I can somewhat successfully weld vehicles and drive them around. BUT when I load the map, the pieces either fall apart or go flying everywhere! Why?? Does this happen to you? I wonder if the vehicle spawns at a slightly different time than the other pieces when it loads... I've even tried re-creating the simple warthog + cylinder weld used in Flapjack Frenzy, but on load, the cylinder ends up on top of the warthog, smashing it down.
Is this new behavior? Is it in Forge or custom games? Is it like when we move groups and some pieces don't move with the group, but when you deselect, reselect and move the group the pieces update properly?
Good question, I don't know if it new behavior because I'm brand new to this myself. What I can't figure out is why when I load the Flapjack Frenzy map the vehicles remain welded just fine. Maybe because it's a couple months old... Mine definitely break apart in Forge, and I think they also do in custom games. I've been trying on Alpine only by the way... Could you or someone else try a simple land vehicle weld on Alpine? If it doesn't work for you we can add to the theory that this is new. How to: I've had multiple Scorpion welds break apart, plus my simple Warthog test. I suppose I'll try Banshee although I need a custom land vehicle.
That video is the method I've always used and it's worked great on Alpine. Make sure to follow each step. Some things I've found that help: Keep all the parts set to phased physics and floating above the ground and not in contact with anything else. If the vehicle doesn't respawn then save and restart Forge before doing any more steps. The 2nd to last step should be to set the welded group to normal physics and let it fall to the ground. The last step would be to change the parent object to the vehicle, but be careful because the recent update created a bug that makes objects anywhere on your map disappear if you change the parent of any group. I don't know if that's fixed yet. Make sure to avoid any "On Disturbed" settings for the Despawn/Respawn properties for any objects in a group. I think that might be responsible for object copies that can't be selected, which can ruin your map and your day.
Hmm I'll have to try including your point #1, I usually let the land vehicle sit normally on a platform before I set it to phased. I think I'm doing the rest of your points. Thanks so much, I'll report back after I try. So after you set the entire weld from phased to normal and it sits on the ground, you can save it at that point right?
Yeah. Maybe do a save as, if there's a lot of work involved. I also like to make a copy of the welded group right before I set it to normal physics.
Damn, I did the welding while it was floating this time, did a save-as after setting to normal physics, still a no go. On load it spawns so that the warthog is sitting on top the cylinder, and I can drive it right off like it's not welded at all. I'm thinking this must be new behavior... which we can confirm if just one person who's used to welding tries a simple test right now and sees the same problem...
I think it's the bug where switching the parent object causes problems. It's a new bug from the recent update that often makes objects in your group (and sometimes other objects around your map) disappear when you change the parent of a group. In this case, the Scout Warthogs I tested were fine if I didn't change the parent. But the one that I changed the parent for immediately became unelectable, and it was in separate pieces when I reloaded the map in Forge. I guess we have to go back to not changing the parent until this gets fixed, which sucks a little since motion is better when the vehicle is the parent. We might be ok if we can use a small object as the parent since that won't have as many collisions, but I'm not sure. Another change is that it didn't seem to matter if I left the vehicle as the parent when I made the group. It switched the cylinder to the parent when I welded the group though.
That last item about it switching the parent when the weld is done is prolly not new. New stuff I've found, maybe. Here's what I did: I set the Warthog and cylinder to phased physics but separate, 20 feet apart. I added a script to the Warthog that would move it into position when I hit a button. Formed a group with them. Destroyed the Warthog. Welded the group and the cylinder ended up as the parent. After the vehicle respawned, I switched the parent to the vehicle while it was separate from the cylinder. I didn't see any objects on my map disappear. I activated the script and the Warthog moved into place. I set the group to normal physics. So, I ended up with a welded vehicle and the vehicle was the parent. But the vehicle still hit snags when I drove it, like bumping into the lines in the floor. As long as we don't lose any objects when changing the parent this might work. Not sure if it's really working if the vehicles still hit snags. Maybe the parent changing bug only happens with objects that are phased into each other?
Well that makes me feel more sane at least. Good thinking with the scripting. Anyone looking to vehicle weld right now could use your post. As far as I've found online (here and youtube comments) we are the only ones talking about the current state of it. To be honest, right now, I'm a little sick of spending time on this. But I will be sure to check back here if my motivation returns, e.g. when Infection is near! In case you've beaten me to overcoming the vehicle snags.