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Author Topic: Modding Tornado  (Read 228098 times)

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Offline Frankie

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Re: Modding Tornado
« Reply #300 on: February 02, 2020, 12:59:55 AM »
161.  Weapons View enhancements
Mod: Recoloured LGB1000 and GPB1000 weapons 3D model, and enhanced V (Weapons) view

Improved on the V key for weapons view. Also recoloured the LGB1000 so that now you can see its fins.


Instruments of death

The GPB1000 has also seen a cosmetic makeover.


Fins to finish the job

Hit V key for the weapon's POV. Hit V again for the external view of the weapon launched. Hit Z or X or 1 or 0 keys to pan/swivel the camera view angle of the weapon. Hit V for weapon's POV. Hit V again - the camera angles from previous swiveling are retained. The original TORNADO didn't have this feature.

So there you have it. Tornado modded to the 160++ (I've lost count) incarnation. So someone.....

...ASK me about TORNADO.

Cheers
Frankie Kam


Aye.

"You mean the latest masterpiece of flight simulation from Digital Integration's David Marshall? Why it's an extraordinary simulation with an interface of avionics, stunning high-resolution, 3D landscapes, sophisticated score and sound effects. Not to mention the detailed Advanced Mission Planner and special effects, elegant keyboard and joystick control of 3D models, objects, and a 332 paged book manual.

Beat the rush! Go out and buy TORNADO™ today!"
« Last Edit: February 17, 2020, 05:53:28 AM by Frankie »
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Offline Frankie

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Re: Modding Tornado
« Reply #301 on: February 15, 2020, 04:48:33 AM »
VALENTINE'S DAY EDITION FLIGHT.EXE

162.  Tracking View's Subviews Overhaul and Improved Design
Mod: Improved Subviews

I've made a couple more improvements to FLIGHT.EXE.

#1. I've brought back the original 5 key to toggle on/off the gradient sky horizon. The reason for this is that in the Night-Vision mode (Shift+Tab), the gradient colours can be distracting.


Once again you can hit the 5 key to change this ...

...to this.


#2. I've also changed the FUEL/VAPP toggle key from 5 to Shift+5. From this ...

...to this.



#3. In most of the Tracking Views, you can now toggle a multi-selectable TV-TAB and MFD with Alt+T and Alt+M. Use the D key to cycle through the TV-TAB and MFD screens.
Like so...

Hit Alt+T to turn on the TV-Tabs in the Tracking View (F1)
Cycle through the TV-Tab screens with the D key


...and so.

Hit Alt+M to turn on the MFD in the Tracking View (F1)
Cycle through the MFD screens with the D Key



#4. Due to the third improvement, I have reduced the number of F1 tracking views (cycle forwards or backwards with [ and ] keys) from 11 to just 6.

Sub-view     Sub-view Description (Note: hit F1, followed by [ or ] to cycle through the subviews)
=======   ======================================================================================
(00)             Route Display Overlay - cue SAM intersect view when SAM alarm sounds;  floating TV-TAB & MFD enabled.

(01)             Route Display Overlay - weapons external view - cue SAM intersect;  floating TV-TAB & MFD enabled.

(02)             Route Display Overlay - "CCIP/weapons/tracking" 3-window view - cue SAM intersect; floating TV-TAB & MFD enabled.

(03)             Route Display Overlay - Target Area view - cue SAM rolling/moving Intersect view


(04)             TIALD & MiniMap TV-Tabs synchronised with 3D view of external environment - cycle both TV-Tabs with the D key!


"TIALD" mini-window. Move the crosshairs and the 3D landscape on the right will pan.
Hold down the Control key and move the mouse scrollwheel, and the 3D landscape on the right will raise/lower in altitude!
Toggle this mini-window and the one below with the D key


In the upper-half of the screen, you can
  • raise/lower the horizon with Shift+1 and Shift+0.
  • pan left/right the landscape with Alt+z and Alt+x.

In the bottom-half of the screen, you can
  • raise/lower the horizon with 1 and 0.
  • pan left/right the landscape with z and x.



"Map" mini-window. Move the crosshairs and the 3D landscape on the right will pan.
Toggle this mini-window and the one below with D key



(05) SAM launch / SAM Point-Of-View TV-Tab toggle - auto switches to imminent SAM Intercept view when SAM alarm goes off - cycle both TV-Tabs with the D key!


"SAM launch" mini-window.
Toggle this mini-window and the one below with D key



"Shilka firing AAA with muzzle-flash" mini-window.
Toggle this mini-window and the one above with Tab


(06) F1 original Tracking View (no-frills) with TV-TAB and MFD toggle on/off option


#6. The 6 key (toggle iron works on/off) now only activates when you are in the Pilot's Panel view
Previously when you were in an external view, e.g., Reverse, Tracking, Remote or Spectator view, you could hit the 6 key and hide the Ironworks of the Pilot's cockpit. Now the 6 key only works when you are in the Pilot's cockpit (Home key). 'Bug' has been resolved.


#7. In all Tracking sub-views, except sub-view 06, you can activate a top-half cockpit view


Toggle this top-half cockpit on/off with Shift+8

#8. I've relabeled the Tracking subviews from TR1 to TR6 at the bottom of the screen status bar. "TR" stands for TRacking.

#9. Now you can go half-screen height map in Tracking View subviews TR1 and TR2. As usual, subviews TR3 and TR4 allow you to view the map at half-screen height.

#10. In Tracking View, if you activate the half Pilot cockpit with Shift+8, then enable the half-screen height map by hitting the M key. If you are in half-screen height, you cannot deactivate the half Pilot cockpit unless you remove the half-screen height map, for example, by hitting F1. Once the half-screen height map is gone, then you can hit Shift+8 to remove the half-screen Pilot cockpit.

Cheers
Frankie Kam

Update 20th February 2020
After activating the TV-Tab with Alt+T, or activating the MFD with Alt+M, I've standardised the TV-Tab and MFD cycle key to the D key.
For the Tracking subviews TR4 and TR5, I've also standardised the TV-Tab and MFD cycle key to the D key.
« Last Edit: March 27, 2021, 06:10:37 PM by Frankie »
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Offline Frankie

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Re: Modding Tornado
« Reply #302 on: February 24, 2020, 12:05:03 AM »
163. Various improvements to Tracking view subviews plus bug fixes

This version of FLIGHT.EXE improves on Mod#163. Chiefly this one: Hit F1 for Tracking View. Hit ] key to cycle to the TR6 (sixth subview). When you see a SAM launched at you, hit the F3 key in this subview and you will see a full-screen SAM POV showing the SAM's perspective as it hurtles towards your almost helpless Tornado.


Triple window: SAM launch (top left mini-window - hit D key to cycle between two mini-views), Tornado (top half) when SAM close proximity alarm goes off,
and SAM perspective (bottom half) - you can catch a glimpse of the SAM's nose at the right edge of the screen!
You can also hit the 7 key to expand the mini-window (top left corner) to full-screen size.

The bottom left corner of the Tracking View now shows a simplified 3 character code that shows what Subview you are in. According in this format: XXN

XX
==
TR    ;Tracking view (F1 was hit)
ZS    ;ZSU-23-4 Shilka to Tornado view
ZS    ;ZSU-23-4 Shilka to Tornado view
ZR    ;ZRK ROMB (SA-8) to Tornado view
SX    ;6 O'clock (F2 was hit)
MP    ;Map view (M was hit)
FL     ;REMOTE/FLY-BY (F3 was hit)
DR    ;DRONE (F5 was hit)
SP    ;SPECTATOR  (F4 was hit)
WN   ;Weapon View (V was hit)
KO    ;DESTROYED (Self explanatory)

N
=
[0..6]

I also fixed various bugs with the TV-TABs cycled among the Tracking subviews.

Enjoy.

Cheers
Frankie Kam
« Last Edit: March 14, 2020, 05:27:46 PM by Frankie »
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Offline Frankie

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Re: Modding Tornado
« Reply #303 on: February 28, 2020, 03:00:56 PM »
164. Added the floating Route Plan Display to two more Tracking Subviews (i.e, TR4 and TR5)

So now the Route Plan Display is available in these six Tracking subviews: TR0, TR1, TR2, TR3, TR4 and TR5.


See attached FLIGHT.EXE.

Available keys:
F1     = first Tracking View (TR0)
]       = cycle to next subview (TR1...etc)
[       = cycle to previous subview (TR6...etc)
Alt+t = turn on/off TV-TAB (except when in TR4 and TR5)
Alt+m = turn on/off MFD (except when in TR4 and TR5)
d       = cycle to next TV-TAB or MFD
m      = half-screen or full-screen map view depending on which is the current subview
7       = toggle on/off a mini-window to full-screen size
Shift+8 = Overlay half-screen pilot cockpit panel on top half of the screen
« Last Edit: March 05, 2020, 06:15:05 PM by Frankie »
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Offline Frankie

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Re: Modding Tornado
« Reply #304 on: March 05, 2020, 11:57:41 PM »
Hi Tornado retro fans

Attached is the latest version of FLIGHT.EXE. I have spent quite a deal of time combing through the game for bugs. Most involving the floating TV-TABs and MFDs when in the external tracking subviews.


ALARM a millisecond away from hitting a Shilka. To get this weapon POV view, upon release of the weapon with Enter, hit the v key twice.

Here are some more bugs I have fixed:
  • The TIALD TV-TAB now shows the large 'X' in the correct position when flying inverted or lower than 200 feet.
  • From the Pilot Panel view of Home, when hitting Shift+D for the full-screen FLIR view, I have removed the floating TV-TAB because of it was in the wrong position. Too complicated to fix so I removed it for a cleaner look.
  • Alt+T will toggle off the TV-TAB in all external Tracking subviews, EXCEPT for subviews TR4 and TR5 where the TV-TAB is necessary.
  • Previously the subview TR6 would mess up the screen during the death sequence (Tornado spinning around in garish colours). Now this has been solved.
  • I added Tercio Sampaio's name to the in-game credits because he contributed his time and talents to the TORNADO project by creating his TORNADO encyclopedia.

I have tested it and have found no more bugs. Which is unusual. So either the code I have used actually works as intended, or it means I am right at the precipice of ending my modding journey of Tornado's source code.


Press backslash '\' for the credits screen.

So anyway, I leave it to you, intrepid Tornado or ex-Tornado gamer, to find the time to test this version to death. If anyone informs me of a bug, I will awaken from my slumber to tinker away at the code. What I would like to do is a farewell video which takes the viewer through each and every modification that collectively, takes the original flight simulation to a newer height.

In the meantime. enjoy.

Regards
Frankie Kam
« Last Edit: March 07, 2020, 01:29:11 AM by Frankie »
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Offline Frankie

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Re: Modding Tornado
« Reply #305 on: March 08, 2020, 01:06:49 AM »
163.  Matrix-like Bullet-time effect with enhanced pause via Shift+P
Mod: Mouse Rotatable paused 3D environment

In some flight simulators I know, when you hit the P (pause) key, you can freeze the entire 3D environment on the screen. You can then proceed to travel around in this suspended state of 3D environment any how you like. Panning, zooming, etc. I remember doing this in Eagle Dynamic's classic Su27 Flanker 1.0 and 1.5.


Eagle Dynamics did the Matrix Bullet time effect pretty well with their classic Su27 DOS flight simulator.

In TORNADO, pressing the P key will pause the screen. You will be left staring at the current screen - frozen with a darkened hue. So a dynamic pause feature with a pannable/zoomable live environment has never been done before in Tornado,  Until now.

In this mod, when you are in any view, just hit Shift+P to go to the Matrix-like Bullet-time effect 3D environment. Use the mouse and the keys 1 and 2 to slew around. Everything in the environment is frozen at the exact moment you hit Shift+P. You can pan around and zoom in/out. If there are tracer or SAM in mid-flight, you will be able to pan around them like in the movies. Enjoy!


To activate Bullet Time in TORNADI, hit F1 followed by Shift+P. To exit, hit Ctrl+Q.


To enter the Matrix-like Bullet-time effect 3D environment, hit Shift+P. For best effect, hit F1 (Tracking View) before hitting Shift+P.
To exit the Matrix-like Bullet-time effect 3D environment, hit Ctrl+Q.


Tracers arcing upwards towards my Tornado. I can pan around in full 3D, albeit clumsily using the mouse.
Keyboard commands would be much easier.

At the moment, the 1 and 0 keys are straightforward enough to use. However the mouse controls are frustratingly difficult to use. This Bullet-time feature is still buggy in that I managed to code it so that you could pan and zoom using the keyboard (which is easier), however upon hitting Ctrl+Q and returning to the Pilot's cockpit (Home key), I lost the functionality of the + and - keys. So this is still very much work in progress.

Cheers
Frankie Kam

APPENDIX

Mouse controls
FeatureMouse action
pitch up (climb)mouse forwards
pitch down (dive)mouse backwards
roll rightmouse right
roll leftmouse left
increase speedmouse forwards + left mouse button
decrease speedmouse backwards + left mouse button
stop deadleft mouse button + right mouse button
centre mouseright mouse button

Keyboard controls
FeatureMouse action
pitch up (climb)Key 1
pitch down (dive)Key 0

End of Appendix

Update on Sunday 15th March 2020 - I managed to solve the Keyboard control issue. See the next post below!
« Last Edit: March 14, 2020, 04:24:00 PM by Frankie »
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Offline Frankie

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Re: Modding Tornado
« Reply #306 on: March 14, 2020, 04:53:32 PM »
163b.  Matrix-like Bullet-time effect with enhanced pause via Shift+P (enhanced)
Mod: Keyboard and Mouse Rotatable paused 3D environment

Everything is frozen still. Fly through the paused 3D environment to savour the moment via multiple heights and angles.

I managed to solve the bug which prevented me from using the +, -, 5 Numeric Keypad and arrow keys in the 3D environment. At last! The frozen 3D environment can now be admired by using either mouse or keyboard.


Finally, after 27 years, in TORNADO you can now pan and fly though a multiplane synchronised Tornado raid on an enemy airbase.
JP-233 attack with wingmen in close proximity setting off bombs.


SAM launch!


Now, in addition to the mouse moves, you can pan around and zoom in/out using these keyboard keys(!):
  • Down arrow - dive around
  • Up arrow - climb around
  • Left arrow - rotate left
  • Right arrow - rotate right
  • 2 key - yaw left
  • Shift+2 key - yaw right
  • Plus (+) key - speed up
  • Minus (-) key - slow down
  • P key - stop
  • 5 numeric keypad - stop
  • 4 - toggle clouds on/off
  • 5 - toggle horizon gradient on/off
  • m - toggle mouse control on
  • k - toggle keyboard control on

If you are in the Pilot's cockpit (Pilot Panel with Home key), and you hit Shift+P, you will see from the vantage point near your Tornado, minus the Tornado!
If you are external Tracking View mode (F1 key), and you hit Shift+P, you will see from the vantage point near your Tornado, with your the Tornado very close in the view!
If you in weapon select mode (Enter key with package selected), and you hit Shift+P, you will see from the vantage point from the target drop impact point, with your the Tornado some distance away.

With the more maneuverable keyboard commands, I can now more easily position the freeze camera in more strategic locations.


Now I can take my time and position to view to capture spectacular angles of events. Like this JP-233 strike on a runway on a clear day.



Bullet-time mostly in the last 2 minutes. Enjoy.


A one-a-million-pic made easy with this mod.



Update Sunday 15th March 2020

(1) I've enhanced the Keyboard mode to include Mouse control. Specifically ...

Mouse controls
FeatureMouse action
roll rightmouse right
roll leftmouse left
increase speedmouse forwards + left mouse button
decrease speedmouse backwards + left mouse button
stop deadleft mouse button + right mouse button
centre mouseright mouse button


This Keyboard-Mouse combo makes it easier for me to capture the moment I want.
Here I captured the moment when flares are just being released. This is impossible without this mod.
It also makes for smoother visual effects in videos.



Another dramatic short. A SAM intersecting a Tornado's path.
Made possible only with this mod.



From another angle. What a work of art! I'm getting to love the pixels more and more.



...so now you have a hybrid control by default. Makes movement much easier and flexible. Now you can simultaneously move the mouse and keyboard.
For example, try panning with the mouse while you hit the climb/dive or speed up/slow down keyboard controls.


(2) Suspended sound when entering Bullet-Time mode; Resumed sound when exiting Bullet-Time mode. More pleasant on the ears now.


Updated on Tuesday 24th March 2020.
Previously the FLIGHT.EXE would on occasion hang with the screen going black and white. This after the usual Shift+P and then followed by a later Control+Q to exit the Bullet Time pause mode.


When trying to exit the Bullet Time mode with Control+Q do you see something like this:
the entire screen goes black and whte and hangs?


Since then, I've made a small change to the CONTROL.ASM file. So far no more screen going black and white and hanging. If you experience any bug freezes, do let me know.

See the latest attached FLIGHT.EXE that, so far, solves the B&W Freeze crash bug.
« Last Edit: March 23, 2020, 05:24:44 PM by Frankie »
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Offline Frankie

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Re: Modding Tornado
« Reply #307 on: March 28, 2020, 03:45:27 PM »
164.  See through mesh-like Clouds
Mod: Clouds are now no longer colour filled, but rather mesh-filled.

Clouds in TORNADO by default are more aesthetic than functional. This is because they are polygons that are colour-filled. Meaning, I can't look through them. Granted, most clouds in real life are fluffy and thick and perhaps the default look of clouds in TORNADO mirrors real-life clouds. Still, many times I find myself hitting the 4 key to remove all clouds from the view.

BEFORE


Flying at 200 feet above ground, looking up at the underside of the polygon-filled clouds


Flying at 10,000 feet above ground, looking down at the topside of the polygon-filled clouds

But what about thin, mist-like clouds where you can fly past them and still make out the features on the ground? For a long time, I've wondered how to make clouds more translucent. Today I've discovered how to make the clouds mesh-filled instead of polgon-filled. The answer lies in the two procedures MeshFill and PolyFill in CLOUDS.ASM. All I need to do is to remark (comment) off PolyFill  and type in MeshFill in its place. Super simple. Problem solved.

AFTER


Flying at 200 feet above ground, looking up at the underside of the mesh-filled clouds


Flying at 10,000 feet above ground, looking down at the topside of the mesh-filled clouds

See the difference now? So in my humble opinion, with the ground features now showing through thanks to mesh-like clouds, Tornado is now more interesting and gameplay is increased.

Attached is the latest FLIGHT.EXE with mesh-like clouds for you to see right through.

Cheers and stay safe at home, and God-bless all the medical and emergency frontliners in this fight against the invisible enemy,
Frankie Kam

UPDATE - SUNDAY 29TH MARCH 2020
I've enabled the clouds to be toggled between polygon-filled and mesh-filled. Hit Alt+C to switch between the two types of clouds. By default, the clouds are polygon-filled. Hit Alt+C to change to mesh-filled.

Summary: Alt+C = toggle cloud type

End
« Last Edit: March 29, 2020, 07:29:21 PM by Frankie »
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Offline Frankie

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Re: Modding Tornado
« Reply #308 on: April 05, 2020, 05:13:38 PM »
165.  Playing Tornado 1.0E Operation Desert Storm with SoundBlaster enabled on Dosbox 0.74-2
Mod: Soundblaster with Tornado ODS

I rarely write about Tornado's Operation Desert Storm add-on. Simply because the source code of DESERT.EXE is nowhere to be found. I only have the source code of FLIGHT.EXE which is the European (green landscape) part of Tornado. Today's post is unique in that I made a mod for FLIGHT.EXE and ended up enabling the Sound Blaster sound effects for Tornado 1.0E Operation Desert Storm! At least for me. How did this happen? It's a mystery to me. All I know is what I did when tinkering with the FLIGHT.EXE code, but it doesn't make any sense how it effected the ODS sound card settings in a good way.


Pinky flying over the Iraqi desert at 200ft above ground.


Pinky ingress over the target area.

For the longest time, I could never play Tornado 1.0 Operation Desert Storm with the Soundblaster setting set to on via the in-game settings. I could only use the Adlib sound card setting. In Tornado, I don't think the Adlib sound effects are as immersive as SoundBlaster, but beggars can't be choosers. So I resigned myself to playing Tornado ODS with only Adlib. Today however, I believe I cracked (solved) it. I'm not sure if this is a legit mod because I've heard that it all depends on your DOSBox version. DOSBox mods exist as well. Also others have told me that they can play Tornado 1.0E with the Soundblaster setting, albeit with degraded sounds compared to an original 486DX retro desktop PC running on MS-DOS. Anyway, read on!


The outstanding and classic Advanced Mission Planner. The Gold Standard of mission planners.

In Modding Tornado, I am always finding new ways to save more bytes. As may or may not know, Tornado was written in assembly language. Yes, that's right. But not in just any assembler. They wrote a full package flight simulator, complete with the best mission planner of any DOS game in history, in 16-bit real mode assembly language. We're talking about a game that runs, competing with mouse and device drivers, in 640Kb of conventional memory! The original Tornado 1.0a FLIGHT.EXE - its 3D engine - is 569 KB (583,344 bytes) in size. After tinkering with the source code for the past two years(!) to produce 164 mods (with most of the mods are already incorporated inside FLIGHT.EXE), as of yesterday, the latest FLIGHT.EXE file is  587 KB (601,728 bytes). That's 18Kb worth of modded code added onto the original FLIGHT.EXE.


Setting the Soundblaster setting for Tornado 1.0E ODS.
Caveat: if you are playing the European Theater's FLIGHT.EXE, then this will give you Adlib music and sound effects!


Be prepared for lots of these before you can actually begin an ODS mission.
Caveat: on my rig, I keep getting this error message. Thankfully on the third try, the error solves itself and I find myself in Pinky's cockpit.


Setting the Soundblaster setting for Tornado 1.0E European Theater.
Caveat: if you are playing the ODS' DESERT.EXE, then this will give you annoying PC speaker music and sound effects!

So yesterday, I tried writing more code Tornado but when the linker always complained there I had exceeded the Segment memory. So modded Tornado had reached a stage where it couldn't take any more can'modifications or extra variables. I dug into the code more and I discovered that I could delete the PC Speaker sound code to save more bytes. I mean who plays Tornado with PC Speaker sound any more? No one. By cutting (trimming off) the Speaker sound code, the latest FLIGHT.EXE file size is now 587 KB (601,696 bytes).  Which is 32 bytes saved. Ha ha. Anyway, I discovered a side-effect in that for the first time ever on my rig running Tornado 1.0E, I could enjoy Operation Desert Storm missions with the SoundBlaster selected.

Warning!
If using this Mod#165 to play an European training, simulation, mission or campaign, take note that the Preferences screen's sound card settings are now 'disrupted'. To enable Soundblaster in for European play, you will now have to select Speaker as the sound card! And to enable Adlib, you will have to select Sound Blaster from the Preferences screen! For Tornado 1.0E ODS missions, there is no change. Select the sound card as you normally would.

This mod will not be useful to anyone who plays Tornado 1.0E on a authentic retro PC running on MS-DOS. It won't be useful if you already are getting Soundblaster effects in the game. But it sure is a milestone and a 'breakthough' for me as I can finally enjoy an ODS mission with the rich, atmospheric and immersive Soundblaster effects and sounds.



Night mission take-off in Tornado 1.0E ODS.


Pilot's cockpit red-glow panel in a night mission.


LGB strike - a view of the Navigator's cockpit panel

See attached FLIGHT.EXE.

Update Monday 6th April 2020.
Hmm...my laptop is running on Windows 10 Professional 64bit, and even without this mod, I can run Tornado 1.0E ODS with SoundBlaster effects enabled. My older desktop computer, running on Windows 7 Home 32-bit, needs this mod to run ODS with sound card selected as SoundBlaster.
« Last Edit: April 06, 2020, 02:48:08 AM by Frankie »
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Offline Frankie

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Re: Modding Tornado
« Reply #309 on: April 28, 2020, 02:26:22 AM »
166.  Added enemy close-proximity Air-to-Air missile warning sound
Mod: Sound emitted when an enemy aircraft's missile is inbound

When an enemy aircraft's air-to-air missile is homing in on your Tornado, a close-proximity warning sound is now emitted. This should have been a feature since December 2017 when I added the SAM close-proximity sound.

In WEAPONS.ASM, all I needed to do was to comment off three lines (cmp, je and the DontMakeMoreDashSound label). Like so:

      ;cmp   WPN_Weapon.WPN_TYPE,SIDEWINDER
      ;je DontMakeMorseDashSound   

      mov CloseToImpactFlag,1      
      call   MorseDashSound
;DontMakeMorseDashSound:   

So now it's a more level playing field when up against enemy Migs.


My Tornado being made into toast by a couple of enemy missiles and cannon fire.
Now a least you get to hear a Mig missile close proximity warning sound!


I managed to evade this Mig-29's missiles by pumping chaff. Alas I was shot down by 6 o'cock cannon fire!


In addition, a few more visual bugs got squashed. Attached is the 170th incarnation of FLIGHT.EXE.



Cheers
Frankie Kam
« Last Edit: April 29, 2020, 10:16:45 PM by Frankie »
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Offline Frankie

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Re: Modding Tornado
« Reply #310 on: May 06, 2020, 05:53:23 PM »
166-171.  BEST VERSION EVER! 3 Full-screen modes, shaking external modes, full-HUD stores panel and various improvements
Mod: Also brought back the following: Tornado F3, all PC Speaker, Adlib, SoundBlaster and Roland sound drivers and pitch toggle with 7 key

1. In the Tracking View, you can go to three full-screen modes:
  • Key 3 will cause any TV TAB-based TIALD view to go full-screen
  • Key 6 will clear the make the bottom-half of the screen to go full-screen. This is basically Tracking View TR6. Hit the 6 key again to return to the previous Tracking view immediately! You can do this without having to cycle through the various tracking views with the [ or ] keys.
  • Key 9 will make the upper-half of the split-screen go into full screen.


Three ways to go full-screen in F1 Tracking Views.


2. Previously in external view, when you observe the Tornado being hit by AAA shots and SAM missiles, the Tornado does not even flinch or shudder. This is the default behaviour even with Tornado 1.0E Operation Desert Storm! Now if you were 200 feet or less from the external tracking view of the Tornado, the Tornado - and the whole screen - will shudder when hit by AAA or SAM. If the Tornado is zoomed away with the > key, and its distance is more than 200 feet away from the viewer, there is no shuddering when the Tornado takes hits. This, in my humble opinion, makes the simulation more visceral.


In ranges 0 to 200 feet, in Tracking (F1) View the screen will shudder upon impact of AAA and SAM.


3. Added the Stores Panel, activated by "/", without divider lines and panel frame for fullscreen HUDs (Shift+D)


Weapons store on right of full-screen HUD (Shift+D). Toggle stores with / key.


4. Brought back the famous white Tornado F3 ADV. It was missing in the previous few mods because I ran out of memory! Now, having cleared redundant code, I have enough memory to reinstate the Tornado F3.


Tornado F3!


5. Brought back the Key 7 to toggle the pitch-angled look when the Tornado banks. I tought it was more appealing visually and cinematic to see Tornado banking in external view and in split-screen.


Key 7 does this. The angled look reminds me of some aerial scenes in TopGun (1986).


6. Tracking view with F1 now defaults to your Tornado being shown lower on the screen. The sky occupies more vertical space compared to the earth. This readies the view for split-screen mode so that you do not need to manually reposition the Tornado and earth/sky heights.


Nicely repositioned in anticipation of split-screen views (with [ and/or ] keys).


7. In Mod#165, I sort of messed with the selections of the sound options. In this edition of FLIGHT.EXE, I have decided to reinstate the original sound drivers - PC Speaker (!!), Adlib, Roland and SoundBlaster. Since I cleared off enough redundant code, now there is room for all four sound drivers. Feeling pretty nostalgic when hearing the PC beeps of the Tornado theme and from gameplay audio! The drawback of this re-hack to the original is that now I am close to the end of free memory. So in future to free up more memory, I will have to cut loose the Roland sound effects, which on my SoundBlaster emulated DOSBox, doesn't sound so nice compared to the SoundBlaster effects.

8. Corrected panning of ZRK and AAA to Tornado Views. Specifically when you hit Alt+Shift to toggle between AAA->Tornado and ZRK->Tornado view where the external models of the ZRK and AAA Shilka are seen. Rotation bug fixed for keys Z, X and 2/Shift 2. Smooth again like in the original.


Restored panning of external view of SAM and AAA. Hit F1, and when enemy SAM and AAA are firing hot lead,
hit Alt+Shift, followed by Ctrl+Shift, 2, Shift+2, <, >, z and x to move/shift/pan around the objects.


9. Corrected some visual bugs: chiefly hitting End and PgDn, when in the various Tracking views, no longer results in visual anomalities


So yeah, like, this is the BEST VERSION OF TORNADO SO FAR!

End of 8th May improvements
« Last Edit: May 10, 2020, 05:38:22 AM by Frankie »
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Offline Frankie

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Re: Modding Tornado
« Reply #311 on: May 10, 2020, 02:55:02 AM »
    172.  Simple TIALD view full-screen toggle
    Mod: Full-Screen TIALD view for Navigator's Panel with the 3 Key

    TIALD stands for Thermal Imaging Airborne Laser Designator. It is this technology that allows Tornados to guided Laser Guided Bombs (LBBs) onto targets. In a previous mod, I enabled the 3 Key to toggle between full screen and normal-sized TV-Tab TIALD views.


Hit the 3 key to go to full-screen TIALD view.

So in this mod, I have gone back to basics and have enabled the 3 Key for the Navigator's TV-Tabs. In this way, whenever you are in the Navigator's Panel with PgUp, you conveniently switch between the two TIALD views by pressing the 3 Key.


Hit 3 key again to revert to the normal-sized TIALD TV-Tab view.

Once you have activated the full-screen TIALD with the 3 key, the [ and ] are unresponsive. You will not be able to change the TV-Tab view. This is by my design because I don't want to be able to change TV-Tab views unless you purposely hit the the 3 key again. In which case, you will return to the TIALD normal TV-Tab view size. This design greatly simplifies this full-screen TIALD process and reduces the gamer's chances of confusion in case an accidental press of either the [ key or the ] key changes the TV-Tab view. This feature is very simple to use: hit 3 to go full-screen, 3 key again to return to the standard sized TIALD TV-Tab view.
 
Regards
Frankie Kam

CHANGE LOG

Update: 10/5/2020, 6:30pm UTC+8 Kuala Lumpur timezone.
Corrected TWO MAIN TYPES OF BUGS[/b]
(1) Whenever I rolled the plane 360 degrees, the TIALD would show an "X" invalid display. This is the TIALD's normal behaviour. The user is brought back to the Navigator's Panel. However, there was a visual bug which caused the screen to be messed up. I have since corrected this bug.
(2) Initially after hitting the 3 key, the full-screen TIALD was not as responsive as normal, unless you hit the TAB key. Furthermore, the "R" and "L" indicators were missing. I have corrected these bugs. NOW the TIALD controls NOW work perfectly as I used the correct TIALDDisp procedure.

Update: 10/5/2020, 7:10pm UTC+8 Kuala Lumpur timezone.
Fixed the full-sized TIALD views with the 3 key. Now, while locked in the full-screen TIALD view, the [ and ] keys are intentionally unresponsive. Hit 3 key again to come out of full-screen TIALD view.

Update: 10/5/2020, 11:05pm UTC+8 Kuala Lumpur timezone.

I fixed the following bugs of the full-screen TIALD view:
  • Previously very sluggish movement, target (T) and laser (L) symbols on TIALD recticle were not appearing as they should. T and L symbols stuck in the middle of the screen when mouse is moved. Now the mouse movements are silky smooth and the TIALD recticle is working properly.
  • Now does not show any clouds - as per original Tornado 1.a/b/c/d/e. Did the same for the TV-Tab sized TIALD view - no more clouds in the view when looking down.
  • Now shows up in Infra-Red by default if the night level is darker than dusk. Can toggle IR on/off with Shift+Tab.
Miscellaneous changes:
  • F1 Tracking view now adjusts the sky-earth vertical heights to 50%-50% as per original Tornado.
  • Clouds are now displayed as white-filled polygons instead of the mesh-type clouds. Toggle between polygon-filled and mesh clouds with Alt+C.
  • Previously the T and L symbols were to squashed in the centre. I moved them a few pixels off the centre. Better spaced now.

Update: 12/5/2020, 12:05am UTC+8 Kuala Lumpur timezone.

  • Full-screen FLIR at night is now defaults to IR view. Toggle on/off with Shift+Tab and it only toggles IR/non-IR only for the fullscreen FLIR. External view not affected.
  • From TV-Tab sized TIALD to full-screen TIALD - fully tested for anomalities by (1) hitting 3 key and (2) doing rolls to force an invalid "X" display on the TV-Tab. So far testing yields a successful implementation of this mod.

Update: 13/5/2020, 8:30pm UTC+8 Kuala Lumpur timezone.
I have updated the FLIGHT.EXE from this post on page 21 of this awesomely long thread.[/list]
« Last Edit: May 13, 2020, 01:26:45 PM by Frankie »
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Offline Clark78

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Re: Modding Tornado
« Reply #312 on: May 10, 2020, 12:08:02 PM »
Thanks for the latest version, it fixed the sound back for me as well as got rid of the graphic anomalies when using End / PgDn. Great also that the F1 outside now starts with no extra displays as I like the clean look.

Some points though:
1. The F1 view now is centered very high above the Tornado and not in the center as it should.
2. The default now is the mesh clouds, maybe the solid should be the default (as I prefer them :) ).
3. The Full screen TIALD with 3 works great, but it isn't in IR at night unless you first press Shift-TAB, not sure this can be fixed so it is IR just like the display from the start?

Thanks!
/C
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Offline Frankie

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Re: Modding Tornado
« Reply #313 on: May 10, 2020, 12:19:19 PM »
Hi Clark78
Thanks for test driving the latest incarnation of FLIGHT.EXE and your comments are highly appreciated.

>1. The F1 view now is centered very high above the Tornado and not in the center as it should.
>

Yeah, guess I have been spending too much time playing Tornado with the split-screens of F1 and [ and ] keys. The latest change in the sky-earth height dimensions was to position the Tornado to suit the split-screens. I'll see what I can do here.

>2. The default now is the mesh clouds, maybe the solid should be the default (as I prefer them :) ).
>

Yes, I find the mesh appearance of the clouds sometimes make the overlaid text on the HUD difficult to read. I am setting the white-filled clouds back as the default. Easily remedied.

>3. The Full screen TIALD with 3 works great, but it isn't in IR at night unless you first press Shift-TAB, not sure this can be fixed
>so it is IR just like the display from the start?
>

Was busy fixing the bugs and testing the code of this 3 key mod for two days, that I haven't even tested it in the night mode! You're right that the default mode was to immediately go into infra-red (green?) mode when it is night. I'll see what I can do here.

Cheers
Frankie Kam
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Offline Clark78

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Re: Modding Tornado
« Reply #314 on: May 10, 2020, 12:40:27 PM »
Hi Frankie,

Thanks, always glad to help out to make this sim even better!

/C
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