Removing gun from a scene file

[Decoy^]

I am trying to make a slight alteration to the Paranid Perseus. I want to remove the middle gun mounted on top of the cockpit. Then I want to change the right underwing gun mount to the double barreled version, and remap the gun that was on top, to this double gun.
If I just mod the TShips file, I am able to move the middle gun to the right one, effectively silencing the middle one. That looks a tad bit odd when firing however, so I still want to change the right gun model to a double barreled one.

Whatever changes I do to the scene file (cut/04192.bob), decompiling and recompiling, I can't make that happen. Nor can I get rid of the middle turret. I know my changes are making it into the game, as I can move the turrets around, change their facing and whatnot. I just don't know how to switch the model.
I thought I could just switch "B 106;" for "B 107;" in the BOD file, and update TShips accordingly, but that doesn't work. I also don't understand the "N entries", like this one "N 106_1bh;" in the Perseus BOD file.

Sorry if I come off as confusing, I just wanted to ask real quickly if someone can provide guidance. I suspect I'm doing something very fundamentally wrong here, and I'm pretty much flying blind, so any help would be much appreciated.

[Chris Gi]

Well, I'm not sure if I understand everything correctly what you're trying to do. As far as I understand, you want to remove the middle gun completely and change the right wing gun mount from body 106 to 107.

It's not clear if you're trying to achieve this by use of a 3d Modelling program or just by 'simple' editing of the bod-file - I assume the latter.

To get rid of the middle turret, you simply have to delete the appropriate entry in the scene file. To change the right wing gun mount, the simple switch of "B 106" to "B 107" should have done the trick.

Does the changed scene file really compile correctly? How do you do it exactly? Do you use drag & drop or do you use the command box?

The "N entries" are important if you use a 3d modelling program and DBox as Import/Export-modul. If you just edit the scene file with a text editor, they are only for information purpose.

A correct entry for the 107 gun mount should look like:

"P 5; B 107; C 1; N 107_1bh;"

P: Path-Number
B: Body-Number
C: 'Turret definition' - front guns do have number 1
N: Name

DBox interprets the N-entry and creates the B and C entries from the name. The starting numbers indicate the body number 107, the number number following the underscore the 'turret' this gun belongs to. The rest of the string is irrelevant, it's main purpose is to make it easier for the human modder to identify the part.

However, be aware that the path number is not always correct. It doesn't matter what number is following the 'P' - the first entry always gets index 0, the second 1 and so on. This is important to keep in mind when editing TShips.

However, make sure the scene file compiles correctly. If you still have problems, you could post the scene file and the corresponding TShips entries.