How do i use the Lock on Track Utility?

[deadsmell]

Hi people, I am hoping someone can explain to me how to use the lock on track utility (Lotu2.0).

 

I tried downloading it for the second time today, and I just cant figure out how this thing is supposed to work.

 

I open the track files with lotu, and then i press save, and then ............?????

 

I've have always enjoyed all the great videos people make, and have recently started dabbling with making my own vids. That's a whole other story though.........but im getting there. I actually finished my first vid today, and I just wish i could have had some better shots, and footage.

 

 

im sure its just a click or two away from working, but im not sure how it works, or what im supposed to do. ???

anyway yeah, I have no clue on how to use this thing.

can anyone help me? Thanks.

[deadsmell]

ok.....?..... I dont think I double posted though.............anyway on my screen, it only posted once.

[104th_Crunch]

The purpose of LOTU is to take a track that has something disabled, for example external views, and then enable it. So you open the trk file, check off the option you want enabled that isn't enabled in the original trk file, then click save. Now when you watch the track in Lock On, the options you checked off and saved are enabled.

[deadsmell]

huh, thanks, yeah thats what i was doing, but then when I would go to play the tracks, i still could not use externals.

 

do i need to put the LOTU files into the lock on files?

 

if so can you tell me what file goes where?

 

Thanks.

[159th_Viper]

 

do i need to put the LOTU files into the lock on files?

 

if so can you tell me what file goes where?

 

Thanks.

 

No - does not need to go into the LockOn Files.

 

Ensure that once you have opened the relevant track with LOTU and checked all the relevant boxes of what you want enabled, that you save prior to exiting the application.

[deadsmell]

ok, I will give it another shot. Hopefully it works. I deleted it again, so im going for my third DL with this thing.

 

I will let you guys know how it goes.

 

Thank you for the replies, and the help.

[deadsmell]

ok.......I download LOTU from the jabog website. I unrar and extract the files to the desktop. open the folder and launch the .exe. a small window opens, i click the "open" button, another window appears, i select the track i want to play and press "open" on the second window. That second window closes, and now i check the boxes for the views i want enabled and press save. then i run lock on and go to play the track, and i cant use any of the external views.

 

it still doesnt work. it seems like it should be pretty straight forward.

 

either the application does not work or i am doing something wrong.

 

does anyone see anything wrong with the steps im using?

 

ive tried doing it with lock on running, and doing it without lock on running.

 

im getting frustrated.

[104th_Crunch]

Very odd. It seems you are doing the steps correctly.

[deadsmell]

yeah, that was my third or fourth time trying this thing out. i have downloaded it from jabog and lockonfiles.

 

weird thing though, i just deleted it, and then i went to search my files to make sure that it was completely gone, and i noticed that Lotu had had been installed into "windows prefetch" and when i deleted that, my system restarted automatically.

WTF?!

I think i remember it installed like that last time, but it didnt cause a reboot when i deleted it.

something weird going on here.

 

alright, well im gonna keep an eye on this thread, maybe somebody can shed some light on this. Is Lotu compatible with all versions of lockon? im running 1.12b.

 

until then i dont recommend anybody try it that hasnt already tried it.

 

Thanks for the help Crunch and Viper, I appreciate it.

[Kaptein_Damli]

.... and now i check the boxes for the views i want enabled and press save. then i run lock on and go to play the track, and i cant use any of the external views.

 

Try "video edit" instead of normal play track.

[deadsmell]

Hi Kaptein Damli. Where do I find that "video edit" option?

 

Do I leave the track utility running?, or close it after "save"?

 

I checked out your vids, its good stuff. maybe you can tell me, whats the best resolution to record in?

 

I made a video and recorded in 1680X1250, and used fraps and sony vegas, and it looked great until i uploaded it. when i uploaded it, it looked horrible.

 

please if you dont mind, can you go over every single step you use to make the LOTU work? please dont leave anything out. every single little step no matter how insignificant it may seem. There must be something im not doing right.

 

I know im not the only one who has or has had problems figuring out how to use this thing. Yet I cant find any instructions on the web anywhere for how to use this thing.

[Kaptein_Damli]

Hi Kaptein Damli. Where do I find that "video edit" option?

 

Do I leave the track utility running?, or close it after "save"?

 

I checked out your vids, its good stuff. maybe you can tell me, whats the best resolution to record in?

 

I made a video and recorded in 1680X1250, and used fraps and sony vegas, and it looked great until i uploaded it. when i uploaded it, it looked horrible.

 

please if you dont mind, can you go over every single step you use to make the LOTU work? please dont leave anything out. every single little step no matter how insignificant it may seem. There must be something im not doing right.

 

I know im not the only one who has or has had problems figuring out how to use this thing. Yet I cant find any instructions on the web anywhere for how to use this thing.

 

You choose "Video edit" in Lock On FC when you open the track you want to watch. (In the mission editor). Instead of "play track", choose "video edit". Then you will be able to choose F2, F3 view etc.

 

For recording I choose to record at half the resolution. Why? because of my sucky old system! :D hehe...If you do have the CPU power and get no drop in fps while recording in that high resolution, you can of course continue with that. I also turn off AA/AF (AntiAliasing etc) to save fps while recording. Homever, if you only want your movie to be available on YouTube, there is no point in recording in any higher res than ie: 640X480 (or other aspects ratio) because of the limited viewwindow and because YouTube "optimize" your uploaded video to save their space on their site. If your videos has bad quality, make sure you play it in "high quality". In your account, you can enable it in "playback options" to always play videos in high quality. Also worth to remember is bitrate. Higher bitrate means better quality and of course more space. I think YouTube accepts more than 100MB now so try higher bitrate and less compression.

 

I use Sony Vegas 7.0 and choose around 3-4000 bitrate for YouTube quality + "insane quality" (DivX) and 6000+ bitrate when I encode the higher download version. I also "interpolate" ie. a project which have 640X512 to 1280X1024. It´s not as good as capturing in real 1280X1024, but it looks better because Sony Vegas interpolates the missing pixels.

 

Another way to record at high res and save fps (if you get stutters of grabbing footage at high res) is to slow down speed in the Lock On track. "ALT-A" is halfing the speed and so on. "SHIFT-A" is normal speed again. Bare in mind that audio is played at normal speed if you choose to slow it down. "Valley Of Death" is recorded in half speed, then speeded up later in Sony Vegas and all audio added in postprocess. I know I have some moments out of sync...but it was so many layers and stuff and I lost count..used 30 hours on that movie and could have made it better though but it was a joy making it. Thanx for watching my channel! :)

 

Hope this helps? If not, something is very wrong with your LOTU. For me it´s just opening the program, open the track I want to enable external views etc, then launch Lock On FC, goto mission editor, "video edit" and voila! BTW: I use LOTU 2.0. Also make sure your trackfiles are not read only. Using Vista? Run the program as adminstrator.

Edited December 9, 2008 by Kaptein_Damli

[deadsmell]

ok, maybe thats what i have been doing wrong. i just go to show replays, and watch the track from there. let me try it from the mission editor and ill let you know if that works.

 

Thanks for all the advice.

 

BTW I would really like to make some "machinima" using Arma. I love the game, and im an old ofp fan, but i dont play ofp anymore.

 

Anyway ive been toying around with some ideas, and working on some scripts. yeah, full on scripts. I'm envisioning a pretty heavy dialog for this thing. It's all still just in the planning stage though. Ok so i have been thinking it might be nice to have a "cinematographer/camera man" to help shoot the scenes, help edit the footage and all that good stuff. I am a total noob at movie making, i have good ideas, but not enough experience actually using the tools.

let me know if you might be interested in working on something like that.

 

Thanks again.

[deadsmell]

ok well i must be an idiot. I cant even access tracks from the mission editor.

Damn, it sucks to be an idiot. WTF?!

 

ok well ill keep trying anyway.

[104th_Crunch]

When you go to open a track in the mission editor, click the drop down arrow at the bottom right, and for type of file pick recordings.

[Kaptein_Damli]

ok, maybe thats what i have been doing wrong. i just go to show replays, and watch the track from there. let me try it from the mission editor and ill let you know if that works.

 

Thanks for all the advice.

 

BTW I would really like to make some "machinima" using Arma. I love the game, and im an old ofp fan, but i dont play ofp anymore.

 

Anyway ive been toying around with some ideas, and working on some scripts. yeah, full on scripts. I'm envisioning a pretty heavy dialog for this thing. It's all still just in the planning stage though. Ok so i have been thinking it might be nice to have a "cinematographer/camera man" to help shoot the scenes, help edit the footage and all that good stuff. I am a total noob at movie making, i have good ideas, but not enough experience actually using the tools.

let me know if you might be interested in working on something like that.

 

Thanks again.

 

I am sorry, I don´t have any time to help others as I have little time on doing my own projects. Of course, if you want any tips or suggestion, feel free do drop my a mail or PM! :)

[deadsmell]

ok, let me give that a try now. Thanks guys.

[deadsmell]

Ok you guys i think i finally understand. The lockon track utility enables options that werent available during the actual flight. like if you had the mission set to "no externals"

but if you dont disable the externals in the first place, you dont need lotu, you can just use the track editor.

 

jeez louise.

 

Thanks again for all the help you guys. I finally get it.

[104th_Crunch]

Ding ding ding! We have a winner. Glad we could help. Enjoy.

[deviletk]

Sorry for being a complete beginner here, but i run LO vanilla and have started to get interested in the track thingy. Is that present in LO or is it only for LOFC?

 

Would be nice to after action check everything i did in the missions. Thanks!

 

Regards

Alex

[104th_Crunch]

Sure it's there. Just click fight, then record track, instead of the fly button. When you done the fight, exit the mission and it will ask you to save the track file. Open up the track file in the movie player or see page 1 about opening it in the mission editor.

[deviletk]

Cool, thanks Crunch. :)

[104th_Crunch]

NP! have fun.

[deviletk]

Another question, i got it to work, great stuff! But ive seen some kind of track player i think. Have googled it but cant find it. Dont know if it was for BS only, but you could watch the track file in simpler 3D. Not in the actual sim but in some program and you could also change camera angles etc. Hope i didnt dream this lol, but i think i saw it.

 

Thanks for the help. ;)

[104th_Crunch]

The excellent Tacview

http://lomac.strasoftware.com/tacview-en.php

 

A must have. read the help after installing