SA Helicopter Question

[DeeZire]

Has anyone figured out why, in SA, the helicopter rotor blades dont show correctly when they spin like they did in VC (and like they do on the PS2 version of SA)?

 

The models are all set up correctly and all but they look crap on the PC when they spin, they dont have that kida whirly alpha effect which should display (the models all supposed to use the cargobobrotrblack texture and they seem setup correctly to do so).

 

Im wondering if any uber modellers have noticed a glitch either in the models or in the texturing for the rotor blades?

[H13N.H3N]

Im wondering if any 'lubber' modelers have noticed a glitch either in the models or in the texturing for the rotor blades?

is not a glitch, it just a 'missing' feature of many that SA PC have, like the dirt (originaly the cars must be clean, and the with the use get dirt), the lights of the Transfender, the specular texture acting like a specular texture (not specular info), some missing funtions like the anthem of the SAN News van, or the big gun in one of the ships (i don't remember the name of that thing... defender....mm...attacker... something is named) and many many many more features, of course, they all are solvable... but just those that someone has worked to solve.. the others are still floating waiting to be fixed

[corvettelover]

..sorry for the bump, but you could ask DexX, in some of his screens he had blurred PS2 style rotors if I remember right.

[javi13]

I'm pretty sure that was just by changing names in the heriachy (I know i can't spell), so that the rotors were permantly blurred

[H13N.H3N]

I'm pretty sure that was just by changing names in the hierarchy (I know i can't spell), so that the rotors were permanently blurred

i wish it would be that easy, if it's just changing the name of the objects of the vehicle inside the hierarchy, then it would be enough just using RW Analyzer, but what's are the right names then?, there are a an "Official Patch" for SA to upgrade to v1.1 that fixes some errors, i don't know well which of them, but it will disable the Hotcoffe from version 1.0 (who needs them anyway?)... UNFORTUNATELY doesn't work with hoodlum's exe which i guess, many of us have, at least not with my US 1.0 exe, perhaps it only works with original exes.

[javi13]

I'm pretty sure that was just by changing names in the hierarchy (I know i can't spell), so that the rotors were permanently blurred

i wish it would be that easy, if it's just changing the name of the objects of the vehicle inside the hierarchy, then it would be enough just using RW Analyzer, but what's are the right names then?, there are a an "Official Patch" for SA to upgrade to v1.1 that fixes some errors, i don't know well which of them, but it will disable the Hotcoffe from version 1.0 (who needs them anyway?)... UNFORTUNATELY doesn't work with hoodlum's exe which i guess, many of us have, at least not with my US 1.0 exe, perhaps it only works with original exes.

It is that easy, I have done it, and the names for the rotors are;

'Moving_rotor1' for the blurred top rotor

'Static_rotor1' for the unblurred top rotor

'Moving_rotor2' for the blurred back rotor

'Static_rotor1' for the unblurred back rotor.

[H13N.H3N]

It is that easy, I have done it, and the names for the rotors are;

'Moving_rotor1' for the blurred top rotor

'Static_rotor1' for the unblurred top rotor

'Moving_rotor2' for the blurred back rotor

'Static_rotor1' for the unblurred back rotor.

really? i've looked at the hierarchy of the Maverick, and some of the dummies are already named:

------------------

Moving_rotor

Moving_rotot2

Static_rotor

Static_rotor2

------------------

As dummies must be named properly, i'm not quite sure if they are already right, or if i must add the "1" after the name of the rotor's name, also i wonder if the rotors must be linked to a main dummy, i made a try but i had no luck, perhaps i'm doing something wrong.

[DexX]

 

It is that easy, I have done it, and the names for the rotors are;

'Moving_rotor1' for the blurred top rotor

'Static_rotor1' for the unblurred top rotor

'Moving_rotor2' for the blurred back rotor

'Static_rotor1' for the unblurred back rotor.

The exe lists the object names as "moving_rotor" and "static_rotor", there is no 1...

or is adding the 1 what makes them constantly blurred?

 

 

..sorry for the bump, but you could ask DexX, in some of his screens he had blurred PS2 style rotors if I remember right.

No? The only screen i think you're talking about is related to my gfx mod, where i had incorrect alphas and the blades were rendering - as opaque triangles.

My guess is you're talking about this image.

 

I think the missing rotor-blur is a conscious decision by R* - it isn't on the PC or Xbox versions of SA, and it isn't in the final versions of GTA4 either (i do recall seeing it in an early gtaiv trailer though..).

[DeeZire]

Its the same for planes, but it works on boats, bah.

 

For helis, it seems the logic should be to display static_rotor and static_rotor2 when moving or taking off, and when actually airborne or flying it should hide those objects and display moving_rotor and moving_rotor2 instead but no worky.

 

Its the same for planes with static_prop and moving_prop but the logic works for boats with their propellers

 

Maybe its something to do the model heirarchy and how the rotors are linked?

 

EDIT: yes, I already tried renaming the dummies to get permanent blurred rotors but that looks kinda funky when the heli is landed and not moving. What I'd really like is both moving and static to work properly.

Edited November 20, 2008 by DeeZire

[javi13]

The 1 after the names was a typo, I havn't looked at heli models for ages, because I kinda gave up on them, I do seem to recall the VCNmav heli having a blurred rotor in one of the SA trailers, perhaps you could look into this Dex?

[H13N.H3N]

The 1 after the names was a typo, I havn't looked at heli models for ages, because I kinda gave up on them, I do seem to recall the VCNmav heli having a blurred rotor in one of the SA trailers, perhaps you could look into this Dex?

i don't think that a Trailer would be something serious enough to care, GTA3 Trailers also had Claude speaking (something like "out of the car").

[javi13]

But, because it's in the trailer, and the models were left ingame, the code must be hidden away somewhere.

[H13N.H3N]

But, because it's in the trailer, and the models were left ingame, the code must be hidden away somewhere.

Nop, hardcoded function of the exe, nothing else and unless someone want to fix that and make a deep investigation. there's nothing to do.

[DexX]

i don't have a fix, but i've noticed that if i use my gfx mod to force the material alpha to be opaque (in the rendering code), i can force the blur to be always on, without changing the model or textures at all..

 

 

This is just a guess, but the code on the ps2 probably animates the alpha value then, based on the rotor speed. If it isn't spinning at all, the blurred model is transparent. If its spinning full speed, the blurred model is opaque, with the opacity scaled to the speeds in between.

 

Using the leviathan as the example here, and importing it into max, we can see the alpha value for the blurred blade material is 242 - nearly opaque (255 would be opaque). So the game has to process the rotors at least once to make the blurred blades disappear, as we see them normally.

 

The problem we have is, is that the blades are never re-blurred when flying. I don't yet know if that function is simply broken, or gone entirely. In either case, i don't have a solution.

 

One other tidbit - the cargobobrotorblack128 texture on the maverick does not have an alpha channel. The same texture on the leviathan does. i don't know which is correct.

[DeeZire]

Thats very interesting stuff - thanx!

 

So if I am right, it would seem that the moving_rotor objects do indeed get displayed, but the cargobobrotorblack128 alpha does not get modified accordingly when the rotors change speed, only once when the model is first rendered?

[javi13]

Does anyone have a PS2 version of the game, then? We could probably compare the two .exes or something.

[corvettelover]

Does anyone have a PS2 version of the game, then? We could probably compare the two .exes or something.

..uhm, the PS2 version of the game doesn't have a .exe........