BMS Other Fighters Mafia (BMSOFM) Journal
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hey Mafia folks, just to lower your expectations, but also bring some good news.
Don’t expect anything fancy for this next release. F-18 was not touched (well, there is one small diff). And the aircraft that has been modified is far from finished.
What this next releases wants to bring is some new air. It shows the way the dev team is following, opening doors for new avionics and aircraft. But it is not our intention to release several not finished aircraft. We intend to work one by one, as time allows.
Mafia was mentioned several times internally, we keep an eye on your work. I cannot say if anything was included, because I’m not watching data much. But I am pretty sure that any good contribution is at least looked at.
What we will have in this next release is a very small taste of what is coming. Some will be disappointed (its not really flyable in a sense that the pit is still missing dials, switches and optmizations right now, more like a play thing), but others will understand the potential of this work. It has been one of the greatest team work I ever saw internally (aside from the F16, of course). And it is still happening and will happen for the next releases.
For the progress I have seen lately, this bird will fly soon. And more will come after that.
Cannot say more to not spoil the fun, I hope you guys understand this when release happens, but also get excited about this small taste we are giving to you.
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@Seifer
Don’t know precisely about all the other chaps, but personally I will tell you: no worries, dear mate, I will take all more than gladly.
About the planes and the cockpits, no worries here as well: I can wait. And I will keep myself busy meanwhile with my favourite birdie, the Tornado - Mafia guys can tell you that.All the best to you and all the devs. too - I just can’t await and will always be glad to give my little contribution, you can be sure of it.
With best regards to all.
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Hi, All. I’ve been afk for a couple of days, but as the poet said, I’m baaack.
Asleepwater, I just installed 37 and haven’t even been inside , yet. So, it’s hard to say exactly what we plan to do, beyond the promise that we will continue to do “our stuff” on the Other Jets. You asked specifically about Hornet/Other Jet avionics. In the past we have been limited in that regard due to lack of hard code access. A very exciting part of 37 for me is finding out if you work with the files differently… I took a very brief look at the files on the way here . The acdata files look the same and Maria Files are not in the stock F-18C. The good news our Art files are in so the cockpit hotspots should be good. So, a very preliminary Plan A will be to put our acdataFiles in 37 to see how they work. Seifer says very little was done to the Hornet, which frankly to me at least is good news. We won’t have to start from scratch. Then, an OFMKTO 4.37, then the other Theaters.
Seifer, thanks for the post. I can’t wait to fly 37! We’re also interested in the "new " bird you mention. Please pass alond to the Dev’s that our offer to help is still there.
Jeckal, I know you want to know about the Tornado. The good news there is is if the Hornet FM files works, the Tornado’s should too (cross fingers) -
I did a brief check of the file structure as well, so far I haven’t seen any particular change that caught my attention. I’ll hopefully be able to take a closer look in the next few days. Haven’t launched the sim itself yet.
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@Scorpion82 said in BMS Other Fighters Mafia (BMSOFM) Journal:
I did a brief check of the file structure as well, so far I haven’t seen any particular change that caught my attention. I’ll hopefully be able to take a closer look in the next few days. Haven’t launched the sim itself yet.
Hi, Scorpion. We’ve done some preliminary testing, looking at a jet’s performance AND that things like autothrottle. work. The F-18C looks good. The 18E flies well with the “stock” dat/afm but no ATC, etc. It’s, unlike the 18C, has HAS NASA 0. When you change that to 2 is doesn’t fly as well. I want to try our 4.36 dat/afm in 37, but am seeing some strange behavior when when transferring 4.36 files
in. That’s what we’re working on at the moment. -
Good Day, All. Here is a very happy 4.37 update…
The Mafia flight model (acdata) files work in 4.37. : There is a bit of an issue with how they interact with the cockpit Art folders. We will be considering which of 2 options to use for that in OFMKTO 4.37 and Beyond. The immediate workaround I used for testing is to copy the 4…36 Art folder (1799 for F-18C) into the 4.37 Art folder. If anyone need help on how to do that just let us know.
Meanwhile, another Mafia Member put the entire 4.36 OFMKTO folder into 4.37 and hasn’t reported any issues. I’m going to test that with the Nevada Theater now -
One more update for today(probably ) then I’m going flying.
My test with moving the Nevada Theater to 4.37 was successful. What I did was move the entire Add-On Nevada Theater folder to the 4.37/ data folder. Then, copy and paste 4.36/data/terrdata/Theater Definition/theater.lst to the same location in 4.37.
You’ll notice that the first and second UI screens still say KTO, but from the Frag Screen on you’re good-to-go.
We leave it to you whether you want to do this yourself at this moment. We are going to test/fly/test looking for glitches from the transfer. I can just tell you at this point we have tested in Dogfight,TE, and up to the frag screen in campaign. I’ll be going into 3d in a moment to fly a mission.
We’ll keep you informed… -
@drtbkj I can attest to “not much was changed with the F-18 in 4.37”. Only thing I believe was changed is VR being added, but I cannot confirm this since I just haven’t gotten into, VR’ing.
Looking forward to 4.37 F-18 updates!
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@JollyFE said in BMS Other Fighters Mafia (BMSOFM) Journal:
@drtbkj I can attest to “not much was changed with the F-18 in 4.37”. Only thing I believe was changed is VR being added, but I cannot confirm this since I just haven’t gotten into, VR’ing.
Looking forward to 4.37 F-18 updates!
Thanks , Jolly. I was “holding my breath” wondering if 37 would “unwrite” everything we did, but it’s looking good.
All, I have tested MC and WDP with my transferred Theater, and both are working -
@JollyFE well, rearview mirrors were added. That the small thing I noted some days ago
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@Seifer AH CRAP, Yes the mirrors! But I did say “not much was changed”.
One strange thing about those mirrors is there reflections at night. On a pitch black night, you will see the reflections of city lights or stars out the corner of your eye and think its a plane! It startled me several times, since I’m not used to them being there. But then this turned to, How cool is this!!!
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In case you guys want to add mirrors to missing aircraft, here are some instructions. And if you do, let me know and I’ll add to the official database.
Cockpit mirrors
Explanation about the mirror format in 3dCkit.dat. I’ll use the F15 cockpit as a reference.
Main Section
mirrors distance_ft: 1.20 tilt_deg: -15.0 texture_size: 600 draw_ownship_geometry: true offset_ft { right: 0.0 up: 3.5 } fov_multiplier: 1.0
This is the main mirror entry. It gives general information about the mirror. See this a single mirror glass that covers the entire view of the pilot (for performance reasons, instead of one glass per mirror). What do we have here:
distance_ft
: the distance of the surface from initial pilot position is 1.2ft.tilt_deg
: the surface is slightly tilted down (15 degs). We do this because we place the mirror above the aircraft, so that we can see its own geometry.texture_size
: the RTT texture size, in pixels x pixels. The more, the better looking it will be. And more expensive as well (more pixel shader computation => more GPU needed).draw_ownship_geometry
: draw the player aircraft. Set to true to be able to show external parts. Notice this is not the 3d cockpit geometry. This is work for the future.offset_ft
: offset in feet, from the center of the external aircraft model. We place it usually a few feet above, so that the view is not blocked by the aircraft geometry.fov_multiplier
: if you want the mirror to have higher or smaller fov than the default camera, set this. It is a multiplier (so a player with 100 FoV and fov_multipler 1.1 will result in 110 FoV).
Mirror Groups
Now how to draw the stencils (the mirror image is drawn inside these stencil polygons). Each mirror is a mirror_group. Its geometry does not affect the image (ie, even if you tilt it, it will not tilt the image, it uses the tilt from the main section above). The final result can be seen in this video:
// Central mirror. mirror_group mirror_stencil center { forward: 1.20 left: 0.0 up: 0.231 } scale { wide: 0.1 tall: 0.07 } rotation_deg: 0.0 shape: STENCIL_SHAPE_CIRCLE num_triangles: 10; mirror_stencil center { forward: 1.20 left: 0.13 up: 0.223 } scale { wide: 0.12 tall: 0.067 } rotation_deg: 4.0 shape: STENCIL_SHAPE_SQUARE; mirror_stencil center { forward: 1.20 left: 0.25 up: 0.214 } scale { wide: 0.04 tall: 0.067 } rotation_deg: 0.0 shape: STENCIL_SHAPE_CIRCLE num_triangles: 20; mirror_stencil center { forward: 1.20 right: 0.13 up: 0.220 } scale { wide: 0.12 tall: 0.067 } rotation_deg: -5.5 shape: STENCIL_SHAPE_SQUARE; mirror_stencil center { forward: 1.20 right: 0.25 up: 0.208 } scale { wide: 0.04 tall: 0.067 } rotation_deg: 0.0 shape: STENCIL_SHAPE_CIRCLE num_triangles: 20; mirror_group_end op { rotate{ pitch_deg: 15 } } op { scale { wide: 1.19 tall: 1.07 } } op { translate { forward: 0.01 up: 0.06 right: 0.001 } };
This starts with a
mirror_group
stanza.For the F15C, this is the central mirror. It is composed of 5 stencils: 2 rectangular (
shape: STENCIL_SHAPE_SQUARE
), 3 circular (shape: STENCIL_SHAPE_CIRCLE
). The 2 two rectangles compose the biggest part of the mirror. The circles are used to fill the gap between the inclined rectangles and the extremes. Notice that each stencil can be moved around (center, in feet), scaled in 2 axis (width and height) and rotated (in the forward/back axis). The fieldnum_triangles
allow more circular shapes while drawing circles. The more, the better in terms of look. By default, we use 12 if omitted. For rectangles, it is always 2.When the group ends, we do the final transformations. This applies to the whole group of stencils, as if they were a single object. The reference is it’s middle. Here we are pitching the stencil a bit so it points to the sky (most aircraft frames are like this). Notice this pitch does not affect the mirrored image, which is tiled according to the main section. This is just to fit the mirror frame properly. We also scale it a bit to better fit the frame and bring it a bit forward and to the right for final adjustments.
Now, on the the other mirrors. Notice the left and right mirrors are of the same shape as the middle one. We simply rotate, translate scale them.
// left. mirror_group stencils_from_group: 0 mirror_group_end op { scale { wide: 1.18 tall: 1.05 } } op { rotate { roll_deg: 44.5 } } op { rotate { pitch_deg: 16.0 } } op { translate { back: 0.116 left: 1.01 down: 0.350 } } // right. mirror_group stencils_from_group: 0 mirror_group_end op { scale { wide: 1.16 tall: 1.07 } } op { rotate { roll_deg: -43.5 } } op { rotate { pitch_deg: 16.0 } } op { translate { back: 0.116 right: 1.05 down: 0.342 } }
When we say:
mirror_group stencils_from_group: 0
, we simply mean that this mirror group uses the same stencils as the first one (group 0) WITHOUT it’s final transformation (mirror_group_end
). Then, we apply its own transformations instead:- scale it: make it wider (
wide: 1.18
) and taller (tall: 1.05
). - rotate it: first we roll it 44.5 degrees (
roll_deg: 44.5
) to match the side frame. Then we pitch it 16 degs (pitch_deg: 16.0
). - finally, translate it into its position. notice the side ones are closer than the middle one, hence the back entries (translate towards pilot).
As you probably noticed, valid coordinates are
up
,down
,left
,right
,forward
,back
. All related to pilot position.Reloading the pit in game (vital tip)
In your
Falcon BMS User.cfg
file, set:set g_bActivateDebugStuff 1
Then, when working with mirrors, keep a text editor open while running falcon. Modify the file and in 3d, open chat and type
.3dpit
.It will reload the file in 3d and you will be able to see the changes immediately.
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@JollyFE said in BMS Other Fighters Mafia (BMSOFM) Journal:
@drtbkj I can attest to “not much was changed with the F-18 in 4.37”. Only thing I believe was changed is VR being added, but I cannot confirm this since I just haven’t gotten into, VR’ing.
Looking forward to 4.37 F-18 updates!
Hi, Jolly. We’ve noticed some changes in how the Art Folders are organized, but are extremely happy with 4.37. My biggest concern going into 37 was that we would have to completely reinvent the wheel with our Mafia Stuff. I’m very happy to say that we don’t. In fact, we’ve never had an update this easy to work with. We’ve already talked about “transplanting” our the Theaters the OFM works with into 37. I tested in Nevada last night and all aspects are working. Also, I am currently flying the OFM F-18E dat/afm in 4.37. It only took minor tweaking for full functionality.
One short term project for me will be to Update the Mafia Files for 37. -
@Seifer Thanks for this info! We’re looking at incorporating this into our stuff.
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@Seifer THANK YOU for the detailed reference specs on this new format. And the instructions on live-reloading the pit will save us a lot of time while updating hotspots. Cheers!
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@Seifer Looks nice on the AV-8B, worked a treat!
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@Kavelenko Very nice. The Harrier will most likely be a jet we put the mirrors in.
All, yesterday we were talking about “transplanting” the 4.36 OFM Theaters(and those we collaborate with) to 4.37. To date we have tested, with no problems …
OFMKTO
OFM-Balkans
Korea 2012
Nevada
Viet Nam
Taiwan
Nordic
The only bug is that the first IU screen has the Korea map. We’re aware of that ,and it will be addressed in future updates -
@drtbkj
All, there is another minor bug with using 4.36 theaters in 4.37: in the UI, the flag icons for the various countries always default to KTO flag icons (instead of the expected country flag icons for the theater). This behaviour exists in all of the above tested theaters, but appears to be purely cosmetic in nature. I have only tested TEs and have not tested campaign or dogfight. But so far no issues with 4.36 TEs running in their appropriate theater in 4.37. I did not “install” the theaters in 4.37 using the theater installers - I just copied the entire theater(s) folder from …Falcon BMS 4.36\data into Falcon BMS 4.37\data and then updated the …Falcon BMS 4.37\data\TerrData\Theaterdefinition\theater.lst file appropriately for each added theater.
Regards,
Tomcattwo
(VoiceClone) -
@Tomcattwo Thanks, T2, and thanks for the pm that got that particular ball rolling. UI interaction with our Theaters will be addressed when we get to the point of putting out our 4.37 Theaters. BTW, those will most likely be installers.
I mention installers to address your point about how we both “transplanted” the theaters. You do just copy( I literally moved ) the entire “add-on…” folder from 4.36 data to 4.37 data, and as you mention, the theater.lst. . I simply copied my 4.36 .lst and replaced the 4.37 one.
In the “transplanted” theaters , even any TE’s ,etc., you’ve made will work in 37.
I should mention again that if you want to put the OFM flight model (acdata) files in the stock theaters, you may have an issue with cockpit visualization. When I tested our F-18E dat/afm in the stock KTO it worked but had a Viper cockpit! That’s because 4.37 organizes Art folders differently. There is an easy fix(2, in fact) that will also be addressed in the OFM 4.37’s.
At this point we (the OFM) feel we have basic compatibility with 4.37 worked out. We are moving to the point where we are discussing how to implement the jets’ 4.37 system changes. Last night in our Discord we were discussing the new ECM version and how to put it in the Hornet and Other Jets -
@drtbkj said in BMS Other Fighters Mafia (BMSOFM) Journal:
Hi, All. I’ve been afk for a couple of days, but as the poet said, I’m baaack.
Asleepwater, I just installed 37 and haven’t even been inside , yet. So, it’s hard to say exactly what we plan to do, beyond the promise that we will continue to do “our stuff” on the Other Jets. You asked specifically about Hornet/Other Jet avionics. In the past we have been limited in that regard due to lack of hard code access. A very exciting part of 37 for me is finding out if you work with the files differently… I took a very brief look at the files on the way here . The acdata files look the same and Maria Files are not in the stock F-18C. The good news our Art files are in so the cockpit hotspots should be good. So, a very preliminary Plan A will be to put our acdataFiles in 37 to see how they work. Seifer says very little was done to the Hornet, which frankly to me at least is good news. We won’t have to start from scratch. Then, an OFMKTO 4.37, then the other Theaters.
Seifer, thanks for the post. I can’t wait to fly 37! We’re also interested in the "new " bird you mention. Please pass alond to the Dev’s that our offer to help is still there.
Jeckal, I know you want to know about the Tornado. The good news there is is if the Hornet FM files works, the Tornado’s should too (cross fingers)F18A and C shall have hasNASA 2 in their AFM files