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Author	Topic: Night Ops Questions
Werner Molders Pilot	posted 04-21- 01:05 PM Hey Guys, After flying with blitzz and sweep last night, co-op all in Lancasters over a dam in the Rhineland, I've been inspired to do some more work on my Dam Busters online mission, eventually leading to a Dam Busters Online mission pack. I have a few questions, though: 1. Do pathfinder smoke bombs show up from 15000ft? Do they show up well in Dover Night with proper AmbientLight settings (hereafter known as night conditions)? 2. How easy/hard is it to pick out ground features from A15 during night conditions? 3. Oh yeah, has DoverNight been tested online yet? 4. How long do smoke bombs last? Can this be increased easily? 5. Are slowly descending flares possible? Maybe by making a version of the bombs with little or no mass? Thanks a lot. I'm hoping that the mission pack will contain daylight versions for those without dovernight, and a dovernight mission with pathfinder bombs and the Ju88 Night Fighter. After flying two pick-up dogfights and then Dam Busters, I see the value in having historically accurate missions to fly, and how fun co-op can be too! Werner P.S. Sweep & Blitzz - I may not be able to make it tonight, sorry! ------------------ It's coming... The NEW bcatp! Stay tuned for details! IP: Logged
kopper JAG	posted 04-21- 01:48 PM If those are jag's smoke markers they disappear above 10,000 ft. ------------------ Kopper Fortunae Nihil (Nothing to Chance) OPPs Making SDOE a Dangerous place. One plane at a time. IP: Logged
Werner Molders Pilot	posted 04-21- 05:52 PM How long do the markers last? One more question, are searchlights possible for night ops? Werner ------------------ It's coming... The NEW bcatp! Stay tuned for details! IP: Logged
slk unregistered	posted 04-21- 06:38 PM Search lights, wouldn't that be something!!! Psi IP: Logged
Poodle EAF322 Pilot	posted 04-21- 07:20 PM Hi Werner, Search lights won't work in SDOE. The SDOE engine doesn't do lightning if I'm correct, and all the light effects in SDOE are just clever use of textures. That's also the reason there's no moving sun, since the shadows would be wrong then. Also cockpit lights seem impossible (unless you can switch between 2 cockpit skins using some button). When making night missions you have to set the visibility. I always make it from 1 to 3 miles (fog starts at 1 mile, last point you can see is at 3 miles). This would maybe even mean you can't even see the ground when flying at 15000 feet at night. But, as I said you can set the visibility yourself, so that's not such a big problem then. Also, how many feet is a mile? DoverNight works fine online. Just make sure everyone has got a bèta running for the real night effects. Pathfinder bombs won't last very long, not even a minute if I'm right. Don't know if you can set this. Or did they stop when hitting the ground? I'm still hoping MH will finish that bèta someday. It's really essential for DoverNight. ------------------ Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a Flying Poodle ! IP: Logged
Jeeves Pilot	posted 04-21- 10:06 PM One more thing Werner that I found in creating Dover Part 3-- the Ju-88G leads to a CTD everytime in the Night terrain-- I have no idea why but I brought the problem up months ago when the G first came out-- Lector noted it but I haven't heard anything since. I have replaced the G with the newer C variant and it works fine. ------------------ Brought to you by the campaign for a better Dauntless! IP: Logged
Werner Molders Pilot	posted 04-21- 11:43 PM Well, I've scrapped plans for night missions because for them to be half decent you need a dark sky, but I won't make the mistake of installing that beta again, so if someone else takes it up more power to them. Last time I installed it my directory structure was all messed with and I had a terrible time reinstalling. Call it voodoo, but I just won't do it again. I've finished the permutations of the day missions, so I'm going to try and test online tonight - enjoy! I'll release the pack in the headquarters section of the rebuilt BCATP... Werner ------------------ It's coming... The NEW bcatp! Stay tuned for details! IP: Logged
slk unregistered	posted 04-21- 11:52 PM 5280 ft. = 1 mile 1 mile nautical = you do the math Psi IP: Logged
Royohboy Pilot	posted 04-22- 05:32 AM About the search-lights: I have tried to make one, but it didn't work. It was basically a Bofors gun that had the gun replaced with a 3 mile high cone of 'light'. It was transparent and slightly yellowish. It seems, though, that OP won't handle objects that big :-( IP: Logged
Poodle EAF322 Pilot	posted 04-22- 06:01 AM It sounds like a great idea Royohboy. It's a pitty it didn't work. And Werner, which beta was the one you used? The newest one won't screw up a bit. ------------------ Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a Flying Poodle ! IP: Logged
Werner Molders Pilot	posted 04-22- 11:57 AM Latest? (snicker snicker) I don't remember and frankly I don't care. Risk/Benefits analysis imo doesn't favour installation of something that is not online standard. You go for it. Werner ------------------ It's coming... The NEW bcatp! Stay tuned for details! IP: Logged
BULLET Pilot	posted 04-22- 07:20 PM Poodle I have had a lot of problems with AI take offs in Dover Night. Actually they won't take off at all. In St. Clair the planes are on the wrong side of the stream and they just taxi off the cliff. Any ideas. IP: Logged
Royohboy Pilot	posted 04-23- 04:50 AM OK, I tried the searchlight-stuff again, and it works (sort of): There is still a lot of stuff to be straightened out: - lightcone should be higher - lightcone only visible when as close as on the above pic - lightcone doesn't track aircraft I haven't had the time to really test it, but it seems like my approach basically works. I don't have the time to work on this, but if anybody would like to take up this project I'll mail him my files. Peter IP: Logged
bjorn Pilot	posted 04-23- 04:56 AM That cone is a LOD, right? To make it visible only from closer up, alter the switch in distance. You should probably have several LODs, with different intencity so that from far away it's not visible at all, in the vincinity it's vague, and close up it's very visible. The big one, however... how does it look when something is "lit?" _ /Bjorn. IP: Logged
Royohboy Pilot	posted 04-23- 06:46 AM Bjorn, the switching distance of the lightcone is some 20 miles (IIRC), but it is only visible when you're as close as the Focke-Wulf is in the pic. The lightcone should be visible from a long distance. I haven't seen anything lit yet, or how the whole thing looks at night because it makes the game freeze. I don't know if my approach is really the way to go, maybe the game-engine's limitations forbid doing it my way :-( Anybody who would like to have searchlights in SDOE is invited to take over the project. Peter IP: Logged
Werner Molders Pilot	posted 04-23- 12:19 PM Thanks for taking this on, Royohboy, even if it doesn't work 100% becuase of OP limitations, it's better than nothing at all so please keep us posted! BULLET - That's interesting. For the online missions at least it's no big deal because presumably we'd all be flying. Hmm. Werner ------------------ It's coming... The NEW bcatp! Stay tuned for details! IP: Logged
Poodle EAF322 Pilot	posted 04-23- 05:50 PM BULLET, there's some problem with a few airfields in DoverNight. When opening some sm files, the data gets somewhat screwed up and all sorts of things get misplaced. And it's very hard to set things right again. Also a number of treelines move onto the runway, and even with OPS I couldn't replace them. I had to delete them eventually. The same things must have happened with the textures of the airfield. They must have moved, and so have the runway's startings points. Also if you check some of the building's shadows on some airfields (eg that north-west airfield) you see they don't fit with the buidlings anymore. I have consulted Lector on this matter but he too couldn't find any solutions. Any suggestions would be welcome. And Royohboy, that searchlight looks promising. As Werner says, even if it wouldn't work 100%, it's a nice add-on anyhow. Keep us posted. ------------------ Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a Flying Poodle ! IP: Logged
BULLET Pilot	posted 04-23- 06:12 PM Thanks Poodle that answers everything. Wish there were some way to fix it. IP: Logged
Royohboy Pilot	posted 04-24- 03:44 AM Werner and Poodle, the problem with it not working 100% is that it causes freezes about 100% of the time. I don't know why it didn't crash when I took the screenshot (first test), but from then on it has always frozen my PC. Peter IP: Logged

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