Greetings,
Although only at the beginning stages, I'll post updates in this thread.
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23 Jun 2013 Update
The search engine is coming up quite nicely. Like I stated before, it is not going to be as inclusive with details as in the classic UQMG but it will deliver where it counts. I included below a pic of the current development. At this time the search engine is stable and working.
Best Regards,
Demon/UberDemon/danzigzag
http://www.uberdemon.net (for UQMG classic download)
http://uberdemon.tumblr.com/ (for kicking music)
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8 Jun 2013 Update
Slow and (un)steady, that is a good description for the progress... but it is going. So here are some of the things I have been working on.
Feedback/Status Bar
--------------------------------
One of the things that irritate me as a user about the classic UQMG is how when there is a message to the mission builder, a Windows message box pops out, and there is that irritating "bing" sound, etc. Mind you, I am telling you that was a bad way to handle the GUI, and since I am criticizing myself, it is all good. So this time around I am using the lower status bar as a way to inform the mission builder what is going on. Not only that, if there are problems, the new UQMG will fix it automatically and will provide the user a message in the status bar.
Historical Aces
-----------------------
The way I implement historical Aces in the new UQMG is slightly different from the classic UQMG. Whereas in the current UQMG historical aces always have their wingmen as non-ace similar aircraft, in the new UQMG the historical aces will be available in two different ways:
1) Just like in the IL-2 GUI... that is you can have them as flights of cloned historical aces... crazy but ok...
2) As a composite flight in which the lead is the ace and then all other planes are of a similar type to the ace's, and you can fly as #2, 3 or 4 in the flight.
Also, there is a feature in which no duplication of a historical ace is allowed. Basically that means that no matter how you use the ace, only one historical ace (of a particular personality) will be present.
Composite Flights
------------------------------
One of the features of UQMG which dare I say, is not present in any other mission builder, or even in IL-2 is the ability to quickly use composite flights, like tugs w/gliders, SPBs, Mistels, etc. UQMG 2013 has this feature as well. And it will include the ability for new types to be used, such as the new MODs with tankers. The programming that goes in the background is very challenging, but hey, it is all worth it.
Like I said, it is going slowly but I hope it should be a good product.
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23 April 2013
Not an update exactly, but my new domain name is up. Same crappy old look, new(ish) name:
uberdemon.net. So update your Rolodexes. Now I can go back to developing.
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22 April 2013
Greetings. This development is ongoing... actually working on the GUI behavior for composite flights (glider+tug, SPB, Mistel, Tankers), but have some things to fix in the code.
My former domain name holder was a pain to deal with so I am going with the current host services provider I have, which is nice, but it will take a few days to get it back, so that is why you can't see the pics anymore. I am sure you are not losing sleep over this, but there you go... I'll announce my new domain here when its ready...
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27 Mar 2013
Sorry for the lack of updates. The current development is at a fairly stable state. I have started working on the schema for the air database, which will be less detailed than the current UQMG, but will be a lot easier to update as new MOD aircraft are added. Also I began design on how to handle the composite flights (tug/glider, mothership/drone, mistel, etc) in the GUI.
As far as the database, although you will not be able to search for planes based on minutia like in the current UQMG (stuff like fixed landing gear, or 13mm guns), you will be able to do quick searches for the stuff that matters, such as fighters, BNZ fighters, TNB fighters, ground attack, bombers, dive bombers, torpedo bombers, trainers, recce, jets, bi-/multi-planes, cars, etc... It comes in handy now that there are so many aircraft being modded... for example, a list of all bombers can be further refined by year of use.
Here is the schema per aircraft:
---------------------------------------------------
* Year in Service
* Year out of Service
* Fighter
* BNZ Fighter
* TNB Fighter
* Ground/Naval Attack
* Bomber
* Dive Bomber
* Torpedo Carrier
* Scout / Reconnaissance
* Transport
* Seaplane
* Trainer
* Carrier Aircraft
* VSTOL (Vertical/Short Takeoff & Landing)
* Helicopter
* Ground/Vehicle <= because there are a few drivable vehicles
* Naval/Ship <= who knows? Could be possible in the future
* Multi-Engine
* Jet-Engine
* Rocket-Engine
* Guided Bomb Carrier
* Air to Air Missile
* Supersonic
* RADAR
* X4 Carrier
* Bi-/Triplane (or more)
* Historical Ace
* Glider
* Tug
* Mothership
* Drone
* Flying Bomb
* Mistel
* Tanker
* Refuable
* TankDrogue
* TankBoom
I am not going to include much more than this otherwise it is just unsustainable for a single developer like me. If there are any suggestions or glaring omissions let me know, but there are no promises. I'll come up with a way to handle the composites as well.
By the way, country of use will be handled by a separate order of battle database, but I am still deciding how simple or complex it will be. It will not make a difference to you... just on how I handle it codewise.
Anyway, development is moving at a crawling pace, sorry.
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14 Mar 2013
Greetings,
Sorry for the lack of updates. I ran into some troubles in my coding (convoluted-semi-infinite-loops and a general lack of programming talent - let me remind this will be freeware...
). In sharpening my bow-staff skills and programming skills, I have been quite impressed at how much more powerful VS .NET 2010 is than VS 6.0, but I understand why there is a silent majority of old programmers that are still not jumping into the .NET bandwagon and instead going to other platforms. As Alice from Dilbert would say "Change is bad, very, very bad." But alas, the flexibility in .NET comes with complexity. In the old days you could create a matrix of objects during design time in no time; for this version of UQMG I am trying to do some complex things and I am getting my butt kicked. I took a few days to think and re-think my approach, and thankfully I did nothing. I was thinking about a completely different issue then bam, I figured out the problem. When I fixed it, it was like a 100% improvement in performance.
So let's talk about what you care about. The player features are coming nicely. With UQMG will be able to pick from 8 major flight groups to fly in (4 red, 4 Blue), which for UQMG users, you are familiar with. What will be a lot smoother for the player is how it is handled in the interface. Play sets will be a lot more integrated as a main feature. The aircraft selection will reflect your preferences. As a default, you will be able to focus into the most common choices (simple stuff like Bf-109 equals Axis for 99% of the time). But if you choose a 1942 rule set, it will be reflected in the menus automatically without going through the very awkward process of multiple windows in the classic UQMG.
The country selection process is quite nice, I think. You have 3 major choices: Default for plane, User Selected, or Country Selected. For Default, you get the usual country associated with the plane, for user selected, it is whatever you want, and for Country Selected, it will try to keep the team country you chose for all flight groups. So if you want to do a quick Slovakia vs. US mission, you will be able to select countries fast, then planes without having to change country again.
Anyway, just wanted you to know there is work being done... but it is slow. Next update in 2 weeks (yeah right...)
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20 Feb 2013
- Better fidelity into main flight interface fields
- Where appropriate, tooltips will display additional information due to limited space for each combo
- Displayed here is load for IL-2 Sturmovik 1.0, original release, but I have also loaded Demo 1, 1946 (4.10) and UP3RC4. I am using original release to build upon so that I can cover features of most releases. There are still quite a few people that use past versions so I want to support most of them, at least major releases and patches.
- Next Update: in 2 weeks!!!
Cheers, UD/DZZ
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First Update = Project Announcement:
https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,32508.0.html=======================================================
Best Regards,
UberDemon/danzigzag
uberdemon.net (for UQMG classic download)
http://uberdemon.tumblr.com/ (for kicking music)
Author
Topic: UQMG 2013 Development Updates (Latest 23 Jun 2013) (Read 17519 times)
