114-121. Tornado Easter SuperMod
Mod: This is a compilation of various mods created over a period of three months (February to April 2019). The external views' Status Bar has been greatly enhanced to improve gamer risk assessment. Drone readout data is also shown. Plus a nice Credits Window is now shown.
By Frankie and Speedwagon
I thought I'd share the mods work that I have done over the past three months(!). Many thanks to Speedwagon for much valuable input for many of these enhancements, especially the Status Bar readouts look and feel.
1. Brought Back Graphics Configuration ControlsAdded Keys 2 (Ground texture on/off), 3 (Hill texture on/off), 4 (Clouds on/off), 5 (Graduated horizon on/off) and 6 (Ironwork on/off) to the Pilot View (Home key).
You can now toggle off standard graphics to cater for (really) slower retro PCs
2. Redesigned Kneeboard View (Numlock)Added Keys 3 (Knots/Mach toggle), 4 (Heading/Roll toggle), 5 (Fuel balance/VAPP toggle), 6 (Drone type/side 4-way toggle), 7 (Horizon level/tilt toggle), 8 (Sound 3-way toggle and 9 (Main/Auxillary status bar toggle) options. These keys change the data displayed on the bottom status bar of the external views. Also added static information on the wingsweep speed limits.
Use this Kneeboard view as a help to the status bar information toggle keys,
and to remind yourself of wingsweep speed limits
3. Drone View Status BarActivate by hitting F5 (Drone view) followed by the 9 key. The Drone View status bar will come into view. You will see the following data: Count of Drone Tornado aircraft (maximum 8, i.e., 'B' to 'I'), Current Aircraft letter ('A' to 'I'), Aircraft status based on colour (Blue=airborne, Green=landed/taxing, Red=destroyed), Indicated Air Speed (IAS), Heading (HDG), Altitude (ALT), Range (RNG) from the player's own Tornado, and Aircraft make (e.g., F3, GR4, etc.). Use the bar in tandem with the Flight Waypoint window to enhance gameplay.
The new Drone Status Bar adds valuable information about a drone. In the example above, the player's Tornado is down (Letter A and KIA text in red). Drones B and C are on the ground (green colour), and Drones D to I are airborne. Current drone shown is Aircraft H (brighter cyan colour).
4. Enemy Drone View Status BarActivate by hitting F5 (Drone view) followed by the 6 (Aircraft side toggle) key and 9 key. The enemy status bar readout colours are shown in grey. As are the enemy aircraft themselves. I re-coloured the Mig27s (Flogger), SU-25s (Frogfoot), MI-24s (Hind) and MI-26s (Halo) in greyish hues to make the enemy drones more distiguishable from the allied aircraft.
Frogfoot sporting a grey livery. The new Drone Status Bar readouts are colour coded in grey for enemy drones.
5. Status Bar Readouts are Colour Coded to Risk Assessment ScaleThe Status Bar readouts in the external views are current color coded as per a risk assessment scale of Green (Normal), Amber (Caution), Red (Danger!/Attention!). The "dark cockpit" concept has been in use for many years in cockpit design to address human factor issues. The basic idea is that system indicators remain "dark" or use a neutral color while things are normal and safe. How does this tie in with the status bar? Many of the readouts on the Status Bar show us the status of the automation. Is it ON or OFF? If it's ON what mode is engaged? This is extremely important in any aircraft but especially so in a Tornado at high speed close to the ground.
For our purposes in the game we can define the "normal" and safest situation as when the autopilot is tracking to a waypoint and terrain following above the ground. In this case the readouts should be green to indicate low risk. By green we mean the same color used for the other readouts, TTG, SPD, ROL, etc. In other situations the autopilot is doing one of these but not the other. We have to monitor the autopilot more to ensure a safe operation. In these cases the readouts should be a combination of GREEN and AMBER to indicate medium risk. If the autopilot or the autothrottle is disengaged, we must then devote our full attention to manually flying the airplane. In this case the readouts should be RED to indicate high risk.
The status bar readouts provide textual, numeric and colour information to the gamer.
With the above color coding, the gamer's risk assessment is made easier and faster. Notice that in the first two scenarios shown above, flying an approach and tracking with TF engaged, almost every readout will be in the same green color. This quickly tells us we are in a "normal" state and the risk factor is low. In the next three scenarios one or more readouts are orange. We quickly know we need to pay more attention to controlling the flight path as the risk has increased. In the last two scenarios the red readouts leave no question that the risk is high.
Colour-coded risk assessment aid in action: Autothrottle is engaged (IAS is green),
but Autopilot is disengaged (THROT is red).
Speed readout in either green or amber depending on Autothrottle status.
Autothrottle is dis-engaged with F10. IAS is shown in amber.
6. VAPP Readout On Status BarActivate with the 5 key. VAPP refers to the approach speed for landing. The game manual provides two tables (pages 188 and 296) for calculating the proper speed based on aircraft weight, flap setting and wing sweep:
Digital Integration's Tornado manual is acclaimed for its aviation accuracy.
"However, this results in a lot of mental math in the cockpit. We know the autothrottle handles this calculation during an ILS approach, automatically adjusting speed based on weight, flap and wing sweep settings. Try changing the flaps and wing sweep along with jettisoning fuel and you'll see the speed adjust accordingly. So if we can find the approach speed value in the code perhaps we can display it on the status bar anytime we need it using a Kneeboard shortcut Key. And this would be VERY handy during an emergency such as damaged flaps or wing sweep, inoperative autothrottle, landing on a road without the ILS, etc....like many features in the game, one may not appreciate it until you need it -- but once you see the benefit you won't want to be without it." (Speedwagon)
I have now added a VAPP (approach speed) readout to the status bar that automatically adjusts in real-time for changes in weight, flap and wing sweep.
VAPP readout is shown on the status bar (right side)
"V stands for velocity (speed). "V-speeds" are used extensively in flying. As you can see, this partial list of V-speeds is quite long:
https://aviationglossary.com/v-speeds/For landing, two speeds are typically used: (1) VAPP - desired airspeed during the approach; (2) VREF - desired airspeed over the runway threshold.
VAPP is usually based on VREF plus "factors" for things like flap configuration, crosswinds, etc. The "factors" add safety margins during the approach. Once we get close to the runway thrust is reduced, allowing the airspeed to slow to VREF as we cross the end of the runway." (Speedwagon)
7. Simplified Status Bar For Explore ModeThe Explore window's status bar readout and text have now been simplified.
Less is more.
8. New Credits WindowActivate by hitting \ key. Credits window now allows the text to be easily read, no matter the time of day and or weather condition.
Giving credit where credit is due.
The above work was only made possible by extensive re-coding of HUD2.ASM which allowed me to free up more space for data memory. Many thanks to Speedwagon for many email trails which resulted in the above seven mods. With this, I present the Tornado Easter Supermod. Latest FLIGHT.EXE is attached.
Enjoy.