Funnel Blocker

[GHeTTo_RaceX]

Hey TD guys,

As you already know, I'd really like you give me some explanation on how the funnel bloker works. I've got a good understanding of this game cause I've already converted the MXU SX tracks (I only miss the startgate, funnel bloker and particles). While trying myself on the conversions I found that i was able to get the down_bale_triple to move down but i never got the up_bale_triple to move up. I've seen you change the "down_bale_triple" by "downbaletriple", maybe that's why i got some problems. But here isn't my question.

Do you have some information on how the Trigger works and if yes how can we use it in a user track?

I hope you'll try to answer this question.

bye

PS-I edited the subject name from "Funnel Bloker" to "Funnel Blocker"

[Fixer]

The only thing "I" know about the triggers is what I visualized it as. Essentially a flat plane that faces the track and you drive through it.

More than 1/2 of the MXU tracks the triggers didn't work. I visualized the plane into position by knowing where I wanted it and placing it on those coordinates

It must face the correct direction & position.

After a while I was able to do this pretty easily but to understand the directions it took some trial and error.

It should be easier to do this on a user track because you can import the terrain and get exact hieght from the *.scn, on the MXU tracks I had to figure the hieghts from the surrounding objects.

The easiest way to do this is to place a small sign exactly where you want it and have it face the right direction in the MVA editor, track scaling must be the same as the track you are going to use it on.

Pak the file and get the coordinates out of the *.scn.

Use these numbers to place the trigger, some up or down adjustment may be needed...

If you use the  MXU bales they will work but the are incremented  *.dxg files so each could have it's own texture. This was the only way to get these to work. If you use different texture maps it will crash other tracks or your track.

The downbale system was also used to make the overhead gates drop in Nat 20 and SX 18 + 19.

Also I found setting the up & down height at 20 ft worked best. This requires placing the bales + or - 20 ft from the desired height when triggered.

There is more to it than that but that's all I can think of at the moment.

[GHeTTo_RaceX]

thanks for the answer.

I'm still confused with this notion of trigger. I'm starting to visualize it but didn't really understand it.
here is the map of a track i'd like to make the trigger to work. Could you paint on this map where i should place the trigger and the direction i need to look at. It will surely help me understand it.

Thank you.

[Fixer]

Here a a couple of illustrations based off your texture map.

I use the "noshootingsign" as it will be facing the right direction when you can read it useing the tracks direction of travel. Plus it's easy to center and rotate.

The sign will define where the trigger plane is and if you use the MXU settings it's 60ft wide and 100 ft tall.

So you can lower it once you know it's location via the scn file.

You could actually put any where you want but I would put it somewhere along this straight section.



As viewed from top of texmap looking toward the funnel.



Here's the trigger, you should be able to read the sign from this view point.

[GHeTTo_RaceX]

wow thanks a lot for the answer. Now i understand how it works.

I tried it on my track and I only have the DownbaleTriple moving. In this track I'm using the stock MVA DownBaleTriple01 and UpBaleTripleB.

here is my funnel bloker: (TriggerPostion and TriggerLook are according to the Noshootingsign)

;--------------------------------------------
;Funnel Blocker
;--------------------------------------------
[FunnelBlockDown]
TriggerPosition=268.017517,7.919594,584.294678
TriggerLook=0.991665,0.000000,-0.128845
TriggerWidth=100.0
TriggerHeight=200.0
MoveDirection=0.0,-1.0,0.0
MoveRate=40.0
MoveDistance=20.0
CollectionName=DownTripleBale

[FunnelBlockUp]
TriggerPosition=268.017517,7.919594,584.294678
TriggerLook=0.991665,0.000000,-0.128845
TriggerWidth=100.0
TriggerHeight=200.0
MoveDirection=0.0,1.0,0.0
MoveRate=40.0
MoveDistance=20.0
CollectionName=UpTripleBale

and here is a part of my *.scn (I lowered the Uptriplebale to 20 units for their height)

[Model2]
SLT=downtriplebale01
Position=444.641052,9.171221,135.432144
LookVector=-0.998789,0.000000,-0.049184
UpVector=0.000000,1.000000,0.000000

[Model3]
SLT=downtriplebale01
Position=444.808716,9.171221,124.282684
LookVector=-0.998789,0.000000,-0.049184
UpVector=0.000000,1.000000,0.000000

[Model4]
SLT=downtriplebale01
Position=445.098022,9.720241,111.716820
LookVector=-0.998789,0.000000,-0.049184
UpVector=0.000000,1.000000,0.000000

.........................


[Model628]
SLT=UpTriplebale01
Position=434.200470,-11.115119,561.230164
LookVector=-0.952502,0.014475,-0.304188
UpVector=0.009953,0.999816,0.016412

[Model629]
SLT=UpTriplebale01
Position=438.749939,-11.099903,550.453796
LookVector=-0.949535,0.074416,-0.304690
UpVector=0.081475,0.996620,-0.010500

[Model630]
SLT=UpTriplebale01
Position=442.600250,-11.095409,539.391052
LookVector=-0.952271,-0.022913,-0.304392
UpVector=-0.026438,0.999623,0.007464


Can you see something wrong?

[Fixer]

The only thing I see that stands out immeadiately is the fact that the upbales are in negative space- "-11.099903"

To test out if that's the problem, raise them up to above +1.000000ft and leave the

MoveDirection=0.0,1.0,0.0
MoveRate=40.0
MoveDistance=20.0

I know they won't be where you want them but if they do work you will know that your going to have to raise the base terrain hieght in your displacement

Alternately , you might be able to get away with changing the move distance to 8ft, this would keep the bale's out of -ve space.

If these ideas don't work you might want to give me a link to the track.pak and I'll look over everything else.

[GHeTTo_RaceX]

This game is really mysterious. I tried several settings with not luck. Then I paked the track a last time to send you, I tried if the pak was ok and.... the funnel was working  I don't know why but everything is good now.

Thank you for your help. 

[MDx_chris774]

That is very interesting having Funnel blocker's, changing the thread slightly, when i was messing around placing some MXU objects
on some of my mcm2 track's, i found that you could see the face side of the object's, but could not see the rear of the object's.
after reading this thread about Funnel Blocker's, i thought i try the idea out for mcm2. and it works extremely well, just a matter of
placing the objects in the right position, allways remember to remove object collision.
THE objects i found that work are the mxu sx flag objects. and one or 2 other objects.
thanks for the idea, have fun chris

[Velcro]

Hi guys
Was reading about the funnel blocker. I am having a problem with the trigger activating the bales on the 1st lap. Sometimes it works perfect and other times it is until lap 3 before they change.

Something i have noticed is when i place the model to get the cordinates. If i go to the left of the model cordinates the bales will activate. If i go to the right of the cordinates of the model i placed to get the cordinates. It does not activate.

I tried moving the cordinates to the right side of the track thinking it would cover the whole track, but then it only works on the right half of the track not the left. So i came to the conclusion that the trigger is only covering half the track.Then i doubled the width of the trigger but no luck there either.

Has anyone else had this experience with there triggers?

[Fixer]

Exactly where the funnel blocker pivot axis is located isn't known and since you can't see it, a little bit of getting it to work like you want is trial & error....

I never has any luck changing the dimensions in the toy file. You might try a different location. It seems to work more reliably if it's facing  N,S,E or W.

Diagonal works but is harder to get right.