Flight Cmdr Patch released

eddieb · 08-27-2006, 17:22

Hi all:

I've released a new patch for Flight Commander, which should be of interest to all FC users.

For players:

Now the main menu has animated doors, computers, and sound effects.
Mouse support during flight.
Captions

For mission designers:

Save variables between missions.
You can have multiple insults, or any other sort of comm, for more variety.

Here's a video of the new menus.

The patch is only 2 meg, and is available here.

Lt.Death100 · 08-27-2006, 19:45

Nice new features Eddie! FC has never really appealed to me because it just seemed not finished but now it's shaping up to be the full thing! Now we just need a good campaign.

Kyran · 08-28-2006, 22:52

The new splash screen is great. Love the doors and the like. The game crashes when it can't find the pilot.comms.xml

eddieb · 08-28-2006, 23:17

Right, now if you're adding a new pilot, you must create a new pilot.comms.xml file. Look at the other ones for examples. See http://flightcommander.solsector.net/commediting.html. Let me know if you still have trouble after you've created the new comm.xml files.

Kyran · 08-29-2006, 00:00

Its cool, I was able to figure it out.

Code:

boolean Mission_isPlayerTraitor();

Sweet, is there one to return the IFF of a ship?

There seems to be a problem with the mouse for me. When I point the icon which represents the mouse into the icon which represents where the ship is aiming the ship goes up instead of straght. I have to put the mouse a fair way below the targeter to go straight. The other is with long captions but you probley know about those.

eddieb · 08-29-2006, 19:47

Thanks for the bug report, I fixed up the mouse now, just download the patch 4 again and you'll have it. I'll definitely add the get iff function in the next patch.

Kyran · 08-29-2006, 23:52

Game seems to crash when too much text is used.

Quote:

Hi! Everything's going well, the dancing is good and the jokes are fine.

eddieb · 08-30-2006, 09:14

Hmm I wonder if the ' is messing it up. Try removing the '

Kyran · 08-31-2006, 00:02

It works with:

Quote:

Hi! Everything's going well, the dancing's good and the jokes are fine.

If it has characters it can't understand such as わたしわ。 the text box just doesn't show up.

eddieb · 08-31-2006, 08:58

There are several special characters in xml, ' is one of them. Google around for Xml special characters

Kyran · 09-01-2006, 00:11

I'm not having any problems with ` on my computer. It seems to be the amount of characters, when it goes off the screen it crashes.

AD · 09-01-2006, 01:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kyran

I'm not having any problems with ` on my computer. It seems to be the amount of characters, when it goes off the screen it crashes.

Maybe there needs to be some kind of wordwrap setting for longer paragraphs. Either that or a character limit and a way to tell it to display multiples lines of dialogue in succession. The first is probably simpler if it's not there already.

eddieb · 09-01-2006, 17:54

Yeah, there is a limit on how long lines can be, it used to be 80, but I bumped it up to about 256. No mult-line just yet. Also added a get iff function.

get the update here.

http://flightcommander.solsector.net...r1.4patch5.zip

BarFly · 09-15-2006, 15:18

Hello,

do I have to extract the files to the folder where FC is installed?

eddieb · 09-16-2006, 10:35

Yes, you need to unzip them to your FC directory. You're going to want to get patch 4. And if you want 5, install it on top of 4. Let me know how it goes.

Iceblade · 10-03-2006, 12:41

Awesome, I just thinking about needing some of these features just last night.

Edit: boy it is only a pain to update my FC workfolder

eddieb · 10-03-2006, 18:46

You might look into some version control system to keep track of your changes.

Iceblade · 10-03-2006, 19:13

My changes are actually quite numerous. Esp. today's. I always just copy over select files from an install version of the lastest FC version.

Its not be deal, though, as I have figured out a system for adding new files to my "workshop."

Iceblade · 10-03-2006, 23:55

First time to fly with all the updates and wouldn't you know, FC is not able to recognize my joystick or mouse for that matter (only the keyboard).

Its clear that the engine recognizes the joystick on the initial engine startup, but in the mission, it just goes into a bunch can't get poll device.

eddieb · 10-04-2006, 19:22

Ok couple of things to try to help me narrow it down. First, in the settings menu, and turn off the mouse. Then try the joystick. Second scenario: unplug the joystick, but this time try flying with the mouse selected. Let me know how these 2 go.

Iceblade · 10-04-2006, 20:40

Guess what?

My mouse was off. Well I wanted to try and see what would happen if I turned the mouse on. My joystick now works in FC, mouse doesn't. In fact the only thing it did was move the crosshair cursor across the hud. Crazy!!

Kyran · 10-05-2006, 16:28

Do you have any special mouse drivers/apps loaded?

Its so nice with the mouse, no need for that annoying joystick.

eddieb · 10-05-2006, 19:05

Yeah, I think if you have a joystick plugged in it will override the mouse. Just unplug the joystick if you want to use the mouse.

Iceblade · 10-05-2006, 23:35

The game clearly has some issues with recongizing the joystick. I have to and fly with the mouse setting one way, then esc. and toggle the mouse again and it plays fine. For some reason it doesn't seem like I have to do this everytime but it seems it doesn't matter whether mouse is set to on or off as far as the joystick working or not.

Iceblade · 10-06-2006, 21:10

Actually, the temporary solution to the joystick issue is to just fly once (which will have the game not recognizing the joystick) and then press esc to exit that mission. Then every subsequent flight will have joystick control recognized (at least until you exit the game). A small inconvenience.

Hey eddie, are "mesh.bin"s unique to FC or are they something more generic? I am asking because I wonder if there might be a convertor online that could convert an object with multiple textures.

eddieb · 10-06-2006, 22:25

Yes, they're something I made up myself. They're not perfect, but seem to load a bit faster than the text files do. Just convert to .objs.

Iceblade · 10-07-2006, 12:38

The problem is the .objs are really slowing things down.

08-27-2006, 17:22	#1
eddieb Flight Commander Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 865	Flight Cmdr Patch released Hi all: I've released a new patch for Flight Commander, which should be of interest to all FC users. For players: Now the main menu has animated doors, computers, and sound effects. Mouse support during flight. Captions For mission designers: Save variables between missions. You can have multiple insults, or any other sort of comm, for more variety. Here's a video of the new menus. The patch is only 2 meg, and is available here. __________________ Flight Commander : A space combat simulator programmed by Ed Benowitz.

08-28-2006, 23:17	#4
eddieb Flight Commander Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 865	Right, now if you're adding a new pilot, you must create a new pilot.comms.xml file. Look at the other ones for examples. See http://flightcommander.solsector.net/commediting.html. Let me know if you still have trouble after you've created the new comm.xml files. __________________ Flight Commander : A space combat simulator programmed by Ed Benowitz.

08-29-2006, 00:00	#5
Kyran 1st Lieutenant Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 192	Its cool, I was able to figure it out. Code: boolean Mission_isPlayerTraitor(); Sweet, is there one to return the IFF of a ship? There seems to be a problem with the mouse for me. When I point the icon which represents the mouse into the icon which represents where the ship is aiming the ship goes up instead of straght. I have to put the mouse a fair way below the targeter to go straight. The other is with long captions but you probley know about those.

08-29-2006, 19:47	#6
eddieb Flight Commander Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 865	Thanks for the bug report, I fixed up the mouse now, just download the patch 4 again and you'll have it. I'll definitely add the get iff function in the next patch. __________________ Flight Commander : A space combat simulator programmed by Ed Benowitz.

08-30-2006, 09:14	#8
eddieb Flight Commander Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 865	Hmm I wonder if the ' is messing it up. Try removing the ' __________________ Flight Commander : A space combat simulator programmed by Ed Benowitz.

08-27-2006, 19:45	#2
Lt.Death100 Colonel Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: The heart of all evil, Utah. Posts: 1,162	Nice new features Eddie! FC has never really appealed to me because it just seemed not finished but now it's shaping up to be the full thing! Now we just need a good campaign.

08-28-2006, 22:52	#3
Kyran 1st Lieutenant Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 192	The new splash screen is great. Love the doors and the like. The game crashes when it can't find the pilot.comms.xml

08-31-2006, 08:58	#10
eddieb Flight Commander Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 865	There are several special characters in xml, ' is one of them. Google around for Xml special characters __________________ Flight Commander : A space combat simulator programmed by Ed Benowitz.

09-01-2006, 00:11	#11
Kyran 1st Lieutenant Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 192	I'm not having any problems with ` on my computer. It seems to be the amount of characters, when it goes off the screen it crashes.

09-01-2006, 17:54	#13
eddieb Flight Commander Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 865	Yeah, there is a limit on how long lines can be, it used to be 80, but I bumped it up to about 256. No mult-line just yet. Also added a get iff function. get the update here. http://flightcommander.solsector.net...r1.4patch5.zip __________________ Flight Commander : A space combat simulator programmed by Ed Benowitz.

09-15-2006, 15:18	#14
BarFly 2nd Lieutenant Join Date: May 2003 Location: Stuttgart/Germany Posts: 76	Hello, do I have to extract the files to the folder where FC is installed? __________________ Ciao Hans

09-16-2006, 10:35	#15
eddieb Flight Commander Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 865	Yes, you need to unzip them to your FC directory. You're going to want to get patch 4. And if you want 5, install it on top of 4. Let me know how it goes. __________________ Flight Commander : A space combat simulator programmed by Ed Benowitz.

10-03-2006, 12:41	#16
Iceblade Brigadier General Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Mobile, AL, USA Posts: 1,377	Awesome, I just thinking about needing some of these features just last night. Edit: boy it is only a pain to update my FC workfolder __________________ Current Ranger's Glory Development team Lead. Ranger's Glory Website Ranger's Glory Forums On lookout for new Project Manager: http://www.crius.net/zone/showthread.php?t=23739 First Flight Commander Mission Contest has ended; vote for your favorite submission here

10-03-2006, 18:46	#17
eddieb Flight Commander Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 865	You might look into some version control system to keep track of your changes. __________________ Flight Commander : A space combat simulator programmed by Ed Benowitz.

10-03-2006, 19:13	#18
Iceblade Brigadier General Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Mobile, AL, USA Posts: 1,377	My changes are actually quite numerous. Esp. today's. I always just copy over select files from an install version of the lastest FC version. Its not be deal, though, as I have figured out a system for adding new files to my "workshop." __________________ Current Ranger's Glory Development team Lead. Ranger's Glory Website Ranger's Glory Forums On lookout for new Project Manager: http://www.crius.net/zone/showthread.php?t=23739 First Flight Commander Mission Contest has ended; vote for your favorite submission here

10-03-2006, 23:55	#19
Iceblade Brigadier General Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Mobile, AL, USA Posts: 1,377	First time to fly with all the updates and wouldn't you know, FC is not able to recognize my joystick or mouse for that matter (only the keyboard). Its clear that the engine recognizes the joystick on the initial engine startup, but in the mission, it just goes into a bunch can't get poll device. __________________ Current Ranger's Glory Development team Lead. Ranger's Glory Website Ranger's Glory Forums On lookout for new Project Manager: http://www.crius.net/zone/showthread.php?t=23739 First Flight Commander Mission Contest has ended; vote for your favorite submission here

10-04-2006, 19:22	#20
eddieb Flight Commander Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 865	Ok couple of things to try to help me narrow it down. First, in the settings menu, and turn off the mouse. Then try the joystick. Second scenario: unplug the joystick, but this time try flying with the mouse selected. Let me know how these 2 go. __________________ Flight Commander : A space combat simulator programmed by Ed Benowitz.

10-04-2006, 20:40	#21
Iceblade Brigadier General Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Mobile, AL, USA Posts: 1,377	Guess what? My mouse was off. Well I wanted to try and see what would happen if I turned the mouse on. My joystick now works in FC, mouse doesn't. In fact the only thing it did was move the crosshair cursor across the hud. Crazy!! __________________ Current Ranger's Glory Development team Lead. Ranger's Glory Website Ranger's Glory Forums On lookout for new Project Manager: http://www.crius.net/zone/showthread.php?t=23739 First Flight Commander Mission Contest has ended; vote for your favorite submission here

10-05-2006, 16:28	#22
Kyran 1st Lieutenant Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 192	Do you have any special mouse drivers/apps loaded? Its so nice with the mouse, no need for that annoying joystick.

10-05-2006, 19:05	#23
eddieb Flight Commander Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 865	Yeah, I think if you have a joystick plugged in it will override the mouse. Just unplug the joystick if you want to use the mouse. __________________ Flight Commander : A space combat simulator programmed by Ed Benowitz.

10-05-2006, 23:35	#24
Iceblade Brigadier General Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Mobile, AL, USA Posts: 1,377	The game clearly has some issues with recongizing the joystick. I have to and fly with the mouse setting one way, then esc. and toggle the mouse again and it plays fine. For some reason it doesn't seem like I have to do this everytime but it seems it doesn't matter whether mouse is set to on or off as far as the joystick working or not. __________________ Current Ranger's Glory Development team Lead. Ranger's Glory Website Ranger's Glory Forums On lookout for new Project Manager: http://www.crius.net/zone/showthread.php?t=23739 First Flight Commander Mission Contest has ended; vote for your favorite submission here

10-06-2006, 21:10	#25
Iceblade Brigadier General Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Mobile, AL, USA Posts: 1,377	Actually, the temporary solution to the joystick issue is to just fly once (which will have the game not recognizing the joystick) and then press esc to exit that mission. Then every subsequent flight will have joystick control recognized (at least until you exit the game). A small inconvenience. Hey eddie, are "mesh.bin"s unique to FC or are they something more generic? I am asking because I wonder if there might be a convertor online that could convert an object with multiple textures. __________________ Current Ranger's Glory Development team Lead. Ranger's Glory Website Ranger's Glory Forums On lookout for new Project Manager: http://www.crius.net/zone/showthread.php?t=23739 First Flight Commander Mission Contest has ended; vote for your favorite submission here

10-06-2006, 22:25	#26
eddieb Flight Commander Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 865	Yes, they're something I made up myself. They're not perfect, but seem to load a bit faster than the text files do. Just convert to .objs. __________________ Flight Commander : A space combat simulator programmed by Ed Benowitz.

10-07-2006, 12:38	#27
Iceblade Brigadier General Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Mobile, AL, USA Posts: 1,377	The problem is the .objs are really slowing things down. __________________ Current Ranger's Glory Development team Lead. Ranger's Glory Website Ranger's Glory Forums On lookout for new Project Manager: http://www.crius.net/zone/showthread.php?t=23739 First Flight Commander Mission Contest has ended; vote for your favorite submission here

10-08-2006, 14:44	#28
eddieb Flight Commander Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 865