Some crazy ideas?

[Ali Cat]

Rami’s thread on "I forgot how much fun driving a bus can be... " made me think of something that popped into my head a while back. In the quiet moments away from my current project I can’t help but wonder what is next. One idea, and there are many, is could a gauge be made for Lorenz type navigation. I know enough now about gauges that I am convinced it could be faked in code. It is of course a no brainer to detect the direction of a given NDB. The problem is, to make it act like a Lorenz signal, it should be pointed at something. Worst case some value could be passed from the gauge in the panel.cfg file via the very last and usually unused argument. The down side of this approach of course is that for every different target the panel.cfg would have to be edited. There is another possibility but it’s a way out one. Some things I’ve seen in the SDK makes me think it might be possible to detect what mission is being flown. If, and I strongly emphasize the "if", then the gauge could read an ini type file to retrieve the target.

Such thoughts though bring up a more fundamental question - a question that needs to be answered first. I suspect the answer is no but here it is. Can something be done in SCASM/bgl where I could read the target (a vector – a line) directly?
　
AC

[bearcat241]

Well, as the Lorenz beam system was initially a blind-landing aid which later evolved into a bombing aid, you only have two options in the existing CFS2 hard code to piggyback on: GPS or NDB. You could just make it to mimic the NDB coding already in use. As a nav/landing aid, you'll have about a 20 to 25 mile radius on the signal, which seems realistic enough in imitating NDB.

However, using a GPS mimic, you'll have a greater range to work with. The problem with both as i see it is that currently NDB and GPS are only used as a nav/landing aid for stock and add-on airbases and not city or infrastructure locations, since CFS2 has no default cities out of the box and all inf targets are third party add-ons. So, to use it as a bombing aid, someone building cities like Gius for example would need to attach an NDB signal bgl to accompany the new city bgl. The same method could be used in the case of an example like Ettico's Eurotargets.

Or, after building the actual gauge, you or someone you work with could create radio signal bgl's for select targets and locations already created by the community and include these bgl's in the final gauge package.

Just brainstormin' and thinkin' out loud here.... :iidea:

[Ali Cat]

Me too BC - just thinking out loud. Yea, I was thinking of a bombing run. But too, at the end of a mission, landing IFR till the last 50 or 100 feet. Seems like it's something that might be worth doing.

The funny thing is (jeez - more irony?) that I have no interest in panels or gauges. But something which has not been done - well now that gets my blood up.


AC

[Ali Cat]

The Ju52 panel, as far as I expected to take it is pretty much finished. The ADF as I hoped was very easy to fix. The last issue is that when testing the gauges with a clean CFS2 install an annoying little bug has popped up with the Sperry Autopilot. You can’t change the AP heading until the AP heading lock is engaged - pretty annoying.

And I can’t believe it but I just have to go a bit farther. The radio/nav popup is just too cool looking so I’m going to add it. This will slow me down by a week or two but how can I not?
　
On a more somber note Simonu knows me as (my once e-mail) "samandfourcats". Well I guess it’s now three as my gal’s favorite one died this morning - feline leukemia. It seems almost silly to mention it. My gal "Lori" has sucked down some wine and now Zanexed she’s gone to this world. The cat, her name was "Lucy" is now buried in a flower bed of mine.

Sometime ago I read a WWII story where a comrade had been killed, but not being doctors, they waited until he got stiff. I did the same with Lucy even though I knew it was over. There are some tears here at the "AC" household but we are OK. It makes you think/feel of many things but not the least of which is that for those who go in harms way. I have never been a supporter of the Iraq war and with Afganistan I have many questions. But for those who did there duty I have only words of praise.
　
AC