- fix breakage due to former commit (AIManager.cxx, r1.72)
- make AI properties available in AIBase
- add <valid> property for animations/nasal scripts
- support more MP and AI targets
- add target select and altitude display
"""
"Flight plans" which can start at a given time (gmt)
WAITUNTIL tokens which pause the flight plans until a given time (gmt)
Submodels can now be attached to any AI objects (except submodels - it can
be done, but in my experimental code it's too expensive in frame rate atm)
"No-roll" attribute added to Ballistic objects - useful for wakes and the
like
"Random" attribute added to Ballistic objects (adds =- 5% to the Cd) -
useful for smoke, exhausts
If the <trigger> tag is not specified the Ballistic object/s will be
released at start-up (cannot be stopped)
Submodels are not released from AI Objects if the AI Object is more than 15
miles away.
"""
mf: minor code and formatting fixes; submodels.?xx were FUBAR and are thus
astyle formatted;
NOTE that <name> tags END, EOF, WAIT, WAITUNTIL are *depreciated*.
Don't get too used to them. This will have to be moved from the "name"
to regular engries.
Here is a patch for two bugs in the AI/multiplayer part:
1. Cannot find model file *.ac error message (was only a false message,
anything worked correctly, the model was loaded from the correct path
afterwards).
2. Often many multiplayer aircrafts are missing in the property-tree.
(but I need them for aerotowing). There is still another bug: The
property in some circumstances seems not to be cleaned up after logout
of a multiplayer. I have added a workaround for this, but I don't now,
if it 100% works (should have no side effects, just aerotow would not
work sometimes). For testing I need more traffic on the mp-server.
and tgt_altitude -> tgt_altitude_ft. Also fix a comment in AIBase.hxx
indicating that the altitude is in meters, even though the usage throughout the
code was most definitely feet.
- In AIMultiplayer.cxx, update the altitude_ft variable so that the altitude
is reported correctly in the entity's property subtree.
- In AIMultiplayer.cxx, compute a velocity value in kts to fill in the speed
entry in the entity's property subtree. Note, this is not an earth centered
reference speed, not an indicated speed and not a speed relative to the local
airmass (that would be much harder to do.)
This patch makes use of the vectors now available in simgear with that past
patch. And using that it simplyfies the carrier code somehow.
- Small additional factory's to the quaternion code are done in the simgear
part. Also more explicit unit names in the factory functions.
- The flightgear part makes use of them and simplyfies some computations
especially in the carrier code.
- The data part fixes the coordinate frames I used for the park positions in
the carrier to match the usual ones. I believed that I had done so, but it
was definitly different. Also there are more parking positions avaliable now.
The new multiplayer patch with an extension to transmit some properties with
the base package. The properties are transmitted in a way that will not
immediately brake the packet format if we need new ones.
Even if the maxmimum number needs to be limited somehow, that format might
work well until we have an improoved packet format which is even more compact
and that does not require to retransmit redundant information with each
packet.
That part is relatively fresh and based on that what Oliver provides on his
multiplayer server web page.
The properties are transferred to the client and I have modified the seahawks
rudder animation property to use a relative property path to verify that it
works appart from the fact that you can see it changing in the property
browser.
The movement is still a bit jerky, but that can be fixed/tuned later without
again braking the packet format.
This patch removes some useless indirection when creating AIModels. It
obsolets AIScenario*.
AIEntities are just an intermediate copy of an other intermediate copy of an
xml file on the way from the ai scenario configuration file to the AIModels.
As such the AImodels can now be created directly from the property tree read
from the scenario file.
This reduces the amount of work needed to add an other AIModel and reduces the
amount of copy operations done during initialization.
It also moves internal knowledge of special AI models into these special AI
models class instead of spreading that into the whole AIModel subdirectory
which in turn enables to use carrier internal data structures for carrier
internal data ...
Also some unused variables are removed from the AIModel classes.
I believe that there are still more of them, but that is what I stumbled
accross ...
Tested, like the other splitouts these days in a seperate tree and using the
autopilot for some time, and in this case with a carrier start ...
This patch is a combined effort by Gregor Richards, Oliver Schroeder, and
Vivian Meazza (and code cleanups and improvements by Erik Hofman). It corrects
the bug in which a Multiplayer model responds to local inputs, and the view
number bug which caused certain aircraft to appear as cockpit only models. It
passes remote properties over the net, and all major control surfaces and gear
are now animated correctly, providing that the local ~model.xml file contains
no leading "/" in the <property></property> data entries. MP objects
are now extrapolated using 1st and 2nd derivatives to make their movement
appear more smooth. The sim is now halted while a new client joins the net.
Known problems with MP are non-display of the remote client under certain
circumstances of starting/resetting, and a freeze on starting. These bugs are
long standing, and are not addressed by this patch.
Special thanks must go to AJ Macleod for his patient testing of this patch over many evenings.
We have also moved part of multiplayer into AIModels as part of the ongoing
development of MP.
Here's a fix for a bug I introduced when I updated the AIStorm with
turbulence. The change I made to the FGAIEntity struct was overriding the
thermal <strength-fps> data.
I tried to make sure accessor functions which return by reference act
on const objects. also replaced some iterators with const_iterator
and a few return/pass by reference that were missed the first time
around.
Some quite extensive changes to the AIModel code:
1. Mathias has made major changes to the AICarrier code to provide better
alignment of an aircraft on deck with the carrier - this feature is a major
improvement on the existing, but has a bug which might cause it to fail when
the computer carries out other tasks - changing window size is a known
example. This bug is outwith this code.
2. I have made significant changes to the AIShip code to enable a ship the
turn and roll smoothly.
3. I have added some simple AI which enables the carrier to remain within,
or return to, an operating box.
4. An automated turn into wind for flying operations.
5. A simplistic implementation of TACAN within AICarrier. I am in the course
of implementing this as a generic instrument, but this is some time off
completion.
I have introduced the posibility to start directly on the carrier.
With that patch you will have a --carrrier=id argument where id can either be
the pennant number configured in the nimitz scenario or the carriers name
also configured in the carriers scenario.
Additionaly you can use --parkpos=id to select different positions on the
carrier. They are also configured in the scenario file.
That includes the switch of the whole FGInterface class to make use of the
groundcache.
That means that an aircraft no longer uses the current elevation value from
the scenery class. It rather has its own local cache of the aircrafts
environment which is setup in the common_init method of FGInterface and
updated either manually by calling
FGInterface::get_groundlevel_m(lat, lon, alt_m);
or implicitly by calling the above method in the
FGInterface::_updateGeo*Position(lat, lon, alt);
methods.
A call get_groundlevel_m rebuilds the groundcache if the request is outside
the range of the cache.
Note that for the real usage of the groundcache including the correct
information about the movement of objects and the velocity information, you
still need to set up the groundcache in the usual way like YASim and JSBSim
currently does.
If you use the native interface, you will get only static objects correctly.
But for FDM's only using one single ground level for a whole step this is IMO
sufficient.
The AIManager gets a way to return the location of a object which is placed
wrt an AI Object. At the moment it only honours AICarriers for that.
That method is a static one, which loads the scenario file for that reason and
throws it away afterwards. This looked like the aprioriate way, because the
AIManager is initialized much later in flightgears bootstrap, and I did not
find an easy way to reorder that for my needs. Since this additional load is
very small and does only happen if such a relative location is required, I
think that this is ok.
Note that moving on the carrier will only work correctly for JSBSim and YASim,
but you should now be able to start and move on every not itself moving
object with any FDM.
I added an AIStatic object to my OV-10 sim for use in putting city signs,
vehicles, or anything else that will be static, but that I don't want to put
in the scenery files. It's inexpensive. Before, I was making such things
from AIShip.
I also added the ability to set flight plans to repeat, so that when an
airplane reaches the end it just starts over at the beginning. This is
useful for my OV-10 sim. I have C-141 and KC-135 traffic flying approaches
to Ramstein, and I only have to define two AI objects to do this.
Also, I found an inefficiency in AIBase, where every AI object was calculating
Mach number at every dt. Now only AIBallistic objects do this.
1) The AIStorm sets the properties:
/environment/turbulence/magnitude-norm
/environment/turbulence/rate-hz
The actual turbulence effects are handled by the FDM.
If the effects are deemed unrealistic, then that will
have to be fixed in the FDM(s).
2) The zone of turbulence is cylindrical, and is centered
at the AIStorm's lat/lon. The diameter is set with
<diameter-ft>, the top with <height-msl>, the bottom is
assumed to be at <altitude> minus 1000 feet.
3) Note that the zone of turbulence may not match well with
the visual model of the storm. In this case I had to
x-offset the storm model by 4700 meters to match the zone
of turbulence. (i.e. the storm model is 4700m off center).
4) While I was in there I also increased the speed of the
lightning flashes to look more realistic.
I have done some cleanup where I moved some values out of classes where they
do not belong and such stuff.
Also the fols offsets are now named in the carrier xml file with a more
verbose name (flols-pos/offset-*) than before (only offset-*).
There is a little preparation for definitions of parking positions on the
carrier which should later be used for starting flightgear directly on the
carrier.
I just heard from John Wojnaroski that you and he are going to work on getting
a flightgear demo machine up for the linux expo thursday and Friday. John
indicated that he would very much like to get a CVS version with the new
traffic code up and running before the expo.
This is a sub-system which can be added to any carrier.
These files add a functioning Fresnel Lens Optical Landing System (FLOLS).
The orange/red 'source' lights are illuminated according to the position of
the pilot's eye above/below the 3.5 deg glide slope. The apparent position
of the source light relative to the fixed green datum lights allow the pilot
to 'fly the meatball'. The green 'cut' lights flash when the pilot's eye is
below the coverage of the lowest (red) source light.
TODO - add rules for the operation of the wave-off lights.
Okay, here's the latest update to the tarffic manager/AI Manager. AITraffic
can now fly multiple routes and be initialized while sitting statically at
airports.
Here are files to get automated contrails working. I've set up contrails for
the 737, using my simple, untextured contrail model. Vivian has made another
contrail model, but I'm still trying to get his to work. I'm hoping others
will try to make contrail models also.
Here's some code that defines a top to thermals. When the top of a thermal is
reached the strength is phased-out linearly over the next 100 feet of
altitude. At first I tried just capping the thermal at the top, but the
change in thermal strength was too fast for the FDM to handle well.
Included is a new version of the thermal scenario that includes a top
(height-msl) to the thermal. The default value is 5000 feet.
As a result of recent requests, I've implemented the ability to switch off
aerodynamic stabilisation:
This has to be added to the submodel.xml files:
<aero-stabilised>false</aero-stabilised>
When false the submodel retains the pitch given at instantiation.
It defaults to true.
The calculation of submodel mass from weight has been moved from AIBallistic
to Submodel so that it is calculated only once, rather than on every
iteration as a present. The parameter <contents> has been added, primarily
so that droptanks will have the proper mass. It is the path to an
appropriate property containing a weight in lbs.
Care has to be taken with the use of <contents> because after a reset there
appears to be a delay in submodel instantiation (dt not properly reset???)
and the weight property is not always picked up before it is set to zero in
the key bindings. Slightly hard to explain. It works fine if FGFS has not
been reset though. There is a partial solution which involves the rejigging
of the fuel and gui nasal scripts, but there is still the visible delay in
instantiation to be resolved. I've nearly done the nasal fixes, which will
form part of an update to the Hunter only. I'll probably complete those
later today.
The value of rho (air density) varies with height. (Including the upper
stratosphere, ust in case someone wants to model ICBMs.) The standard
atmosphere is used (based on a sea-level temperature of 15 deg C.).
Erik Hofman:
I moved this code over the AIBase::update() so all AIModels can make
use of rho, temperature, pressure, etc.
I have added <Cd> and <weight> to the input parameters in the submodels.xml
script. Raw data may be used, thus avoiding the need to guestimate <eda>.
Eda remains, but should now be used to enter the proper cross-sectional
area.
Here's some new AI stuff.
1) AI objects must now be defined in a scenario file, not in preferences.xml
or a *-set file. (Of course this doesn't prevent objects from being created
dynamically, as with Durk's traffic manager).
2) A new demo_scenario file is attached. It creates 3 aircraft, a sailboat,
and a thunderstorm.
3) Objects without flightplans live forever.
4) FGAIShip::ProcessFlightplan() is not yet implemented.
5) preferences.xml should now define only <enabled> and <scenario>
