Maulkin

Here is an example where your modular programming still wont help you and I wont reference the obvious one of using globals in code (which is, by definition, not modular). Lets say you are designing one module and for efficiency and speed you use memory pointers. You decide to add in a more complex model which will now require an addition 8 bits to a given allocated memory space. At the same time another designer, who is unaware of how you plan on solving your challenge, creates a pointer to the same 8-bit memory space. You end up with a race condition where both modules, probably unrelated to eachother, end up trampling eachothers data. Or even more funny when someone uses an object type and then passes that back to the calling procedure only to have another procedure reference that value as a different object type. There are lots of ways modular programming can have cascading errors.

I am pretty sure they would have to use some kind of psuedo coding style to tackle a complex project like this. And while modular programming is very useful to minimize cross-referenced bugs you are still going to have dependancies. This is very common with projects that are very large with many developers working on it at once. It is too large for one person to be able to know every single detail. I have worked as a designer for 5 years and 10 years as a validation engineer (fancy name for 'tester') in the telecom market and it is a very common occurance for one bug I find to be fixed but in turn causing something else to break.

I think that happens when you start the engines with the throttle full on? Is that how it happened? The other day I was doing the first Su-27 campain mission (what a bloody nightmare... F-16's and F-4's everywhere...) and I was in a hurry to take off so I gunned it and halfway down the runway I simply exploded. Don't know why that happened. So I have tried turning off the engine that is on fire but it never seems to stop the fire

One thing I have been trying to figure out is how to put out an engine fire (in any aircraft). I understand that there are no extinguishers modelled (even though you can see the control for one on the A-10) but on many occasions I have hit an AI aircraft with guns and I manage to get one of their engines on fire, but they are somehow able to put it out, but when it happens to me I cant seem to do the same. In IL-2 I would simply turn off that engine, nose down, pick up speed and the flames would be blown out, but that does not seem to work in this case. Is it even possible to put out an engine fire?

Thanks alot Wags for keeping us informed of the progress. It feels good to see things moving forward and I am really glad you guys found that MP bug. Keep up the great work, and fingers crossed on the latest version.

Well said Ryke

Personally, I dont care if I make a mistake and I am really not ashamed to make them, being the perpetual n00b that I am. ;) It's frustration that will make me give up trying for another few months. Frustration in not knowing what I am doing wrong, what I should be doing and not really knowing what questions to ask. Thankfully the training tracks have improved considerably and so has the manual so I have come much farther this attempt than any of the other attempts combined. Hell, last night I even blew the hell out of a tank column with an A-10! Granted the way I found the tank column was that I blindly few right over them and their AA defenses blew the hell out of me and I had to respawn with a new A-10. Went back with a few IR-mavericks and a whole lot of cluster bombs. :) Once again I'll be damned if I can get anything out of the briefing. I could not even figure out where I was taking off from. In single player I am accustomed to seeing my waypoints marked in white but that does not seem to be the case in multiplayer.

Well I got the Teamspeak server bookmarked so you can be sure I will be on there crashing into buildings/hills and whatnot.

Tharos, The problem is more evident when there is another thread offering to set a server up for one night a week for training purposes and the experienced people are saying labels should be removed. Unless I join a squad (which is not going to happen anytime soon being a father of 3) I cannot expect to recieve any kind of one on one training. I expect the Thursday night setting will be a bunch of guys trying to figure out their ass from a hole in the ground, like me, and a couple guys who are flying around and possibly providing answers to the occasional question and not really having time to hold anyone's hand. Labels provide an environment for students of the sim to teach themselves. That being said, in a regular server I can respect the desire for labels to be off, even though I do not feel I am at that point yet. ;) Once I can get to a point where I can see something appear on my EWS and then be able to predict what it is and where it is, then look in that direction and find I am correct, then I will remove labels, because I also feel they are an immersion killer.

Its not just about radar aquisition, labels are useful for training in EWS as well. Especially if you are trying to learn both the Western style EWS and Eastern style at the same time, like I am. I still have a hard time. It may seem simple to you if you have been doing it for years on multiple different modern flight sims, but it is not easy for someone who has never flown a modern flight sim ever. If you need advice on how to set up a server to teach new people I suggest you ask the students what they need. Sure you can throw them in the deep end and it is sink or swim time, but your only going to frustrate and turn people off. Personally, I wish I had someone local so I could transport both themself and their computer to my house, set up a LAN, just so I could sit side-by-side experimenting with the systems of the aircraft. :)

Indeed the briefing does detail this, but it is including the briefing for everyone and I get confused with all the information cluttered in there. What would be nice is a way to view my briefing while in flight and see only my flights breifing and be able to filter in the other flights briefing as well. It was so cluttered I could not figure out where the Su-25T's were taking off from. I knew it was one of three airbases and with each I had to head basically north. The problem with communicating my position is that I have no way of knowing what my position is. I see a whole lot of mountains in front of me and a big sea behind me and a little town down on the left. That is pretty much all I would be able to tell them....and later on all I could see were mountains and after evading 2 locks I had no idea where I was. I agree it is hard to type while getting shot at. ;) BTW the manual tends to concentrate on explaining how to fly each aircraft and use its different modes. The manual does not describe how to use the game interface. For example the briefing and debreifing screen; how to interpret it and use any of its functions. Another example is that I have been flying the Mig campain and I have no idea how to get the campain to record my results to the pilot career I have created. After each mission I click on the 'head' to see how I did and everything is still at zero.

Can someone show me what this 'F' looks like on the HUD (ie a screenshot)? Is there a russain HUD equivalent?

I have flown the sim for years, I have done all the training (that ncludes the original v1.0 stuff, the 1.03 updated training tracks, the latest v1.1 tracks and even Ironhand's stuff), flown offline many times in many missions and in some cases I do OK, in others I get my ass handed to me and I have to fly the missions multiple times to firgure out what keeps blowing me out of the sky, but for the life of me I can rarely do anything on an online server. Which is frustrating because I prefer flying IL2:Forgotten Battles online far far more than offline. The human component adds so much more. But when I do go online, those few and brief times I feel brave enough, in LOMAC, I will rarely ask questions simply because I am afraid that something I am asking may have been mentioned in the manual and I simply forgot, and never had to use it until now. For example I join a server and I start on the tarmack but my HUD is off and instruments are disabled. Offline, this has never happened to me so I have no idea what is going on. Obviously, the master power switch needs to be turned on, and I am sure this is detailed in the manual somewhere, but I dont know this and I fear to ask. So I log off and give up. (It's SHIFT-L in case you dont know) Or perhaps I read something in the manual but dont fully comprehend what it means. For example a key is designated EOS/TV but so far I have only used the 'O' key for the Su-25T. I had no idea the 'O' key was useful for the Mig/Flanker and even the A-10 (CCRP). So what I am saying here guys is that there are no stupid questions. It only seems simple to you because you know the answer and have probably known it for years. Some people dont know a damn thing about modern fighters and dont know what a CCRP or EWS is. Take the time to answer them and eventually they will be the ones to answer the questions for the next guy with questions. Here is an example of frustration. I like flying the Su-25T so I jump on a server yesterday and load one up to do SEAD (I later discover I cannot use SEAD weapons to keep it fair for the A-10 guys and I respect that). Well the server is highest difficulty with no labels, no map, no external views. But the problem is I have no idea what airfeild I am at, and no idea where I need to go. I see some guys take off in a couple of Su-27's (I think) so I follow in their general direction. They leave me in their dust of course, but they dont have TS and are typing messages so at least I dont feel totally alone. I am not very good with the message interface so I am being rather silent. Eventually one is hit and destroyed and he tells the other that "there are alot of SAM at Waypoint 3". I inform them that I am trying to do SEAD but I have no idea where WP3 is. All I see are mountains and I have no idea where I am, how to find the SAM, or even how to get back to the airfield. I get locked up a couple of times (by enemy aircraft) but I pop ECM and dive between mountains. I never see any SAM, did see a bandit just as he blew up the other guy but I was too far and ill equipped to do anything about it. Eventually I ran out of fuel and crashed. In any case I think I will take Mr.Wolf up on his offer and see if I can master online flight.

I believe most anti tank weapons are designed to kill the crew and in fact do not cause that much structural damage to the tank, or at least that is how that old Korean veteran of the Canadian armored division told me when they used wire-guided anti-tank missles.

Same here, fuel tanks dont show up in payload editor but they do appear ingame.

So is there a light or something to tell me if my radar is emitting so I know if/when my target is now aware I am sneaking up on him, sort of like the ECM light that tells me I am currently a radar emitting becon? Sometimes when I am switching between submodes I think some of the modes automatically turn on the radar. For example if I accidentally switch to flood/boresite mode with a semi-active radar seeker selected. Is there a way to turn off the radar and keep it off no matter what?

I have pictures of where oil well, oil refineries and offshore rigs are located but they are all on my home PC. If you dont have an answer by the time I get home I will post them somewhere and give you links to them in this thread.

Wow this is a tonne of info! Thanks alot fellas I need to go home and try this stuff out. I have used the Helmet Mounted site (key '5') but it seemed to work for all kinds of missles and I was worried that I had my radar on and didnt know it. So the 'T' in the above picture (left side of HUD) means that EOS is active? What is the symbol is radar is active?

First of all make sure your radar is off How do I do that? BTW I am using Flaming Cliffs 1.1 version. The FC manual says the following about the Close Combat Mode I think you guys are referring to: This unique mode is useful for manuvering combat, and selected with the [5] key....The HUD display switches to Attack (STT) mode after locking the target. Doesn't STT mean Single Target Track and that means the radar is emitting? I assume I have to ensure I have an infrared seeker missle is selected (like the R73) to prevent accidentally turning on the radar? I assume the CCM can be used with short/medium range radar active/semi-active seeker missles?

Hmm I could not find any ECM pods for the Su-25....only some smoke generators. Is there no ECM for the Su-25? EDIT: nevermind I found it. Turns out it is on one of the middle stations on the right wing. How does one properly counterbalance it? I tried a rocket pod (S-8 I think) but it overcompensated. Love that the Su-25T is already balanced out.

How do I use the Electro-Optical system on a Mig to perform a sneak attack on a target? I assume you have to use a heat seeking missle for this tactic? Dont the Su-33 and Su-27 have similar EOS 'bubbles' in front of the canopy or is that something else? I am just full of questions :).

Ahh thanks guys. I thought the Su-25T was one of the ones that had internal ECM. You would think so with that massive hump on it. ;)

Sorry for the recent plethora of questions. :) I have had LOMAC for a long time, and every now and then I pick it up to try and figure out more stuff, get a little bit farther but then get overwhelmed and put it away until I feel brave enough to pick it up again. Guess I am too used to the simpler time in my WW2 sim (IL2). So this week I am feeling brave, and this time I have decided to go Russian or go bust. So the question I came up with last night was where is the indicator for when my ECM is on? I found the little light that comes on when I turn on that new 'Sukhogruz' electro-optical jamming system to help fend off infrared-guided missles, but I cant find any indicator or toggle switch movement to show when ECM is turned on.

Ahh very good thanks for clearing this up. I thought I was doing something wrong to get it set up or something or possibly I had a bug. Glad this is not the case. :)

This may be a silly question, but if my memory serves me correctly (which it rarely does) didnt the Su-25 support anti-radar missle capability before Flaming Cliffs? I was screwing around and tried to mount some on an Su-25 and found it would not let me, and only later discovered I could put them on an Su-25T.