I have started a project long ago that involves one aircraft: the F-117/A Have Blue. This aircraft is the predecessor to the F-117 Night Hawk. It is a sleak, revolutionary aircraft that laid the ground to the now-known Night Hawk.

So far, I have completed the external part of the aircraft (the body) except for two things: Movable control surfaces and Landing gear.

The cockpit may be alright, but it still needs some fine-tunning. I need someone who specializes in this field (VCs or DVCs). I am not that good with VCs.

I also need someone who specializes in gear construction and another individual who is good with 2-D panels and gauges. I have an cockpit image of the Night Hawk in case you need it.

And last, but not least, someone who is knows a lot about flight dynamics. I know this aircraft is unstable and some of you have the tendency to alter the dynamics to make it stable, but there could be another way around this habit of yours.

Instead of altering the flight dynamics, why not use the autopilot as some kind of fly-by-wire system? In simviation, there is a Dauphin helicopter that uses A/P (autopilot) to maintain a hover. If that can be achieved, so can the fly-by-wire method.

I am not trying to develope a permanent team here. Just a temperary one that can help me finish this project.

Those who come forward will be given the Have Blue model in GMAX format (I don't have FSDS). A lot of credit will be given to those who help, once this model is completed and posted in Simviation.

The Have Blue model is ready and available for those who choose to help.

I understand. It's hard to find good modelers who are good with GMAX.

To give you and idea what I have accomplished in the past, here is an example:

Remember those weapons I have uploaded to simviation (I you've seen them)? They were titled Rifles of War (if I can remember the name). I uploaded another file a month ago at least. Inside was a human character with 2 recently-made weapons. All of those models were made entirely out of boxes.

I always make my vintage models with the usual objects. As for any aircraft that involves stealth, I make those with a Spline.

Hey Felix, in www.discreet.com (GMAX website), they have a lot of tutorials (starting from the basics to the advanced). There are more tutorials in www.onnovanbraam.com (they also refer to 3Dmax as well).

This should give you an idea of how good I am with GMAX.

PS: The Skyracer I made long ago (Adopt-a-design page) was the first model to come out of my mind.

Well, i made a 2d panel from scratch a few hours ago. I do plan to enhance it a bit. I had to find a good pic of the F-117 cockpit and base the panel on it, however this is not photo-realistic. (But very close to the real thing) Please keep in mind that this is just the main panel texture and no gauges are added yet. I just want to know if you like it first so i could then add the gauges [radar,HUD] Well, here it is:

Oh, one more thing OZ.

What's you e-mail address?

Ive modified the panel a bit and have added the gauges. If you dont like the gauges or how they are arranged, tell me and ill fix em. Heres the panel:

Well everyone.

Oz has done a excellent job on the 2-D panel I needed for this project. Now it's time for the next step: the DVC and/or gear animations.

I know there are a lot of you people out there that are good at making DVCs or Gear animations.

The F-117/A Have Blue model (for GMAX only) is still ready for anyone who is still willing to help.

After the physical model is complete (both in scale and features), the final steps will begin.

The final steps are:
1. Surface Textures
2. Flight Dynamics

Guys, don't forget about the autopilot idea I talked about at the beginning of this thread.

One careful note I like to add:

When it comes to flight dynamics, the Assembly-line program [in excel format] will be a good thing to start with. You can find more information about it at the AVHISTORY website.

I thank Oz for his help. All credit for the 2-D panel design goes to Oz.

PS: www.google.com is a good place to start with for info (in case you never knew about it).

As of now, I have made some improvements on the aircraft's cockpit. I may not know what it looks like exactly, but it closely resembles the kind of cockpit that fits the Have Blue aircraft.

I'll try to post some pics for you people to see. This is the first time I ever try to post even one pic. So, I'll give it a shot.

Still, I need someone who can make this static cockpit into a DVC (dynamic virtual cockpit).

The pilot is not my design. If I remember correctly, I might have gotten it from the free flight design web site.

Thanks man.

I'm hoping that someone will step forward and help with the DVC.

In case no one does step forward, I'm going through some DVC tutorials. It might take a weeks (possibly a month and 1 week) before I even get the hang of it.

That DVC is really coming alive. Just a few little fixes to it and it'll look awesome. By the way, the green planes is where i put the radar and digital flight info,if you look at the other pics of the 2d panel at the first page of the thread you'll see what i mean. For a trainee, you're doin great! Good luck

Hey everyone, now I'm starting to get the hang of this DVC business.

The only problem I'm have is that I can't seem to get the model to appear on my FS2002-aircraft list.

I checked the model.cfg, aircraft.cfg, folder names, etc.

Now where the hell am I going wrong in this part? I usually get models to appear in FS2002pro.  Now I have to figure out how to get the model to show in the list. Otherwise, I'll never know if I was successful or not.

Once I get the model to show, I'll have the screenshots ready.

Uhh..guys???

I'm still waiting for some help here. I don't want to make any more changes to the Have Blue's DVC panel on my own for fear of making a severe mistake.

If you wish to help, my e-mail address is salc1711@msn.com

I have read many tutorials involving DVC (s) and stuff. In fact, I have probably read every tut there is that involves GMAX.

What the hell am I missing here? The DVC panel is still tilted 90 degrees (the image that is), I'm getting tired of going back and forth (make model, goto sim, exit sim, adjust model, goto sim, exit again, adjust model, goto sim, STILL NO PROGRESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

If any of you people wish to help with the model, I'll e-mail you the GMAX model (compressed) to give you an idea of where I might have gone wrong. I'll also e-mail the model's aircraft folder that I made for the F-117A Have Blue model:

F_117A_Have_Blue\ Model folder
                             \ Panel folder
                             \ Sound folder (empty)
                             \ Texture folder (empty)
                             \*.air file
                             \ aircraft.cfg file
and so on.

The reason I will send this is clear. To see where and what I did wrong in what process of the aircraft's construction and setup. I'm trying to give as much info on my situation as possible so that I can recieve the kind of feedback I expect.

I will not give up on this project (EVER). I don't want to let anybody down at this point. I am determined to make this an acurate model (near perfect) and post it (with full features) on simviation.

I will give full credit to those who help me on this problem (the same way I did for Oz, who helped create a nice custom panel).

that square hole is where the radar goes on the panel. If you cant put the radar on the DVC, i guess you can choose any other gauge that might suit it.  Good job man

Here are the specs I have gathered for Project Have Blue. I hope this is enough to convince some people to help. The kind of people I am looking for are those who are GOOD at making nice flight dynamics.

Have Blue Specifications EXTERNAL DIMENSIONS:   
Wing Span 22 ft 6 in
Length overall 47 ft 3 in
Height overall 7 ft 6.25 in
Wing Area 386 sq ft
Wing Sweep 72.50 degrees
Tail Cant 30 degrees
Tail Sweep 35 degrees
WEIGHTS AND LOADINGS:   
Weight (Empty) 8,950 lbs
Max T-O weight 12,500 lbs
Max Fuel Load 3,500 lbs
Max Payload None
ENGINES:   
Power Plant (#) GE J85-GE-4A (2)
Power Plant Source T-2B Buckeye (no modifications made)
Thrust About 2,950 lbs
Specific Fuel Consumption About 0.98
PERFORMANCE:   
Max speed .8 Mach (600 mph) @ sea level
Landing Speed 160 knots (296 km/h; 184 mph)
Max Range/Endurance 1 hour

For more information, go to

http://www.f-117a.com/Have.html

Those who help at this point will be credited for what they did.

NOTE: The Gmax model is still ready for those who help on landing gear construction (I couldn't find any info on the gears).

Thanks OZ!!!!!

Awesome work katahu! She looks great. Now all you need to do is 'open' up the intakes and flat jet nozzles, make an opening canopy, add a bit of eye candy, and add some good textures (maybe photo-realistic)

PS: If you got a REAL good pic of the real Have Blue Prototype, you can maybe 'cut' out the body paint and make it into a texture.

PSS:I think i can maybe help you out with the textures if you need me  I remember seeing the real Have Blue once in a documentary, has a blue with grey camo (if i can recall well)

I was already aware about how the bottom-side of the aircraft looked like.

The one problem I have with the texures I found for the Have Blue was that they were too small.

It's hard these days to get a decent texture of the aircraft. They're just not that common.

I'll try to get the canopy to open and make the joystick and pedals function.

Also, Oz, can you help me find some textures for the cockpit? While you're at it, see if you can find any info on the appearance of the landing gear.

PS: Thanks for the positive feedback.

Ok katahu, ive made 4 textures which you could use to 'decorate' the interior of the cockpit. just tell me your e-mail so i can send them to you

Ok, i sent it. BTW Katahu, why dont you make some knobs and switches inside the cockpit and texture them? There are some knobs and switches on the image i made, why not make some little knobs and switches in Gmax and paste this image over it so the knobs can be 3d, not 2d. That'd be real cool, and make the DVC very realistic. (Maybe you can get a cone and 'insert it' into the cockpit halfway through, so the top will look like a switch) Anyways, just a small suggestion to make the DVC a bit more realistic and 3d and not 2d in some way.  

PS: can you send me a copy of the haveblue panel i sent you a while back, i accidently deleted my copy and i need it to make a canopy frame image.

I think i know what may be wrong with the texture appearing white in the sim. They probably have not been reduced in color depth, making the file size much bigger. In FS, you Have to reduce it if not the texure will not appear, i might have missed it when i was making the textures for the cockpit. (ill check it out) If you got any texture that dont appear right in the sim, you can send it to me and ill be able to reduce the color depth, that might be it (bout 85% sure lol)

BTW, id like to see a GPS, either stationary or put away, your choice. 

It sounds awesome G-Force, you can start as soon as you want.  When you're ready with it, you can send it to either Katahu or me, and then ill send it to him. And of course, Katahu will give you credit for it  If you want you can send it here when you wanna: vol532@msn.com and then ill send it to Katahu

Thanks man

Sorry I haven't been around these forums lately. I was busy trying to figure out how to get the canopy to open (including the landing gears).

Anyways, it's a great idea that you help around (G-force237).

Since I have heard that you're good at modeling, I need some help here.

How do you get the animations to work? I tried these tags: f_canopy, c/l/r_gear/_top/bottom, lever_stick_fore_aft/l_r, etc.

Then I set the key frames from 0-100. I set the rotation keys in the Motions tab (GMAX). And then I exported.

But the objects that were tagged and set were not rendered by Makemdl properly (I have a scale error). After that I have a junk file (except for the active gauges). Where am I going wrong here?

Hey Oz, I made the landing gears with as much detail as possible. I managed to find a picture of the aircraft with its gears clearly showing. I'll post the pics later on so that you can see.

I used DXTBMP long ago to help me with reflective textures. And it helps a lot. But I accidentally deleted it and  need to find it on the internet again. Maybe I'll find it in www.google.com

PS: Thanks to this project and with the help of you people, I have learned many things with aircraft modeling. I finally learned (not that long ago) how to make a DVC work and appear.

Ok, Well I decided to start making the textures, and I have compleated the top and bottom halvs, tell me what you think and if I needed to change any thing. Its nothing to fancy, I have never made textures for a stalth before  



B.T.W those are good Questions, but mustang knows more about animation tags than I do (I mainly paint/ Map textures + some moddeling) Il let mustang get back to you on that one

Wow G-Force, those textures look awesome! Great job man

No NO! Dont change the wheel wells!! I just put theme there just to take some space, I didnt know where to put them so if you could post the 3-way I will modify my textures to fit.

Sorry If this caused any problem

Oh, and thank you for your complements, and if there is anything ELSE I need to change please tell me

Thanks, I'll need those textures for the pilot.

Hey G-force, here are the pics you asked for.







Don't worry about the wheel-well doors. I'll see if I can draw them myself so that they'll match the model.

Here are some additional pics I threw in.

Ok cool, thats all I needed so once I finish painting the vertical stabalizer, I am done and ready to send you the textures. Or if you want me too I can go a head and apply the texture maps my selfe?

Choice is yours and ..............
btw

cant wait till this thing is finished

Cool, sounds good my e-mail address is... ttarlton@cyberonic.com

and if you cant get all of the animations done, just tell me and I can go ahead and give them a shot

P.S dont worry I wont distribute these source files, once im done texture maping Il send the modle back to you

******Temporary Hold Up******

Sorry to say this guys, but I have to hold the project for a week for these reasons:

1. I'm a currently studying for the known SAT 1.
2. Yes, I am a Senior and graduating from high school.
3. Score to reach on the SAT s: 1090 points (total)
4. Test date: 3 May 2003
5. Duration of studying: 1 week starting this FRIDAY.

Because of the test date (and how little time I have left) I'm going to have to quit going to my computer for a week. This means not internet connection to keep in touch with you guys and no access to GMAX until the test is over.

This is also my last SAT 1 test. I have already taken 3 tests and the highest I have gotten so far was 900 points total (450 on math section, 450 on verbal section).

I pray to god that I get 1090.

Sorry that the construction has to stop for a time but this is what happens something like this comes up.

PS:The university I'm trying to get into is Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. I'm planning to be Step 1) go to that University, 2) then the Air Force as an officer and 3) then come out to be a commercial pilot.

A lot of info on the Have blue here: http://www.csd.uwo.ca/~pettypi/elevon/baugher_us/f117.html#RTFToC2

Oh and Katahu (when you get back) just thought you'd wanna know that the have blue did have spoilers

Quote:


...just in case you didnt know 

Good to hear you're back. Hey you mind providing us with some in-game shots of the Have blue? I really wanna see that bird in the air 

PS:Just got an idea for something you can put in the cockpit.........a sandwich or a beer! 

she looks real nice man and good work on that gear. hey i think maybe i can find some 'stealth-like' sounds for the plane, or at least some CFS3 jet sounds (which are pretty good)

Quote:


Hmm......a cell phone and a beer! 

PS: when you think the basic model is complete, can i beta-test it?

e-mail is vol532@msn.com

Well, I'm having a situation now when it came o exporting the aircraft model from gmax.

Whenever I try to export the model as a scenery (I was trying set the DVC) the Makemdl program just behaves as if I was telling it to export it as an aircraft. Instead of just letting me go straight to setup tabs, it goes ahead and exports it anyways without letting me set up the *.x file (DVC).

Guys, help me here.

The reason why I'm exporting this before I e-mail is because I have made improvements on it.

I sent the aircraft to you, Oz. It includes all the things for a FS2002 aircraft (except the textures).

However, it is a big file I have sent to you. The e-mail file attachment is about 2.11mb BIG. And it's a compressed file as well.

So, expect this e-mail to take a hell of a long time to open. Have fun testing it.

all right i flew the have blue and sent you a 'report' via e-mail.

Oh and BTW, scan your computer with a good antivirus as one of my norton programs alerted me of a trojan when i opened that zip (stopped the trojan script though..)

HOLY CR*P!!!!!!!

I gotta get my damn norton program updated then. Long ago my program told me that the registration has expired but my dad didn't care (I also warned him). Now from what he has just seen he changed his mind. I get the program up to date and ready to fight back.

Thanks for the warning man. You saved my computer.

I suggest that you set up a firewall for now. That should slow him down long enough for you to fight back.

But if that doesn't work, you're gonna have no choice but keep yourself away from the internet. It's may not be a bright idea, but it should stop him for now.

I'm sorry that I didn't reply in the last few days, but I was busy making the ailerons and elevators for the flight model.

I have also made some changes to the interior as well.

Changes:

1. repositioned GPS and Parking brake lever
2. new control surfaces
3. calculator-like object removed

Fixes needed:

1. rotation axis for control surfaces
2. movement of the throttle controls

Negative sideffects:

1. Dangerously-low frame rates when aircraft is loaded on FS2002.
2. FS2002 has locked up on me when I tried to exit.

The model has something to do with it (obviously).

At least theres some progress  Hey katahu im wonderin, have you gotten rid of that virus? I had to erase my computer since i just couldnt delete it. (right now im waiting for results...) and even if you do delete it chances are your regedit.exe is screwed up lettin the hackers in or somethin. Backdoor/SubSeven virus corrupts certain files and transmits info to hackers when you go online so they can 'hook' up to your computer and see (and even control..) what your doin. My Anti-virus wont detect the virus cause it isnt really there; but it screwed some net files up or somethin and you shouldnt upload something that can have a virus. Theres some removal instructions at the norton site but i couldnt understand them so i took the easy way out.... But i did backup the planes i wanted to keep on a CD thats what you should do in case you decide

Good luck

Oh and BTW.

I realized that my aircraft had unnecessary files in its aircraft folder. So that's what was causing the dangerously-low frame rates. Those unneeded files were just sitting there taking up space.

My computer also stopped locking up after deleting those files. I guess it wasn't the virus after all.

BTW, I don't think I have a virus. Hey Oz, how old is the Trojan virus? Cause if my norton anti-virus has it in its memory, then the program should have warned me earlier.

Hey wait a minute, maybe that's the reason why your computer saw the e-mail attachment as a potential virus. Those unwanted files were disorganized or something.

Now I'm going through another problem when it comes to exporting the model.

Every time I try to export the Makemdl program tells me that the export has failed and it leaves me a text file telling me the cause of the situation (in which I cannot understand).

This is what it says:

Quote:


Any ideas everyone?

Where it says "(frm-r_gear_l_door)", it refers to a wheel well door for the nose gear.

ok thnx for the image, its just what I needed

oh, and for saving the textures for fs2002, you need to dl a program called DXTbmp. Go to a search engine and type it in. It is free and allows you to compress the files into DXTBMPs.

Thanks man!!! I needed something like that.

Since this project has gained so much progress, I really to give credit to those who are helping or have helped.

1. Oz - For creating the panel needed for the aircraft as well as for the DVC. Also for creating the needed interior textures. And for testing out the Have Blue model so that I can receive feedback about the interior.
2. G-Force - For creating the needed external textures for the aircraft. These textures are also excellent in quality.

Right now, I'm trying to see if I can make the proper *.air file for the aircraft. Oz said that he will try to do something about the dynamics as well.

Sound files are now needed at this point.

Great idea!!!

It's a good thing I bought CFS3 early this month.

I'll see what sounds fit the most.

BTW, I'm still waiting for some help on the aircraft textures.

Looks awesome man, good job you and Geforce.  ill be awaiting the beta-model

Uh oh!!!!!!

I can't send it. It's too big (beyond 14 mbs)

I'll post it on simviation (aircraft adoption page) where you can get it (is this a good idea?  ).

I wasn't really going to post it anyways.

I may be crazy enough to say it, but I'm not stupid enough to actually do it.

Anyways, I'll send the model to you.

wow the plane is REALLY comming along!

I just have one sugestion, and that is to save the textures as a DXT3 with alpha (thats if you did not already do that) all it would do is bring the color quality of the texture maps up

Oh, and thank you for the credit you have given me.

no dont worry katahu i got it to work, tested it and sent you the report along with a revised panel bitmap.

Quote:



sorry man but i deleted those long ago. In my personal opinion though, i dont think even mine were that good. why dont you ask GeForce to make some; please understand i dont mean to 'leave you hangin' but i think GeForce would do a much better job than me and i dont want something no-perfect on your add-on. I think it should look professional and with the work GeForce has shown, im sure he can do an awesome job.however if Geforce wont do it, ill  give it my best shot 

hey katahu ive reconsidered. Its just that ive been pretty busy in the real world lately. Ill do the textures and send you the wheels and etc. expect my e-mail tonight

Alright then, I got'em.

These are nice textures!

It looks very nice. For the walls i suggest you add the floor texture to it but for the canopy frame you should add a seperate texture, specifically for that. I can send you that   Oh and one more note, try makin the smalller side control panels a bit bigger, its very hard to see them

PS: I sent you a joystick and a grill via e-mail for placement on the plane

PSS: I think i can get the textures on the plane to look better; more pure. Await my e-mail....

WOW!! THATS REALLY NICE I CANT WAIT! I HOPE THE FILE SIZE CAN BE SLIMMED DOWN THOUGH! I CANT REALLY DOWNLOAD ANYTHING MORE THAN 8 MEGABYTES [for time reasons-my computer is slow]
YOUVE INSPIRED ME TO TRY TO START MY OWN FSDS PROJECT! MAYBE A COMBAT GLIDER! P.S. IF ANY ONE COULD GIVE ME A CHEAPER PRICE ON FSDS PLEASE TELL ME! [IM ONLY 12 AND IT TAKES ME MONTHS TO SAVE UP $50.00]

Not long after you gave me the textures, I managed to apply them to the aircraft and then tested the model out in FS2002.

These textures are great!!!

They are more pure than what I have expected.

As for the comments you made about the side panels. Don't worry. I know they seem to be a bit blurry from the images I posted, but notice in the pics that I zoomed out prior to taking a snapshot.

The texture on the side panels tend to blurr out a bit as you zoom out. But as you zoom in, the textures sharpen to amazing clarity.

As for the control stick however, you will have to expect some more time to go by on this part. I'll see if I can make a more realistic Gmax model of the joystick.

For some dumb reason, I can't get the rudder pedals to work in FS2002.

I gave them the proper tags and animations. The Gmax aircraft (along with the animated foot pedals) had exported without a problem. No scale errors as well.

However, the pedals just refuse to work in FS2002.

What is going on?

Is it the tag? If so, what's the proper tag?

Is it the animation frames? If so, is it 0-100 or is it 100-200?

Hey Oz, I'll get you some in-game pics soon.