Bow and Stern Thrusters for Imported Ships

[MarkoBarthel]

You can equip an imported ship with a bow thruster, a stern thruster, or both. Each thruster has its own thrust position and maximum force. You can also place optional water effects at the port and starboard tunnel openings.

Set up a thruster in the Ship Editor

1. Open your imported ship in the Ship Editor.
2. Click + Bow thruster or + Stern thruster.
3. Select the Bow thruster force or Stern thruster force marker and place it at the center of the thruster tunnel.
4. Set Maximum thrust (kN) and save your changes.

The force marker determines where the sideways force acts on the ship. Its position affects how the ship turns when you apply thrust.

Add foam and spray

1. Select the thruster’s force marker.
2. Click + Port water FX or + Starboard water FX to add an outlet marker. You can add either side independently.
3. Move each marker to its tunnel opening on the hull, below the waterline, and save.

The outlet markers control where the foam trail and spray appear. When the thruster runs, the discharge side produces the stronger effect. The intake side produces a weaker effect. An outlet placed above the waterline or too deep below the surface may produce no visible effect.

Configure thrusters in boat.json

Add the following fields at the top level of your existing boat.json. Adjust the example coordinates and force values to suit your model.

Positions are relative to the ship and use centimeters in [X, Y, Z] order. Positive X points forward, positive Y points to starboard, and positive Z points up. Port is the negative Y direction.

For each installed thruster, positionCm and forceKN are required. portEffectCm and starboardEffectCm are optional. Existing thruster configurations continue to work, and water effects appear once you add the corresponding outlet positions.

Operate the thrusters

Use the bow and stern thruster sliders in the boat controls. Each slider holds its selected thrust. Double-click a slider to return that thruster to zero.

Numpad keys	Action
7 / 9	Decrease or increase bow thrust by 10 percentage points
1 / 3	Decrease or increase stern thrust by 10 percentage points
5	Return both thrusters to zero

 

Example JSON text:

 

{
  "bowThruster": {
    "positionCm": [410, 0, -80],
    "forceKN": 12.5,
    "portEffectCm": [410, -120, -80],
    "starboardEffectCm": [410, 120, -80]
  },
  "sternThruster": {
    "positionCm": [-380, 0, -90],
    "forceKN": 9.0,
    "portEffectCm": [-380, -150, -90],
    "starboardEffectCm": [-380, 150, -90]
  }
}

[VSV7]

Thanks for this update mate!

[MarkoBarthel]

You're welcome VENJS.