I have a small update which fixes the algorythm used for marking solid
surfaces for some cases where some branch nodes carry the object names I had
expected in the leaf nodes.
That will also introduce the possibility to mark whole subtrees from the
scenegraph solid.
I still work on getting the YASim models see the detailed environment
especially the carrier.
I have *forgotten* to initialize and to destruct the ground cache object!
Oooopppss!
The attached patch allows to put comments in *.stg files[1]. Lines with
# in the first column (and only there!) are skipped. This has no effect
on overall performance, but has two advantages:
A) possibility to temporarily comment out objects during scenery design,
(or to put other remarks there);
B) possibility to put marks like "# BEGIN" and "# END" there that allow
automated merging of local landmarks etc.
--
[1] actually, comments are possible now, too. But they aren't explicitly
handled and fgfs tries to parse words in "comments" piece by piece. Ugly!
[2] Idea by Chris METZLER, that I make already use of. I have a local
scenery dir for some tiles with extra objects, such as VOR/DME for
all of Austria. These are surrounded by "# BEGIN LOCAL" and "# END LOCAL",
and today I was able to merge the new 0.9.7 scenery with my locally
changed files. :-)
I've finished the emigration of the radiostack, and I've also removed it
completely. It turned out that the comm radio is completely implemented in
the ATC subsystem. I've changed the affected ATC files to point
to /instrumentation/com, but I guess that the maintainer of the ATC code
should decide wether to make it configureable, and how.
I also had to change some files in Network and Main. The changes in network
should be obvious, but the changes in Main were a bit suspect. The files
included radiostack.hxx, but they weren't directly depending on
radiostack-hxx. They were depending on other files that were included by
radiostack.hxx. I got it to compile, but I'm not sure if I included the
correct directly depending file.
For the data directory I changed every occurrence of /radios/
with /instrumentation/ with this simple one-liner that I found on the net:
find -name '*.xml' -type f | xargs perl -pi -e
's/\/radios\//\/instrumentation\//g'
Instead of me sending all the files that got changed by this I suggest that
you execute the one-liner yourself. Of course I can not guarantee that this
will work perfectly, but I considered hand editing to be not an option (I'm
lazy). I don't want to test every aircraft to see if everything still works,
I think it's better to wait and see if anyone complaints about broken nav
radios/instruments.
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.
I understand that the new hud/runway feature is still very experimental,
and that the search criteria for the active runway don't necessarily make
much sense. (We are searching for a runway on /sim/presets/airport-id
that matches the current wind direction best, and not the tuned in ILS
runway or something!)
Anyway: the new hud code completely denies the possibility of
globals->get_runways()->search() not finding a runway and returning false.
There's always a runway found at KSFO, but not so at e.g. LOXL, in which
case we are handing garbage over to sg_geodesy.cxx and find ourselves
caught in an endless loop in geo_direct_wgs_84().
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.
currently just returns a lagged normalized value in the range of 0-1 that
is proportional to N1. It's up to the engine gauge to scale to the right
range. This is for lack of a real model of these items so we can have
something to drive the engine gauges.
I have now split out the ground cache functions into src/FDM/groundcache.[ch]xx
Attached are the two files and the patch to integrate that cache into
FGInterface.
The code is nowhere used at the moment, the fdm's need to be updated to use
that ground cache. The JSBSim-dropin.tar.gz from Martins ftp server does this
for example.
The carrier's scenegraph is not yet processed to be visible for ground
intersection testing. So the only benefit up to now is that the api is set
up. Using this I can put the changes to make JSBSim work with that into
JSBSim's cvs. Also I aim to provide Andy a patch to make use of that with
YASim.
Use a suggested exit method as described in the SDL_Quit man page. (fgOSExit() is still uncalled in both fg_os.cxx (glut) and fg_os_sdl.cxx, which makes these functions kind-of useless.) The other changes are fixes for gcc 3.3.4 warnings.
directory and over to the Instrumentation directory and make them modular
in the sense of being able to pick and choose what you include with any
particular aircraft.
Aaron says:
I just got the virtual runway hud projection working on all views and
2D & 3D HUDs. It is working awesome(see below). I have attached every
file that was modified (hud.hxx, hud.cxx, and the default.xml for the hud)
and every file that was added (hud_rwy.cxx and runwayinstr.xml).
Just a quick overview of how the instrument works.
The virtual runway is projected by getting the "cockpit view" of the
runway in 3D and projecting the points on to the 2D HUD. Therefore, the
virtual runway will be displayed the same in every view. For example,
you can land an aircraft from the "Tower View" by flying the HUD. Also
if you're in "Cockpit View" and it is centered then the virtual runway
lines will perfectly outline the actual runway. I am getting the active
runway via the wind like done in the ATC classes, which may need changed.
Also, I made the assumption the view 0, in view manager, is always the
cockpit view, which may need changed as well.
The runway configuration file will allow you to specify a center offset
(x,y) and a bounding box (width,height). You can also configure the line
stipple pattern for the outside and the center line. For instance, if
you wanted a 0xFAFA pattern, then specify 64250 as the value. If you
want a solid line, you can specify -1 or 65535 (0xFFFF) and zero will
turn the line off. It also draws a runway indication arrow when the
runway is not in the HUD or it can be drawn all the time if arrow_always
is true. The arrow will point in the direction of the runway (2D) by
rotating around the center at a radius of arrow_radius. If you wish to
turn the arrow off, you must set the arrow_scale <=0. The arrow really
should be 3D arrow that points to the runway (or points in the direction
of the aircraft-to-runway vector).
Add some controls required for carrier operations:
/controls/gear/launchbar
should be 1.0 if the launchbar is lowered, that means the aircraft should now
be arrested at the catapult.
/controls/gear/catapult-launch-cmd
Should be set to 1.0 when the aircraft should be launched from tha catapult.
The moving ai models will jump around realtive to the moving aircraft model.
I can see that with the carrier but others have noticed that too with ai
aircraft before.
The reason is that all SGSystems are called with a dt value which is not
necessarily a multiple of 1/hz.
In contrast, most FDM's use the _calc_multiloop function from FGInterface
which forces the time update to be a multiple of 1/hz for the FDM aircraft.
As a result, in the worst case, the FDM aircraft has moved nearly 1/hz seconds
further than the rest of flightgear (1/120sec*300kts that is about 1.3m).
That patch forces the time update to be a multiple of 1/hz.
systems. Fix a couple bugs/oversights.
- atc610x.cxx: Much code has moved into the configurable input mapper
(ATC-Inputs.cxx) and the remaining input massaging code has moved into
the atcsim.nas module.
We have decided that hardcoded initialization of instruments and systems is
bad. So we remove them.
Hardcoded initialization is bad because it can't be overridden from config
files or from the command line. We prefer to do it through config files that
should be, eventually, aircraft specific (*-set.xml), not global
(preferences.xml).
I attach the latest version of Nimitz. The textures have been improved. A glide-path has been added, it is on by default, but can be switched off by means of the properties browser: /ai/models/ship/controls/glide-path. The origin has been adjusted to the turning pivot and approximate roll center.
Modified AiShip files are also attached. These allow the radius of the turning circle of a ship to be input. The turning circle is adjusted for speed and rudder angle. Roll has been corrected so that a ship leans out of a turn, not inwards like an aircraft. The roll angle is adjusted for speed and rudder angle (yes, application of more rudder reduces roll angle - rudders act as stabilizers).
TODO
Add a relative wind calculation so that a carrier can be turned to the appropriate launch and recovery courses.
Add a 'flight plan' so that the carrier can carry out a racetrack for flight ops.
Add a projector landing sight.
Add auto-land facilities.
The caption should already be set when the window is opened. This is
important for some window managers. (KDE's kwin, for example, can store
special settings for certain windows, such as "no border" and "always
on top". KDE uses the window title to determine if a special rule is
to be applied. KDE will be made more tolerant, too.)
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.
on the ground) -- this is based on some wild guesses, but it seems
reasonable for now.
The next step will be to give the compass some angular momentum so
that it does not snap instantly to a heading, and so that it can
overshoot a heading and oscillate.
After applying the attached patches (based on latest CVS) you should
have a new option available within your version that should also
show up using fgfs --help, the syntax is:
fgfs --min-status={level} --show-aircraft
whereas "level" can be anything between
"alpha","beta","early-production" and "production"
Of course running something like
fgfs --min-status=alpha --show-aircraft
should not return any aircraft right now, as none of the
current aircraft definition files in your base-package is using the
required
<status></status>
tag - but you can easily give it a try by adding something like
<status>alpha</status>
The tag should be placed as a sub-tag within <sim> - so directly behind
the <description> tag would be just fine and straight-forward.
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.
I've made an encoder and a transponder. The transponder gets C-Mode altitude
information from the encoder. These two might not be very usefull right now,
but I think they might come in handy when the ATC network gets going.
input.cxx allocates memory for js->getNumAxes() axes and for jsCaps.wNumButtons
or MAX_JOYSTICK_BUTTONS buttons per joystick. But it doesn't check if some
xml config defines bindings for more axes/buttons, in which case it writes
to unallocated memory and causes crashes. This is a real world example:
sidewinder-force-feed-pro.xml defines 7 axes, but only newer versions of
this js do actually have that many. Older ones (-> gameport) don't. The patch
drops unused and unusable bindings.
I've added two new debug log types for the instrumentation and systems. They
used to use the autopilot debug log, because I couldn't figure out how to
make new log types. Well, now I have figured it out. ;-)
This will modify menubar.cxx/hxx so that it exports the
entire menubar (from menubar.xml) to the property tree, so that it can
now be changed dynamically using Nasal's setprop() instruction and
afterwards running a newly added fgcommand to update the menubar
based on those changes using the appropriate menubar path within
the property tree.
By default the menubar from menubar.xml will be stored within:
/sim/menubar/default
Erik:
I have moved the loading of menubar.xml into preferences.xml and
made sure that the menubar is destroyed every time a new menubar
is created.
I think I found the problem in props.hxx. I have an exception when copying properties. An alias to a property that has no value trigger this exception. The code that generate that is in AIManager.cxx :
void FGAIAircraft::bind() {
FGAIBase::bind();
props->tie("controls/gear/gear-down",
SGRawValueMethods<FGAIAircraft,bool>(*this,
&FGAIAircraft::_getGearDown));
props->getNode("controls/lighting/landing-lights", true)
->alias("controls/gear/gear-down");
}
controls/gear/gear-down has no value ( _type == NONE ) and controls/lighting/landing-lights is copied somewhere.
Erik:
Frederic's fix was to change props.hxx but he has expressed his doubts.
For now I've commented out the line that causes the problem so we have more
time to look deeper into the problem.
cvs -z4 -q diff -u props.hxx (in directory I:\FlightGear\cvs\SimGear\simgear\props\)
Index: props.hxx
===================================================================
RCS file: /var/cvs/SimGear-0.3/SimGear/simgear/props/props.hxx,v
retrieving revision 1.4
diff -u -r1.4 props.hxx
--- props.hxx 19 Sep 2004 09:08:12 -0000 1.4
+++ props.hxx 21 Oct 2004 07:10:54 -0000
@@ -622,7 +622,7 @@
/**
* Test whether this node contains a primitive leaf value.
*/
- bool hasValue () const { return (_type != NONE); }
+ bool hasValue () const { return (_type != ALIAS && _type != NONE) || (_type == ALIAS && _value.alias->_type != NONE); }
/**
Don't overwrite user settings from config files.
fgfs had in any case set bump-mapping to false, no matter if this
node did already exist (because it was defined in a config file).
compilation without ENABLE_SP_FMDS defined gave me a lot of link errors. It appeared that symbol used by ADA was still in use in the HUD.
There is also a typo from Curt in instrument_mgr.cxx where he #include "kr_87.cxx" instead of "kr_87.hxx"
This is a patch to make display list usage optional. They are on by default.
Use --prop:/sim/rendering/use-display-list=false to use immediate mode.
There is also a change in exception handling in main.cxx and bootstrap.cxx
This is a patch to make display list usage optional. They are on by default.
Use --prop:/sim/rendering/use-display-list=false to use immediate mode.
There is also a change in exception handling in main.cxx and bootstrap.cxx
Instrumentation and systems are now configureable from xml files. The two
generic configurations generic-systems.xml and generic-instrumentation.xml
configures the systems and instrumentation as it was hardcoded. You can
override the generic configurations in a similar way as you override the
autopilot configuration.
I've added some digital filters to the autopilot. They are all low-pass
filters that filter away high frequency signals/noise. There are 4 different
filters:
1. Exponential - The algorithm is essentially the same as the one used in the
fgGetLowPass() function.
2. Double exponential - Two exponential filters in series. This filter has a
"steeper" frequency response curve. It filters "better" than the single
exponential.
3. Moving average - Averages a number of inputs.
4. Noise spike - limits the amount that the output value can change from one
sample to the next.
Filters 1 and 2 are characterised by it's filter-time in seconds. For filter 3
you have to set the number of input samples to average over. For filter 4 you
set the maximum allowed rate of change as [1/s]. Since the sampling interval
(dt) isn't constant we have to calculate the maximum allowed change for every
update.
Example of a double exponential filter with filter time 0.1 seconds, that is
1/0.1 = 10 Hz.
<filter>
<name>pressure-rate-filter</name>
<debug>true</debug>
<type>double-exponential</type>
<input>/autopilot/internal/pressure-rate</input>
<output>/autopilot/internal/filtered-pressure-rate</output>
<filter-time>0.1</filter-time>
</filter>
This would go in the autopilot configuration file.
I've also removed the filtering of the "pressure-rate" helper value, use the
new filters if you want to filter it! ;-)
As I had reported on 2004/8/4 00:02:56 ("yasim + bo105 + vrp + @#%$#@ == argh!")
there must be a bug somewhere in YASim, which is responsible for the Bo105
turning around the FDM origin (nose tip) rather than the CG. Some people assumed
that I was just another victim of the "view offset" illusion, but this wasn't
and isn't the case.
Maik Justus (the rotor man) has now supposedly found the bug in YASim[1].
Look at this code in FDM/YASim/Integrator.cpp:35--66:
erly known as trRenderFrame) is now declared as a NULL function pointer and ass
ignment of the proper function is now done in FlightGear (jpgRenderFrame=FGRend
erer::update).
a working state. I still see an anomoly when taking a screen shot from inside
a 3d cockpit, but external (chase/tower) views seem to work well. I also
added a property to control how many screen-res tiles are generated in the
output. Theoretically, you can now generate unlimited resolution screen shots,
or limited only by your disk space and patience.
Today I successfully generated a 20*1024 x 20*768 (20480x15360) resolution
screen shot. If you rendered that at 100 dpi it would cover a poster of
about 17 feet by 12.8 feet.
Good luck trying to display something that big or convert it to anything
useful on a typical PC. :-)
automatically generate config.h-msvc6 with the right version number.
This way Curt will pack the right file because it will be
generated every time he will do 'configure'.
split). If SimGear is configured --with-jpeg-factory, then FlightGear
will fail to build unless this function is present.
FIXME: this is very messy architecturally -- find a better solution,
like passing this explicitly as a callback to the libJPEG class
(SimGear should not have a dependency on FlightGear).
I've made appropriate changes to Readme.submodels to reflect the
variation of Cd with Mach number.
Spitfire.submodel has been changed to use the variation of Cd with Mach
number
Submodel.cxx has been changed so that the default value of Cd is the
subsonic Cd of a non-boat tailed bullet.
I've finished the variation of Cd with Mach number.
The calculations are only applicable to ballistic
objects, and then strictly one shape: non boat-tailed bullets/shells, so
I've put them in AIBallistic rather than AIBAase. For all inputs, Cd
should be the sub-sonic value, so bullets will need changing.
I've just posted a graphical analysis here:
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/vmeazza/FlightGear/cd_mach.pdf
I'm attaching a small change to Andy's dialog.cxx that I needed
to make so that it enables XML/Nasal-dialogs to also contain
puLargeInput boxes.
The text will be retrieved/buffered from/within a specified
property tree, like:
<textbox>
<x>100</x>
<y>100</y>
<width>200</width>
<height>100</height>
<property>/gui/path-to-text-node/contents</property>
<slider>15</slider>
<editable>true</editable>
</textbox>
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.
Split up main.cxx into a program manegement part (which remains in
main.cxx) and a render part (the new renderer.?xx files). Also turn
the renderer into a small class of it's own. At this time not really
exctining because most of the stuff is still global, but it allows us
to slowly migrate some of the global definitions into the new class.
The FGRenderer class is now managed by globals, so to get the renderer
just call gloabals->get_renderer()
At some pijt it might be a good idea to also turn the remaining code in
main into a class of it's own. With a bit of luck we end up with a more
robust, and better maintainable code.
I had to reverse a number of signs to get it right. I took the opportunity
to add roll to the submodel so that droptanks will come off with the right
orientation. I have neither added the rotational speed to the submodel, nor
yaw, so if you release droptanks with significant roll rate or yaw angle on
the aircraft the submodel will not be quite right. Straight and level, or
nearly so, is fine.
paging system much more robust when position change is very rapid and sporadic.
Recall that we must load 3d models in the main render thread because model
loading can trigger opengl calls (i.e. with texture loading) and all opengl
calls *must* happen in the main render thread.
To accomplish this we load the base tile in the pager thread and build a work
queue of external models that need to be loaded. We never allow a tile to be
paged out of the tile cache until all it's pending model loads are complete.
However, when changing position very rapidly, we can quickly create a huge
backlog of pending model loads because we are changing positions faster than we
can load the associated models for the existing tiles. The end result is
that tiles that are long out of range can't be removed because there is still
a huge backlog of pending model load requests and memory blows up.
This change being committed allows the tile paging system to remove tiles
if they are out of range, even when there are pending models to load. The
model loading code in the render thread can now check to see if the tile
exists and discard any model load request for tiles that no longer exist.
This situation should never occur in normal operation, but could occur in
"contrived" situations where an external script was rapidly changing
the simulator position to then be able to query FG terrain height, and doing
this for a large number of points that are distributed across a large area.
The maths, so far, is now correct. Roll and pitch are now both in the
correct sense. The aircraft velocity is added correctly to the
submodel velocity, and the submodel is now visible when instantiated.
However, the velocity is measured at the aircraft centre. To be totally
correct we ought to take into account the aircraft's rotational
velocity. We have pitch rate and roll rate available, but not yaw rate
(small anyway).
Here are some things I've added to the submodel code.
First, I added a first_time value that is true when the trigger is pressed and
false when the trigger is released. The true value is also made false after
the first pass through release(). Release() then uses this to force the
first dt (per salvo) to be zero. I was hoping this would make the submodel
appear closer to the airplane, but I don't notice a difference with the
tracers. In a prior test I found that the first dt is about 2.5 times larger
than subsequent ones. Maybe this will be effective with slower submodels,
like smoke, contrails, etc.
Secondly, I updated the IC.elevation and IC.azimuth calcs to correctly add in
the yaw and pitch offsets, corrected for bank angle. Actually this is still
an estimation. A proper calculation will sum the submodels vector with the
airplane's vector. Until that's done only models which are fired forward
will have proper IC.
Testing revealed that the code was not reading y-offset - a
typo in the original code, and roll was in the wrong sense. All readily
fixable, and it now works.
I've added another parameter to the submodel - wind.
It's activated by the entry <wind>true</wind> in the ../submodel.xml file.
If true, the submodel is affected by the local wind, otherwise not. The
parameter defaults to false. This is useful for exhausts and smoke, and
possibly all objects.
Attached are the modified files to add buoyancy as a parameter for a
ballistic object. It may be set by adding
<buoyancy>x</buoyancy> to the submodel .xml file, where x is the appropriate
value (ft per sec2):
32 neutral buoyancy - contrails
>32 positive buoyancy - exhaust plumes
(0 non-op - default value)
If <buoyancy>x</buoyancy> is not used, then there is no effect on the
current ballistic model
Silly me. I was starting the timer at zero, so the first tracer didn't fly
until 0.25 seconds after pulling the trigger. Now the timer starts at the
same value as "delay", so the first round comes out immediately.
Also, I've added an optional configuration attribute that allows you to change
the ballistics of the submodel. This allows parachutes, or anything else
that has ballistics different from a bullet. The attribute is called "eda",
which is the equivalent drag area. Default value is 0.007, which gives the
same ballistics as the current tracers. Increasing this value gives more
drag. A value of 2.0 looks good for a parachute.
math stuff
########################################################################
The deceleration of the ballictic object is now given by:
[ (rho) (Cd) ] / [ (1/2) (m) ] * A * (V * V)
where rho is sea-level air density, and Cd and m are fixed, bullet-like
values. So the calculation is:
0.0116918 * A * (V * V)
The value "A" is what I'm calling the "eda" (equivalent drag area).
########################################################################
A parachute model will have to be built so that the parachutist's feet
are in the forward x-direction.
Here is the submodel.xml config I use for "parachutes":
<submodel>
<name>flares</name>
<model>Models/Geometry/flare.ac</model>
<trigger>systems/submodels/submodel[0]/trigger</trigger>
<speed>0.0</speed>
<repeat>true</repeat>
<delay>0.85</delay>
<count>4</count>
<x-offset>0.0</x-offset>
<y-offset>0.0</y-offset>
<z-offset>-4.0</z-offset>
<yaw-offset>0.0</yaw-offset>
<pitch-offset>0.0</pitch-offset>
<eda>2.0</eda>
</submodel>
Last night I sent these new files to Vivian to fix a problem he found. Since
we can have more than one submodel we need more than one "count" property.
The new code creates a property systems/submodels/submodel[n]/count for each
submodel. Vivian is using this count property for his sound.
Here is an update for the submodel system. This will allow submodels to be
defined for any aircraft, and there are no default submodels. To use this
submodel system you need to set up a binding (slight change in property name
from last one, but you can use any property name you like, as long as it
matches the name in the submodels.xml file, see below):
<button n="0">
<desc>Trigger</desc>
<binding>
<command>property-assign</command>
<property>/systems/submodels/trigger</property>
<value type="bool">true</value>
</binding>
<mod-up>
<binding>
<command>property-assign</command>
<property>/systems/submodels/trigger</property>
<value type="bool">false</value>
</binding>
</mod-up>
</button>
Then in your *-set.xml file you need to define a path to the configuration
file (similar to the way the electrical system is now done):
<sim>
...
<systems>
<electrical>
<path>Aircraft/Generic/generic-electrical.xml</path>
</electrical>
<submodels>
<serviceable type="bool">true</serviceable>
<path>Aircraft/FW190/submodels.xml</path>
</submodels>
</systems>
...
</sim>
Then you put the submodel configuration file in your aircraft's directory.
I've attached a file, submodels.xml, that can be used to define a gun that
works just like the former one did.
There are two things remaining to be done. One is to change the function
SubmodelSystem::transform() to properly position the submodel. This will
require some complicated matrix code that I might borrow from Yasim.
Well here's some tracer stuff. If fiddled around with submodel.cxx. It now
does what it says - you need to put this:
<!-- trial gun system -->
<systems>
<submodel>
<serviceable type="bool">true</serviceable>
<amount type="int">120</amount>
</submodel>
</systems>
In the *-set.xml file NOT within <sim></sim>. Trouble is it still defaults
to serviceable=true, but it also defaults to amount=0. Unless this bit of
code is included it wont run, so other models can't fire inappropriate
tracer. Revised submodel.cxx file attached.
I've changed to a non-billboard solution. I tried to make the viewing angle
of the tracer less than 180 degs, but failed. Close enough I think. It's
still a bit big, but a reasonable compromise. .AC file attached.
I remain concerned about the tracer colour. In practice, red is better (and
it's what I am used to) but David seems set on white, and I don't want to
upset him. I'm going to adjust the texture a bit more tomorrow.
Right now the code is not very configurable, and there is only one submodel per airplane possible. It is implemented as an SGSubSystem, just like the electrics, vacuum, etc. systems. To make it work you need to make a release binding like this (for my joystick trigger):
<button n="0">
<desc>Trigger</desc>
<binding>
<command>property-assign</command>
<property>/systems/submodel/trigger</property>
<value type="bool">true</value>
</binding>
<mod-up>
<binding>
<command>property-assign</command>
<property>/systems/submodel/trigger</property>
<value type="bool">false</value>
</binding>
</mod-up>
</button>
Then, each airplane that uses the system should have something like this added to its *-set.xml file (note that this does *not* go within the <sim></sim> tags):
<systems>
<submodel>
<serviceable type="bool">true</serviceable>
<amount type="int">70</amount>
</submodel>
</systems>
Future improvements will include:
1) more configurability, so the user can create multiple submodels, and can assign them different locations, and pitch and yaw adjustments, and nitial velocity.
2) sound?
3) a more accurate calculation of the submodels location at any pitch/roll/yaw.
4) a way to pre-load the model, so the AI code doesn't have to parse the model every time it creates an instance.
I think that's all of it.
All necessary elements for an ADF gauge had been migrated from
Cockpit/kr_87.cxx to Instrumentation/adf.cxx. Migrating the sound
related elements was apparently planned, but not done yet. This
intermediate state broke the ident morse sound: it couldn't get
turned off and it always indicated "SF", regardless of the tuned-in
frequency. The following patches continue the migration:
adf-radio.diff => Base/Aircraft/Instruments/adf-radio.xml:
---------------------------------------------------------------
* sets maximum volume to 1 (rather than 2); Not only is 1
loud enough (and 2 unpleasantly noisy), it also prevents
the knob from being turned to non-existant positions. :-)
* fixes wrong use of /instrumentation/adf/ident
* the voice/ident selector(?) remains unchanged, but as it's
not switched to "IDENT", there'll be no ident sound by default
this is consistent with other sounds and DME.
radiostack.diff => src/Cockpit/radiostack.[ch]xx:
---------------------------------------------------------------
* comment out use of FGKR_87 class. kr_87.[ch]xx is now no
longer used. kr-87adf.xml would no longer work, either, but
isn't used anywhere, anyway. Future adf radios have to use
the adf instrument, using xml/Nasal for specific hardware
implementation details.
adf.diff => src/Instrumentation/adf.[ch]xx:
---------------------------------------------------------------
* adds ident morse sound capability using two new input
properties:
- /instrumentation/adf/volume-norm (double)
- /instrumentation/adf/ident-audible (bool)
this was always only meant to be a test program for the metar lib, but now
that people are referring to it as a means to get metar reports, I think a
usage info is desirable. The list of test ids, on the other hand, isn't
necessary any more. This can still be handled by a Makefile or the commandline.
I'm all for keeping this tool in cvs, however. And also the not-used stuff
therein is a welcome source for how to use the SGMetar class.
This is a workaround for an issue where the xml dialogs were shrinking on
subsequent pops.
Andy Ross says:
That looks like it should be fine for a release-time workaround. The
2 pixel border on dialogs is at best a minor feature, and probably
invisible since the sub-frames all have their own padding.
Clearly the right fix would be to find out where the code is getting
confused by the previous layout. In principle, the layout should be
idempotent: if you don't change the layout constraints, it shouldn't
change its layout. There's still a bug in there somewhere.
I've included the latest fixes to the Traffic Manager/AI flightplan generation
code. Most of the code changes are in AIFllightplan.cxx. This is the code
that runs without depending on predefined FlightPlans in
#FG_ROOT/Data/AI/Flightplans.i
As suggested by Dave, I've also added a new property in
preferences.xml: /sim/traffic-manager/enabled, which is used to control
whether or not the traffic manager is active.
I'm still working on a few more 737 traffic patterns, those are going to take
a little longer, so I didn't want to wait sending in this code.
Finally, I haven't put much effort into ensuring "aeronautical correctness" in
this version yet. The code works on my system, but what the AI plane do may
actaully be quite rediculous. But I'd like to leave that for the next
version.
Stub in hooks for Propeller feathering controls and the turbo prop "condition"
lever.
I added a line in FGFDM.cpp to force control properties to exist if they
don't already. This way you can specify anything you want and find them
in the property browser, otherwise no one else may create them and you are
stuck.
In PropEngine::solve() the code original sets _running = true at the
beginning and then sets running = false at the end. I changed this to
save the current value at the start, set to true, solve(), and then
restore the original value at the end. That way if we start off with
_running = true, we don't have to hack up the calc() routine which wasn't
using the value anyway.
Finally I added some very initial support to shut down a turbine engine
(_running = false) when the condition lever goes to zero.
for localizers. I further hacked this to support GS and DME transmitters
(although Robin's DME transmitter data doesn't convey orientation
unfortunately.)
I have 3 issues that are fixed by this set of patches.
1. In extensions.cxx
#else if !defined( WIN32 ) must be changed by
#elif !defined( WIN32 ) because the text after #else
seems to be ignored
2. banner is not available on windows, only cygwin
3. ANSI escape sequences are not interpreted on the
windows console. We just have garbage that is hard
to read.
motion.
- Track a timeout value so we can optionally hide the mouse pointer after
some user specified timeout period.
- in doMouseMotion() always update m.x and m.y even if we return early because
pui wanted the event. Without this, we can't reliably detect motion vs.
inactivity.
- in _update_mouse() add a dt parameter so we can decriment the timeout value
in "real" time.
- in _update_mouse() optionally hide the mouse pointer if m.timeout goes to
zero. Restore the pointer (and the timeout counter) if the mouse is moved.
will delay it's reply by 50ms. The ground station can change it's reply delay
to trick the airborn dme unit into reporting a distance that is offset from
the true distance by some constant value. In FG we model this by subtracting
a fixed distance from the actual distance.
It is thus possible in our implimentation for the displayed distance to become
negative. This patch clamp DME distance to a minimum value of 0.00 so it can
never go negative.
A good elevation is critical for proper glide slope modeling. This patch
assigns the average field elevation to any ILS component that doesn't have
a valid elevation.
Also, for an ILS approach, use the GS transmitter elevation for glide slope
calculations rather than the localizer elevation, in some cases this can
make a big difference.
Wouldn't it be better to prepare the whole list of paths (or two
separate ones for Terrain/Objects if necessary) in FGGlobals::set_fg_scenery,
and to pass the vector<string>s to FGTileEntry::load? It doesn't seem to make
a lot of sense to split the path up, modify it, mount it together to one string
again, and then let FGTileEntry::load split it up again.
Here we go:
Main/globals.cxx
================
As fg_scenery is now a string_list, we don't need initialization. Furthermore,
this list is cleared with every set_fg_scenery() call.
ctor: create default dir from fg_root if necessary. Otherwise check all paths
of --fg-scenery/FG_SCENERY: If the path doesn't exist, ignore it. If it contains
a dir Terrain and/or Objects, then only add that to the list. If it contains
neither, then use the path as is.
Scenery/tileentry.cxx
=====================
Trivial: don't split a "base path", but use the given path_list as is.
(I considered a variable name "path_list" better suited than "search".)
Scenery/FGTileLoader.cxx
========================
No more fiddling with sub-paths. This has to be delivered by get_fg_scenery
already.
Here's some additions to AI that allow refueling from an AI tanker (the actual
onload of fuel must be handled by the user's FDM of course, this just lets
the FDM know that the user is in position to refuel).
I've added a new class of AIAircraft called "tanker". It uses the same
performance struct as a jet transport. An AI tanker is just like an AI jet
transport, except it uses the already-existing radar data to control the
boolean property systems/refuel/contact. The code change was minimal.
An AI tanker can be created like this:
<entry>
<callsign>Esso 1</callsign>
<type>aircraft</type>
<class>tanker</class>
<model>Aircraft/737/Models/boeing733.xml</model>
<latitude>37.61633</latitude>
<longitude>-122.38334</longitude>
<altitude>3000</altitude>
<heading>020</heading>
<speed>280</speed>
<roll>-15</roll>
</entry>
This puts a tanker over KSFO at 3000 feet, in a left-hand orbit. When the
user gets within refueling range (contact position) then the property
systems/refuel/contact will be true. Otherwise it is false.
The dimensions of the refueling envelope are pretty rough right now, but still
usable. The user must be behind the tanker (ie. radar y_offset > 0). The
user must be at or below the tanker's altitude (ie. radar elevation > 0).
The user's lat/lon must be within 250 feet of the tanker's lat/lon (ie. radar
range_ft < 250). This last requirement is loose because the radar data is
only updated every 100 ms, which is accurate enough for radar use, but
which is sloppy for air refueling. This could be tightened up by increasing
the radar update rate to once every sim cycle.
I'm going to add a light to the T-38 instrument panel that will monitor the
property systems/refuel/contact. This will make it easier to explore the
boundaries of the refueling envelope.
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>
These change add some code that at initialization time will snap all
localizers into perfect alignment with their runways. It's my experience
that the DAFIF/FAA data reports runway and localizer headings to a level
of precision that is great for making charts, or adjusting your OBS, etc.
But the level of precision of this data can be far enough off to make you
visibly *un*aligned with the runway when the CDI needle is centered.
There are probably cases where the localizer isn't really perfectly
aligned with the runway, or intentionally misaligned to avoid obstacles
or terrain. So I have made this configurable for those that trust the
data more than I do. Just set "/sim/navdb/auto-align-localizers" to
true/false in the preferences file to turn this feature on or off in the
code.
- FG now directly supports Robin's native nav database file format.
- His latest data now separates out dme, gs, loc, and marker beacon
transmitters rather than lumping them all into a single "ILS" record.
- These new data structure changes prompted me to do some code restructuring
so that internally these different types of navaids are all kept as
separate lists and searched and handled separately.
- This structural change had a cascading affect on any code that
references or uses the nav databases. I've gone and "touched" a lot of
nav related code in a lot of places.
- As an added bonus, the new data (and code) adds DME bias so these will
all now read as they do in real life.
- Added Navaids/navdb.cxx and Navaids/navdb.hxx which provide a front
end loaders for the nav data.
- Added Navaids/navrecord.hxx which is a new "generic" nav data record.
- Removed Navaids/ils.hxx, Navaids/ilslist.cxx, Navaids/ilslist.hxx,
Navaids/mkrbeacons.cxx, and Navaids/mkrbeacons.hxx which are all now
depricated.
1. Removed aircraft roll on ground.
2. Decreased descent pitch angle.
3. Updated flightplans to include <on-ground>
4. Fixed property indexing, so all AI aircraft have their own property branch
The default value of <on-ground> is false, so you only need to specify it when
on the ground. For takeoff you need to specify <on-ground>true</on-ground>
for the first waypoint, and for the acceleration waypoint. For landing you
need to specify it for the touchdown point and any taxi points.
One problem. WARNING **** There is a bug in the way the property system
works, which causes a segfault, but I don't know if the problem is in the
property code, or in how I'm using it. After an AI object terminates, if you
access the property tree through the property browser the sim will segfault.
First, preferences.xml will define the scenario filename.
For now, the other way of defining ai objects still works, so the sailboat
stays in preferences.xml. Later, I'll move the sailboat into the demo
scenario. If no scenario filename is given, then no scenario will be
processed.
I changed the demo scenario to create two 737's, one takes off on runway 01L,
and the other takes off on runway 01R. This will make a good demo for the ai
system. One problem, if you takeoff on 28L/R right away, you might run into
the taking-off 737's, or be scared.
Here's the newest AI stuff.
The AIManager at init() creates a new scenario. Right now the
default_scenario is hard coded in, but eventually the AIManager should get
the scenario filename from preferences.xml.
The scenario defines which AI objects will be created. Right now it only
creates AIAircraft, but this is easily extended. The scenario also defines
which flightplan will be assigned to the airplane. Scenario config files go
in data/Data/AI.
The Airplane gets a pointer to a FlightPlan object. Each airplane should get
its own flightplan object, even if two airplanes have the same flight plan.
This is because the flightplan maintains the iterator pointing to the
current waypoint, and two airplanes might be at different locations (for
instance if they were created at different times). The flight plan files go
in data/Data/AI/FlightPlans.
When the airplane gets to the waypoint named "END" it vanishes. The
AIAircraft destructor deletes its flight plan (if it has one).
The last waypoint is a place holder only. I called mine
<WPT><NAME>"EOF"</NAME></WPT>.
little larger.
The text widget can now be meaningfully associated with a property; in
PUI, it's "value" isn't the same thing as its label, but we can hack
things to treat them symmetrically.
Commit an experimental "live" property that can be set on widgets to
cause them to update their values every frame. This works great for
text widgets, as above. Note that this synchronization is input-only:
no support is provided (or needed -- the GUI only changes when the
user does something) for writing those properties out every frame.
the 30 seconds that Maik had originally intended, according to the comment.
This is important for the pending sound and rotor disc changes (and of course
for realism).
Fix the leg distance calculation to display nautical miles instead of meters.
It turns out that Simgear already has a range normalize function, so I use
that one instead.
for a while, it turned out to be pretty easy to implement. Also, the
property picker is now non-modal, I presume the modality wasn't an
intentional feature.
I've added a vertical navigation capability to the GPS module. One can input
two waypoints, wp[0] and wp[1], with altitude. If the altitudes differ, then
the altitude deviation from a "straigth" line from wp[0] to wp[1] is
calculated. The true course and course deviation from wp[0] to wp[1] is also
calculated. All this can be found in the wp subdir where one also finds the
wp[0] and wp[1] subdirs.
All this has to be done through the property browser. Maybe I should make a
gui window for the GPS!
"slow/windmilling propeller" regime. I'm happy with the foundations
of the solution, but this hasn't been complete tested yet. The
solution behavior seems fine on the planes I tried.
PistonEngine class has grown an "Engine" superclass. Some other stuff
moved around too, and I cleaned up some property naming while I was in
there. This hasn't been tested very thorougly, hopefully I didn't
break anything.
configure and compile out-of-the-box on a MinGW target:
Use -lSDL instead of -lglut32 on windows builds when --enable-sdl
is set.
Link against alut.dll in addition to openal32.dll.
Replace BSD bcopy() with ANSI C memmove() in a few places. This is
simpler than trying to abstract it out as a platform dependency in a
header file; bcopy() has never been standard.
The ENABLE_THREADS handling has changed to be set to 0 when threads
are not in use. This breaks expressions like #ifdef ENABLE_THREADS.
Replace with a slightly more complicated expression. It might have
been better to fix the configure.ac script, but I didn't know how and
this whole setting is likely to go away soon anyway.
The MinGW C runtime actually does include snprintf, so only MSVC
builds (and not all WIN32 ones) need _snprintf in JSBSim/FGState.cpp
Building on a platform with no glut at all exposed some spots where
plib/pu.h was being included without a toolkit setting (it defaults to
glut). Include fg_os.hxx first.
And when still using glut, glut.h has a bizarre dependency on a
_WCHAR_T_DEFINED symbol. It it's not defined, it tries to redefine
(!!) wchar_t to disasterous effect.
anymore. Instead Frederic Bouvier suggests to add a <number> tag to
the axis definition which accepts values for <windows> and <unix>
for now but which can be extended later on:
<axis>
<desc>Rudder</desc>
<number>
<unix>2</unix>
<windows>3</windows>
</number>
<binding>
<command>property-scale</command>
<property>/controls/flight/rudder</property>
<offset type="double">0.0</offset>
<factor type="double">1.0</factor>
<power type="double">2.0</power>
</binding>
</axis>
1. The listener is always positioned at the origin.
2. All sounds eminate from the aircraft's model position.
3. Sound positions are relative to the listener location.
