Ships maneuvering in 3D space/Stock A2-Upgrade Project

posted on May 10th, 2014, 5:56 am

I had some questions regarding work on the Upgrade Project. In the campaign missions when ships maneuver about they are exhibiting some strange behavior and I can't figure it out. When in a group the larger ships like the sovereign and galaxy fly above/below the z-axis, but instead of flying level they are fly bow up/down and kind of slide along like they are being dragged through space trying to occupy the same spot above/below each other.

I've never seen this before and don't know what's causing it? I've checked the RTS-CFG file and have most settings to stock that I can think of that would effect ship movement etc. Has anyone seen this before and if so how did you fix it?

I also seem to recall a setting that effects the ship orientation, but I'll be darned if I can find it now. When a ships is at rest does it keep station level or point straight up etc... I could have sworn there was an adjustment setting for this. Does anyone recall?

posted on May 10th, 2014, 5:49 pm

Some of these effects sound like they are due to poor interaction between craft physics and your new height settings. Might try using some stock or FO physics and see if behavior is improved .

The pointing up/down stuff you mentioned is a craft physics command (pitch): http://guide.fleetops.net/guide/modding ... tchDefault

posted on May 11th, 2014, 1:26 am

Thanks Dominus. I couldn't remember where the pitch command stuff was. However, that doesn't seem to be it. I have pitch=0, but that only affects when at rest or in combat not at warp. The only two ships that seem to be affected by this behavior are the galaxy and to more of an extent the sovereign.

They go to warp and pitch slightly up/down and look odd like they are being dragged at warp instead of being level. Once they slow to a stop at the end location though they go level again. I don't really see anything in the physics file that would affect this, but will have a play with the settings again.

I also have a question regarding formations. Setting up 16 Intrepids in an assault wall formation takes up considerably less room than the same formation of 16 sovereigns. Is the spacing of ships in formation hard coded as I can't find anything that might alter it? I've tried with the stock avoidanceClass settings which is 8 for a battle ship, I've tried halving it to 4, but the sovereigns still take up so much space. I've also changed the formation spacing in RTS-CFG to 75 from 100, but nothing seems to effect it at all.

posted on May 11th, 2014, 1:37 am

Regarding being dragged at an odd angle, I don't know. Again, I'd suggest trying different physics and seeing how that changes behavior.

Yes, formation spacing is not exposed - you cannot alter it. AvoidanceClass, while a valid command, appears not to interact with anything insofar as I've been able to determine. It is a command in BattleZone as well, so it is likely a holdover.