questions about CONNECTORS in pie file

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Watermelon
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questions about CONNECTORS in pie file

Post by Watermelon »

I noticed at the bottom of each .pie file,there is a line/string called 'CONNECTORS number'
I assume the number is the number of the connectors(hardpoints) that is available for certain type of 'DROID',CONNECTOR 1(iIMDShape.connectors[0]) is the mount position for ground droid(upper body) and CONNECTOR 2(iIMDShape.connectors[1]) is the mount position for airborne droid(lower body)

Q1: Can you add extra CONNECTORS to a .pie file? YES

Q2: What is the order of the local coord values(relative to pie's iVector(0,0,0)) for CONNECTOR,for example:

CONNECTORS 2
0 10 23
0 -25 9

0 10 23 is x y z of the first connector 0 -25 9 is x y z of the second connector or
the order is reverse z y x or z x y? It's x,y,z

Q3: How do you edit/add CONNECTORS with pie editing tool(ideal editing measure:with visualization) or with text editor if answer for Q1 is 'YES'? YES,just add new lines after exist connector positions and change number of connector to correct value

Q4: The position/offset of a droid mountable component is read from .pie file,then got translated and stored into a global matrix struct with 'PIE_Translate' function before being passed/drawn with Pie_DrawShape/Pie_DrawShape2 function,am I right? YES

Thanks in advance.

edit:answered all questions...
Last edited by Watermelon on 24 Oct 2006, 23:25, edited 1 time in total.
tasks postponed until the trunk is relatively stable again.
Kamaze
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Re: questions about CONNECTORS in pie file

Post by Kamaze »

I think this topic is to usefull for deletion watermelon :)
Next time may just close it, on this way we have the chance to save this information for the future ;)


Regards, Kamaze
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DevUrandom
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Re: questions about CONNECTORS in pie file

Post by DevUrandom »

Perhaps worth a note in the wiki?
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Watermelon
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Re: questions about CONNECTORS in pie file

Post by Watermelon »

never knew connector info be useful  :D

I am trying to understand the connector thing,so that I can define relatively precise position for multiple turret in body pies,here is a picture I drew with mspaint,think it might help others to understand the connector.(I really suck at all graphic stuff,but I am a mspaint wizard  ;D)

Image

I am unsure about 'x',cuz it's always '0' in all body pie files,so it might be left/right offsets.(+x and -x)
tasks postponed until the trunk is relatively stable again.
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lav_coyote25
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Re: questions about CONNECTORS in pie file

Post by lav_coyote25 »

i really hate to say this but


all your questions can be answered way too easy.


except for the rather large download. ;D


http://www.coppercore.net/~wztoys/modules/news/

register / respond to the activation email (check your spam folder) and login - goto downloads - download the documents project.rar file.
‎"to prepare for disaster is to invite it, to not prepare for disaster is a fools choice" -me (kim-lav_coyote25-metcalfe) - it used to be attributed to unknown - but adding the last bit , it now makes sense.
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Watermelon
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Re: questions about CONNECTORS in pie file

Post by Watermelon »

lav_coyote25 wrote: i really hate to say this but


all your questions can be answered way too easy.


except for the rather large download. ;D


http://www.coppercore.net/~wztoys/modules/news/

register / respond to the activation email (check your spam folder) and login - goto downloads - download the documents project.rar file.
thanks,the docment project is too big,I dont want to waste your bandwidth to figure out a small question like this,would be great if your doc project is hosted online as html or incorporated into wiki,so people dont have to download the full doc to understand 1% of its contents.  :)
tasks postponed until the trunk is relatively stable again.
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lav_coyote25
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Re: questions about CONNECTORS in pie file

Post by lav_coyote25 »

‎"to prepare for disaster is to invite it, to not prepare for disaster is a fools choice" -me (kim-lav_coyote25-metcalfe) - it used to be attributed to unknown - but adding the last bit , it now makes sense.
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Watermelon
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Re: questions about CONNECTORS in pie file

Post by Watermelon »

tasks postponed until the trunk is relatively stable again.
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Watermelon
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Re: questions about CONNECTORS in pie file

Post by Watermelon »

just wondering if there is a way to tell whether a connector is for VTOL only or not,since the current source uses 1(fixed value) as VTOL connector,it will be problematic if I add more weapons to vtol's.(that fixed value 'connector 1' is definately not sufficient if I want to create a flying fortress with multiple weapon hardpoints)
tasks postponed until the trunk is relatively stable again.
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kage
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Re: questions about CONNECTORS in pie file

Post by kage »

Watermelon wrote: just wondering if there is a way to tell whether a connector is for VTOL only or not,since the current source uses 1(fixed value) as VTOL connector,it will be problematic if I add more weapons to vtol's.(that fixed value 'connector 1' is definately not sufficient if I want to create a flying fortress with multiple weapon hardpoints)
nope... there's no clean way... either connectors would need to be modified to support a "propulsion type", or data file entries would have to exist to associate an connector id with a given propulsion type. until your source code changes, there was no possibility of multiple weapons, so it wasn't much thought about.
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Watermelon
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Re: questions about CONNECTORS in pie file

Post by Watermelon »

kage wrote: nope... there's no clean way... either connectors would need to be modified to support a "propulsion type", or data file entries would have to exist to associate an connector id with a given propulsion type. until your source code changes, there was no possibility of multiple weapons, so it wasn't much thought about.
I think I forgot to edit my post,I used a temporary workaround for this by making the first 5 connectors for ground units only,the VTOL's weapon connector will start at connector 5(since the start index of connector of imd is '0',actually it's the 6th connector).I made a new constant #define called 'VTOL_CONNECTOR_START'(which is set to '5' atm) in source,so we can change it to any number later when 5 ground weapons becomes insufficient for some super complex units.
tasks postponed until the trunk is relatively stable again.
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