New Experimental LAC Version 8.48

[bbosen]

I just released experimental new LAC Version 8.48 for download from our main web page (NOT on SourceForge.net where our production versions are published). If you want to experiment with the latest "bleeding-edge" features, you can download it here:

https://askmisterwizard.com/2019/LinuxAirCombat/Installers/index.htm

Changes in Lac08p48

This version derives directly from Lac08p44 (bypassing intervening versions). All of the aircraft, flight models, and missions are unchanged, so competitive, multiplayer aspects remain interoperable with all versions since 7.92.

However, one bug was fixed, new guidance is offered to help new users configure their systems optimally, and improvements were made to each of the Menus that describe an individual mission.

Because LAC now has 15 missions, there are 15 individual, descriptive, mission menus, and the purpose of each is to illustrate the aircraft that will be used, to describe the asssociated mission, to allow the player to choose a Realm and Team in which he wants to fly the associated mission, and to select among available starting points on the associated mission map.

Three enhancements were completed in each of those 15 menus. They are:

1 of 3: A list of active Sentient Players and any active Replay Blokes currently using the network in the selected Realm and Mission is displayed. This makes it much easier for new players to find the most active missions and/or to locate participating friends. (Note that this list is always empty for missions that do not support network access.)

2 of 3: A new button, labeled "CHECK FOR MULTIMEDIA", is displayed at the bottom center of the menu, immediately beneath the familiar set of buttons that have long been present on those descriptive, individual mission menus. When the operator clicks that button, LAC immediately attempts to activate the configured "PreferredBrowser" and to display a related web page, for the described mission, from AskMisterWizard.com. (The intent here is to play one or more brief "YouTube" video clips about the selected mission, showing exactly what the player can expect during the first minute or two after he commences the mission for himself.)

3 of 3: LAC's mission menus now offer very detailed, powerful text guidance to assist in configuring "CommunityHandle" and "mumble". For example, if mumble is not installed in any of the usual filesystem locations, LAC urges the player to install it. If the "CommunityHandle" has not been configured, LAC urges the player to configure it. After the CommunityHandle is configured, if mumble is installed and active, the player is instructed about options to disable LAC's active management of mumble if any incompatibilities are discovered in the user's specific environment. In that case, the user is urged to use mumble's native management tools instead, or to install and use mumble on a compatlble phone or tablet.

The Morse Code Radio was enhanced with a new administrative command. By pressing eight or more 'H" characters, new logic is triggered and the user is prompted (by new messages on the cockpit's SystemMessage Panel) to enter the text of their desired or new CommunityHandle, which is saved in the LacConfig.txt file and used thereafter exactly as one might expect. This makes it very easy for new users to configure their CommunityHandle from within LAC, diminishing the need to edit the LacConfig.txt file.

We found and fixed a bug that was making it cumbersome to activate LAC's menu items without a mouse. Although the keyboard's arrow keys have allowed moving the mouse cursor around enough to navigate, activation of a selected menu button was always executing the selected function TWICE instead of just ONCE. This made it impossible to select alternative values for any of the "toggle" functions. That bug has now been fixed, so users that find LAC's menus cumbersome to navigate with a mouse can now do so with the same keyboard keys that LAC uses for view direction in flight.

The "AUTHORS" menu was also enhanced. It now displays the current version of LAC at the top of the scrolling authors report.

The cockpit display was also enhanced so that the "FLAPS" position is now displayed with a negative number. This makes more intuitive sense to players, since the flaps are "lowered" to increase their effect and "raised" to diminish their effect.

The "map" display is enhanced so that it now displays the name of the current mission.

The "NetworkMode" attribute is set to "67" by default within the LacConfig.txt file. This enhances LAC's standard keyboard map to take advantage of formerly unused keys on the numeric keypad. Users of laptop computers (and other computers lacking a full-sized keyboard) will find this helpful because it makes it easier to zoom the RADAR range and field of view in and out during missions.

Like all even-numbered recent versions, this version is installed in the user's own "home" directory.

[bbosen]

I just promoted Version Lac08p48 from "Beta-Test" to "Production" status. Accordingly, the binary is now published in the "Files" area of our SourceForge pages according to the usual pattern.