Blender to TS2014

[WVRR1964]

Now that I'm looking at it closer, he doesn't have anything in the Start, Middle or End geometry slots.

[PapaXpress]

He did with the example I posted about:

Code: Select all

<cSectionRenderBlueprint>
   <CrossSectionID d:type="cDeltaString">GreatNortherner\GNRy\Scenery\Lofts\gn-telegraph_4-LOFT</CrossSectionID>
   <CrossSectionCapID d:type="cDeltaString"></CrossSectionCapID>
   <CrossSectionWidth d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="0000000000000000" d:precision="string">0</CrossSectionWidth>
   <CrossSectionHeight d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="0000000000000000" d:precision="string">0</CrossSectionHeight>
   <CatenaryID d:type="cDeltaString"></CatenaryID>
   <StartGeometryBPID>
      <iBlueprintLibrary-cAbsoluteBlueprintID>
         <BlueprintSetID>
            <iBlueprintLibrary-cBlueprintSetID>
               <Provider d:type="cDeltaString">GreatNortherner</Provider>
               <Product d:type="cDeltaString">GNRy</Product>
            </iBlueprintLibrary-cBlueprintSetID>
         </BlueprintSetID>
         <BlueprintID d:type="cDeltaString">Scenery\Lofts\gn-telegraph_4.xml</BlueprintID>
      </iBlueprintLibrary-cAbsoluteBlueprintID>
   </StartGeometryBPID>
   <MiddleGeometryBPID>
      <iBlueprintLibrary-cAbsoluteBlueprintID>
         <BlueprintSetID>
            <iBlueprintLibrary-cBlueprintSetID>
               <Provider d:type="cDeltaString">GreatNortherner</Provider>
               <Product d:type="cDeltaString">GNRy</Product>
            </iBlueprintLibrary-cBlueprintSetID>
         </BlueprintSetID>
         <BlueprintID d:type="cDeltaString">Scenery\Lofts\gn-telegraph_4.xml</BlueprintID>
      </iBlueprintLibrary-cAbsoluteBlueprintID>
   </MiddleGeometryBPID>
   <EndGeometryBPID>
      <iBlueprintLibrary-cAbsoluteBlueprintID>
         <BlueprintSetID>
            <iBlueprintLibrary-cBlueprintSetID>
               <Provider d:type="cDeltaString">GreatNortherner</Provider>
               <Product d:type="cDeltaString">GNRy</Product>
            </iBlueprintLibrary-cBlueprintSetID>
         </BlueprintSetID>
         <BlueprintID d:type="cDeltaString">Scenery\Lofts\gn-telegraph_4.xml</BlueprintID>
      </iBlueprintLibrary-cAbsoluteBlueprintID>
   </EndGeometryBPID>
   <PopulationFrequency d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="0000000000004940" d:precision="string">50</PopulationFrequency>
   <CapIfSectionTypeChange d:type="cDeltaString">eFalse</CapIfSectionTypeChange>
   <StartBufferOffset d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="0000000000000000" d:precision="string">0</StartBufferOffset>
   <EndBufferOffset d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="0000000000000000" d:precision="string">0</EndBufferOffset>
</cSectionRenderBlueprint>


[WVRR1964]

That seems to be empty too.
I see that CrossSection ID is filled in.
Provider, product is filled in.
PopulationFrequency is set to 50.
The rest is empty...unless I'm reading this wrong.

[WVRR1964]

Putting the .bin file aside...here is what I came up with in Blender. Am I on the right track?

blender3.jpg

[WVRR1964]

Well, I almost thought I had it. When I went into the world editor and placed it on the map but it didn't show.
I have no idea what's wrong. It did show in the list of items to use so I must be getting closer. Still need help figuring this out.

[cilldroichid1]

The placement of your wires in Blender is wrong which is a known reason for lofts not showing up in game. First off Blenders Y axis is RW's and 3DS Max's Z axis and Blenders Z axis is RW's and 3DS Max's Y axis so any tutorials like those found on the RSDev docs that are for 3DS Max you should, for example, extrude along the Y axis in Blender when the tutorial refers to the Z axis. When in top view in blender your wires should start at and not be below the X axis and should be running along the Y axis. Also it looks like you rotated the wires in object mode which according to all the advice i've read you should avoid doing, do all the extruding, rotating, scaling, etc, in edit mode.

Donal.

[WVRR1964]

Thanks you! That's great information. Here is an updated blender shot. I'm assuming that the loft is to start at the X axis and stretch along the Y axis and not in the -Y direction.

blender4.jpg

I'm not sure about that 90 degree rotation or how that happened but since these wires fit the poles perfectly, I'd try to push it through.

[WVRR1964]

I tried it and it didn't work, it's still not showing up in the sim.

[RvA944]

Have you checked underground to see if it's there?

[Bananarama]

I don't believe you can have curved lofts. Yours appear to have a droop modeled to them, which will prevent them from showing in the sim. You can, however, use vertical flat planes with a wire texture (with droop) and full alpha applied:

wire_example.jpg

To allow the wires follow terrain and minimize visual breaks, it's important to have the start of the wire object at precisely the 0-0-0 world axis. Once you initially set the loft in the sim, raise the wire (with pole child objects) to the desired height, and then continue to lay the loft as normal. When you come to a hill or valley, raise or lower the wires to suit. The concrete bases on the above towers are my clue as to whether the object is at the correct height.

I did mine a bit different than what you're trying to do. Instead of having start, middle and end geometry, the loft only contains the start child object. Wires are around 450m, so when I get close to this length in the World Editor I stop and clone the finished loft.* I then paste along a path and use the join tool to connect. Afterward, it's an easy step to use the gradient tool to raise and lower each tower as needed, as the gradient arrows are only at the tower locations.

* Note that you can clone only up to the maximum draw distance for medium terrain, which I believe is around 8-tiles. Anything afterward is too far from the original part copied, so you'll need to copy the last placed loft object when getting close to this limit. Remember to save frequently.

[WVRR1964]

I don't believe you can have curved lofts. Yours appear to have a droop modeled to them, which will prevent them from showing in the sim. You can, however, use vertical flat planes with a wire texture (with droop) and full alpha applied:
To allow the wires follow terrain and minimize visual breaks, it's important to have the start of the wire object at precisely the 0-0-0 world axis. Once you initially set the loft in the sim, raise the wire (with pole child objects) to the desired height, and then continue to lay the loft as normal.

I might try the alpha wire for the droop.
For setting the world axis, what if you have more then one wire?
On my model the top wire is not even with the other two because of the placement of the insulators on the pole. How would I deal with that?
I'm not fully understanding the parent/child thingy as it relates to Blender, can someone explain?

I know...I'm full of questions.

[Bananarama]

Set the world axis averaging the group of wires. Parent~child reference was for the blueprints.

[WVRR1964]

I took a look at some of the power line lofts that have been made. I don't think the current loft system in the game is ready for loft wires and poles. I noticed that the wires will curve, that just doesn't look right. It seems great for roads, fences, walls and of course track. But it's not up to the task of showing straight wire....yet.
I'm thinking about making the T-poles and telegraphs poles as scenery items in various lengths. This just for now or until the lofts supports wires. Actually, it could support wires right now and we just don't know it yet.

Here is a picture of drooping wires loft on a pole...I don't know how it was done, but I sure would like to know.

2013-10-15_00001.jpg

[Bananarama]

When placing line along a curve, you'll need to select the loft section (assuming you followed my technique above) and use the G or F key to rotate and move slightly into position. There will be a slight gap where the line meets the pole, but much of this can be minimized by small movements and by not following too sharp a curve.

[WVRR1964]

When placing line along a curve, you'll need to select the loft section (assuming you followed my technique above) and use the G or F key to rotate and move slightly into position. There will be a slight gap where the line meets the pole, but much of this can be minimized by small movements and by not following too sharp a curve.

I understand what your saying and how that would work but something tells me there must be a better way...I guess it's up to the developers to make it happen.

I'm not giving up on lofts quite yet. This weekend I'm going to try making some simple models into a loft. After that, it's time to learn about night lighting for my streetlights....I hope it goes a little better then leaning about lofts!