My Two Projects.

[Katahu]

Project Mercedes and Project Have Blue have already begun to reach their next phase of construction:

REFLECTIVE TEXTURES.

It took me time to figure out what was wrong with the textures. But I then found out that I was suppose to check on one simple detail in FS9: The "variations" drop-down box of the aircraft menu [where the aircraft is displayed]. How stupid of me.

I have finally gathered up some pics for you people. Don't mind the last image. I'm trying to work on the *.air file for the model.

Tell me what do you think.









Now, for the interior textures. Hey Oz [if you are reading thi], do you still have the interior textures for the F-117 Have Blue?

[d0mokun]

neato, the merc is definately something different.
will it have the sounds and interiors like Bill Lyons' Ford?

and the have-blue looks neat too.. just an idea but maybe you could put extremeo shine\ alpha on the canopy glass to make it shiny.. like an f16..
then again i've not seen a photo of a H-B.

but still.. coool.  8)

[Katahu]

Thanks for the comments.

I posted this thread like 3 or 4 hours earlier. Yet, I am surprised that you are the only one that replied. I was expecting at least 3 or 4 replies by now. But, oh well.

I just did one part of the Have Blue model so that I can see if the reflections work. Now it does.

Long ago, I have tested the F-117/A Have Blue [proper name] in FS2002. The Have Blue and the Mercedes SL600 are now going to be compatible for both FS2002 and FS9. I have both simulators installed.

Now that I have grasped the concept and understanding of the alpha channels, I can finally do many things.

I am planning to apply the reflective textures [with a chrome appearance] on the rims of the Mercedes and on the side-view mirrors as well.

I'll apply the textures on the rest of the Have Blue model [with added detail].

[d0mokun]

yeeeah well I am still online despite the fact i'm 15; and in the uk... so its.. buh.. its 02:47 at the moment.. [yawn].

but still, i thought the sorta reflective\ chrome-ish effect on the body of the merc looked real nice.. realistic. maybe for the headlights you could give them like a ribbed appearance through a transparent texture?
and try mucking around with specular hightliting on the gmax material editor- that'll make the merc look reaaaaly snazzy.

do you have any photos of the real Have Blue? Never seen one myself before. oh and maybe some shots of the H-B vc.. and merc vc? pretty pretty please? [ya can always email them ] lol

but still, keep it up mate! I'll be sure to grab them once you release them both!

[BMan1113VR]

the merc is looking great

[Katahu]

Right now, I am having technical problems with the flight dynamics of the Have Blue model.

I can seem to get that d@mu plane to hold still while it's sitting on the ground. It keeps sinking into the ground, flipping over to the back, and so on.

I used the AirEd utility so that I can get some more access to the *.air file. However, I chose to use the Aircraft.cfg file instead because the AirEd was confusing.

I tried to increase the station loads [weight] and move them more to the nose of the aircraft [about 1,170 lbs] so that the nose can stay down. However, the aircraft still flips over to the rear.

Then I tried to adjust the "static_cg_height" so that it can stay above ground. But still, it sinks into the ground.

Right now, I guess I forgot to move the fuel load forward [I already fixed the position of the engines] so that it be in front of the landing gear and between the engines. I gotta do that. But that still doesnt' solve the issue of the sinking aircraft.

The F-117/A Have Blue seems to flip over as it take-off from the ground. This is natural because you have to remember, the aircraft is [in reality] unstable on all 3 axis.

I am looking for some help from real professionals who can tell me what to do to fix the issues of an *.air file.

Once I am done with the flight dynamics, I'll move on to putting in some sounds and then fix the dynamic virtual cockpit [DVC].

I have already added in the panel [made by Oz].

[d0mokun]

tried looking at the contact points?

[Katahu]

Almost forgot. Here is the photo image of the Night Hawks' predecessor: The F-117/A Have Blue. Made by SkunkWorks.

[Katahu]

I checked the contact points. They seem okay, or at leats it looks okay.

[d0mokun]

lol so it really does look like a cardboard model thing.. did that one actually fly??!

and.. try moving the contact points around. see if it makes a difference by moving them backwards and so on.

try it!

dan.  8)

[Katahu]

It's not really cardboard.

Its surface is made up of non-metalic materials [somewhere close to being plastic] that has been painted over with RAM [Radar-Absorbant Material].

Believe it or not, it really did fly. However, there were two crashes.

The first crashed after a gear failed to deploy. The pilot had to made a lot of go-arounds and tried to force the gear to extend by jolting the aircraft up and down. However, the plane ran out of fuel and Engine1 died. So, the pilot had to bail out in 2 sec before the aircraft spun out of control.

The second crash happened when [if I can remember correctly] a pilot landed the plane a little too fast. The landing gears callapsed and the plane had to slide to a stop [in pieces]. This plane is one tough cookie to handle when it comes to landings. It's actual landing speed is 160 knots. go figure.

The government kept the project going until they started making the Night Hawk version.

I have some pics here.

This was after a landing.




You may bot notice it well, but the aircraft is actually sitting on the ground [in slew mode]. Half of its body is buried.


This was after a take-off. Hmm, I guess I must have damaged the nose gear during that landing.


However, to my surprise, the aircraft flys normally. It's yaw movements, on the other hand, is unpredictable. I did not make any compromises to the flight dynamics in the Aircraft.cfg file. I guess it has something to do with the station loads.

[d0mokun]

looks very neat.. in need of any testers?
and also.. how are textures going for it?

dan.

[Katahu]

The textures use to work properly long ago. Then I made new textures for it. For some stupid reason, the textures appeared all transparent [the Alpha Channel was grayish]. I couldn't figure out why, so I decided to remove the textures for now. Later on, I'll make the textures again and follow the instructions carefully this time.

Right now, this aircraft is not ready for beta testing. This is due to the effects of the unfinished *.air file.

[Travis]

The problem you're having in slew mode is that you have a static pitch going (I think) which tells the sim at what angle to load the aircraft, which is also used in slew.  Its located at the bottom of the contact points section.  Just look for static_pitch.

[Katahu]

I finally got the d@mu aircraft to sit still. It was the Dampening Ratio [on the contact section] that needed fixing. All I had to do was set the ratio to 1.

However, still does not solve the so-called sinking aircraft issue.

The model no longer flips, but it still appears halfway buried into the ground with the nose slighty downward [not by much]. No crashes or violent movements this time.

I tried to increase the static_cg_height in the aircraft.cfg file, but it made it worse. It caused my model to DROP and then crash as it hits the ground.

I then tried to set a higher, negative value on the vertical axis of all the wheel contacts. Well, it made the model finally rise from underground. But it's nose would then fall down into the dirt and cause a crash.

I can't figure out what's the actual solution to this.

Here is a sample of the model's aircraft.cfg file. Can you figure out the culprit?

[WEIGHT_AND_BALANCE]
max_gross_weight = 12500.0
empty_weight = 8950.0

reference_datum_position     =  0, 0, 0
empty_weight_CG_position     =  0, 0, 0

max_number_of_stations = 3

station_load.0  = 170, 8.619, -1.2, 0.0

[contact_points]
point.0=1,  13.197,   0.00, -6.750, 1181.1, 0, 0.6270, 46.8, 0.8760, 2.5, 1,  5.0,  7.0, 0, 0.0, 0.0
point.1=1, -3.690,  -4.863, -6.750, 1574.8, 1, 0.6349,  0.0, 0.4798, 2.5, 1,  5.0,  7.0, 2, 0.0, 0.0
point.2=1, -3.690,   4.863, -6.750, 1574.8, 2, 0.6349,  0.0, 0.4798, 2.5, 1,  5.0,  7.0, 3, 0.0, 0.0
point.3=2, -37.83, -10.00, 0.00,  787.4, 0, 0.0000,  0.0, 0.0000, 0.0, 0.0000,  0.0,  0.0, 5, 0.0, 0.0
point.4=2, -37.83,  10.00, 0.00,  787.4, 0, 0.0000,  0.0, 0.0000, 0.0, 0.0000,  0.0,  0.0, 6, 0.0, 0.0
point.5=2,  17.00,   0.00, 0.00,  787.4, 0, 0.0000,  0.0, 0.0000, 0.0, 0.0000,  0.0,  0.0, 9, 0.0, 0.0
point.6=2, -17.00,   0.00, 0.00,  787.4, 0, 0.0000,  0.0, 0.0000, 0.0, 0.0000,  0.0,  0.0, 4, 0.0, 0.0

static_pitch = 3.0
static_cg_height = 3.0

[Views]
eyepoint = 3.0, 0.0, 1.0

I only showed the needed parts of the file. This is what's currently used for the model.