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Computer Flight Simulators > Calling all software developers

slow
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Location: San Diego, CA

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After a few weeks of hard work, I can finally announce the birth of a new simulator that will be available for free. The simulator has a graphics-quality nearly matching the commercial simulators and more and more features are being added as well as making the code more user-friendly.

This is the initial announcement, so the product is _not_ ready for end users. This is to attract attention to it in the hope that some of the programmers out there would be willing to give me a hand in moving this product closer to a 1.0 version.

You can find some more information about it here: http://rcfs.sourceforge.net/
There is also a link to the sourceforge project-page on that page.

So, please help me bring a free high-quality simulator to the masses!

PM me here if you can contribute to this project in any way.

/James

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04-05-2005 Over year old.

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Nasscar][
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Location: Delaware

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Game Console Compability

Is it possible to port this simulator to the XBOX.

There are many PC games that are ported over to the XBOX.

This would attract many of my friends to try and learn to fly Heli's.

04-05-2005 Over year old.

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slow
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Location: San Diego, CA

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Should be a simple task for someone thats a registered XBox developer with Microsoft and has access to the "XDK".. Also, we would need to pay Microsoft to get it crypto-signed.. But, yea, there's nothing in the code preventing a port..

/James

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bit64
Heliman
Location: Redmond, WA

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I too am working on a RC flight simulator

Your screenshot(?) looks very nice. Unfortunately I cannot help with your code, because of licence issues and such, but I wish you luck in your endeavors.

Also, I have an XDK, and porting is easy. What is not easy, unfortunately, is getting approved for an XDK.

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/dev/naregdev.htm

Of course, publishing to the XBOX would also mean that you could not give your software away for free. (Unless you are incredibly wealthy and want to fund the publishing yourself)

At any rate, good luck and keep us informed.

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bit64
Heliman
Location: Redmond, WA

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Is it legal to use the Reflex .mod file format?

Edit:

Just checked this out, and yes you could wind up in court over this. Same as the GIF file format copyrighted by Compuserve. If you plan on using the file format in a product that is similiar to the application from which you took the format, then you could be held liable for international copyright infringement.

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raptorddd
Senior Heliman
Location: pomona ca

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its looking good
when its it going to be available to download

04-06-2005 Over year old.

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Drunk Monk
rrProfessor
Location: Preston, UK

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Looking good, and I like where it says it'll work on OSX. Bout time somebody did that

Stephen

I only open my mouth to change feet.....

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hvrbyte
Heliman
Location: Vancouver, BC

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Hmm, I think i'll take a look at this.

Unfortunately, I don't have any experience with OpenGL, although I do develop multi platform software products for a living.

Getting it to display nice fance graphics is easy (well, relatively easy), but getting it to fly the right way with a decent flight model is going to be by far the most difficult thing.

Where are you hoping to get the flight dynamics and physics models from?

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slow
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Location: San Diego, CA

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hvrbyte

Glad to hear it!

The OpenGL part is more or less finished when we're talking about the 3D graphics. What I'll add to it is just a particle-system for the exhaust-smoke.

What I could need help with from a guy like you is the windows-port.
That would involve writing an Audio-in (and later on Audio-out) module for the sim, and adding the sections in the makefile for VC++ or whatever compiler you're using.

That should get it up and running on windows enough for people working on the other parts of the code to be able to use it.

The physics right now is purely newtonian, treating the heli as a single object. I'll keep working on that part myself, getting torque and a non-centered CG into the picture.
With regards to the aerodynamics part, you've got me there.
I dont have the skills to do that myself, but I have a lead on two other people that does. If they're not interested, I'll hit the books..

All the code is available from sourceforge via CVS. Just do a checkout and look it over. When you feel that you've got some code, contact me, and I'll give you write-access to the CVS.

/James

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ptarp
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Location: IL

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I am VERY interested in helping out with this. I have been an amateur game programmer since I was in the 7th grade. I am now one term away from graduating with a BS in CS

I have experience in DirectX (graphics, sound, network, input devices, etc), Win32, COM, .NET, MFC, but very limited OpenGL. I do have a book on OpenGL, so I guess its time to crack it

That being said, I'm not very experienced in working with groups, so this could be a great opportunity for me to get some "real-world" dev experience.

Philip

04-07-2005 Over year old.

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slow
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Location: San Diego, CA

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Excellent.

The first thing you'll need to do is to download the source-code.
It's all in CVS, so you'll need something like WinCVS to get to it. If you arent familiar with CVS, there are instructions on sourceforges help-pages.

What needs to be done right now is the port to windows, as I mentioned earlier. That would involve writing a module for RCFS that samples data from audio-in and hands it off to the rest of the software.
Also, some changes (or a separate) to the makefile will be required to get it compiling under Windows.
All the code is written with portability in mind, so I dont think you will have any issues with that.

Let me know when you've gotten the source downloaded from the sourceforge CVS servers, and I'll walk you through it if you need it.

/James

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ptarp
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Location: IL

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Yeah, I'm downloading WinCVS now...

Philip

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hvrbyte
Heliman
Location: Vancouver, BC

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Ok, I have it building on Windows using Visual Studio.NET 2003.

Now I just need to find a model and terain to use, since it keeps on quiting because of model issues (well, one specific model issue, I don't have a model).

It turned out to be less work than I expected, just needed to make some minor tweaks to the code for some of the OpenGL differences.

The GLUT headers also need to be modified due to an incompatibility with the VS.NET version of windows.h

Of course, I could not get WinCVS to actually pull the code from sourceforge, but at least I have my trusty Ubuntu Linux box to help me out.

I'll see if I can generate a patch set and send it to you, after I can get it to compile using a makefile.

One question, how do you interface it to your radio/joystick/wierd-input-device?

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Dan C
Senior Heliman
Location: Barnsley, Yorkshire

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I design embedded systems and associated electronics so if you need a body to work on a Tx to USB interface I would be happy to help out

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Dan C
Senior Heliman
Location: Barnsley, Yorkshire

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I didn't know that I wasn't allowed to give any information on how a USB connection worked. Just as well you stopped me as I would have given all information away and been in BIG trouble.

Thanks for stopping me

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hvrbyte
Heliman
Location: Vancouver, BC

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Dan C & sskogen

That was pretty funny though.

04-08-2005 Over year old.

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slow
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Location: San Diego, CA

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Play nice now guys...

Yes, the TX is connected to the audio-in port of your computer.
For a "round-plug" Futaba/Hitec, that would be a 6pin DIN to 3.5mm mono plug.
Pin2 on the DIN to the tip of the 3.5mm plug
Ground on the DIN to the ground on the 3.5mm plug

For a JR, you'll need a 3.5mm mono to 3.5mm mono plug.
Tip to Tip and Ground to Ground.
(For the 9x and 9303, you might need a 5.6Kohm resistor between tip and ground to put some load on the TX)

Oh, and there is a bug in the PPM decoding that I noticed yesterday. Still trying to figure it out, but will probably have it cracked by tonight. I'll submit it to CVS as soon as I'm done.
(It works on my Hitec Eclipse7, and probably most 8ch (or less) Futaba radios, but it absolutely puked all over the PPM from my JR 10X)

/James

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future3dmaster
Senior Heliman
Location: Telford UK

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so guys
are you making it so it can be used with reflex xtr scenes?
or is it scenes that work in a similar manner but not the same?
what you guys are doing is great, a fab free sim. have to add it to the list in my gallery cant wait to see
what reflex/realflight do when this comes out!
remember; keep it freeware!

www.aharper.tk

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slow
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Location: San Diego, CA

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Yep, it will work with the bitmaps from XTR, althoug the bitmaps from XTR are copyrighted, so you'll haveto own a copy of XTR to be able to use them legally.
I will personally go out and photograph my own field to include in the sim, and hope that others will do the same.

I (personally) hope that this will be a kick in the butt for at least Reflex. When we will get done we will have a sim with equal graphics quality, but more compatability.
The only thing they have left to sell on then would be:
* Working support-apparatus for their product
* _Much_ more realistic physics and aerodynamics

Either of those things would be a good thing. I dont see any loosers in this, apart from Reflex/Realflight, who actually will haveto get going on fixing some of their issues.

Either way, I get what I want.. A simulator that works on Macintosh (because thats what _I'm_ using), that's free, and also looks good.

And, yes, RCFS (or whatever it'll be renamed to) will always be free. The license the code is under guarantee that.

/James

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future3dmaster
Senior Heliman
Location: Telford UK

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will it work on pc's too?

www.aharper.tk

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Computer Flight Simulators > Calling all software developers

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