Friday 2010-08-13 Dev. update and Discussions

[engarde]

Originally Posted by Blackdog_kt

Just look at that Blenheim cockpit shot posted in one of the previous updates, the instruments look so crisp and detailed that i got "cockpit and switch mania" and got a sudden urge to go fly something with clickable cockpits

Lets hope trackIR will someday allow us via head movement of a hi-vis dot, activated by a quick double blink, to activate live cockpit functions.

[Blackdog_kt]

You mean like a cursor that can be moved via TrackIR instead of mouse? That would be very nice.

Another thing i had in mind...having a cursor that is bound to the cockpit's 3d coordinates instead of the screen's coordinates. For example, that would enable us to place the cursor on the gunsight controls and it would stay there regardless of where we looked. The cursor might be out of view but unless the mouse (or mouse emulating hotas hat) moved, it would stay there. It would be like having a virtual hand instead of having to always look at what we want to manipulate, quite useful for setting up things in advance.

For example, i might be looking over my shoulder but still adjusting my gunsight brightness or range by moving that mouse wheel. Or, i could be expecting one of my fuel tanks to run dry, so i could place the cursor on the fuel tank switch 5 minutes ahead of time...just as the engine begins to cough and sputter, a click of the mouse or roll of the mouse wheel and the next fuel tank is selected.

I guess this would be more useful for twin engined aircraft or bombers, ie flyables with increased amount of controls. Clickable pits or not, i doubt anyone would want to click the gun triggers or other important controls like flaps, throttles, etc, but it works quite nicely for less important controls that are used less than often in the duration of the entire mission, as it minimizes the amount of needed keyboard shortcuts to map and memorize.

I'll stop here, before we derail this from a "WiP discussion and screenshots" to "ideas about the interface of SoW"

[zapatista]

Originally Posted by SlipBall

I asked this question but never got an answer...It would be cool to land between two trees, the wings to absorb the energy of the crash...just like you are taught in flight school

interesting comment, i never thought that might be a good way to reduce energy of a "crash in progress"

[airmalik]

Originally Posted by engarde

Lets hope trackIR will someday allow us via head movement of a hi-vis dot, activated by a quick double blink, to activate live cockpit functions.

Don't know if I'd want to blink to activate switches. I'd prefer voice activated switches or something like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLkfx6QxLfg

He's using a Wii remote to activate switches by touching them on the screen.

[Dano]

Originally Posted by engarde

Lets hope trackIR will someday allow us via head movement of a hi-vis dot, activated by a quick double blink, to activate live cockpit functions.

Well that is pretty much exactly what TrackIR was developed for, the version we have is the offshoot of technology designed to allow people with disabilities to interact with computers so I'm sure that with a little prompting NP would add the feature in, as it stands my older V2 TIR unit allows me to use mouse emulation, has that feature been removed from the later software releases?

[engarde]

Originally Posted by Dano

Well that is pretty much exactly what TrackIR was developed for, the version we have is the offshoot of technology designed to allow people with disabilities to interact with computers so I'm sure that with a little prompting NP would add the feature in, as it stands my older V2 TIR unit allows me to use mouse emulation, has that feature been removed from the later software releases?

My earlier post was pure fantasy.

I meant no disrespect.

I wish they would add my suggested, but in no way unique, feature.

TrackIR dev should add a hi-vis dot, enabled over the panel-like areas, to allow for blink triggered panel control.....

[philip.ed]

Certainly is looking really awesome; the tree effects close up are just amazing!

But I have one nit-pick about the trees. From flying over England on my holiday, I noticed that the tree trunks just can't be seen (apart from on the odd trees you see in gardens) and the trees look really dense. From the screens posted so far, the trees better match those that I've seen in warmer climates. It may sound really anal of me, but I think it makes a lot of difference to the overall effect. I also noticed how all the fields seem to be really boxed in, and I was amazed at how I could still see traffic from thosands of feet up...food for thought for the sim

[tourmaline]

Originally Posted by zapatista

interesting comment, i never thought that might be a good way to reduce energy of a "crash in progress"

They do, the wings hit the trees and absorb most of the energy and fall or rip off, the rest of the fuselage will stop quite quickely...

it's much better then actually hitting the tree with the fuselage, LOL.

[tourmaline]

Originally Posted by 322Sqn_Dusty

Very impressive shots. It's getting better by the minute.

...Please...Steam...the horror... As before, if you must stay connected to the internet for validation, it can be a problem for events held.

Exactly my concern. There have been horror stories of people loosing connection because of their provider and then you can't play a game...Not a really good idea!People should be able to play the game offline, although it sounds a bit contradictive for multiplayer, LOL.

My concerns are also about the implementation of some kind of drm...

[tourmaline]

Originally Posted by airmalik

Don't know if I'd want to blink to activate switches. I'd prefer voice activated switches or something like this:

He's using a Wii remote to activate switches by touching them on the screen.

Voice activation will have some problems, first of all, wich language will you use and if your language is not the native one used for the game, if you don't pronounce it well, then it won't recognize the commands. This is also the case with some dictate software; if you have a cold, it's going mad allready...

Not the best solution for international games.

A cursor that moves via a hat keyswitch on your hotas would be a much better option!