Jump to content

Waldo_II

Members
  • Posts

    132
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Waldo_II

  1. Check if the target is in the enemy zone, be familiar with the armor of each faction, know friendly element movements, etc. If you're feeling paticularly daring, do a flyby at the outer limits of its engagement range and see if you can see any tracers.
  2. DCS: A-10 won't be on Steam until a while after release.
  3. OK, so you got the software that utilizes your webcam to track your face to judge where your head is looking, and you got that working. Then you got the plugin to transfer the data from that program to Freetrack, and got that working with the Freetrack software. Now you need to get Freetrack to work with DCS: Black Shark. If you want to read what I have to say about why Freetrack doesn't work with DCS:Black Shark by default, you can read that here, but long story short you have to install a "fix" (codename for "crack") to get Freetrack to work with DCS: Black Shark. You can get what I'm talking about here. TrackIR Fixer.
  4. I know there is a fix for this. A while back somebody wrote up a DCS optimization/performance guide that defined many of the variables within the .lua files. One of these was a minimum rendering distance, and by lowering this you eliminated this issue.
  5. The ArmA 2 comprimise came after a loooooong struggle from the community. At first it was strictly no-Freetrack, but I think after a considerable amount of negotiation Bohemia was allowed to implement a Freetrack interface. If I remember correctly, at first it was only partial implementation: only 3-DOF, until later when 6-DOF was added. Although I admit that I haven't seen the contracts that were signed, I'm pretty confident in my assumption that the original contract states that the game developers can't add in Freetrack support. It seems foolish for NaturalPoint to implement the restrictive encryption system without backing it up with a contract. ArmA 2 and BI are both large enough in their own respects that they could sway NaturalPoint to a compromise. It's always bad business to piss off a community as large as the one behind ArmA 2, for both BI and NP. Eagle Dynamics tried to do exactly what you described when creating DCS: Black Shark. Unfortunetly, this happened.
  6. Let me explain what he means by "monopolistic behavior." In the good old days, there was a simple TrackIR-to-game software interface, and just TrackIR. Then Freetrack came around and wrote their software so that it behaved in the same way as the TrackIR-to-game software, and users could use Freetrack with any TrackIR-enabled game. Just so we are clear, this is how the software works: TrackIR.exe or whatever is running, and that takes information from the IR camera on your monitor and does the mathematics and such and converts it into a form that the game can use. The game developers have to get a module from the NaturalPoint developers (the makers of TrackIR) so that the game can get the headtracking data from TrackIR.exe. The game then interprets that data into camera movement and such. The "monopolistic" move is this: NaturalPoint issued an "update" to their software (TrackIR.exe) and the module that they give to game developers. In this update, they added an encryption system. The result is that only NaturalPoint's TrackIR software, which works only with the expensive TrackIR setup, can work with games that use the headtracking module that comes from NaturalPoint. The quesion to be asked is this: Why would NaturalPoint make such a move? The only logical answer for encrypting the interface is that they are trying to keep people from using Freetrack, thus forcing users to buy TrackIR if they want to use headtracking in their games. The encryption system gives NaturalPoint a monopoly on the headtracking market. Game developers have only two choices: Create their own module that would work only with Freetrack, or sign a contract with NaturalPoint and use a module that would work only with TrackIR. I believe, along with many others, that the behavior of NaturalPoint violates the Sherman Anti-trust Act, designed to keep monopolies from forming. However, this will never ever go to court unless somebody is willing to pay for lawyers and all, which open-source developers (those of Freetrack) cannot do. This is among the main reasons why I decided to build my own headtracking setup instead of purchasing TrackIR. I don't want my money going towards a company that uses such business practices. The Freetrack community has developed cracks to circumvent the NaturalPoint DRM scheme, which is how I play DCS: Black Shark.
  7. I feel like I just got sucker punched. $525 just isn't cool on my student budget.
  8. Dude, you can build your own headtracking for like fourty bucks, man. Cheap webcam- $25 3x IR LEDs - $7 Soldering iron - $15 Solder - $2 Some wire - $2 Stuff found around the house - a few minutes, but since time is money, $0.50 The software (Freetrack) is free, so all you have to do is build the stuff for the LEDs, which is far, far easier than you think. Once you have the stuff in your hands in front of you, you'll know where to go. I ran down to a radioshack and got the LEDs, a tiny switch, and a AA battery holder (all of which were grossly overpriced but still ran me under $15 or so). The LEDs were rated at like 1.3 volts, so I didn't have to bother with any resistors or anything like that. I just soldered the negative bits together, the positive bits together, and those to the respective leads coming out of the battery holder. I took some pens and a scrap of plastic and hot glued that stuff together for the mounting structure, and then I velcro the thing to my headset when I want to use it. The webcam bit is simple too. All cameras are basically the same once you take it apart. Behind the plastic or glass lens is a little filter that allows visible light to pass through, but is a wall to infrared light. You remove that filter, then cover the front with a material that blocks visible light but lets infrared pass through (floppy-disk material works, or more abundant is old-style camera film), and then the camera will see only infrared light. This allows the software to recognize the infrared LEDs best. Technically you can use regular LEDs and skip all of the webcam surgery, but then you would have to play in a completely dark room. The software just tries to find three bright lights from the webcam stream. One dude actually used candles mounted on a wide-brim hat (a fire hazard, no doubt). My post on the Freetrack forums is here. It is the post on the top of the page. I know it looks like there is a lot of stuff in the top picture, but I included all of that for the sake of being accurate. You don't need a Dremel, nor that much velcro, nor a swtich, nor a CD jewel case, nor a ruler, nowhere near that much wire, and face it; you won't use the safety goggles either. I know I didn't. There is even a tutorial for the webcam surgery on the Freetrack website.
  9. Move your head ten degrees in real life, and you move your head 80 degrees in the game. Unless your eyeballs are locked forward and cannot rotate for whatever reason, you can still turn your head and see the screen.
  10. I guess this is how it is supposed to look, in regards to laser designation. As for your main question, I don't see any reason why not, although I have no evidence to support the idea.
  11. More detailed system failures/damages In DCS:BS, I really liked the idea of being able to force engine failures autopilot failures, but I didn't think it went far enough. In my ideal mission editor, it is possible to trigger far more specific damages to occur to the aircraft. I always wanted to try to fly the Ka-50 with the tail section blown off, but in order to try I have to get the enemy to shoot it off without killing me, which is frustrating. More simply, any form of damage that can become of the aircraft in the game, via collisions or enemy fire, can be triggered in some way similar to the way engine failures and autopilot failures are triggered now in DCS:BS.
  12. I just noticed the YouTube annotations too. They do help a lot, even though cosmetically they aren't the nicest looking, it serves very well as a compromise considering the effort it would take to reproduce the video with the cursor visible to the recording software. If the cursor can't be made visible to the recording software in time for the scheduled release of the next note, I would suggest using whatever editing software to add in pointers, even if they only appear for a second or two. It doesn't even have to be fancy, like a small box. Something that looks nicer than the annotations. I can imagine that the notes are pretty low priority for the DCS team (finishing the sim being first), but considering that they are a major point in advertising for the game, a little more pickiness and work goes a long way. Whenever I was asked about DCS:BS, I (and many others I have seen) always refereed to the notes to demonstrate the scope of the sim.
  13. I'll be honest with you, I didn't really like it. It wasn't really a "how-to" video as it was a "I'll go through the paces and you watch" video. It needed more explanation and it needed a visible pointer. It left me with a number of questions, such as Where are all of these switches he's talking about? What indicated that it is okay to start the second engine? Can I start both at the same time? What indicated that I could turn off the APU? Can I turn it off right after the engine has begun spinning up, or do they have to be spinning at full for some time? What is all of that business on the right MFD? What the hell is that doing? Where are all of these switches that he's talking about? Are these steps being done in an important, specific order, or can I just start the engines and start turning shit on? What did the HUD say after you were done with the BIT test? There was like a paragraph of information there. What does a BIT test, you know, test? How do I tell if the INU is aligned? Does it just magically align like in DCS:BS, or is it modeled? The pointer is absolutely necessary. Sometimes it was obvious which button you were pressing, but far too often I was scanning the screen for moving switches, and I would be focusing on one side of the screen when the switch you were talking about was on the other side and I would miss it. Sometimes the tooltip would pop up, which was useful, but wasn't always completely sure that was the relevant switch (your mouse landed on a different switch). Example: when you did the light test, I swear you were looking at the left side of the cockpit when it started, and when it turned off you were looking at the right side. Was there a delay in starting the test and during the delay you looked to the left, or did it turn off automatically, and the switch was on the left? I'm done hatin' now.
  14. The system requirements label is not an exact science. Technically, so long as your system can run Direct X 9.0c and you have space enough on your hard drive, you can run the game. A computer from 2003 could run it, it would just be slow as balls. The recommended system label is also more of a guesstimation ranging from the bare minimum that can run 30fps to "everything on high, 45fps steady." If your computer can run DCS:BS or LOFC:2, then you should be fine. There hasn't been many significant changes. It'll be slightly more demanding, but tuning the game settings (From rendering grass to hardware/software sound rendering) should cover those changes.
  15. If it isn't being used, you should turn it off; otherwise it will just sit there checking to see if it is needed, and that background process has a minor effect on performance.
  16. Not all X-Fire streams are the same. Within X-Fire, there is some configuration for bandwidth. If you have a solid connection and are playing single player, you should be fine. I've streamed multiple games before through X-Fire, including DCS, and I haven't gotten any complaints about FPS. My upstream rate is 640 Kbps (max). If you plan to communicate with your viewers, which you can do with ease with X-Fire, there will be significant lag between when you experience something in the game and when the video arrives on the screens of your viewers. The text chat (global chatroom type deal, but you can open one-on-one conversations simultaneously) is instantaneous.
  17. The Shkval likes to be turned off when the Ka-50 is on the ground. Does it stay off after you take off? Edit: Frederf has a much better explanation than I do.
  18. $5 solution, anyone? Half the feel at a twentieth of the price!
  19. That is the FAA's equivalent of public indecency. Lettin' all them parts hang out....
  20. 1. Move your cursor over the general region of the battery switches until you get the "Battery 1" tooltip to appear. 2. Move your cursor over the panel to your back left until the "Cockpit Light" tooltip appears. 3. ???????? 4. Profit!
  21. Thank you for the high praise. Rodders, once you master basic flight, you may want to take a look at my own series of tutorial videos. I never got to combat, but I covered the autopilot system, how to hover, and the countermeasures systems. I also did the video that Tailsman is referring to, which is a method to learn the start up routine. All of the videos that I have done are in this thread. I also made an emergency landing "tutorial" for laughs.
  22. No? Well, then, I'm out of explanations.
  23. I think that once the GNSS system fails, then the ABRIS will use the INU to calculate where you are on the moving map system. The route mode works because that functions entirely on the INU, I think. The navigation computer that the route mode uses is completely separate from the ABRIS- remember that only some models of the Ka-50 have the ABRIS, others have only sheets of paper. All Ka-50s have the navigation computer.
  24. Careful now ShadowVonChadwick, The A-10's 30mm has a much different effect than the Ka-50's 30mm. The A-10's round is larger, heavier, and faster than the Ka-50's, especially when the A-10 has forward momentum (flying) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAU-8_Avenger http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipunov_2A42
×
×
  • Create New...