Mission-X v3.0.224x is nearing its final phases. Most of the features and changes were implemented and tested, there will be always something to tweak or make better but lets take a short look on the changes that will be in this build:
- Shift the mission build from: "goal->objectives->tasks" to "flight leg=>objectives=>tasks".
This might look as a simple shift but I think it make more sense and make building the mission less "dramatic". - Multiple "everything" (well sort off).
You can create multiple <flight_plan>, <objectives>, <triggers> and <message_templates> elements. This should make it much easier to design your mission file as a set of flight legs with all its elements grouped together (not in the same element. see my previous rant on this matter). - Plugin is backwards compatible with v300 mission files (but I suggest to convert to the new element/attributes naming).
- Renamed all "goal" elements attributes to be flight "leg" centric (I hope I have not missed anything).
- Templates have been converted to the new element names.
- Documentation were modified according to the new changes.
- Renamed few of the attributes to represent better their meaning.
- Done some UI tweaking:
- Removed the 3rd party UI library. I'll stick with the generic one and I hope to extend it in the near future.
- Done some VR UI modifications so it should be easier to read the different descriptions without them being cropping.
The drawback is that now the VR window is bigger. - In random missions, You should be able to see a short description of the template before you generate the mission file (if it was implemented) and after mission file has been created you should see a snippet of the briefer information.
- Fixed some bugs in the Random Mission engine.
- Time: when setting time it is always calculated as local time (global_settings).
- Enhanced messages: I have ranted about it on other blog post, but I would like to emphasize that it should be easier to create multiple messages to fit into the "MX-pad" or just to create some kind of a dialog. You can also set the time, inject metar file or call a script when message ends.
These enhancements can greatly decrease the amount of code you need to do to achieve the same. - Added embedded functions to handle the new "time-lapse" and "inject metar" capabilities.
I suggest to first try and use the feature as part of a "message" instead of writing the same in a script. - Wrote a simple perl script to convert metar files to x-plane metar format.
Any modification to the script will be welcome and I'll publish it on other page.
These might seem like a short list, but much work was purred into it and I'm happy to reach this state of the plugin where I hope to publish it soon with the second year of version 3x.
The only thing that prevent me from publishing this build is the new mission that I'm working on and helps me test the plugin too.
Until next time
Have great simming
Saar