Yes as the titles says, I am working on my first "non-weird" project in awhile.
I am attempting to convert the RAH-66 Comanche from the PoE mod of Battlefield Vietnam over to the DesertCombat mod of Battlefield 1942.
I wouldn't say "attempted". Its mostly a success. Only bugs I need to work out now are mostly cosmetic. The vehicle is fully textured and fully flyable. I would consider this my first "serious" vehicle project thus far, and is the first aircraft I have ever worked on. And no, this isn't server side obviously, but would still be great for custom maps.
Converting Helos from Vietnam to BF1942 is much harder then doing land vehicles or maybe most planes, since I have to strip this one of all Vietnam specific helo physics and apply old fashioned BF1942 physics to it. Not to mention that I had to reexport all the meshes with new material IDs and such. I could of left the mat IDs alone, but I still had to reexport, since there is a slight difference in the SM files of Vietnam and BF1942. If I didn't reexport them with GMAX, then the original SM files would just crash the game on map load. (and not the debuggable kind of crash either)
I have a unusual fondness for this chopper, and couldn't find a version that works on BF1942, so I got the only known version (the PoE version from Vietnam) and have decided to convert it to BF1942. The main reason I'm doing this now, is because I have learned most of what I need to know for this type of thing when I created the two land vehicles from my earlier maps. Only now can I dabble in the joys of Chopper physics!
I got most of the hard work out of the way. Just need some people to test it out for me!
Here is some screenshots of it in El Alamein: (click to enlarge)
View of RAH66-AC: (version that has stinger missiles)
View of RAH66-AR in flight: (version with 6 hellfire missiles)
Cockpit view: (same on all versions)
Update: Above photo is outdated. In the current beta release the windows are more transparent. They are easier to see through when using the cockpit view. I have also added a control stick.
Stinger Missile action! This would work great on plane maps!:
So far it runs as expected.
If you have a request for a change to the current setup, don't be afraid to post it!
(oh and as I have it set up right now, the AC version of this vehicle is the only one I have activated radar on) (the one with stingers)
Finally fixed the network lagging bug that plagued the pre-release! I have also added landing gear sound effects to the weapon bays so that you know when they open and close. Turns out that the engines were the cause. I removed the network info from them, and it fixed the network lag. All known issues have been worked out. Just need some beta testers!
Here's my beta release for you all to try out!:
Client:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=UNQBJIT3Server:
http://www.mediafire.com/?bw10ymek4oiClient Server Update: (please install this AFTER you installed the 8.0 client/server files!
http://www.mediafire.com/?eniozlzjljkCredit goes out for the makers of the PoE mod for BFVietnam. Without them, I would have never had a reason to start this mod.
EDIT: (11/4/09) I have updated it to v8.0. A whole lot has been added to it since I first posted this, so be sure to re-download!