Changes in the late-May 2020 version (Lac08p11) include:
Additional missions and tools for developers: LAC's menus now offer 7 online, multi-user, server-based missions instead of just three. At this point, however, the three additional, new missions are functional duplicates of "Mission Network 01", so this is just an interim release, anticipating further development in each of those four new missions. The client and server infrastructure in support of all missions has been significantly expanded in support of these additional missions: Whether in flight or from within LAC's mission menus, selection of any combination of either of the two distinct Mumble Command Modes, 32 Realms, 7 Missions, and two Team Affiliations results in correct display of the corresponding information, in the proper color, on the cockpit's Mumble Panel, and Mumble quickly switches to the corresponding channel if it has been created on the server, or to the nearest available approximation thereof if nobody has yet created that Mumble channel. All seven missions have been subjected to significant online testing and appear to be stable, well-behaved, and well-documented.
The source code for each of the seven online, multi-user, server-based missions has been broken out of "mission.cpp" for better modularization, and EXTENSIVE source-code comments have been inserted into each of the four files corresponding with the four new missions. As a consequence, it will hereafter be fairly easy for programmers of elementary or better skill to customize the source code for the creation of new, more sophisticated missions. Two of those missions have already been "spoken for" as follows:
Blake Williams is working on Mission #4.
Hyrum Bosen wants to begin working on Mission #5 soon.
Accordingly, Missions #6 and #7 are available for community experimentation and development. If you decide to participate, please read the extensive explanatory comments within the source code of "MissionNetworkBattle06.cpp" or "MissionNetworkBattle07.cpp" as appropriate to your choice, and follow the guidance therein given. Please avoid modifying any of the source code for the other files unless you negotiate something extraordinary with me, as primary developer, through email contact via "webmaster@AskMisterWizard.com".
The missions are written in industry-standard "C++", but with the extensive source-code commentary that is now available, you really don't need to know much about C++. You can just follow and expand the well-documented, existing pattern. If you want to create an official new mission for Linux Air Combat, THIS IS YOUR CHANCE! Submit your modified source code for my evaluation. You have a lot of freedom to choose different aircraft, weather conditions, terrain features, victory goals, mission object locations, numbers, and dynamic positions, durabilities, weapon loadouts, timed or event-driven cockpit messages, text-to-speech messages, etc. I can easily visualize far more sophisticated missions with, for example, additional defended airfields, moving battleships, aircraft carriers, timed cockpit messages, timed audio messages, additional anti-aircraft guns, moving tanks, more complex victory conditions, etc. Check in on LAC's forums for further guidance. A new forum area, for mission developers, will soon appear and I will populate it with YouTube clips showing exactly what to do to get started.
This version also offers more multimedia and menu help for new users needing to configure their online usernames for use in the LAC community.
A few bugs were also fixed, including yet more protection from the segmentation errors that have sometimes been seen immediately upon entry into online missions with active gun-camera player activity. Previous releases had been diminishing the frequency of these errors, but they were still seen from time to time. I HOPE they are all gone now!
Users who have installed the popular "espeak" text-to-speech application will now hear brief text vocalized from time to time. At present this is used only for introductory or explanatory information in unusual situations.
Users who have installed the popular "vlc" media player application will now see and hear brief new video clips from time to time. At present this is used only for introductory or explanatory information in unusual situations.
Users are encouraged to install "vlc" and "espeak" if their LINUX distro does not automatically make them available. Both of these applications are popular, well-known, well-behaved, and ubiquitously available. Although their use in LAC is minimal and optional at present, we anticipate their increasing use within new missions, and new mission developers ought to be able to have a lot of fun inserting video clips and/or text-generated speech into their work.
As configurable new options, LAC's automated use of "espeak" and "vlc" can be individually disabled by editing the value of "NetworkMode" within the user's ~home/.LAC/LacConfig.txt configuration file. This follows the same pattern that has long been used for optional disabling of LAC's automated use of "Mumble".
No changes were made that affect flight. When used in any of the three classic online, multi-user, server-based missions, this version remains operationally compatible with all prior versions since Lac07p92.
Changes in the mid-May 2020 version (Lac08p08) include:
I fixed the long-troubling, poorly named "LAC Maneuver Segmenentation Faults" bug, which had been causing segmentation faults upon startup of online missions when GunCamera "REPLAY" aircraft were active. This is the last known cause of segmentation faults in typical LAC situations.
Mumble is now automatically invoked when LAC starts up. Consequently, the litttle "lac" start script has been simplified so that it no longer attempts to invoke Mumble. Furthermore, LAC is far more intelligent about invoking Mumble: If the user's "CommunityHandle" has been customized with an appropriate username, Mumble is directed to connect him to our Mumble server's "root" channel, logging in with that "CommunityHandle" as his Mumble username. On the other hand, if the user's "CommunityHandle" has not yet been customized (in his ~home/.LAC/LacConfig.txt file), then he is connected to a new Mumble channel named "NewPlayersStartHere" under a Mumble username commencing with "NewPlayer" followed by a 4-digit pseudorandom number.
Furthermore, when a user that has not configured his "CommunityHandle" clicks the prominent "ONLINE DOCUMENTATION" link from LAC's main menu, a narrated, instructive video clip is automatically displayed, presenting detailed instructions to help him get his CommunityHandle set up. That movie is displayed on top of the browser-based, online LAC documentation that is also activated at that point.
Then I enhanced the mission detail menus for the three online, multiplayer, server-based missions so that a user who has still not configured his "CommunityHandle" sees additional prompts to do so at the bottom of his display screen. Those prompts urge him to activate the "ONLINE DOCUMENTATION" link as described in the previous paragraph, resulting in automated launch of the aforementioned, helpful video training clip.
The "SELECT YOUR AIRCRAFT" menus have all been enhanced with an additional button named "CHECK FOR MULTIMEDIA". As before, the logic allows the user to cycle through 54 different versions of this menu, each describing a distinct aircraft. Within each of those 54 separate instances, the new "CHECK FOR MULTIMEDIA" button quickly invokes the user's preferred browser and displays a custom web page associated with the referenced aircraft. Almost all of those web pages now display a relevant YouTube documentary video clip.
As a consequence of these changes, selection of an aircraft from among the 54 emulated by LAC is now a much more immersive and educational activity, and users benefit from increased, natural enthusiasm as they consider each as a candidate for flight. Furthermore, online players are now much more likely to be properly identified to one another as they interact online.
No changes were made that affect flight. This version remains operationally compatible with all prior versions since Lac07p92.
Changes in the early May 2020 version (Lac08p07) include:
Recent online experience has been dominated by unopposed strikes from B29s, B17s, B24s, He111s, and Lancasters. These would have been a lot more fun for both sides had they been opposed. They were unopposed because warning messages created by the tactical alert system, intended to warn players about incoming strategic bombers in time to launch opposition, were too subtle. They got lost in the "fog of war" and were generally unnoticed.
Accordingly, I enhanced LAC to turn the background color of the cockpit RADAR display bright yellow whenever a hostile heavy bomber is present in the mission but too far away to be marked within the bounds of the current RADAR display range. As a consequence of this change, airfield defenders are now given much more prominent warnings about incoming, hostile bombers while they are still at long range, even if the RADAR range is focused only on short-range activity. Whenever the player sees his RADAR display background turn yellow, he knows there is at least one hostile heavy bomber in the mission but beyond his current RADAR range setting. (When the RADAR range is subsequently zoomed out far enough to allow display of the threat, the usual green background is restored.)
I strengthened the self-defending guns of heavy bombers a bit.
The Me163 "Komet" now develops fuel leaks when damaged, limiting its combat effectiveness when deep inside enemy territory. This tends to return the Komet to its historic role as a "point defense" weapon.
I enhanced the "Norden Bombsight" logic with better introductory training and prompting text to assist new users.
I further minimized the visual perception of network jitter.
I enhanced the "lac" launch script. Now if Mumble is installed, it is invoked before LAC whenever this standard little launch script is used. Recent experience confirms that this is less confusing for brand new users.
No changes were made that affect flight. This version remains operationally compatible with all prior versions since Lac07p92.
Changes in the later-Apr 2020 version (Lac08p06) include:
The Mission Detail menus for the three online, server-based, multiplayer missions have been further enhanced. In addition to the two new clickable areas from version 8.05 that cycle Team and Realm affiliation, a third clickable area has been defined. It is labelled "SYNCHRONIZE MUMBLE WITH REALM/MISSION/TEAM". The prior version had attempted to keep Mumble synchronized with every incremental change in Realm or Team, but that proved to be slow and cumbersome and it generated a lot of extraneous, administrative Mumble traffic. This new version only synchronizes Mumble to the user's chosen combination of Realm, Mission, and Team when the user clicks on that new "SYNCHRONIZE MUMBLE WITH REALM/MISSION/TEAM" label.
This version also modifies the value of "NetworkTransmitTimerInterval" when Realm "01" is in use. In that case, the value of "NetworkTransmitTimerInterval" is set to the special value of "101". This greatly improves the visual perception of network "jitter" when flying in Realm "01". If long-term experience with this setting does not cause problems for the server, then we may double the rate of packet transmission with a similar adjustment to "NetworkTransmitTimerInterval" in some or all of the other Realms too.
No changes were made that affect flight. This version remains operationally compatible with all prior versions since Lac07p92.
Changes in the late-Apr 2020 version (Lac08p05) include:
The Main Menu has been expanded with an extra button, labelled "ONLINE DOCUMENTATION". It activates an Internet browser for the user from within LAC and conveniently presents several pages of specially chosen online documentation and training video clips. By default, LAC tries to use the "firefox" browser, but the user can specify a different browser by editing a new line, near the bottom of the "LacConfig.txt" file.
Two types of user misbehavior are better managed as follows:
1 of 2: in MissionNetworkBattle01 and in MissionNetworkBattle02, if a user in flight presses <esc> to temporarily exit a difficult tactical situation and then returns without reasonably exercising menu buttons, he sees "<esc> ABUSE DETECTED" in his SystemMessage Panel and he gets destroyed as punishment.</esc></esc>
2 of 2: Anytime the player damages a friendly aircraft or facility in any of the three online, server-based, multiplayer missions, he sees "YOU INFLICTED FRIENDLY FIRE!" on his SystemMesssage Panel and, if he is participating in MissionNetworkBattle01 or MissionNetworkBattle02, he loses access to IFF for a period of time that is proportional to the amount of friendly damage inflicted. If the damage is extremely serious, he suffers other consequences, building up to permanent loss of HUD, RADAR, Tactical status reports, target vocalization, airfield service, and finally, upon landing, summons to court-martial for treason.
The Makefile was enhanced with the "-fPIE" compiler option for better compatibility with popular compilers.
The Mission Detail menus for the three online, server-based, multiplayer missions have been enhanced with clickable areas that cycle Team affiliation back and forth between BLUE and RED and that cycle "REALM" through all available values from "00" to "31", so it is no longer necessary to edit the LacConfig.txt file to specify Team and Realm affiliation. Keep in mind that with the small population of users currently active in LAC, we are urging everybody to limit activities to REALM 0 so we can find one another.)
No changes were made that affect flight. This version remains operationally compatible with all prior versions since Lac07p92.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
Changes in the late-May 2020 version (Lac08p11) include:
Additional missions and tools for developers: LAC's menus now offer 7 online, multi-user, server-based missions instead of just three. At this point, however, the three additional, new missions are functional duplicates of "Mission Network 01", so this is just an interim release, anticipating further development in each of those four new missions. The client and server infrastructure in support of all missions has been significantly expanded in support of these additional missions: Whether in flight or from within LAC's mission menus, selection of any combination of either of the two distinct Mumble Command Modes, 32 Realms, 7 Missions, and two Team Affiliations results in correct display of the corresponding information, in the proper color, on the cockpit's Mumble Panel, and Mumble quickly switches to the corresponding channel if it has been created on the server, or to the nearest available approximation thereof if nobody has yet created that Mumble channel. All seven missions have been subjected to significant online testing and appear to be stable, well-behaved, and well-documented.
The source code for each of the seven online, multi-user, server-based missions has been broken out of "mission.cpp" for better modularization, and EXTENSIVE source-code comments have been inserted into each of the four files corresponding with the four new missions. As a consequence, it will hereafter be fairly easy for programmers of elementary or better skill to customize the source code for the creation of new, more sophisticated missions. Two of those missions have already been "spoken for" as follows:
Blake Williams is working on Mission #4.
Hyrum Bosen wants to begin working on Mission #5 soon.
Accordingly, Missions #6 and #7 are available for community experimentation and development. If you decide to participate, please read the extensive explanatory comments within the source code of "MissionNetworkBattle06.cpp" or "MissionNetworkBattle07.cpp" as appropriate to your choice, and follow the guidance therein given. Please avoid modifying any of the source code for the other files unless you negotiate something extraordinary with me, as primary developer, through email contact via "webmaster@AskMisterWizard.com".
The missions are written in industry-standard "C++", but with the extensive source-code commentary that is now available, you really don't need to know much about C++. You can just follow and expand the well-documented, existing pattern. If you want to create an official new mission for Linux Air Combat, THIS IS YOUR CHANCE! Submit your modified source code for my evaluation. You have a lot of freedom to choose different aircraft, weather conditions, terrain features, victory goals, mission object locations, numbers, and dynamic positions, durabilities, weapon loadouts, timed or event-driven cockpit messages, text-to-speech messages, etc. I can easily visualize far more sophisticated missions with, for example, additional defended airfields, moving battleships, aircraft carriers, timed cockpit messages, timed audio messages, additional anti-aircraft guns, moving tanks, more complex victory conditions, etc. Check in on LAC's forums for further guidance. A new forum area, for mission developers, will soon appear and I will populate it with YouTube clips showing exactly what to do to get started.
This version also offers more multimedia and menu help for new users needing to configure their online usernames for use in the LAC community.
A few bugs were also fixed, including yet more protection from the segmentation errors that have sometimes been seen immediately upon entry into online missions with active gun-camera player activity. Previous releases had been diminishing the frequency of these errors, but they were still seen from time to time. I HOPE they are all gone now!
Users who have installed the popular "espeak" text-to-speech application will now hear brief text vocalized from time to time. At present this is used only for introductory or explanatory information in unusual situations.
Users who have installed the popular "vlc" media player application will now see and hear brief new video clips from time to time. At present this is used only for introductory or explanatory information in unusual situations.
Users are encouraged to install "vlc" and "espeak" if their LINUX distro does not automatically make them available. Both of these applications are popular, well-known, well-behaved, and ubiquitously available. Although their use in LAC is minimal and optional at present, we anticipate their increasing use within new missions, and new mission developers ought to be able to have a lot of fun inserting video clips and/or text-generated speech into their work.
As configurable new options, LAC's automated use of "espeak" and "vlc" can be individually disabled by editing the value of "NetworkMode" within the user's ~home/.LAC/LacConfig.txt configuration file. This follows the same pattern that has long been used for optional disabling of LAC's automated use of "Mumble".
No changes were made that affect flight. When used in any of the three classic online, multi-user, server-based missions, this version remains operationally compatible with all prior versions since Lac07p92.
Changes in the mid-May 2020 version (Lac08p08) include:
I fixed the long-troubling, poorly named "LAC Maneuver Segmenentation Faults" bug, which had been causing segmentation faults upon startup of online missions when GunCamera "REPLAY" aircraft were active. This is the last known cause of segmentation faults in typical LAC situations.
Mumble is now automatically invoked when LAC starts up. Consequently, the litttle "lac" start script has been simplified so that it no longer attempts to invoke Mumble. Furthermore, LAC is far more intelligent about invoking Mumble: If the user's "CommunityHandle" has been customized with an appropriate username, Mumble is directed to connect him to our Mumble server's "root" channel, logging in with that "CommunityHandle" as his Mumble username. On the other hand, if the user's "CommunityHandle" has not yet been customized (in his ~home/.LAC/LacConfig.txt file), then he is connected to a new Mumble channel named "NewPlayersStartHere" under a Mumble username commencing with "NewPlayer" followed by a 4-digit pseudorandom number.
Furthermore, when a user that has not configured his "CommunityHandle" clicks the prominent "ONLINE DOCUMENTATION" link from LAC's main menu, a narrated, instructive video clip is automatically displayed, presenting detailed instructions to help him get his CommunityHandle set up. That movie is displayed on top of the browser-based, online LAC documentation that is also activated at that point.
Then I enhanced the mission detail menus for the three online, multiplayer, server-based missions so that a user who has still not configured his "CommunityHandle" sees additional prompts to do so at the bottom of his display screen. Those prompts urge him to activate the "ONLINE DOCUMENTATION" link as described in the previous paragraph, resulting in automated launch of the aforementioned, helpful video training clip.
The "SELECT YOUR AIRCRAFT" menus have all been enhanced with an additional button named "CHECK FOR MULTIMEDIA". As before, the logic allows the user to cycle through 54 different versions of this menu, each describing a distinct aircraft. Within each of those 54 separate instances, the new "CHECK FOR MULTIMEDIA" button quickly invokes the user's preferred browser and displays a custom web page associated with the referenced aircraft. Almost all of those web pages now display a relevant YouTube documentary video clip.
As a consequence of these changes, selection of an aircraft from among the 54 emulated by LAC is now a much more immersive and educational activity, and users benefit from increased, natural enthusiasm as they consider each as a candidate for flight. Furthermore, online players are now much more likely to be properly identified to one another as they interact online.
No changes were made that affect flight. This version remains operationally compatible with all prior versions since Lac07p92.
Changes in the early May 2020 version (Lac08p07) include:
Recent online experience has been dominated by unopposed strikes from B29s, B17s, B24s, He111s, and Lancasters. These would have been a lot more fun for both sides had they been opposed. They were unopposed because warning messages created by the tactical alert system, intended to warn players about incoming strategic bombers in time to launch opposition, were too subtle. They got lost in the "fog of war" and were generally unnoticed.
Accordingly, I enhanced LAC to turn the background color of the cockpit RADAR display bright yellow whenever a hostile heavy bomber is present in the mission but too far away to be marked within the bounds of the current RADAR display range. As a consequence of this change, airfield defenders are now given much more prominent warnings about incoming, hostile bombers while they are still at long range, even if the RADAR range is focused only on short-range activity. Whenever the player sees his RADAR display background turn yellow, he knows there is at least one hostile heavy bomber in the mission but beyond his current RADAR range setting. (When the RADAR range is subsequently zoomed out far enough to allow display of the threat, the usual green background is restored.)
I strengthened the self-defending guns of heavy bombers a bit.
The Me163 "Komet" now develops fuel leaks when damaged, limiting its combat effectiveness when deep inside enemy territory. This tends to return the Komet to its historic role as a "point defense" weapon.
I enhanced the "Norden Bombsight" logic with better introductory training and prompting text to assist new users.
I further minimized the visual perception of network jitter.
I enhanced the "lac" launch script. Now if Mumble is installed, it is invoked before LAC whenever this standard little launch script is used. Recent experience confirms that this is less confusing for brand new users.
No changes were made that affect flight. This version remains operationally compatible with all prior versions since Lac07p92.
Changes in the later-Apr 2020 version (Lac08p06) include:
The Mission Detail menus for the three online, server-based, multiplayer missions have been further enhanced. In addition to the two new clickable areas from version 8.05 that cycle Team and Realm affiliation, a third clickable area has been defined. It is labelled "SYNCHRONIZE MUMBLE WITH REALM/MISSION/TEAM". The prior version had attempted to keep Mumble synchronized with every incremental change in Realm or Team, but that proved to be slow and cumbersome and it generated a lot of extraneous, administrative Mumble traffic. This new version only synchronizes Mumble to the user's chosen combination of Realm, Mission, and Team when the user clicks on that new "SYNCHRONIZE MUMBLE WITH REALM/MISSION/TEAM" label.
This version also modifies the value of "NetworkTransmitTimerInterval" when Realm "01" is in use. In that case, the value of "NetworkTransmitTimerInterval" is set to the special value of "101". This greatly improves the visual perception of network "jitter" when flying in Realm "01". If long-term experience with this setting does not cause problems for the server, then we may double the rate of packet transmission with a similar adjustment to "NetworkTransmitTimerInterval" in some or all of the other Realms too.
No changes were made that affect flight. This version remains operationally compatible with all prior versions since Lac07p92.
Changes in the late-Apr 2020 version (Lac08p05) include:
The Main Menu has been expanded with an extra button, labelled "ONLINE DOCUMENTATION". It activates an Internet browser for the user from within LAC and conveniently presents several pages of specially chosen online documentation and training video clips. By default, LAC tries to use the "firefox" browser, but the user can specify a different browser by editing a new line, near the bottom of the "LacConfig.txt" file.
Two types of user misbehavior are better managed as follows:
1 of 2: in MissionNetworkBattle01 and in MissionNetworkBattle02, if a user in flight presses <esc> to temporarily exit a difficult tactical situation and then returns without reasonably exercising menu buttons, he sees "<esc> ABUSE DETECTED" in his SystemMessage Panel and he gets destroyed as punishment.</esc></esc>
2 of 2: Anytime the player damages a friendly aircraft or facility in any of the three online, server-based, multiplayer missions, he sees "YOU INFLICTED FRIENDLY FIRE!" on his SystemMesssage Panel and, if he is participating in MissionNetworkBattle01 or MissionNetworkBattle02, he loses access to IFF for a period of time that is proportional to the amount of friendly damage inflicted. If the damage is extremely serious, he suffers other consequences, building up to permanent loss of HUD, RADAR, Tactical status reports, target vocalization, airfield service, and finally, upon landing, summons to court-martial for treason.
The Makefile was enhanced with the "-fPIE" compiler option for better compatibility with popular compilers.
The Mission Detail menus for the three online, server-based, multiplayer missions have been enhanced with clickable areas that cycle Team affiliation back and forth between BLUE and RED and that cycle "REALM" through all available values from "00" to "31", so it is no longer necessary to edit the LacConfig.txt file to specify Team and Realm affiliation. Keep in mind that with the small population of users currently active in LAC, we are urging everybody to limit activities to REALM 0 so we can find one another.)
No changes were made that affect flight. This version remains operationally compatible with all prior versions since Lac07p92.