Forum > Tornado
Modding Tornado
Frankie:
9. Flip the flipping sky and let's give the ground more coverage
Mod: More Ground Than Sky
By Frankie
Link: None. Open the VIEWS.ASM file. Then follow the code hack shown. The magic value of -45 seems to work wonders.
Description: The views now show more of the ground than the sky. That's all it does. The results can be ... dramatic if you're into air-to-ground attacks and all that stuff. Like cratering a runaway and mowing down soft targets with your plane's Mauser cannon.
VIEWS.ASM code to modify
BEFORE the hack. The ratio of sky:ground height is 1:1. The default game's symmetrical proportion.
But this game's strength is on the ground pounding and mud-moving action, no?
AFTER the hack. See the difference now? The hack gives the view an asymmetrical treatment.
The ratio of sky:ground height is now a staggering 1:6! More interesting, perhaps Sparky? Or is it too much?
Now there is more ground view for your eye to absorb the details. What about SAMs?
Well in Tornado you will hear SAMs on your RWR more than see them, so less sky doesn't really matter.
The (in)famous JP-233 run on a runaway. You get more stuff to look around as you whizz by.
Hit F2 (Satellite View) and you get this interesting view as a side-effect of the hack.
Hack combines well with the Responsive Horizon Hack (i.e., hack #6) to
give an interesting new perspective when the airplane banks.
This video will give you an idea what is possible with the hacks.
Hopefully this hack will open up new possibilities and experiences when playing a ground strike mission. Cheers.
Frankie:
10. Rotate the craters after hitting (or missing) the target - with a custom height
Mod: Rotate the craters and view them from a custom height
By Frankie
Link: None. Open the VIEWS.ASM file. Then follow the code hack shown.
Description:
I've managed to adjust the height of the weapon overhead view and to make the overhead view pan left and right. Which view you say? You know after your bomb hits the target, resulting in crater or a series of craters? That View! Well, now you can pan left and right slowly or fast. Plus slight zoom-in and zoom-out.Now I share the secret of my latest Tornado hack. The Rotatable Overhead View. See the image below! In the standard Tornado game, once your bombs hit home, you were looking straight down at some craters. The view was static.
Now with my hack, I can swivel (rotate) left or right around the centre of smoking craters of what used to be the target. I can also zoom in and out but the zooming actions are very limited. I am also higher up compared to the standard game's Overhead View height, and I am looking not straight down at the craters, but rather at an angle.
It would be very useful to zoom out MORE so that I can see the rest of the enemy airfield, especially if the mission was a multi-plane coordinated attack and various targets were damaged or hit
The default Overhead View height was 500. I changed it to 600. No reason why you can't edit the value and make it 800! That would give you a better bird's eye view of how well the Squadron's strike of the airfield was.
In the screenshot below, I changed the VP_PITCH 384 value to -110. This accounts for the angled look down in my modified Overhead View. Makes this a bit more dramatic, eh Sparky?
See line 2657's "call AdjustWpnTrack"? Ah, that my friend, is the key that allows me to rotate left or right once I am in Overhead View! This is a true Frankie Tornado innovation. So the view of what's left of my target is no longer static, I can rotate the view and enjoy the results of my handiwork.
Next, see that lie 2656 "call AdjustWpnZoom"? That's the zoom-in and zoom-out controlds. Or Shift-key and zoom-in and zoom-out faster. However the zooming is very limited - almost useless. I am trying to find a way to ZOOM OUT MORE! That would be more useful.(edited)
With my hacks so far, when you go to the Overhead Weapons View (key v), you will head the bomb explode as it strikes home. Then you can rotate around the craters and from a higher up height so that you can survey the damage done by your Squadron. Tally ho! I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed discovering it.
Asid:
Great stuff Frankie. You are very passionate and committed. Your hard work and determination has started to give results like the above. :sifone
Keep it up :thumbsup
Frankie:
Hi Asid
Many thanks for the encouragement. It wouldn't have been possible without your generous and selfless support, and the Dogs Of War Virtual Unit website and forums.
Regards
Frankie Kam
Frankie:
11. Rotate the Spectator View to catch the action
Mod: Spectator View Rotate for cinematic effect
By Frankie
Link: None. Open the VIEWS.ASM file. Then follow the code hack shown.
Description:
With this hack, the Spectator View comes to life. In the default game, when you hit the F4 key, all you have is a view of the rear of your Tornado, rapidly retreating away from you until it becomes an indistinguisable pixel. You can't do anything else. NOW HOWEVER, with this hack, after hitting the F4 key, you can rotate the view along the horizontal axis (using the z, x, Shift-z and Shift-x keys)!
How can this View become useful? Most probably in a multi-plane mission where after bombing a target, you can continue to view your wingman hitting their assigned targets over the same area. So for example, hit the F4 key. As your jet flies out of view into infinity, you rotate the view left or right to catch the action of the wingmen bombing their targets. So this hack makes the Spectator View more useful.
How does it work? At around line 1716 of VIEWS.ASM, add "call AdjustTrack" at the end of the UpdateGameView procedure. Like so:
Just add the line "call AdjustTrack" to the end of the UpdateGameView procedure
Here's the hack in action on Youtube for you to see the difference it now makes to the Tornado experience.
The last 20 seconds of this video show you how useful the hack is.
Here's my take on this. Suppose a flight of six tornado, led, ahem, by me, were to strike a target with mine being the first to ingress. A few seconds later the others hit various installations of the vicinity. So after I pass over the target and release my ordinance, I hit the F4 key and then hold down Shift-z to rotate the camera counter-clockwise. The target ground area rotates into view, just in time to catch the rest of the squadron lay waste the target area.
Now can you imagine the cinematic possibilities?
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