Aircraft documentation / creation guide

[Mark]

EDIT: V1.41, "Collision" and "Shadow" now commented on (Cheers STM).

 

Well it seems boredom and a request in from Forelli_Boy has led me to make this; The Grand Theft Auto San Andreas aircraft hierarcy guide. For this tutorial, my example will be the the AT-400, simply becuase the design of it is basic yet advanced enough to allow you to convert models over to other aircraft .dffs without too much of a problem.

 

Well, first things first, this is what the model looks like when I open it up in Zmod2.

 

 

-Click to engarge image-

 

 

As you can see, the layout of the object table is very similar to what you should be used to if you have modded previous GTAs, and overall very similar to car hierarchies. For a tutorial on car hierarchies, look no further than here. I recommend you read that 1st as this is meant to be a documentation, and I don't wanna explain how to do things.

 

I'll start from the top then. first is the at400.dff. This is simply the .dff file, and this particular part of the hierarchy is common with every .dff file (To my knowledge). This is split into 3 sections:

• AT400
• Collision
• Shadow

AT400 is simple, this is where the rest of the model is. The chassis, moving parts, whatever, its all here.

 

Collision is exactly what it says it is, it's the collision. The faces in the object called "collison" are used for pedestrains, including the player, to let the game know where the player can and cannot go (like through a wing). The spheres in the sub-menu apply to generic objects, like other cars, landscape etc etc. On a car, these would determine what body part gets damaged when the car hits summin, the ones that get hit tell the car what gets damaged, removed, or to flap about. Also, at a guess, certain spheres mean the car takes more damage per hit, an example of suck is shooting the engine of a car in comparison to shooting the rear. For a plane however, I guess it just causes damage, as planes do not have any damage models (sure the ailerons or elevators may flap about, but there is no actual damage model). The spheres obviously also stop the vehicle going through say a wall. For the AT-400, the collison looks like this:

 

 

-Click to engarge image-

 

 

Shadow is the shadow of the model. It seems for SA that the shadow is no longer determind by the col file, but instead has its own section. This means for more accurate shadows I guess. The shadow object itself is simply like a vlo, which the game uses to cast a shadow with (why it can't use the vlo is beyond me, blame R*. It looks like this:

 

 

-Click to engarge image-

 

 

Right then, after AT400, theres a new list:

• wingtip_pos
• elevator_l
• rudder_pos
• elevator_pos
• aileron_pos
• elevator_r
• gear_r
  • wheel_rb_dummy
• gear_l
  • wheel_lb_dummy
• misc_a
  • wheel_lf_dummy
  • wheel_rf_dummy
    • wheel
• chassis_vlo
• rudder
• aileron_l
• door_rf_dummy
  • door_rf_ok
• ped_frontseat
• door_lf_dummy
  • door_lf_ok
• exhaust
• aileron_r
• chassis
  • Omni03
  • Omni02
  • Omni01

I'll start from the top once again.

 

 

Wingtip_pos:
This is a dummy which indicates where the wingtip is (no sh*t). It sits on the tip of the starboard wing, on the trailing edge, like so:     -Click to engarge image-     It tells the game where the wingtips are for things like navigation lights etc etc.

Elevator_l (and Elevator_r):
These are wierdly enough the elevators. Elevator_l is the left elevator, elevator_r is the right elevator. Their local axis is situated in the centre of each elevator, on the front edge of the elevator. The elevators themselves get their exact positions off elevator_pos, which I'll talk about later. They look like this:     -Click to engarge image-

rudder_pos:
This is the dummy to indicate the rudder position. It is situated on the front of the rudder, right at the top on the corner, like so:     -Click to engarge image-

elevator_pos:
This is the dummy to indicate the elevator position. It is situated on the front of the starboard elevator, right on the corner, like so:     -Click to engarge image-

aileron_pos:
This is the dummy to indicate the aileron position. It is situated on the front of the starboard aileron, right on the corner, like so:     -Click to engarge image-

- GTAuron Edited September 19, 2005 by GTAuron

[Mark]

gear_r (and gear_l):

These indicate where the main landing gear goes. gear_r is the right undercarriage leg and door, gear_l being the left undercarriage leg and door. Their local axis is situated about the point you wish the undercarriage and doors to rotate by, in this case the centre of the most upper edge of the door.

 

-Click to engarge image-

 

They also both have wheel_xb_dummies in their own submenu, where x means either l or r, depending on the unercarriage leg. These I shall explain next.

wheel_rb_dummy (and wheel_lb_dummy):

These determine the position of the centre of the wheels. Hence these line up with the bottom-centre of the undercarriage legs on the outside, like so:

 

-Click to engarge image-

 

As San Andreas has its own version of the D-magic wheelmod, there is no need to replicate wheels here, as the game will replicate the single wheel model situated at the front of the aircraft (and possibly scale it using the vehicles .ide line) and move them so that the centre of the wheel will rotate about these dummies.

misc_a:

"Misc" objects occur a lot on various San Andreas models, and depending on what model you are replacing, different things will happen. In this particular case it represents the front undercarriage leg. The local axis for this hinges about the centre of the undercarriage door at the top, like so:

 

-Click to engarge image-

 

It also has 2 other objects in its sub menu, wheel_lf_dummy and wheel_rf_dummy.

wheel_lf_dummy (and wheel_rf_dummy) and wheel:

These dummies determine where the centre of wheels rotate about, much like wheel_lb and wheel_rb. These are situated either side of the front undercarriage leg, in the centre of the leg, near the bottom as shown:

 

-Click to engarge image-

 

wheel_rf_dummy also has wheel in its submenu, which as the model of the wheel that will be replicated all around the model according to the other 3 wheel dummies. The wheels local axis is slap bang in the middle of the wheel. It looks like this:

 

-Click to engarge image-

chassis_vlo:

This object is common to nearly all vehicles since GTA3. This is a low detail version of the model, which is loaded when the model is far away to minimise strain on your computer system, and to allow the model to be visible before the more detailed version is loaded (if you are moving towards it). For the AT400 the vlo looks like this:

 

-Click to engarge image-

rudder:

This is the rudder of the aircraft. The local axis for this model is situated in the middle of the rudder, on the centre-line, at the front of the rudder, like this:

 

-Click to engarge image-

- GTAuron Edited September 14, 2005 by GTAuron

[Mark]

aileron_l (and aileron_r):

These are the ailerons. The local axis for this object is in the centre on the aileron, on the front egde.

 

-Click to engarge image-

 

door_rf_dummy (and door_lf_dummy):
These dummies indicate where the door will sit. These are situated at the hinge point of the door, that is about 1/4 of the way up, at the front of the door, on the outermost edge.     -Click to engarge image-   These both have objects in their submenu, called door_rf_ok and door_lf_ok.

 

door_rf_ok (and door_lf_ok):
These are the doors for the aircraft. Their local axis is situated on EXACTLY the same position as the dummies for their respective door.     -Click to engarge image-

 

exhaust:
This is the exhaust for the aircraft, basically, where the bleeding thing smokes. The position of this is very wierd, as it is inside the fuselage, around the wing root, slightly left and low of the centre line. There is no picture of it as its such a wierd position theres no real benefit.

 

chassis:
This is the aircrafts chassis, that is, the parts that are non-moveable on the model. This makes up most of the model. The local axis for this sits exactly on the centre axis in Zmod 2.     -Click to engarge image-

Like...thats it. Oh, heres a Zmod2 .z3d of the AT-400 for you guys to have a look for yourself!

 

AT-400 - GTAuron

[dertyjerzian]

Just linked from the Requests Gallery. Awesome. Will come in handy soon.

Also, you can reference whatever model you want to replace

[Mark]

Also, you can reference whatever model you want to replace

Sorry I just got back from college/6th form so I'm a little slow...wtf you mean by that? - GTAuron

[Xx-ToXiCaTiOn-xX]

Amazing! Thank you man, I have to do this tutorial, your the best! Is there a way to expand my airplane like make it more longer?

[Mark]

 

Well yeah you do that by making the model....or editing an existing model. Nothing to do with the dummies or hierarchy at all. Also, its not a tutorial, its a documentation. I'm simply stating facts, not instructions - GTAuron

 

[Leweh]

Hi, how do i open the files for the stuff like planes and cars ?