Once Again Heading Out to Sea...

[Bookman1960]

I've been experimenting once again with ships in MSFS and have made some more progress towards satisfying my itch.

I've particularly pleased with how the winds truly affect the water in the game.

My first return to sea was aboard BB-43 USS Tennessee. The Tennessee class was part of the standard series of twelve battleships built in the 1910s and 1920s, and were developments of the preceding New Mexico class.

 

[Bookman1960]

Sigh... now who was suppose to update the charts?!!

Somehow missed seeing that reef marked on that chart.

 

[Bookman1960]

USS Atlanta

Up next...


CL-51 USS Atlanta
USS Atlanta was the lead ship of the Atlanta class of eight light cruisers. She was the third Navy ship named after the city of Atlanta, Georgia. Designed to provide anti-aircraft protection for US naval task groups, Atlanta served in this capacity in the naval battles Midway and the Eastern Solomons. Atlanta was heavily damaged by Japanese and friendly gunfire in a night surface action on 13 November 1942 during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. The cruiser was sunk on her captain's orders in the afternoon of the same day.

 

[Bookman1960]

...

 

[Bookman1960]

A series of shots which reflect how well the weather model works in the game.

Loving sailing in MSFS.

Anchors Aweigh....

 

[gedm]

Thats some beautiful work Bookman, do your ships have a bridge?

 

[Bookman1960]

Thank you sir but these are not MY ships. They are the amazing work of others. I am simply working to bring them forward into MSFS for my enjoyment and hopefully others if I receive permissions to do so, once I have ironed out the kinks.

As for cockpit/bridge, that's still a work in progress.

I started converting, as did everyone else, using the wonderful MSFS Legacy tool (which I still use for basic start) but I now have to do some "under the hood" handcrafting to get things sorted for using them in the game.

One thing I have learned though that might prove useful to others who may not yet have discovered this:

MSFS will use FSX models w/o any need for rewriting of them.

It's all the other materials that create the bother...i.e., .air .cfg, etc. and this is my frustration now as I have no idea what/how to create or edit the necessary files. So far, it's all been trial and error and then reading through files to try and understand how things work...sigh.

Sure would love for someone to help me understand where to go next.

KevinB

 

[Tom Clayton]

This will help with editing .air files:

https://www.fs2000.org/2009/09/28/fs2004fsx-aircraft-airfile-manager-v2-2/

 

[strykerpsg]

Beautiful work indeed! I really love the Atlanta! She was one of my most favored ships in World of Warships in the early stages of development.

Interesting that collisions are available for water borne craft.....I like it!

 

[Navy Chief]

Is the Indianapolis among your fleet? CA-35 NC

 

[Bookman1960]

Yes, thanks to Klaus and Henrik, most of the naval ships for US fleet are available.

I'll check status of where I am with the Indianapolis and share some screenshots.

KB

Is the Indianapolis among your fleet? CA-35 NC

- - - Updated - - -

Thank you, Tom. I'll take a look. I'm not sure that this tool will create the necessary MSFS files though.

KB

This will help with editing .air files:

https://www.fs2000.org/2009/09/28/fs2004fsx-aircraft-airfile-manager-v2-2/

 

[Tom Clayton]

Thank you, Tom. I'll take a look. I'm not sure that this tool will create the necessary MSFS files though.

KB

It won't, but if FSX planes can be dropped in and flown as-is, it can edit the existing .air files so you can tweak them for the new sim if needed, or tweak them prior to conversion.

 

[K5083]

FSX planes cannot be dropped in and flown as is, but you might be able to trick MS Legacy Importer into converting your ship as if it were a plane. As long as you have all the typical elements of a plane in there, like a panel folder and so on, it should work and will create the right file/folder structure around the FSX bits.

It is no longer quite true that any FSX MDL can be used by MSFS, any mouse click rectangles have to be removed or they will crash the sim, and material properties may be handled differently but the conversion is not too difficult.

August

 

[Bookman1960]

FSX planes cannot be dropped in and flown as is, but you might be able to trick MS Legacy Importer into converting your ship as if it were a plane. As long as you have all the typical elements of a plane in there, like a panel folder and so on, it should work and will create the right file/folder structure around the FSX bits.

It is no longer quite true that any FSX MDL can be used by MSFS, any mouse click rectangles have to be removed or they will crash the sim, and material properties may be handled differently but the conversion is not too difficult.

August

Thank you, sir for your reply.

I can say that I have the converting process down pretty comfortably and without any real issues (except occasional white areas on some models, which appear to be 'unbaked' areas perhaps -- according to one sage 'expert'? It's far above my paygrade to understand that one).

Yes, you are right about the 'mouse rectangles' -- forgot to mention that. That issue is easily resolved with ModelConverterX, though I found a few models (airplanes not ships so far...) where a mouse rectangle sadly also removed a pilot or piece of the plane! Sigh...

Would you please shed some light on your comment '...material properties may be handled differently...' It may be of use to both me and anyone else who is working through this process.

Thank you again.

KevinB

 

[Bookman1960]

It won't, but if FSX planes can be dropped in and flown as-is, it can edit the existing .air files so you can tweak them for the new sim if needed, or tweak them prior to conversion.

Thank you, Tom.

The issue is not the original .air or .cfg files per se (some work and some don't btw), it's actually that, since the infamous summer update last year that broke things, there are now a variety of cfg files in the aircraft container that seem to be required/necessary for proper MSFS operation.

I just discovered this page last night but have not yet had a chance to read through the information to see if it helps me:

https://docs.flightsimulator.com/ht...uration/SimObjects/Aircraft_SimO/Aircraft.htm

Meanwhile, I have been experimenting with 'cloning' files from my successful models that DO sail in the game and see what permits this to be so.

Well, back to the workshop. I've got three more favorite ships to try and get underway before the weekend. Sigh...tinker, tinker, tinker...

KevinB

 

[K5083]

Good, it seems like you are familiar with this process and you'll probably have success. Tinker, tinker is definitely the right method.

MSFS will still accept (for now, who knows how long) a vehicle with just an aircraft.cfg file, not broken down into all those other cfg files. There is a native format option in Legacy Importer that will break up the cfg and create those files if you prefer.

If you stick with the single-cfg legacy format, what I meant by materials being handled differently are transparent areas that are now not as transparent, invisible things that are now visible, and so on. Also, one of the recent system updates killed any kind of specular rendering or PBR for textures on MDL files, you are stuck with matte for every material now. You probably have encountered all of this already.

Good luck! Unlike MSFS, the Prepar3d programs sought to be all-vehicle simulators by design, and ships can be fun to cruise around in there. But if you want to look at the scenery, nothing beats MSFS. Some of the photogrammetry urban areas do not hold up well when "flying" that low and slow, but if you have a good aftermarket city scenery package, the nautical experience gives it plenty of time to render and it can look quite impressive.

August

 

[Bookman1960]

Is the Indianapolis among your fleet? CA-35 NC

As requested.. USS Indianapolis -- and yes, there is a bridge view as well.

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USS Indianapolis (CL/CA-35) was a Portland-class heavy cruiser of the United States Navy, named for the city of Indianapolis, Indiana. Launched in 1931, the vessel served as the flagship for the commander of Scouting Force One for eight years, then as flagship for Admiral Raymond Spruance in 1943 and 1944 while he commanded the Fifth Fleet in battles across the Central Pacific during World War II.


In July 1945, Indianapolis completed a top-secret high-speed trip to deliver parts of Little Boy, the first nuclear weapon ever used in combat, to the United States Army Air Force Base on the island of Tinian, and subsequently departed for the Philippines on training duty. At 0015 on 30 July, the ship was torpedoed by the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine I-58, and sank in 12 minutes. Of 1,195 crewmen aboard, approximately 300 went down with the ship. The remaining 890 faced exposure, dehydration, saltwater poisoning, and shark attacks while stranded in the open ocean with few lifeboats and almost no food or water. The Navy only learned of the sinking four days later, when survivors were spotted by the crew of a PV-1 Ventura on routine patrol. Only 316 survived. The sinking of Indianapolis resulted in the greatest single loss of life at sea from a single ship in the history of the US Navy.


On 19 August 2017, a search team financed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen located the wreckage of the sunken cruiser in the Philippine Sea lying at a depth of approximately 18,000 ft (5,500 m). On 20 December 2018, the crew of the Indianapolis was collectively awarded a Congressional Gold Medal. (source: Wikipedia)

The 2016 film "USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage", starring Nicolas Cage, is based on the sinking of Indianapolis and is rather good film.

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[Seahawk72s]

thank you

Very nicely done..!