[Teaser] Working radar guidance

[AEthelraedUnraed]

I've lately made a bit of progress with a small project of mine, and I thought I'd share it.

 

It's basically working radar guidance for German Nachtjagd missions. Literally nothing about the radar messages is pre-scripted; all messages are automatically generated based on position, heading, speed etc. of both the player and enemy aircraft. It uses a somewhat complex algorithm to put the player on an interception course from behind, which is designed to be somewhat robust. Although of course if you do all too crazy things, it'll fail.

 

As you can see in the video, there's still a couple of small bugs (once or twice, there are two simultaneous radio messages, which should've been fixed but somehow still occurs). The script is also not entirely finished yet. Furthermore there are a couple of engine limitations: you can't pause, speed up or slow down time while the script is running (although I have an idea to circumvent this), and I don't expect the script to work in multiplayer. Still, it shows how much is possible with a bit of creativity, even in this outdated engine

 

Oh, and interestingly it doesn't require "Mods On" mode.

 

My plan is to release this to the public at some point in time, probably in the form of a small scripted campaign. There's still a lot more work to do until then, and as I work on this in my spare time, I cannot give any ETA. Count on at least a couple more months.

 

Luftwaffe Nachtjagd terminology:

Stube ist zu: Arrived in the Nachtjagd sector.

Neuer Kurier erfasst: New bomber detected.

Express 80: Fly fast, heading 80.

Kapelle 30: Enemy altitude 3000m.

Postkutsche 260: Enemy flies heading 260.

Neue Rollbahn 350: Turn to heading 350.

Marie 15: Enemy is at 1500m distance.

 

I spotted the enemy at around 4:30, when he was at 500m distance.

 

Edited January 27 by AEthelraedUnraed

[Hook_Echo]

This is awesome! Great job

[Jaegermeister]

That's pretty radical. I'll look forward to seeing more of it. 

 

[kraut1]

@AEthelraedUnraed

Hi,

Great,  that it works for Night Fighter Control!

For other purposes (daylight intercept missions) I encountered the issue, that the radio messages don`t work when different IL-2GB "plane classes" appear simultaneously, e.g.: bombers + fighters or light bombers + fighters,...

Have you experienced this problem too?

Do you know a solution maybe?

 

 

[AEthelraedUnraed]

7 hours ago, kraut1 said:

@AEthelraedUnraed

Hi,

Great,  that it works for Night Fighter Control!

For other purposes (daylight intercept missions) I encountered the issue, that the radio messages don`t work when different IL-2GB "plane classes" appear simultaneously, e.g.: bombers + fighters or light bombers + fighters,...

Have you experienced this problem too?

Do you know a solution maybe?

The workaround that I gave in your other thread is different from what I'm doing here. I'm afraid I don't really know any solutions to the problem you experience.

 

What I'm doing in this thread is literally coding, so within certain limits I can do everything and generate any radio message one could think of, as long as there is a corresponding pre-recorded audio file.

[kraut1]

On 1/27/2025 at 2:10 AM, AEthelraedUnraed said:

Furthermore there are a couple of engine limitations: you can't pause, speed up or slow down time while the script is running (although I have an idea to circumvent this), and I don't expect the script to work in multiplayer. Still, it shows how much is possible with a bit of creativity, even in this outdated engine

 

 

Concerning time acceleration with running (Flash) scripts:

For my (primitive) modifications of the default artillery spotting script for other purposes I use one of the available 8x8=64 "buttons" to "stop media" and automaticly restart after a defined time (e.g.5 minutes). Could be suitable e.g. for long distance cruise flight after completed interception to airfield.

Edited February 7 by kraut1

[AEthelraedUnraed]

On 2/7/2025 at 9:19 AM, kraut1 said:

Concerning time acceleration with running (Flash) scripts:

For my (primitive) modifications of the default artillery spotting script for other purposes I use one of the available 8x8=64 "buttons" to "stop media" and automaticly restart after a defined time (e.g.5 minutes). Could be suitable e.g. for long distance cruise flight after completed interception to airfield.

Thanks, but my script requires continuous tracking of the target aircraft so stopping and restarting the script is not possible.

 

However, I only start the script when the player reaches the target area and I have some logic in place for stopping it, so overall it isn't a too worrisome restriction

[21.Gr.CT.Ludovisi]

Great to known the work on this subject. I really appreciated it, thanks.

[LukeFF]

Great work! It's always neat to see the ingenuity behind mods like this. 

[JG4_Deciman]

19 minutes ago, LukeFF said:

Great work! It's always neat to see the ingenuity behind mods like this. 

Yes. it's indeed a nice work.

 

But watching the video quite surely shows, how this was realized...
The 'beacons' (NDB's) were activated by the script for a short time.
And deactivated afterwards. So only the 'selected' ndb is active for a short time
and afterwards _NO_ ndb is active

 

And that means: This is for single player ONLY!

In a multiplayer game every use of that script would (if implemented) set all ndb's offline instead of the one chosen by a player (using this script)

 

And now it's up to the devs (if they accept the challenge).

Make it possible to select a specific NDB...

[AEthelraedUnraed]

22 minutes ago, JG4_Deciman said:

Yes. it's indeed a nice work.

 

But watching the video quite surely shows, how this was realized...
The 'beacons' (NDB's) were activated by the script for a short time.
And deactivated afterwards. So only the 'selected' ndb is active for a short time
and afterwards _NO_ ndb is active

 

And that means: This is for single player ONLY!

In a multiplayer game every use of that script would (if implemented) set all ndb's offline instead of the one chosen by a player (using this script)

 

And now it's up to the devs (if they accept the challenge).

Make it possible to select a specific NDB...

Eh, there are no NDBs used whatsoever. Watch the video; you can see no movement on the radio direction finder (and there shouldn't be; direction finders weren't used for this)

 

However, you are correct that this mod is singleplayer only. As I already state in my opening post. But I don't think Nachtjagd really suits itself to multiplayer anyhow.

 

I do agree with the request though; it would be great if we could switch between several beacons.

[JG4_Deciman]

9 hours ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

Eh, there are no NDBs used whatsoever. Watch the video; you can see no movement on the radio direction finder (and there shouldn't be; direction finders weren't used for this)

 

 

Yes, you are right.

I posted into the wrong topic...

 

That was related to a different video, using the modified arty spotting sript for radio navigation with different beacons.

 

Deci

[ACG_Sods]

Nice!! looking forward to a beta release.

Good Job mate!!!

[AEthelraedUnraed]

The second proof of concept is complete: a working FuG 202 board radar!

 

This time, it not only features intercom messages but also a GUI. Although for reasons beyond my control, not all inputs work when the GUI is active. Flight controls work, but the throttle doesn't and neither does mouse or keyboard input. So if you want to do something there, you have to hide the GUI first. Or not show it in the first place, since the intercom messages are good enough to track the target without using the GUI. The other restrictions mentioned in my first post also still apply.

 

Left tube shows distance, middle tube shows azimuth (target is in the direction of the larger lobe), right tube shows altitude (same).

 

The angular response of the radar is based on the actual response of the FuG 202, and the terminology used is period-correct as far as I could find out.

 

 

A small update on the progress of the earlier ground radar guidance; I was able to solve most remaining issues, with the exception of a rarely occurring CTD when exiting the mission. But this seemed to be at least partly related to wrong mission scripting.

Edited February 26 by AEthelraedUnraed

[AEthelraedUnraed]

And of course there's no night operations without (the possibility for) runway lighting.

 

[Jaegermeister]

37 minutes ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

And of course there's no night operations without (the possibility for) runway lighting.

 

 

What have you done there?

[AEthelraedUnraed]

7 minutes ago, Jaegermeister said:

What have you done there?

Modified effects. It's basically the \graphics\effects\surf\hangarpointlight.epl effect, with its colour modified.

 

It doesn't look as good as the new Korea runway lights, especially from up close, but it's better than nothing.

[Jaegermeister]

3 hours ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

It doesn't look as good as the new Korea runway lights, especially from up close, but it's better than nothing.

 

And better than 6 or 8 spotlights crossing the runway. They had smaller runway lights on the concrete runways in England.

 

Now you have me wondering exactly how the runway lights were really used back then. Left on during operations, turned on briefly, etc 

 

 

Edited February 23 by Jaegermeister

[AEthelraedUnraed]

1 hour ago, Jaegermeister said:

And better than 6 or 8 spotlights crossing the runway.

Exactly. Which is what I had at first, but it just looks wrong.

 

1 hour ago, Jaegermeister said:

Now you have me wondering exactly how the runway lights were really used back then. Left on during operations, turned on briefly, etc 

From what I've learned during my research for the Nachtjagd campaign I'm writing, it seems that during the early war runway lights were turned on when friendly aircraft were expected to take off or land.

 

Later, when British bombers and night fighters started to deliberately attack Nachtjagd bases, runway lights were generally kept off during takeoff and landing procedures except in cases of emergency. If such was the case, the pilot could request runway lighting either by radio or, in urgent cases, by firing a red flare. That's what I plan to do for post-1941 missions.

[Jaegermeister]

1 hour ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

Exactly. Which is what I had at first, but it just looks wrong.

 

From what I've learned during my research for the Nachtjagd campaign I'm writing, it seems that during the early war runway lights were turned on when friendly aircraft were expected to take off or land.

 

Later, when British bombers and night fighters started to deliberately attack Nachtjagd bases, runway lights were generally kept off during takeoff and landing procedures except in cases of emergency. If such was the case, the pilot could request runway lighting either by radio or, in urgent cases, by firing a red flare. That's what I plan to do for post-1941 missions.

 

Sounds good, that's about what I have now too. Lights off at home base and navigating with the Lorenz signal, then requesting landing lights with a flare. In 1943 and 1944, both sides started attacking enemy bases at night and tactics changed around 

[AEthelraedUnraed]

On 2/23/2025 at 7:58 PM, Jaegermeister said:

navigating with the Lorenz signal

Well, this is the one big remaining gap in my plans. Although the AFN/2 indicator that was used for blind landing on Lorenz signals is implemented in the game (as is the Allied I-101C ILS indicator in the C-47), Lorenz functionality is not and these indicators are limited to ADF operations. I've experimented a bit with using large numbers of NDBs that I activate and de-activate depending on the position of the aircraft, but I've run into the following problems with that:

• They still function as ADF, meaning that the needle moves to the center if you turn your aircraft towards the active beacon, rather than if you get closer to the glidepath.
• NDB sources are only updated every ~4s, so if you activate a different beacon, it can take a while for the results to show.
• The altitude part of the indicator is almost impossible to get working correctly in this way. The blinking lights for the near and far beacons are entirely impossible.
• Even without the glideslope part, it requires excessively complex logic.

So that kinda rules out this method (@LukeFF I don't suppose the Devs are willing to have a look at Lorenz/ILS using the available instruments? If necessary I could provide them with documentation and even (pseudo-)code; having an MSc in Electrical Engineering, I should be qualified for that.)

 

The most obvious alternative, duplicating the AFN/2 as a flash widget similar to the FuG 202 widget a couple of posts back, also isn't a proper solution. As mentioned, much of the controls are disabled when the widget GUI is active, including the throttle and looking around with the mouse. While not being able to move your throttle is IMO acceptable for interceptions (note that it's also fully functional without the GUI, relying on intercom messages as is historically more correct), I don't think landing without throttle or gear/flap controls is a grand idea.

 

Unless I find a way to enable input while the GUI is active, this leaves a couple of possible solutions:

1. I can implement the audio version of Lorenz, which uses audible dots and dashes to indicate the position w.r.t. the horizontal glidepath. There's two problems with this: from some testing I've done with this system, it's very hard to use without proper exercise/training. Secondly, it doesn't provide any info about the vertical glideslope. Thirdly, AFAIK audible signals were already phased out in favour of the visual AFN/2 indicator by the time of this campaign, so it would be somewhat unhistorical. Although I suppose it would be possible to hear the signal regardless by tuning the radio to the Lorenz frequency.
2. I can implement a system with two ADF beacons, one 300m in front of the runway and the other 3000m out (i.e. the historical locations of the inner and outer beacons). Together with the runway heading, this should give enough information to find the runway based on instruments alone, although much more primitive than was in use back then. If you fly accurately enough, this should also properly show blinking lights if you pass over the beacons.
3. I could delegate the task to the virtual "Bordfunker" who then relays this over the intercom ("We're a bit too high"). Again, unhistorical.
4. I can skip the Lorenz system altogether and always use runway lights.

Does anyone have thoughts on this? Which of the options do you prefer? Can you think of other options?

Edited February 26 by AEthelraedUnraed

[AEthelraedUnraed]

54 minutes ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

Unless I find a way to enable input while the GUI is active, this leaves a couple of possible solutions:

Alright, never mind. This was actually much easier than I anticipated. Worked on my first educated guess. I will proceed with duplicating the AFN/2 as a flash widget. Although my offer of providing code to the Devs still stands, should they want to implement it on the actual instrument inside the cockpit (which would be absolutely historically correct for all nighttime missions on the Normandy and Bodenplatte maps).

Edited February 26 by AEthelraedUnraed

[AEthelraedUnraed]

And another video for the Lorenz widget. Blind landing on Lapino airfield using an AFN/2 indicator (top-left).

 

It works pretty well I think and captures the "kicking" behaviour of the AFN/2 really nicely

 

PS Don't think this makes blind landings easy. This was my 4th attempt, the first 3 being unsuccessful. Undoubtedly that's partly because I didn't bother to plug in my proper hardware or VR set, but still it's a lot of things you have to watch and that takes a bit of practice to properly do.

Edited February 28 by AEthelraedUnraed

[kraut1]

6 hours ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

And another video for the Lorenz widget. Blind landing on Lapino airfield using an AFN/2 indicator (top-left).

 

It works pretty well I think and captures the "kicking" behaviour of the AFN/2 really nicely

 

PS Don't think this makes blind landings easy. This was my 4th attempt, the first 3 being unsuccessful. Undoubtedly that's partly because I didn't bother to plug in my proper hardware or VR set, but still it's a lot of things you have to watch and that takes a bit of practice to properly do.

Hi, looks great!

Small question: for using this mod for e.g. 1942 ... early 1944 mission / campaign generation what do you think about an Rhineland map mod with a small part of the English East Coast at the North West corner of the map?

I myself am working currently on a EMG Mod for daylight late43 to 45 Germany (and east Netherlands) and for pre-Invasion missions I have created 2 English Dummy Airfields on Zuid Beveland.

But this is not a very good solution. My knowledge about surface editing is restricted to create a small smooth runway or to copy an airfield.

But as far as I know you have advanced knowledge in this topic. For the Landing / Take off from my experience the airfields have to have a minimum distance of ca. 8km to the map-borders.

 

[AEthelraedUnraed]

1 hour ago, kraut1 said:

Small question: for using this mod for e.g. 1942 ... early 1944 mission / campaign generation what do you think about an Rhineland map mod with a small part of the English East Coast at the North West corner of the map?

I myself am working currently on a EMG Mod for daylight late43 to 45 Germany (and east Netherlands) and for pre-Invasion missions I have created 2 English Dummy Airfields on Zuid Beveland.

But this is not a very good solution. My knowledge about surface editing is restricted to create a small smooth runway or to copy an airfield.

But as far as I know you have advanced knowledge in this topic. For the Landing / Take off from my experience the airfields have to have a minimum distance of ca. 8km to the map-borders.

Sadly, editing height maps is impossible* so there's no way to create land out of water. Depending on your use case, you can place a runway right on the water so that aircraft have somewhere to go to if they're damaged. Of course, they'll get killed if they land there but it means that at least the "RTB on damage" checkbox works. Which is what I do in my Nachtjagd campaign.

 

* More accurately, they're locked. Meaning that each edit has to be approved by the Devs themselves.

Edited February 28 by AEthelraedUnraed

[kraut1]

29 minutes ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

Sadly, editing height maps is impossible* so there's no way to create land out of water. Depending on your use case, you can place a runway right on the water so that aircraft have somewhere to go to if they're damaged. Of course, they'll get killed if they land there but it means that at least the "RTB on damage" checkbox works. Which is what I do in my Nachtjagd campaign.

 

* More accurately, they're locked. Meaning that each edit has to be approved by the Devs themselves.

Thanks for the info, my EMG Air Start Airfields in the North Sea are already working in this way, the planes are landing in the sea.

My dummy airfields on Zuid Beveland are intended for long range escort mission enthusiasts who maybe want to fly full escort missions into Germany.

 

[AEthelraedUnraed]

On 2/28/2025 at 12:49 AM, AEthelraedUnraed said:

It works pretty well I think and captures the "kicking" behaviour of the AFN/2 really nicely

Actually, it didn't

 

I've got a new LUT-based approach that approximates the actual behaviour of the needles, based largely on the excellent work presented in https://www.nonstopsystems.com/radio/hellschreiber-modes-other-hell-RadNav.htm and several of the sources cited there. Likewise, the received signal strength is based on the radiation patterns presented in these sources. I'm confident my implementation is now likely the most accurate representation of Lorenz ever made in a game; for certain it's more accurate than the similar mod for IL2 1946.

 

Oh, and before I forget, I also got the Lorenz audio working. Because of certain limitations beyond my control, there might be small but noticeable volume changes around the transition points between dots and dashes,* but otherwise it works wonderful. I haven't really tested it yet in a "real" blind landing, but in my testing mission it does look as if the audio alone is reliable enough to navigate without looking at the instrument at all. This frees up your eyes to concentrate on other important stuff such as the general orientation of your aircraft. I'm telling you; blind landing on Lorenz is a whole different ballgame from landing on ILS with your Garmin G2000 in MSFS. You feel vulnerable, and if it's possible to have one instrument less to worry about by letting your ears handle it, this seems like a really attractive option.

 

* For those interested, I use 1s audio files for dots and dashes, of which I change the volume according to their respective field strengths. However, I do not have accurate enough control over the timing that these audio files start (they may be 1 or 2 ms off). This causes a random phase difference, which in turn causes the two audio signals (dash and dot) to, worst case, cancel each other out during the cross-fade. Still, I think my current system offers the best trade-off between reliability, accuracy and artifacting so I'll stick with it.

Edited March 13 by AEthelraedUnraed

[AEthelraedUnraed]

I've had another late night programming spree, and I think I've got the final hurdle taken. This time, it's something that should be of general interest. I've succeeded in having a widget detect key presses while not limiting the sim rate to run at 1x, and then feedback these events to the game. In other words, I've basically implemented the "flare" trick to get user input, without the necessity to shoot flares and working map-wide.

- You fly the mission at x8 speed or whatever your PC can handle.

- Hold the Ctrl key for 2 seconds.

- This will trigger an event in the mission, which the mission builder can link to whatever he likes. E.g. start the radar script, or open another widget to select a radio beacon as @kraut1 does in this thread:

 

Note that this new widget uses some nasty hacks; e.g. I've had to purposely orphan its input loop, so that's why I've implement it as a secondary widget instead of combining its functionality with other widgets.

Edited March 13 by AEthelraedUnraed

[kraut1]

6 hours ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

I've had another late night programming spree, and I think I've got the final hurdle taken. This time, it's something that should be of general interest. I've succeeded in having a widget detect key presses while not limiting the sim rate to run at 1x, and then feedback these events to the game. In other words, I've basically implemented the "flare" trick to get user input, without the necessity to shoot flares and working map-wide.

- You fly the mission at x8 speed or whatever your PC can handle.

- Hold the Ctrl key for 2 seconds.

- This will trigger an event in the mission, which the mission builder can link to whatever he likes. E.g. start the radar script, or open another widget to select a radio beacon as @kraut1 does in this thread:

 

Note that this new widget uses some nasty hacks; e.g. I've had to purposely orphan its input loop, so that's why I've implement it as a secondary widget instead of combining its functionality with other widgets.

Interesting, which type of modification or additional external software to be used?

 

And a general question concerning the Lorenz system (I will not simulate this in detail):

in https://ww2.dk/lwairfields.html

I found frequently the words "visual Lorenz system".

What is meant with visual? It is a radio blind landing system as far as I understood.

 

[AEthelraedUnraed]

2 hours ago, kraut1 said:

Interesting, which type of modification or additional external software to be used?

It's a widget, which of course you need to download first. "Mods On" is not needed. This is the entire mission logic:

Right now, as you can see, I simply show a subtitle whenever it detects the key press, but of course that could be whatever other action you like.

 

2 hours ago, kraut1 said:

And a general question concerning the Lorenz system (I will not simulate this in detail):

in https://ww2.dk/lwairfields.html

I found frequently the words "visual Lorenz system".

What is meant with visual? It is a radio blind landing system as far as I understood.

Yeah I know the source, and I've wondered the same thing. I use the following source for Fliegerhorst Venlo (the main base in my upcoming Nachtjagd campaign): https://web.archive.org/web/20120619184500/http://fliegerhorstvenlo.webklik.nl/page/documentatie

It has the following:

Quote

93  Leuchtfeuerkette of Leitkette voor starts en landingen, verlichting

      op houten palen in het verlengde van de banen nr1 en nr3, opgesteld

      tot op circa 8 km van de vliegbasis en voorzien van drie rijen

      kunstmatige horizonnen (Aussen-Horizon, Haupt-Horizon,

      Start-Horizon).

"Leuchtfeuerkette or Leitkette for takeoffs and landings, lights on wooden posts in line with runways 1 and 3 up until around 8km from the airfield and consisting of three rows of artificial horizons (Aussen-Horizon, Haupt-Horizon, Start-Horizon)"

 

I think this is likely the "visual Lorenz system" of the other source; however it raises a couple of questions of its own. I find the phrasing "artificial horizons" strange; do they simply mean a row of lights perpendicular to the runway (so in line with the horizon, if you're on approach)? And are the "three rows" of these horizons the three rows marked on the map (which doesn't nearly extend to 8km), with a line of single lights extending to 8km? If the answer to both questions is "yes," it would make it very similar to modern approach lights.

Edited March 14 by AEthelraedUnraed

[AEthelraedUnraed]

@kraut1 You're going to like this! I was able to come up with a minimally intrusive system that allows you to change the radio beacon you're tuned into, whenever you want:

• Full time compression or even pause possible when flying.
• Hold the Ctrl key for 2 to 3 seconds to open the dialog you see in the bottom-right of the attached screenshot.
• Click whatever beacon you want to enable.
• After 1 to 5 seconds, the new beacon becomes active.
• Immediately after selecting a new beacon, time compression becomes possible again and you can hold the Ctrl key again to switch to a new beacon.

 

To download, click here:
Beacon_Chooser.zip

Included in the .zip file are the required flash extensions as well as a simple example mission with four beacons (A to D).

Edited March 16 by AEthelraedUnraed

[kraut1]

1 hour ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

@kraut1 You're going to like this! I was able to come up with a minimally intrusive system that allows you to change the radio beacon you're tuned into, whenever you want:

• Full time compression or even pause possible when flying.
• Hold the Ctrl key for 2 to 3 seconds to open the dialog you see in the bottom-right of the attached screenshot.
• Click whatever beacon you want to enable.
• After 1 to 5 seconds, the new beacon becomes active.
• Immediately after selecting a new beacon, time compression becomes possible again and you can hold the Ctrl key again to switch to a new beacon.

 

To download, click here:
Beacon_Chooser.zip

Included in the .zip file are the required flash extensions as well as a simple example mission with four beacons (A to D).

Thanks very much!

Works really good.

I will do some some further tests to learn how it works and I will think about how to combine with my system of radar zones and beacons.

Maybe I will change the radar zones to automatic activation.

[AEthelraedUnraed]

26 minutes ago, kraut1 said:

I will do some some further tests to learn how it works

On the mission editor side, it works as follows:

• Start by triggering the timer marked START.
• The key listener will now run. You should only have one key listener. You cannot stop it, not even by running a Media MCU with "Stop all media"; it will only stop once you end the mission.
• When the key listener detects you've held the Ctrl button for around 2 seconds, it will trigger the timer marked ON_KEYPRESS.
• This triggers the START timer of the beacon selection dialog.
• This will trigger the following:
  • STOPPED every time the dialog box is closed, even when the user didn't click any items.
  • SELECTED immediately after the user clicked one of the options.
  • A to N, corresponding to the user's choice, 500ms later.

So for switching radio beacons, all you need to do is:

• Link an OnMissionStart MCU to the START trigger.
• Link the SELECTED trigger to a Disable MCU linked to *all* beacons.
• Link the A to N buttons to Enable MCUs for the beacons corresponding to the options.

[kraut1]

11 hours ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

On the mission editor side, it works as follows:

• Start by triggering the timer marked START.
• The key listener will now run. You should only have one key listener. You cannot stop it, not even by running a Media MCU with "Stop all media"; it will only stop once you end the mission.
• When the key listener detects you've held the Ctrl button for around 2 seconds, it will trigger the timer marked ON_KEYPRESS.
• This triggers the START timer of the beacon selection dialog.
• This will trigger the following:
  • STOPPED every time the dialog box is closed, even when the user didn't click any items.
  • SELECTED immediately after the user clicked one of the options.
  • A to N, corresponding to the user's choice, 500ms later.

So for switching radio beacons, all you need to do is:

• Link an OnMissionStart MCU to the START trigger.
• Link the SELECTED trigger to a Disable MCU linked to *all* beacons.
• Link the A to N buttons to Enable MCUs for the beacons corresponding to the options.

Great!

For your information:

-Today I made a short prelimiary test:

  -I connected one of my radar zones (that are using AFN-2 too for heading to target) with "M"

  -because I had not enough time no clean design, so at mission begin my radar zone is active.

  -because of that I used "N" as an OFF switch.

 

I made 2 test flights:

I was able to switch OFF my radar and beacons with "N"

I was able to detect 2 times a low flying A20 with the radar zone with the help of the AFN-2 ("M".

 

So altogether seen:

-It will take much time for me to modify my whole Radar System, so no need to hurry.

-It is possible to combine the beacon selector with my primitive Radar workaround that uses AFN-2 too.

-Maybe one OFF switch would be helpful in general.

-Because your selector is from my point of view a Multi Purpose Radio frequency selector maybe in the Flash Script a more general wording e.g: channel or frquency instead of beacon?

-If possible maybe to increase ca. 20 available frequencies.

But as I said no need for for hurry and again thanks very much!

beaconchoice-v04-M_eq_-Radar-N_eq_OFF.zip

 

[AEthelraedUnraed]

On 3/17/2025 at 10:03 AM, kraut1 said:

-Maybe one OFF switch would be helpful in general.

-Because your selector is from my point of view a Multi Purpose Radio frequency selector maybe in the Flash Script a more general wording e.g: channel or frquency instead of beacon?

-If possible maybe to increase ca. 20 available frequencies.

Sadly, the amount of messages is limited by the game (OnFlashDialogAction00 to 15), so without an excessive amount of work, I cannot add more frequencies than there already are.

 

I agree with the other points. I've overhauled the system to be more radio-like. It now looks like the shortwave receiver of the FuG10 set, with a tunable frequency. The user can choose, in steps of 25kHz, any frequency between 4850 and 5200 kHz, with the mission designer determining what happens when the user tunes into that frequency. In the screenshot below, you can see that the selected frequency (in this case 5075 kHz) is indicated both by the chat on the left, and the radio widget on the right.

 

This is the mission logic needed to switch between beacons A and B, at respectively 5100 and 4950 kHz:

1. The START timer at the bottom shows the widget to the user, when triggered (e.g. by the KeyListener widget).
2. Using the Win+2 and Win+3 key combinations, the user selects a desired frequency.
3. If either the user closes the widget using Win+1 or the user hasn't changed the frequency for 1s, the FREQ_SELECTED timer at the top is triggered. This disables all beacons. Note that this automatically functions as an "off" switch if an "empty" frequency is selected.
4. After a delay of 250ms, the timer corresponding to the selected frequency is triggered. In case of the mentioned frequencies, this in turn activates the corresponding beacon.

Attached are the required widgets, as well as an example mission. I also updated the KeyListener widget because of a bug that made it fail when used together with some other widgets.
SwitchableBeacons.zip

[kraut1]

16 minutes ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

Sadly, the amount of messages is limited by the game (OnFlashDialogAction00 to 15), so without an excessive amount of work, I cannot add more frequencies than there already are.

 

I agree with the other points. I've overhauled the system to be more radio-like. It now looks like the shortwave receiver of the FuG10 set, with a tunable frequency. The user can choose, in steps of 25kHz, any frequency between 4850 and 5200 kHz, with the mission designer determining what happens when the user tunes into that frequency. In the screenshot below, you can see that the selected frequency (in this case 5075 kHz) is indicated both by the chat on the left, and the radio widget on the right.

 

This is the mission logic needed to switch between beacons A and B, at respectively 5100 and 4950 kHz:

1. The START timer at the bottom shows the widget to the user, when triggered (e.g. by the KeyListener widget).
2. Using the Win+2 and Win+3 key combinations, the user selects a desired frequency.
3. If either the user closes the widget using Win+1 or the user hasn't changed the frequency for 1s, the FREQ_SELECTED timer at the top is triggered. This disables all beacons. Note that this automatically functions as an "off" switch if an "empty" frequency is selected.
4. After a delay of 250ms, the timer corresponding to the selected frequency is triggered. In case of the mentioned frequencies, this in turn activates the corresponding beacon.

Attached are the required widgets, as well as an example mission. I also updated the KeyListener widget because of a bug that made it fail when used together with some other widgets.
SwitchableBeacons.zip

This looks really great!

Exactly this:

I had in my mind and without asking for it in detail you have already realized it!

I will test it and I think I will adapt my whole radar / radio system to it.

[kraut1]

@AEthelraedUnraed

-works well.

-easy to operate.

-looks great!

Thanks very much!

[kraut1]

Hi @AEthelraedUnraed,

I have modified / adapted my radar system to the FuG10 (status ca. 95%).

Here a small demo video:

Funkmess (Radar) System: 

-Grid positions of contacts. 

-Heading to enemy planes indicated on modified AFN-2 Radio Navigation Indicator. (Radar System Frequency 5200kHz) 

(the real AFN-2 was only for Radio Nav. to beacons. But I assume, that an additional function has been added) 

-Warnings during Combat by Wingmen (Frequency: 5150kHz) 

-Frequency: 5175kHz used only for OFF

-Radio Navigation Beacons (Funkfeuer) on frequencies from 4850kHz ... 5100kHz) 

Flight / 1945-03-15-Abfangeinsatz-Wi-Erbenheim-BF109-G14-v2Intercept Mission : 

-Note: the rough altitude was already displayed in mission briefing. During the flight you will get from time to time messages if the targets are flying (very)high or low.

00:20 display of radio [CTRL] (Radio Mod by AEthelraedUNraed) 

00:26 selection of frequency 5150kHz for communication with wingmen [LWin +3] = increased freq. [LWin + 2] decrease freq. 

00:40 selection of frequency 5200kHz for Funkmess-Jägerleitung (Radar Guidence) 

00:53 subtitle message of first contact with grid location) 

00:55 Take off 

00:58 Heading / approx. range to target displayed in modified AFN-2 (the real AFN-2 was only for Radio Nav. to beacons. But I assume, that an additional function has been added) 

-Note: the rough altitude was already displayed in mission briefing. 

02:23 next contact message to target 

03:28 US Bombers visible 

03:48 Additional Subtitle Message range to targets by Radar 

03:59 Subtitle Message by Wingmen that enemy plane are in ca. 5km distance 

04:15 Head On attack with further messages by wingmen ....Air Combat.... 

06:02 Retreat from combat... 

06:43 Selection of a Radio Navigation Beacon on the map (Grosser Feldberg / 4875kHz) 

07:03 selection of frequency of beacon Grosser Feldberg / 4875kHz 

08:40 Map used to calculate with ruler heading / range from Grosser Feldberg to next airfield Frankfurt Eschborn (145° / 14km) 

09:12 Beacon Grosser Feldberg reached. From there to Airfield with 145°. 

11:15 Landing

1945-03-15-Abfangeinsatz-Wi-Erbenheim-BF109-G14-v2.zip

 

I have used your FUG10 as it is, the only slight change that I added an additional "timer" for deactivation ALL.

 

For me the combined Radar / Navigation System is more or less completed (for Germany).

It was really much work and I will not do further major changes. Will be released soon after final tests done.

A later extension to the western parts of the map is possible by copying of the radar modules and renaming the grid messages.

 

 

 

[AEthelraedUnraed]

I've got some good news and bad news.

 

The good news is that I've got a really cool runway lighting effect now:

 

The bad news is that I've seem to have run into some kind of effects limit; if there are more than 32 lights in view, *all* visible light effects will just disappear. The lit-up parts on the ground will still show, but they're a lot less visible then the lights themselves. I can see why there would be such a limit, but nightfighting is otherwise not very taxing on the GPU so in this case it's rather counterproductive.

 

Is there anybody (perhaps @Regingrave knows at least some pointers?) who knows if:

- Is there a way to increase the permitted amount of effects in e.g. startup.cfg?

- Is there anything I can set in the .epl file or .txt file to keep the effect always visible?

- If not, is there anything I can do to at least keep at least the most important lights fully visible? I.e. have some lights disappear before the other ones.

[Stonehouse]

Not sure what epl or efx file equates to the light you are using but for what it is worth, in data\LuaScripts\WorldObjects\mapemitters and data\LuaScripts\WorldObjects\emitters there are text files which are used to control some of the effects that you can place with the editor. Within these you can specify image attributes as you can see below. This is an example from the Dynamic effects plus units mod. IA_ALWAYSVISIBLE does what you would expect although what you see is based on the LOD set up for the object. IE if you are further away than the object would normally render you see the most distant LOD version (as I understand things based on limited experience). 

 

FYI there was an old system used as well and basically the image attr was a number which you arrived at by adding the numbers shown after the attributes shown below. So if you wanted IA_NOMINZ and IA_ALWAYSVISIBLE the image attr was 136 (128+8). I believe this has been almost completely replaced by the new system of just using a list of attributes required as shown in the example below. Which makes a lot of sense as it is vastly easier for people in the dev team to maintain and understand at a glance.

 

Edited March 25 by Stonehouse