Docking issues

Docking has been a problem with the Rebel ships from day 1 (except for the B-Wing). They seem to pass right through the stations docking collar several times and make maybe 6 or 8 attempts befor they finally dock.

I though this might be due to the low mass of the tiny ship models and the relativly high acceleration rates. However, now that the acceleration values of all the ships are significantly reduced, the problem is still there.

I'm beginning to wonder if this may be an issue with the dockports on the stations themselves?
Is it possible to load the models (for example in lightwave) to actually see the dockport positions? or do you moddler guys have any other tricks that might help resolve this issue.

It's very important that a player can dock for repair and reload without worrying about getting shot while his ship is buzzing back and forth trying to make the connection.

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Hmm, that is an important problem. I didn't realize it was so bad. Yes, the station dockports can easily be checked. I'll make some pics if you think it'll help. I'll also look at the B-Wing and compare it to the other fighters to see if there's a problem. How about the Falcon, does it dock ok? It's always worked well for me.

Hmm. Well, here's a thought: The B-Wing uses the stock Dockport Top from the Default Sim Setup file in the Graphic SDK. The Falcon uses the Dockport Right and Dockport Left from the same file. All the other Rebel ships use the Dockport Back null from that file. Maybe that null has an unseen problem.

After looking at the Default Sim Setup file I've discovered that for some reason it has animation keyframes?!?!? I'll see about getting rid of those too, if for no other reason than to reduce the file size.

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The Ultimate Guide To Modding: I-War 2 - Edge Of Chaos (on hold during SW MP mod)
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Your thought on the "Dockport Back null " may well be in the right direction:

On the TransferStation station: the TieFighter docks solidly every time at the main dockport on the end of the station. The Rebel ships always try to dock at a docking arm and need several approaches.

If you want to look at the station it's in:
StarWarsA1/sims/multiplayer/TransferStation_wr"

On the other two stations Rebel ships have the same problem with the dock arms, Those stations are:

StarWarsA1/sims/multiplayer/CasinoStation_wr"
StarWarsA1/sims/multiplayer/SYSYardk_wr"


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Well, I looked at the default dockport nulls, and the only thing unusual about the Dockport Back null is that, strangely, it's located at coords 0,0,0 (right on the root); so that all the dockport nulls are shifted forward in the scene about 50 meters. (Nothing problematic about that, though.)

And there shouldn't have been any animation frames, I must have accidentally saved it that way. But I don't think it would have affected anything, since there weren't any changes to anything in any of the frames. I did get rid of them though.

Next, I'll look at the stations.

mailto:second_chance@cox.net
The Ultimate Guide To Modding: I-War 2 - Edge Of Chaos (on hold during SW MP mod)
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I just went back and looked at the A-Wing and X-Wing setup files. It seems that when I changed the dockport locations from the top to the back I continued to use the Dockport Top null and just rotated it. This may be the cause of the problem, but we won't know until we test it. I've replaced the nulls with the proper Dockport Back nulls and hopefully that will solve the problem.

MajorTom, you should have the files by now.

mailto:second_chance@cox.net
The Ultimate Guide To Modding: I-War 2 - Edge Of Chaos (on hold during SW MP mod)
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I tried put the new files you sent.

They still run back and forth through the dockport 5-10 times before they dock
But LOL, now they dock nose forward with half the model stuck into the stations dockport.

I tested some and found out that the rotation is apparently the reason why they run back and forth through the dockport (call it seesaw effect?)

the file you sent has:

AddNullObject Dockport Back
ShowObject 8 7
ObjectMotion (unnamed)
9
1
0 0 -3.64646 180 0 0 1 1 1
0 0 0 0 0
EndBehavior 1
ParentObject 1
ShadowOptions 7

If I change that to:

AddNullObject Dockport Back
ShowObject 8 7
ObjectMotion (unnamed)
9
1
0 0 -3.64646 0 0 0 1 1 1
0 0 0 0 0
EndBehavior 1
ParentObject 1
ShadowOptions 7

The seesaw effect is gone after removing the 180, and they dock first time, but they are still stuck into the dockport nose forward.



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