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I think these are the algorithms that are used by LockOn, so I would not be surprised if these give exactly the same values as in the game. As far as I can see, all this piece of code does is define a Gnomic projection in an elaborate way. However, for the purpose of the game, such a projection is more than suitable.

The formula you are using is for a perfect sphere, which the Earth is not, it is flattened with f=1/298.257. However, it appears LockOn does not take this into account, and spherical coordinates in LockOn can easily be translated into points on a plane through a Gnomic projection; http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=53829&postcount=7 You can try a simple tan phi=y/x to check if those bearings match the in game values.

Anyone with a little bit of programming experience could break most ACMI locking schemes. The reason I chose for this very basic way of locking ACMIs is to stop the vast majority of people that don't have that little bit of programming experience from using Tacview to gain uber SA. Completely encrypting ACMIs would also work but it would be completely overkill for what you are trying to achieve.

I do suggest you check out our missions on the 51st server. These are designed such that you are close to the battlefield and are up against a wide variety of ground units, ships and SAMs and in realistic situations. Though these missions are both A2G and A2A, the A2G target areas are offset from the main action of the fighters, and most of the time they are not even located deep into enemy territory, so if you have friendly fighters around, they will automatically provide cover. Finally, we have a kick-ass stats page (http://www.51st.org/stats) where you can track your flights and the flights of your squadron mates.

You can lock a bandit far beyond the maximum range of your missile, meaning that you have a lock, but are not (yet) authorized to launch. With IR missiles you can have an EOS lock and be within maximum range, but not have the launch authorization because the missiles seeker has not locked onto the target. So it is not as simple.

Also check out radmin: http://www.radmin.com/

Just to remind you that scientists in this particular field always have been a bit awkward when it comes to sticking to definitions... hell, we're still using cgs for crying out load :D But it all comes down to semantics. In science, the term 'sound speed' is typically used for about anything to do with (shock)waves propagating through a medium, because that speed (velocity actually), can be used for comparison, scaling, and other things and is a very important quantity in describing the physics of the waves and their propagation. You'd be amazed how many times EM waves are called light... In fact, all EM waves, be it radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet or gamma rays move with the speed of light...

A lot of SAMs will take a shot at your Mavericks, but more often than not you will be wasting the second one if you fire two. What works better is to launch one and get the SAM to launch on you. If you keep him busy long enough, beating his missile by making it loose its energy, chances are it will never launch on the Maverick you fired.

Happy Birthday! :holiday: :beer: :yay: Only 22.... :baby:

This sounds familiar. If they were using German-sounding names, then I know who they are, and know their IP ranges. Any server administrator who'd like to pre-emptively ban these guys, send me a PM. It might in fact be an idea to have server admins share their lists of IPs to ban.

Great shots! Well done!

Sounds very interesting!

Great initiative PoleCat! Is there any more info about the event? Like what kind of mission will be flown, if respawns are allowed, flight distances, if LRM is used and if so, what features, will there will be restrictions on weapons? Just to give us a general idea about what's this will be like.

Accidental teamkills will always happen and cannot be prevented. Intentional teamkilling can be stopped if the offenders are reported, either by players reporting it or by a stats page keeping track of teamkills. The hardest guys to catch are those crashing into you or intentionally bombing friendly airfields, as these events don't necessarily make it into the multiplayer logs. However, when identified these guys are easily banned. On the 51st server we have a list of half a dozen people that don't have to bother to come back. They made their intentions very clear to us.

That is what I was thinking as well. Especially during an airshow you are not flying with a full tank... but when you're flying back to Poland you most likely will have to... It was a good demo though. The MiG was the final plane to fly that day and I noticed I had a grin from ear to ear when it was done :)

That was what I was asking myself when he did that display, and it certainly looked as if he pulled a lot more than 5.5G, though it is hard to estimate that from just by looking at it... It did pull a much smaller high-G level turn when compared to the F-16 and F-18. Here's a Youtube video of the display: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwOtGpN-cHA (thanks to Sniffer for pointing this out).

Very nice shots indeed! My own, less impressive, shots can be found here: http://www.51st.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=1921

Looks very interesting, but also very dead... you sure all those people are *presently* working on this project?

The reason ACMI locking works, is that the Tacview export script is incorporated in Yoda's LRM scripts, forcing the client to execute the server side Tacview routines instead of the client side routines. As far as I see it, the only way for you to incorporate something like this is to also create server side Tacview export scripts, because to me that seems the only way to communicate from the server to the client.

Tacview 0.94 has the ability to open ACMI recordings even when LockOn crashed. However, it can now also open ACMI recordings while they are written, which is potentially harmful in multi-player games. To prevent this ability from being exploited, the 51st and 169th Dedicated servers will still allow you to record ACMI recordings, but these will have to be unlocked after the flight in order to be readable by Tacview. Please check this thread on the forums of the 51st PVO Regiment for a program to unlock locked ACMI recordings.

Since Mavericks are fire-and-forget you can fire as many as you have...

Happy birthday! :D

Happy birthday! :holiday: :beer::yay:

Yoda, here's a feature request. Could you implement mission specific payload control? This would allow the server to rotate to a mission that has specific weapons disabled or enabled, while the next mission in rotation has other weapons disabled or enabled. From what is exported to Tacview I think you could use the mission date and start time to recognize which mission is presently running, or use the exports to look for a ground units being at a specific place in the map.

I always knew you were one of a kind! :D