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TACAN range of MP Carriers

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TACAN range of MP Carriers

Postby vanosten » Sun Aug 12, 2018 9:14 am

Hi

When I run the Vinson demo locally, I get > 25 nm range of TACAN consistently. However when I run Vinson over MP I only get a TACAN range of between 5 and 6 nm. I have set
Code: Select all
--prop:/sim/multiplay/visibility-range-nm=60
both on the computer running the MP-carrier and on the computer with the F-14B. IMHO this has nothing to do with the F-14B, as I get the same short range with e.g. the Bourrasque.

Am I missing something?
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Re: TACAN range of MP Carriers

Postby drR0ckso » Sat Aug 18, 2018 6:53 am

I think you found something, but I don't really know where to file a report. fgms has changed a lot over the past few years, and most of the decisions regarding range for radio, chat, and radar are delegated to the individual models. Some of the models have not been updated or made capable of controlling those functions. The default visibility range is 100 miles, the same as the chat radius, so you should not need to change that unless the radius is larger. The radar models already have that capability. This function may need to be added or fixed in either the F-14B model or the MPCarrier, or both.
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Re: TACAN range of MP Carriers

Postby vanosten » Sat Aug 18, 2018 9:06 am

I chose to submit a bug report request to the devel-list.
So after playing also with the Clemenceau I believe that I can provide
a bit more details:
  • All testing is done at 43N005E near Marseilles in the Mediterranean Sea). I have the MP carrier on a Linux NEXT version.
  • After the MP carrier has loaded I change its position using the position properties to the desired position (43N005E).
  • I start multiplayer on a specific server e.g. mpserver01.
  • Then on a different computer with Windows NEXT version I start the F-14B on nearby LFMI, go multiplayer on mpserver01 (I know that being on the same server is not strictly needed) and adjust the TACAN frequency.
  • When I use the Vinson, TACAN is only caught around 5-6 nm from the carrier (but the carrier has been on the pilotlist all the way (> 20 nm). Once the TACAN has been caught and I fly away longer than 5-6 miles it keeps being sticked (not getting lost).
  • When I use the Clemenceau, TACAN immediately catches around 70nm East (instead of ca. 23 nm South). Around 20 nm for some maybe 10 seconds the TACAN shutters around being caught and not and then remains sticked again to ca. 70 nm East. At around 7nm from the carrier suddenly TACAN switches to correctly indicate the carrier just South.
  • When I then fly away from the carrier towards the 70nm East even after 40 nm away from the carrier it correctly shows that I should fly back West for 40 nm (still sticking to the correct carrier).

So in my mind the following happens:
  • TACAN in MP carriers is limited to first being caught at around 5-7 nm, but then remains sticked for longer distances (direction sticks
    too).
  • The difference between the Vinson and the Clemenceau is that the Vinson demo AI scenario sets it near the US West coast way off the TACAN range, but the Clemenceau demo has its position ca. 70 nm away, thus fighting for attention (both the demo carrier and the MP carrier have of course the same TACAN code). Because the demo carrier's TACAN range is much larger than the MP carrier's, it "wins" until ca. 7nm, when the MP carrier finally catches.
  • Another "annoyance" is that if I fly 70 nm East I will actually see the demo Clemenceau in the water. As having the demo-scenario for the specific carrier enabled is a prerequisite to interacting with the MP carrier, the demo carrier should be hidden away.
  • I guess because most people using the MP carriers are taking off from them to begin with, they have not observed the problem, because once the right TACAN is caught (which is easy when starting from the carrier being position 0.1 nm away), there is no problem.

    => I would like to ask someone with bug submitting rights to file two
    bugs:
  • TACAN range of MP carriers must be set to a larger range than 7 nm (not sure whether the range is carrier specific)
  • When --prop:/sim/mp-carriers/CARRIER-callsign=<callsign of the player commanding mp-CARRIER> is set, then the AI scenario code on that instance should change behaviour such that the demo does not actually get visible (both on screen and on radar/TACAN) and just provides the necessary code to interact with the MP carrier (note that the MP carrier automatically sets the corresponding demo scenario on it's instance but will not have the --prop:/sim/mp-carriers/CARRIER-callsign set).
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Re: TACAN range of MP Carriers

Postby wkitty42 » Sat Aug 18, 2018 1:31 pm

vanosten wrote in Sat Aug 18, 2018 9:06 am:=> I would like to ask someone with bug submitting rights to file two
bugs:

FWIW: i don't understand this above line... AFAIK, everyone can file bug reports in the bug tracker... your posts with their information would be perfect in those bug reports... who gets assigned to the bug(s) to fix it(them) is another question, though...
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"Why not?" said Gurder.
"Dunno. It's frightened of heights, I guess."
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Re: TACAN range of MP Carriers

Postby enrogue » Sat Aug 18, 2018 2:53 pm

OK so when I've used MP carriers in the past, the primary thing that controls when you can see them (including all Nasal code embedded in the xml) is in View-> Adjust LOD ranges. The setting that controls the distance you can see an MP carrier (or any MP model) is 'AI/MP aircraft' which from memory defaults to 10000m (10km, which is 5.4 nautical miles)

this is the property /sim/rendering/static-lod/ai-detailed in the property tree (i'm not sure what ai-bare does if anything anymore)

All I can suggest is put the setting to something higher (say 60000 which in m converts to 32nm) & see if it works
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Re: TACAN range of MP Carriers

Postby wkitty42 » Sat Aug 18, 2018 10:58 pm

while i have been following this topic with interest, i hadn't thought about that LOD setting... i have mine kinda large to try to have a more realistic chance of seeing a distant craft... currently i'm using 92600 meters but my bare is still set to 10000... i need to look into that... anyway, 92.6km is 50nm...
"You get more air close to the ground," said Angalo. "I read that in a book. You get lots of air low down, and not much when you go up."
"Why not?" said Gurder.
"Dunno. It's frightened of heights, I guess."
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