[Release] Tyrant's Virtual Mission Tools (VMT)
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v054 is now available. First post updated. Downloads and change log available here:
http://org.craigandera.vmt.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/stable/
The only significant change in this release is the addition of an opt-in update checker. If you turn this on (you’ll be prompted when you run the app), VMT will check to see if a new version is available every time you start it. I know people are sensitive to apps “phoning home” so this is disabled by default.
You can access the update settings using the new settings icon at the top right of the main screen. There, you can also manually check for updates using the appropriately labeled button:
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Hi Tyrant,
When you pull up your flight plan and then step through the weather say at 15min intervals, would it be possible to show your jets position at each weather step i.e every 15 mins along its flight path - this would help adjusting the flight plan timings to coincide with a weather window to suit the munitions you are carrying. As an example if you take laser guided munitions you can see from the weather map and your position on your flight path if you will arrive in a clear patch of sky and thus be ale to deploy.
Ps. I got the weather Map file - I will work on that many thanks.
Just a thought.
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Hi Tyrant,
When you pull up your flight plan and then step through the weather say at 15min intervals, would it be possible to show your jets position at each weather step i.e every 15 mins along its flight path - this would help adjusting the flight plan timings to coincide with a weather window to suit the munitions you are carrying. As an example if you take laser guided munitions you can see from the weather map and your position on your flight path if you will arrive in a clear patch of sky and thus be ale to deploy.
Ps. I got the weather Map file - I will work on that many thanks.
Just a thought.
I have it on my list to include the weather on each waypoint of the flight plan. Right now you can see things like speed and heading, but there’s no reason it couldn’t also include winds, clouds, temperature, etc.
Having the icons on the map for flights is also a good idea, but it would require removing the restriction that briefing files don’t let you advance the weather map past the mission time. I think that’s okay, since the (intentionally somewhat inaccurate) forecast is already present in the briefing. I’d just need to modify it to allow the map visualization rather than just the written forecast.
Suggestion noted. I’m sure you understand that even if I decide to do this, it won’t be soon.
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let me guess- your taking a couple of days off over Christmas ;0)
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let me guess- your taking a couple of days off over Christmas ;0)
Yes, indeed, and have been enjoying spending a bit more time on VMT. For a variety of reasons, over the last few months I have been unable to spend as much time on it as I would have liked. But I should be able to go back to making more steady progress, although I don’t think it will ever be what I’d call “rapid”. My ultimate vision for the thing is pretty huge, and that doesn’t even take into account bugfixes and feature requests that people will ask for.
Anyway, it’s been fun, and I hope people continue to find it useful.
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Hey Tyrant!
Report: not able to sort flights nor change their color anymore.
Thanks for your work, as always.
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Report: not able to sort flights nor change their color anymore.
D’oh! Sorry about that - both of those components have been giving me trouble lately. I’m halfway through replacing the color picker with something equivalent but more stable already - I obviously broke sorting, too.
I’m assuming this report is against v054. Please correct me if that’s not the case. No need to respond otherwise.
I’ll move getting this fixed to the top of the queue. Obviously I should get my testing story improved, too: right now it’s all manual and that’s clearly less than ideal.
In any event, thanks for the bug reports!
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Report: not able to sort flights nor change their color anymore.
Fixed in v055, now available. Thanks again! First post updated.
http://org.craigandera.vmt.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/stable/
Changes:
- Fix bug where sorting was broken on flights page. - Fix bug where flight color selection was not working. - Fix occasional runaway CPU utilization.
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First post updated. Downloads available here:
http://org.craigandera.vmt.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/stable/
The major new feature in this release is map annotations. This is the ability to put shapes, arrows, PPT threat rings, and text onto the map. I wanted to do more than I did (e.g. import images), but I think this is a reasonable starter set of things, and frankly even this much required implementing much of a drawing program inside of VMT. So I will go on to other thing and improve annotations based on feedback of how people are using it.
Annotations are included in the briefing (.vmtb) files, and you can add more annotations while viewing the briefing, as well as save and load annotation sets (.vmta files). Additionally, it is now possible to save a briefing from a briefing, so participants can mark up their briefing and distribute a modified version to other pilots.
Changes:
** v057 [2018-02-01 Thu] - Add missing help text ** v056 [2018-01-28 Sun] - Annotations! - Add arrows, text, shapes, and lines to a map and save them with a briefing - Can now save modified briefing when viewing a briefing - Fix bug where dragging off the map makes things jump around - Reverse use of triangles/circles in waypoints to match BMS - Include download link in update notifications.
Screenshot:
Video:
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Just wanted to let you know and say a big thumbs up for this program
We just finished a 2 day lan last weekend. flying with about 15 guys in over 4 missions lasting about 2.5 hours per mission.
We used this tool for the briefings, and it was way better than taking screenshots from bms and pasting that in a powerpoint. Moreover, with this tool you can move back and forth over the flightplan and details.
2 feature requests:
- possibilty to show the contents of ini files. For use of PPT’s and Lines.
- this worked really well at the lan, but using this online is another matter. It’s probably a big feature to ask, but being able to join an online session, and briefing online would be fantastic. Kinda like tacview is able to debrief together.
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Just wanted to let you know and say a big thumbs up for this program
We just finished a 2 day lan last weekend. flying with about 15 guys in over 4 missions lasting about 2.5 hours per mission.
We used this tool for the briefings, and it was way better than taking screenshots from bms and pasting that in a powerpoint. Moreover, with this tool you can move back and forth over the flightplan and details.
Great! So glad you found it useful.
2 feature requests:
- possibilty to show the contents of ini files. For use of PPT’s and Lines.
- this worked really well at the lan, but using this online is another matter. It’s probably a big feature to ask, but being able to join an online session, and briefing online would be fantastic. Kinda like tacview is able to debrief together.
Yes, these are both on the (long term) plan. The first is, as you say, much easier. But I myself would love to be able to assign targets etc. etc. right from within VMT and then save the INI. And I’ve always wanted to be able to collaborate on mission planning in either realtime or offline. Some day. Maybe in about 6-8 Falcon weeks.
In the meantime, one thing that helps a tiny bit is that you can now save a briefing from a briefing. So you can hand out a VMTB, someone can mark it up with annotations and save it again to pass along to someone else. Not sure whether you were aware of that change.
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Hi tyrant,
have you planned to add the reader of existing weather ? if yes, is it a priorities among all next features?
thx
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Hi tyrant,
have you planned to add the reader of existing weather ? if yes, is it a priorities among all next features?
thx
It remains on the list, but it’s not at the top. But when people ask about things it tends to move them up, so it’s good that you mention your interest.
As this is a spare time, for-fun project I don’t have a specific roadmap. At the moment I’m working on a variety of minor enhancements, which I’m planning to follow with visualization of objectives and/or ground units. Beyond that it gets fuzzier, and of course it could change if I get excited by some particular idea. And of course fixing bugs that people find is always a high priority.
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your last features are interesting but for PPT , I think it would be a good idea to read an existing *.ini file where the PPT are already defined…
because in our side, we define the PPT in using the BMS UI or via WDP … -
your last features are interesting but for PPT , I think it would be a good idea to read an existing *.ini file where the PPT are already defined…
because in our side, we define the PPT in using the BMS UI or via WDP …Totally agree. Also planned for the future. And when that happens the PPT annotation may or may not go away.
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Any progress on ground unit locations and movements ?
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Any progress on ground unit locations and movements ?
That’s going to be a while - I have been buried at work and am about to go on vacation, and there are other intermediate priorities. So, 3-4 weeks. But it’s towards the top of the list.
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I wanted to use this great tool but I have this error:
some idea ?
Thx
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Hi Mira73,
check and see if the file which is referenced in the error message exists on your harddrive.
-> D:\Falcon BMS 4.33 U1\Data\Terrdata\theaterdefinition\theater.lstcheers
Magic -
Exists :