Friday, June 12, 2015

Baiern Alpenjager 1.5 update

In this article we will highlight update details of Baiern Alpenjager.

First off, now it's switched to our newest scripting, which means no more problems with sim crossings, improved performance, as well as more realistic handling.

From now it will be utilizing GEMC UniHUD v2+, so you'll have most of your controls up there. Check the picture below for HUD overview.
Baiern Alpenjager layout for UniHUD(as seen by driver and front passenger).
There are also additional controls in vehicle's interior:
Steering wheel controls.
 Also PDC button on the bottom of the console immediately brings up parking assistance screen(ignition must be on):
PDC button(highlighted).

Vehicle also recieved updated visuals, including smooth wipers and addition of interior illumination, new smoother animations, brighter decal-based tail lights, as well as upgraded towing system, compatible with updated trailers(enable hitch on the Custom HUD).

Towing system recieved a minor upgrade: now you don't have to re-enable vehicle hitch if you deleted your trailer without detaching it first.


GEMC, 2015

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Detroit Milestone

Is released.
Marketplace: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/GEMC-Detroit-Milestone/7272987
Manual: http://sl-gemc.blogspot.com/2015/05/detroit-milestone-manual.html 
SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Magic%20Land/108/102/3701


GEMC Trailers update

General info.
We've switched to new trailer system, that uses physical connection between tractor and a trailer. It improves motion smoothness, and looks better in general. New trailers are still capable of crossing sims(in quite a manner tho), and can be towed by guest drivers(even between regions).
Unfortunately, new trailers are not compatible with Baiern Alpenjager, and will stay like that for few more days(until we finish an update for it). So if you don't plan to use them with newer vehicles, don't accept the update.

Motorboat trailer.
We added support for GEMC UniHUD v2, so most of boat's functions can be controlled with corresponding buttons on HUD. Front passenger can also recieve a copy of HUD to be able to rotate their swivel seat without clicking it.
Motorboat layout for UniHUD(as seen by driver and front passenger).
Palette has been moved to Custom HUD, and is accessible by pressing "Color" button on main pannel. You can hide it by pressing "Color" button again.
There's also a number of various minor fixes and improvements.

Powerbox E150 trailer.
Now there's an ability to limit access to Owner only, Same group, or Anyone.
Also we've added an ability to "Sit" on trailer and control light tower's motion with keyboard buttons.

Light tower control animation.
PgUp/E - lift tower up;
PgDn/C - lift tower down;
Left/A - rotate left;
Right/D - rotate right;
Up/W - pitch up;
Down/S - pitch down;
Left+Right/A+D - turn lights on/off.


GEMC, 2015.

Sunday, May 31, 2015

Batteries and electrical devices policy update

 With upcoming release of Detroit Milestone, we're changing a way batteries and vehicle's electrical devices operate.

Batteries.
Batteries purchased after 1st of June, 2015 will be copyable. It means that you will be able to re-rez them and reinstall into your vehicles. However, to not render Charging Unit useless, there's a 24 hours of delay between replacing batteries again. If you'll try to replace battery within 24 hours after adding fresh battery to the vehicle, you'll be presented with next message:
So, you'll have to use charging kit or wait 24 hours to pass.

Electrical devices.
We also changed the way electrical devices work in new cars. From now on, there's no more electricity consumption by on-board devices, however it still spent on cranking a starter, and this time it is based on multiple parameters. If you run out of battery charge during startup, all on-board devices will be shut off in usual manner. Recharging the battery still works the same.


GEMC, 2015.

Saturday, May 30, 2015

Detroit Milestone manual


Common features.
1. Fuel - this vehicle is equipped with GFS fuel system. It uses REGULAR FUEL. It has one fuel tank, accessible from the back side. Fuel capacity is 24 gallons(91 litre).
Fueling position.
2. Electricity - this vehicle is equipped with battery and electricity consumption system. Battery is located in the front of the engine compartment. It supports all GEMC batteries types, so you can choose your favorite one. OEM battery for this vehicle provide 80Ah output.(see Batteries and electrical devices policy update for details).

3. Gearbox - Detroit Milestone is equipped with automatic gearbox. You can switch between positions with E/C or PgUp/PgDn buttons.
Gearbox positions:
P - parking;
R - Reverse;
N - Neutral;
D - Drive;
1 - 1st gear;
2 - 2nd gear. 

Starting sequence.
4. Detroit Milestone is equipped with new realistic startup procedure. Click key on the dashboard once to switch on ignition, and then click+hold to crank up starter. Depending on car's conditions, startup time may vary.

5. Other way of starting car up is clicking and holding a button on GEMC UniHUD v2(manual).
And last way is to use gesture(in this case you just have to press a combo of buttons once, and wait for car to start up).

Custom features.
6. Lights - lights controls are placed on left side from gauges cluster. There's a switch for headlights lift, park lights,, dim and high beams, as well as fog lights switch. Hazard lights switch is located to the right from gauges cluster, in same compartment with windows controls.

7. Other controls - this vehicle is equipped with two-speed windshield wipers, you can find wipers switch in same compartment with lights controls. To change speed, click "Wipers speed" button located to the right from ignition key.
Nearby, there are two more buttons, one is for adjusting interior clocks located in the middle, and another one is for resetting the trip counter(placed inside speedometer gauge).
Also, there's a power lock switch, located in same compartment with windows controls and hazard lights switch(to the right from gauges cluster).

Most of these functions can be operated with GEMC UniHUD v2(manual), or with provided gestures.
Dashboard controls.
8. Interior moving parts - Detroit Milestone has a number of moving pars within its interior. You can interact with visors, glovebox, ashtray, and armrest on front bench(this particular unit can also serve as a limiter, to let only one extra person sit in front).

9. Hood lever - unlike our old vehicles, where you had to click the hood to open it, on this car you have to click the hood lever located on left side under the dashboard. Click it to make hood lock to come off. Now you can click the hood to open it. Click the hood again to close. 
Hood lever location.
Duty equipment.
10. This vehicle is equipped with certain ammount of duty-centered devices, such as lightbar, spotlight, additional lights on pushbar, as well as taxi meter and roof light.

11. Once you enabled some part of duty equipment, there will be control units placed around dashboard. Lights control unit will be placed on the bottom of dashboard to the right from steering column, and siren control module will show under center console.
To operate duty lights, click respective buttons on lights control unit.
To select siren mode click a knob on siren control unit to advance, and click+hold for 1.5 sec to revert to previous mode. Also you can press red button to the left to operate siren manually.
To control spot light, use GEMC UniHUD v2(manual). Also you can use it to operate lights and sirens. Or you can use gestures.

12. Taxi meter - you can click the "Duty" button to switch it on and off, and click "Vacant" flag to start or stop an operation. When taxi meter is operating, it will start calculating fare(50 cents/mile or 10 cents a minute when standing still).
Duty equipment controls.
13. Pickable equipment - you can enable "Police" kind of luggage for vehicle's trunk. There's a certain item that can be picked and used when clicked(blue metal box with "Police Equipment" words on it).

Vehicle condition and repairs.
14. Detroit Milestone sports totally new damage system. When in ideal condition, this vehicle doesn't overheat, or break down. However, when driven violently(i.e. over-revving, burning tires, and so on), it begins to recieve damage that will affect vehicle performance, and can lead to fast overheating, breaking down, backfiring, high fuel consumption, and so on.

15. To check how good your vehicle is doing, click its body to get a menu, then go to "Vehicle", and select "Diag Data" option. You will be presented with some data such as fuel level, level of damage, and level of battery charge.

16. When your engine breaks down, you can click it, select "Repair" option, and perform a fast repair to make it running again.
Once overall damage level goes over 50, you will be presented with another option, "Major repair", that allows you to remove damage from your vehicle. This operation takes quite a time(removing 100% damage takes 100 seconds), but can be aborted at any time, so you can remove just part of the damage and be good to go.

Certain custom parts such as supercharger can affect engine's durability, so it damages faster, as well as takes less time to overheat, and consumes more fuel.

Passengers.
17. This vehicle can give room to 5 passengers and a driver. However, you can decrease this number to 5 total persons by lowering an armrest on front bench, so there will be no room for middle passenger in front.

18. Passengers can click a vehicle's body and recieve their own copies on GEMC UniHUD v2, which will be modified to give limited controls.(passengers will be able to control their respective door windows, and adjust their sit positions with HUD controls).
GEMC UniHUD v2 as seen by passenger.
19. Sit position of every occupant is recorded, and when they re-enter the vehicle, they will be placed on their adjusted positions.
If a person entering a seat is not the one who was sitting on it last time, sit position will be reset to neutral, and require to be adjusted again.

Custom parts.
20. This vehicle is customized by using the Custom HUD. In this iteration, it also has a palette for coloring the vehicle(since new UniHUD doesn't have one).
There are various addons that can change vehicle's look or performance.

Towing.
21. Detroit Milestone is able to tow GEMC trailers(make sure you have updated your trailers to v2+).
To do so, you have to enable hitch on Detroit Milestone Custom HUD("Body" tab).

Templates for custom liveries.
Detroit Milestone body textures template(4096x4096 original, 131MB)
Detroit Milestone body textures template(1024x1024 compressed, 10.3MB)


GEMC, 2016.

Time to meet new UniHUD \o/

 

UniHUD v2 manual

 Actual version: 2.22

In this article we will highlight most of functions of our new main HUD - GEMC UniHUD v2. There are some major differencies from previous iteration, so read carefully.

UniHUD v2+ typical look

 Main pannel.
 On the picture above you can see the general layout of the new HUD. Some parts of it will change from vehicle to vehicle once you enter it, and some others, like audio player and odometer will remain persistent.

 There are four main pannels on top part of the HUD. Left pannel is dedicated to more or less common controls for vehicle's lights, and horn. They are pretty self-explaining.
 Following it, there's a pannel that allows you to utilize some advanced controls over vehicle's systems, such as indicators, power lock, and so on.
 Third pannel is used for duty equipment - various lightbars, flashers, audio equipment, and such.
 Fourth(far right) pannel is used for controlling the moving pieces of your vehicle. In case of upcoming Detroit Milestone it can be a spot light, or seat positions of driver and passengers.

 On the bottom of the HUD we have additional array of controls. To the far left there are controls for HUD visibility, GEMC's SL Marketplace page access, and menu with buttons for reaching this manual, getting gestures, and locating an active vehicle.
 To the left from the middle there are different buttons for Windows controls, passengers eject, seat adjusting, and vehicle customization.
 This set of buttons is followed by two screens, first one shows a distance travelled with active vehicle, and another one shows number of current music track, and level of sound.
 In the bottom right resides a last pannel, our old trusty loops player with some new additions. 

Additional controls.
 Picture above shows hidden pannels and functions, not visible by default. Pay attention to color of outlines around hidden pannels and corresponding buttons on HUD.

Gestures.
 With this HUD we have number of gestures included for easy operation. Most of them are identical to- and compatible with NTBI's EVHUD gestures, and few are unique to UniHUD, such as wipers, and engine control.

Audio player.
 With this iteration of UniHUD, your loop tracks are stored within the HUD, and are sent to vehicle on demand. This way you don't have to record all your tracks again and again for each vehicle you use. In addition to standard player controls, we also have a "shuffle" button. Pressing this button enables tracks shuffle, so the tracks will be played in a random matter. The length of playing track vary in range of 100-150 seconds.
If you don't want to record your loops one by one, you can go for bulk record. To do so, write all your UUIDs in a notecard, 1 uuid per line, without additional symbols or spaces, save the notecard and drag it onto the UniHUD. It will record those UUIDs in a matter of seconds.

Passengers controls.
 By clicking the vehicle, certain passengers can recieve a copy of UniHUD as well. Once they wear it, it will be modified to give passengers controls over some functions of the vehicle, such as windows, or seat adjustments. If vehicle has no functions available for passengers, it will give no HUDs.

Eject.
 With this HUD, eject function is operated by a single button, and will present an owner/driver with a menu with list of persons onboard, ready to be ejected.

Resizing.
You can resize UniHUD using regular Edit mode.


GEMC, 2015.