread :
arno said:
Hi Thorsten,

I have never seen such a step by step tutorial. If I remember correct it is something like:
  1. Give the correct prefix to your material
  2. Apply that texture as usual
  3. Make the different textures for the animation (so with the numbers 0000, 0001, 0002, etc)
  4. That should be all :)

If you still get stuck, just ask again with a specific question where it goes wrong.
Click to expand...

Is it possible to show me a direction where can I find more information.
 
Hi,

mad_schatz said:
Is it possible to show me a direction where can I find more information.
Click to expand...

Doesn't that thread contain everything you need? I have not seen more information about this subject elsewhere either.
 
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