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User selectable aircraft

U

usafgadget

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unitedstates
I've search the posts in several forums for this subject but without any luck.

Can a mission be built in which the user could select his/her aircraft for the mission. Perhaps starting the mission in one aircraft but using a menu list to select from all the types available in their hangar.

Wanted to give the user the option to use payware for which other users may not have access to. I know this would seriously limit the options available in the mission but I can see some usefulness for the most basic of hops, like time-constrained missions or point A to point B missions.

Thanks in advance.

G
 
As far as I know, it's possible. Sounds like a good idea you have. Is it going to be something like, you are given an assignment/flight, etc. and you then pick the most efficient aircraft? I like it! :D

I know that some missions switch aircraft, such as flying into an area in one, then chaning to another and leaving. I suppose you could setup a menu and each menu item would be used to select the aircraft you switch too.
 
You can use the changeobject action. All you have to do is insert the aircraft name from the aircraft.cfg.

Then if you want use a menu trigger to let the user decide which aircraft he wants to fly.
 
Horst18519 said:
You can use the changeobject action. All you have to do is insert the aircraft name from the aircraft.cfg.

Then if you want use a menu trigger to let the user decide which aircraft he wants to fly.
Click to expand...

Ah...but there's the catch! What if I do not know what aircraft the user has. I want them to be able to decide which to pick. Am making any sense? BTW: Thanks for the inputs. Maybe I'll get this figured out.

G
 
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Ah ha! Now I see. Well, one way would be to have a standalone app that reads your Airplanes folder, pulls out the titles of the aircraft in each aircraft.cfg and then puts them into the XML for the mission but, that's a pain on several levels, as a menu can only hold 10 items. I don't think it can be done soley within the mission SDK structure.

For my thing, I actually have the user run a config app in which an aircraft is selected from the FSX folder and is then matched up with an airline name and a specific aircraft data file that works independently from FSX. This then stores the Title line from the aircraft.cfg and automatically dumps it into the mission FLT file when needed. You could do something like that, I suppose, placing several Titles into the text line of a menuitem and then also into the changeobject sections but again, you'd need a 3rd party app to run before even getting into the mission.
 
Jetliner,

Thanks for the input. You've given me a couple of ideas. The concept here is to give the user an opportunity to select their aircraft and somehow have that plane's ID populate into the xml file as part of the change object coding. A third party app would be the safest; reads their aircraft library and provides the list to chose from and then match this to the ID and then edit the xml.

Now my problem is the app, which is beyond my current capabilities.

More points to ponder.


G
 
I stand corrected! I think I said in the PM that it would take about 10 lines of code - it took 22! I just made a little app to read and compikle a list of all aircraft in your FSX airplanes folder - took about 15 minutes to write. (Then again, I'd already written a similar one before. :D ) From there, it's a simple matter of flagging which ones to use in the mission and then copying their titles over to the mission XML.

I've opened a thread on my board under, "Off Topic" in case you want to dig deeper into it there or, we can continue on this board - your choice. Depends on how in depth you want to go.

Another idea I had, which I think got chopped out of the last PM because my session timed-out and I didn't copy everything first, was making a visual selection. You would still use the menu to select the aircraft but, you could maybe start in a tower position, like the tower "aircraft" used in Just Flight's "Traffic." From there, you would face your aircraft. On the ground, you could set up several area definitions and then put each aircraft you want to select from at those locations (as AI objects?). When you select the aircraft of choice, either it would disappear from the group and you would enter it for the mission or, you could make all the others disappear before starting.

Just a thought. Of course, if you do the multi-paged menu idea, like I posted on the other board, setting up the menus to mimic the FS ATC format, you would need far too much space to include all those planes. This would likely only work with a small hangar selection.

And yet another idea: you could develop several missions and with each success, you're granted the ability to add more aircraft to your hangar. So, to start out, you run the app and compile all the aircraft in your folder. Then, you must select one to start with (or force a default C172 or something). After your first success, you have the option to select another from your list and add it to the hangar so that, next mission, you'll have a choice.

Don't get me started! ;)
 
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Side note: THANK YOU! If I hadn't started looking into making an app for you, I wouldn't have realized that I had a gross error in my own program! When linking up aircraft, I was tying the ui variation instead of the title! :eek:

That would have had me scratching my head for weeks! ;)
 
I know this is a really old thread. Seems like 3 or more years ago the desire to work these things out was prevalent. Were you successful in allowing the user to select an aircraft for a mission. I'm using Mission Editor and haven't even been able to figure out the multiplayer abilities yet. This is for bomber training. I want the pilot to be able to select either B1 or B2 and also have the option in multiplayer to have the instructor in a spotter aircraft of their choice where they can see the bombs hit the targets. The effects are not the problem. We already have those launched as a droppable object that works outside of FSX on a separate server. It's incorporating them in the mission is the issue.

Dirk Homan
www.fsxfleet.com
 
Adding Aircraft menu

Hi,

I didn't read the entire thread. But I do know they answered your question.

I just wanted to mention another feature you could add on your menu.
Depending if you want the user to also add there own custom aircraft.

Heres what you do. Make another choice called custom. Then have instructions in your project explaining
to add the word custom to any of their aircraft.cfg files. They just need to make the aircraft name the same.
Then you cover all aircraft. Also you don't have to change to cfg if you use the proper aircraft name!

Hope this helped

DG:stirthepo
 
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Controlling objects

lvflyer said:
I know this is a really old thread. Seems like 3 or more years ago the desire to work these things out was prevalent. Were you successful in allowing the user to select an aircraft for a mission. I'm using Mission Editor and haven't even been able to figure out the multiplayer abilities yet. This is for bomber training. I want the pilot to be able to select either B1 or B2 and also have the option in multiplayer to have the instructor in a spotter aircraft of their choice where they can see the bombs hit the targets. The effects are not the problem. We already have those launched as a droppable object that works outside of FSX on a separate server. It's incorporating them in the mission is the issue.

Dirk Homan
www.fsxfleet.com
Click to expand...

Hi Dirk,

I am a little rusty and don't have sp1A installed at the moment.
Do you have this update rather than sp2. As a mission developer you can't
use sp2 and default mission editor. The editor was made first. So they came up with Sp1A inplace.

I will try to explain by memory.

First you need to decide what you want to trigger this effect. I say use the area box. This will only work
when your in a certain area. You can make the box huge and visually see it as you place it in the game.
Mission editor runs live through simconnect. You will need to add your bombs to the game as bgl's
in the simobjects/Misc folder. Make sure the animation does not repeat. Then in the mission you can tell
it to go once or repeat. Getting the hang of assigning the write commands is tricky the first time. But just
keep it simple like this one goal. You need to copy another mission folder and change over the information.
There is a you tube tutorial on this.

Really this mission will be easy. Then you can add more bombs later.
For now you can set the goal completed when you enter the area. Just to make that part easy too. Okay
saying all i have. Everything is simple so far.
Now let's see if i can remember what you need to add from the choices.

I will look at the sdk to remind myself the choices.

--------------

Add a group object .........(all of your bombs/ like 30 bgls)
Add an area definition object ........(this is the big box you will place)
Add a proximity trigger.............(this fires for areas only)
Add Object Activation Action..........(this tells the trigger to fire)

okay we will skip reward to keep it simple.

Now open the group object and we will assign the object(s).
Now open the area defeinition object, and attach group object.

Open trigger and attach area definition object.
Open action and attach trigger.

---------------

simple%20mission%20sample.jpg


This should make it real simple.


Now try the menu Prompt trigger for B1 and B2 (drop)
I think the object choice allows you to choose (stay with aircraft rather than location.)
I think group object might work. One of them.
And you will have what you want. But make the simple one first.

More info

You can make a busy mission with a bunch of these simple connections.
After you create a few missions. You get the urge to start getting tricky. As long as you have
a visual chart like i made. Then you wont get lost during a huge project. keep everything connected
one by one. Some times you will have one object use multiple triggers or use 8 different actions fired
from 1 trigger.
These usally have 8 more paths coming off the tree branch.

Hope this clears up confusion

Sincerely DG,:stirthepo
 
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It's clear as mud:eek: Thanks for you effort in helping a newbie. I know you guys have been at this for a very long time. It is difficult to understand explanations because they come from a place of knowledge that I am not even close to. All I've been able to do is use the wizard in Mission Editor semi-successfully.

We have already created a server and client in C++, not me but another, that monitors for shift+D to be pressed and then drops a droppable object in sim objects/misc. This in turn fires off the effects when they hit the ground.

I know you can check the box in the mission start up menu that allows you to change airframes, but that will defeat the purpose of providing training and qualifications on a pilot's own time instead of having to coordinate times across the world. I want the student to be able to show me their pilot records with the completed passing certificate for that lesson.

The issue is we fly B1s and B2s and both require training. Instead of having to provide 2 sets of missions I would like to provide one where they make the choice of airframes. In addition allow an instructor to select an airframe like a spotter plane or helicopter so they can observe the progress. So this would have to be a multiplayer mission. In another post I was reminded of the Tutorial #4 where multiple airframes are used but they are triggered from within the mission. Would it be possible to create a mission with the pilot walking out of the ready room and then walking to an airframe of their choice on the tarmac? The instructor could do the same?

As far as the bombs entering the target area isn't that just a matter of listening for the droppable object already defined in the misc folder to enter a proximity trigger box?

I'm so lost I hope you don't give up on me.
 
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