#4146459 - 07/14/15 04:24 PM
Re: Instrument Gauges fuzzy or blurry (un readable)?
[Re: MarkEAW]
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 13,341
Col. Gibbon
A nobody
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A nobody
Veteran
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 13,341
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Hi Mark. We did try to use a 512x512 bmp, but with a bigger texture the needles are all out of position. Crashing Jack did the work, but he could not find a fix. Maybe, if you fancy trying to pick up where CJ left off, we might be able to find a way to get it to work. To see what the 512x512 gauge textures look like, you need to make a blank 512x512pcx, and convert it to tpc, with picpac. Then resize the 256x256 to 512x512 and save it as 24bit bmp. The dials should show up smaller, and the gauges look bigger. There is something wrong with the display code, as land tiles and skins all work fine in 512x512. Maybe Tony can fix this, when he has some time. I mess with 3dz models, and not code.
Supports EAW 1.29.exe, Drop in and Play Technology. 1.29 download
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#4146467 - 07/14/15 04:39 PM
Re: Instrument Gauges fuzzy or blurry (un readable)?
[Re: MarkEAW]
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 13,341
Col. Gibbon
A nobody
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A nobody
Veteran
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 13,341
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Tony. To help Mark you'll need to read this post: http://mogggy.org/TheGen2/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=3763&hilit=gaugesHave you ever tried to get these MPS Editors to work in 1.40? CJ was using 1.28 before the graphics were changed to 1024x768. To quote:
"There is a cockpit editor built into the game that might be of help, although I never used it myself so I'm not sure what it does beyond allowing you to maybe set hotspots for the guages. But if you compile the game in debug mode (_DEBUG is defined) you can press Ctrl-E in the main menu screen to launch the editor. Look in the function cockpit_editor in cockpite.c for commands."
This has of course been of great interest to me. Not being an expert at this type of program (my specialty was always working in the opposite direction) I could never figure out what all that meant.
Yesterday I dl'ed all the current apps and code, just to make sure I was up to snuff. I got it all set up and successfully compiled an exe out of the code. Then I thought about this debug business, so on a whim I switched to "Debug" instead of "Win32 App" or whatever it is. I got only one warning and one error. Looking at the error, it said there was a problem with a file called "uuid.lib". I did a search on this on the net and found that the most common cause of the error is using the 2005 Platform SDK with Visual C version 6, but could be fixed by using the older 2003 version, which was compatible. So I hunted that up, installed it, and swapped the file for the 2005 version. Mark, this post is on our private forum, so you will not be able to read it.
Supports EAW 1.29.exe, Drop in and Play Technology. 1.29 download
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#4146522 - 07/14/15 06:27 PM
Re: Instrument Gauges fuzzy or blurry (un readable)?
[Re: MarkEAW]
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 13,341
Col. Gibbon
A nobody
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A nobody
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 13,341
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Hi Dave. The editor is part of the game code, and a special version of the code needs to be compiled. The snag is we have made so many changes to the game code, there is no way of knowing if these editors will still work. In a lot of these cases it's easier to understand what is going on and make a new tool which works on WinXP on. We need to wait for Tony to return, and see if he can make a new editor. None of us has ever edited VCG.dat [Virtual Cockpit Gauge Data], files, so we need to first know how the work. Maybe you could do a bit of hunting for VCG.dat files in the EAW Archives? There is always lots buried there.
Supports EAW 1.29.exe, Drop in and Play Technology. 1.29 download
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#4146557 - 07/14/15 07:48 PM
Re: Instrument Gauges fuzzy or blurry (un readable)?
[Re: MarkEAW]
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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 12,497
MrJelly
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 12,497
Montagnac, L'Herault, France
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I have done nothing at all in this area I am still trying to fathom out the type 4 element problem. I found something odd in the code, but the two obvious fixes made things worse and I am back to square one. I thought I was used to the hot weather after 40 years in South Australia, but right now the continuous heat is wearing us out.
Fly EAW online at GameRanger: GameRanger SiteFaceBook Pages UAW 160 downloadsEAW ClubMark Twain: I am quite sure now that often, very often, in matters concerning religion and politics a man's reasoning powers are not above the monkey's.I am now of an age at which I no longer need to suffer fools gladly
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#4146792 - 07/15/15 09:47 AM
Re: Instrument Gauges fuzzy or blurry (un readable)?
[Re: MarkEAW]
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Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 4,859
Rotton50
3DZ / campaign designer
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3DZ / campaign designer
Senior Member
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 4,859
Cape Charles, Virginia, USA
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Wow not one person has answered my question about the cockpits...WTH guys. Are you a helping loving community or just so secretive? A simple answer could have saved me a lot of time. Here's what it comes down to: ONE - It's a fault in EAW that's been there from the beginning. The gauges right out of the box were never very good. Most guys only needed the digital display in the lower corners to fly and fight successfully. About the only gauges that were important were the fuel and attitude gauges. Both of which are good enough as is. Sure a few aficionados watched their temp gauges but I'd hazard a guess that the average offline player turned off engine overheating in the difficulty settings. Seems like a good compromise as all you could do was throttle back to reduce temps. EAW doesn't have a full engine management set of controls so there aren't any cowl flaps to fiddle with. (Not sure but I think the online players do have to watch engine management a bit more.) TWO - At this point, 14 years later there isn't anyone around to upgrade a couple of hundred different cockpits. So we're not ignoring you, we're just tired.
Heck, even paranoids have enemies.
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#4146814 - 07/15/15 11:21 AM
Re: Instrument Gauges fuzzy or blurry (un readable)?
[Re: MarkEAW]
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Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 4,859
Rotton50
3DZ / campaign designer
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3DZ / campaign designer
Senior Member
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 4,859
Cape Charles, Virginia, USA
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John, I hope I didn't sound too negative so to be clear, I welcome the enthusiasm of a newbie.
What I was trying to convey was that this particular problem is way down the list of priorities. There's a lot of other unfinished projects that would provide a bigger bang for the buck than fixing the gauges.
For instance, the target upgrade for the EAW world is about half finished. It would be a big boost for the game to complete it.
I stopped because I ran into some kind of memory problem which Jel suspected might be due to the large number of TMODs I had placed at the various target sites.
That plus I got tired. It's not exactly "sexy" work. If I had a partner I might work up the enthusiasm to pick it up again. The good thing about Jel's latest target editor is that each target is a distinct file which can be shared, meaning two or more modders can work on the project at the same time.
Or, a newbie might want to get involved with Moggy's CAW upgrade. Plenty to learn about EAW in that scenario and the extra manpower would be a boon.
Be that said, we all have our own particular interests in this hobby so if a newbie is really passionate about a particular facet of EAW then he should have at it.
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#4146825 - 07/15/15 11:58 AM
Re: Instrument Gauges fuzzy or blurry (un readable)?
[Re: MarkEAW]
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 13,341
Col. Gibbon
A nobody
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A nobody
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 13,341
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Hi Ray. No you didn't sound too negative. The office, is a badly neglected area, but like you say there are other areas which need attention. I'm a bit surprised these type 4 elements are causing so much bother, but then we have never used them before. I'd love to see CAW finished. It seems a lifetime ago when I made the Terrain tiles and Habbaniyah airfield model, and I doubt I could do it today.
Supports EAW 1.29.exe, Drop in and Play Technology. 1.29 download
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#4146916 - 07/15/15 03:17 PM
Re: Instrument Gauges fuzzy or blurry (un readable)?
[Re: MarkEAW]
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Joined: May 2015
Posts: 1,122
MarkEAW
Member
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Member
Joined: May 2015
Posts: 1,122
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I was able to get the 1.2CE (Cockpit Editor) to work on Windows 7, It installed right over v1.2. I used Aqrit's ddwrapper http://bitpatch.com/ddwrapper.htmlWith these settings, cause I was getting flicker from the "menu" overlays. And the usual color fix setting need to be on to display the editor correctly since it's using DirectDraw2D to display the cockpit. RealDDrawPath = AUTO BltMirror = 0 BltNoTearing = 0 ColorFix = 1 DisableHighDpiScaling = 0 FakeVsync = 1 FakeVsyncInterval = 18 ForceBltNoTearing = 0 ForceDirectDrawEmulation = 0 NoVideoMemory = 0 SingleProcAffinity = 0 ShowFPS = 0 The only thing I see missing so far from the editor is "Drag and Drop" the needle position. The VCG****.DAT file still needs to be hex edited.
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#4269421 - 06/12/16 05:29 PM
Re: Instrument Gauges fuzzy or blurry (un readable)?
[Re: MarkEAW]
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Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 3,133
Crashin' Jack
Cockpit Connoisseur
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Cockpit Connoisseur
Senior Member
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 3,133
Illinois, USA
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LOL, I found this thread this morning, and I did have to have a chuckle. My apologies for laughing, I'm sure Mark spent a considerable amount of time searching threads. When I had come up with all the cockpit stuff, I couldn't get any interest at all in someone else fiddling with it. I did, however, post quite a few threads explaining how to use the editor; they are in the archive now, do a search for "Crashin'" and you'll get quite a few posts. The difficulty for changing the way the gauges work is that they are built into the P****VIEW.CPT file for each slot. This file is ALL the info for the 2D cockpits, but also for all of the details on how the gauges work. The VCG file then gives you a place to store the X and Y coordinates for the 3D cockpit, with a few bits dedicated to fine tunning movement if I recall. The gauges, though, are set up using the 640x480 resolution of the 2D cockpits. Actually, the image size is taller because in the 2D cockpit you could still look down to see the iages, which is why the cockpit struts were set up as sprites rather than part of the image. I did get a Cockpit Editor to at least start with the 1024x768 screen size, but the cockpit image and thus the gauges still occupied the 640x480 area. Here is a pic I just took: I just noticed something interesting. Before I load "New Plane" the screen location shown in the lower right says 1023x767 (one pixel smaller than it should be..hhmmm....). But after loading a Pview file, the lower right corner now shows 1023x977. This would be the same proportion for the forward view in the 2D cockpits when adding in the additional percentage needed when looking down at the instrument panel.... Creating a new Pview file requires loading static images to be used in the various directions you can look whne using the 2D cokcpit, i.e. front, left, left up, left rear, etc. These are missing the moment so it loads nothing. Looks like the yard work won't be getting done today........
"Blasts from clustered R4M quartets in my snout And see these English planes go burn...." Blue Oyster Cult
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#4269499 - 06/12/16 11:48 PM
Re: Instrument Gauges fuzzy or blurry (un readable)?
[Re: MarkEAW]
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Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 4,267
iron mike
Senior Member
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Senior Member
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 4,267
Maryland, USA
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So? Baby steps before running... Stumble and fall, then get up and try again... Do not give up, you can and will crack the problems.
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