Attn: Movie Makers, External Views on Tracks with Full Switch Servers

[ATAG_Bliss]

Hi all,

As Colander is simply amazing, he has made a utility that allows tracks recorded on our server (closed cockpit) to be processed which then allows external views in the track. So for all you movie makers, this now allows you to make a movie however you want with external views on in your track from a full switch online server. :grin:

Basically you will upload your track to the utility and it will process it and enable external views in the track to make your movie or even just to watch

We have a special user group setup on the forums that will allow access to the utility. That means you must be logged into the ATAG forums, and have access to the user group in order to process a track with the utility.

Please request access in this thread: http://theairtacticalassaultgroup.com/forum/showthread.php?1782-External-View-Utility-for-Recorded-Tracks

A PM will be sent to you linking you to the utility and you will get user group access to use the utility. Again, you must be logged in to the ATAG forums for this to work.

Here's a snap shot from the utility:

http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/2010/atagexviews.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/811/atagexviews.png/)

Here's an example movie from the ATAG's Axis vs Allies with a processed track to allow external views made by ATAG_Keller

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsa8ZRyZiSM&feature=player_embedded

[JG52Krupi]

Whoa... Nice one Colander!

[JG52Krupi]

Also Bliss get your a$$ online, my rear gunner has suddenly fallen ill and my wingman is refusing to fly with me for some reason :|... so you will have to do ;)

[robtek]

As nice this feature is for movie makers, it is also a way to cheat in online campaigns with fog of war.
A small plus with a big minus added.

[ATAG_Bliss]

Also Bliss get your a$$ online, my rear gunner has suddenly fallen ill and my wingman is refusing to fly with me for some reason :|... so you will have to do ;)

I'll be there in 30 minutes ;)

As nice this feature is for movie makers, it is also a way to cheat in online campaigns with fog of war.
A small plus with a big minus added.

Robtek,

I understand your concerns, but we have control over the program. It's not released to the public. Meaning if there is some sort of campaign on say, Saturday, we can simply shut it off for that day/take away access or w/e. Again, that's why it's in our control, why you have to be logged in etc.

[5./JG27.Farber]

I understand your concerns, but we have control over the program. It's not released to the public. Meaning if there is some sort of campaign on say, Saturday, we can simply shut it off for that day/take away access or w/e. Again, that's why it's in our control, why you have to be logged in etc.

What about other servers?

[ATAG_Doc]

Up next....a patch from ATAG that fixes this sim.

[JG52Krupi]

Up next....a patch from ATAG that fixes this sim.

Okay, but snapper is not allowed to touch the spits FM ;)

[ATAG_Bliss]

What about other servers?

This only works on our server atm. Tracks from other servers can not be processed. IE - our server is hacked :)

If the testing of this goes ok, I imagine Colander might make a release candidate type mod pack for dedicated servers. But for right now, it's just really a big test atm.

@Doc - you're not far off :)

[ATAG_Colander]

This only works on our server atm. Tracks from other servers can not be processed. IE - our server is hacked :)


To clarify...
Our server is in no way hacked. Only the track is changed to allow external views which is why it needs to be processed.

As for the "fog of war", recording from your game client only has data for whatever objects are near you. Planes, AA guns etc. that are far, are not visible/available.

[Skoshi Tiger]

The ammount of talent that is part of this community is astounding.

Good work Guys!

Thankyou!

[Warhound]

As nice this feature is for movie makers, it is also a way to cheat in online campaigns with fog of war.
A small plus with a big minus added.

To me it's a big plus with a small minus added, there are lots of regular joe's who like to make screenshots or movies from their online encounters.
And the guys who want to cheat in online campaigns will be cheating ingame anyhow, aswell as run secondary boxes that intercept and decode every package to display icons on a map or similar.
It's what happens in every competitive game sadly.

Ofcourse this could make it easier for them (in the case they haven't made such apps+ingame cheats allready..), but what do you expect when Maddox Games refuses to add a toggle where full switch servers can choose if tracks have external views. Especially since it's something everyone was used to and loved from the old IL-2.
The community takes over and adds functionality themselves, with positives and negatives to them.

[CaptainDoggles]

To clarify...
Our server is in no way hacked. Only the track is changed to allow external views which is why it needs to be processed.

So will it or won't it work on different servers?

[ATAG_Dutch]

So will it or won't it work on different servers?

Wow Doggles, couldn't you at least try to phrase that a little more politely?

Good Grief.

[ATAG_Snapper]

Okay, but snapper is not allowed to touch the spits FM ;)

Oh, now that HURTS! LOL

[ATAG_Colander]

By design, it will not work on other servers, not even in ATAG's server 2.

Again, fog of war should not be a problem as your game client only records what's close to you. In other words, it records only what you already can see.

Anyway, if someone is found to be abusing this in any way, access to the tool will be stripped.

If there's too much wining about it (as it appears to be starting already), the utility will be removed completely.

[CaptainDoggles]

Wow Doggles, couldn't you at least try to phrase that a little more politely?

Good Grief.

I guess emotion doesn't convey well over text. When I wrote it I had no ill/angry thoughts in my head whatsoever.

Sorry it was taken as rude; wasn't at all how I intended it. Just looking for clarification.

How would you prefer I had phrased it, Dutch?

[ATAG_Dutch]

Sorry it was taken as rude; wasn't at all how I intended it.

Fair enough mate, no worries! :)

(I'm sure I don't have to make suggestions as to alternative phrasing!)

[ATAG_MajorBorris]

ATAG movies will be cool!

[ATAG_Bliss]

Colander has now updated the utility to allow for any types of skins, originally a problem.

[ATAG_Colander]

To all that have used the utility...
I want to see movies!!!! bring them on.

[von Brühl]

Are there any more hacks to circumvent some of the other limitations in the background/works? Also, will this be released to all server admins, or something kept close to the chest at ATAG?

[ATAG_Bliss]

Are there any more hacks to circumvent some of the other limitations in the background/works? Also, will this be released to all server admins, or something kept close to the chest at ATAG?

What do you mean by hack?

This is a utility that removes the restrictions from tracks to allow external views.

This isn't part of the game or something you use while in game.

What background limitations are you referring to?

[ATAG_Doc]

Nothing wrong with having something unique otherwise all servers will be the same!

[ATAG_Colander]

Indeed is not a code hack of any kind. It is just a modification of the track files to make them as if they where recorded on a server with external views enabled.

I don't think we want to release this one to the public (at least for the time being), the main reason being, while under control, it can be disabled when/if we decide to do some missions where we do not want people to be able to have the externals until the mission is over.

With that said, I can't understand why some people prefer to complain instead of thanking the hard work of others. We could have as easily kept it for ATAG members only instead of allowing others to use it.

As for the question about other things in progress. There are none that I know of but I'm open to new ideas :)

ATAG_Colander.

[ATAG_Doc]

Rather than complaining how about WE ALL go to http://www.il2bugtracker.com/ and open a ticket and vote for it. It should be native to the game in the first place.

[von Brühl]

Ahh, sorry, I don't think you mentioned it was a post-game utility that didn't need anything IN-game. And something still needs to be hacked for it to work, no Bliss? Although hacking the tracks themselves wasn't what I considered, or understood it to be, somewhere it's being broken into, changed slightly, and then re-done to get a different result than the original?

I do have another question, if I were to record a track, say on Kampfverband13, that I wanted opened, it's possible right, it doesn't have to be originally from the ATAG server right? I mean, there's nothing inherently different about recording it on a different server now is there?

[ATAG_Doc]

Ahh, sorry, I don't think you mentioned it was a post-game utility that didn't need anything IN-game. And something still needs to be hacked for it to work, no Bliss? Although hacking the tracks themselves wasn't what I considered, or understood it to be, somewhere it's being broken into, changed slightly, and then re-done to get a different result than the original?

I do have another question, if I were to record a track, say on Kampfverband13, that I wanted opened, it's possible right, it doesn't have to be originally from the ATAG server right? I mean, there's nothing inherently different about recording it on a different server now is there?

This post answers this question.

http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showpost.php?p=438940&postcount=16

[von Brühl]

So how does it work then? Something has to be different in ATAG's setup, but not in the code?

Is the server hacked or no?

[ATAG_Doc]

So how does it work then? Something has to be different in ATAG's setup, but not in the code?

Is the server hacked or no?

You record your track as you normally would. Quit the game. Go to a secret URL. Click upload. Wait for it to do its magic and the website refreshes and says you're ready to download.

Download. Open track in CoD.

[ATAG_Colander]

As I've stated several times before... There is nothing hacked on the server.

The change is done in the track file it self and yes, it works in other server's tracks too but we are currently limiting it to just ATAG.

[Continu0]

Guess you can compare it to this online services that change the audio-format from m4a to mp3 or something like that!

Thank you for your work! I am sure that besides moviemaking this tool will also be helpfull to see your own mistakes in onlineflying!

[ATAG_Bliss]

From Doc:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH8uSKYT1Ro&feature=player_embedded

[furbs]

Bliss, just tried to join and keep getting "server fail authentication"

any idea?

[JG52Krupi]

Furbs, I had this problem before the beta patches try connecting via hyperlobby or using direct connect.

With direct connect I had to try and connect twice the first time always failed and the second time it would work, very annoying but it works.

[ATAG_Septic]

Bliss, just tried to join and keep getting "server fail authentication"

any idea?

This can be caused by using the 'Break' key during loading. If so, then you'll need to wait for the mission to rotate otherwise the server believes you are still connected. This is why the server re-starts between missions, if it didn't there would be a lengthening list of players unable to connect.

A clever chap might be able to explain this much better :)

Septic.

[furbs]

ok...ill try in a bit. cheers.

[ATAG_Colander]

Guess you can compare it to this online services that change the audio-format from m4a to mp3 or something like that

Exactly!

[furbs]

No joy on the direct connect.

[ATAG_Doc]

Steam thinks you are still connected to the server.

[furbs]

exited steam, how long until the mission ends?

[ATAG_Colander]

Where you able to join latter on?

[von Brühl]

As I've stated several times before... There is nothing hacked on the server.

The change is done in the track file it self and yes, it works in other server's tracks too but we are currently limiting it to just ATAG.

Thanks Col, that's a better answer, maybe I wasn't phrasing the question right about whether or not you guys would do it to tracks from other places, when I wanted to know if it was possible or if something was different in the code on Bliss's server.

[TomcatViP]

Colander,

This is a terrific add to the sim : cleverly designed and a brilliant idea*.

Was that in C++ ?


*The SA bubble

[ATAG_Colander]

Was that in C++ ?
R&D was done in part in C# as development is simpler.
Final version was redone in plain C (didn't have the need for classes etc) to compile it on Linux for the web app.

[ATAG_Bliss]

Thanks Col, that's a better answer, maybe I wasn't phrasing the question right about whether or not you guys would do it to tracks from other places, when I wanted to know if it was possible or if something was different in the code on Bliss's server.

No cheesehawk,

As Colonder already explained the utility will only work with tracks recorded from the ATAG's Axis vs Allies server, not from any other server. I'm sure the utility could be made for other servers in the future.

And yes, when you were asking what was hacked and what else was being done server side you implied that we were doing something to an ongoing game / or while in-game. This was already explained quite a few posts earlier that this wasn't the case. I guess a lot of confusion on your end could have been avoided if you'd read the thread.

[ATAG_Bliss]

Ahh, sorry, I don't think you mentioned it was a post-game utility that didn't need anything IN-game. And something still needs to be hacked for it to work, no Bliss? Although hacking the tracks themselves wasn't what I considered, or understood it to be, somewhere it's being broken into, changed slightly, and then re-done to get a different result than the original?


It was mentioned in the 1st post in this thread. The part that states you take a track and process it through a utility should be your 1st clue.

[ATAG_Colander]

All those having disconnects when recording tracks, please vote this issue up on the bug tracker:
http://www.il2bugtracker.com/issues/373

[ATAG_Colander]

All those having disconnects when recording tracks, please vote this issue up on the bug tracker:
http://www.il2bugtracker.com/issues/373

There's only 5 votes :(

[ATAG_Snapper]

There's only 5 votes :(

Done. But still just six votes! :(

[TomcatViP]

R&D was done in part in C# as development is simpler.
Final version was redone in plain C (didn't have the need for classes etc) to compile it on Linux for the web app.

Thx for the info

~S

[SG1_Gunkan]

Thanks for the great job!