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Flexman

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  1. Flexman
    Check off the list, working external canopy doors, flip up/down, will indicate available crew position as well as letting you chat to your mounted team-mate while you're on foot. You could even arm the pilots chopper for him.
     
    Internal doors and wipers next followed by external lighting system. Hopefully we'll have the cold start-up sequence in a few days, we need that so we can get on with more vital systems.
     
    (I just noticed the text on the rail is reversed)
     
    Source
  2. Flexman

    Quick update

    By Flexman,

    Monday was one of those email days.
     
    Future Tech
     
    As director I'm looking beyond Combat-Helo, the future of the game and where we want to make improvements. One major improvement I'd like to see is the terrain rendering part of the engine. Make it more flexible, scalable and efficient. We've been looking at different engines and technologies, none of them are suited for flight-simulation out of the box. As much as we'd like to license those for use in a future commercial project they are either not ready or unavailable for license.
     
    To satisfy requirements post Combat-Helo we require the ability to model the whole of the earth and stream in data for ground detail. There's potential to do that with the current engine by paging in ground object data with a curved terrain mesh (think of a skybox that's curved into a sphere, but used for terrain). There are several interpolated LOD methods. The Terrain Augmentation Program is to be an ongoing side-project and not to interfere with Combat-Helo development.
     
     
    Vector Graphics and Display Lists
     
    I was looking over our Apache MPD (multi-page display) code, there are items I left out simply because I didn't have a handy symbol or character. Also the amount of updating required is a little inefficient. MPD updates were scheduled to be part of an optimisation pass later in the project but since I was adding the FCR and TADS symbology I feel justified in bringing that forward to make it easier.
     
    Currently the MPDs use a co-ordinate system with 0,0 in the centre of the screen, with -1.0 being the left edge, +1.0 the right side. With +1.0 and -1.0 top and bottom respectively. This allows for resolution independent rendering. However some elements such as the Leadwerks bitmap fonts required converting to a standard co-ordinate system. Bitmap fonts don't scale well.
     
    I've just completed coding a complete alpha-numeric font with symbols that mimic closely the current Apache MPD looks. All using vectors and OpenGL Display Lists (which are sort of pre-compiled commands), runs pretty fast and looks not too shabby. The MPD text and symbols are now fully scalable, also being pure OpenGL they are freed from needing the 3D engine and will run on a modest laptop.
     
    Things left to do,convert existing code to use new VectorFont class, use more Display Lists for page elements. I was adding the FCR (back) into the game while I was away last week but it's aged so much it's worth starting over.
     
    Sensors and Equipment
     
    Regardless of the current Apache capabilities which are not in the public-domain, our Apache will track and classify up to 256 objects (thank you AABB for making it so easy). It's currently magic, meaning instant and no regard for signal strength or LOS. This will be sorted out later. Just needed something to display on the TSD, FCR etc.
     
    David has been looking at the crews survival equipment. Something you can whip out to find out where you are. We know we'll want to have at least one weapon (a sidearm) and smoke signal flares for dropping a coloured smoke emitter.
     


     
    Source
  3. Flexman

    Comms console

    By Flexman,

    Today I added the ubiquitous chat console complete with 4 colour coded channel presets, Global, Side, Group, Vehicle. Complete with command parsing (/setkey lets you send keys to any object you're standing before which is handy). The console also has a command history using the UP/DOWN cursor keys.
    Chat entry toggled by hitting the ENTER key ala Warcraft. Be aware that the primary action key has moved from the ENTER key to the "P" key (P for primary and also handily close to the square brackets used for menu navigation.
    Clipboard paste is supported via..
    Extern "Win32"{ Function OpenClipboard(hwnd%) Function CloseClipboard() Function GetClipboardData:Byte Ptr(Format:Int)}if(OpenClipboard(0)) String.FromCString(GetClipboardData(1));
     
    Console text entry mode also disables all input mapper KEY_DEVICE inputs to avoid conflict. It was important to Flush the keybuffer on exit otherwise all those spaces translated into SUPER JUMPS after entering text. Besides, you should always flush before you leave.
    Network comms chat is working fine except an occasional (Not Responding) display "freeze" only when the server was active. I thought was a problem with my Raknet interface but logs show packets still being processed by the game. The problem seems related to not wearing the TrackIR pro-clip device when the network is active. As soon as I put on the head tracker device the display responded normally as if nothing had happened, even chat catches up. Most odd as I've not experienced this with TrackIR before.
    Commands for server control are working including IP ban/unban. I do need to harden the user interface for network connections, the menus need to change to show the connection is already active and offer a disconnect. And the client needs a suitable connect-time period before giving up and allowing a re-try. We will begin NAT testing when I've got that sorted.

     
    Last night I made a DLL into which I was able to pass a structure containing flight data. It did nothing beyond reading it back but will be handy for exporting game data to third party programs.
     
    My TrackClip Pro has fallen apart. Only glue is holding it together.
     
    Source
  4. Flexman
    David posted up some more CH47 pics around SimHQ and Facebook and possibly elsewhere. Lot of detail work has gone into the engines, rotor head and trying to get the smoothing correct at the rear of the aircraft.
     
    Looking forward to getting those blades turning, the sound thumping and the dust is flying.
     
    I've been doing a lot of logic work in the Apache in the past day or so. Also full of a head cold which tends to make me cranky.
     
    Sat in the cockpit, the APU sounds like a vacuum cleaner in the next room. Adding moving cockpit parts such as power levers, flashing lamp indicators and other one shot elements that require animation in a periodic update function suggests that maybe it would be better to place all of these things in something more general purpose.
     
    Rather than having a spider-web of update calls, updateCockpit, updateUnitWaypoints, updateEventTrigger etc. popping a function onto a stack when it's needed seems like the thing to do.
     
    I'm proposing to add a simple event system that can take an entity and perform a chain of moves, rotations, material or colour changes, and remove from the stack when the sequence is completed or removed. Then augment this to perform function calls for mission events, to be fired as offsets from mission start time or absolute world time.
     
    Initial thoughts suggest something like the following would cover most needed cases:

    eventID = EntityID, action, blend, userdata (e.g material, colour, vector) as csv eventSequence = ID, eventID[], deltatime_ms, cycle_ms, repeat_count, start-time_ms (absolute world time or zero for mission start time) Where a sequence to cycle a material between two states would need two eventID entries, one for each material and the entity to apply this to. And the eventSequence would contain the reference to both eventIDs. It's then up to the eventProcessor to handle the action. Which could also be SetKey() or SendMessage() but it should be generic enough to handle a lot of common situations.
     
    Event is performed [repeat_count] times, a value of zero implies loop. [cycle_ms] is time between each repeat cycle in milliseconds.
     
    Some checks may be required before injecting an even into the eventSequence. To prevent duplication, for example, hitting reload to trigger a reload animation repeatedly would have the effect of triggering the animation to play before the previous playback has ended. Therefore a parameter to test the uniqueness of the eventSequenceID before pushing it onto the stack should suffice.
     
    **edit: some of this doesn't make sense, seems it got screwed up in posting. Text has been mistaken for tags.**
     
    Source
  5. Flexman
    Added a simple frame-skip to MPD draw method, they don't need to be updated every single frame and it squeezes out a little extra. Found a "toob" video in which you get a couple of frames of the UTIL page. Anti-ice and FMS options, presumably this is where you can toggle pitch roll and yaw augmentation. Well seems like a good place to add that and we will need to flag some FMCS values for HTR which can auto-trim. Turning that off in the UTIL page will be handy. Looks like "NOE?" at the bottom too. No idea what channel that's supposed to be.
     
    Got some strange problem with my matricies with the new vector glyph render, fixing that this morning. Will update with a screen-shot when fixed.
    Noooo, a totally numb-nutz error. My old OpenGL line macro uses integer verts, switching to floats. Oh man, how dumb.
    PC froze unexpectedly this morning. It hasn't done that in ages.
     
    Source
  6. Flexman
    Spac3Rat sent in a nice new game icon as well as two editions of his Rotorwash magazine from 2006 to read. Fascinating look at building helos for FSX, one thing we learned about FSX models, they don't work too well for our kind of real-time work. But fascinating all the same.
     
    Dave is busy in 3DMAX building something that looks very much like a Chinook. I'm making incremental improvements to the GUI system, panels can now be roughly dragged around without risk of "mouse droppings" (the window/item being dropped off the mouse during aggressive mousing). Buttons and input fields are getting focus and their classes respond to events OK. Running two Combat-Helo instances side by side isn't recommended but doable, solves the logistics problem for network testing until I can persuade my wife to maybe set-up a virtual machine with 3D acceleration like she has on her desktop.
     
    The gui system is linked list of active TGUIPanels (base type) which maintain their own linked list of user controls (TGUIItem), each control having a simple drawing function. They keep track of what's got focus, what's been clicked on and dragged around. It's only going to be used for a few things but it makes it easier to add checklists if needed. And they just make use of a couple of base textures and existing game fonts (of which there are about 5).
     
    The IHADSS or HMD has a problem that has been bugging for some time since the early flight tests and a recent personal message confirmed it. Look over your shoulder and how the hell can you tell which way up you are when the artificial horizon vanishes? So we're going to fix that to work as it should as soon as we can. It's also supposed to be quite low resolution but that would look really ugly when it's constantly in your face, I can't bring myself to reduce it to VGA res.
     
    Dave has learned that Chinooks are round, very round. I learned how to pronounce it correctly (Shin-uk) thanks to my Canadian wife who repeatedly laughed at my attempts.
     
    Finally, Red Dead Redpemtion has been a fantastic game, the open-world and amoral nature of Grand Theft Auto games applied to the old West (USA, 1903 era) fits perfectly. And you get to play a protagonist you can like. Amazing inverse kinematic system meaning character movement seems quite natural compared to traditional baked animations. A world that is just fun to roam around in, a magnificent achievement. I spent an hour in a saloon just playing Blackjack. Which reminds me, I'm out of Whiskey.
     
    Source
  7. Flexman

    Showroom pic

    By Flexman,

    I'm still hard at work on flight model code so not much to show or talk about. I'm feeling a bit sleep deprived but we're against the clock.
     
    Dave is refreshed from his little break in the sun and has been rendering shadows for the opfor ground vehicles and CH47. I like these "showroom" pictures. Gives me a hankering to play an RTS game.
     

     
    Source
  8. Flexman
    Currently testing the autopatcher software. Broadband upstream speeds being what they are, don't make this a fast process. The project core files are currently around the 300mb mark spread over 1300+ files. This will come down when we package them.
     
    The benefits of having an autopatcher is the ability to push updates for CombatHelo on a regular basis without too much hassle and players having to negotiate versions when playing with friends. Just run the updater and everyone should be in sync.
     
    Source
  9. Flexman
    I've just moved on to doing research into co-ordinates and floating point accuracy.
    Going to make a few test projects to try different ideas. Dave has been posting updates on the greenzone development.
     
    Welcome to Afghanistan
     
    Source
  10. Flexman
    I had a couple of hours with Just Cause 2 which I hesitate to recommend, it a really fun game but you're stuck playing an unlikeable character. Cheesy dialogue abounds and that's no bad thing in games, I scripted plenty of cheese for Longbow Combat Helo. Think about the lines of dialogue from old games you might remember.
     
    The Playstation 3 was needed by the children for Final Fanstasy n so Rico, Scorpio (whatever the slab of MDF you play is called) was parked for the evening.
     
    So back to doing some little things on the project. There's an expectation of standards, a language of gaming to follow. To guide players through the work-flow by implementing cues and guides, can something be too obvious? I think so. I might expect to see the following (see picture below) on an XBOX or PS3 title but not a Combat Sim. Maybe some funky looking icon suggesting "mount".
     



    The advantage of icons over text is that they don't need to be localised. English, French, German, one icon says it all, even if you don't understand apparent meaning the first time, you associate the action with the icon afterwards. So I think we'll go down that route.
     
    So what is the internationally recognised symbol for "Board Helicopter"? Agghh, just stick any old **** in there, people are smart, they'll work it out.
     
    Source
  11. Flexman

    Windows 7 upgrade

    By Flexman,

    A need to test Combat-Helo on Windows 7 resulted in a TESCO purchase of the Windows 7 Upgrade and 1kg of bananas (a rich source of potassium).
     
    Running any Leadwerks program on a fresh OS install results in an EXCEPTION on launch, only two steps required to get it working. Run the OpenAL install then update video drivers. Simple. Everything worked as it should.
     
    Source
  12. Flexman

    Just BeCause 2

    By Flexman,

    No work will be done tomorrow. Just Cause 2 PS3 is released. The acting sucks, the actual game doesn't seem all that hot from the demo either, but the stunt playground aspect is brilliant.
     
    Source
  15. Flexman

    Player profiles

    By Flexman,

    Writing this up for reference later.
     
    Thinking about players, names, callsigns, current rank, medals, changing characters. The 3D base metaphor avoids a lot of GUI work. Using 3D lockers (since I have one to hand) is perfect. As it turns out, as easy as setting user keys on Locker entities. Simple.
     
    Source
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