Recently, the ACF developers have been active, and have instituted an entire line of ACF engines and gearboxes, in this thread, we'll show you how to properly utilize them.
[U][B]Overview:[/B][/U]
[I]What is ACF?[/I]
For those of you who don't know, ACF stands for Armored Combat Framework. It is a GMod addon that simulates ballistics and steel to form an advanced combat system. It's like GCombat, only more realistic. ACF has also been publicly available for quite some time; it's no longer exclusive. Links will be at the end of the post for serverside and clientside downloads.
[B][U]Down to business:[/U][/B]
[I]Ok, so the thread is about engines and such, how do they work?[/I]
It's very simple. ACF engines were created initially to solve the balance equation for armored vehicles. Tanks and the like operate on 3 standards, Firepower, Mobility, and Protection. Prior to acf engines, everything was powered by means of applytorque, or thrusters, or whatever. It's all very unrealistic.
Engines however, solve that corner of the equation. ACF engines function like real engines- they have powerbands (gasoline and diesel!), rpm, power and torque outputs, the works. They even simulate flywheels! Engines in ACF are accurately rated in Kilowatts and Newton-meters (the most basic forms of energy and torque output). Engines calculate the entire weight of your contraption, and scale its performance accordingly. It's so parented stuff will be counted as actual load on the vehicle, it's all very clever. If your vehicle is underpowered, apply another engine, or a bigger engine, or lighten the vehicle!
But it's not just engines that this includes; there's gearboxes as well. As engines range from gasoline to diesel types, gearboxes range from 4 speed setups to 6 speed setups, in the form of transaxial and inline gearboxes. There are also dual clutch versions for skid-steering!
[I]Ok, so what kind of engines does ACF sport?[/I]
ACF currently contains 18 engines, all varying from inline 4s, inline 6s, and V8s (however V12s are on the way!). There are diesel and gasoline versions of each engine type, and each engine type has a set of 3 strengths of engine, small, medium, and large. Each engine has its own unique sound and characteristics.
[I]And the transmissions?[/I]
Of course engines need some way of conveying their fiery, oily, spinning energy, so that's why ACF contains gearboxes as well. There are a few types of gearboxes, Transaxial, Inline, and dual-clutch. Transaxial gearboxes are like differentials with an attached gearbox, very basic. Inline gearboxes are for if your engine is transverse, and you need the power to be transferred in the same direction as the camshaft of the engine. Think of a front wheel drive car, it's like that.
Dual-clutch doesn't mean they're flappy paddle F1 transmissions, it simply means they have individual brakes and clutches for each side of the transmission. Oh, did we mention that the gearboxes also contain the brakes? You can also even clutch them! Gearboxes do have automatic clutches though too, so you don't stall.
Gearboxes also have torque limits, as in the amount of engine torque they can handle. ACF displays their rating, so be careful. You wouldn't use a 20 liter inline 6 with a small transmission, now would you? Gearboxes can handle multiple engines, and vice versa. Just be mindful of the clutch limitations!
[I]Ok, so how do I put this all together?[/I]
ACF has its own linking tool, that you use by right clicking. You can attach your engines and wheels by a means of a driveshaft. But be careful, if the angle is too great, you won't be able to link things. For instance, you won't be able to link an engine to a gearbox that is too far to the right or left of the engine's output point, as per real life.
It's very simple to link the components up- Just right click the engine, then the gearbox, and then line up the gearbox with some wheels, and link from the gearbox to the wheels. You can link as many wheels as you want as long as they don't overbear the driveshaft's angle limit. If you want to decouple anything, just hold E and right click the components in the order you linked them in.
You'll also want to remember that driveshafts can break, so try to keep your driveshafts straight. If you hit something too hard, you could snap a shaft. If you do, just relink them!
[U][B]Some Dos and Don'ts:[/B][/U]
-Don't try to change engine or transmission weight, it will make them not work.
-Due to Garry, you need to drag the sliders in the gearbox creation, don't manually type in numbers!
-Remember that gearboxes have limitations, so be mindful of this! 6 speed transmissions are slightly less resilient than 4 speeds, too.
-YOU CANNOT PARENT ENGINES OR TRANSMISSIONS; this is in place so you can't cheat and not have the actual mass of the mobility components. If you do, your vehicle won't move!
-Remember that the gas engines have significantly higher powerbands, so you need to modulate the clutch accordingly. To take off, you'll need to smooth the clutch out to get going, especially with the smaller engines. You'll think to just use a diesel, but remember, gas engines offer better horsepower for speed.
-Don't use super-low ratios, engines tend to freak out.
[U][B]Tips and Tricks:[/B][/U]
-If you want a reverse gear, just make one gear ratio a negative value!
-If your vehicle doesn't go the right way, reverse the Final Drive ratio!
-If your vehicle just groans and doesn't move, perhaps it's too heavy. Use the ACF Total Mass tool to find your vehicle's total weight. The average weight of a car is about 2 tons, or 2000kg, so be mindful!
-If your vehicle just revs and doesn't move, or the rpm fluctuates, your clutch(es) are probably overburdened. Consider a bigger gearbox.
-Diesel engines have low-end power, but poor horsepower. 6 speed transmissions often work well for heavy moving, so you can keep the power up all the time.
-If your engine doesn't run, make sure the engine is linked to a gearbox, and active is enabled. This is a beta after all, so it has some bugs. A driveshaft might also be broken.
-If you need 4 wheel drive or braking, consider powering a central drive wheel and advance ballsocketing the wheels to it, or you can adv bs the powered wheels to the non-powered wheels. Works either way!
[U][B]Important for controlling mobility components:[/B][/U]
Here are the values for various engine inputs/outputs:
Throttle = 0 - 100
Brake = 0 - 100 (brakes are often buggy, so only use variables between 0 and 20, or else they will spaz and do nasty things)
Clutch = 0 -1 (you can still use interim variables, such as 0.5)
Gear = 0 - 6 depending on 4 or 6 speed (0 is neutral, 1 is first gear, 2 is second, etc!)+
Outputs:
RPM = If you don't know what this is, then..
Power = Power in Kilowatts (use google to convert to horsepower if you like!)
Torque = Torque in Newton Meters
Mass = You can use this output to calculate your vehicle's total mass, but make sure active on the engine is on!
Physical Mass = Same thing as mass, except it excludes parented stuff.
Remember that the wire Debugger tool is useful- you can use it to display what the engine or transmission is doing on your hud.
[U][B]Random Images![/B][/U]
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[img_thumb]http://i890.photobucket.com/albums/ac109/XanderKarbine/Gmod 2/gm_drivingmap_mk1-95_beta0002.jpg[/img_thumb]
[img_thumb]http://i890.photobucket.com/albums/ac109/XanderKarbine/Gmod 2/gm_drivingmap_mk1-95_beta0001.jpg[/img_thumb]
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[img_thumb]http://i890.photobucket.com/albums/ac109/XanderKarbine/Gmod 2/gm_drivingmap_mk1-910506-1.jpg[/img_thumb]
[img_thumb]http://i890.photobucket.com/albums/ac109/XanderKarbine/Gmod 2/dm_refinery0003.jpg[/img_thumb]
[img_thumb]http://i890.photobucket.com/albums/ac109/XanderKarbine/Gmod 2/gm_flatgrass0028.jpg[/img_thumb]
[img_thumb]http://i890.photobucket.com/albums/ac109/XanderKarbine/Gmod 2/gm_bigcity0174.jpg[/img_thumb]
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Love it, cant wait for improvement and additions.
hi i am lazermaniac and i made all these models please validate my existance and stroke my ego by saying how amazing they are
:>
[QUOTE=lazermaniac;32804511]hi i am lazermaniac and i made all these models please validate my existance and stroke my ego by saying how amazing they are[/QUOTE]
Not a big fan of the V8 engine personally. It just feels too "racecar" for me to believe it could be a diesel. Good work on the inlines, though.
Love the mod in general. I'll always still build thruster engines, but I'll definitely work with these, too.
is it possible to make more weapons or ammo types? Maybe having props devoted to tank making or have accessories to make it better like wheels etc.
no
this boggles my brain
let me download it and figure shit out first.
[QUOTE=Amplar;32805697]no[/QUOTE]
any reason why?
[QUOTE=mastfire;32806373]any reason why?[/QUOTE]
Because the point of playing sandbox is to be creative, and not to see the same tank 20 times made out of the same prefabricated parts like those phx jets?
cool to see that acf is spreading around
Hey, I was experimenting with a few engine configurations, and I was having trouble getting low ratios to play nice with the engine. The engine RPM would spike violently and the vehicle would end up bobbing up and down. Is this a common problem with this stuff or am I just missing something?
Yeah, really low ratios tend to do fucky shit. Kaf's working on fixing it.
[QUOTE=343N;32806078]this boggles my brain
let me download it and figure shit out first.[/QUOTE]
speak your feelings luke
Aww nice! I'll make sure to test them out when I get the time. Are gas turbines on the way too? :v:
I failed to link them properly then proceeded to exit the game and take a shit.
Sorry for reviving this thread but i have a big question. I don't use to play sandbox because my patience is almost inexistant but i have 2 questions about this:
1- How can I aim the guns with the mouse. I mean, E2 code to use or something like that.
2- How can i turn. Do i have to use double clutch and break one side while throtteling the other one?
Thanks and i hope i don't get a ban for this :\
[QUOTE=aftokinito;33565020]Sorry for reviving this thread but i have a big question. I don't use to play sandbox because my patience is almost inexistant but i have 2 questions about this:
1- How can I aim the guns with the mouse. I mean, E2 code to use or something like that.
2- How can i turn. Do i have to use double clutch and break one side while throtteling the other one?
Thanks and i hope i don't get a ban for this :\[/QUOTE]
for mouse aim, you need some kind of e2 aim that uses shootpos or aimpos, they're very common and you could use [url=http://www.facepunch.com/threads/1109060-Expression-2-Tank-Chip-Simple-V3]this old tank chip[/url] (however it doesn't have support for acf engines, so just use the aiming portion of it)
as for steering, you need to brake and clutch one side of a dual clutch gearbox.
After updating my SVN, I'm still not getting those 1-speed transmissions you added. Did I interpret something?
How do you get the missiles and bombs? They're in the browse menu but there is no actual tool to spawn them.
[QUOTE=Amplar;33568262]for mouse aim, you need some kind of e2 aim that uses shootpos or aimpos, they're very common and you could use [url=http://www.facepunch.com/threads/1109060-Expression-2-Tank-Chip-Simple-V3]this old tank chip[/url] (however it doesn't have support for acf engines, so just use the aiming portion of it)
as for steering, you need to brake and clutch one side of a dual clutch gearbox.[/QUOTE]
For the turn think it works very badly. It turns very slowly
For the aim i tried the r2 someone suggested me but i dunno how to use it even after reading the commjnets :S
[QUOTE=MrBuBB13s;33570292]How do you get the missiles and bombs? They're in the browse menu but there is no actual tool to spawn them.[/QUOTE]
They aren't implemented with the newer version of ACF
Excuse me for asking this stupid question, but i just came back after 1 year of not playing GMOD. So, i'm not a WIRE technician, but how do i solve the gear problem? I can't really figure it out, because i want a toggle system, where you only have 2 buttons, up and down, and it toggles once it's pressed. So if i press Up, it goes into gear 1, and stays there. Then when pressing up again, it locks into gear 2 and so on. I can't really figure it out, how to write that in E2, anyone here who could help me?
<snip>.
I've noticed that in ultra low gears clutch-and-brake steering is more like clutch-and-brake-gradually-drift-ever-so-slightly-to-one-side.
That or, once the engine hits its powerband, the vehicle burps and the engine hits 12k rpm.
[QUOTE=MrWhite;35446456]That or, once the engine hits its powerband, the vehicle burps and the engine hits 12k rpm.[/QUOTE]
puttputtputtputtputtputtputttputtBRRAAAAAHBRAAAAABRAAAAAABRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH
Is there any sort of the official website or blog or even twitter of the devs?
I have no idea what I'm doing. My engines are being awfully noisy, the gearboxes are apparently doing absolutely nothing and I'm not seeing any wheel-related movement. :V
Can anybody direct me to some sort of guide that goes through in steps how to set it up fully?
Please help I'm stupid.
fear not, i will make some instructional vids
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