Bridge Command - Ship Models

Introduction

There are two classes of other ship models that can be defined in Bridge Command. These are 'own ships' and 'other ships.' Ownships are models that have their full dynamics modelled, and are for use as the user's own ship. 'Other ships' are used to model all other ships in the environment, and can be loaded as 'otherships' or 'controlledships'. For details of what you can do with these, and how to load them in scenarios, please see the Scenario specification and the Scenario writer.

The most fundamental part of any ship model to load in Bridge Command is the 3D model itself. This can be in DirectX (.x) or 3DS Max format (.3ds). With this, the text file boat.ini is used to define the other characteristics of the model. The specification of this file is detailed below, but for a general introduction to the .ini file format used by Bridge Command, please read the .ini file format.

Each vessel is contained in a folder, with the vessel's name, under Models\Othership or Models\Ownship as appropriate. So if Bridge Command is installed in its default location, an own ship model called 'Protis' would be at 'C:\Program Files\Bridge Command 4.6GPL\models\Ownship\Protis'

Sections

Own ships

The 3D model to load, and all of the characteristics of the own ship model are defined in the file Boat.ini in the model's folder. In addition, a file Radar.ini sets up the parameters for the radar. A complete example of both files is given below, and the effect of each line is explained below this:

Boat.ini

FileName="boat.x"
ScaleFactor=0.3
YCorrection=-3
AngleCorrection=0

Depth=3.0

Views=3

ViewX(1)=-0.3
ViewY(1)=15.74
ViewZ(1)=-6.0

ViewX(2)=9.4
ViewY(2)=16.0
ViewZ(2)=-9.8

ViewX(3)=-9.4
ViewY(3)=16.0
ViewZ(3)=-9.8

Sailing=0

Max_propulsion_force=3000
AsternEfficiency=0.667
Mass=5000

MaxRevs=2500

DynamicsSpeedA=18.71
DynamicsSpeedB=100

PropSpace=2.0
DynamicsTurnDragA=180000
DynamicsTurnDragB=12000
Inertia=120000
RudderA=5
RudderB=0.05
RudderBAstern=0

centrifugalDriftEffect=0.03

PropWalkAhead=100
PropWalkAstern=300
PropWalkDriftEffect=0.000007

Buffet=3.0
Swell=1.0
Windage=0.05
WindageTurnEffect=1.3

DeviationMaximum=5
DeviationMaximumHeading=10

If there is a file horn.wav in the directory, this will be used as the ship's horn sound. If not, Bridge Command will default to it's own horn sound.

Radar.ini

If no radar.ini file is present in the vessel's ownship folder, defaults will be used for all of the Radar's parameters.

NumberOfRadarRanges=6
RadarRange(1) = 12
RadarRange(2) = 6
RadarRange(3) = 3
RadarRange(4) = 2
RadarRange(5) = 1
RadarRange(6) = 0.5

FullARPA=1
MARPAContacts=20

radar_sensitivity=3.0
radar_range_sensitivity=5.0
radar_height=10
radar_noise=0.000000000005
radar_sea_clutter=0.000000001
radar_rain_clutter=0.00001
plot_pi_data=1
radar_bg_red=0
radar_bg_green=0
radar_bg_blue=200
radar1_red=255
radar1_green=220
radar1_blue=0
radar2_red=0
radar2_green=255
radar2_blue=0
radar3_red=255
radar3_green=0
radar3_blue=0

Other ships

The 3D model to load, and all of the characteristics of the own ship model are defined in the file Boat.ini in the model's folder. A complete example is given below, and the effect of each line is explained below this:

FileName="boat.x"
ScaleFactor=0.3038
YCorrection=-17
SolidHeight=45
AngleCorrection=0

Filename2="radar.x"
x2=0.427
y2=99.026
z2=-28.382
ScaleFactor2=1

weapon_x=0.00
weapon_y=43.713
weapon_z=189.0

NumberOfLights=5

LightX(1)=26.4
LightY(1)=59.2
LightZ(1)=105.4
LightRange(1)=6
LightRed(1)=0
LightGreen(1)=255
LightBlue(1)=0
LightStartAngle(1)=-1
LightEndAngle(1)=112.5

LightX(2)=-26.2
LightY(2)=59.2
LightZ(2)=105.4
LightRange(2)=6
LightRed(2)=255
LightGreen(2)=0
LightBlue(2)=0
LightStartAngle(2)=247.5
LightEndAngle(2)=361

LightX(3)=0
LightY(3)=103.3
LightZ(3)=93.3
LightRange(3)=6
LightRed(3)=255
LightGreen(3)=255
LightBlue(3)=255
LightStartAngle(3)=247.5
LightEndAngle(3)=472.5

LightX(4)=0
LightY(4)=35.1
LightZ(4)=-171.6
LightRange(4)=6
LightRed(4)=255
LightGreen(4)=255
LightBlue(4)=255
LightStartAngle(4)=112.5
LightEndAngle(4)=247.5

LightX(5)=0
LightY(5)=116
LightZ(5)=6.6
LightRange(5)=6
LightRed(5)=255
LightGreen(5)=255
LightBlue(5)=255
LightStartAngle(5)=247.5
LightEndAngle(5)=472.5