Modding Tornado

[Frankie]

Hi Tom

Looks like an unfinished runaway! LOL.

Please check if your file C:\TORNADO\TORNADO\AMP\MAP3\TREE3.BIN is the original TREE3.BIN, or if it is the modded TREE3.BIN from the http://dogsofwarvu.com/forum/index.php/topic,5046.msg29189.html#msg29189 post.

If your TREE3.BIN is from that post, then see if you can remove it by overwriting it with the original C:\TORNADO\TORNADO\AMP\MAP3\TREE3.BIN.

I am trying to see if this is the cause of the strange artifact or it is caused by something else.

Oh yes, I just realised that this file was also modified (as part of the tree mod):
C:\TORNADO\VISUAL\MAP\SECTORS\OBSECDEF.INC

That OBSECDEF.INC file is itself used by C:\TORNADO\VISUAL\SECDATA1.ASM.
So what I have just done is to restore the original 1993 C:\TORNADO\VISUAL\MAP\SECTORS\OBSECDEF.INC and I have recompiled C:\TORNADO\VISUAL\SECDATA1.OBJ and relinked the entire FLIGHT.EXE.


UPDATE - 22 June 2018, 12:50am Kuala Lumpur time

And there's more! These 4 files were also modified as part of the tree mod!
C:\TORNADO\VISUAL\OBJECTS\GROUND\COPSEA.INC
C:\TORNADO\VISUAL\OBJECTS\GROUND\COPSEB.INC
C:\TORNADO\VISUAL\OBJECTS\GROUND\COPSEC.INC
C:\TORNADO\VISUAL\OBJECTS\GROUND\COPSED.INC

A 'copse' is a cluster of trees. So these four files have something to do with the tree patterns and density.

All four INC files above are used by C:\TORNADO\VISUAL\GRNDOBJ1.ASM.
So I have just restored the original COPSEA.INC, COPSEB.INC, COPSEC.INC and COPSED.INC files, recompiled C:\TORNADO\VISUAL\GRNDOBJ1.OBJ and RE-linked the excutable FLIGHT.EXE.

Try RE-downloading the attached latest FLIGHT.EXE (that doesn't have the tree mod) and see if that offending and deceptive artifact is still there.

[Tom N]

I'll check the original, maybe it's not "our" problem at all ;-)
I already checked for 1.0e (3 green maps) and 1.0f (+desert storm map) modded flight versions.

All-clear!

It's there at least since 1994!

[Frankie]

> It's there at least since 1994!
>
What a relief! I thought I messed up the Tornado's perfect countryside.

[Tom N]

I'm sorry for having startled you/ the community :-/
I should have known it's there since Big Bang.

[Frankie]

73. Improved stars and Tornado colors for Night Vision Goggles (NVG) mode

Mod: Better environment colours for the NVG mode
By Frankie
Description: Night Vision effect was first tackled on this forum here.

Without Night Vision. When playing night mission, unless you have a high-quality monitor
(e.g., a IBM/lenovo monitor), the Night Vision (Shift+Tab) is a MUST.

However there were two deficiencies which spoiled the effect. Firstly, when the IR Night Vision was turned on, you would see black (dark) stars.

Black stars in the sky and FLIR display? Spoils the NVG effect.

Black stars? 'Invisible' panels make the Tornado difficult to see, spoiling the game.

Secondly, parts of the Tornado became invisible because of poor contrast between the components (fuselage, wing, etc,) and the surrounding environment (ground and sky).

I have now discovered how to improve the Night Vision colors of the stars and the Tornado. The trick is to modify the
C:\TORNADO\VISUAL\PALETTES.ASM

Ground Zero of the code to adjust the colors which by default turn out badly in Night Vision colours

Below is the result.

Stars show up as bright dots; Tornado is better contrasted against its surroundings.

Related files:
C:\TORNADO\VISUAL\STARS.ASM
C:\TORNADO\VISUAL\STARDATA.INC
C:\TORNADO\VISUAL\PALETTES.INC
C:\TORNADO\VISUAL\TORNADO1.INC

Attached is the FLIGHT.EXE.

Better NVG visuals now

Note: I have removed the trees mod from this FLIGHT.EXE as the trees were out of control, sprouting in the middle of roads. Perhaps it is for the best and I expect to see some better frame rates with less objects to render.

Update on 22/6/2018. Adjusted the LGB1000 color when in Infra-Red (NVG) mode. Previously the LGB1000 was invisible when switching to V view in NVG mode. Code snippet in PALETTES.ASM now looks like this:

      ;Adjust LGB1000 colours when in NVG (IR) colours
      mov VGA_INFRA_RED[COL_GREY4-IR_COL_START],COL_CRT5

LGB100 is now visible when in NVG mode!

Cheers.

One more update.

Tornado is highly visible when on the tarmac. I had to darken the tarmac otherwise the Tornado would disappear into it!

Modded code after all the colour adjustments.

Enjoy!

[Frankie]

74. Enhanced Explore feature

Mod: Improved usability of Explore
By Frankie
Description: Modded version of Explore feature in Digital Integration's Explore feature.
Here's what's new:
1. Pitch ground down (key 1) and up (key 0)
2. Swivel left (key z) and right (key x)
3. Now default mode is keyboard control
4. Default starting view height is 1000ft for a more panaromic view
5. Improved bottom status bar with help keys
6. Reversed the actions of UpArrow and DwnArrow keys so that, NOW, UpArrow raises elevation and DwnArrow lowers elevation.

Summary: better pre-mission planning and target ID/visualisation.

Attached is the latest FLIGHT.EXE.

Update: 25/6/2018, 8:47PM Malaysian Time.

Since Tornado has many night missions, I thought that it would be useful to see the external view in green infra red colours. Hit Shift+Tab to toggle between daytime and green infra red colours.

I have reuploaded the FLIGHT.EXE file. Enjoy.

[Frankie]

75. Functional Pause/Unpause key with a subtle hint of screen darkening

Mod: A better Pause (Key P) with slight darkening!
By Frankie
Description:This is an improvement over "Mod#15. Functional Pause/Unpause key".  Previously. hitting the P key would cause the game to pause totally. The problem with this is that it was immediately unclear if the game hung or it was a legitimate pause. This is due to the total lack of visual feedback. The original game had the screen fade to a shade of black.

This mod is a balance between Mod#15 and the original game's pause. For this mod, if you press the "P" key, there will just be a hint of screen darkening - enough to give the visual cue that the game has paused, but not so dark that you cannot take screen captures.

What I did was to reduce the count of frames from 96 to 12.

Again the same 'trick' - reduce the count of frames from 96 to 12.

Before pressing P

After pressing P - screen is slightly darker. Just.

I have tested it the "arrested blackening" effect in the Pilot and Navigator cockpit screens during night missions. Again that slight subtle hint of darkening is visible. The human eye is able to catch the effect. So now I believe I have reached a balance between a functional pause and the ability to still take screenshots where the colours are not degraded, but rather for the most part, are intact.

Attached is the latest FLIGHT.EXE. Enjoy.

[Frankie]

1/7/2018 (1st July 2018)
Two important bug fixes
By Frankie
Description:  I fixed two irritating bugs.

(Bug #1) When the LGB1000 explodes on the ground within half a mile (2,640 feet), there is no shudder or shaking of the screen on impact. I had expected a jarring of sorts, but nothing!

Solution: I amended line 9,048 (shown on the right in green) of WEAPONS.ASM to three new lines (shown on the left in red).

The solution was to divide by half the hemisphere damage value first, and then compare that value with register ax.

(Bug #2) When the plane is on the tarmac and the user hits "V" (Weapon View), there is some graphic disturbance and shift in height on screen. Like so:

Solution:  I amended line 1644 of VIEWS.ASM source file. The variable CockpitViews should store 0, not 1. This was the only change needed. Simply but effective!

Now when the Tornado is on the tarmac / runway, pressing "V" (Weapons view) has no visible side-effects. It's a nice feeling when bugs like these a squashed. Tornado ... keeps getting better.

Cheers
Frankie Kam

[Frankie]

76. Shift+D in Navigator's Cockpit will activate the full-screen FLIR and TIALD

Mod: An immediate way of going full-screen FLIR/TIALD when in Navigator's Cockpit
By Frankie
Description: Shift+D now activates the full-screen FLIR and TIALD views when in the Navigator cockpit view (PgUp).

Three months ago, I wrote Mod#50 (10th Apr 2018), which allowed the gamer to instantly access the Full-screen FLIR view when in the Pilot's Cockpit view (Home). Yesterday I was thinking that it should be possible to code NAVIGPAN.ASM so that the same can be done by the gamer when in the Navigator's view. It was harder than I thought, but in the end I managed to 'tame' the code. I also needed to handle the case where either TV-Tab was damaged. That upon exiting the full-screen FLIR/TIALD, I needed to restore the TV-Tab view properly. I decided to exit the view and just show the standard TV_Tab sized TIALD display. I also needed to restore the previous MFD view (it could be any of the following MFD modes: MFD_MAP, MFD_RADAR, MFD_AUTO_PILOT, MFD_ILS, MFD_FLIR_ORI and MFD_FLIR).

Use case flow:
1. Gamer hits PgUp to go to the Navigator's Cockpit
2. Gamer hits Shift+D, the full-screen FLIR view appears
3. Gamer hits Shift+D again, the full-screen TIALD view appears
4. Gamer hits Shift+D again, the Navigator's Cockpit comes into view again. The MFD display in the centre retains its last cycled view (Key D), whilst the left TV-Tab will show the TIALD view, albeit in the standard TV-Tab sized view.

Previously one had to cycle through the "[" or "]" keys to do this. Now you can bypass these steps with the Shift+D shortcut. A second Shift+D will bring the gamer back to the Navigator's Cockpit with the left TV-Tab showing the standard small-screen TV_Tab-sized TIALD view. The code is clever enough to handle the case where if either left or right TV-Tab is damaged, the full-screen FLIR/TIALD will appear on the remaining TV-Tab.

Attached is the latest FLIGHT.EXE.

[Frankie]

77. Standard TIALD view in TV-Tab is more 3D-ish now

Mod: Standard TIALD view pitched at 400 units for a more 3D effect
By Frankie
Description: 'Nicer' looking and more dramatic effect as TIALD view is now no longer view directly from above. Instead, the view is pitched at 400 units to give a more 3D perspective when panning left-to-right and vice-versa. To compensate for changed perspective, the crosshairs have been shifted down by 8 units down the TV-Tab view. Change was made to TAB.ASM:

;TIALD Original - offset compensation
OFFSETTIALD EQU 8

XC      EQU   TAB_WIDTH/2   ;centre x
YC      EQU   (TAB_DEPTH/2-1)+OFFSETTIALD   ;centre y

TIALD view with a new 3D perspective makeover

Attached is latest FLIGHT.EXE.

[Asid]

Great stuff Frankie 

[Frankie]

78.  Changed AAA sounds from Explosions2 to SoundCannon

Mod: AAA-to-Tornado sound improvement
By Frankie
Description: This mod is actually an improvement over Mod#6 AAA-(Shilka)-to-Tornado View activates with F12. Previously I had used the ExploSound2 procedure to produce AAA  firing sounds. The AAA will fire away with a rat-tat-tat and would always end with an explosion. Even when nothing was exploding. The fact that you could hear these noises when in the cockpit as either Pilot or Navigator makes it worse. So what I did was to instead call the CannonSound procedure. This is the same sound effect was when firing the Tornado's Mauser cannon.

Lines 643 to 647 ensure that when the gamer is in Pilot or Navigator cockpits,
the AAA firing sound is never heard.

Unfortunately the Tornado source code does not have a "high rate of fire" firing sound which would be more realistic, seeing that the AAA ZSU-23-4 fires at a cyclic rate of 850–1,000 rounds per minute for a combined rate of fire of 3,400–4,000 rounds per minute.  Another thing I did in this mod was to NOT play the cannon sound when the gamer is inside the cockpit - either as Pilot (Home key) or as Navigator (PgUp key).

The real ZSU-23-4 sounds like this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cKTwQ8TddA&t=0m28s

The latest sound for AAA in this version of Tornado,
(1) is heard only when in external views (e.g., NOT Home and NOT PgUp keys);
(2) is the same sound used for the Tornado's Mauser cannon, and it sounds like this:

The Tornado modded sound (SoundCannon procedure) is in my humble opinion, slightly resembles the actual ZSU-23-4 rounds being fired. I think. I have no choice since I cannot find a better procedure call to produce a ZSU-23-4 like sound. By the way, the whiplash sound in the video is a SA-8 Gecko Surface to Air Missile system being fired at me by a ZRK-Romb vehicle.

Note: In the video the Attention Seeking alarm is quite irritating. At the moment I am unable to turn off the irritating Attention Seeking siren when in external view. After all, it is an attention seeker. And this is the default behaviour in the stock DESERT.EXE or FLIGHT.EXE.

Attached is the latest FLIGHT.EXE. Enjoy.

[Frankie]

79.  Spectator View (F4) can now be pitched up and down

Mod: Pitch-variable Spectator View
By Frankie
Description: The Spectator View has always been pannable left-to-right via the Z and X keys. Now I have added a "press 1 pitch up and 0 to pitch down" feature. Therefore immediately after pressing F4 to go into the Spectator View, you can adjust the horizon vertically (newly added) and swivel horizontally (exists in stock Tornado).

Tornado is  retreating into the distance after F4 is pressed.
Horizon can be raised (Key 1) and lowered (Key 0)

This is a trivial feature which allows for more screenshot (Ctrl+F5) artistic angles. One more to hit 80 hacks/mods.
Attached the FLIGHT.EXE as usual.

UPDATE ON SUNDAY 22/7/2018
Yesterday I uploaded the wrong FLIGHT.EXE. It gave a problem when F5 (Drone View) is hit. I have re-uploaded the correct FLIGHT.EXE which gives the correct view when F5 is hit.

[Asid]

 

[Frankie]

80.  Weapons View (V) roll can now be angled

Mod: Weapons View with roll angle
By Frankie
Description: If you bank your plane and let loose an ordnance, the ordnance (LGB1000, RET1000, etc.) will be displayed at a tilt of the curent roll angle of your Tornado. Hit Alt+P to toggle the tilt on and off. Makes for interesting screenshots of the ordnance against a tilted background.

Laser Guided Bomb on its way down. Nice view. Never before seen angle.

retarded bombs on their way down. Never before seen angle.

Another view of the same retarded bombs on their way down.  Nice view.

Why is this crater angled? Just hit Alt+P if you want to display the background level.

This is the 80th mod/hack/post of Tornado. What's next? Hopefully another 20 mods so that I can make it 100 Tornado mods/hacks/posts before I retire this old bird of a combat flight simulator. In this day and age of Fortnite being played by millions of gamers around the world, why do I do what I do? I do it because IT'S THERE.

Attached is the FLIGHT.EXE for your delectation and delight.