RvEYoda

that seems really great :). But for me who basically wrote his first java project, it was too complicated with how to make JNI work. Thanks, if you do that work, and you find some solution, we can definitely try to implement it! (im sticking with cpp though!) Quick note, i will leave on sunday evening and wont be back for almost 2 weeks

Successfully made the window topmost without stealing focus! (and it stays topmost unfocused even when I click other windows) Thanks Moa ;). Now trying with lockon.. No Go Like I feared, when dragged above lockon it simply goes behind. Also tried calling the "Set top" when lockon was already up, but it was the same. (Now using SetWindowPos directly) It is actually topmost (because when I click it it works, even though it is not visible on top of lockon :P) I believe this problem is caused by the nature of Direct3d in full screen simply does not let anything else be painted (this is in the d3d stuff I have read elsewhere as well) - talking about LOCKON's direct3d here, not mine And the ways to get around this would either be to hook into the d3d engine and use the game's engine to display my image, (but thereby removing my buttons on my MPCD), or some directDraw on top of lockon. Simply placing a window on top wont work, (DirectX full screen does not care about which window is on top it seems) This is too much work for something I don't really see as a high prio right now. But if someone somehow finds a way for me to do it, then im sure I can implement it, but it is nothing I wish to do research on at this point. Right now working on Markpoints, both local and datalinked.

I use setWindowPos to modify the NOACTIVATE extended style already, or more precisely, I create a Cwindow and call "ModifyStyleEx". (this guarantees the window doesnt grab focus when you click it, but still receive commands) but when trying to do the same for "SET TOPMOST" it didnt do anything at all...it didnt become topmost whatsoever, which is kind of wierd. I had no luck with this parameter. EDIT: After some reading it would seem WS_EX_TOPMOST cannot be used as a passive style. It must be used together with a "bring topmost" call to setWindow....Crap ;). I may try it again later. It might be possible to make this transparent. However one thing is still in there. When DirectX (lockon) runs in full screen, I dont think you can have any *normal* window on top of it (like windows forms app). It might be possible to get the DX window on top, but the buttons and stuff is...hmm... I dont know tbh. Btw how do you use JNI (more explicitly) in java to call SetWindowPos? I had no luck and due to the amount of data sent, I had MAJOR performance issues when doing just the rwr in java. Memory usage went off the scale and CPU usage was bad too. I gave up java swing+OGL approach when my java mem usage went really high and I discovered all these issues with trying to call windows APIs from java (through JNI) Also another reason java would be difficult is keyboard input detection, because it must be global, but that is not hte main problem. The main problem is that Lockon hooks your keyboard entirely, and you must intercept this at low level (ie DirectX DirectInput) to get past this. This was one of the issues when making AMRACT earlier, basic simulated keyboard input doesnt work on lockon, you have to use directx keyboard input or some other low level calls.

How do you make it always be on top? Any ideas? Edit, working on it. Might be able to get it to be topmost. Will try to make it keyboard activated so. Press Key ** , it pops up, you click it with mouse ^^^^ (it hopefully wont minimize lockon :P) Press key ** again, it disappears Edit: Shit it becomes like an overlay :P. But I am not sure this will work. I dont think "topmost" will put it above a full screen d3d screen (lockon) NO GO, just tried it

I dont know how you would do this. You would probably need to hook into the lockon graphics engine. That is something I have no clue of how to do and I don't really want to go there. Replacing the ingame mpcd is something that I also consider extremely low prio, if it is even possible. It is not something I am planning to do, nor do I know how to do it. This project is complex enough as it is imo ;) You can alwys put the mpcd(s) on a second screen or second computer even.

Well it's the most exported fighter of the US i think. So many countries have used (and are still using) it. GG prob has a more detailed answer, but there are a LOT of manuals availabel for the F-16s, especially the MLUs. You cna get some really nice pictures and descriptions of radar and MFD. Even some data om missile and seeker perormances. I think these things arent available for the F-15. More expesnive fighter, more classified....Just guessing here :)

Topol-m, I have taken about 50% of the design from the F-16, since the F-15 is mostly classified in these things, however, due to the nature of the Eagle, it should be at least as sophisticated and useful in the mfds as the F-16 for a2a ;). (And considering what I have seen on picture from the F-15 mpcd, it definitely is!!!) It might also be possible that we can grab some fuel status pages from the F-18. I will not "invent" a new "super mfd page" like Spy satellite for the entire area though ^^ We have also talked about implementing a Flanker variant. ( I believe there is some good information out on what kind of data it should display )

it shows on second monitor or second computer (your choice) You can use mouse or touch screen for control Later i'm thinking of making keyboard activation as well

lockon doesnt export awacs data through LUA unfortunately. The datalink is shared by all aircraft on the datalink server. Currently I think it supports only F-15, MAYBE A-10 So what happens is; you see the other guys as "wingmen" on the HSD view/page of LEAVU. Everyone needs to be flying (alive), and on the same Dlink server.

THE FOLLOWING IS A PICTURE FROM LEAVU 1, and is NOT valid for leavu 2! If you want to just try the datalink, you can connect to the dlink server "yoda.reservoirselite.com" Also implemented status indicators if connection is successful or not, they look like this Just checkboxes that automatically get checked on successfull connection

THE FOLLOWING IS A PICTURE FROM LEAVU 1, and is NOT valid for leavu 2! Datalink is beginning to work!!!!

the speed is the same, but the effective transmission speed is not the same reason is that the photons/whathave you bump into obscacles /interact along the way, with this and that. At least that is my understanding of the subject. if you look close into CHola's post, that is what he means ;). (he writes it like, since it is not pure vacuum)

Believing something too much is set in stone often just increases the force of the fall when it some day inevitably occurs ;). I aint saying I have a better description (various physics = various world descriptions/models), but I find it akward you would claim we are not mathematicians or physicists and everything is so discrete in its existance/definition. I wonder Is there truelly a general accepted definition of "sound"?? What degree do you need ;) ? "pressure waves (including sound) in rigid bodies do not involve macroscopic matter movement." Like I was saying, particle oscillations. (where avg position for molecules stay constant in some frame of reference)

If we go by Wiki definition http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound sound is defined as vibration within audible frequencies. But wiki is wiki...in this case though, it is probably somewhat acceptable of a definition, at least imo. Can someone explain to me what the definition of "infra--" and "ultra--" are? are they latin? greek? some other stuff? I know what they mean for EM / sound waves (infra, freq below human percievable and ultra, freq above human perceivable)

Over her studying physics implies stastical mechanics and QM, but that is if we are talking university studies of physics. This includes for example studying the probabilities of two atoms coming close to each other in a limited volume ( After you have defined your limit of what is "interaction", how much movement do you need to call it "interaction"?). Sound propagation in any medium is a result of probabilities of the definition of a particle (point parameters) being close enough to another particle to affect each other (for example changing movement direction, waves being a part of this group). But like all physics it is just a matter of defining the correct description for a subject, and we can probably make it do almost anything ;). For example it is often modelled on a macroscopic level as spring interactions between close particles with avg position = 0 in some reference frame. (oscillations). But it might as well be a repetitive shock wave causing oscillations on the target (meaning your ear drum vibrates). Even though such vibrations on human sound scale (roughly 20Hz-20kHz) would not be heard by these space shockwaves (which do exist, albeit, they are probably quite a lot smaller than they would be in what we would define as dense matter/earth system), they still are vibrations of molecules detectable by target. ( target can for example be a gas mass that starts to oscillate). There are many applications on infra/ultra sound (sound wavelengths outside human audible band) in use today. I'm sure there are people better than me on this subject in this forum, that could explain this in more detail (or correct me if I made a mistake)

New Version released, check main post for details

yeah it never got further before I gave up the java development ;P But it works....mostly.

well if someone can rewrite my dx engine to an overlay, then make it work 100% with lockon it could work, but I feel like it is nothing I wish to do. Crunch: Reason is : Lockon RWR in LUA does not say which target is the newest threat. And we cannot ask it to tell us when a new threat is detected. We can only ask it "what is the current rwr state". Thus I chose to ask it 10 times per second "what is the state". If you ask like this, sometimes two new threats will appear at the same time, and you cannot decide which one is the newest. I don't see this as any form of problem. In all other situations (where the detection is spaced out more than 0.1s) the corrent threat is chosen. In the <0.1s situation this information is sort of meaningless anyway so ;),.

i think it would be a lot of work, and I'd rather keep it on external touch screens. Anyway even if there is a way of doing it, it would have to come much later, when the main development has come a lot further.

How would you do that? By some directX overlay? How would you get it in the right spot, depending on FOV/angles/head movement etc... I don't know how

Add mpcd, press "start import thread" now just play lockon. It will export for you. The host settings are not yet implemented. Found some bugs Found an issue in the network code. It would not reconnect under specific conditions. Soon releasing a fix for this. Also ECM contact showed bullseye position and altitude, solved now. New version up for download Same link as before

Of course we don't know all the flaws...But what do you want me to do? :). I already said if you wanted to I could show you some tricks (I dont mean exploits!), do some trainingwith your guys, yet I get accused of unfair play. I'm hardly the best player out there. Just look at some of the other guys out there. Fusion and AS both kick my ass right now, and I assume many people from other squads do as well. But some just don't have the interest of flying Lo or in public servers because ti is too limiting for their abilities. I once saw Mustang do a 20-0 Kill streak, but watching Breakshot's stats i guess he has 50 kill streak o0. I know you are an awesome pilot Kuky. I fought you several times, you've killed me and I have killed you. But implying someone cheat's because YOU don't understand their ideas or tactics or training. I don't like this. My offer still stands. If you want to come to vent and have me show you things, maybe you can you me your ideas. I'm tired of defending myself from these accusations. Of course I know how to use these exploits if I want to prevent them. They completely ruin sim play. I've said it before, knowing how to do something does not make you guilty of doing it.

Who ever said I call this a realistic approach!? You are twisting my words in every chance you get to talk crap about me it would seem. I call it a full fledged super exploit. I mentioned this as an exploit in the game. Something I am strongly against. I don't use it. It is like I show you an issue in the game, and instantly you believe I am going to use it? Maybe my english is not good enough? I also have knowledge on how to do many other things. Does that make me guilty of doing it? Ok I know how to steal candy from a local store, i must be guilty since I know hwo to stretch out my arm and grab something? (FYI i havent...sigh) I can tell you why I won't use this exploit - I want to learn how to become better at air combat, not how to get better at tricking the game. The goal? To be able to use virtually the same tactics regardless of what (80s-90s) air combat sim I am playing. It would seem you would jump at the first oportunity to talk bad about me.

The problem you refer to is imo not significantly altered by LRM. LRM's snap feature on the other hand implements a reduced version of a real existing feature. The eagle radar user interface is supposed to be useful. It is not supposed to be the most crap interface of all radars in lo (which imo it is on default settings). Regardless if this particular feature of LRM alters game balance in favor of one plane, there are others that would do similar things for hte Red side. Back to your post It is supposed to be even easier to handle, and much more integrated, because in the real jet you would have a million other things to think of as well (this adds the complexity). Now that this would bring more unrealistic flying styles to lockon i very VERY strongly disagree with. If I see someone trying to fly by the book in standard Lo, he will usually fail, unless he is exceptionally good. If he does it in LRM settings? his chances improve vastly, and this is true for both Red and blue. Besides, we are making a sim. If you want to preserve the initial game plane v plane balance issues then go ahead, however me and some others prefer playing maxed out with useful features (taken from the real jets ofc). The reason why I think there is so much blame on this feature is because when I think you implement such features, people will be 3 times as likely to look for issues. These issues were there already before. And add to that that the target step has been so incredibly misunderstood - Some were thinking it was an auto lock/auto/easy radar (while it is none of the sort). It does not alter the lock times that much in the long range bvr situation, it is more of a sorting tool here imo. It becomes more of a factor close range, however at that position it is also available on red side (check Lrm details), and soon there will likely be a similar step (although just according to the algorithm posted 2 posts back) for long ranges. The turn back fire, turn cold, is almost entirely caused only by missile energy and lockon missile's capability to find targets in maddog mode (where they are far to strong compared to RL). It is possible to, if you dont know where the bandit is, fire an amraam and see where it turns (there is the bandit). Update : Ok if you don't realize this, i mention it as a PROBLEM/flaw/exploit in the game. Exposing the problem. I certainly don't encourage it at some would think. Imagine having ur missile going 1.5-2x faster than now, and what that means in terms of closure and time to react. When your target starts turning back you have a missile flying at him (you fire when his RWR angles are off so he wont get a warning). By the time he is back hot the missile is just a short few secnods from impact, and he still cannot find you (because you were intelligent enough to move out of the previous altitude, and you cannot see 40 km like lo ^^, maybe 5-10 km if you are stressed). IF he is lucky he finds you the same time his plane goes *bang* If you are not in that range, you can imagine it as a dance where the chaser becomes the chaser, both turning at the same time, if you crank the same time he turns, (and you also fire), you will likely have a misisle that impacts him way before he can get his missile close to you. There is also the psycological aspect to this, often used by =RvE=Paploo, think you are chasing him? haha, he is fooling you ;). He will make a quick turn back, maybe 20 degrees ( you fire ), but he has already anticipated this (and a few more things, he turns back cold those 20 degrees. The range between you is virtually the same as before, except you have one missile left. When you are low enough on weapons, he goes in for the kill. It is a dangerous trick of DLZ estimation plus making your opponent nervous ;)

It is unfortunate you believe it is so unrealistic. Modern russian birds can also do these step features. Modern US birds with AESA radars will do it so fast you won't even have time to realize he just turned around ;). (the russian AESAs will likely do the same) The only thing you need is for the radar to detect a target. If he is detected, meaning signal processing of the return succeeded, then target is in RAM. In RAM means usually he will be visually displayed on the radar screen. If you have a set of targets in RAM (=memory), you can process this memory (step to contacts in this memory). How LRM does this is the following The data on the lockon radar screen can be exported through ED's instructions here. More specifically, by using Lockon LUA's " LoGetTargetInformation()" function. This data is then processed by LRM in such a way that any newly detected targets are added to the LRM radar memory. Any already existing targets get their data updated. Then when you press the step button, the cursor steps through these targets. The memory is cleared when an entry has become to old (i set this to 7 seconds, since this gives a reasonable result in game, likely the real one has much more). Unforatunety we cannot give a visual indication of the radar memory other than being able to step somewhere. Therefor it sometimes seems like you step into empty space, while in fact your radar has already detected the target within the last 7 seconds. This can be caused by many things like radar mode changes, scale, elevation, turning etc. This feature and WAY more is in modern F-1x fighters and have been so for some time. The reason you are seeing someone going from full def to full off, is cause energy of the missiles fail. They fly too slow. By the time he has made his full turn around to engage, your missile should be close to hitting him. Target step is a basic function of any real F-15. You can also find this step button on the HOTAS in the first pages of the F-16 MLU manual. it is visible in the Lockheed Martin F-16 MLU flight manual on the first few pages where they show HOTAS details. The different Falcon4 variants model this feature in a few different ways. Allied Force for example introduces an artificial step delay. Also : the real amraam takes a second or two to fire. Lockon does not have this. Also, It has been suggeste the Mig-29 and Su27 of Lockon era have a similar function. The following is what I recieved in a PM a few days back, and plan on integrating into LRM at some point. "Hi, man. I`ve asked on the russian forum about how exactly "auto lock on" works in mig-29/su-27. To generalize what they answered: So as we know there is the Auto/Manual switch which when in auto position is switching the radar from search mode to track mode and automatic locking on the first found target. The lock on is done with both radar and EOS if the target is close enough for the EOS to lock on it. If it`s locked by the radar. The "first found target" basically is the first target that gets into the radar search cone when Auto mode is switched on. Which in FC could be recreated differently: either the closest target to the center of scanned area gets locked or it could be set to random (if there are for instance 5 targets in the limits of the radar search area it locks one of them randomly). IMHO the closest to the center target is more realistic and easy to be done but... That`s it. Great if you could do it among the many other things you are doing ;) Cheers. " This is also suggested by some friends to me that know and often speak to mig29 pilots. How long does it take to turn back offensive, aquire and fire at the target? Step one is turning back, which will likely take about 9-10 seconds given a turn rate around 18 dps. Step 2 is to get the bandit within your radars scan zone so you can actually pick him up (without him in radarmemory you cannot step to him, and certainly not lock him!). Let us assume we are very fast and lucky. 1 second. This time is likely to be short due to lockon's very high visual range. Step 3 is to have the radar antenna actually sweep over the target. Maximum time is 4 seconds for a full 6A4B sweep, and this would maybe on average be 2-3 seconds. On a very lucky day. so going from defensive to firing offensive would taka approximately 13-14 seconds from the time he starts turning back. Now we must also consider the situation where he cannot pick you up with radar. There is a problem with this, since in lockon, you get visual at 20 nm(36 or so km) out , meaning you can easily turn back and engage on visual. Now add to that the lack of G strain on the pilots ability to make good math and logical decisions with his radar when he has turned back, a launch delay of perhaps 2 seconds after pressing the pickle button. Well we will probably increase our 13-14 seconds to 20 seconds. So what does LRM change here? LRM makes it about 1 second faster. without LRM it would take me approx 1 second extra to move the cursor to the target and hit lock. Sidenote : In a 1v3 i would never allow myself to get inside any of the bandits' Rtr. It would be suicide. Hit and run outside and wait for one of them to make a mistake or an oportunity for me to disappear. Or if the sim models kinetic energy of missiles more accurately, you can gain serious A/E/F/whathaveyou pole advantages by being very superior in altitude in speed, but unfortuntely lockon doesnt model this.