[Release] Tyrant's Virtual Mission Tools (VMT)
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You can do it without loading the fmap already, can’t you?
Correct. Generating and saving a TWX can be done independently of any other VMT behavior.
That said, I would like to be able to load fmaps some day so we could do things like override the weather in places.
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good job Tyrant!
It is a pity the Fmap weather file can’t be read by your tool…
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good job Tyrant!
It is a pity the Fmap weather file can’t be read by your tool…
Some day.
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v049 is posted. This is a bugfix release. List of changes:
- Fix bug where install ID was saved incorrectly in briefing files. This was causing an error when loading briefing files created by mission creators with only one BMS install. Which is probably most of them. Briefing files with incorrect install IDs can successfully be loaded by v049, so there’s no need for mission makers to recreate any existing ones.
- Save version of VMT used to create briefing files; warn on load if a different version of VMT is being used.
Download links:
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Hey TY,
Enhancement request:
Does it make sense to have the Weather/DisplayOptions/Overlay set for Winds be such that these wind flags also follow the opaqueness slider setting?
Currently they are dark black and kind of overwhelm the rest of the map details. Its probably a some like and some don’t like options, maybe handled with a follow opaque radio button or its own slider.User question1:
In looking at a mission, looked at where the tankers will be refueling and I see winds changing directions slightly and speeds from 4-13 kts. How does one know if the AAR area had a tanking friendly zone applied? And what are the wind values that are acceptable for tanking?User question2:
Is there a way to save the VMT user settings such that every time the tool is invoked it will use the same user preference values?
(then of course, can this config file be save and moved to another install of VMT)Enjoying the program, and thanks!
AV
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Enhancement request:
Does it make sense to have the Weather/DisplayOptions/Overlay set for Winds be such that these wind flags also follow the opaqueness slider setting?
Currently they are dark black and kind of overwhelm the rest of the map details. Its probably a some like and some don’t like options, maybe handled with a follow opaque radio button or its own slider.I think it absolutely makes sense. Just haven’t gotten to it yet, and have a bunch of RL stuff going on right now that has slowed me down a bit. But as always, someone mentioning it moves it up the list.
As an aside, I am somewhat resistant to providing more sliders and options. Someone once said, “Developers use configuration as a way to avoid making choices”, and I think there’s some truth to that. So if I can get away with a single opacity slider, I will. But I usually have to try something out before I know whether I like it or not. Luckily that’s fairly easy here.
User question1:
In looking at a mission, looked at where the tankers will be refueling and I see winds changing directions slightly and speeds from 4-13 kts. How does one know if the AAR area had a tanking friendly zone applied? And what are the wind values that are acceptable for tanking?The black-and-white outline indicates the presence of a wind stability zone. Currently, there is no option to hide these (that will change at some point), so if you don’t see it, there isn’t one.
I’m not really sure what acceptable values are. Tanking is one of those things that is surrounded with all sorts of religion, but I’m not aware of much science. I myself have tested tanking with varying pressure, and that didn’t matter. I only have anecdotal evidence that wind matters. Perhaps someone with more knowledge of the subject can comment. In the meantime, it’s definitely the conventional wisdom that a wind stability zone with calm winds (0-5 kts) is probably a good choice. I don’t think direction matters.
One other thing to watch out for is the cumulus layer. There’s turbulence associated with that altitude, and it can make tanking really difficult. You might want that, you might not; just be aware.
User question2:
Is there a way to save the VMT user settings such that every time the tool is invoked it will use the same user preference values?
(then of course, can this config file be save and moved to another install of VMT)Not right now. I’ve thought about doing something like that, but it’s not currently possible. Suggestion noted.
Thanks for the feedback!
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As an aside, I am somewhat resistant to providing more sliders and options. Someone once said, “Developers use configuration as a way to avoid making choices”, and I think there’s some truth to that. So if I can get away with a single opacity slider, I will. But I usually have to try something out before I know whether I like it or not. Luckily that’s fairly easy here.
I hear ya on that. Sometimes its not just indecisiveness on the part of the coder, but rather the desire to please a diverse and vocal user community.
One small thing I just noticed while I loaded a VMTB file, how do I reload or retarget another file without having to kill the program and re-invoke it? Maybe a File menu with Open, Save As, etc?
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One small thing I just noticed while I loaded a VMTB file, how do I reload or retarget another file without having to kill the program and re-invoke it? Maybe a File menu with Open, Save As, etc?
Are you not able to load another one from the main window? It doesn’t go away when you open a mission or briefing.
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I always close the first window as it seemed like just a loading log. OK I see it that’s the way to do it.
Doh -
Doh
Not at all. More “D’oh” on my part for not only not realizing someone might do that, but for not having a way to bring it back.
At some point I’ll have to figure out a better way to do that whole part. Glad we got you sorted out.
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Hello Tyrant’s, here is what I get as an error when I edit a .cam Koréa file, which I created with Mission Commander.
thank you in advanceHmm. Looks like maybe a database problem, although if so it’s still a VMT bug that it doesn’t handle it better. Is this in the standard KTO theater? Can you PM me the .cam file?
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Yes KTO Standard
I can not attach the cam file to PM help me
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Yes KTO Standard
I can not attach the cam file to PM help me
Huh, I don’t see how to do that either. Not sure why I thought you could.
Can you post or PM a link to the file, maybe through something like Dropbox, GoogleDrive of Microsoft OneDrive? Whatever is easiest for you.
No hurry - I won’t be able to troubleshoot this right away.
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https://www.mediafire.com/file/2c7annb5ubc6hc8/Save-Day%20%201%2005%2000%2011.7z
Thanks - I was able to download it. I will take a look when able. I have some travel coming up, so it might be a bit, but I will look at some point.
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Thanks - I was able to download it. I will take a look when able. I have some travel coming up, so it might be a bit, but I will look at some point.
Found the problem. Sting 4 (Package 5062), a two-ship of F-18 Echoes, has an invalid airbase. Technically, this is a database error, not a bug in VMT, but these are common enough that I should handle it better than just refusing to load the mission.
My life is sort of insane right now (I’ve had to make two five-day trips halfway around the world in the last two weeks), so it might be a bit before I can ship a fix for this. In the meantime, if you correct the problem (maybe just delete the flight?) the mission should load in VMT.
I will at some point ship a fix that will emit a warning when it sees this and still proceed to load the mission.
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Actually, looks like it might be the squadron that’s busted:
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Thank you very much Tyrant for your involvement and your responsiveness
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Actually, looks like it might be the squadron that’s busted:
OK, have been crazy busy, but am getting back to spending time on this. Before I go too far down the road of fixing this, though, I have to figure out what I want to do. I’m somewhat torn, so I thought I would solicit opinions here. Please note that this isn’t a vote - I’m looking for help thinking through the various tradeoffs.
This issue here is that VMT was choking on a flight that belongs to a broken squadron. Specifically, the squadron has an invalid airbase. Since a lot of what VMT does is follow links between things like flights, squadrons, airbases, carriers, etc. etc., problems in the mission/database can lead to situations like this. This specific issue is one, but there are lots of others that are sure to come up based on what I’ve seen.
There are a few basic paths I can follow:
Refuse to load the mission. Because the mission is, arguably, corrupt, VMT could refuse to load it. You probably want to fix whatever the problem is before you fly it. And I’m not sure it’s going to be possible to show useful information about a corrupt entity. That said, I think missions get corrupt in small ways all the time, so maybe this would be overreacting - BMS won’t necessarily crash because a flight doesn’t have a squadron, so you can still fly the mission.
Load the mission, but pretend the corrupt entity doesn’t exist. In this case, that would mean showing a world that doesn’t even contain the invalid flights. It would be as if they were deleted with Mission Commander. This keeps the information consistent, but might lead to differences between what happens in the BMS world and what VMT is showing. While that’s not fatal - I think it’s important for this kind of planning tool to contain inconsistencies and gaps in knowledge to preserve the fog of war - it’s maybe not ideal.
Load the mission and attempt to show the corrupt entities. This is basically what Mission Commander does. Of course, it makes sense for MC to do this, since it’s what you’d use to detect and repair problems like this anywhere. VMT isn’t trying to edit missions, but still, a “best effort” load might be useful. In this case, that would mean showing the flight with a squadron of something like “Invalid Squadron” or the squadron at an airbase called “Nowhere” that wouldn’t show up on the map. And of course a warning would be displayed when loading.
I think the first option is out. I think corruption is common enough, and not always fatal, to the point where it would just be annoying not to be able to use VMT on a mission that otherwise works. I’m sort of inclined towards the third option, but a bit leery of it. For one thing, I think it could make the program more confusing if you’re being shown partial information and the only way you can make sense of it is to have some understanding of the mission structure.
For what it’s worth, I just checked, and in this particular mission BMS doesn’t choke. But it shows the flight in a pretty weird way: the squadron basically shows up as an airbase. It’s not listed under any airbase in the OOB, just by itself. And you can find the flight in the ATO, but the info for the squadron shows itself as the airbase.