The future of Vaicom

[BMGZ06]

Great news that Hollywood is ok. WIsh he would still continue with it. I would pay for updates or more functionality from him. After loosing it for 2 days I realized the value of his work was more than I thought. Hope he is busy and continues playing DCS though.

[Cathnan]

I want to add my thanks to @Hollywood_315 for this awesome tool and making it open source.

Also a MASSIVE thanks to the members of the community who picked it up. You guys rock

[Sharkku]

I want to add my voice to the choir. A massive THANK YOU! to @Hollywood_315 for all the hours of joy VAICOM has brought over the years, and for open-sourcing your software when you no longer wish to or are able to support it. I hope you are well and wish you all the best!

 

And huge thanks to the community! It's in times like this when the true colours really shine through, showing what an awesome community this really is!

[Blackeye]

1 hour ago, GGTharos said:

I would suggest something like Apache 2.0 or similar.   MIT/BSD would be nice but then someone could just grab it and make a closed source fork.

That's up to Hollywood I suppose. Right now it's slightly confusing as the name hints GPL but in a file public domain is mentioned.

[hornblower793]

It has been placed on Github as open source.

A small (but growing) team of users from the Vaicom Discord is already working on the code to deliver a rounded fix for the 2.8 issues and starting to work out how we best support / enhance the product into the future for the benefit of all. Given @Hollywood_315has generously placed it in the public domain we intend to honour that approach to keep both current and new users supported.

@MAXsenna and I will lead on support in these forums for users who are not on the Discord  (https://discord.gg/7gbYqKEsX6). Please give us a bit of time to work out what we are all doing / how this great plugin works but the intention is to then deliver updates / fixes as required, including a formal bug / issue tracker that all will be able to contribute to. In the meantime, all offers of help / expertise will be warmly received and any issues please either post in the forums or DM either Max or myself and we will do our best to get the answer.

Edited October 31, 2022 by hornblower793
Bad placement of brackets

[dburne]

Man we have come so far just in the last day or so, very exciting that Hollywood turned over his marvelous work to be able to be worked on and for the talented guys stepping up to the plate in here to help make it a nice reality once again. I do hope Hollywood is well and this provides him with some well deserved relief from the responsibility.

Hopefully tomorrow afternoon I will get clearance from my surgeon for some VR flying and I can finally get back to what I love so much. Hopefully with Vaicom Pro!

Edited October 31, 2022 by dburne

[greyeagle787]

I echo and support wholeheartedly these above sentiments. Only hope Hollywood is well and that this is a satisfying solution for him. Coming from an aviation background and being fairly new to DCS and flt sims in general I can only say that VAICOM, in addition to PointCtrl and obviously VR, has made this the most enjoyable hobby I could ever imagine!  Kudos and support to all the guys working to keep VAICOM going and making it even better!!

[Dragon1-1]

3 hours ago, VAF[136]inZane said:

I went onto https://www.vaicompro.com/ today and there is only a file to download called Viacom Pro 2_5_28.zip. The only thing that is included in this file is a viacompro.dll that unlocks all the modules. When used, my AV also blocked communication to a  website

Time;URL;Status;Detection;Application;User;IP address;Hash
2022-10-31 11:05:07 AM;http://www.awebsite.com/uploads/updates.json

I replaced that dll with the one that came with 2_5_27.zip. I was still able to validate my keys. I am not sure if we should be hesitant on getting that .dll from the viacompro.com website.

For what it's worth, that domain is for sale, and it looks like a placeholder address. I suspect it's a crocky workaround to bypass some code that was waiting for a website to report back, to validate licenses or something. Hopefully the first Open Source release will have that cleaned up. It's possible Hollywood wanted to get this done in a hurry due to whatever caused him to disappear (a kid, maybe? A time sink if I ever saw one) taking priority.

[JohnMclane]

I bought the thing 2-3 weeks ago and couldnt careless if its going to be free going forward. Im just glad it didnt die. Thanks to @Hollywood_315 for creating Vaicom and letting others take the torch going forward. The future is bright!

[MAXsenna]

I bought the thing 2-3 weeks ago and couldnt careless if its going to be free going forward. Im just glad it didnt die. Thanks to @Hollywood_315 for creating Vaicom and letting others take the torch going forward. The future is bright!

That's the spirit!

Sent from my MAR-LX1A using Tapatalk

[Johnny Dioxin]

I bought it years ago, but as I mentioned before, was never able to get it to carry out my spoken orders. Hollywood offered me a refund, which I declined. He also offered to help me change some things to make it sound more in line with RAF procedures than US ones (although the two are probably more similar now IRL) so he is indeed a "good egg" and I wish him well.

[MurrayCod]

Thanks to Hollywood for firstly creating a fantastic add-on, and secondly for now sharing it out for ongoing development.  It is no skin off my nose that I only paid for it a month or so ago.  It was worth every cent.  Thanks also to the new crew getting together to develop it into the future.

[Jenson]

I wonder if it could be integrated as an official module or function in the future? 

[Asbolus]

For those that still want to have that ViaComPro type emersion, you are able to disable the ViaCom plugin and create your own profile. While I am sure that there will be a more elegant solution coming and others may have already done this, I have been able to setup a profile so that I can use a number of the Viacom type commands either in the comms menu or otherwise in the F18 that give me a close approximation. I might need to follow the menu's but at least I can keep playing in VR happily until a better solution comes along.

Edited November 1, 2022 by Asbolus

[wowbagger]

You needn't disable Vaicom. The brilliant lads and lasses in the DCS community have already come up with a community fix and all seems to be working again.

Massive thanks to all involved in getting this working once more so quickly! And to @Hollywood_315 for making this possible!

[nessuno0505]

Is the community release a full package or do I need the original hollywood315 files?

[Cathnan]

44 minutes ago, nessuno0505 said:

Is the community release a full package or do I need the original hollywood315 files?

You don't need the files from Hollywood anymore. There is an installer but also a zip file with the files you need. You can get them at the community github here https://github.com/Penecruz/VAICOMPRO-Community/releases/tag/v2.8.0.0 and installation instructions here https://github.com/Penecruz/VAICOMPRO-Community

[nessuno0505]

Thank you very much! Is the kneeboard already fixed in the 2.8.0.0. or does it need further development?

[MAXsenna]

Thank you very much! Is the kneeboard already fixed in the 2.8.0.0. or does it need further development?

Works for me!

Sent from my MAR-LX1A using Tapatalk

[Cathnan]

1 hour ago, nessuno0505 said:

Thank you very much! Is the kneeboard already fixed in the 2.8.0.0. or does it need further development?

Had the kneeboard registering Supercarrier and Awacs calls earlier.

[Outlaw24]

Congrats to the small group of programmers on an outstanding job!

[inZane]

Has any of the contributors put ViacomPro community edition on the DCS user files site? This might be a way to get more users involved in the product.

[tomcat_driver]

47 minutes ago, VAF[136]inZane said:

Has any of the contributors put ViacomPro community edition on the DCS user files site? This might be a way to get more users involved in the product.

Better to keep it centralised at Github.

[BlueRaven]

18 minutes ago, tomcat_driver said:

Better to keep it centralised at Github.

This, do not disperse the code guys, it only generates FUD.

[hornblower793]

29 minutes ago, BlueRaven said:

This, do not disperse the code guys, it only generates FUD.

We totally agree, and would like to try and keep all users moving in a single group - it will be to the benefit of all