Question about cockpit.ini and 'firing cue' for accessbility

[Eagle114th 645]

Hello everyone!

I have a question about the cockpit.ini ediitng.  I want to add the 'shoot cue' taht tells me that IR and any kind of AAMs are locked and ready to be fired at enemy targets.

The reasons of this is because the early cold war AAMs rely on the growling sounds for IR AAM as an example. I am deaf, so I can't tell if IR version of AIM-4s or AIM-9B and other IR are locked. so to overcome this issue, I want to do soemthign creative with it that still is 'lore friendly' or make it somehow seem like sem-realistic in an 'immersive' experiences without using modern avionics.

What I am thining about is either;  Have gunsight recticle change symbosl or colors when AAM is locked on targets.  Which codes do I need, in order, to add in the cockpit.ini? If you have another idea I could use, please post here.

I am also making this for anyone else who need it too. It wil be part of 'accessiblity' optional files in Avionics packs I am currently working on.


Thank you.


Eagle114th

Edited November 9 by Eagle114th

[+ravenclaw_007 7,633]

the only thing that we have would be the "Shoot Light" (RADAR_IN_RANGE_INDICATOR) unfortunately it works only with SHAM or AHM missiles , i´m looking my self to get this "Shoot Light" working with IRM missiles but so far no luck

dont know if there is a way with the avionics.ini to achieve the desired effect , maybe Crusader or any other avionics specialist could help here

Edited November 9 by ravenclaw_007

[FalconC45 162]

4 hours ago, Eagle114th said:

Hello everyone!

I have a question about the cockpit.ini ediitng.  I want to add the 'shoot cue' taht tells me that IR and any kind of AAMs are locked and ready to be fired at enemy targets.

The reasons of this is because the early cold war AAMs rely on the growling sounds for IR AAM as an example. I am deaf, so I can't tell if IR version of AIM-4s or AIM-9B and other IR are locked. so to overcome this issue, I want to do soemthign creative with it that still is 'lore friendly' or make it somehow seem like sem-realistic in an 'immersive' experiences without using modern avionics.

What I am thining about is either;  Have gunsight recticle change symbosl or colors when AAM is locked on targets.  Which codes do I need, in order, to add in the cockpit.ini? If you have another idea I could use, please post here.

I am also making this for anyone else who need it too. It wil be part of 'accessiblity' optional files in Avionics packs I am currently working on.


Thank you.


Eagle114th

Dude, what about the old school "lock on" diamond?  Make it "shake" when growling, then make it "soild" when its locked on...

Falcon

[Wrench 9,834]

don't forget, you'll also need access to the cockpit MAX files to change things. Anything "physical" in the displays, with few exceptions, needs the ability to edit the LOD in MAX

[+EricJ 4,224]

26 minutes ago, FalconC45 said:

Dude, what about the old school "lock on" diamond?  Make it "shake" when growling, then make it "soild" when its locked on...

Falcon

He mentioned the older missiles, and I'm sure the aircraft are like the F-4 and so on, where it doesn't do that if I'm not mistaken, so he would need the audio cue. I mean he'll just have to pray when he fires I guess.

[Eagle114th 645]

8 hours ago, ravenclaw_007 said:

the only thing that we have would be the "Shoot Light" (RADAR_IN_RANGE_INDICATOR) unfortunately it works only with SHAM or AHM missiles , i´m looking my self to get this "Shoot Light" working with IRM missiles but so far no luck

dont know if there is a way with the avionics.ini to achieve the desired effect , maybe Crusader or any other avionics specialist could help here

Taht is noted.  I want to add, I think I remember that in Mirage III series, there is light on right part of HUD, on the frame.  When SARH and IR get lock on, green light goes on.  I thikn it works with IRM too?  We could look into Mirage III cockpits too.

Edited November 10 by Eagle114th

[Eagle114th 645]

4 hours ago, FalconC45 said:

Dude, what about the old school "lock on" diamond?  Make it "shake" when growling, then make it "soild" when its locked on...

Falcon

Thank you for the reply!  Can you explain more about  "diamond"? And which aircraft is it used on? I awnt to study their HUD / cockpit.ini files and see if I can implement it on early cold war aircraft, such as F-89 as an example.

[Eagle114th 645]

4 hours ago, Wrench said:

don't forget, you'll also need access to the cockpit MAX files to change things. Anything "physical" in the displays, with few exceptions, needs the ability to edit the LOD in MAX

That means, adding or editing instructment is out of questions, therefore I need to look into editing HUD instead and see fi Ican find a way to add "shoot cue" for IRM.

Thank you for the notes about the requirement of editing max file for instructment.

[Eagle114th 645]

4 hours ago, EricJ said:

He mentioned the older missiles, and I'm sure the aircraft are like the F-4 and so on, where it doesn't do that if I'm not mistaken, so he would need the audio cue. I mean he'll just have to pray when he fires I guess.

That have been my experiences for many years in SF1 and SF2 in early cold war aircraft.  So therefore, for once and all, I decide to do something about it, then finally, no more "shot and pray' that the IRM already had lock on the targets.

This especially make it difficult to experiment with various early cold war IRMs too.  Now if "shoot cue" get implemented, it will make the huge difference for me and anyone who can't hear the growing sounds in-game.

[FalconC45 162]

25 minutes ago, Eagle114th said:

Thank you for the reply!  Can you explain more about  "diamond"? And which aircraft is it used on? I awnt to study their HUD / cockpit.ini files and see if I can implement it on early cold war aircraft, such as F-89 as an example.

The old Jane's sims used the diamond HUD symbol for all huds if i remember correctly... Can you modify the SF2 NA  avoinics?

[Eagle114th 645]

11 minutes ago, FalconC45 said:

The old Jane's sims used the diamond HUD symbol for all huds if i remember correctly... Can you modify the SF2 NA  avoinics?

AH YES! I remember now, the diamond that appear inside the box.  In SF2, I believe  it is part of Avionics70.DLL

You are genius!  I am going going through various aircraft that have 'shoot cue'.

I am going to test with both Avionics60 and 70 DDLL and the codes within both.  Finger crossed.

Cheers!

Edited November 10 by Eagle114th

[Eagle114th 645]

Hello everyone,

I think I am getting closer to the solution;  By flying A-7C I noticed that it uses Avoinics60.dll which is what I need for early cold aircraft. It have a symbol on HUD that would lock on plane if IR have the lockon target.   THAT is what I needed.  Right now I am looking through which .tga that is used for locking on plane with IRM and study the cockpit.ini and other files to see how to activate that on F-89D / H / J cockpits.

UPDATE: BINGO! I think I have found it, here is codes from A-7C

Quote

[HUD_SRMSeeker]
SymbolType=TD_HEAT
ImageFilename=cockpit\A-7C_srm_seeker.tga
ImageSize=0.050

Eagle114th

Edited November 10 by Eagle114th

[+ravenclaw_007 7,633]

2 hours ago, Eagle114th said:

Taht is noted.  I want to add, I think I remember that in Mirage III series, there is light on right part of HUD, on the frame.  When SARH and IR get lock on, green light goes on.  I thikn it works with IRM too?  We could look into Mirage III cockpits too.

after all this years and searching finally a solution to my problem , the Mirage III has a cockpit function i was not aware of that it even exist in SF2 , the WEAPON_SHOOT_CUE , i will try that right away and hope it works the way i wont it to

thank you for that hint , you made my day  

[Eagle114th 645]

8 minutes ago, ravenclaw_007 said:

after all this years and searching finally a solution to my problem , the Mirage III has a cockpit function i was not aware of that it even exist in SF2 , the WEAPON_SHOOT_CUE , i will try that right away and hope it works the way i wont it to

thank you for that hint , you made my day  

Excellent! I am happy to read that and hope it works as we hope.  We all help each other and share the knowledge together.  Let's rock and roll with our moddings!


Cheers!

Edited November 10 by Eagle114th

[+ravenclaw_007 7,633]

11 minutes ago, Eagle114th said:

Excellent! I am happy to read that and hope it works as we hope.  We all help each other and share the knowledge together.  Let's rock and roll with our moddings!


Cheers!

it is not only working for SHAM, AHM and IRM missiles it works as well with air to ground missiles like the AGM-65 , i have to make more test like with AGM-45 and other anti radiation missiles 

that is so cool , Thank you so much 

with AIM-9

with AGM-65

 

[Eagle114th 645]

12 minutes ago, ravenclaw_007 said:

it is not only working for SHAM, AHM and IRM missiles it works as well with air to ground missiles like the AGM-65 , i have to make more test like with AGM-45 and other anti radiation missiles 

that is so cool , Thank you so much 

with AIM-9

 

with AGM-65

 

 

That is awesome!  Please let us know what you find more from the experiment.  It would be incredible if all early era cold war have this feature as optional too.

[+ravenclaw_007 7,633]

it works with LGB , EO bombs and with anti radiation missiles , but you have to be close enough to select a target only with a selected target it works 

with anti radiation missiles you have to wait until you have a selected target that is actually detecting you , then put your gun sight towards the target and fire as soon as the shoot lights go on

it does not work with normal bombs

and LGB weapons have a Seeker Range far further than the actual bomb can glide , so to get a hit you have to wait until you are within the limits of the bomb and not within the limits of the seeker , same goes for EO-bombs

Edited November 10 by ravenclaw_007

[Wrench 9,834]

LOVE IT!!!!!!

that is gonna change A-G sighting trememdously! Something we've needed since 2003!!

[+EricJ 4,224]

9 hours ago, Eagle114th said:

That have been my experiences for many years in SF1 and SF2 in early cold war aircraft.  So therefore, for once and all, I decide to do something about it, then finally, no more "shot and pray' that the IRM already had lock on the targets.

This especially make it difficult to experiment with various early cold war IRMs too.  Now if "shoot cue" get implemented, it will make the huge difference for me and anyone who can't hear the growing sounds in-game.

Yeah basically.

[Eagle114th 645]

Hello everyone!

I managed to implement two methods of firing cue for IRM!  Took me a while to figure out and many testings.

First method - Cockpit instructment.  Since I would require to have max file for cockpits to add an extra insructment, so instead of that, I thought what if I could take over one of insstrument and turn it into "shoot cue".  It worked perfectly! There are two caution lights, so I used one of that and changed the codes:

 

Quote

// MISSILE SHOOT CUE
[CautionLight2]
//Type=MASTER_CAUTION_LIGHT
Type=WEAPON_SHOOT_CUE
NodeName=CAUTION_LT2
MovementType=LIGHT

Here is screenshot:




See the light that turns on when IRM is armed!  This is more lore friendly, semi-realistic in experiences inthe 40s - 60s tech.

However, the second methods I did, as suggested by Falcon (Thank you!)

By studying A-7C which still uses avionics60.dll,  I am able to implement 'firing cue' while keeping the original gunsight.  However, unfortunately, the gunisght seem to be less visiblity, more 'transparent' instead of orignial bright gunisght, making it a little difficult to read.  this is the codes I used from "HUD' part:

 

Quote

//---------------------------------------
// HUD
[HUD]
HUDMaterial=HUDMaterial
HUDColor=0.91, 0.86, 0.78, 1.0
BoresightOffset=0.0,0.0
ViewportTopLeft=-0.154,-0.126
ViewportBottomRight=0.154,0.185

[HUDMaterial]
EffectShaderName=fltHUD.fx
DepthBufferCheck=FALSE
DepthBufferWrite=FALSE
RenderedInOrder=FALSE
AlphaTestEnabled=TRUE
CullMode=NO_CULL
LightEnabled=FALSE
UseLightLevel=FALSE
SpecularEnabled=FALSE
EmissiveEnabled=FALSE
FogEnabled=FALSE
AmbientColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000
DiffuseColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000
ZBufferOffset=0
PriorityLevel=1
BlendOp=BLEND_SRC_ALPHA
NumTextureStages=1
TextureStage[01].TextureName=
TextureStage[01].MipMap=FALSE
TextureStage[01].FilterEnabled=TRUE
TextureStage[01].StageColorOp=TEXTURE_MODULATE_DIFFUSE
TextureStage[01].StageAlphaOp=TEXTURE_MODULATE_DIFFUSE

[HUDFont]
TextFontName=Arial
TextSize=12
TextBold=TRUE

[HUDModeNav]
Symbol[01]=HUD_OPTICAL_SIGHT
Symbol[02]=

[HUDModeAA]
Symbol[01]=HUD_OPTICAL_OUTER_SIGHT
Symbol[02]=HUD_SRMSeeker
Symbol[03]=

[HUDModeAG]
Symbol[01]=HUD_OPTICAL_SIGHT
Symbol[02]=

[HUD_SRMSeeker]
SymbolType=TD_HEAT
ImageFilename=cockpit\N-9_SIGHT_AA_INNER CIRCLE.TGA
ImagePosition=0,0.0555
ImageSize=0.0825
//ImageFilename=cockpit\A-7C_srm_seeker.tga
//ImageSize=0.050

[HUD_OPTICAL_SIGHT]
SymbolType=IMAGE
ImageFilename=cockpit\N-9_SIGHT.TGA
ImagePosition=0,0.0555
ImageSize=0.0825

[HUD_OPTICAL_OUTER_SIGHT]
SymbolType=IMAGE
ImageFilename=cockpit\N-9_SIGHT_AA_OUTER CIRCLE.TGA
ImagePosition=0,0.0555
ImageSize=0.0825

Screenshot:







After experimenting with both methods, I find method #1 to be more simple and solid.  However I am going to do further experiment by seenig if I can make a copy of 'CAUTION" light and, re-size and move it to left or right side of HUD, on the cockpit frame, that way the original caution light are left intact functional as caution lights.

I woudl like feedback on bothth methods please.


Cheers!


Eagle114th

[Mr_Tayto 139]

On 11/10/2024 at 7:45 AM, Wrench said:

LOVE IT!!!!!!

that is gonna change A-G sighting trememdously! Something we've needed since 2003!!

On that note I'm sure I read somewhere that the Shrike "growled" like a sidewinder when it had a target, but it doesn't in game. Can anyone confirm this?

 

@Eagle114th I'm delighted you got this sorted out 

[Eagle114th 645]

1 hour ago, Mr_Tayto said:

On that note I'm sure I read somewhere that the Shrike "growled" like a sidewinder when it had a target, but it doesn't in game. Can anyone confirm this?

 

@Eagle114th I'm delighted you got this sorted out 

Thank you. I am almost there. I posted the question here:
 

I am trying to clone the instrument (light) so it can be used as weapon shoot cue, rather htan to using an exiisting caution light.

If it works, I can finally apply it on all early cold war aircraft.


Eagle114th

[+Crusader 2,100]

On 10.11.2024 at 6:56 AM, ravenclaw_007 said:

it works with LGB , EO bombs and with anti radiation missiles , but you have to be close enough to select a target only with a selected target it works 

with anti radiation missiles you have to wait until you have a selected target that is actually detecting you , then put your gun sight towards the target and fire as soon as the shoot lights go on

it does not work with normal bombs

and LGB weapons have a Seeker Range far further than the actual bomb can glide , so to get a hit you have to wait until you are within the limits of the bomb and not within the limits of the seeker , same goes for EO-bombs

Furthermore, the WEAPON_SHOOT_CUE function is also "tied" to the weapons max launch G value. If there is too much G on the ac = no cue
The shoot cue can be hidden with other function types to have the cue displayed for certain weapons only

~

[+ravenclaw_007 7,633]

9 minutes ago, Crusader said:

Furthermore, the WEAPON_SHOOT_CUE function is also "tied" to the weapons max launch G value. If there is too much G on the ac = no cue
The shoot cue can be hidden with other function types to have the cue displayed for certain weapons only

~

how can you hide it , do you have any example for it ??? for example that it works only for SAHM , AHM and IRM 

[Wrench 9,834]

PLEASE!!!! Enlighten us, Otto!!!