I eventually want to develop a basic VTOL thruster control system that could be adapted to any vehicle. I haven't built wings before. I have a couple of mods that are higher on my to-do list: Updates for existing mods for new v0.27 cars. STOL conversion for the B25. Sounds for the Fire mod (campfire, bonfire, explosion). Wing Waster (for ME262, STOLide, AN-12, B25) - The Wing Waster will blow a wing off a plane on-command. This is probably of most use for filmmaking, so the plane can be knocked out of the air at the exact right moment for a spectacular crash right where it's supposed to happen. When the wing gets shot off, some spark-looking particles will provide the illusion that some bullets just ripped through the wing at the root. Then, an explosion will provide the illusion that the "bullets" ruptured the wing fuel tank, igniting the fumes. The wing will separate from the fuselage, with flames shooting out of both sides of the wing/fuselage interface. The plane will spin out of control because the wing's gone. When the crash happens, the plane will explode into a ball of flame. I'm going to try to make all pieces of wreckage emit flames as the plane parts tumble along the ground after impact. Sounds will be included (bullets hitting wing, blazing fire, explosions). Some other stuff. I need to check the To-Do list in... whichever post that was.
Could probably adapt the Wing Waster as a modified version of some of the 'Fun Stuff' commands, creating a specific B25, AN-12, Stolide, etc config based on the desitred wing to explode, then moving the associated fire and spark generators to the desired location on that wing, then by pressing the 'Explode' key it would explode and detach the selected wing instead of the full plane, allowing it to seemlessly separate from the plane
At my skill level, it would be easier to make it as a standalone mod. I don't know how to override the circular menu stuff, which I think I'd have to in order to prevent the entire vehicle from exploding. I'll probably implement the Wing Waster as a replacement set of wings with an aux controller. The player could select which item to blow off: left wing, right wing, or maybe even the tail. The explosions and fire on impact during a crash will probably be triggered when certain beams are broken. If the crash isn't hard enough to break up the fuselage, maybe it doesn't blow up.
I downloaded Blender in preparation for building pieces for a naval base. In the meantime, I've been connecting old, decommissioned aircraft carriers together to build makeshift naval bases. For example, my current Jungle Rock Island Naval Base is built around the Resort. I partially sank some carriers to form a barge vessel base: JRI Naval Base at sunrise: JRI Naval Base zoom view: JRI Naval Base at dusk: JRI Naval Base at dusk, zoom views: Landing at JRI Naval Base at dusk:
I'm a total rookie in Blender, and before I start building really big stuff, I'm going to tackle something small: A loading ramp for the Flat Top Barge (unless one already exists, but I haven't seen one). I think I figured out how to properly export the DAE and JBEAM files. I just need to figure out how to properly export textures & do LOD types of things. I probably won't have to mess around with advanced stuff this time around. The ramp is just a slab of metal with a mere 8 vertices in the flexbody. Hopefully we'll soon be able to load wheeled vehicles without requiring a dock/pier/jetty at deck height. With a ramp we can just float a barge up to a beach and drop the ramp.
Well, I still need to work on the texture stuff, but: I have a ramp with ends that don't pop tires (anymore). I have a jbeam that can be spawned in the "bollards" slot on the Flat Top Barge. I still need to: Tune the jbeam to act like a steel ramp should. Attach it to the bow of the barge. Rig some hydraulics or something to raise or lower the ramp. Textures can wait for a while. It's visible and doesn't wreck tires at the ends of the ramp. That's a pretty good first step.
There is a ramp for the Flat Top Barge attached to this post as HighBeam9000_BargeRamp.zip. Drop HighBeam9000_BargeRamp.zip into your "mods" folder. Spawn the Flat Top Barge. In the "Bollards" slot, select "FTB Bollard Slot Bracket". Map controls to raise and lower the ramp. Some things you'll probably notice: The material texture is simple, plain gray. I need to work on it. The ramp is large, but I wanted it to be almost full barge-width, and be long enough to present a shallow angle, so this is what I got. The ramp is heavy. It's steel, but I'm wondering if it's still unrealistically heavy. On the up side, the weight stabilizes the barge at speed. The ramp probably isn't as stiff as it should be. I'm working on that. If it's too stiff, it might vibrate or even explode. I also included the Blender file in BargeRampBlender.zip just in case anybody wants to mess with it. Anyway, here's the first crack at a barge ramp, and it's not too bad. It could be worse. When loading and unloading, be sure the ramp is all the way down and on a fairly flat surface. Otherwise the lip of the ramp might be off the ground a bit and hinder loading. Try the ramp out. Tell me what you think. --- Post updated --- Here's some gameplay with the ramp. Treasure hunters are trying to retrieve The Loot. This is The Loot, "hidden" at the Abandoned Resort: Here are the treasure hunters, at their base, loading the truck on the barge at sunrise. The early birds get The Loot: Getting under way. No time to waste. We don't want anybody else getting our Loot: There's nothing like treasure hunting in the morning! Arriving at The Resort: Unloading the truck: On the Resort grounds, getting to The Loot: WE GOT THE LOOT! Loading the truck back up: Let's get back to the base! Making our getaway: --- Post updated --- UPDATE: The Ramp for Flat Top Barge mod has been released into the Repository. Get it here. The prototype ramp ZIP files have been removed from this post.
The naval base isn't actually saved anywhere. I have to rebuild it whenever I need it. Fortunately, we have scripts for this. Soon, I hope to have proper naval base pieces that can be arranged to form a real naval base with an air field, control tower, piers/jetties/docks, warehouses, etc. These pieces would be used to build a naval base on any coastline.
When I load Jungle Rock Island (or any other map), it loads the normal level. There is no naval base saved with it. If I feel like doing naval stuff, then I'll build a naval base somewhere along the shoreline. I use the aircraft carrier from Motorsports Playground (gerryfrod.dae) as a building block for my naval bases, at least until I have proper blocks to build one. If the carrier's z-coordinate is set 8.375 units below sea level, then its deck is the perfect height for barges to pull alongside and dock. Multiple carriers can be put together to form a large, flat area for a base. If they're lined up just right, the airstrips on multiple carriers can be aligned to form a much longer airstrip. Somewhere in the Naval Warfare thread there's a ZIP file (HighBeam9000_MSPG_HeliCarrier.zip) with some scripts that will place a carrier (and lights for the carrier) wherever you want. Here are the coordinates of the carriers that form JRI Naval Base from a few posts above (x, y, z, theta): Carrier 1: 816.988, -253.742, 115.765, 151.002 Carrier 2: 691.169, -87.537, 115.765, -173.054 Carrier 3: 687.050, 121.608, 115.765, -137.021 Drop HighBeam9000_MSPG_HeliCarrier.zip into your "mods" folder, goto Jungle Rock Island, then call these functions from the debug console: scripts_HighBeam9000__MSPG__HeliCarrier_extension.spawnCVN75carrier(816.988, -253.742, 115.765, 151.002) scripts_HighBeam9000__MSPG__HeliCarrier_extension.spawnCVN75lights(816.988, -253.742, 115.765, 151.002) scripts_HighBeam9000__MSPG__HeliCarrier_extension.spawnCVN75carrier(691.169, -87.537, 115.765, -173.054) scripts_HighBeam9000__MSPG__HeliCarrier_extension.spawnCVN75lights(691.169, -87.537, 115.765, -173.054) scripts_HighBeam9000__MSPG__HeliCarrier_extension.spawnCVN75carrier(687.050, 121.608, 115.765, -137.021) scripts_HighBeam9000__MSPG__HeliCarrier_extension.spawnCVN75lights(687.050, 121.608, 115.765, -137.021) ...and you will have a naval base at the Resort on Jungle Rock Island.
From: Office of BeamNG.Naval Intelligence To: The Admiral Re: Activity in Northern Fjord Classification: Super-Duper Tippy-Top Secret We've noticed some activity in the fjord to the north of Italy Island: It looks like some unknown faction is constructing an airfield. Its proximity to the water (right next to it) suggests it may be part of a larger naval base: More intel reports to follow...
The forums decided that I don't get any more notifications from this thread, I thought it died. This paid mod seems pretty close to a carrier, I'll see if I can buy it today to test it out. Looks high quality, too. WIP - Floating Crane | BeamNG Missed a lot, progress is looking good here!
It looks like we can get about the same functionality from a Flat Top Barge taking a Man TGS for a ride. The floating crane has a claw, however, which is pretty cool. It also looks like it has a loading ramp, but that ramp looks too short to load/unload at a beach. The Flat Top Barge ramp in Naval Warfare Post #208 (above) will reach a beach. We could duplicate the functionality of the Floating Crane just by adding a claw to our barge/TGS/ramp combo, for free. Also, our claw would be mobile with the TGS, not limited to the area immediately around the barge. In other news, I checked the suspected naval base in the fjord north of Italy, and they've made more progress. In addition to the 1400-meter runway, they've added a tarmac with a large hangar, a control tower, barge docks, and concrete paths and ramps connecting it all together. I even saw indicators that they might have molds to cast concrete bridge parts. I sent in a team to get some recon photos. I should have those photos sometime this evening. When the base inevitably starts arming up, we'll have to take some military action, like assault and occupy the base. My sources forecast this will likely be in the next few days, so get your gear and ordnance prepped. When we're ready for that op, I'll post the naval base parts here along with a script that will place the base parts where they are now. Once we capture their base, maybe the runway will provide enough space for us to operate Avro Arrows. Avros are a bit fragile, so we'll need plenty of runway to set them down gently.
There is a way to get around the fragility of the Avro. Flare as heavily as possible on landing and you should be fine (still has it's limits, but it works). I'll still grab floating crane, as it interested me as an overall good barge. Seems fun to mess around with for pictures and a mini movie plan I had. Can't wait to attack the base!
