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TROUBLE AHEAD for LAC

bbosen
2023-05-22
2024-12-22
  • bbosen

    bbosen - 2023-08-04

    New version Lac09p37 fixes this problem with a unique approach: As an option, users can completely bypass use of LAC's menus using any combination of these two tools:

    1 of 2: Users can edit the LacConfig.txt configuration file to designate absolutely everything that they ever might want to specify through LAC's menus, including designation of a "DefaultMission". When a DefaultMission is specified, LAC runs it immediately without demanding any input through any of its menus.

    2 of 2: Users can provide any combination of the following details on the command line when invoking LAC from a bash shell:

     DefaultAircraft
     DefaultMission
     Team Affiliation
    

    All of these new command-line options are described in response to any command that invokes LAC with any command-line arguments that LAC cannot understand. For example, THIS command:

     lac --HelpMePlease
    

    Yields THIS text on the invoking console:

    Usage: Lac [-h] [-m] [-nMissionNumber] [-pPlaneNumber]  [-tTEAM] [-v] [-dLEVEL]
    
    -h: Display this help screen and quit
    
    -m: Request Mouse control instead of joystick.
    
    -nMissionNumber: Set DefaultMission for automatic activation, bypassing menus,
      where MissionNumber is one of:
        Tutorial 1 (Getting Started with the Basics)    8
        Tutorial 2 (Ground Attack Basics)              12
        Tutorial 3 (Fighter Tactics)                   10
        Tutorial 4 (Free Flight with no opposition)    31
        Network H2H: (Two Players only)                32
        Network Battle 01                              20
        Network Battle 02                              21
        Network Battle 03                              23
        Hyrum's Mission                                24
        Blake's Mission                                25
        Peabody's Mission                              26
        Net Mission 07                                 27
        Net Mission 08                                 28
        Net Mission 09                                 29
        Net Mission 10                                 30
    
    -pPlaneNumber: Configure default airplane, where PlaneNumber is one of:
    
    Whimsical      jet   Hawk:            201        Fiat           G55   Centauro:        202
    Messerschmidt  ME109 Bf109            203        Curtis         P40   Warhawk          204
    Hawker               Hurricane        205        Nakajima       KI43  Oscar            206
    Supermarine:         Spitfire         207        Polykarpov     I-16  Horsefly:        208
    Junkers        JU87  Stuka:           209        Mitsubishi     A6M2   Zero:           210
    Chance Vought  F4U   Corsair:         211        Grumman        F6F   Hellcat:         212
    Lockheed       P38   Lightning:       213        Republic       P47   Thunderbolt:     214
    North American P51   Mustang:         215        Boeing         B17   Flying Fortress: 216
    Focke-Wulf     FW190 Butcherbird:     217        Yakolev              YAK9:            218
    Nakajima       N1K1  Shiden:          219        Consolidated   B24   Liberator:       220
    Bell           P39   Airacobra:       221        Mitsubishi     G4M   Betty:           222
    North American B25   Mitchell:        223        Martin         B26   Marauder:        224
    Grumman        F4F   Wildcat:         225        Lavochkin      LA5   Fantail:         226
    Lavochkin      LA7   Fin:             227        Ilyushin       IL2   Sturmovik:       228
    Machi          C.202 Folgore:         229        Avro                 Lancaster:       230
    De Haviland    DH.98 MosquitoB:       231        Hawker               Typhoon:         232
    Yakovlev             Yak1:            233        Boeing         B29   Superfortress:   234
    Dewoitine            D.320:           235        Curtiss        SB2C  Helldiver:       236
    Grumman        TBF   Avenger:         237        Messerschmidt  ME163 Komet:           238
    Hawker               Tempest:         239        Aichi          D3A   Val:             240
    Nakajima       B5N   Kate:            241        Douglas        SBD5  Dauntless:       242
    Messerschmidt  ME110 Zerstorer:       243        Dornier        DO17:                  244
    Heinkel        HE111:                 245        Junkers        JU88:                  246
    Nakajima       KI84  Hayate:          247        Kawasaki       KI61  Hien:            248
    Generic        Fighter Generic01:     249        Mitsubishi     A6M5  Zero:            250
    Supermarine    MK5   Spitfire:        251        North American P51B  Mustang:         252
    Republic       P47B  Thunderbolt:     253        Messerschmidt  ME109F:                254
    Lockheed       P38F  Lightning:       255
    
    -tTEAM: Configure Team, where TEAM = r or b (red or blue).
    
    -v: Display version string and quit
    
    -dLEVEL: Set debug LEVEL to 0=silent... 4= show Network-related logs... 5=log all
    
    
     For help configuring joystick and keyboard,
     we recommend avoiding full-screen mode so you
     can see status messages, and running at debug level 4.
     Status messages in your main window will then show
     the value of keypresses and joystick buttons as they
     are detected during the game. Use those values as you
     edit the file named LacControls.txt which you will
     find in your home folder's .LAC directory. Edit that
     file with a simple text editor. Retain the general
     format of the file while changing the numeric values
     associated with keyboard key commands or joystick button
     commands. This will allow you to associate any keyboard
     key or any joystick button with any supported flight function.
    
    bash-5.1$ 
    

    As you can see, users wishing to drive LAC from the command line can now bypass all of the most common needs for LAC's menus.

    This new version of LAC (Lac09p37) is now available for download from our SourceForge beta-test Downloads page. Beta testers are enthusiastic, so it is likely that we will move it to our "Production" download pages soon, but as of today (04Aug2023) you can find it through THIS LINK:

    http://sourceforge.net/projects/linuxaircombat/files/Choose%20Your%20Platform/BetaTestVersions/

    As always, you can learn details about what's new with each published version of LAC from our online ChangeLog page here:

    http://askmisterwizard.com/2019/LinuxAirCombat/LinuxAirCombatChangeLog.htm

     

    Last edit: bbosen 2023-12-17
  • bbosen

    bbosen - 2023-10-05

    Update from Oct2023: We've made further progress. New version 9.48, now available for beta testing, allows command-line configuration of EVERYTHING that could ever be configured from LAC's menus. Although those legacy menus are retained and still work for most people, if you are among those for whom our menus stopped working after a recent LINUX update, you don't need our menus anymore and it's easy to invoke LAC from a bash shell, appending command-line arguments to configure aircraft, mission, team, video resolution, graphic detail, acoustic levels, etc. You can learn the required command-line syntax by issuing the following command line from a bash shell:

    lac -help

    To make your life even easier, we are also beta-testing a new, companion utility, named "LacMenuLauncher". This optional utility, not needed by most players, displays text-based menus that look a lot like LAC's legacy menus. As selections are made from the displayed menu options according to long-standing text menu norms, they automatically build up a corresponding lac command line. Once all desired menu options have been chosen and the new lac command line is completed accordingly, a prominent LacMenuLauncher menu item will execute that command line and immediately invoke LAC with all of the chosen options. Within just a few seconds and with no need for exercising LAC's built-in menus, the player is placed into his desired aircraft, flying for his designated team, in the designated mission, configured for the video resolution and audio levels that he designated from the menus. After the resulting LAC session completes, control is immediately returned back to LACMenuLauncher for further action according to the same set of menu options. This pattern can continue indefinitely, essentially duplicating the LAC experience that our veteran users have come to expect.

    This facility requires LAC Version 9.48 or later, and we intend to make it available for all future versions of LAC.

    Here's a direct link to our beta-test downloads page where Lac9.48 and the LacMenuLauncher will be available for downloading until these facilities are promoted to "production" status:

    https://sourceforge.net/projects/linuxaircombat/files/Choose%20Your%20Platform/BetaTestVersions/

    As always, you can learn more details about these new items from our online ChangeLog page. Here's the link:

    http://askmisterwizard.com/2019/LinuxAirCombat/LinuxAirCombatChangeLog.htm

    Furthermore, we just published a comprehensive new YouTube PlayList with 11 short video clips showing EXACTLY how we downloaded, installed, configured, and used all of these facilities. We even integrated LAC version 9.48 and the new LacMenuLauncher into the desktop LINUX menus. Accordingly, we can now invoke LAC from our desktop with just one or two mouse clicks, whether we want to use its internal menus or the optional, new, text-based menus.

    Here's the link to that new YouTube PlayList:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H03frBW1YjQ&list=PL1IYes9MY6lIw1rq19ewc5siwHg8u8NX3

     

    Last edit: bbosen 2023-12-17
  • bbosen

    bbosen - 2023-11-18

    As of Nov2023 we've published production-quality version 9.48 to solve the problem. No more "Trouble Ahead for LAC"! If your desktop LINUX distro refuses to respond to LAC's internally displayed menu buttons, you can now just download our LacMenuLauncher utility from our production archives. It will always be available here:

    https://sourceforge.net/projects/linuxaircombat/files/Choose%20Your%20Platform/LacMenuLauncher/

     

    Last edit: bbosen 2023-11-18
  • bbosen

    bbosen - 2023-11-18

    You will need to compile the LacMenuLauncher from source code. Fortunately, this is VERY easy to do. Full instructions are published in the page referenced in the download link above. For further help, watch this YouTube PlayList which demonstrates, in eleven short video clips, exactly how we did it. The PlayList also shows you how we integrated the LacMenuLauncher into our desktop LINUX menus for easy "one-click" activation. Here's the playlist:

     
  • bbosen

    bbosen - 2024-12-22

    As of this writing in Dec2024, we note that complaints about LINUX distros that fail to activate LAC's built-in menus have become less and less frequent. It's been several months since we heard any such complaint. None of our lab-based testing activities have run into this problem either.

    Accordingly, we now suspect that whatever was causing some distros to fail to respond to LAC's menus has generally been fixed.

    Downloads of our "LacMenuLauncher" have diminished correspondingly. Perhaps our LacMenuLauncher won't be needed at all in the future, but we are maintaining compatibility with it just in case it is ever needed.

     

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