Project Vehicle Handling Simulation in Orbiter2016

[fred18]

I think the theory of this vessel is the carriage could drive but the upper part one could live in. So with this new module. That would be possible. Where the upper part was a separate vessel. Then you could have all sorts of animations. But to drive on the surface you would need to switch to this ground vessel

Actually if you can code your addon there is a way to pass keypresses directly to the vessel you want, so it's possible to code your "upper" part, passing the keys to the general vehicle vessel if attached.

It would be interesting to see if I can make the general vehicle "listen" to keypresses by others, so then you can use simply spacecraft3/4 vessels to command the vehicle

 

[gattispilot]

Well then. I was thinking like my curiosity it has a working arm, animations. Not sure how something like that could be done.

You could have the mesh of the body, wheels. Maybe have a mesh of the animations parts are attach. But then from the body you could steer, move. Switch to the main part and work the animations?

 

[fred18]

Well then. I was thinking like my curiosity it has a working arm, animations. Not sure how something like that could be done.

You could have the mesh of the body, wheels. Maybe have a mesh of the animations parts are attach. But then from the body you could steer, move. Switch to the main part and work the animations?

that's the idea:

separate the mesh of basically wheels and body (body would not even be so necessary, could be just the mesh with the wheels) and use that as GeneralVehicle, attach to it the upper part which passes the relevant keypresses to the underneath GeneralVehicle.

So you can drive around, sitting in the upper vehicle.

The other idea, that could be easier to implement but probably less nice to play with, is to have a GeneralVehicle MFD which will allow to command any GV vessel around the sim. Then you could stay in the upper part and command the lower using the MFD. Actually to code the sending of the keypass is quite easy, so if you code the upper part is fine. To have the general vehicle "listen" automatically is a lot more complicated, but let's see.

 

[gattispilot]

The other idea, that could be easier to implement but probably less nice to play with, is to have a GeneralVehicle MFD which will allow to command any GV vessel around the sim. Then you could stay in the upper part and command the lower using the MFD. Actually to code the sending of the keypass is quite easy, so if you code the upper part is fine. To have the general vehicle "listen" automatically is a lot more complicated, but let's see.

Didn't think about that. But then you could sit in your vessel with the wheels part attached and drive from the mfd?

 

[fred18]

Didn't think about that. But then you could sit in your vessel with the wheels part attached and drive from the mfd?

Oh yeah

 

[gattispilot]

I think then that would cover most vehicles.

Haven't never successfully made a mfd I am not help coding

 

[fred18]

I might add the MFD later, I just happend to make it work with the key listener option.

I'll add a parameter in the config, like "Commands_Sender=XXX" where a user will input the name of the vessel which will command the General Vehicle.

 

[gattispilot]

Wow you may need to document that.

 

[Donamy]

How about a dialog box like you made for the EVAguy? You could sit in the vessel and control the GV chassis with the control box.

 

[gattispilot]

How about a dialog box like you made for the EVAguy? You could sit in the vessel and control the GV chassis with the control box.

Yes that would work. So just open the dialog box and then switch to the main vessel and drive away

That might be better then you can be in external view and see distance,... while backing up for towing, parking?

 

[fred18]

I'll probably do the MFD, but it's not strictly needed:

you can just put the name of the "Commander" vessel in the cfg file and the keys will be passed to the general vehicle vessel.

have a look, inside the CV_Ler there is the line:

Listen_From = DG

I have a DeltaGlider named DG sitting on the moon close to the LER. I'm inside the delta glider and I'm pressing numpad8,2 etc. look at the LER, it's working. So no need of particular dialogs etc. I'll add that maybe at a later stage but they won't be strictly needed now

 

[gattispilot]

Where is the new module?

I did noticed that the DG animations/rcs was moving also.

 

[fred18]

Where is the new module?

I still have to post it, I want to finish a couple of points before

I did noticed that the DG animations/rcs was moving also.

yeah, of course I can't (and I don't wanto to) avoid that. But the main point is another: you can code your Curiosity with all the animations you want, just take out its wheels. Then make a GeneralVehicle with just the wheels, attach the upper part to it and you can drive and do whatever you want while staying in the upper part.

 

[gattispilot]

OK. I will make a Curiosity wheels,axles and then the body with animations.

 

[Donamy]

I just thought of a potential problem. If you are sitting in the focused vessel, you won't be able to see the attached chassis from the VC view. I believe this is an Orbiter glitch.

 

[gattispilot]

I just thought of a potential problem. If you are sitting in the focused vessel, you won't be able to see the attached chassis from the VC view. I believe this is an Orbiter glitch.

Not sure what you mean. I guess we will see.

---------- Post added at 05:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:14 PM ----------

Well here is the ler wheels and lerbody. Wasn't sure how to add attachment in your cfg.
but it should be 0,0,0 0 -1 0 0 0 -1

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0JgX41wexYRSkpzbWd6QlpwSDg


One thing I noticed was not sure if there is a fix not on the ler and other vessels there is a axle between the wheels it turn rotate on the steering

 

[fred18]

Ok, thanks guys! I see there is a lot of appreciation around this, and I'm happy.

Tonight and tomorrow I'll be busy for work, from tomorrow night I'll get back to the desk and I'll get the proper cfg for the LER so there is an actual example for the things implemented today.

And then the towing geometry is still waiting for me, I'll need a day at least to focus on that.

Cheers!
Fred

You can download the latest version from THIS LINK

Unfortunately tonight I'm in super hurry and cannot give all the details, but I'm pretty sure that the cfg are still straightforward for many.

I'll give all the details asap! in the meantime have fun driving around!

 

[gattispilot]

OK, there we go. Attached is a much better tractor-trailer hitch-point vessel. Can handle tractor attachment point offset. Disregard the previous package. Code included, cleaned up and commented as much as possible.
Thanks for making me revisit this project and get it working properly

Thanks. I was made a trailer mesh for testing. But I am not sure how this gets set up. I saw where the attachments are needed.

A vessel that acts as a "hitch-point" between a tractor(parent) and trailer(child)

The user must input the trailer "wheelbase" (distance from hitch-point to trailer rear axle) in the .cfg file, (Config/Vessels/tractor_trailer.cfg)

The vessel is attached to the tractor (parent) by a fixed attachment point.
The trailer (child) is attached to the vessel be a rotating attachment point.
The attachment point rotates around the y-axis (for vehicles where z=forward, y=up).

So if using the LER an parent attachment is made and then the trailer has a child attachment, right?

But do I need to attach in the scn?

 

[fred18]

Thanks. I was made a trailer mesh for testing. But I am not sure how this gets set up. I saw where the attachments are needed.

A vessel that acts as a "hitch-point" between a tractor(parent) and trailer(child)

The user must input the trailer "wheelbase" (distance from hitch-point to trailer rear axle) in the .cfg file, (Config/Vessels/tractor_trailer.cfg)

The vessel is attached to the tractor (parent) by a fixed attachment point.
The trailer (child) is attached to the vessel be a rotating attachment point.
The attachment point rotates around the y-axis (for vehicles where z=forward, y=up).

So if using the LER an parent attachment is made and then the trailer has a child attachment, right?

But do I need to attach in the scn?

I haven't looked at the tractor of brian yet. I have the attachment geometry clear in my mind and i'll try to code it tonight, then i'll see if it works and if brian's tractor uses the same method. So no towing and i can't help with brian's addon at the moment

 

[Marg]

Ducati in package... dedicated to Dovizioso's win in Mugello?