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[fly77]

After so much teasing about explosions, missiles, demolishable buildings etc..
finally here it comes:


my abrams m1a2 tank upgrade,
complete with a set of construction elements that can be used to build "destructable buildings".

The development was quite long because I dedicated quite a lot of time to get
- sufficiently "good" explosion effects,
- a functioning tank gunsight which accurately takes into account the ballistic trajectory of the ammunition,
- damage creation ; not limited to the directly hit objects/terrain but affecting everything
  in a certain range around the impact point.


Besides these new  features I improved the general usability of the tank, including:
- a key reference reminder in the (hideable) HUD
- an upgrade of the flak so that it can be used in conjunction with the tank
  as static enemies that you can place in the scenery editor to get some action
  (for now they do no harm to the tank..they  just shoot at you "for show" )
- the tank can destroy "destructable buildings" by just ramming into them. 

All this is enabled mostly by a "global variables plugin"
that allows to exchange information between models in outerra.
(a big thanks to andfly who provided crucial input when I most needed it)


But enough of words ... lets have a look on what you get 
and what you can do with the present mod.

first is the general presentation video: The intent was to show that in outerra it is possible to get combat action
similar to "real games"..so beware ...it is as "violent" as most war games are. of course a long way remains
to go before we get an actual war game. 



second video: explains the use of the gunsight and how to change
ammunition settings such as speed and explosive power.



third video : I repost here the video on how to build destructible buildings from the provided construction set.



How to use the building components in the editor should be self-evident
...just take care to select in the editor the following ones
fly77/wall/wall
fly77/wall/wall2
fly77/window/window
fly77/box-set/box1x1
fly77/box-set/box2x1
fly77/box-set/box4x1
fly77/box-set/box8x1
not those which begin with marco/...or outerra/...

Also if you want the tank to destroy streetlights then in the editor choose the following version
named
evaporable/illumination/illumination
evaporable/illumination-emissive/illumination-emissive
instead of the old ones named fly77/illumination...

Finally to get some enemies place in the editor some flaks
fly77/flak
to activate them once back in the game you need to enter each of them first and they will begin shooting at the camera


download from here:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/33fnm8rbf2s4t3o/AACpdUlWtOlnMpHN-1mNSMoia?dl=0


Installation:

follow closely the 4-step process:

1) click on the self-installing tank-upgrade.otx file

this will install the abrams tank upgade (overwriting my previous fly77 tank version but not the default abrams tank)
as well as a flak upgrade and an upgraded construction kit 

2) importantly place the provided global_variables_plugin.dll
into Anteworld/plugins folder  ! (not in the username/Outerra/plugins one)

3) place the provided "marco" and "evaporable" folders into Anteworld/packages

4) place folders box1x1, box2x1, box4x1, box8x1, wall,window,missile3,flare,bullet into Anteworld/packages/outerra folder

 
here is the summary of new features in detail
and the key reference ..
the key refernce is also included in the HUD of the tank
so that you don't need to remember them when playing


new features:

- gunsight with laser rangefinder / ballistic correction targeting
  (measure target distance with red crosshair, then lock to target with . key, then aim with green crosshair)   

- improved gun auto-leveling (P-key)

- improved parking break for more stable targeting (X-key or Z-key)

- choice of ammunitions with different muzzle speeds (O-key)

- choice of ammunitions with different explosive power (CTRL+T to increase, CTRL-B to decrease)

- flightpath of ammunition depends on wind speed and direction

- better explosion effects
 
- destructible modular buildings: ability to construct any kind of distructible building in the scenery editor using a
  provided set of construction elements
 
- flak upgrade, place in the scenery editor and activate by entering,
  to simulate enemies (for now does not do any harm to the tank)
 
- besides collpasing destructible building any other object hit will (temporarily) disappear
  ( don't worry, restarting outerra it is still there !)

- destructible buildings can also collapse by ramming into them with the tank.
  Also any model placed in Anteworld/packages/evaporable folder  will "evaporate" when rammed by the tank
  as an example I included my streetlights

- HUD with indications of tank heading, gun-heading, wind heading and windspeed,
  muzzle speed, explosive power, targeted terrain or object distance, and many other parameters
  as well as ingame key-association reminder  (shift-K key)

- tank label to easily find the tank again once exited  (CTRL+K key)

- simplified camera system


besides these new features, the tank retains the old functionalities:

- turret rotation: left right arrows
- mantlet (gun pitch): up/down arrows
eventually use a joystick for turret and mantlet

- driver hutch open/close HOME/END
- loader hutch open/close INS/DEL
- commander hutch open/close PGUP/PGDWN

- zoom in/out: numpad +/-
J    : enable gun
F :   machine gun
K :    autofire (every 20 secs) ...needs gun to be active first so press J before pressing K
L: external lights 
shift-L: internal light
shift-N: turret light
E: engine on/off
R: reverse
W: increase thrust
S: apply brakes
B: default parking brake (not very effective)
M: map (useful when driving while aiming with the gun)


ENJOY BUILDING & DESTROYING !

[aWac9]

magnificent .... as always .. thanks fly for your time.
the impacts look realistic ,, many tank games would like to have this quality already.
well done.

[fly77]

thanks aWac9 !  try aiming at some targets to practice !

[andfly]

A great job ... 
Transmission from sensitivity to impact, ballistic calculations.
Mastery of quaternions ....( what envy)

The thing I liked the most?
The explosions !!!

Full, powerful.
The blinding lightning, the projection of the debris and those countless clouds of smoke that spread around .... true art !


As ?   Attila ??
A miserable amateur !   

[fly77]

Haha! Thanks andfly for you special appreciation...but I promise...for a while no more explosions ! 
I will probably dedicate my next mod to some more ....relaxed..stuff...or just wait and play..until the next version comes..as any model we make now..could break soon ..as it is not guaranteed that the next version will support the same commands...so.enjoy the mods now..! Before its too late !

[STIKEHBUN]

dont know if this is just on my end but trouble spawning in multiple and the shell cannon thing idk the long tube thing that compass like thing for it is still stuck on the side when i press enter to get out of the tank

[fly77]

Screenshot please ! I didn't understand whats happening with the tank shell ...and what is the "long tube like thing" ? Anyway if the problem arises only when you spawn a second tank then I can tell you that so far its not possible to spawn 2 or more of the tanks. If it occurs with a single tank please describe with a screenshot in more detail what happens so that I can try to solve it. About the compass like thing..yes it stays on the screen when exiting..but I can change this if needed. By the way the red line indicates the orientation of the gun relative to the tank forward direction and helps you when driving while in gunsight view..otherwise you don't know in which direction you're driving. Also opening the map (m-key) helps to avoid loosing orientation. Of course the best thing when you drive is to use the external view (C) or the drivers view. Another way to drive the tank while having the gunsight active and the gun levelled (P key) is to point the target with the gun..then reorient the tank so that the  red line of the compass (shooting direction) coincides with the blue line  (driving direction)..so at least you know in which direction you're driving..while keeping the gun levelled and pointed.

[fly77]

Bug fix: Just now (26/5/2020) I modified the tank-upgrade.otx file to correct the "compass" bug ..and also I made a change so that the tank no longer "pauses" when exiting it so that you can leave it in aurtofire mode (press first J to activate the gun ..then K to activate autofire ) so that you can watch it driving and shooting on its own...to record some video.

So:please redownload just the "tank-upgrade.otx" file  from above

[fly77]

A "trick" to get a second tank spawn is the following:

in the username/packages/fly77 folder make a copy of the "abrams_m1a2_fly77" folder and name it "abrams_m1a2_fly77b" for instance..

then in the vehicles menu you will see a second fly77 tank that you can spawn..both are now fully functional and independent ..so you can switch one to autofire mode and try a very primitive tank battle !
The only thing that you can't do yet ..is destroy your twin!  you won't be allowed to destroy your alter-ego !     ...but you can try to immobilize it...creating craters in its way .. ..eventually I will fix that too.

You can try to create an armada of tanks advancing and shooting !    just make enough copies in the package folder.

To keep track where the tanks are it might be convenient to switch on the Label (CTRL+K) for each tank

Also importantly, to be able to use the gunsight zoom for each tank, before exiting a tank you need to go to external view pressing C , otherwise the last tank will "own" the zoom, disabling it on the others.

[STIKEHBUN]

thanks for the fixes i meant the "tube thing" as the "compass" i have no clue what any of the parts are called on a tank

[fly77]

so everything now works all right ?

[STIKEHBUN]

i will use it when im off of work i cant right now

[allymotors]

Haha! Thanks andfly for you special appreciation...but I promise...for a while no more explosions ! 
I will probably dedicate my next mod to some more ....relaxed..stuff...or just wait and play..until the next version comes..as any model we make now..could break soon ..as it is not guaranteed that the next version will support the same commands...so.enjoy the mods now..! Before its too late !

Maybe next mod on a new aircraft? We need more in the sky!

[fly77]

yes maybe...I need to finish my glider with thermals winds and ridge updrafts .

[fly77]

set up a  combat action with several tanks and flaks  !