Forum > Flight Simulation
Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Asid:
0.9.2.2 is now available on the tester's branch!
Tue, 25 October 2022
These navmesh bugs are very difficult to track down.
Hello! This one is a simple one, and contains mostly bugfixes to the reported problems with the previous tester's patch. However, I do want to talk about a feature that was recently (re)implemented.
For those that were seeing errors related to vehicle spawning, I'm most interested in hearing how it's working now. The vehicle spawn bugs were something I wasn't able to reproduce, but I do
think that the changes I've made have improved it, hopefully enough to have fixed the problem.
Vehicle Inaccuracy
While mentioned in the patch notes, I forgot to call out that the vehicles have their "error" parameters reimplemented. In 0.9.1, following the vehicle rework, all vehicles became perfectly accurate regardless of what their accuracy was set to in the files.
This resulted in APCs and machineguns taking more than just pot-shots at passing planes, and anti-aircraft fire being dead on if you didn't jink or change speed. With this feature back in, only dedicated anti-aircraft weapons are accurate, and even those are no longer perfect unless you get close to them.
When taking fire from AAA, you should have a short warning to react to it before the distance is closed to the turret's effective range. This is back to how it was originally intended to work, and can be used to further differentiate different vehicles of the same type. E.g. a newer Shilka can be more accurate than a manually aimed older one.
For reference, this is how the system works:
Leading:
Affects how far ahead or behind the AI can lead a target. Turrets which lack fire control software (e.g. machinegun turrets) will lag behind a moving target.
Effective Range:
The range at which the turret will fire accurately onto a target. At ranges beyond this, accuracy falls off, and the turret will have some error applied to its targeting solution simulating an inaccurate solution.
Falloff Range/Error:
At a certain range, the maximum amount of error that can be applied to a target. E.g. if set to 500m error at 1500m, this means that the most the targeting calculation will be off is by 500 meters when the target is 1500m away.
Min Height:
Used mainly to prevent vehicles from firing into the ground when aiming at aircraft. For most vehicles this is irrelevant, but the ZSU-57-2 uses this to create the "flak floor" effect which prevents it from (purposefully) detonating flak too close to the ground.
Changelog
Improvements:
- Tweaked empty shell color
- More responsive radar/threat warning display auto ranging
- Added 2 and 8 mile ranges for the displays
Bugfixes:
- Delayed sounds waiitng to be played after scene has changed no longer crash
- Fxied rare crash caused by bullet exploding the vehicle it was fired from if it impacts on its first frame
- NavMeshAgent enabled only after initialization (should reduce log spam and make for cleaner vehicle spawning)
- Simplified NavMesh spawning, and it now checks through a wider radius (hopefully reduces errors from spawning...)
- Vehicles now avoid disabled/destroyed vehicles in addition to wrecks
Asid:
0.10.1.1 Is Now Available on the tester's branch!
Sat, 24 December 2022
onlytheharrierisflyable
Hello! This update has taken a lot longer than I planned. In hindsight, I should have released a new build after finishing the map controls, as that build would have included a couple nice features on its own such as the pre-flight loadout menu in Arena. However once I got started on the campaign UI, one thing led to another, and now the game has the full campaign framework the 1.0 final game will need.
Campaign
The "Arena Demo" button has been replaced with the proper "Arena Campaigns" menu option.
Campaigns are a string of missions, each with their own objectives. Missions are unlocked as you progress through the campaign, either by completing a previous mission, or achieving a total number of stars across the campaign. Stars are awarded by completing objectives, with secondary objectives awarding bonus stars. As mentioned in the roadmap post, campaigns are one of the big features required before the game can be considered 1.0.
At the moment, the only campaign available is a quick one I threw together to test that the progression and saving functionality works. This is a very critical function that is difficult to debug or fix once it goes live.
I've done a lot of testing myself on the system. Finding and fixing errors that could put the persistent progress into a weird state has been where a lot of the delay and development time went. However, I didn't want to push this build to main branch until enough people have had time to bang on it that I can be reasonably sure it'll work. If all else fails, I've added a button to clear the persistent data in the syste settings.
The old Arena Demo mission can still be found under a separate campaign. It may still get used for testing future features in isolation, but will be removed eventually. A pseudo-tutorial/introductory campaign will be the first released, and will be released in parts.
Map Camera
Also on the roadmap post is improvements to the Arena map screen. The first step of this is a proper RTS style camera, the camera type that was always intended for this screen. WASD can be used to pan the camera, or the mouse can be dragged while the right mouse button is held. This is only the first of many improvements to the map screen.
Selectable Loadouts for Instant Action
A small change, but a welcome one. Loadouts are now selectable before a flight in both the Arena map screen, and the instant action screen. This allows for more intuitive loadout selection in Arena, and the ability to use the loadouts you want in Instant Action rather than the ones hardcoded to the mission type. I frequently use this to test and practice with different weapon types.
Missile Lofting
After getting pretty burned out by the campaign work, I wanted to do something quick and fun that I had been meaning to get around to for a while. A new navigation mode for missiles has been added, currently in use by the anti-tank missile AGM-65D. After launch, the missile will try to gain a little bit of altitude before coming down on the target. This extends the range slightly, and also gives a higher trajectory to help fly over terrain and other obstacles.
Cheat Codes
A couple cheat codes have been added to the game. Cheat codes are meant for easier debugging of issues. Typical video game cheat codes like unlimited ammo and invincibility are simply gameplay options, and have been available for some time.
One of the cheat codes allows for all AI aircraft to be selectable through the updated loadout dialogs. This is not
an officially supported feature. As the name applies, AI aircraft were not meant to be flyable by the player so they will be janky and/or strange. Flying the AI planes is something I often did to test various features of the game, and this was one of the most commonly modded features of the game, so I figure I can get two birds with one stone by making this easily accessible for those that are looking for it.
Changelog
New Features:
- Aim time variation added (again)
+ Vehicles will take a minimum amount of time looking at the target before they can fire (typically ~1 second)
+ This value has a spread (e.g. 1-3 seconds) so that vehicles don't all fire synchronously at a target
- Loadout screen can be accessed in the Arena map
- Mouse driven camera for the map view
+ WASD by default to pan camera
+ Hold right mouse button to pan camera
+ Scroll wheel and QE can be used to zoom the camera in/out
+ Bindings can be adjusted in the bindings screen
- Pre-flight loadout screen now supports selection of aircraft if >1 aircraft is defined as playable
- Loadout info now displays selected aircraft
- When an aircraft has no cockpit, the camera near clip plane adjusts to show third person cockpit
- "Arena Demo" replaced with "Arena Campaigns"
+ Mission selector for arena campaigns
+ Dynamic text for start time, pilots, and selectable aircraft shown in mission description
+ Campaigns are a string of Arena missions
+ Completion of a mission + clearing objective earns stars
+ Arena missions unlocked throughout a campaign through either unlocking missions or earning stars
+ Locked missions show their pre-requisites when selected
+ Campaign progress persistently saved on Steam Cloud
- Added button to clear campaign save data to system settings (nuclear debug option...)
- Map category added to input binding screen
- Lofting navigation type for missiles (currently used by AGM-65D)
- Loadout screen now available in the arena map menu, and in the instant action menu
- In instant action, player spawns with the loadout specified by the loadout dialog
- Added cheat code system
+ "onlytheharrier" : Allows all AI aircraft to be selectable in the loadout dialogs
+ "surrenderbelisarius" : Unlocked all missions in all campaigns for the current play session
Improvements:
- Decreased muzzle velocity variation to decrease longitudinal spread of flak
- Mouse sensitivity slider range changed from (0.1-0.8) -> (1-32) to work better at higher resolutions
- Continuous mouse mode sensitivity now defaults to 10 (equivalent to old 1.0)
- Clouds are hidden when in map view
- Strategic info billboards when in map view instead of facing the camera (prevents awkward rotations)
- Whether tickets are used as a mechanic or not is set by scenario (defaults to off)
- Initial camera position in Arena is now defined by the scenario
- Updated UI borders to be more consistent with each other
- More verbose logging for Steam Cloud functionality
- Main menu buttons are reactive in size
- Modal dialog is a bit wider
- Updated Rewired 1.1.38.3 -> 1.1.44.U2020
- Tweaks to the quick mission builder visuals
- Campaign/mission loader will check subfolders of their respective directories
Bugfixes:
- When non-aircraft are destroyed mysterious, they are now "destroyed" rather than "crashed"
- Selecting previous weapon on the map screen no longer causes NRE
- Adjusted spawn offsets/rotations for all AI aircraft
- Fixed mission and map loaders not correctly reporting as loaded
- Button sounds can no longer be heard if the player is not in control of an aircraft (e.g. menus)
- Removed legacy press build stuff (no visible changes)
- Pre-flight loadout menu (e.g. as seen on map) shows correct store counts
Balance:
- AV8B roll rate increased 100 -> 140
- AV8B slightly more responsive to input (AngularDrag 120k -> 150k)
- MiG-23/F-4 are more durable 120 -> 200 usable HP
- MiG-21/F-5 are slightly less durable 175 -> 150 usable HP
- Destroyable aircraft part HPs generally made tougher to ensure loss of essential parts (e.g. entire wing) results in loss of plane
Asid:
0.10.2.1 is now live on the Tester's branch!
Wed, 11 January 2023
The loadout/stores/fire control is more spaghetti than I want to admit.
Hello, this is a small patch that if it goes well in the next couple days will be pushed to live. Compared to the last patch, the only major feature is the addition of the new munition options. However, these new options touched some pretty low level code that could have effects in unintended areas, so I want to be sure it runs fine before it goes live.
X1, X3, X5, and Unlimited Munition Counts
A new option for adjusting the munitions carried on the plane has been added. X1 is the default, and uses the loadouts as they currently work. Unlimited, as it sounds, makes it so that you never run out of bombs or missiles. The middle options, X3 and X5, allow you to carry an exaggerated, but still limited, number of munitions. For some peoples' play styles, especially since there aren't wingmen, I think this will hit a good middle ground.
Worth mentioning too is that spamming cluster bombs like crazy caused the volume to get so loud that it was just totally unacceptable. The game's audio now has a compressor built into its final mix so that if something ever gets so loud that it would blow out the game's volume (and your eardrums) the volume gets reduced to safe levels.
Changelog
New Features:
- Added X1, X3, X5, and Unlimited munitions option to the gameplay settings
- Gun has new 3X ammo option in gameplay settings
Improvements:
- Floating origin generates less garbage
- Added sound compressor to game so the game volume won't clip like crazy when lots of loud SFX happen at the same time
- Lofting calculation adjusted for less aggressive lofting when the missile has just launched
Balance:
- AGM-65D tweaked for more predictable performance at close ranges
+ Motor delay reduced (0.5 -> 0.25)
+ Seeker delay reduced (1.0 -> 0.5)
+ Loft angle slightly reduced (15 -> 12)
Asid:
0.10.2.3 is now available!
Mon, 16 January 2023
onlytheharrier
Hello! This update has taken a lot longer than I planned. In hindsight, I should have released a new build after finishing the map controls, as that build would have included a couple nice features on its own such as the pre-flight loadout menu in Arena. However once I got started on the campaign UI, one thing led to another, and now the game has the full campaign framework the 1.0 final game will need.
Campaign
The "Arena Demo" button has been replaced with the proper "Arena Campaigns" menu option.
Campaigns are a string of missions, each with their own objectives. Missions are unlocked as you progress through the campaign, either by completing a previous mission, or achieving a total number of stars across the campaign. Stars are awarded by completing objectives, with secondary objectives awarding bonus stars. As mentioned in the roadmap post https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1347550/view/5032215335985456872 , campaigns are one of the big features required before the game can be considered 1.0.
At the moment, the only campaign available is a quick one I threw together to test that the progression and saving functionality works. This is a very critical function that is difficult to debug or fix once it goes live, but results on the tester's branch have been very promising with no issues reported. However, if something catastrophic happens to campaign save data (and for my own testing purposes), I've added a button to clear the persistent data in the syste settings.
The old Arena Demo mission can still be found under a separate campaign. It may still get used for testing future features in isolation, but will be removed eventually. A pseudo-tutorial/introductory campaign will be the first released, and will be released in parts.
Map Camera
Also on the roadmap post is improvements to the Arena map screen. The first step of this is a proper RTS style camera, the camera type that was always intended for this screen. WASD can be used to pan the camera, or the mouse can be dragged while the right mouse button is held. This is only the first of many improvements to the map screen.
Selectable Loadouts for Instant Action
A small change, but a welcome one. Loadouts are now selectable before a flight in both the Arena map screen, and the instant action screen. This allows for more intuitive loadout selection in Arena, and the ability to use the loadouts you want in Instant Action rather than the ones hardcoded to the mission type. I frequently use this to test and practice with different weapon types.
Missile Lofting
After getting pretty burned out by the campaign work, I wanted to do something quick and fun that I had been meaning to get around to for a while. A new navigation mode for missiles has been added, currently in use by the anti-tank missile AGM-65D. After launch, the missile will try to gain a little bit of altitude before coming down on the target. This extends the range slightly, and also gives a higher trajectory to help fly over terrain and other obstacles.
X1, X3, X5, and Unlimited Munition Counts
A new option for adjusting the munitions carried on the plane has been added. X1 is the default, and uses the loadouts as they currently work. Unlimited, as it sounds, makes it so that you never run out of bombs or missiles. The middle options, X3 and X5, allow you to carry an exaggerated, but still limited, number of munitions. For some peoples' play styles, especially since there aren't wingmen, I think this will hit a good middle ground.
Worth mentioning too is that spamming cluster bombs like crazy caused the volume to get so loud that it was just totally unacceptable. The game's audio now has a compressor built into its final mix so that if something ever gets so loud that it would blow out the game's volume (and your eardrums) the volume gets reduced to safe levels.
Cheat Codes
A couple cheat codes have been added to the game. Cheat codes are meant for easier debugging of issues. Typical video game cheat codes like unlimited ammo and invincibility are simply gameplay options in Tiny Combat Arena, and have been available for some time.
One of the cheat codes allows for all AI aircraft to be selectable through the updated loadout dialogs. This is not
an officially supported feature. As the name applies, AI aircraft were not meant to be flyable by the player so they will be janky and/or strange. Flying the AI planes is something I often did using my own somewhat awkward to maintain dev tools to test various aspects of the game, and this was one of the most commonly modded features of the game, so I figured I could get two birds with one stone by making this more accessible.
Changelog
New Features:
- Aim time variation added (again)
+ Vehicles will take a minimum amount of time looking at the target before they can fire (typically ~1 second)
+ This value has a spread (e.g. 1-3 seconds) so that vehicles don't all fire synchronously at a target
- Loadout screen can be accessed in the Arena map
- Mouse driven camera for the map view
+ WASD by default to pan camera
+ Hold right mouse button to pan camera
+ Scroll wheel and QE can be used to zoom the camera in/out
+ Bindings can be adjusted in the bindings screen
- Pre-flight loadout screen now supports selection of aircraft if >1 aircraft is defined as playable
- Loadout info now displays selected aircraft
- When an aircraft has no cockpit, the camera near clip plane adjusts to show third person cockpit
- "Arena Demo" replaced with "Arena Campaigns"
+ Mission selector for arena campaigns
+ Dynamic text for start time, pilots, and selectable aircraft shown in mission description
+ Campaigns are a string of Arena missions
+ Completion of a mission + clearing objective earns stars
+ Arena missions unlocked throughout a campaign through either unlocking missions or earning stars
+ Locked missions show their pre-requisites when selected
+ Campaign progress persistently saved on Steam Cloud
- Added button to clear campaign save data to system settings (nuclear debug option...)
- Map category added to input binding screen
- Lofting navigation type for missiles (currently used by AGM-65D)
- Loadout screen now available in the arena map menu, and in the instant action menu
- In instant action, player spawns with the loadout specified by the loadout dialog
- Added cheat code system
+ "onlytheharrier" : Allows all AI aircraft to be selectable in the loadout dialogs
+ "surrenderbelisarius" : Unlocked all missions in all campaigns for the current play session
- Added X1, X3, X5, and Unlimited munitions option to the gameplay settings
- Gun has new 3X ammo option in gameplay settings
Improvements:
- Decreased muzzle velocity variation to decrease longitudinal spread of flak
- Mouse sensitivity slider range changed from (0.1-0.8) -> (1-32) to work better at higher resolutions
- Continuous mouse mode sensitivity now defaults to 10 (equivalent to old 1.0)
- Clouds are hidden when in map view
- Strategic info billboards when in map view instead of facing the camera (prevents awkward rotations)
- Whether tickets are used as a mechanic or not is set by scenario (defaults to off)
- Initial camera position in Arena is now defined by the scenario
- Updated UI borders to be more consistent with each other
- More verbose logging for Steam Cloud functionality
- Main menu buttons are reactive in size
- Modal dialog is a bit wider
- Updated Rewired 1.1.38.3 -> 1.1.44.U2020
- Tweaks to the quick mission builder visuals
- Campaign/mission loader will check subfolders of their respective directories
- Moved the version number to bottom left screen so it won't get covered by "Development Build"
- Floating origin generates less garbage
- Added sound compressor to game so the game volume won't clip like crazy when lots of loud SFX happen at the same time
Bugfixes:
- When non-aircraft are destroyed mysterious, they are now "destroyed" rather than "crashed"
- Selecting previous weapon on the map screen no longer causes NRE
- Adjusted spawn offsets/rotations for all AI aircraft
- Fixed mission and map loaders not correctly reporting as loaded
- Button sounds can no longer be heard if the player is not in control of an aircraft (e.g. menus)
- Removed legacy press build stuff (no visible changes)
- Pre-flight loadout menu (e.g. as seen on map) shows correct store counts
- Changed rounding to prevent "100% Damaged" on a strategic target
- Increased FMOD virtual channels (256 -> 512)
- Launchers automatically sets ownship on its munitions
- Fixed typo in Mk82 Snakeyes description
Balance:
- AV8B roll rate increased 100 -> 140
- AV8B slightly more responsive to input (AngularDrag 120k -> 150k)
- MiG-23/F-4 are more durable 120 -> 200 usable HP
- MiG-21/F-5 are slightly less durable 175 -> 150 usable HP
- Destroyable aircraft part HPs generally made tougher to ensure loss of essential parts (e.g. entire wing) results in loss of plane
- AGM-65D tweaked for more predictable performance at close ranges
+ Motor delay reduced (0.5 -> 0.25)
+ Seeker delay reduced (1.0 -> 0.5)
+ Loft angle slightly reduced (15 -> 12)
- Increased FMOD virtual channels (256 -> 512)
- Launcher automatically sets ownship on its munitions
Asid:
0.10.3.1 is now available. Features an updated camera and bugfixes.
Fri, 10 February 2023
Remember to version control your projects.
This is a small patch to keep up the tempo while larger features are being worked on. Expect an update very soon about terrain in particular! I have some exciting news to announce.
Updated External Camera Motion
Basically it uses acceleration to convey the motion of the jet. It feels really good, and is adjustable. This is on almost max settings. 0% setting would be how the camera used to be. The funny part is that this is based on how the camera used to work in some of the earliest pre-release builds before the game was announced, but it was lost at some point during a camera rework. The camera in those ancient builds was actually awesome and I've been meaning to bring it back for a while.
Another minor issue that's been fixed is that the camera changes its distance depending on the object. I.e. the camera isn't too close now when looking at bigger planes like the F-4 and MiG-23.
Handling of "orphaned" launchers by aircraft
A long-running issue in the game is that when an aircraft lost wings that contained stores, the fire control didn't know how to handle that. This was the source of many
different bugs. I'd been putting off fixing it, because usually by the time any bug happens you won't live long enough for it to matter much, but the pile was getting too big. This item on Trello lists some of the resultant reported bugs https://trello.com/c/MdQMJXdh/257-handle-weapons-lost-from-the-plane-through-damage
Now though, the fire control and stores management reacts to lost weapons and removes them from the plane. This should fix all of the resultant bugs, and also some minor ones that weren't reported like lost stores still counting towards a plane's weight.
Changelog:
New Features:
- Added setting for external camera motion in the camera settings tab
- Added countermeasure firing sound
Improvements:
- External/Chase came adjusts distance based on the viewed object
- New external/chase camera motion that better conveys movement through air
- Terrain scatter colors adjusted
- Terrain scatters (e.g. grass) can align to terrain
- All engines are a little less high pitched
Bugfixes:
- Aircraft no longer report a reversed acceleration to cameras
- More robust spawning rules to prevent failed ground unit spawns
- Tweaked FMOD logging rules to prevent inconsequential error reported when audio devices are removed/added
- External/chase camera transition removed because it was buggy
- "Orphaned" launchers and stores are removed from a plane's fire control when they fall off a plane
+ Should fix a ton of bugs related to what happens to planes after they take damage
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page