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#4254266 - 04/29/16 04:32 PM Parachutist and droptanks  
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MrJelly Offline
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Taking off from a discussion elsewhere smile

This is the crux of it all:


In the SPAW "weapons.dat" file some are coded 7.
7 = 1+2+4 so this weapon has the properties of a bomb(1), a rocket(2) and a drop tank(4)

All sorts of conditional routines are triggered by these properties.
I suppose we could have a new one:

#define WI_PARACHUTE 0X40 //64
However, a whole lot of new routines would need to be written to check if the loadout has parachutes, and if so how many, and then for what happens when they are released, and then for what happens when they hit the ground.

Furthermore these properties are linked to others WI_FUEL is also linked to BO_FUEL, and these need to be followed up.

To be honest the only missions that would interest me as a player would be escorting a parachute drop, or intercepting one. Effectively that is no different from escorting or intercepting bombers, except that as the parachute aircraft had little if any armament, they would make easier targets.

wink


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#4254270 - 04/29/16 04:41 PM Re: Parachutist and droptanks [Re: MrJelly]  
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Rotton50 Offline
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Jel I don't know squat about programming so keep that in mind.

In that game the "7" doesn't act like a bomb/rocket/drop tank. It acts like an explosive drop tank, meaning it drops like a tank but explodes like a bomb. The rocket characteristic don't seem to apply.

I've forgotten what the other values like 3,5 and 6 do but each one has different properties. I figured them out by trial and error. I'd have to look but I THINK 3 has the rocket characteristics but you don't get a lit rocket motor when they launch.

You could look at the original SPAW weapons.dat file and pretty quickly figure out what the values do.

If you want to go forward with this how about something similar to the way torpedoes work, in that they trigger special routines?


Heck, even paranoids have enemies.
#4254279 - 04/29/16 05:01 PM Re: Parachutist and droptanks [Re: MrJelly]  
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Checking a version that might not be up to date, but it serves the purpose smile



The binary system has to work here and it is based on powers of 2. I sttll believe that anything coded 7 will have bomb, rocket and drop tank properties.
That does not necessarily mean that it will look or behave like a normal rocket.
The parafrag is coded 7 but it has an initial velocity of zero, and no acceleration, unlike the traditional rocket.
Compare it with the 5" HVAR with an initial velocity of 45 and an acceleration of 3.
In the game they both behave very differently smile


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Mark 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
#4254280 - 04/29/16 05:08 PM Re: Parachutist and droptanks [Re: MrJelly]  
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Strange Tony, that's the first time I've seen mention of CARGO. Has it ever been used?

We never had any transports in the game to load cargo on.


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#4254287 - 04/29/16 05:24 PM Re: Parachutist and droptanks [Re: MrJelly]  
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There is little reference to it in the code.

Back to SPAW I just gave both the HVARs (your L1 and L3) initial velocities and accelerations of zero.
They just dropped from the Hellcat:


I will make a few other changes to see what effect they have, but I will not be using a hexeditor LOL smile




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Mark 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
#4254291 - 04/29/16 05:43 PM Re: Parachutist and droptanks [Re: MrJelly]  
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Rotton50 Offline
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Ok, well give it a go. may it will jog my memory.

Off topic but What the hell happened to the fuselage of the Hellcat?


Heck, even paranoids have enemies.
#4254295 - 04/29/16 05:57 PM Re: Parachutist and droptanks [Re: MrJelly]  
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Nothing LOL smile
Having been messing around with dummy TPC files for Iron Mike's discussion there were some rogue files in the root folder including a "PlaneTEX.BMP". I have just deleted them and everything is as it should be.



wink


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Mark 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
#4254296 - 04/29/16 06:07 PM Re: Parachutist and droptanks [Re: MrJelly]  
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Rotton50 Offline
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Don't DO that to me! biggrin


Heck, even paranoids have enemies.
#4254459 - 04/30/16 05:47 AM Re: Parachutist and droptanks [Re: MrJelly]  
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Brit44 'Aldo' Offline
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Ray,
I was looking into the code after reading the other thread, before reading this one. Jell is right. They are bit flags. The code uses IF and ELSE statements. Whom ever triggers the IF first wins. It all depends on the order the loop is checked, and how it is checked. There are times when the code checks if the type contains a value. In that case, 7 is true for all 3 types. If there is no ELSE statement then the last IF that is TRUE wins. If the entire IF/ELSE is one case, the first IF wins. There are also cases where an absolute value is checked. In this case you will only get a TRUE returned if the value is exact, so 7 would be ignored.

As Jell said, there is a lot of nested code. The only reasonable way would be to define a flag above any existing flags and write new routines, even if they are copies of existing routines. This would insure that none of the existing routines will run if this flag is found. But, if you start mixing and matching numbers like you do with 7, you will corrupt the isolation.

screwy Clear as mud?

#4254474 - 04/30/16 08:33 AM Re: Parachutist and droptanks [Re: MrJelly]  
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Hi Allen.

Thanks for taking a look at the code, and confirming that it's not a simple job to do, even if it would be nice to have.

Hi Tony.

That Cargo entry, what is it for? Can you drop cargo? Does cargo explode at ground zero? If it's truly cargo, it should land and not explode, if you see what I mean. wink


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#4254475 - 04/30/16 08:33 AM Re: Parachutist and droptanks [Re: MrJelly]  
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As I wrote in my first post I cannot see the point of parachute missions when it comes to playing the game.
If the code were adjusted you might get a quick glimpse of people spawning when they happen to be in view from your aircraft, and it is not visually attractive.
I would need a lot of convincing to attempt to modify the code in this respect.

wink


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Mark 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
#4254477 - 04/30/16 08:41 AM Re: Parachutist and droptanks [Re: MrJelly]  
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We cross posted Tony, did you read my comment on Cargo?


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#4254483 - 04/30/16 09:20 AM Re: Parachutist and droptanks [Re: MrJelly]  
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Not a cross post, but I replied to your earlier question in one of my previous posts.

Quote:
There is little reference to it in the code.


Which is true. There is no code relating to the behaviour or events that happen when cargo is dropped.
There is code flagging that an aircraft is carrying cargo, and a count of how many items, but no more.

wink


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Mark 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
#4254490 - 04/30/16 09:55 AM Re: Parachutist and droptanks [Re: MrJelly]  
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It's another bit of unfinished code then? It makes no sense to have cargo, if you have no transports, but we will have a FW 200, which will need cargo, so can you please list the options for the cargo setting? How much weight is an item?


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#4254495 - 04/30/16 10:26 AM Re: Parachutist and droptanks [Re: MrJelly]  
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Rotton50 Offline
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With the limited modding manpower we now have what's the reason for adding cargo and troops?

Say you're a C-47 pilot. You take off, fly in formation to your target, drop you guys and fly home. You have no guns, you have no armament of any kind and you're flying a bus.

It seems a lot of effort for little return. Just because we CAN do something doesn't mean we SHOULD do something.

This was the reason Woody and I stopped developing "Silent wings". Neat concept but a dead end, low repeat play interest.

Just one man's opinion.


Heck, even paranoids have enemies.
#4254497 - 04/30/16 10:41 AM Re: Parachutist and droptanks [Re: MrJelly]  
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And the "Bus Divers", had the biggest Gonads of any WWII pilots. Shame no one remembers that in Flight sims today.


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#4254501 - 04/30/16 11:20 AM Re: Parachutist and droptanks [Re: MrJelly]  
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John,

Everyone who comes here to read these posts knows we are in no way impugning the pilots who flew those REAL aircraft.

We're wondering if there is any reason to include the feature in our GAME. So let's have a discussion about the game play involved in flying cargo and men in a war zone in an aircraft that has no armament and no ability to maneuver.

Plus the fact that the game engine doesn't have a way to credit a cargo pilot with a successful mission. As it stands now the vast majority of a player's points are awarded by destroying objects. A cargo mission would only award points for a completed mission. It would lead to unsatisfactory game play.

I could see some interest in escorting cargo missions in a fighter but that actually didn't happen in the war. Most of those cargo missions were unescorted, scary flights into occupied territory.


Heck, even paranoids have enemies.
#4254504 - 04/30/16 11:43 AM Re: Parachutist and droptanks [Re: MrJelly]  
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As Boilerplate says: "Its a game" smile


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Mark 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
#4254506 - 04/30/16 11:47 AM Re: Parachutist and droptanks [Re: MrJelly]  
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Rotton50 Offline
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And as a game it has to be entertaining. Cargo flights would not be such.


Heck, even paranoids have enemies.
#4254518 - 04/30/16 01:30 PM Re: Parachutist and droptanks [Re: Rotton50]  
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Originally Posted By: Rotton50
Say you're a C-47 pilot. You take off, fly in formation to your target, drop you guys and fly home. You have no guns, you have no armament of any kind and you're flying a bus.


That statement was what I was replying too, Ray. Not weather it was a waste of time to have it in the game.

This all started because Moggy wanted to drop paras, which do not explode, and as I thought it's a load of code work. But, when I saw cargo, I thought cargo dropped should not explode, but as the code is not complete, to allow cargo to drop, that is yet another dead end.

Over the years many good and bad ideas have been explored, with varying results, but it has always lead to an expansion of our knowledge.


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