Are missions possible in P3D?

[Navy Chief]

I never even looked to see if missions are even part of P3D. But if so, (and this question applies to FSX as well) if the mission default aircraft is changed, how is the mission affected, other than not being able to achieve any award?

I downloaded (somewhere!) a text file on how to change aircraft in FSX missions recently. I assume the process would be the same for P3D? And if applicable, is it the same for V2? Thanks all. NC

[Dino Cattaneo]

Missions in P3D have (apparently) lost some of their gaming flavor...and they are basically "categorized" as "Scenarios".
Beta 4 included some missions from FSX... but they are just a few and I have not played them.
Importing FSX mission files in P3Dv2 did not seem to work - I got error messages, but I have only tried once and I am not sure I was missing something or what.

The BIG news is Sim Director: I have not used it much, but seem a very very nice method of creating "Scenarios". Using that tool I experience some crashes (but hey, it's a Beta)... but it seems really good. Especially to create tutorials and traning flights. Professional Plus version apparently has support for AI behaviour like aggressor planes, bombers etc. (again, not tested).

Anyway, this is a big feature of P3Dv2.

http://www.prepar3d.com/news/2013/10/4561/

[JimmyRFR]

Professional Plus version apparently has support for AI behaviour like aggressor planes, bombers etc. (again, not tested).


Holy crap. That's big stuff. I've spent the last few weeks working on an application that inserts and controls aggressor / adversary AI aircraft for FSX, mainly with the goal of having something to use TacPack with / against. I've ran into many issues of course; the biggest being the need to actually control every bit of AI movement in order to make it an aggressor, as of course the built in AI system is good for little more than coding a target drone. The issue then is that you need to code a believable flight model for the AI, and that's on top of coding proper behavior routines so that it does more than just loop in a tight circle trying to chase you.

My proof of concept app had the AI chasing the user via the built in AI; was kinda neat to sit there in slew mode and all of a sudden have an F/A-18 come screaming overhead. I also had in my proof of concept a dynamic peaceful intercept target AI that would require the user to intercept and pull alongside within a certain distance, at which point the AI would then break from their current heading and 'head home'.

Makes me wonder if there'll be hooks into the AI system via the SDK that we can play with without having the Pro+ license.

[Navy Chief]

Thanks for the information! Maybe someday there'll be a way to add Aggressors, bombers, etc... into the Non-Plus versions. No way I can afford the $2300 price tag, and don't want the $20 per month plan either:(

[Dino Cattaneo]

...well, I did not want to "drop a bomb" on a feature I have not tested... so I'll try to give it a go tonight (if I can... the Beta 4 seems to crash on my system when I use the Sim Director - again, it is a Beta).
Anyway, the Pro-Plus version comes with lo-res, AI-only version of several military aicrafts (I remember F-14 and F-15), some drones and US/NATO weaponry (Sidewinders, slammers, Jdams) ... all of which sounds cool. But, again, I believe the Professional Plus version is surely not intended for "us" - and I am not talking about the licence, rather than the way the military features are implemented.

Anyway, I will make a very quick test to look at the options of the Professional Plus version for you to have a look while I have access to its features - I am not spending $2300, and I can't stand monthly fees on my credit card.

[JimmyRFR]

...well, I did not want to "drop a bomb" on a feature I have not tested... so I'll try to give it a go tonight (if I can... the Beta 4 seems to crash on my system when I use the Sim Director - again, it is a Beta).
Anyway, the Pro-Plus version comes with lo-res, AI-only version of several military aicrafts (I remember F-14 and F-15), some drones and US/NATO weaponry (Sidewinders, slammers, Jdams) ... all of which sounds cool. But, again, I believe the Professional Plus version is surely not intended for "us" - and I am not talking about the licence, rather than the way the military features are implemented.

Anyway, I will make a very quick test to look at the options of the Professional Plus version for you to have a look while I have access to its features - I am not spending $2300, and I can't stand monthly fees on my credit card.

Very much appreciated that you'll take a look at it again. It would likely be hoping too much that the underlying SDK that makes the Professional Plus version what it is, is accessible outside of that version & license. Perhaps the fact that they have aggressor AI working in that version might even mean that they've changed overall AI behavior to allow for a greater range of simulation controlled movement (tighter turns, etc) that what was possible in FSX/ESP.

I'm not about to spend $2300 either, and although I'm interested in these features as an actual developer, I don't know if I could handle the $20.00 a month fee to develop anything that I would have no customer base for, since any resulting products would be tied to that license.

If however, even a little bit of the underlying functionality is exposed in the regular version, that's a different story!

[Navy Chief]

I am most appreciative of all the modifications proposed for a sim I don't even have installed on my computer yet! Thanks to Dino and everyone involved in this. It all serves to make a great sim experience even better.

NC

[Dino Cattaneo]

Ok, I had a look...and planned to post some screenshots too... but the motherboard of my FSX computer failed :-(

Anyway - I can confirm that the Professional Plus Beta version features a number of Military-related AI objects: F-14, F-15, F-16, F/A-18 for sure... and ordnance (AIM-9, AIM-120, GBU-31, MK.82 and Mk.83 for sure - by "for sure" I am 100% sure I saw them before the whole thing failed). Also, there are some drones as (armed) flyable objects.
You can assign AI behaviours to the aicrafts, and then assign AI Behaviour subgroups like CAP, Strike etc. (and an object "relation" - not sure if this is the target, the ally or what). AGGRESSOR was not there.

It is not clear to me what the system can or cannot do - and definitely I am not a Mission Designer guy... so, I'll stop providing opinions where I cannot confirm facts. Back to work on the PC and see if I can fix it!

[Dino Cattaneo]

Ok, apparently, the CPU fan was dirty... and after a good cleaning it is doing is cooling job again. Very well.... so here is just a single screenshot... AIBehavior list has Attacker, CloseAirSupport, CombatAirPatrol, SearchTrack and WingmanFormation options for the aircrafts...other entities have different behaviors each behavior has its own set of parameters... and then...I am out. It gets too complex for the time I have, but the system looks very flexible and full of options. I should also add that SimDirector will be also present in the "lesser" versions of P3Dv2, albeit it may lack some of the functions you can see here... My impression is that, in the hands of good mission designers, this thing can do wonders.

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[Lionheart]

Pretty cool how they have really advanced that with an editor. Endless missions will be available now for us to create.

[JimmyRFR]

Dino, thanks for the descriptions you've provided and for the screenshot. Very interesting stuff, to be sure. I might have to sign up for a dev sub for the Pro Plus version for a month or two, just to take a peek at how all the AI behavior stuff works; it has me extremely intrigued to say the least.