Modding Tornado

[Bewsher]

Oh yes if you could recreate heinz mod that would give you another mod goal.

Oh thankyou for the link. No wonder but its a thought you could continue his work in your euro mod. Sure take as long as you need till you think its ready to be added.

Ok before i take a snapshot as i can best describe as the bomb comes into view on the TIALD the dot is still grey.
Thanks.

Karl.

[Bewsher]

Ok just sent off the email with snapshot. Youll see a dot 45 degrees bottom right heading in to target. However it may be my eyes confusing the colour of the dot (LGB) for grey but is green as youve modded.

If you need more info let me know.


Added just noticed the other bombs are green my mistake.

Karl.

[Frankie]

Hi Bewsher

Yes the dot is grey. Nothing wrong with your eyes.

Kevin Bezant wrote the Tornado 3D engine code to use some algorithm to reduces a 3D shape into a "ever-diminishing in size" version. The the pixels somehow magically form to project the 3D object as it should appear given the perspective and distance from the viewer.

I did catch a fleeting glimpse of the LGB1000 in the TIALD view as it leaves the Tornado. Seems to be when it is a discernable shape, the color is green. But when it reduces to a single pixel, it reverts to the original grey. When the 3D shape is projected as a single pixel (as shown in your screenshot), there is definitely a color code assigned to it. For now, I am unable to find that code in the Tornado's code universe.

Cheers
Frankie Kam

[Bewsher]

Ok Great that my eyes can still pick it up. Yeah looks like a major project to mod so take as long as you need on the dot fix. Meanwhile i can pretend its been shaded by the cloud and changes hue so that still ok.

Thanks ever so much for this LGB mod and yes i saw the other bombs are green so my imagination was wrong.

Looking forward to your Heinz redux snow version too.

Good to know someone is still looking after this sim and yes im out of other mod ideas for now too.

Thanks

Karl.

[Frankie]

Hi Bewsher

> For now, I am unable to find that code in the Tornado's code universe.
>
I found the code! In the file \VISUALS\LGB.INC there is this line:

lgb      OBJECTHEADER <OBJ_SCALE16,1024,-1,1,COL_GREY4,3,5,3>

I believe that line of code tells the 3D engine to render the LBG 3D object as a grey single pixel when the 3D object is 1/16th the normal viewing size. That line is the only line in the file LGB.INC that has a grey color code. So the simple solution was for me to replace the text COL_GREY4 with COL_OLIVE5 like so:

lgb      OBJECTHEADER <OBJ_SCALE16,1024,-1,1,COL_OLIVE5,3,5,3>

I have compiled the code and have attached both FLIGHTE.EXE and FLIGHTD.EXE once again. See the attached FLIGHT.ZIP that contains both EXE files.

> Meanwhile i can pretend its been shaded by the cloud and changes hue so that still ok.
>
Haha, no need to pretend anymore. I have tested the TIALD view. In FLIGHTE.EXE (European colours), the single pixel LGB is rendered as an olive-hued pixel. Even in FLIGHTD.EXE (-->rename to FLIGHT.EXE to use), I can see a brownish pixel screaming in before hitting the target. So that single LGB1000 grey pixel should be no more.

Cheers
Frankie Kam

[Bewsher]

Confirmed working and OMG what a fantastic piece of work you've created.

You're a legend my man.

Thank you so much.

if the original programmers saw your mod their jaws would drop.

[Frankie]

Hi Brewsher

Haha! Thanks for your kind words.

Regards
Frankie Kam

[Frankie]

189. Winter Skin Theme

In 1995, Heinz-Bernd Eggenstein wrote a mod named the Tornado Map Fax Machine (TMF). Included in the TMF package was an unofficial patch of Tornado that gave the impression of a winter landscape in the European warzones. The ground and buildings appeared to be covered by snow and some aircraft were painted in winter camo. To enable the Snow feature, you needed to install the TMF executable. You also needed to run two batch programs: tsg.exe with a /c flag  and a batch file named snow_on.bat.

Today, with mod#189, I present to you my Winter Skin theme mod. Inspired by Heinz-Bernd Eggenstein's Snow mod.

Mod #189 is a tribute to Heinz-Bernd Eggenstein's snow mod

Attached is FLIGHTW.EXE ("W" for Winter). To use, download and rename to FLIGHT.EXE.

Cheers
Frankie Kam

APPENDIX

Heinz-Bernd Eggenstein's home page only exists as an archive in the Internet Wayback Machine:
https://web.archive.org/web/20040406042916/http://hometown.aol.com/hbeggenst/tornado.html

Since you won't be able to download any of the zip files on the archive copy, please see the Google Drive file link of my entire compilation of Heinz-Bernd Eggenstein's Tornado mods. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fxM-zzXWs6E8JFeTSqDG1HtQ3G1uOqCf/view?usp=sharing

[Bewsher]

Fantastic. testing it now and works. The grey camo suites the terrain on this mod.

I have another mod idea you could do. Change the Alarm colour from grey to white as google pics show them white. Since you're on a roll.

[Frankie]

Hi Bewsher

You mean from this:



to this?



ALARM is now a lighter shade of grey. If I colour the ALARM missile white, you won't be able to see it against the white snowy landscape. I've tried using white. Hard to see visually. So this is the shade of grey that seems to work well.

Other side of the ALARM is still grey. Not perfect for now. Code is a bit tricky. Attached is my first attempt at "winterising" the ALARM missile.
Will continue later. Past my bedtime. ;-)

Cheers
Frankie Kam

[Bewsher]

You've got the proper color by the looks of it.

Modified post as Alarm was recolored.

[Frankie]

Ok. I managed to solve the colour code of the ALARM missle. So from now onwards, in all three themes, original European, Operation Desert Storm and Winter, the ALARM missile will be of the 'white' colour. Done it for both the Direct and Indirect ALARM modes. For the Indirect ALARM's parachute, I had to make sure that the parachute's canopy did not disappear in the snowy background. So I had to alter the outer part of the parachute from pure white (hex FFFFFF) to a slightly darker shade of white. Mod #190 coming right up.

[Frankie]

190. White ALARM missile

ALARM (Air Launched Anti-Radiation Missile) is a British anti-radiation missile designed primarily to destroy enemy radars for the purpose of Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD). It was used by the RAF and is still used by the Royal Saudi Air Force. In stock Tornado, the missile is gray colour. However, more accurate would white, as seen in the photograph below. Many thanks to Bewsher for pointing this out.

The ALARM missiles were white in real-life.

In this mod, I have coloured the ALARM missile white. I had to be careful to make sure that the missile would NOT be invisible against a snowy background.

The ALARM missile in ignition mode.

The ALARM missile about to go into Loiter Mode

The Indirect Mode ALARM has a parachute which is deployed in Loiter Mode. Again I had to make sure that the top-side of the parachute is of a slightly darker shade of white compared to the snowy background of the Winter theme. This is to ensure sufficient contrast so that the gamer can still make the parachute out, despite similarities between the two white colours.

The ALARM missile in Loiter Mode.

This white ALARM missile is now the norm for BOTH the European and Desert themed modded FLIGHT.EXE.

White ALARM missile in the European theme.

White ALARM missile in the Operation Desert Storm theme.

You can get all three FLIGHT.EXEs by downloading the FLIGHT.ZIP file. Rename the FLIGHTX.EXE file to FLIGHT.EXE before using.

Cheers and enjoy!
Frankie Kam

P.S., For my reference, I am also attaching the PALETTE.ASM files used to create all three different FLIGHT.EXE files, as well as the two ALARM.INC files (see ALARM_INC_FILES.zip)

Update 29th April 2021, 2:38am Kuala Lumpur Time.
P.S.2, I had to RE-UPLOAD the three FLIGHT.EXE files inside a NEW FLIGHT.ZIP file. This was because the LGB1000 reverted to grey colour in the previously uploaded zip file. This has now been corrected in the latest FLIGHT.ZIP below. I have also uploaded the source code file named EXRNPAN.ASM which controls the colors of the labels on the taskbar (bottom-most row of the screen).

[Bewsher]

Holy Jesus man. Thankyou. Wish i could give you some cash but that might be illegal.

Yeah all 3 versions now have the standard whitish Alarm as there was no grey variant.

I cant begin to thankyou.

If i think of anything else ill post but for now The alarm is fixed now.

[Frankie]

Haha. Thanks for the ideas, and it's a joy to add new stuff to this venerable game.