-----------------------------------------------
Fixed a segfault on exit.
Changed the radius of the dummy bounding sphere from 10m to 1000m to
ensure that FOV culling doesn't leave anything out.
Allow an object to have more than one variant model, which will be
chosen randomly. Simply repeat the <path>...</path> property.
Removed the <billboard> property and replaced it with <heading-type>,
which can be set to "fixed" (leave the model oriented as it is),
"random" (give the model a random heading between 0 and 359 deg), or
"billboard" (always turn the model to face the camera). The default
is "fixed". Models look much better when they are not all facing the
same direction.
Allow the user to group models with the same visual range, so that
there can be *many* fewer nodes in the scene graph when the models are
not visible. This causes an XML-format change, so that instead of
<object>
<range-m>...</range-m>
...
</object>
<object>
<range-m>...</range-m>
...
</object>
...
we now have
<object-group>
<range-m>...</range-m>
<object>
...
</object>
<object>
...
</object>
...
</object-group>
Every object in a group can still have its own model(s), coverage, and
heading-type, but they all share the same range selector.
This change should already help users with tight memory constraints,
but it will matter much more when we add more object types -- for
example, we can now add dozens of different urban building types
without bloating the scene graph or slowing down the LOD tests for
tris that are out of range (i.e. most of them).
1. Only one copy of each object (and its texture) is stored in memory,
no matter how many materials use it.
2. Random objects are added to a triangle only when the objects are in
range, and they are deleted as soon as the objects are out of
range. That way, only a relatively small number of ssg nodes are
used at any one time.
This patch seems to eliminate freezes when tiles are freed. There are
occasional stutters at extremely high speeds (i.e. over 3,000kt), but
it seems smooth enough for normal aviation speeds.
- no extra nodes are created at all if the material has no random
objects defined
- the range selector is place correctly under the transformation
- there is only one range selector for each object type in each
triangle (experimental -- doesn't seem to make a difference in speed
or memory)
This patch removes Curt's patch that randomized ranges slightly, since
individual random objects no longer have their own range selectors.
It also leaves the object-group-range value unused, for now.
- tidies up the update-time-step handling (making it a simple "dt");
- makes the altimeter get a proper pressure, and the (unused) vacuum
calculation get a proper RPM (*);
- replaces property name look-ups with static pointers to property nodes.
Notes from DPM:
- the static pointers are a very bad idea, but they're only temporary;
I plan to make FGSteam into a proper subsystem soon, and then they
can be member variables
- I fixed the patch to get the current static pressure from the
/environment/pressure-inhg property, so that the altimeter interacts
properly with FGEnvironment
The present sets of bindings result in the throttle being "squared"
about its centre, which is silly. This is because the "squared"
parameter is not set by the throttle binding, but the default is
"true". We discussed this before and I think there was general
agreement that the default should be "false" on the basis of
generality.
situations for every kind of airplane. But at the moment we have nothing
implimented and this will cover the simpler cases until someone has a
chance to impliment a fuller solution.
