Vyrtuoz

I’m working hard to release the first beta of Tacview 1.5 as soon as possible. Meanwhile I have compiled some VFR ground textures for the Caucasus map. The package can be downloaded from the add-on page: http://tacview.strasoftware.com/download/addons/ All the jpg files have to be installed in C:\ProgramData\Tacview\Data\Terrain\Textures\ Because of the way DCS World is handling spherical coordinates, the result is not 100% accurate. However, they still provide pretty good landmarks to better understand your favorite Caucasus battlefield. Feel free to apply any change you want and to use these as an inspiration for your own custom textures! (picture taken during one of my flights on the Open Conflict server http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=145886)

I’m working hard to release the first beta of Tacview 1.5 as soon as possible. Meanwhile I have compiled some VFR ground textures for the Caucasus map. The package can be downloaded from the add-on page: http://tacview.strasoftware.com/download/addons/ All the jpg files have to be installed in C:\ProgramData\Tacview\Data\Terrain\Textures\ Because of the way DCS World is handling spherical coordinates, the result is not 100% accurate. However, they still provide pretty good landmarks to better understand your favorite Caucasus battlefield. Feel free to apply any change you want and to use these as an inspiration for your own custom textures! (picture taken during one of my flights on the Open Conflict server http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=145886)

Thank you for bringing this point to my attention HiJack. Ironhand observation reminds me when I was working on G calculations (in Tacview) a long time ago. G-force indication depends on how it is calculated/measured. In other words, it depends on the period of time used to average it. I think that this is why documentations are often talking about sustained Gs vs instantaneous Gs. I do not display instantaneous Gs because the value is changing too much to be useful. Instead, Tacview displays sustained G forces over two seconds. This is why the indication disappear one second before the destruction of an object (because there is no data sample left to use). When my work on the new telemetry manager will be complete, I will gladly adjust my formula to display Gs as much as possible as in aircraft cockpits.

Thank you very much for this great podcast. Informative and inspiring: I love to hear people from our community, talking about their point of view about our common passion in your podcasts!

@LeCuvier I think that this kind of issue is unavoidable with the currency way data are exported from DCS to Tacview. For instance, the LUA script is not ultra-accurate (time wise) and may miss some “events”. For instance, DCS World does not send any event to Tacview: just objects positions. I have done my best over the years to cleverly guess what is happening on the battlefield. This is why sometime you can get some inaccuracies regarding the number of shot and impact for example. Also, like some users have noticed, during network flights, fast weapons (like guns) are not perfectly replicated the same way for each client, this may lead to discrepancy during flight replay. I’m going to rewrite from scratch the exporter soon and I hope to be able to improve the accuracy of data recorded. @gospadin Yes, you can add your own 3D models to Tacview. The procedure is explained here: http://tacview.strasoftware.com/documentation/3dobjects/ @shamandgg These are the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1_alpha-2 Here is the conversion table you can find in TacviewExportDCS.lua: CountryCodeLookupTable= { [ 0] = "ru", [ 1] = "ua", [ 2] = "us", [ 3] = "tr", [ 4] = "uk", [ 5] = "fr", [ 6] = "de", [ 7] = "xu", -- USAF Aggressors [ 8] = "ca", [ 9] = "es", [10] = "nl", [11] = "be", [12] = "no", [13] = "dk", -- [14] = "", [15] = "il", [16] = "ge", [17] = "xi", -- [insurgents] (free for use ISO code) [18] = "xa", -- Abkhazia [19] = "xo", -- South Osetia [20] = "it", -- Italy [21] = "au", [22] = "ch", [23] = "at", [24] = "by", [25] = "bg", [26] = "cz", [27] = "cn", [28] = "hr", [29] = "eg", [30] = "fi", [31] = "gr", [32] = "hu", [33] = "in", [34] = "ir", [35] = "iq", [36] = "jp", [37] = "kz", [38] = "kp", [39] = "pk", [40] = "pl", [41] = "ro", [42] = "sa", [43] = "rs", [44] = "sk", [45] = "kr", [46] = "se", [47] = "sy", },

If you are using Flaming cliff, you will need first to install Tacview 1.2.8 which can be found at the bottom of this page and which is the last version to support LOFC: http://tacview.strasoftware.com/support/reportbug/ Just make sure the export script is properly installed by looking at the icon in the status bar of Tacview. Then you can close the application. All your flights should now be recorded. To analyze your flights, I suggest you to download and install the last version of Tacview which offers better tools and rendering.

The traveled distance (calculated in 3D) in already available in the charts. The traveled “ground” (2D) distance will be available in Tacview 1.5 charts as well. There is currently no easy way to measure distance between two arbitrary points. I will add a tool for that in Tacview 2.0.

CTRL + LEFT or RIGHT click on the object in the 3D view Check the help menu for more shortcuts

I have fixed in Tacview 1.5 the bug of camera starting to move after 1 second when playback was paused (Tacview was sleeping to much to save CPU ;)). Thank you Chichco for the data! I’m will get back to you as soon as I have the time to investigate this bug. The distance auto-switch distance has been increased to 2nm in Tacview 1.5 as requested by several people. Tacview displays true heading. The magnetic one is not supported yet (I will consider it in future releases).

I have just published a free NTTR add-on for Tacview 1.4.3+: http://tacview.strasoftware.com/download/addons/ To install this add-on, just unpack the zip file and copy the png files in C:\ProgramData\Tacview\Data\Terrain\Textures\ This add-on goes very well with the excellent Stuka NTTR add-on which can be found on the same page. Since Tacview 1.4.3 you can create custom textures to be displayed on the ground. This is just a matter of creating 1x1 degree tiles saved in jpeg or png. Alpha channel is supported, so do not hesitate to use it to create nice overlay effects! See the official documentation for more details: http://tacview.strasoftware.com/documentation/terrain/ This add-on contains the 6 tiles which are the most representative of the NTTR area of DCS World. To create them I just had to download the Las Vegas free VFR map from the FAA. Then I used Photoshop crop with perspective tool to slice it in 1x1 degree tiles. Just added some transparency and here you go! I’m not an artist, so I hope this little sample will inspire you to create great maps for other areas too! Now I have to go back to programming because the real-time flight recording is around the corner ;) Of course, do not hesitate to let me know what you think of this feature.

About maps: I don’t know about TAD images. I guess if you can find them and convert them to PNG or JPG they should be displayed in Tacview. I think the TC-1 map may work too if there is not too much distortion between DCS World and the corresponding projection in the 3D world. I’m currently focusing on developing the new features of Tacview 1.5. So this is up to you to build your own tiles. For example, it is laborious, but quite simple and straightforward to build 1x1 degree tiles by taking screenshots of GoogleMaps or SkyVector (for example) and stitching them together using any image editor like paint.net. The same will probably work with any flattened maps. About objects: I will create in the coming months a public object database to address the issue of wrong objects names and meshes. So in the future anyone can fix this kind of issue… About the camera: Remember that you can already pan in any direction using the keyboard like in any FPS game when you are in freecam mode using AWSD keyboard keys. That said, in Tacview 2.0, it will be much easier to rotate around a group of objects. For example, it will be possible to choose which of the selected objects will affect the camera. So you can have telemetry for some objects without necessarily looking at them. About player’s IDs: Chichco, without much data I’m not sure exactly where the problem is coming from. With the current exporter, Tacview has to guess who has fired each weapon. If, because of lag, rockets were "spawned" far (like 100m) from the launcher aircraft, it is possible that Tacview was not able to properly associate them to the corresponding aircraft. This is something which should be improved in Tacview 2.0. Can you share any .txt.amci file so I can investigate this issue?

Tacview 1.4.3 is now available to everyone! Tacview 1.4.3 is now available to everyone! http://www.strasoftware.com/download/tacview On the way to Tacview 1.5 and 2.0, this release was supposed to be a minor one… It turned out that it is finally quite an improvement over the version 1.4.2; thanks to the multiple fixes and mainly to the preliminary support of KML files for static objects and custom terrain textures. Custom terrain textures Tacview will now display custom terrain textures of 1 by 1 degree stored in the %ProgramData%\Tacview\Data\Terrain\Textures\ or %APPDATA%\Tacview\Data\Terrain\Textures\ folders. You must follow the same naming convention as SRTM3 and SRTM1 files. For example, to replace the north-west corner of Corsica you should create a tile named: C:\ProgramData\Tacview\Data\Terrain\Textures\N42E008.png Tacview supports textures of any size as long as they are recorded in PNG or JPEG files. Both 24-bit and 32-bit formats are supported. Which means that you can use the alpha channel of PNG files to smoothly blend an overlay on top of Tacview native terrain. Now it’s your turn to unleash your creativity and to show everyone how you like to see the battlefield in Tacview! KML aka “Google Earth files” support This version will automatically load and display any object declared in any .kml file stored in the sub-folders of your choice under: %ProgramData%\Tacview\Data\Static Objects\ or %APPDATA%\Tacview\Data\Static Objects\ Please note that this is a preliminary support of the most basic features of KML format. Later complex polygon shapes will be supported. The KML format will also be extended to add points of interests in Tacview world like navaids, beacons, ILS, runways using Google Earth to position objects in space easily and accurately. A static object “debugger” should be available in Tacview 1.5. The legacy xml file format is now deprecated, it will not be updated anymore and may be dropped in Tacview 2.0. FEATURES & CHANGES Added support for custom PNG & JPEG terrain textures Added preliminary support of KML files for static objects Added flight path angle in telemetry and labels Korean translation by 번역 - ihopi [NAVER JTWF SQUADRON] Russian translation by Scorzy Hebrew translation by אריאל פרץ Imported last Nevada terrain from DCS World 2.0.1.49921 Added a raw-telemetry tool which will display soon all available data for selected objects Dropped support for Windows XP FIXES DCS World IAS was not properly exported since DCS World 1.5 Distances are now properly switching between feet and nautical miles at 1 nm Fixed minor glitch at the edge of some terrain tiles The charts windows were using a bit of CPU when they were idle and visible The debug log was using a bit of CPU when it was idle and visible Wrong error message displayed when the flight data was recognized but not supported

I have finally found the problem guys! After a long debugging session, I came to the conclusion that the IAS now exported by DCS World 1.5+ in m/s instead of a “hand position” like in DCS World 1.2. Sorry I didn’t understand this change earlier… This will be fixed in Tacview 1.4.3.

I think the information is already available even if it is not very clear yet: 11.27,1,MiG-29S Fulcrum-C,Allies,Vyrtuoz,[color="RoyalBlue"]HasFired[/color],1,4,[color="royalblue"]Parachutist[/color],Allies,,,,, You should find it as a “HasFired” “Parachutist” in the xml and csv event logs. I will make if clearer in Tacview 2.0. Is this working for you or did you find a case where the ejection has not been properly detected?

Not yet. I will resume my work on the exporter in about two weeks when the new telemetry system will be complete. I hope to be able to find a clean work-around for this issue…

You have all my support Mirknir. I understand how much work it is to design, create and support a custom multiplayer map (and this regardless of the game) without forgetting about the dedicated hardware! I’m glad the server is going to be back soon and hope to find some spare time to share some fun again on the last version of your map. I always enjoyed flying on your server because it is like an open world where you can do whatever inspire you. A good place to “relax” without planning complicated things… My thoughts about DCS 1.5+: DCS 1.5 uses a brand new renderer and does not support DirectX 9 anymore. I think that the wiki is completely outdated. And my guess is that, in its current state, DCS 1.5 still loads everything in memory even if it does not actually render anything in “pseudo dedicated” server mode. This, plus the fact that on-board GPUs (especially Intel ones) are so badly supported for video games that their drivers are always crashing for one raison or another. Let’s hope DCS 2.0 will offer at some point the long awaited real dedicated server mode, so no “real” graphic card will be necessary to run it anymore… which will lower the cost of "dedicated" servers...

Yes and no :) I had the same idea at some point and this feature is already supported by Tacview script. However, it is currently limited by the fact that DCS export script can only capture official aircraft interactions. In other words, it is not yet possible to directly capture HOTAS interactions. I have planned to improve this with Tacview 2.0 exporter which should have access to much more data. Meanwhile if you are flying the MiG-21, you are lucky because bookmarks are exported when you are turning on and off the aircraft flight recorder. And you can dynamically inject bookmarks by touching the CANOPY_anti_ice device. If you are flying other aircrafts, feel free to experiment by changing Tacview script, just have a look atACMIRecording and ACMIBookmark variables. For example, I already thought about connecting the Huey hook release to ACMIBookmark.

I think it will be possible to add this kind of information within the new Tacview 2.0 data exporter.

This kind of data is not yet available. You have a good point! I’m adding this to my todo list ;)

Not really, the current hack just shows one state of the current battlefield this is not a real-time view of the battlefield.

This is when you will be able to review a flight while it is taking place in DCS World.

Tacview 1.4.2 is available! While working on 1.5 and its real-time flight recording, I wanted to release this version so you can enjoy the general improvements which were requested by many for a long time: Selected objects trails can now be displayed up to 4 hours (up to 10 minutes for other objects) Terrain elevation profile can be displayed in charts With this version released, I am now free to fully focus on the real-time flight recording. A technical draft is going to be published very soon for interested people. Even if the first usable version will be limited by Tacview 1.5 old school GUI, the full potential of this feature will be unleashed later this year with Tacview 2.0 fully reworked GUI. As usual all suggestions are welcome! Happy new year and happy flights! Vyrtuoz http://www.strasoftware.com/download/tacview

I think you are going to be happy: I have just published the 1.4.2 beta 1 which can display trails up to 4 hours of flight! http://www.strasoftware.com/beta/tacview

You are right, I have noticed the same issue with the IAS displayed with non FC3 aircraft. I have double checked my script and cannot find any obvious issue on my side. It may be either a new bug from DCS 1.5 or a change of the cockpit interface. I have signaled this issue, but didn’t get any answer yet. http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=150912 I hope this will be fixed or documented soon…

I’m glad the Open Conflict server is back online, now with DCS 1.5+! Even in a reduced version, it is still one of the best place to flight and learn with cool people.