Volunteers needed for Air Combat missions

[Daedalus]

Cool, thanks. Is the config file format documented somewhere? I could easily make an external calibration program to adjust the values...

[Angus]

Originally Posted by Aardvark

Looks like X/Y calibration values for Max and Center are also swapped in the prefs.dat. So better just to not touch the in-game calibration and use hex editor instead.

Correct calibration positions in the prefs.dat file:

MinX=$0E, MinY=$0C, MaxX=$12, MaxY=$10, CenterX=$16, CenterY=$14

I didn't notice any issues regarding maximum X/Y values. WinUAE config settings "input.analog_joystick_multiplier=128", "input.analog_joystick_offset=-36" gives 0-255 pot range analog joystick, and works perfectly in Tornado using $00-$FF calibration values.

So are you saying there's a universal setting that would provide a fix (or significant improvement)? If that's the case, could you zone it?

[Aardvark]

Originally Posted by Angus

So are you saying there's a universal setting that would provide a fix (or significant improvement)? If that's the case, could you zone it?

No universal setting, you need to input values in the prefs.dat that suits your joystick.
Do the in-game calibration and write down your minimum and maximum X/Y and center X/Y values. Convert them to hex, and write them in the prefs.dat file using hex editor. The important thing is that your joysticks minimum pot X/Y doesn't go below the calibrated minimum X/Y, otherwise the rolling left bug happens.

[Angus]

Originally Posted by Aardvark

No universal setting, you need to input values in the prefs.dat that suits your joystick.
Do the in-game calibration and write down your minimum and maximum X/Y and center X/Y values. Convert them to hex, and write them in the prefs.dat file using hex editor. The important thing is that your joysticks minimum pot X/Y doesn't go below the calibrated minimum X/Y, otherwise the rolling left bug happens.

Bother, I don't really know anything about Hex editing. I just crash Tornados.



If I get the values within the Tornado editor, is there any chance you could talk me through what to do with the editor?


Unless Daedalus is making an external program to do that?

[Aardvark]

Originally Posted by Angus

Bother, I don't really know anything about Hex editing. I just crash Tornados.



If I get the values within the Tornado editor, is there any chance you could talk me through what to do with the editor?


Unless Daedalus is making an external program to do that?

When the game asks to hold top left, you get MinX and MinY values. Bottom right is MaxX and MaxY, and Centre shows CenterX and CenterY.

Convert the numbers to hex format, and place them in these positions in prefs.dat. There's plenty of hex editors on Aminet that can do it.

[Daedalus]

If your stick has a round gate like mine, the top left and bottom right values aren't going to be suitable, so you're better off just making a note of the maximum and minimum X values with the stick in the middle of the Y axis, then getting the maximum and minimum of the Y axis with the stick in the neutral X position. With a round gate the upper left corner will not be as far left as the stick will go when it's in the middle of the Y axis, for example.

I can put something together to do the calibration when I have some time. If I can find out what other parameters are stored in the file I could add them too. I'll have a look anyway. In the meantime, I can recommend the FileX editor on the Amiga.

[paraj]

I have RC1 ready of the slave, but if it's just a matter of transposing a couple of values, I think I can fix it in the slave. I don't have a analogue joystick (for neither Amiga nor PC) to test though, so I would be relying on exact instructions (or a description of how to check it with WinUAE).

[Aardvark]

Originally Posted by paraj

I have RC1 ready of the slave, but if it's just a matter of transposing a couple of values, I think I can fix it in the slave. I don't have a analogue joystick (for neither Amiga nor PC) to test though, so I would be relying on exact instructions (or a description of how to check it with WinUAE).

Exchanging bytes between these positions corrects the calibration in the config file.
$0C<->$0E
$10<->$12
$14<->$16

In WinUAE, the mouse can act as analog joystick.

[Angus]

Guys, a short clip of the Paraj's latest patch.

[ Show youtube player ]

[copse]

Thanks Angus, the video is much appreciated. Looks fantastic. Be interesting to see it at a locked framerate too.

[Angus]

Guys, for anybody not following the Tornado speed-up thread (WHY NOT??!!!)
my previous advice about changing the Quitkey tooltype to $99 is no longer a good idea (if it ever was).

My experience is that it now causes the game to Quit when you hit the Pause key (P). Paraj suggested using $102 which is the middle mouse button, which is ideal if you don't have a 3 button mouse and prefer to quit the game using the in-game quit function. I've got a 3 button mouse so I'll have to see how that works out.

I might experiment with tooltypes and see if I can find a way to disable the function......

Can anybody with an 030 capture some footage using the lastest slave? I'd love to see it. Before Paraj started working his magic, back when I was using an 030, there didn't seem much difference between it and an 060.






UPDATE
I set QUITKEY=$281 which I think is the STOP button on a CD32 pad. Works for me.

[Aardvark]

Originally Posted by paraj

I have RC1 ready of the slave, but if it's just a matter of transposing a couple of values, I think I can fix it in the slave. I don't have a analogue joystick (for neither Amiga nor PC) to test though, so I would be relying on exact instructions (or a description of how to check it with WinUAE).

Your transpose fix works well, but controls can still lock up if for mechanical reasons the pots give lower value than in calibration. This addition to the slave can fix it.

flight_patch	PL_START
		PL_GA	$123c8,CalibratedMin	; MinY and MinX values from calibration
		PL_GA	$520A6,PotStore		; address where game stores processed Dff014 reads
		PL_PS	$52060,JoyFix		; jsr to Dff014 read routine in 'flight' segment
		PL_S	$52066,8
		PL_NOP	$5206a,4

JoyFix		;if Pot read value is less than calibrated minimum then store calibrated min value instead
		movem.l	a1-a2,-(sp)
		move.l	CalibratedMin,a1
		move.l	PotStore,a2		
		cmp	(a1),d1
		bmi	.AdjustPotY
		move.w	d1,(a2)
		bra.s	.JoyFixX
.AdjustPotY
		move.w	(a1),(a2)		
.JoyFixX
		lsr.w	#$08,d0
		add.w	#2,a1
		add.w	#2,a2
		cmp	(a1),d0
		bmi	.AdjustPotX
		move.w	d0,(a2)
		movem.l	(sp)+,a1-a2
		rts
.AdjustPotX
		move.w	(a1),(a2)
		movem.l	(sp)+,a1-a2
		rts

CalibratedMin	ds.l 1
PotStore	ds.l 1

[Angus]

I have had an occasional issue which tends to support Aardvark's point. But it seems a major improvement on my previous experiences.

[Angus]

Hi guys, I just put up another clip, this time with me flying.

Well, I call it flying.

[ Show youtube player ]

[paraj]

Originally Posted by Aardvark

Your transpose fix works well, but controls can still lock up if for mechanical reasons the pots give lower value than in calibration. This addition to the slave can fix it.

Thanks a lot! Wish every bug report was a patch list
We'll include it verbatim (with credits of course), and let RC3 (attached) bake for a little while longer.

Originally Posted by Angus

Hi guys, I just put up another clip, this time with me flying.

Well, I call it flying.

[ Show youtube player ]

Excellent! Think this shows very well that despite some jerkyness in certain views, extra frame rate is really worth it.

[Angus]

I tried a loft bomb attack last night where you fly in fast, pull up and release the bomb some miles from the target, then veer off without having to face it's defences. Very satisfying to hit the V key (weapon view) and watch the bombs glide in and obliterate the target building. More satisfying if I could do it under full manual control.

No issues found with the new analogue joystick code.

[Angus]

Here's another clip. This is me learning to use the rather cool Thermal Image Airborne Laser Designator to bomb an enemy runway from high altitude. I have not got this perfected yet, but I'm geting there.

Anybody got any tips?

[ Show youtube player ]

[Aardvark]

I managed to disassemble the analog joystick patch by IDD (more info https://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=111470) for Combat Air Patrol, and adapted it into JOTDs slave. Originally the patch only worked with the Smart Port adapter.

Only stable with NoCache, and fixing that is beyond my ability.

[Angus]

Originally Posted by Aardvark

I managed to disassemble the analog joystick patch by IDD (more info https://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=111470) for Combat Air Patrol, and adapted it into JOTDs slave. Originally the patch only worked with the Smart Port adapter.

Only stable with NoCache, and fixing that is beyond my ability.

That's awesome Aardvark. I will look into this. In fact I've been meaning to look into CAP and F15 Strike Eagle II which I see as somewhat comparable as they both appeared fairly late in the Amiga's day and both seemed to me to have a fairly advanced 3D system and a fast update.


My buddy, Nathan from New Zealand just sent me his old analogue PC joystick and an Amiga adaptor lead, and he mentioned that although F15 II has an analogue joystick function, it has no calibration system so he wasn't able to get it to work.



Again, I haven't looked at the game properly since way back. Can an analogue stick work with no calibration?

[Aardvark]

Originally Posted by Angus

Again, I haven't looked at the game properly since way back. Can an analogue stick work with no calibration?

F15 II and some other old flight sims used fixed pot range of about 0-40, which i guess was standard for PC flight sticks in the 80's. You can check the pot range of your joysticks in any game that has calibration, like Tornado.