Bully for the Blenheim…

Once lagging behind on my “back burner” of projects of (which all must be done before I’m ready to launch this project)… the Blenheim’s seen leaps and bounds in just the last week.

I am in the midst of creating a flight model for it (CoG balancing is the big hurdle now…), and I’ve gotten the crew areas into much better states of readiness.

One thing that’s helped a lot in texturing is the existing Beaufighter pit, which made easy work of standard British surfaces for the most part.

Here’s the view from the pilot’s seat…

And a peek at the throttle quadrant on the left side..

This beastie is going to be complicated to get views done for. Really important gauges and controls are inexplicably placed in incredibly inconvenient places. For example, the controls for coarse/fine pitch are behind the left shoulder… the engine temp gauges are on the right pit wall, rearward of the shoulder… the fuel gauges are above and behind the pilot’s head on the left… this thing was NOT ergonomically designed.

Moving to the nose, the bombardier position’s about ready, even has the MkIX bombsight ready for service…

And, I spent this morning getting the Bolton turret finished and textured, and placed a pair of Browning MGs in there as well…

Oh, and I’ve long since worked out most of the shading issues for the exterior…. this is one nice looking ship… here she is, with crewmen installed…

 

And down the stretch they come…

It’s not like there’s a lot to actually show for it at the moment, but great strides have been made in the month of October.

I’ve had enough meetings with peril- on flight modeling to where I think I have a bit of a handle on his process. I have created a Ki-27 flight model, which only lacks a bit of center of gravity (CoG) tweaking to be ready for serious flight testing. In the mean time, I’ve also re-imported the whole ship (minus the aggravating rotation code that’s made life so miserable lo, these many years…) including the cockpit. The whole thing just looks quite a bit better than it did when I first thought I was finished with Nate.

I’m also well along in creating flight models for the Blenheim IV and the P-26 (although at the moment, the Peashooter has some serious weight issues to work through).

And, eager to get as many new FMs completed as possible, I’ve been horsetrading with peril-, trading the FM for the Hudson for a PBY cockpit (which also is making some strides).

It’s quickly getting to the point where I have to get deeply into each cockpit, shoring up all the loose ends in the geometries and the animations, so that they’re ready for prime time.

All in all, though, it’s actually looking “do-able” for a December 8 release… which is the absolute best anniversary date for this mod.

If these FMs come together at the clip they’ve started to move… and I go whole hog on getting the 90%+ ships totally ready… and then turn attention to churning out the first scenarios for Malaya/Singapore and for Luzon/Corregidor…. I might actually make it.

Even if I don’t, between December and March, there are anniversaries of some campaign in the area, so I can start at that point, and go back to the beginning whenever the scenarios are done.

Ah lost mah boaht….

 

I’ve been having a few challenges with the ships I’m creating… I had a British Destroyer all ready and was preparing to actually unveil it in some early Battle of Britain scenarios I’m working up for Target For Today; these are a proof-of-concept on my “by hand” scenario writing tutorial.

Anyway, I had the ship appearing in a test scenario. Looking pretty good… then I went to add in the guns. And… whaaaaaaaaaaaat? One time I opened the scenario for a looksee, and nothing’s in the destroyer’s stead but one little British crewman standing with a pole-mounted Vickers MG…. just him, standing on the ocean surface… I proofread like mad, trying to find the mistake or typo that accounts for the disappearance of the entire ship (save the ordinary seaman). I just can’t seem to find it, so I’ll have to scrap all the borrowed code from other ships and just try and build it from scratch, one weapon at a time, so at least I can tell what might cause a similar disappearance. Man, sometimes this system can really throw you for a loop… leaves you feeling as mentally challenged as Forrest Gump (hence the impetus for the title of this section)…

More on the Peashooter

 

Another heartwarming story for the P-26. I have been searching for well over two years for airfoil data on the P-26. There are at least two very large internet databases for all manner of airfoils. But, the one for the P-26 never appeared in any of them. It uses Boeing 109 airfoil, and the databases have Boeing 103 and Boeing 106… but no 109. Every few months I check and… no 109.

After finding no joy there, every few months I’d always spend a few minutes doing a Google search to try and find it. No dice. Closest I could get was the guy who’s building two P-26s, and has helped me with a lot of data and info. But, for some reason, that airfoil data is off-limits; he’ll only release certain info on it. The Google searches also would turn up nil. But one day in September I found myself at the Smithsonian Air/Space Museum web site and, overcoming my pessimism, sent an email to the automated ombudsman, hoping they might have something on this ugly little spud.

I promptly forgot all about it; museums are either very helpful, or not at all, it seems. I got an automated reply, which I assumed meant the virtual round file. Imagine my surprise when, one rainy morning in October, a letter (yeah, they still send them these days) arrived in my mail… in it was digital data for the Boeing 109 airfoil and a very large, clear diagram of the Boeing 109, also with Boeing 106 superimposed for comparison. Jackpot!!! After a short consultation with Peril, I’d created some .dat files for use with our Profili airfoil software and now we’ve got honest-to-gosh airfoils for the Boeing P-26A Peashooter!!!

Now, if only I’ll have similar luck for the Ki-30 and B6N2 Tenzan… I can’t even find references to which airfoils those planes even used…

Perspectives from the crew spaces…

Have done quite a bit of work on rear views for some Japanese aircraft. I began by creating a rear gunner view for the Ki-45. But, a few more Japanese planes had gotten short shrift in their crew space modeling.

The original Target:Rabaul Val and Kate have never had player-selectable views for their rear gunners or their navigators/bombardiers. I set out a while ago to address that, and am getting pretty close to providing T:Rabaul with almost completely new pits for Val and Kate… and, for Target:Corregidor, I’m introducing the B6N Tenzan “Jill” torpedo bomber, which has a crew of three. Here’s some screenshots of the progress…

D3A Val:
I was shocked to learn (from the Maru Mechanic book on the type) that this divebomber also has a level bombsight at the tailgunner’s right elbow! So, this one will have to be fitted with an additional view to enable that functionality.

Also, I found that the pilot’s cockpit for Target:Rabaul was pretty much just borrowed from the Ki-43, and was, as such, highly inaccurate in terms of layout and equipment. Here’s the new pilot’s cockpit (with a few of the old gauges still floating around in space awaiting removal)

And here’s the Val reargunner. Interesting how the Val had a structure for the gunner to brace his feet against while using the gun. That’d come in handy should the pilot attempt any aerobatics and evasives.

B5N2 Kate:
It was the nearly untextured cockpit for this plane that actually started me to fixing up these pits. Here’s how the pilot’s view is coming along:

Here’s the middle navigator/bombardier, similar but not identical to that of the Tenzan; note the Type 95 bombsight 3D:

Kate bombardier station

and finally, Kate’s tailgunner view:

Kate tailgunner view

B6N2 Tenzan

Jill has a tailgunner with two guns: the standard dorsal gun and a second one deployed from a belly hatch. There are also some viewport slits cut out of the sides…

Three views from Jill’s pilot station:

THAT’s the spirit (of cooperation)

Another side project is helping a fellow whose handle is Phaser11 resurrect the long-dormant Target:Korea mod. I’ve often said that T:K’s problem was that it barely described the Korean War of 1950 – 1953. It has MiG-15s, and F-86s, sure… but it’s missing some planes that are GLARING omissions. Like the A-26 Invader, which did a TON of heavy lifting and night strike work. Like the Gloster Meteor. Like the B-29 Superfortress.

Anyway, a while ago I embarked on a mission to bring the B-29 to Target:Korea (and also to Target:Rabaul and Target:Corregidor, should either of those create a map for the Marianas, and the islands leading to Japan herself). There was an old one circulating around by the Tainan Kuu group (long story there…) but it was well off in its dimensions, and there was really little to go from, other than a misshapen 3D object. So, I created a proper scale exterior.

But, as I’ve learned while working on the Meteor, I can’t seem to get a good “aircraft aluminum” texture that looks good all over an aircraft. The B-29s were huge “aluminum overcast” birds, and they would have to have something looking decent. So, I went online to see if any other game system had a B-29, or failing that, some textures that I might be able to co-opt for the -29.

I found a skin for the FSX system. I downloaded the files and found that the metal texture was just great! Problem was, the plane also sported markings and nose art for a specific WWII plane called Fifi.

The download had an email address listed with it, so I took a flyer and sent a message out to the file’s creator, hoping I could get permission to use the texture for Targetware, and if I was really lucky (and he were really nice) I added a request to look for a set of the textures with no markings.

Well, within 2 hours I had an answer: yes, I could use the textures. Within 3, the fellow looked for his now 3-year-old files and found the “blanks” and he sent them along too! So, now, I have a huge head start on creating B-29s for ANY era in which they appeared!!

Here’s a very rough skinning pass, just to be sure it fit; the engines aren’t textured yet.

Major, major thanks to Barry “Raven” Magann for his generosity and helpfulness!! That’s what I call the spirit of cooperation

More naval news…

It’s been a slow, and frustrating few weeks.

I am, as always, juggling numerous projects, trying to generate interest, or even more important, volunteers, and am constantly amazed at the lack of follow-through some people exhibit. Nothing to do for that but to do it oneself, unfortunately.

I’m planning to donate a few early Battle of Britain scenarios to the Target for Today mod, a 3-scenario mini campaign centered on the opening phase of the BoB: the Channel strikes against British convoys. One of the scenarios has the British Royal Navy sending some destroyers to beef up the convoy protection… and that reminded me that I’ve got one of those DDs in the works for Target:Corregidor. So, I had to get cracking and go through the “particle hell” that invariably ensues when trying to get an object as complicated as a combat vessel ready to appear in-game.

The Seven Levels of Dante’s Particle Inferno

There’s the object’s 3D file (the actual model) and its texture. Then, it has an .anm file that describes how it displays in-game and what animates on it. Then it has an .acm which describes it’s damage properties, and it’s weaponry. And in here, there may be any number of #include lines, which basically tell the game system to “readthe contents of [this file, located here], and reference them here”. These may be gun or crew files, which themselves call various animation sprites, called particles… and there the hilarity ensues. Targetware, unfortunately, has no single file structure convention, and so different mods locate various files in different folders, sometimes with the only difference being that a folder in the string is called “gun” while another mod references “_gun”… or one mod throws all files for guns and crew in one folder, while another creates subfolders for _crew and _gun and _turrets…

Sometimes, “borrowing” what should be a shared object across all mods creates a situation where you have to try to load a test scenario literally DOZENS of times, each time having it fail to load, then looking in a log file for a clue to which part, or particle, or whatever can’t be found, or is in the wrong location, or, after you’ve gone bleary-eyed doing this for an hour, which typo you yourself have placed in one of the inter-referenced files…. *it’s enough to make one tear one’s HAIR out*.

Any missed reference, or reference within a file that is called by a scenario file… and the entire shooting match fails to load. It can really be hell trying to figure out which little part is referencing which particle, which itself is being referenced in an #include line, buried within the 25-odd parts of one object or target in a scenario with hundreds of targets.

I just got done making a test scenario for the HMS Electra, and the “particle hell” was actually more like “particle purgatory” this time. It took maybe 20 load attempts over a half an hour to get it to show up, and I’m fairly happy with it, so far.

HMS Electra, in-game with most of her weaponry

I still have to put a 12-pounder gun on the deck, which replaced 4 torp tubes… and there are also 5 single-Vickers MG mounts around the deck, too. But, since I’ve already gotten those Brit MGers working for field AAA, hopefully, just taking the sandbag pits away and having a guy standing there with a gun on a pole won’t be too taxing.

This is good practice, because I’ve got to go through the same process for all the new ships I’m creating: the Japanese CA, CL, Mogami, HMS Prince of Wales, HMS Repulse… and the monstrous battleship Mushashi, which I just started 3D modeling yesterday.

I suppose one good thing about shared objects is, the Musashi is just bristling with gun and AAA emplacements, and once I can successfully load one, it’ll be easy to copy and paste and change a location to create any number of others of the same type.

Mogami Class, with paint…

Here’s both the CA Kumano and the CA/CV Mogami with a rough coat of texture…

Kumano (note full complement of gun turrets fore and aft)

Mogami 1944 (note armored flight deck and catapults aft)

Point…click…and ship!

Whipped up a draft of the Kumano, the heavy cruiser for most of the war. No paint yet, as with most of my ships thus far….

Mogami-class Japanese heavy cruiser

The Mogami version will be altered to the 1944 cruiser/carrier configuration, with a flight deck and minus a few turrets.

Both will serve as targets and combatants in the epic Leyte Gulf battles.

New vehicle…

I added the Ha-Go Type 95 light tank to the vehicles list, augmenting the already existing Chi-Ha Type 97 medium from Target:Rabaul.

Ha-Go Type 95 Light Tank

Splish-Splash, Deep Wading & Sailing Along…

While my flight model tutor-to-be is off on an ambassadorial mission to a South Seas island, I’ve spent the last few weeks trying to address other “odds and sods” that will make the difference as to whether I make this year’s launch windows.

First is scenarios. Once Java’s 20 or so airbases have their target lists done, there’s no reason not to start building the campaigns… big, but fun task. I’ve had the beginnings of scenario trees for Luzon, Malaya and Sumatra/Java for some time, so it’s about time to get the kapok vest on and jump in, eh? If you don’t hear from me in a few weeks time, send somebody out to the depths of the S. China Sea, won’t you? I’ll be treading water out there in a sea of work….

Down to the Sea in Ships… Lots of ‘Em

If Leyte Gulf ‘44 turns out to be the first launch subject matter, there’s one thing that looms larges of all as a sticking point: there’s a whole bunch of ships that I’m sure don’t exist in Target:Rabaul that need creating….

And, those two IJN monsters, Mogami and Musashi

And then, what about US Escort carriers (jeep CVs)? I assume T:R has a US DD that can fill in for a lot of the Taffy vessels.

On the British front, I already have Repulse and Prince of Wales in 3D, but alas no paint. Someone recently volunteered to create a paint job for the E-Class DD for Her Majesty, but we’ll see if that translates into DELIVERY…

And, finally, the past few days have seen the creation of a few new splash screens for each of the 4 initial campaign trees. Nice to get some visual variety when launching scenarios (especially me, when I’m doing editing).

T:C splash screen for the Java Campaign

[caption id="attachment_99" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Splash screen for Leyte \'44 Campaign"][/caption]

Coffee break, anyone?

Got pretty far with the last hurdle: Java airfields.

Some have been confusing to lay in, one doesn’t seem to appear no matter what I do, one index color on the map won’t display *anything* when assigned… but I’m slowly wrestling them down to the ground. After I get them in and aligned, then do targets lists for all of them…. the terrain is all but finished!!

While honing this “by hand” process of terrain development, I came across a nifty idea: making a scenario that serves as a “tour” of a given area. There are “missions”, but no planes… just overviews of the fields.