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Flexman

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  2. Flexman

    Random Pics of the Day

    By Flexman,

    Starting to feel the pressure now. Both the financial and stress factors are weighing in. Doesn't stop me working but it's hard to switch off. On the business side there's a ton of things on the to-do list, it all eats time taken from production.
     
    Spooky, ok so the lip light isn't actually on his mic.
    If it was you wouldn't see this.
    Boeing sent me a poster back in 2002, this is a homage to that.
    This time with the rear seat.
    Taking out bad guys without damaging the good guys is a challenge.
    Experimenting with simple TSD display and labels.
     



     



     



     



     



     
    On top of this I'm studying some Unity material and shader programming. I could use a beer, a real one.

     
    Source
  3. Flexman

    Don't Panic

    By Flexman,

    Yes Panic.
     
    When you're rushing to get a reasonable build ready for hammering out problems I'm finding I'm making all new problems. Going over the HMD code I realise how badly it needs rebuilding, there are existing elements that need updating, a few new ones that require adding. There's no way to rebuild the HUD in time.
     
    Another problem. LUA in the Apache entity. Works in the first instance, but fails in subsequent entity spawns resulting in the inability to mount the aircraft. It's an issue relating to LUA accessing keys stored in the model. I want to rip out all the LUA code from models except for the model initialisation that puts on pylons and attaches the rotor models. Not much time to deal with that either.
     
    Dual Seat configuration.
     
     



    The interaction between front and rear seat was not well thought out early enough, instead I opted for a 'duality' where all features could be operated from either seat with just some interface differences. I should have opted for a strict seat A can do xxxx and seat B can only do yyyy. This was a mistake in my attempt to simplify control but ended up introducing more complex logic.
     
    It's not too late to undo this but a difficult process to start. If I have to design this game all over again I think I would probably nail down all of these problems from day one. Hindsight being wonderful.
     
    TrippleHead - lot more pixels to post process, looks great but a GPU strain
     
     



     



     
     

     
    Source
  4. Flexman

    Fuel XFER

    By Flexman,

    Dull day, so lets post about something most normal people find dull. Fuel flow controls. In the Apache D model this is administered on the FUEL MPD page.
     
    Not much to say about it, I'm bored already. It does what it does. Our Apache has two internal ballistically shielded self-sealing fuel tanks. Fuel can be drawn or transferred from one or the other to adjust weight distribution. Activating fuel boost engages the rear tank cross-feed valves as seen here. Fuel transfer between tanks should normally be left to auto unless you feel the need to play with it. HTR flight model should take account of the weight distribution.
     
    Marching antsFuel flow takes about 4 seconds to change, while changing, indicated fuel lines are drawn in high intensity white before returning to green.
     
    The most important button on this page is bottom right [CHECK]. This brings up the a sub version of the page where you set your bingo fuel status if you get an alert reminder in the UFD.
     
    Bingo TimeAward for dullest sim video goes to...."Fuel Crossfeed"..yeah. There it is. It's Friday.
     
     

     
    Source
  5. Flexman
    Time for another dull dev blog. This time, the exciting world of Hydraulics which I didn't know much about except what I can gather from various books I have laying around.
     
    Hydraulics are a game component as it effects how long you can maintain control in event of damage to your controls or hydraulic lines and it also powers gun turret control. Controls are not direct in modern aircraft, due to the amount of force required to move a large surface area on an aircraft weighing tons, human muscle has been replaced by a system of wires, pipes, pumps and actuators.
     
    Pressure within this system is vital as it translates a pilots control movement into control surface movement, on a helicopter the cyclic (joystick) operates hydraulic servos that move a large ring under the main rotor called the "swashplate". Wikipedia (swashplate)
     
    I digress.
     
    To simulate damage to this system, we need a basic simulation that isn't too complex as it needs to work for all AI helicopters in our main update loop. If the hydraulic pressure drops then control response has to become "mushy", you should feel this if you're flying a damaged bird. Additionally this should give the AI flying as it's virtual control inputs lag potentially inducing poor looking oscillation. More experience AI crew having faster input response times should be able to handle emergency situations better.
     
    From time of loosing pressure, we're going to give you around 20 minutes to land, your mileage will definitely vary. The ACCumulator stores around 3000psi and is a buffer that maintains the pressure of the primary (PRI) and utility (UTIL) system pressure. These two systems, PRI and UTIL are pressurised from the APU and used to start the engines.
     
    This is reflected in the ENG page during startup. Start the APU, watch the pressures (there's a bleed metric for damage to the system and a fluid level as a percentage). As soon as the primary system reaches around 3000psi (there's a bit of fluctuation added for authenticity) you're good for engine start.
     
    I think this is where the LOCK position of the rotor brake gets it's pressure from.
     
    Almost everything in the Apache is automatic here, operation of this system is handled for you with some exceptions. We have a big Emergency Hydraulics button in the cockpit, pictured below. This allows fluid from the accumulator circuit to flow into the utility circuit. After that, you're on your own.
     

     
    The things we have to do just to get three numbers up. Oh, and don't get me started on oil pressure ;-)
     
    Source
  7. Flexman
    AD posted more Chinook goodies at SimHQ Link here >>> SimHQ - AD Chinook Update
     
     



     



     
    What am I looking at?
     
    It's a little creepy, crew heads now reflect the pilot helmet sight (PHS) and gunner helmet sight (GHS) Vec2 offsets, so using trackIR, mouselook etc will operate the appropriate crewman head position (with suitable organic tweening). These positions are stored in the aircraft state so will work across all aircraft (AI and player) as well as multi-player. How creepy is that?
     
     
    "Everyone gets everything he wants."
    "All I wanted was a mission,"
    "and for my sins they gave me one"
     
    Shot on my iPhone. This is what TrackIR and mouse movements do to the crew head positions.
     
     
    *edit*
     
    There's a few pages in the system that are informational only, the FUEL page was one, I fleshed it out a bit tonight, adding a working cross-feed system complete with animation (yes the real one does that too). It's lacking the fuel check and bingo settings (to be added later). Setting the bingo stat is part of your start-up checklist, it would be a shame to leave it out.
     
     



     
     

     
    Source
  8. Flexman

    Missing lighting knob

    By Flexman,

    Dave, the kids must have been playing "pilot" again, they've gone and pulled off the knob for the standby instrument lighting, make it like the other two rotaries. I'll fix the camera clipping on the seat
     

     
    Source
  9. Flexman
    Connection time-out now resets the connection status to "disconnected" Apache canopy glass, lighting issue fixed GUI input controls that receive key-presses still occasionally hogging the keyboard. (fixed) Some speed improvements to OpenGL DrawCurve function.
     
    New GUI style as submitted by Spac3Rat in place. See Facebook image
     
     
    Next week: Back to weapons and more multiplayer functions.
     
    Source
  10. Flexman
    Last week I identified one issue relating to UserEntityData introduced with the last engine update which prevents consistent update of Enity data due to some change in the hierarchy and no documentation on what was changed.
     
    So I'm faced with having to re-factor (meaning to changing code but same behaviour) core sensor code. It's the sort of thing that is utterly frustrating and makes one want to throw everything out of the window. It's not as if there aren't enough things to do.
     
    There's 4 major issues I'm not happy with:
     
     

    Flight Model bridge refinement
    Ground dynamics
    Horizon gapping and other asset problems (licences/legal, audio)
    Events / Triggers

    I know I can rush some of these things and end up with something I'm not happy with. And if I'm not happy with it I don't see why anyone else will be happy. The majority of potential customers don't follow this blog, they don't care about how much work or team sizes, finds and lack-of, how or why, and often they don't care about the word "beta". To do what's right in the long term means having to not cut corners and do what needs to be done.
     
     
    Sucks though.
     
     
    Who would have thought building a stand-alone study sim of the most advanced attach helicopter on the planet would be so difficult? What gives?

     
    Source
  12. Flexman
    We've been using the black and orange diamond logo for some time, it needed to reflect the game colour palette. As a 90's homage to sims of that era, a saturated colour scheme with the GUI elements using 90'-45' angles, black and orange. Two contrasting colours that are visible against most backgrounds.
     
    It wasn't until after I had designed and coded a number of elements that I noticed other military games using the same colours.
     
    Why bother with stuff like splash screens at this stage?
     
    They set a tone and expectation when showing demos, fix the colours and facilitate feedback on identity early on when things are still fluid. In our case, we have possible issues of copyright and licensing, issues that came about through the process of establishing identity. Matters that are hardly trivial.
     
    Plus the above vignette style works much better on multi-screen monitors when centred than the old one which was stretched. This has better overall presentation. Logo is still in flux but overall colours and shape are there and reflected through the whole game in every interface element.
     
    Source
  13. Flexman

    WEP page (advanced)

    By Flexman,

    This is OpenGL, vector based rendered to an offscreen buffer, now with added mipmaps. I'll try and detail the functions of these pages and sub-modes as I go and allow you to submit corrections early on.
     
    The WEP (weapons) MFD page
     
    Pictured below shoing the gun sub-mode. Main feature is the bust limit selector on the left side indicating the number of rounds fired when the pilot commands. The bottom MFD buttons marked GUN, MSL and RKT will switch the weapons and display rounds and options. Stores and gun rounds to add to the display. Will complete tomorrow. The only other notable feature is the ACQ option (R6) to switch the gun aiming between fixed and TADS.
     
    The buttons marked with and arrow above (see top row) are for navigating to different pages. The bottom right button indicates the current page (WEP boxed). Next to that the selected sub mode (GUN boxed).
     

     
    Source
  14. Flexman

    TADS/PNVS Stow

    By Flexman,

    I wasn't sure about the STOW angles so I set the PNVS to 165 inboard (0=along the nose) and TADS 180' inboard. Activated via the NVS mode switch in the cockpit (or CTRL S). The CPG station doesn't seem to have the noeswheel/NVS panel unless we missed it. You'll just have to play as the pilot if you want to flip the switch by hand.
    Switch has 3 position, off (stows the sensors for transitional flight), normal for tracking head movement and fixed for boresight (straight ahead).

    The NVS Mode switch is located forward of the engine power levers, left side panel.
     
    Source
  15. Flexman

    Herat city, almost

    By Flexman,

    This is months of painstaking trial-and-error, optimisation and experimentation. I said months ago, "We don't have the resources or time to build a whole city, just a close approximation". Well it's an approximation but it's more than what we anticipated was possible. Given that the old girl Longbow 2 had a small village, a dozen or so muddy cubes, this is 2010 and we can afford to push it a little.
     

    Putting the demo together for Summer Sim 2010 next weekend, the updated map includes Herat city which is not a center for our first campaign map, geographically or strategically as it's close to the north-west corner of the map. But it is a regional feature, the city is the gateway to Iran. One of the campaign scenarios involve a armoured invasion by Iranian forces in an attempt to do something about a deteriorating security situation in which NATO led US forces are caught in the middle and ultimately you decide which way that goes. The city will present a real challenge for pilots, not only is it a maze of structures and narrow streets, there are not many open areas to perform an emergency landing should the need arise.
     




    I don't think we want to build another city like this. Hopefully you'll be able to appreciate the amount of work that's gone into the environment. Flying over the rooftops and sat dishes in the pilot seat with a full HOTAS is a dream come true, I certainly never expected anything like this when we started last September. It has the feel of an old familiar sim mixed with the new and we're not finished yet. AD has done an outstanding job in realising the setting. If there's one criticism I can level, there's not enough of it. I'd happily fly for longer than I perhaps normally would in other sims as the detail is better. There's always something interesting over in the next valley, or a nice low level route to challenge your flying skills.
    We chose from the outset not to put the player in Helmand which is where the worst of the troubles are. It's a question that's been asked, why not?
    It limits what you can do with scenarios and we wanted the Apache to do what it does best, spank heavy armour. Italy is currently the occupying security force in this region which is set to pass on to the US in the near future. Here we get to play out two different kinds of warfare. And what starts as one kind, if you do really badly in one campaign, may step things up and move you into the second. And if that happens you'll be flying over Herat, weapons hot.
     
     

     
    Source
  16. Flexman

    More HUD config options

    By Flexman,

    Completed changes to the HUD section of the config file.
    <HUD col="1.0, 0.8, 0.2" glow="0" shadow="1" breakoutfpi="1" />
     
    I'm using the TinyXML lib for config functions, it's been fast efficient and easy to use. I added a new option today that was born out of looking at videos of games projected onto huge screens giving almost 1:1 scale. Before my tripplehead PC went pop I had a problem with virtual symbology relative to HUD size. The larger the screen, the smaller the HUD relatively. At it's worst, the effect was looking through a keyhole.
     
    So I removed the keyhole, the "breakout" option in the HUD config will plot some indicators outside the HMD area and in a relative scale to the screen size. This makes it more useful at the expense of not being totally accurate, hence the option.
     
    In the screenshot below you'll note the user colour option for the HUD symbology in effect alongside the flightpath indicator outside the HUD buffer (right of the altitude bar in the hilly bits). This is easier to use on a laptop too where screens are not as bright and it's easier to pick up.
     

     
    There's been an intermittent windows exception error when launching the game (release build). I tracked this down to the old controller config loading which uses IO streams to pull in a data-file. Something is going on there. I need to re-do the controller settings anyway using XML to store response curves and other tweaks you can't do right now. Just a pain as laptop drives are a touch on the slow side.
     
    Source
  17. Flexman
    Working on the tactical situation display elements, the vector font output was never quite as crisp as I'd hoped for but that's now fixed by keeping the 1:1 scale and changing the ortho projection matrix. Bigger works better than smaller when it comes to float accuracy with consumer level drivers that focus on games and performance I guess.
     
    Still have the map scale to do, that's forming part of the mission terminal code. But the rest of the TSD is coming together. I need to put an upper limit on symbols otherwise some numpty crews might get a bit happy adding symbols to spell rude words or add smiley faces to the map.
     
    Added a basic HSI rose function and added that to the TSD NAV mode. Everything seems to mask OK. Only issue so far is the pop-up repeaters, they are currently too dim/dark, see second image below.
     

     

    You can see the vector fonts are much better defined in the above image even though it's a bit feint (and oversized for the window res I use on my laptop).
     
    So far, the Apache avionics suite includes a basic navigation system, 5 radios, two almost complete HMD modes and a tactical system in progress. It's actually getting pretty fun to fly around now, some bugs notwithstanding. View system could use some love as well as the stabiliator to stop the nose-down pitching.
     
    Source
  18. Flexman

    More Apache work

    By Flexman,

    Our Apache received more love today, the cockpit panel textures suffered a little from DDS compression acne. But by increasing the bits-per-pixel to 24 and using DXT1, we get better quality results using a texture half the size as a larger one using 8bpp compressed. And smaller texture memory footprint too. This only works for some textures.
     
    Additionally specular maps were added to the cockpit, now it reacts to light in a much more dynamic way and the scratched glass blast shield and canopy really adds to the sense of enclosure in a cockpit space.
     
    A few major systems are not currently fitted to our Apache, the TADS (or ETADS) was initially removed due to rendering problems. I've re-instated the TADS class and rewrote the rendering function. It's still quite primitive and there's post0processing to add to the tads_buffer as well as overlaying the symbology. As expected the performance hit is around 20% when drawing at full frame-rate. I'll add a frame-skip value to adjust performance for users. The good news is that it's not worse that I thought it would be plus there's still lots I can do to improve performance.
     
    The ETADS display is using the same Fullbright shader as the other MPDs so it's a little overbright. When I'm done it should look the part.
     
    Over the test-map testing the TADS camera.
     
    Rest of the week might be a little quiet as we're rushing to complete the startup and caution/warning system to go with it (keep getting side-tracked and doing other things). The dual-seat multiplayer mode throws up some interesting logic problems with the messaging system when generated messages don't have a source. It has resulted in front-seat controls sending signals to back-seat controls which in turn trigger front-seat controls and so on. This is why messages have a source ID so remote control messages don't trigger a local message transmission thus continuing the cycle. Yes, all I need is a message filter.
     
    Little update***
     


     
    You have control.
     
    Source
  19. Flexman
    Thanks to "GrViper", bit of Russian press coverage courtesy of "Game Navigator". I think I like the intro about raining fire and brimestone? I had to have a Russian friend in Siberia read it out to me over Teamspeak after which he asked, "so you're interested in flight simulation then?"

    Work update
    Last night I added the waypoint/navigation system which is rudimentary but has the needed functions for other bits of code to insert them into an aircrafts avionics. It's a linked list with some methods for management and selection. Once the HMD and MFD gets the steering cues for the current waypoint it should make it easier to navigate around our game theater.
    Also I worked on the flight path vector which is a little confusing since it's 'virtualised' in the helmet sight (adopts real world position regardless of your head rotation), but the artifical horizon is not.
    How *I* currently made it work (which is slightly different from how it will finish) is a magnitude of vertical speed and horizontal displacement (sideslip) which is how I think it works in a 2D format for MPDs (the little square screens in the cockpit). For the HMD virtualised mode it's a matter of using angular velocities (HeloBodyOmega) to estimate where the nose is going to be in 3D space and add the pilots view position and rotation.
    Fred put it more simply, offset from nose = angular velocity * coefficient etc. Well the devil is in the detail working out what the etc. is and doing it in the right order.
    Flight path vector - circled
    Nav symbology will be done today. I'd like to thank Toshiba for the Qosmio X300, the most ugly laptop ever made but certainly a powerful machine.
     
    Source
  21. Flexman
    We finally sourced a a reasonably good infantry soldier, low poly model, rigged, animated and exported. We can fill the screen with dozens of these guys, falling, shooting prone, grenade tossing. We'll give them a couple of weapons they can swap between and a range of helmets swapped in by setting an entity key.
     

     
    To initially test animation sequences I populated a drop-down control for the editor dialog with the following LUA, chopped up for readability. But lets you pick which frames to loop by name (or number). This is quite compact for AI troops which need to be lightweight in processing terms, this means non-use of character controllers.
     
     
     
    class.anim = {
    {"Idle",0,49},
    {"Stand and Fire",50,89},
    {"Running",90,111},
    {"Walking",112,147},
    {"Grenade Throw",148,187},
    {"Take Cover",188,213},
    {"Stand to Squat",214,241},
    {"Fire from Squat",242,291},
    {"Squat to Stand",292,313},
    {"Go Prone",314,359},
    {"Fire from Prone",360,379},
    {"Stand Up",380,425},
    {"Death Forwards",426,532},
    {"Death Backwards",533,568},
    {"Jump",569,614}
    }
     
     
    function class:InitDialog(grid)
    local choices = ""
    local total = table.getn(class.anim)
     
     
    for i=1,total do
    choices = choices .. class.anim[1]
    if (i < total) then
    choices = choices ..","
    end
    end
     
     
    self.super:InitDialog(grid)
    group=grid:AddGroup("Animation")
    group:AddProperty("sequence",PROPERTY_CHOICE, choices , "Animation")
    group:Expand(1)
    end
     
     
     
    function object:SetKey(key,value)
    if key=="sequence" then
    object.framestart = class.anim[value+1][2]
    object.frameend = class.anim[value+1][3]
    end
    return self.super:SetKey(key,value)
    end
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
    Source
  22. Flexman

    KBU, FCR mode logic

    By Flexman,

    First screen-shot of a quickly put together KBU (keyboard unit). This is a flat 2D image you click on, taken from the texture used in the cockpit. I wanted to see how good/bad it looked since we don't have time to develop a 3D one.
     
     



     
    Clicking on Air Surv will abort current FCR operation
    and switch to an active air scan (air surv mode)
    The keyboard command list is looking horrible if you want full control over this. The shot cut keys work fine however. I made some tweaks to the heading tape symbols and the Air Surveillance Mode has been adjusted according to recent feedback posted. No sweep indicator is displayed (? is that correct) but the radar is still active. And not NTS or targeting is available. This mode is not available if either crew station has FCR as the selected sight. Either crewman selecting FCR or cycling through HMD/TADS/FCR will cancel this mode.
     
    I made attempts to smooth out the logic for simple joystick control so you can hot key from mode to mode.
     
     
     



    FCR Scan and FCR Scan burst will cancel each other out with immediate effect, no waiting for a scan cycle to complete (which is what it did before).
     
    I'll adjust the scale of the FOR box shortly. The dot isn't active yet, will fix that shortly and then I'll correct the cue dots in the HMD,
     
    That will be as much time as I want to spend on the FCR. I think it's not too shabby and does nearly everything it needs to do for now. Completing the command list for the sensors now means I can finish the default control setup for new installations.
     
    For full control on a joystick you need 3 hats minimum.
     

    4 Way Sight Select (HMD, TADS, FCR)
    4 Way FCR Mode Select (GTM, ATM, other to come)
    4 Way FCR Footprint Set (Zoom, Wide, Medium, Narrow)
    There are also keys assigned to FCR Mode Cycle Up/Down to keep the control count down on smaller sticks.
     
    As always if I've got it wrong then please leave some feedback however I'm unlikely to embark on any more major changes for now. Quite pleased with the detail and how it works.

     
    Source
  23. Flexman
    Combat-Helo presents a persistent world, day-time / night-time mission capability where you can stand around your base with your thumb up your rear-end. The game's heartbeat is the day cycle clock from which all missions, AI entity start/stop times, spawn times. All operate as offsets from mission start time. This presents the issue of real-time vs game time.
     
    To offer variety of day/night operations in a real-time game could be tedious. I want to fly a night mission, but it's noon, I can't. If mission clocks are running there's two options, kill the mission and advance time, or interpolate mission outcome as if they proceeded (can you open this can of worms for me please?)
     
    The alternative is to adopt MMO time where game-time has no parity with real-time. 4 hours of real time = a full day-night cycle. In a military game, I don't think so.
     
    So faced with real-time, how do you ensure everyone gets to play some day and night missions within a reasonable time-frame? Time advance, with constraints. No mission clocks can be running. This means everyone will need to be within the base compound with no active missions before a time advance option can be used. I can't think of any other easy way around it.
     
    The time-advance could be applied to your base tent or in the command HQ tent command terminal.
     
    Source
  24. Flexman

    BBC's BoB Weekend

    By Flexman,

    Hey it's a blog, I'm blogging. All this talk about fluids.has brought on a nasty head cold. Up at 6am searching for the Lemsip (a horrid lemon flavoured drink with decongestant) and watching "Dogfights" on DVD.
     
    The History Channel series "Dogfights" prompted the next three to four hours of viewing since I realised just how bad it really was from the simpleton "Top Trumps" presentations to the seemingly good idea at the time computer graphics. To be fair I did learn something new every episode but given the subject and use of 'state of the art' CGI to tell the tale of classic air-wars why did it come over as really dull? Maybe current affairs news programs are to blame, their overuse of 3D graphics to portray everything from the invasion of Iraq to Tiger Woods getting kicked out of his house for a case of the "not-wife" has dulled the senses to the point where I really don't care about news any-more. It no longer gets read, watched or listened to. My mornings are happier and stress free since I'm no longer aware of what the children are up to in Westminster. The media seem to be outraged for me, it's one less thing to worry about.
     
    The downside of forgoing traditional media is a sense of isolation. Feeling I might have been missing out on the recent Battle of Britain events I decide to check out what the BBC have been up to for the 70th anniversary.
     
    *pause to drink my Lemsip - yuck*
     
    Back again.
     
    Horray. The BBC declared war on boredom as the Battle of Britain Weekend has given us a season of themed documentaries, dramas and ...er...entertainments. The first and one I recommend to everyone to catch is a fascinating film based on the book "First Light" by RAF pilot Geoffrey Wellum, at just 18, he was among the youngest pilots who saw combat and subsequently wrote his memoirs which I must read after watching this erm, docu-dramatainment film. It charts the slide into "VoidComp" (no compassion, the first of two Blade Runner references in this blog post), loosing your humanity and identity through combat on a daily basis.
     
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/comingup/first-light/
     
    Geoffrey Wellum was also in the BBC's "The Battle of Britain" documentarytainment 1hr 30min special in which Colin and Ewan McGregor try to ... I'm not sure what. Trace the steps of those pilots? Train up for a once in a lifetime joyride at the controls of a Spitfire? Establish the significance of the events of August/September 1940? I'm not clear what it was about but features lovely photography of Duxford and classic aircraft. Colin is like what Ewan would be if he grows up (and I mean that in a good way). The look on Colin McGregor's face after his flight at the controls of the Spit was priceless. And a great 3 point landing with no bouncing down the airfield.
     
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00txy2q
     
    Not much more to add, except a plee to all documentary makers.
     
    If you're going to raid photo archives for genuine images, is it really necessary to add that off-putting 3D panning effect to EVERY SINGLE BLOODY ONE? You're not making Blade Runner, clearly they weren't using Holographic technology in WWII, photographs only move if you're attending school at Hogwarts, so please lay off the stupid effects, it just looks wrong. There's no replicant hiding behind Winston Churchill, Hugh Dowding or Sir Douglas Bader.
     
    I should know, I was just seven years old and in short trousers when I met Douglas Bader, I vaguely knew who he was from my fathers stories. My father was not a pilot, but he was in the RAF doing what he did best, build things, repair planes, make do, valuable skills for the war in North Africa. While posted somewhere in England when Duggie needed some change for the pub phone, my father was there to loan him that sixpence. Which was never returned I should add. Not that this reflected badly on his character, Duggie was often legless in or even out of the pub (as he would be the first to joke). Both have since passed away. But bless the BBC for letting us remember those who have passed on in such a way that celebrates the present.
     
    Through the experiences of those before might we learn something about ourselves, if we care to listen. Watching Dogfights you'd be forgiven for thinking that all you needed to be to win was be a great pilot. It's a blinkered armchair general point of view that lacks any basis in reality. In "First Light", Mr Wellum reflects that it didn't matter if you were a good pilot or a great pilot, you just had to be lucky.
     
    Never a truer word was said.
     
    Source
  25. Flexman
    The CH-47F has had a lot more work done in the cockpit area. The seats are looking remarkably clean, I just need to get a child to play inside with some squeeze boxes and a can of 3in1 oil.
     
    The Chinook is smaller than you might think, with a fuselage approx 50ft long, it's shorter than the Apache which is 58ft long (approx). I was surprised by that.
     
    Networking
     
    Today saw successful Combat-Helo net connection between the Leeds UK and Bangkok in Thailand. Getting the link to work through two routers involved the same port forwarding process as is required for BlackShark. Enabling NAT punch-through requires an external service to act as a matchmaking partner. Since the onus is on the host, we'll assume they know what they are doing anyway.
     
    The address-book had some problems with the XML save/update, now fixed. More changes to the colour scheme. A tidy into bar at the bottom rather like the in Falcon3+ and LockOn displaying connection status, camera, mode, fps etc. General tidy work to polish what's been completed already.
     
     
    Apache HMD
     
    I corrected the Helmet Mounted Display to show the pitch ladder and horizon line as fixed instead of being locked forward (as seen in the YouTube VRCockpit First Look video). Much better for the pilot, now I can comfortably look around and make corrections to the aircraft.
     
    There's more work to do in the cockpit to make front/rear/solo seat modes work. This is my focus for the coming week which will sees that engine start-up procedure working at last.
     
     
    Game Engines / iPhone
     
    We pre-ordered Unity 3.0 last week since it was on offer. We can squeeze the Combat-Helo PC campaign into a stripped down iPhone game. Fans of Combat-Helo can support PC development and have a little fun pretending to be an Apache gunner for 3 minutes at a time.
     
    I still haven't migrated the PC Leadwerks engine to 2.32 yet. So many issues with the cockpit and camera-picking still. Some surface switches in our pit have a tolerance of 0.05 units and were not being recognised. This tolerance is perhaps too small anyway given floating point inaccuracies. These shouldn't be a problem when I move away from rendering the cockpit in the main world (still on my to-do list). Speaking of which here's the current priority list...
     
    To-do
     

    Electrical power system and engine start-up Master Arm and weapon selection Cubic spline interpolation for client character controllers Landing gear dynamics (still makes landing difficult)
     
    Combat-Helo : Operation Ouroboros
     
    Operation Counter Insurgency was noted on shots of a splash screen posted a while back. As remarked by one soldier, "It's not very military". This harks back where we didn't have a clue for a project title, it didn't seem to be a priority. For months it remained "Unnamed Helicopter Project" or UHP. Operation Counter Insurgency (OCI) came out of that as something to fill a splash screen. In keeping with the military tradition of using really obscure names (British operations have some really odd ones), Operation Ouroboros represents the endless cycle of conflict in the region. As an ancient symbol of a dragon or serpent that swallows itself, it's unlikely to be trademarked. Above all, it makes the game sound like a sneeze "CHOO".
     
    Bless you.
     
     
     
    A photo that sums up a fairly typical start to a Combat-Helo escort mission.
     

     
    Source
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