ITO Conversion to RV Update

Israel theater

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ITO Conversion to RV Update

Post by ranger822 » 2007-05-09 02:09:09

Am starting a new thread - - to provide updates on the progress of this project.

1. All textures have been deconflicted.

2. All aircraft models have been exported but need to have texture sets and texture numbers adjusted to reflect the proper usage in ITO database.

3. I am adopting Baldeagle's new Mig21MF and Mig29A models and will update skins based on Red1's work. This will then bring two high-resolution, hi-poly models to ITO Red Force which we previously have not had. Also, for those demanding accuracy in models I am revamping our database to more correctly use the proper models for the entire line of Mig-21 variants. In the past the wrong models have been attributed to the CT variants listed in the database. Now, campaign builders should have more accurate models for building campaigns.

4. Those who have been using the CobraOne.exe I am sorry to say I won't be updating the database for Cobra. It simply takes to much time to try to work with more than one database at a time. I am going to focus on developing with the RV exe. One of the obvious advantages is that RV frame rates are much higher and this is better suited for ITO due to the density of objectives and high-activity in the campaigns.

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Post by Volk01 » 2007-05-09 23:33:18

Great news. Thx!

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Models Update

Post by ranger822 » 2007-05-14 11:52:53

I have done a preliminary models review - and obtained permission to use Baldeagle's new Mig-21MF and Mig-21bis models as well as his Mig-29A model from FF4 database. I also obtained permission to use Red1's templates for making some new skins.

Mig-21MF - Egypt 1970 Skin is done and model updated
Mig-29A - Iragi skin done and model updated

I still have a skin for Syrian for the Mig-21MF and plan to make one additional skin Mig-21MF for Egypt. Will try to post some pics later on.

If someone decides to update the Mig-21PF models I will make update those models skins as well.

I have to tell you these new models look great in game with Cobra and will look even better in RV with the dynamic lighting.

I am estimating it will probably take me about 2-3 months to complete the database conversion process assuming I don't run into any major obstacles.

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Skins in Progress

Post by ranger822 » 2007-05-20 10:45:34

Preview of work in progress - PSD's courtesy of Red1 - so most of the credit goes to him.

Trying to locate accurate sources for Arab camouflage schemes is difficult but I think I have some good material now - - colors should be pretty close . Interestingly, the UAR (Libya, Egypt, and Syria) and Iraq all used what appears a stock paint scheme. Not sure if it was delivered from Soviet Union or done later - but the schemes are nearly identical across all 4 countries for the period of about 1970-1973. Some alternative schemes were also seen. I will probably go thru and update the Iraq skin with this scheme as well and perhaps later add a modern Mig21MF scheme used during the Iran/Iraq war in the 80's. There is a pretty famous plane that shot down an Iranian F-14A - so we wouldn't want to miss out on that one, would we?

Mig29A Iraqi
Image

Mig21MF Egypt (80's and after)
Image

Mig21MF UAR 70-73 (Egypt Syria) + Iraq used same scheme
Image

Mig21MF Syria 80's
Image
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Skin in Progress - Cont.

Post by ranger822 » 2007-05-24 23:22:24

here is the Egyptian F-4E - it isn't exactly accurate because it should have the newer leading edge slats but otherwise pretty close. There seem to be several variants of the orange hi-vis panel markings. Some seem to have upper and lower stabilators with hi-vis markings, some have upper or lower main outer wings with hi-vis markings. I chose a simple variant - using hi-vis markings on the vertical tail, stabilators and the rectangular panel on the fuselage spine.
Image


Here is the Iraqi Mig-21 - a few modifications but just about the same
Image
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Post by noname » 2007-05-25 07:06:34

very nice work
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ITO Conversion to RV Update

Post by ranger822 » 2007-05-26 21:47:52

Going slow but steady. Seems the F-15 nose was updated a bit so I had to update the textures on that one... I wonder how many other surprises there are. :lol:

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Post by ccc » 2007-05-26 22:46:03

the f15s are upgraded with a more full-looking nose section. the texture needs minor tweak there.

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ITO Conversion to RV Update

Post by ranger822 » 2007-05-27 21:16:04

@CCC - yup, finished them last night . . . very minor adjustment. The Mig-25 needed some small adjustment, pilot textures were changed too . . lots of little stuff - - but I am working one model at a time . . . about half done now with all the a/c and it is going pretty fast.

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ITO2 for RV Update

Post by ranger822 » 2007-06-11 17:08:02

been a few weeks - - a few short notes

1. all a/c models are done
2. all textures relates to a/c have been deconflicted
3. all FF4 models adopted for ITO have been integrated with new FMs
4. FF4 taxisigns and textures have been integrated into ITO

Issues remaining center around the 2d and 3d cockpit LODs. The main issue at the moment is ITO has 2d and 3d pits integrated into the database and is able to make use of these models independent of Korea by way of the CobraOne.exe. However, the RV.exe won't allow the use of the cockpitsIsraeli subfolder and therefore it is unclear how to proceed with the conversion process. I have suggested two possible solutions:

a. Make ITO/RV a stand-alone theater that occupies the Korea slot and rename the appropriate folders to bet ITO working in RV.

b. Make a code change in RV to all full theater switching features; cockpits, UI, flight models, tacref, music, movies, and sounds.

In the absence of guidance the only way to currenlty get ITO to run in RV is to make it a stand-alone. I am waiting for the final decision from Alex. Once that is done I will integrate the new MiG-21 and Phantom models with 2d and 3d cockpits.

I will wait a couple weeks to see what pans out and in the mean time will finish up the new Phantom project (i.e. replacement of most of the old F-4 Phantom variants with Thoarek upgrades and new skins. I will make a separate post for the Phantom project.

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Post by Snake Man » 2007-06-11 17:33:35

You can have my vote for the full theater switching :)
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Late Skin Addition

Post by ranger822 » 2007-06-12 03:33:11

Mig-21MF Egypt 70's Type II
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Progress to Date

Post by ranger822 » 2007-09-07 11:36:32

Those stiill following the progress of ITO conversion to RV I have an update.

1. The bulk of the database convsersion was completed last month.
2. A new User Interface by Nighthfalcon is being implemented for RV as a whole and ITO will be using the new interface. Preliminary work on conversion has been done and finalized UI graphics and screen definition files will come soon.
3. A preliminary install has been created and testing is on-going at this time. To date the DX databse has been created and it working well in Tacref.
4. Major components of ITO still need to be significantly revised/edited in order for game play to function; Simdata files, cockpit *.dat files.

It is unclear at what point a breakthru will be achieved but I will be attempting everynight to get thru that last pie-loading screen to see ITO finally functional. In short - I think I am pretty close now.

Once ITO is fully functional a substantial amount of clean-up work will need to be done; a) DX models light tweaking of ITO specific models (like F-4E Phantom, Mirage, Mystere, etc), b) replacement of DX models for current FF4 entitities generated by the ITO conversion process with the newer models currently used in the latest FF4 database, c) further work to implement theater switching (i.e. tacref, simdata, ckptart folders, music, movies, and sounds).

An initial build of the ITO install using Snakeman's File/Folder struture was attempted but failed for some reason. Biker is going to take a look at that. Instead, the old Falcon file/folder structure was used and it seems to work well. Once we isolate the reason for this minor glitch and solve it - Snakeman's file/folder structure will be implemented.

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Post by Blackbird » 2007-09-08 15:45:06

Good job! Do you have a list of models you converted to FF4. Look at all the beautiful skin you make; how do you draw straight line on skin between two template? and how did you put all the nails straight too?
Thanks

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ITO Conversion to RV Update

Post by ranger822 » 2007-09-09 12:11:20

This weekend was a breakthru in the project - finally got models flying again and they look great in the new DX format - something nice to see the metallic sheen of the exhaust nozzle and the way the nav and strobe lights reflect off the model surfaces. I think folks are really going to enjoy ITO in this new format.

These pics don't really do the models justice - - but hey - need to leave something for the imagination. :D

Image

Image

Image

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making skins

Post by ranger822 » 2007-09-09 12:22:04

Blackbird -

There are no secrets to making skins anymore - there is so much material on the internet on how to make skins one can spend hours reading thru it or searching for stuff. One of the better sites is the Simmer's Paintshop

http://www.simmerspaintshop.com/

lots of tutorials, downloads for templates, etc. Another site to get an idea of how to make skins is to download skinners templates. Zaggy's OpenSkins site is a great place. I have uploaded a lot of my PSD files so you are free to take a look and see how I did stuff.

http://www.simmersworld.com/~openskin/Ranger/
http://www.simmersworld.com/~openskin/
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Post by molnibalage » 2007-09-09 20:48:00

This can be a christmas gift? :)

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Gift?

Post by ranger822 » 2007-09-10 11:27:44

Well, I hadn't thought of it quite like that but - it was a gift to the Falcon community last spring, just as the Cobra/ITO version was a gift.

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ITO 2ns Theater Working in RV

Post by ranger822 » 2007-09-14 19:54:41

Good news - last night I was able to get Israel2007 Theater working. This 2nd theater contains Peled's 4th campaign which covers a modern, fictional war with US Navy Carrier group involved. The carrier was modified to place the catapult launch point in the correct position such that the aircraft actually takes off where it is supposed to and then banks to the right on launch. I will try to post a few pics of this feature.

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DXEdit Progress

Post by ranger822 » 2007-09-24 14:00:03

I am in the final stages of finishing up ITO-RV. Well, sort of. I spent a bit of time on mIRC learning a bit about some of the DXTools needed to work with the new format. While there is still much to learn, I have learned enough to get the all the nav lights working and tweaked to looked pretty decent now and how to edit other non-a/c models like buildings and such to substantially improve the appearance of those items as well.

Spent quite a bit of time doing some work on adopting FF4 style navlights with the "Billboarded" texture/dof. Unfortunately, I was unable to figure out how to move these types of nodes once pasted into a new model. Until I can figure out the "trick" I will just leave the old style lights in place - they seem to work okay - just not as pretty.

In reviewing the DX models for various items like taxisigns, buildings etc a lot of work needs to be done there - unfortunately, I haven't been successful in getting the latest DX models from Korea-RV to load into ITO and thereby save some time. But, those can be done by me over time and slowly added.

Given what I have learned about the DX style database it seems prudent keep a double set of databases - one in whatever database/exe you have and then the DX format once you convert over. It is also necessary to keep a copy of the DXMs in a safe place.

Nightfalcon continues to update the UI for Korea-RV which is great on the one hand because it can use some improvements - however, it does make it more of a challenge to keep up with the changes. It will probably be best to not make any more changes to the UI for ITO until Korea-RV is stabilized.

Cockpits, Tacref, Flight models, movies, music and sounds continue to be unaswered questions with no forseeable solution that has been relayed to me. The back-up plan is a stand-alone istallation. Not what everyone may like but it will be a full featured, no compromise theater.

The goal of fixing tiles for ITO-RV is a good one but it can be done as an add-on.

A much more important project is to focus on the campaigns in ITO which while they do work seem to suffer from the same problems as other theaters - namely stalling after a few days . . . don't get me wrong, the campaigns are still fun and very playable but they don't meet the overall "CCC Standard" of being winable which really should be our goal as theater developers.

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Billboarded Navlights

Post by ranger822 » 2007-09-26 22:19:47

WIth some help I was able to successfully cut and paste the new style nav lights to the RV-ITO models - - a lot more to do - but a pretty easy and quick process once you have a given aircraft set up.

Based on new guidance from Alex, I can see that it is possible to provide periodic updates of the database, UI and other parts pretty easily - - so really, a working of version of ITO could be released almost anytime after I run the last set of DBTools and worked of the last DXlog errors.

Some future projects in RV-ITO are:

continous updating of DXMs with light tweaks; a/c, buildings, cockpits
UI improvments
new cockpits
new terrain tiles
SRTM

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Progress

Post by ranger822 » 2007-10-08 04:44:13

Sometimes I wonder if I will ever be finished - probably not :lol:

Pre-Beta Tasks:
Update DXL and DXH files
Run DXDBTool utility and correct errors
Upload Beta Files

Post-Beta Tasks:
Campaign Tweaks
Light Tweaks for other ITO models
- Skyhawk variants
- Mirage variants
- Vautour variants
- Mystere variants
- Ouragan
- Hawker Hunter
- Mig-21 variants
- Su-7
- Mig-17
- Mig-23
- Mig-29
- F-16 variants
- F-15 variants
- Mirage F1
- C-130
- An-12
- An-24
- IL-76
- IL-78
Add/test cockpits for primary aircraft 100+
Restruction files/folders when theater switching is fully implemented
Add weathering to selected aircraft skins
Implement terrain tile additions and replacements
Implement SRTM
Airbase upgrades

So - not that much left.... :twisted:
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Post by Parislord » 2007-10-13 20:20:53

God, those Fishbeds are awesome...

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Fishbeds

Post by ranger822 » 2007-10-17 20:41:14

They will look even better if I get around to uping the resolution to 1024x1024. They are currently at 512x512 and I left them at that resolution because looked great and I didn't have time to remaster a new set of PSDs.

The original PSDs were by Ron "Red1" Nair so the real credit goes to him.

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Re: Fishbeds

Post by Snake Man » 2007-10-17 21:29:45

ranger822 wrote:They are currently at 512x512 and I left them at that resolution because looked great and I didn't have time to remaster a new set of PSDs.
Sorry to be semi offtopic, but how exactly do you "remaster" a texture of higher resolution, dont you pretty much need completely new graphics image for it?
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Remastering Textures

Post by ranger822 » 2007-11-15 13:35:31

SM - to remaster a texture to the next higher resolution size is pretty easy but time consuming - first you need to grab the higher resolution wireframes - makes things a bit more accurate. Next, take the old PSDs and resize them to the next higher size. In most cases I make my stencils really large and then downsize the them to fit the skin size. The biggest thing to redo from scratch are the panel lines. You need to remake those, usually from scratch. Once those are done and I recheck to ensure the wireframes/texmapping is adequately covered by the texture then the new textures can be generated.

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RV-ITO Conversion

Post by ranger822 » 2007-11-15 13:37:53

Done, testing and tweaking commencing.

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Work in 2008

Post by ranger822 » 2008-02-11 13:25:15

The seemingly unending process of this conversion continues.

The latest round of updates includes:

1) UI Upgrades
2) Editing the helicopter weapons animation (removal)
3) Some minor F4Browser edits for DEAD to accomodate the last RV.exe
4) Assisting in the integration of the Phantom upgrade to RV-Korea (not really part of ITO but still a drain on time)
5) Adjusting hitbox on selected models
6) Updating the F-18 3d cockpit *.dat files

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ITO2 - RV Progress

Post by ranger822 » 2008-06-04 18:11:45

ITO2 in RV/FF4 is running 100%. However, since RV/FF5 is the next greatest thing - some minor work on the UI is needed. However, the conversion for FF5 is nearly complete. There are some final adjustments being made to the final release package for FF5 Korea. I don't have projected release for ITO2 but the plan is to release is along with FF5 Korea.

Those persistant souls still hoping to see ITO2 shouldn't have that much longer to wait.

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