@Panzer828 I've never played KSP, but I'm sure SimplePlanes' physics are much simpler. The basic rules are the same: CoL behind CoM, CoT in the same horizontal line as CoM, wing load around 20-60 lbs/sq ft, control surface area in proportion to plane size and mass. You can hide wings and engines inside fuselages and they'll work the same. This plane, for instance, has no wings visible on the outside.
@Panzer828 Thanks. It's two things: using really narrow fuselage sections, and using a script to generate the parts with very exact measurements. You could do the same thing with Excel, and then put in the values. You do need a real computer to do this, though, it just isn't possible on a mobile or tablet.
@Stingray Thanks. I don't use the default in-game configuration panels at all - to me they're severely limited, even on Windows. I generate the airframe shapes externally using scripts, put them together in-game using the default drag-and-drop interface, then add modded parts (wings, engines, etc.) from subassemblies that I saved earlier. Any changes I need to make to things like wing size, control surfaces, engine power, etc., I make using Overload. Lastly, a bit of Fine Tuner to move things around. Once the wings, engines, etc. are hidden inside the airframe, I just edit the XML directly in a code editor.
Great job for a mobile build, especially iOS. I wouldn't feel bad about modding the engines, as long as the end result looks right and flies right, what does it matter if you used infinite fuel and 50x-power engines?
Looks better than the original. It's a shame that SimplePlanes gives users such a limited ability to tweak colours in-game. Instead of a small palette, and flat/gloss/semi-gloss options, they should have R,G,B values, and sliders for the M and S values.
@Stingray Well, I don't really care about mobile, hate the damn things, in fact. What's really sad to me is the severe lack of environments. SP should be full of vast landscapes with lots of interesting locations and targets. Maybe some day.
@Stingray One Boom 50 will do it just as well. And I've been inside the missile base in both my airship and flying saucer. Have you been inside the pyramid on Maywar island? It has some hieroglyphics inside.
Very good for a first build. It even flies well. I'd suggest not using mods unless you have to, it restricts the number of people who can try out your plane. You're on Windows - you can mod engines and other things yourself anyway. That way you can set the engine power to match your plane exactly.
@FGW2014 Those two posts were to give you the general idea. To make a block rise or run, don't use the in-game editor. The rise and run are set in the offset field of Overload. An offset of (1, 0.5, 6) means the block has a run of 1, rise of 0.5, and length 6.
@FGW2014 A fuselage block has five factors affecting its shape:
frontScale and rearScale (width, height)
offset X (sweep or horizontal curve)
offset Y (vertical curve)
offset Z (length)
cornerType (smooth, circular, square, curved)
I suggest you create a new airplane, and add a single fuselage block. Use OverloadXML to set its frontScale and rearScale to (50, 10), and offset to (0, 0, 1). Now rotate it 90 degrees around the Y-axis, and you have the type of basic building block that I use. Now clone it, say ten times, and stick all the cloned sections together, so you have a straight "wing."
Now start at one end and change the values one by one, using OverloadXML. You could start with width. For the first section, set the frontScale to (49, 10). For the next section, set the rearScale to (49, 10) and frontScale to (47, 10). Then (47, 10) and (44, 10) and so on, increasing the difference by one each time (50-1, 49-2, 47-3 and so on). You'll end up with a wing that smoothly tapers down in width. Next you can play with the height: (49, 9), (47, 7) and so on.
Once you get the hang of that, try playing with the other values. I'm always happy to answer questions, so feel free to ask.
@FGW2014 You just need to get smoothly blended curves. Here's how I used to do it:
your central section's frontScale and rearScale is, say, 60 x 10
For the next section, subtract 0.1 from the height, getting 60, 9.9
For the next, subtract 0.2, getting 60, 9.7
Next, subtract 0.3, getting 60, 9.4
Next, subtract 0.4, getting 60, 9
This will give you a smoothly increasing slope, i.e. a curve. Then at some point you'll want to reduce the slope again to blend into the wing. So start decreasing the decrement. Let's say you want to start reducing the curve when your decrement is 0.9:
For the next section, subtract 0.8
For the next section, subtract 0.7
For the next section, subtract 0.6
and so on. This will give you a nice S-shaped curve wherever you use this technique.
To recap: the decrements you're applying to successive sections will look like this:
@FGW2014 Ahh I should have mentioned - when you use Overload to change the frontScale or rearScale, the view doesn't update automatically. The method I use is to set the values, then clone the part by right-clicking and dragging - the cloned part will have the correct values.
@FGW2014 Earlier, I was using OverloadXML to enter the frontScale and rearScale manually, but that got old rather quickly. Now I've written scripts to generate the entire shape in one go. Unfortunately they're not usable by anyone but a programmer at the moment, but I'm looking at ways to make them available to everyone.
@Panzer828 I've never played KSP, but I'm sure SimplePlanes' physics are much simpler. The basic rules are the same: CoL behind CoM, CoT in the same horizontal line as CoM, wing load around 20-60 lbs/sq ft, control surface area in proportion to plane size and mass. You can hide wings and engines inside fuselages and they'll work the same. This plane, for instance, has no wings visible on the outside.
@5stars This is based on an actual Nazi plane from the 1940s that flew quite well. Google "Horten Ho 229" and you'll see.
@Panzer828 They're quite good for your first few planes.
@Cylinderpringles Thanks. When's it coming out? 2% should take a few minutes, I think.
@Panzer828 Thanks. It's two things: using really narrow fuselage sections, and using a script to generate the parts with very exact measurements. You could do the same thing with Excel, and then put in the values. You do need a real computer to do this, though, it just isn't possible on a mobile or tablet.
@LAGDragon Yep
@FGW2014 Glad you're enjoying it.
@AfterShock Now if only upvotes were money...
@Stingray Thanks. I don't use the default in-game configuration panels at all - to me they're severely limited, even on Windows. I generate the airframe shapes externally using scripts, put them together in-game using the default drag-and-drop interface, then add modded parts (wings, engines, etc.) from subassemblies that I saved earlier. Any changes I need to make to things like wing size, control surfaces, engine power, etc., I make using Overload. Lastly, a bit of Fine Tuner to move things around. Once the wings, engines, etc. are hidden inside the airframe, I just edit the XML directly in a code editor.
Great job for a mobile build, especially iOS. I wouldn't feel bad about modding the engines, as long as the end result looks right and flies right, what does it matter if you used infinite fuel and 50x-power engines?
Looks better than the original. It's a shame that SimplePlanes gives users such a limited ability to tweak colours in-game. Instead of a small palette, and flat/gloss/semi-gloss options, they should have R,G,B values, and sliders for the M and S values.
@SteadfastContracting You're welcome. No thanks required, good work deserves upvotes.
@Stingray Well, I don't really care about mobile, hate the damn things, in fact. What's really sad to me is the severe lack of environments. SP should be full of vast landscapes with lots of interesting locations and targets. Maybe some day.
@Stingray Yes, anywhere a boat can go, a flying saucer can go as well...
@SteadfastContracting Thanks for checking out all my planes.
!Inside Maywar Island's pyramid @Stingray
@Stingray One Boom 50 will do it just as well. And I've been inside the missile base in both my airship and flying saucer. Have you been inside the pyramid on Maywar island? It has some hieroglyphics inside.
@ZeDaru57 Feels good doesn't it?
@Stingray I do wish the environments were destructible.
@JetWondy Must be all the milk I drink.
@TheJellyCop Yeah, they're from the same series.
@KuhneStassen Thanks, make sure to check out my other builds, this is far from my best work.
Glad you're enjoying it, @TTHHSSSS
@Stingray Glad you like it. Do you hit with all 20 bombs on board? When I do that, it makes the game freeze for a few seconds.
Heh @BaconRoll
@BaconRoll I thought that was all the fat around his eyes squeezing them shut.
@Goghor @BaconRoll An oxcart with no oxen works better than North Korea's... well, anything.
Very clever.
Thanks, @Cylinderpringles
@Sakari Ahh ok.
@FGW2014 Yep, just left a comment. Very good for a first build.
Very good for a first build. It even flies well. I'd suggest not using mods unless you have to, it restricts the number of people who can try out your plane. You're on Windows - you can mod engines and other things yourself anyway. That way you can set the engine power to match your plane exactly.
@FGW2014 No problem, always happy to help.
@FGW2014 Those two posts were to give you the general idea. To make a block rise or run, don't use the in-game editor. The rise and run are set in the offset field of Overload. An offset of (1, 0.5, 6) means the block has a run of 1, rise of 0.5, and length 6.
@FGW2014 A fuselage block has five factors affecting its shape:
frontScale and rearScale (width, height)
offset X (sweep or horizontal curve)
offset Y (vertical curve)
offset Z (length)
cornerType (smooth, circular, square, curved)
I suggest you create a new airplane, and add a single fuselage block. Use OverloadXML to set its frontScale and rearScale to (50, 10), and offset to (0, 0, 1). Now rotate it 90 degrees around the Y-axis, and you have the type of basic building block that I use. Now clone it, say ten times, and stick all the cloned sections together, so you have a straight "wing."
Now start at one end and change the values one by one, using OverloadXML. You could start with width. For the first section, set the frontScale to (49, 10). For the next section, set the rearScale to (49, 10) and frontScale to (47, 10). Then (47, 10) and (44, 10) and so on, increasing the difference by one each time (50-1, 49-2, 47-3 and so on). You'll end up with a wing that smoothly tapers down in width. Next you can play with the height: (49, 9), (47, 7) and so on.
Once you get the hang of that, try playing with the other values. I'm always happy to answer questions, so feel free to ask.
@FGW2014 You just need to get smoothly blended curves. Here's how I used to do it:
your central section's frontScale and rearScale is, say, 60 x 10
For the next section, subtract 0.1 from the height, getting 60, 9.9
For the next, subtract 0.2, getting 60, 9.7
Next, subtract 0.3, getting 60, 9.4
Next, subtract 0.4, getting 60, 9
This will give you a smoothly increasing slope, i.e. a curve. Then at some point you'll want to reduce the slope again to blend into the wing. So start decreasing the decrement. Let's say you want to start reducing the curve when your decrement is 0.9:
For the next section, subtract 0.8
For the next section, subtract 0.7
For the next section, subtract 0.6
and so on. This will give you a nice S-shaped curve wherever you use this technique.
To recap: the decrements you're applying to successive sections will look like this:
0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, .... 0.5, 0.4, 0.3, 0.2, 0.1
@Sakari Come on, don't give up so easily. You just have to type in a couple of numbers.
@FGW2014 Ahh I should have mentioned - when you use Overload to change the frontScale or rearScale, the view doesn't update automatically. The method I use is to set the values, then clone the part by right-clicking and dragging - the cloned part will have the correct values.
@Treadmill103 Beautiful and deadly, just the way I like my... airplanes.
Thanks, @Treadmill103
@FGW2014 You're very welcome, I look forward to seeing your builds.
Thank you! @Stingray
@FGW2014 Earlier, I was using OverloadXML to enter the frontScale and rearScale manually, but that got old rather quickly. Now I've written scripts to generate the entire shape in one go. Unfortunately they're not usable by anyone but a programmer at the moment, but I'm looking at ways to make them available to everyone.
@IAmIronMan Haven't read the book, but it looks interesting.
Thanks, @BrianAircraftsNew
Thanks, @phanps
@Stingray That makes it even more impressive. Mobiles and tablets are so hamstrung when compared to a real computer.
Thanks, @Ihavenorealideawhatiamdoing.
@Stingray Thank you!
@Stormtrooper61 By editing the XML directly. In the Themes section, set one of the entries to this:
Material color="FF9900" r="0" m="1" s="0.8"
For reference, see this guide.