Work continues on TAW…

… even if we don’t currently have a formal board on SimHQ to discuss it.

We have our individual projects, one of mine at the moment is mapping out coordinates from the extracted files to an AutoCAD drawing (simply a vector-based database).

Some large pics:

http://198.65.10.229/DID/RS_ACAD.jpg
http://198.65.10.229/DID/RS_ACAD2.jpg
http://198.65.10.229/DID/RS_ACAD5.jpg

BTW, the full map area covers 2.5 million square miles!

A close-up of Egypt:

Much more to add …

With the help of others, I plan to map out elevations and the rest of TAW’s world, to have a drawing similar to what’s shown in TAW’s ACMI recorder …

One of the ultimate goals is to pull off what TSH did with the Baltimore Jane’s sims, adding the previous theater to the newer sim (and I believe EF2000 covers the same size area as TAW).

I also predict much nicer colors are coming (i.e. no more washed out MFDs). Also some of the atmospheric gloom from EF2000 is coming, the skies can’t be bright and sunny ALL the time, even over the Red Sea!

Anyway, just a little update.

mikew, I’m back to Programming 101 … learning how to work with binary files (not just text based). I believe it’ll help with our collaborations.

Also, the ACMI Recorder is EXCELLENT for reviewing a mission when writing a campaign AAR! I’ve even included pressing the toggle for Record in the up-front panel as part of my ramp start procedure.

MGonzales

mikew, I’m back to Programming 101 … learning how to work with binary files (not just text based). I believe it’ll help with our collaborations.

Absolutely!

I generally convert an unknown binary file into a text form. It makes it far easier to understand what’s going on when you can manipulate the file in a text editor.

mikew, I realize now that the coordinates I’m getting from these text files are probably for display in the War Room, AWACS, etc.
They’re not used for any actual terrain modeling or anything, as you’ve explained before how that information is stored in the 3D files you’re uncovering.

But I continue with this project and I’ll post updates when I get satellite internet on Tuesday. At the very least we’ll have a detailed map of TAW’s world (with any static targets). I’m thinking about a full-blown comprehensive multiple-page PDF Atlas for TAW! You know the nice map you get with EF2000? Pffft. We’re gonna blow it away! 🙂

Oh, and I wonder what this is, from the unused files …

noname12047.txt
---------------
";generated by SuperShapeEditor"

noname1300.txt
---------------
;World Info file for q:\projects\tfx3\lev\working.wld -
;Created With World Editor 95 V1.0

Some in-house tools?

Oh, and I now know that any coordinate nodes deal with the autopilot and are not actual objects. I found this out editing airbase.dat, the world stays the same but the autopilot gets whacky!

I beleive this comment in noname979.txt is regarding airbase.dat …

; Revision 1.15.2.1 1998/02/06 09:01:55 TimP
; Added ports to campaign
; Sorted airbase node and apron point logic management
; Reset plane taxi points when mode changes to CRUISING
; Other bits with the waroom

Painful on dialup but I’ll post an update now anyway …

Separating towns, bases and points of interest will make it easy to create a multi-page Atlas …

I figure it’ll include several pages for each country, also with information taken from my real atlases (i.e. typical weather conditions … some locations on TAW’s map actually have seasonal rains).

MGonzales

noname1300.txt
---------------
;World Info file for q:\projects\tfx3\lev\working.wld -
;Created With World Editor 95 V1.0

Some in-house tools?

Wardogz had the same idea …

war…@access.mountain.net

hello,
I was wondering if anyone has ever heard of this program and where it might be found …

World Editor 95 V1.0

thx

That’s the only internet reference I’ve found, and none on SuperShapeEditor.

Binary input/output in VB seems easy enough (similar to random access but without the fixed sizes and organization?), I guess it’s just knowing where to put the bytes and what they refer to. Not so hard to do with .TM and .COL because the files are all the same size, right? So you know what each byte location is referring to because there’s consistency. But not so with .3 and .SSD files where file sizes are different? Any explanation would be helpful to me.

And if anyone hasn’t seen this already …

http://198.65.10.229/DID/cp.jpg
http://198.65.10.229/DID/tmcp.jpg

mikew’s palette code gets a new UI, coming out soon (those pics are old). So work does continue …

MGonzales

That’s the only internet reference I’ve found, and none on SuperShapeEditor.

Binary input/output in VB seems easy enough (similar to random access but without the fixed sizes and organization?), I guess it’s just knowing where to put the bytes and what they refer to. Not so hard to do with .TM and .COL because the files are all the same size, right? So you know what each byte location is referring to because there’s consistency. But not so with .3 and .SSD files where file sizes are different? Any explanation would be helpful to me.

I’m fairly sure all the DID tools were constructed in-house.

You’re right about binary input/output in VB. It’s easy to access the data, but knowing what it does is a different matter.
Regarding .3 and .ssd files, I have some ideas which I don’t have the time for right now. 🙁

mikew, I can’t even imagine how you figure this stuff out.

Time … such a precious commodity. I’ve read complaints that TAW’s campaign engine has no resource modeling other than HVAs. I think they forget about the resource of TIME! I mean, why worry about running out of missiles when you almost always run out of time (simulating political pressure for a short and decisive conflict)? Fortunately the campaign’s time limits on objectives are now adjustable in the extracted files.