World of Mac/World_Of_Mac_1994.iso/MacCD/Interesting demo's/Air Warrior Demo/Air Warrior Monochrome/READ ME

Text File | 1990-06-12 | 25KB | 494 lines

                        Air Warrior Version 2.0a

  A variety of bugs were fixed.
-    A problem in the non-digitized sound routines on the Mac II
    was fixed.
-    A problem in the color art checking when a view was
    rejected has been fixed.
-   The resource numbers for very large screen control panels
    were changed to correct an overlap with color artwork.
-    The sight will always be visible when in a turret, regardless
    of the setting of the sight option.
-    Some new anti-warping code has been added.
-    The color explosions have been changed to monochrome because
    of the potentially long time it could take to draw a color
    explosion.
-    If the program recognizes it is running on a very tight
    memory situation, such as a 512K machine with old ROM's,
    it will adjust its memory needs accordingly.
-    Tank turret rotation will be smoother now.

  Art work can now be drawn for the tank turret view. The program
will display the "bombsight" art from the gunner's position. This
is view 8.
  The meaning of abridged mode has been altered a bit. In abridged
mode, mode 5 or 6, lakes or islands will ONLY be visible if you are
directly over them.

                        Air Warrior Version 2.0

-   Special machine language routines were written to speed up the 16 color mode.

-    A large number of new planes have been added:

    F-86F Sabre
    MiG 15
    Ki-84 Ia Hayate (code named FRANK by the Allies)
    Yak 9D
    Mosquito Mark XVI
    Ju 88 A-4
    T-34 Soviet tank
    Flakpanzer IV "Whirlwind" antiaircraft vehicle

    The program can represent graphically:
    Mitsubishi G4M 1-Rikko (code named BETTY)

-    The ground vehicles now have a transmission, which is operated using
    the a s and d keys. a downshifts, and d upshifts, and s puts it in
    neutral. The vehicle starts in neutral, and has 3 forward speeds.
    If the vehicle is stationary and in neutral, the s key will put it
    into reverse. The new "Air Warrior Art" file gives you graphic indication of
    the current gear and an rpm gauge.

-   Version 2.0 (color) will now enforce the art work checking
    limitations that the monochrome version has always required: namely
    that the artwork must obscure 80% of the view that the computer
    default views do, in order to be accepted. All of the existing large
    screen art is accepted; some of the colorized small screen art will
    need to be fixed up.

- the o options control command has changed. The old option
    numbers are still accepted, but new letters are also
    understood. The new commands are:

    op     set gunsight to lead computing pipper
    ob     set gunsight to bombsight mode
    on     turn pipper off
    os     toggle sight frame on and off
    ot     toggle visible tracers on and off
    oi     toggle indicated vs true airspeed mode
    og     toggle gun sound on and off
    oe     toggle engine sound on and off
    ok       toggle "sticky keys" on and off

-   A new command was added that the other versions have had
    for a while: the d command will tell you the average time delay
    in turning a packet around (0 or 1 being perfect.)

-    The rudder is now modeled more accurately, in that rudder will
    now produce sideslip. If you hit the rudder with the autopilot on,
    you'll see it clearly, as the autopilot manages to hold the wings
    level, and the plane skids to the side.

-    A new feature has been added, a flight recorder (or gun camera).
    The camera will record a flight for later playback, and the
    resulting film file can be uploaded for exchange to other
    machines.
       The camera is activated by pressing the 9 key while in
    flight. This starts the recording process. Recording can
    be suspended by pressing the 9 key again, and can then be resumed
    and so on. The camera can be started and stopped as many times as
    desired. After the flight is completed, the film can be reviewed by
    selecting "Play" from the Camera menu. If you want to keep it,
    select "Save..." and specify a file name for the film to go into.
    The film is a text file which can be uploaded to GEnie as an Xmodem
    text (Genie's 7-bit Text mode will not work with a film file.) To
    facilitate transfer of films to other machines, films should not be
    StuffIt'ed, since none of the other machines have StuffIt.
       To play a film that you have previously saved on disk, or have
    downloaded from GEnie, select "Load..." from the Camera menu
    and specify the film file. "Play" can then be selected to
    start the film playing.
       During playback, several keyboard commands are available:
    ` or esc       abort playback
    n               toggle "out of cockpit" views
    s               toggle "Sticky View Keys" on and off. This is
                   especially useful with "out of cockpit" views.
                   This does NOT affect whether sticky view keys will
                   be active during normal flight.
    [ and ]        move the "out of cockpit" viewpoint closer or farther
                   from the plane.
    view keys       the standard (or remapped if you have changed them)
                   view keys work, both in and out of the cockpit.
    range keys       the standard (or remapped if you have changed them)
                   view range keys work, both in and out of the cockpit,
                   for controlling the amount of graphics presented.
       There are two options available in the Camera menu "Use Disk
    for Film" and "Set Film Size". "Use Disk for Film" is a toggle.
    When selected, the camera will record directly to disk. When not
    selected, the camera records to a buffer in memory. Recording to
    memory, the default, has the advantage that it imposes no
    measurable effect on performance while recording is in progress,
    but the disadvantage that you have to have enough memory for the
    film buffer (default 40K, which will last 2-4 minutes online,
    5-6 offline.) A 512K Mac, or one running under MultiFinder, may
    not have this much free memory. Recording to disk entails
    possible delays while recording (generally not noticeable running
    from a hard disk), but requires only 1K or so of additional memory.
    "Set Film Size" is used to tell the camera how long the film may
    be. When recording to memory, the film buffer will be this size,
    and the camera will stop automatically when the buffer fills.
    When the recording to disk, this is the maximum file size that
    will be allowed, and the camera will stop when it reaches it. The
    dialog box will tell you how much memory or disk is available for
    the film.
       Playback always takes place from disk, unless you are playing
    an in-memory film you just recorded. "Use Disk for Film" will
    be automatically selected when you choose the "Load..." option.
    The film size option has no effect on playback of films.
       For curious folks, an explanation of the
    mechanics involved in film manipulation. When recording to
    memory, the camera just piles up data in the memory buffer.
    Playback can take place directly from the buffer, and when
    the film is saved to disk, the portable text file format
    is written to the specified file. The data remains in the memory
    buffer as well, so you can play it again if you want. Starting
    a new flight recording, or loading a disk file discards the
    contents of the memory buffer.
       When recording to disk, things work a little differently.
    When you start the camera for the first time in a flight,
    a file is created to hold the film. A slight delay will probably
    be noticed here, and under MultiFinder the delay can be several
    seconds, as the Finder will update the desktop in the background,
    stealing the CPU. Data is written continuously to the disk
    file while recording is in progress, and the file is closed when
    the flight ends. Playback comes straight from the disk file. When
    you select Save, the file is renamed to the name you specify (or
    copied if you specify a save to a different directory or disk.)
    The current playback name is also changed, so you can select
    playback again to see the film. When a new flight is started,
    the name goes back to the default scratch name, so the film
    you have Saved won't be overwritten. If you did not save the
    film, the contents of the file are discarded when a new film
    is begun. When Air Warrior is exited back to the Finder, the
    scratch file will be deleted if it has not been Saved. If you are
    really perverse, and reboot the Mac rather than Quit, a file
    "camera.scr" will be left on the disk. This is a perfectly good
    film file and (unless some sort of horrid error occurred) you can
    rename it and Load it later.
       Various arcana about films: the films are written in such a
    way that they are independent of the particular version of Air
    Warrior they were recorded under. They can be played back on
    machines that are either faster or slower with the correct
    results. The film does know which version of the terrain it
    was recorded with, and if the terrain file has changed, Air Warrior
    will ask you whether to continue with playback with a potentially
    incompatible terrain file (in which case planes may take off from
    water and fly through mountains!) The film file is pure text,
    so it can be uploaded without concern for modem settings such
    as 7 or 8 bits, etc. Since the various machines do not have
    the same line termination characters in text, the film has no
    line termination at all, so you may have trouble if you try to
    open it in a text editor <grin>. There's nothing interesting to
    look at anyway!
       The film size will vary online or offline, because of the
    data being sent by GEnie. The film WILL record such things as
    incoming radio messages, or anything else GEnie tells it to do.
    Offline, about 120 bytes per second are recorded in memory,
    about 130 bytes per second if going to disk.
       Someday we'll write a film editor for splicing films and
    adding commentary. It'll have to be a separate program, and
    will be a real pain in the tail!

-    Bullet time of flight is now computed accurately meaning that you'll
    have to lead the target and compensate for any
    G's you are pulling. Any planes that had a lead computing sight will
    have a "pipper" in the gun sight, to aid in compensating for G's.
    You can adjust the range that the pipper computes for using the [ and ]
    keys (the same ones used for bombsight magnification.) In addition,
    you can switch the sight between Fighters and Bombers, to better give
    you an idea of how accurately you have to hit the target.
           Fighter mode is entered with the kf command, i.e. <esc> kf <return>.
    Bomber mode is entered with kb.
        One very important point to note: the pipper has NOTHING to do with
    where the bullets are currently hitting. It is merely a gyroscope's
    attempt at predicting where the bullets will go. Even though the A-26
    and B-25 and the World War I fighters do not have lead computing
    sights, their shots will hit in exactly the same manner. Changing
    sight modes from Fighter to Bomber does NOT make your shots hit
    better, it just gives you an idea of your margin of error.

-    The way smoke is drawn coming from your own plane in flight or camera
    playback has been changed. Smoke will be visible if the plane is losing
    either oil or fuel.

-    The maximum size of the picture cache has been increased to 20 in the Mac II
    version.

-    The way the program handles supplementary art files for control panels
    and other art and sound has been changed. Air Warrior will now look in
    a resource file called "Air Warrior Art" for alternate
    control panel arrangements. The file "Air Warrior Art (Vehicles)" will
    be loaded for all vehicles, and "Air Warrior Art (WWI)" will be loaded
    for all World War I planes. The vehicle file is distributed standard,
    as operating a jeep or tank without it is awkward.
        In the color version, a different set of files is loaded. The file
    "Color Art" contains standard extensions. Such a file will be uploaded
    containing a color startup screen, and an excellent color control
    panel by Blue Macs (J.BLUM). The file "Color Art (Vehicles)" will be loaded
    for vehicles, and "Color Art (WWI)" for World War I planes. For 640x480
    mode, the files "Large Color Art" and so on will be loaded, for 1024x768
    mode the files "Huge Color Art" and so on will be loaded. These color files
    are only loaded if a color monitor mode is selected, otherwise the "Air Warrior Art"
    files as mentioned above are loaded.
        Plane specific files are still loaded as before. The purpose of the new
    files is to make it easier and more efficient to construct custom instrument
    panels and sounds that apply to a group of planes or vehicles.

-   The "Mouse Sensitivity" option now has entries for horizontal and vertical
    adjustment separately. This should make setting up a joystick easier.

-   The program will now look for the supplemental art files "Air Warrior Art (Gunner)"
    and "Color Art (Gunner)" when a flight starts in a turret. This fixes
    a problem in the existing turret art.

-    If you have selected a video mode with more than 256 colors, or have selected
    both Onscreen and Offscreen compatibility modes, and 32 bit Color Quickdraw
    is present in your system, Air Warrior will use 32 bit Quickdraw to manage
    the video memory. This will give the best chance of paying off with hardware
    accelerators, but will be slower otherwise.

-   The way the oil gauge works has changed a bit: the oil guage will read 0 if the
    engine(s) are not running (the oil pump isn't on!)

-   The name of the configuration file has changed from "config" to "Air Warrior Config".
    The program will still read the old "config" file, but will create the new
    file name if you change the options. You can then toss out "config".

-   You can have Air Warrior automatically open and play a film file on startup
    by selecting the film in the Finder, selecting Air Warrior, then choosing
    Open.

-   The Mac II version is now being compiled with MPW 3.0 rather than
    the earlier MPW 2.0.2. If you notice any anomalies, let us know.
    This change made the program somewhat larger (MPW 3 seems to make
    a less compact program) but should be a wee bit faster, and confers
    all the benefits of using the latest (supported!) compiler. The
    monochrome version is still compiled with MPW 2.0.2 for size
    reasons (the program ends up about 13K smaller.)

                        New Sound Routines

    This version has a major upgrade to Air Warrior's sound capabilities.
The program now uses Apple's new Sound Manager rather than the obsolete
Sound Driver. This has two major ramifications: Air Warrior now uses
Apple standard 'snd ' sound resources rather than the third party
(and now obsolete) 'wave' style sounds. Air Warrior 1.5c will now run
under MultiFinder without the random crashes, which were caused by
errant interrupts from the old sound routines. In order to use digitized
sound with Air Warrior, you MUST be running one of the System 6.0
versions, or System 7 when it comes out.
    The old routines slowed the Mac Plus down by about 40% when the
engine was running. The new routines slow the Mac Plus down by
27%, so there is a significant improvement on the Plus and SE.
    There is a fly in the ointment: there is a serious problem in Systems
6.0, 6.0.1, 6.0.2, and 6.0.3 on the Mac II series and the SE/30.
The new sounds work properly, but they impose roughly a 100% overhead
on the system, i.e. cutting Air Warrior's performance in half. For this
reason, this version of Air Warrior for the Mac II (i.e. 1.5c (color))
converts the 'snd ' style sounds back to the old style in memory,
and plays them the old way. Thus, Air Warrior 1.5c (color) is still
NOT MultiFinder compatible, whereas the monochrome version 1.5c is.
When Apple releases System 7.0, they have assured us this problem will
be corrected.  If you MUST run MultiFinder, you can select "Use Sound
Manager" in the Compatibility dialog. You'll suffer the performance
overhead of 100%, but it will run on a Mac II.
   Apple has improved the sound overhead problem in System 6.0.4 and
6.0.5, from 100% overhead to about 35%.
    The Mac Plus/SE version still supports the old-style non-digitized
sounds. You may be running any release of the System from 3.0 on up to
6.0.4 to run in this mode. MultiFinder is not recommended while using
the non-digitized sounds, as problems will still result.
    A point to note: there are two distinct types of 'snd ' sounds,
appropriately named types 1 and 2. Type 1 sounds can be just about
anything, from tunes played with the Note synthesizer to sampled sounds
to MIDI sequences. The current version of Air Warrior only likes
sampled sounds, but if there is a reason to we might support MIDI 'snd '
resources in the future :) Type 2 sounds are generated and used by
Hypercard, and may only contain sampled sounds. Air Warrior is able
to use sampled sounds of either format, and there is no real advantage
to either one as far as the game is concerned.
    There are a number of new sound files being uploaded. The first file,
SoundData.sit, is a straightforward conversion of the old file, with
some additions. This is the file most folks will want to use. It now
has a jet sound standard. The B17snd.sit file is a resource file with
a conversion of the sounds in Ridge Runner's B17. Paste these into the
B17 file to hear them with the new version. The T34.sit file is some
sounds for the Tank. Those of you using the recently uploaded P-40
engine sound will find a snd version of it in the Tank file; if you
like this one better than the standard engine, paste it from the Tank
into the Sound Data file. Two LARGE sound files will also be uploaded,
a full P-40 22 Khz file (with a long starter and very smooth engine),
and a long smooth sample of a F4U-1D Corsair (probably with a Hellcat
starter, as the F4U starter didn't come out on the tape).


                        Performance Testing

    This version of Air Warrior has undergone very stringent
testing between the different computers (Macintosh, Atari ST,
Amiga, and IBM PC) to ensure that the flight performance of
the different planes is the same.
    The testing was performed by internally instrumenting the
program, to eliminate the errors that would occur by reading
the instruments or following a stop watch. Not only were the
observable variables instrumented, but also internal aerodynamic
quantities such as thrust, engine horsepower, drag, lift,
angle of attack, lift coefficient, air density, and so on.
The magnitude of the differences being sought was smaller than could
readily be seen on the instruments, since split second timing was often
required to make valid comparisons. Initial conditions for the
various tests were established exactly by an automated facility,
so that no human error or influence would be present.  The tests were
performed on a number of different aircraft, representing the various
extremes of both performance and certain critical properties.
    The following tests were performed:
    An instrumented take off roll, followed by an 11 minute climb,
a minute of level acceleration, then
a 60 degree dive, usually into the ground, or 3 minutes, whichever
came first. Acceptance was based on the point at which the plane reached
full throttle, the point at which the plane left the ground, the
altitude, speed, angle of climb, and engine horsepower at the peak
of the climb, the speed reached by the end of the acceleration, the
time and speed at which buffeting began during the dive (if it did),
the peak Mach number in the dive (for the F-86), and the time and speed
of impact.
    A 2/3 aileron deflection roll in expert mode. Acceptance was based
on rate of roll, and loss of altitude and change of attitude during
one complete roll. A roll time varied from 1.5 seconds for the Sabre to
40 or so for the B-17 (the B-17 did not complete the roll before the
test ended.)
    A test of full rudder deflection at an exact speed and altitude.
Acceptance was based on the amount of course change, amount of roll,
and amount of altitude lost during a one minute deflection.
    A full elevator deflection loop starting at an exact speed and
altitude. Acceptance was based on the g's pulled at various points in
the loop, the altitude gained during the loop, the final altitude at
the end of the loop, the time at which various points in the loop
were reached, and the velocities at various points in the loop.
    A test of the top speed of the plane, at two or more different
altitudes representing different performance regimes. The plane was
placed at the correct speed, and acceptance was based on comparison
of internal values during a one minute run at that speed.
    A test of stall performance. The plane was placed in a known
climb attitude at a known speed, then throttle was reduced by the
program. Acceptance was based on the speed of the stall, altitude of
stall (a check on the climb), various internal values at the stall,
the time required for the nose to drop through horizontal, the time
required for recovery from the stall, and the altitude changes
associated with those points.
    In addition, tests were run at several different settings on the
Mac II, to quantify the effect of monochrome vs color, that is, the
frame rate, on aerodynamic performance (the Mac II was the easiest
machine to perform this test on, it was also done on the IBM PC with
its variable clock speed.) Several equations were changed
to retain better numerical accuracy in accounting for very fast
update times and better accuracy in handling unusual clock frequencies.
    Lastly, a drag race was run with a jeep and a tank, to measure
the acceleration, turning radius, and roll performance (grin) of the
vehicle under an automatically controlled test. A bug in the rollover
point in the jeep was found and corrected.
    In conclusion, we now feel that the machine to machine performance
is identical, to far greater than the accuracy at which a user can
read the instrument panel and control an airplane manually. One thing
that became apparent early on was how sensitive the planes are, and
how even a very small difference in control setting or initial conditions
can produce results different enough to mislead the observer. Automated
testing was essential.


                    Air Warrior Keyboard Commands

                            View Keys
    Hold these down to look around. Holding down 2 in combination
will give a combination view.

h        Look to the left
l        Look to the right
k        Look up
j        Look down
m        Look backwards
g        Look forward
=        radar mode

                        Turret Controls
y        rotate left
o        rotate right
u        rotate up
i        rotate down

z        lock turret in place (hold z down)

                        Flight Controls
*        start/stop engines
space    brakes (ground and air if available, hold it down)
;        landing gear
<        flaps up
>        flaps down
f        fire guns
a        rudder left one notch
s        center rudder
d        rudder right one notch
b        release bomb(s)
x        toggle autopilot mode
.        center the stick (or double clicking mouse button)
e        toggle War Emergency Power
c        increase throttle 10%
v        decrease throttle 10%
[        increase bombsight magnification
]        decrease bombsight magnification

                        Graphics View Modes
1        See everything possible (Full Mode)
2        Medium range mode.
3        Short range mode.
4        Combat range mode, see only very close objects and planes.
5        Abridged mode, see only planes and essential terrain.
6        Line mode, see only planes and outlines of terrain (monochrome
        only.)

                    Host Commands
    Hit the Escape (esc) or ` key before entering these, then
hit return. If the command is followed by a #, you should specify
the appropriate number.
a        Arm/disarm bomb release in a fighter, open/close bomb bay doors
        in a bomber.
c        Suspend flight (Mac II version only. For use with MultiFinder,
        will not work online.)
d        print some network status numbers.
e        Leave the cockpit.
j        Change positions in a bomber. To jump to the tail turret, type
        jt.
kf      set pipper to fighter wingspan mode
kb      set pipper to bomber wingspan mode
m#        Set radar range
        m0        - shortest range
        m1        - medium range
        m2        - longest range
n        Display icons of friendly and enemy types.
o#        Toggle Option while in flight
        o1        - toggle gunsight frame
        o2        - toggle dive bomb sight
        o3        - toggle engine sound on/off
        o4        - toggle gun sound on/off
        o5        - toggle visible tracers on/off
        o7        - toggle indicated/true airspeed on gauge.
        op      - set gunsight to lead computing pipper
        ob      - set gunsight to bombsight mode
        on      - turn pipper off
        os      - toggle sight frame on and off
        ot      - toggle visible tracers on and off
        oi      - toggle indicated vs true airspeed mode
        og      - toggle gun sound on and off
        oe      - toggle engine sound on and off
        ok        - toggle sticky keys mode

p        Bail out. A second p command pulls the ripcord.
q        Toggle view debug on/off.
r        Display number of users in flight.
s        Toggle light/dark display (monochrome only.)
t#        Tune radio to channel.
w        Tell you roughly where you are.
z        Enter/exit bombsight mode (bombers only)