Tacview – Understand what happened during your last flight! (alternative ACMI viewer)
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You are right Bestandskraft: this difference is because I’ve tried to correct as much as possible Falcon 4 map projection to match reality.
That said I understand perfectly your concern. You can try to correct the coordinates by yourself by changing the bounding latitude/longitude of the Korean map which is declared in C:\Program Files (x86)\Stra Software\Tacview\Data\Xml\Data-Falcon4Theaters.xml
Please have a look at the corresponding documentation: http://tacview.strasoftware.com/documentation/falcon/
If someone knows the exact bound coordinates of Falcon 4 Korea map (or any other maps), do not hesitate to let me know, I will gladly include them by default in Tacview declaration file. I understand that reproducing accurately flight from Falcon 4 is more important than trying to stick to real world map coordinates in that case…
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Unfortunately changing the bounding lat/long cannot result in a good solution.
I’m not a map maker, but based on my limited knowledge of how the Falcon map projection system works, only the lower-left coordinates of any terrain are defined in a file. To obtain these coordinates, I’m aware of two methods:
- Use Terrain Editor (http://sakgiok.gr/downloads), specifically its “Map Editor”. Lower-left longitude and latitude will be displayed in the upper right-hand corner.
- Use F4AWACS (part of Online Squadron collection, also found at the above link), and import a theater. You can then view the lower-left coordinates under Theaters - Modify Theaters - Edit…
For Korea, these coordinates are N33.84375°, W123°. While the uppermost latitude is fairly easily determined with Terrain Editor (not in mathematically precise way though), and for Korea BMS seems to be 43.04002, the easternmost coordinate depends on latitude, and is approximately 135.582553 in the north and 134.072419 in the south. Therefore, entering a fixed value in the .xml file will still result in inaccurate coordinates.
I tried modifying the .xml anyway with the above figures, and the only change I noticed was the software transposing the lines/objects to a physically different (and way off) location on the map, while the displayed coordinates of the bomb at impact were still the same.
Some formulas underlying the F4 map projection are found at https://www.benchmarksims.org/forum/showthread.php?19693-converting-x-and-y-values-into-lat-and-long.
Maybe it would be possible to change the TacView code to incorporate these formulae. Based on personal testing, the game uses 3.27998 ft in one meter to convert its X/Y coordinates to feet, and not the SI-conversion with 3.280839895 (= 1/0.3048) ft per meter though.
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Thank you. I will have a look at this as soon as I have the time.
Meanwhile, remember that you must reimport the original vhs file (not the acmi file) to take into account the new coordinates.
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Unless “reimporting the original vhs file” means something else than double-clicking on the original .vhs recording of my KOTAR flight to be replayed on TacView, doing so results in the same (wrong) coordinates displayed regardless of whether the original or the modified boundary coordinates are set in the .xml. Converting the .vhs to .acmi does not change this.
Anyway, great you’re looking into the issue.
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(Didn’t have the chance to look at it yet)
When you open the vhs file from Tacview, make sure you are using the right Korea theater (see the theaters list in the file-open dialog-box). Also, make sure you are changing the BMS Korea parameters (or in the worst case both Korea theaters) in the xml file.
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Interesting:
With only the “Falcon 4.BMS” theater’s boundaries adjusted in the .xml, even when explicitly selecting the “Falcon BMS” theater in TacView (and also when deliberately selecting the “Falcon 4.0 / Allied Force” theater), the program will display the “wrong” coordinates.
However, when adjusting both the “Falcon 4.BMS” boundaries AND the “Falcon 4” boundaries (I had previously only adjusted the “Falcon 4.BMS” boundaries), regardless of whether “Auto” terrain or either of the “Falcon BMS” and “Falcon 4.0 / Allied Force” theaters are selected, the displayed coordinates are much closer to the actual in-game coordinates. The only problem is that in this case, all default objects, such as the pre-made red KOTAR objects/targets and airports, are now physically at the wrong location (much further west).
Thus, with the following values…
<west>123</west>
<east>134.535600</east>
<south>33.84375</south>
<north>43.04002</north>…134.535600 being the maximum longitude at the latitude of the impact point calculated using the formulae linked above, I’m getting an impact point of N37°08.12972 E130°20.59026, versus the “correct” one of N37°08.128 E130°20.589. The very small error is probably attributable to rounding.
I strongly suspect that if you get in touch with the BMS developers, they can provide you with the mathematically correct constants and rounding methods (if any) that allow you to code TacView to always display the 100% correct in-game coordinates.
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Tacview 1.4 beta 1 is now available to registered users!
http://www.strasoftware.com/beta/tacview/
While still working on the online debriefing and the real-time flight recording, I want to release this new version which offers a lot of little improvements for everyone. Whether you are using Tacview for real-life or virtual combat, I’m sure each of you will find something neat in this new version!
FEATURES & CHANGES
- Added support for Garmin G1000 Flight Deck CSV files
- Added support for KML flight recordings exported from ForeFlight & FlightAware
- Added support for MGRS coordinates system
- Added AGL (above ground level altitude) to charts, labels & walls
- Added roll and pitch angles to the telemetry windows
- You can now define AGL & ASL restrictions which trigger alarms
- Clicking the compass now returns to a top view with the north up
- Labels size and auto-scale can now be automatically or manually adjusted to match screen resolution
- New versions of Tacview will be installed on previously installed versions
- Improved fonts used in the 3D view and charts
- Added support for Windows 10
- Terrain, static objects, and 3D models can now be stored in %USERPROFILE%\Saved Games\Tacview\Data\
- Added DA40 Diamond Star 3D mesh
- Added some real world airports to the map
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Very very nice, thank you!
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By the way, I didn’t forget you Bestandskraft. I’m currently busy on a big task, so I will check theses coordinates later. Thanks for the research!
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Hi Vyrtuoz,
You are doing a great job with tacview! Every version with much new features. Many thanks!
Can’t wait for your new improvement with the online debriefing!regards,
Eagle -
Man, man, man,
The new CTRL+C and CTRL+V function in Tacview is a true piece of brilliant work!!!
Liking it!
Suggestion: Does any future version come with a dedicated listing of all saved bookmarks in the acmi?
Thanks and keep up the good work!
Cheers,
Scub -
Is Online Debriefing working now…
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I’m glad you like the CTRL+C/V function
I agree the bookmarks are currently hard to spot in a loaded event-log. Don’t worry, this log is going to be completely revamped in Tacview 2.0 to be much more convenient and intuitive.
I’m now working on the online debriefing and will release its first version in Tacview 1.4.
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Watching a recently taped MP flight with the last beta of Tacview it seems i found some issues with the HUD-View: HUD reads “AIRBRAKE” but no brakes were applied. During an recorded Takeoff it disappears, looks like it shows the state of the landing gear instead of the Airbrakes.
Also the reading of the thrustlevel seems broken: during the same T/O it shows correctly 103% and Afterburner, but after going back to BUSTER it reads 70% which is IDLE.
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Can you share me the corresponding VHS file and tell me precisely which aircraft and which time(s) you have noticed the anomalies?
Also, which version of BMS are you using? Did you notice these issues with other flight recordings? Which version of Tacview are you using?
I will look into this as soon as possible.
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Sent you the download link via PM. Check the F16 from Fury 11 or Fury 13, right after take off (Fury 11 (me) retracs the gear very late).
We use BMS 4.32U7 with Aegean theatre 1.5. I used the last BETA of TacView from your site. I will check other tapes for this error, standby.
Edit: i just check an older tape from a different theatre. Same thing with AIRBRAKE / GEAR and it seems there is a bigger problem with the thrustlevel: it shows 70% the whole time, except when going GATES it seem to show the right indication …
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Thanks for the files Reaper!
This is strange, it looks like a very old bug. I’m surprised none of us has noticed it earlier
Will do my best to fix it in the next beta of Tacview.
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