Tacview – Understand what happened during your last flight! (alternative ACMI viewer)
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You rock. HNY
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I found and fixed the bug with the EMF theater!
This theater is twice the size of the average Falcon 4.0 theater. The size was hardcoded to 4096 samples in Tacview, that’s why it was not working properly (the terrain was properly displayed but not the aircraft). It is now a parameter in the XML file.
I will publish Tacview 1.3.1 in a few days.
:bowd:
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hi, I want to add my theater into the list.
My theater is spherically converted, that is why its rather trapezoidal surface with different longitude of north and south corner of the same vertical edge.
What is “west” and “east” values exactly? I have different west in SW, middleW and NW (trapezoid).
I do not understand to this very well:- Specify the boundaries (longitudes and latitudes) of your theater purely in degrees
They are the same coordinates as the ones you can get while displaying your theater in Google Earth as an Image Overlay
Rotation is not supported, only translation and scale on both axes
SW corner is Lat 43.8 Long 0.4
I added this to the XML file:
<theater id=“NATO”><simulators>Falcon 4.BMS</simulators>
<path>C:\Falcon BMS 4.32\Data\Add-On NATO\Terrdata\terrain</path>
<west>0.4</west>
<east>25.108</east>
<south>43.8</south>
<north>62.2063</north>
<lod>2</lod></theater>But my tape is placed somewhere in far east Russia instead Baltic… ?
What is wrong with my XML config please? (beside this one is 128seg as EMF with 4096 TE segments)Thanks in advance
- Specify the boundaries (longitudes and latitudes) of your theater purely in degrees
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Ahaaa :=) Europe theater. +1
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Hi Lukas,
Your coordinates look quite good even if I would choose a slightly different set to make the geographical distortion less obvious.
See the attached screenshot as an example on how to find the “best” coordinates using Google Earth (this is just a quick try, I didn’t take the time to make it as good as it can be)
That said, I have noticed an error in your file. Your [Simulators] node is invalid (the first occurrence is closed). E.g.: <simulator>should be <simulator>in this case.
Your file should be like this:
<theater id=“NATO”><simulators>Falcon 4.BMS</simulators>
<path>C:\Falcon BMS 4.32\Data\Add-On NATO\Terrdata\terrain</path>
<west>0.4</west>
<east>25.108</east>
<south>43.8</south>
<north>62.2063</north>
<lod>2</lod></theater>Note that you don’t have to specify Falcon4.BMS if there is no conflict possible with the vanilla Falcon 4.0 terrains.</simulator></simulator>
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Happy New Year Vyrtuoz!!!
Any progress on 1.3.1 ?
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I still have a few things to tweak and I should ship it by the end of the week.
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I still have a few things to tweak and I should ship it by the end of the week.
WONDERFUL!!! Thank you for the effort!
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Well if it helps to coordinate your grid Longitude 0.00 goes through the centre of london and through just east of Cleethorpes of Google maps, it also passes pretty much through my house as well my mobile says im at Long 0.01 E but thats a different matter. Ive been looking for a NATO based theatre to download since losing my original from back in the Falcon SP4 days to a dogs chew toy. If you want long latitude checks on stuff use google maps or google earth, but this will mean youll have earth curvature to take into account though it shouldnt affect the player Bubble in any way.
Send me a PM if youd like a hand with this project definately a plus 1
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[plz, delete this post]
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Hi Vyrtuoz!
Please help me solve a problem with Static Objects in EMF theater and the 1.3.1 pro version.
Is there an easy way to convert emf coondinates viewed in Recon or WeaponDeliveryPlanner’s Map into TacView?
I’d like to make some static objects xml, but coordinates are offsetting…(unless I do it wrong).
I also looked uri_ba’s DTC conversion tool, but an emf updated version is still awaited there.Thank you in advance!
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Hi Cannon,
I think Uri is going to update its tool soon. Here is the formula I just gave him to convert Falcon coordinates in Tacview coordinates using the values you can find in Data-Falcon4Theaters.xml.
mWidth=4096 by default or the value specified in the XML file (typically 8192 for EMF) mHeight=4096 by default or the value specified in the XML file (typically 8192 for EMF) mFeetPerSample=819.995 (Falcon 4.0 constant, could be specified in the XML file) mXBegin=CMath::Rad(mWest); mXEnd=CMath::Rad(mEast); mYBegin=CMath::Rad(mSouth); mYEnd=CMath::Rad(mNorth); ExtendX=mXEnd-mXBegin; ExtendY=mYEnd-mYBegin; mFactorX=ExtendX/(mWidth*mFeetPerSample); mFactorY=ExtendY/(mHeight*mFeetPerSample); Longitude=mXBegin+x*mFactorX; // x is the falcon 4 coordinate Latitude =mYBegin+y*mFactorY; // y is the falcon 4 coordinate
Hi Vyrtuoz!
Please help me solve a problem with Static Objects in EMF theater and the 1.3.1 pro version.
Is there an easy way to convert emf coondinates viewed in Recon or WeaponDeliveryPlanner’s Map into TacView?
I’d like to make some static objects xml, but coordinates are offsetting…(unless I do it wrong).
I also looked uri_ba’s DTC conversion tool, but an emf updated version is still awaited there.Thank you in advance!
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Thank you for your reply!
Since I’m not a programmer, can you please explain a little further the lines:
CMath::Rad(mWest);
CMath::Rad(mEast);
CMath::Rad(mSouth);
CMath::Rad(mNorth);
EDIT #1:
I understand where to find W,E,S,N variables, but what mathematical function is```
CMath::Rad**EDIT #2**: Hmmm, could it be the Radian angle conversion described [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radian) ? Let's see… :rolleyes:
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Yes, this is just to convert degrees from the XML file to radian for my program. But you can just ignore these calls and do all of your calculations in degrees.
mWidth =4096 by default or the value specified in the XML file (typically 8192 for EMF) mHeight=4096 by default or the value specified in the XML file (typically 8192 for EMF) mFeetPerSample=819.995 (Falcon 4.0 constant, could be specified in the XML file) ExtendX=mEast-mWest; ExtendY=mNorth-mSouth; mFactorX=ExtendX/(mWidth*mFeetPerSample); mFactorY=ExtendY/(mHeight*mFeetPerSample); Longitude=mWest +x*mFactorX; // x is the falcon 4 coordinate Latitude =mSouth+y*mFactorY; // y is the falcon 4 coordinate
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Hi Vyrtuoz!
I used and tested all the info you posted, and if you wish please enlighten me a little more about the following…
When you said:
// x is the falcon 4 coordinate
// y is the falcon 4 coordinateby the term ‘coordinate’ I found out (by try’n’error ) that you meant the format that is written in the callsign.ini (or mission.ini) file.
Am I correct?Like:
lineSTPT_0=2269252.000000, 2016132.375000, 0.000000
where
x is 2269252.000000
y is 2016132.375000
(and z as elevation is 0.000000)This is useful so far.
Another info I need is:
- How can I transform DD°MM.SSS’ (or DD.DDDDDD) seen in BMS’ recon window into TacView BMS Terrain Coordinates to enter them inside StaticObjects.xml?
- How can I transform DD°MM.SSS’ (or DD.DDDDDD) of Real Terrain into TacView BMS Terrain Coordinates to enter them inside StaticObjects.xml?
The first is needed in situations like putting a small cylinder in TacView, at the exact point a barrel at the center of a ground Firing Range circle is shown in BMS’ recon.
The second is needed in situations like transforming some areas of real life (eg. shown in SkyVector.com) into TacView, shown in Terrain->BMS mode.And an overall (maybe the most important) question about StaticObjects.xml:
In http://lomac.strasoftware.com/tacview-static-objects.php you state thatPosition: Object position on earth. Altitude is in meters.
and in the example XML files, coordinates are written in many ways (?) DMS, DD etc.
What coordinates should I write inside XML? Real Terrain’s? in this case I need only an algorithm that converts between BMS Terrain -> Real Terrain, and vice versa.I feel a bit confused…
Thank you (again) in advance!
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Hi Cannon,
You don’t know it but you got it! Yes, you have to write real terrain coordinates in static objects XML files. Tacview is always working with real life terrain coordinates. So you can directly enter real life latitude/longitude coordinates in static objects XML files.
Here is an example for an object which is 34.xxx degrees of latitude and 131.xxx degrees of longitude at an altitude of 32 meters: (D.DDDD format)
<position><latitude>34.595590</latitude> <longitude>131.218970</longitude> <altitude>32</altitude></position>
Now if you want to do the same for Falcon 4.0 object, then you will have to convert their coordinates from falcon values (which are in feet) to latitude/longitude using the formula I just gave you.
For example:x is 2269252.000000 y is 2016132.375000
you should do the following: (obviously, the mWest/mSouth/mFactor variables have to be replaced with your Falcon terrain parameters)
Longitude=mWest +2269252.000000*mFactorX; // to get real terrain longitude in D.DDDD Latitude =mSouth+2016132.375000*mFactorY; // to get real terrain latitude in D.DDDD
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Got it!
Thanks! -
Hi Vyrtuoz!
I’ve got a feature request:
- It would be most handy to have a window with check-boxes to enable/disable the visibility of static objects, grouped by xml files.
For example:
If I have 3 xml files:
-> Airport Charts.xml
-> Target Ranges.xml
-> Misc Areas.xml
it would be nice to have a window that will display 3 checkboxes with the filenames beside them, to display (checked) or hide (unchecked) the static objects each file has written in it.Furthermore, a grouping feature would also be nice inside the xml structure which would help a possible display of sub-trees (according to the grouping).
To give an example of this, imagine the following:–-------STATIC OBJECTS SHOW/HIDE WINDOW–-------
Airport Charts // The 1st XML file
- HELLAS // Group
- LGSA // 1st level Sub-Group
- SID 1 // 2nd level Sub-Group
- SID 2 // 2nd level Sub-Group
- STAR 1 // 2nd level Sub-Group
- STAR 2 // 2nd level Sub-Group
Target Ranges // The 2nd XML file
- HELLAS // Group
- KRANEA // 1st level Sub-Group
- SCHIZA // 1st level Sub-Group
Misc Areas // The 3rd XML file
- HELLAS // Group
- HIGH VALUE // 1st level Sub-Group
- LOW NAVIGATION // 1st level Sub-Group
- AIR-to-AIR // 1st level Sub-Group
…and so on…Thank you, again for all your efforts!
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Absolutely! I’ve planned to completely rewrite my static objects system. I will create, in coming releases, a better format and will also provide a tool a bit like what you are describing. So you can easily add objects, debug them and display the ones you want.
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Absolutely! I’ve planned to completely rewrite my static objects system. I will create, in coming releases, a better format and will also provide a tool a bit like what you are describing. So you can easily add objects, debug them and display the ones you want.
AWESOME!!! :bowd::headb: