Some exciting news, well at least that is what I think :-)
It all began when I started writing the mission from Vancouver to Anchorage in GA when I decided to start and make some fixes and enhancements to the plugin, I mean after almost 8 month of Random Engine coding and tweaking, it is time to return to basics and enhance the plugin itself.
But.. When I started enhancing I also started tweaking the mission data file which leads to breaking changes... well not really since the plugin should be compatible with v300 missions, only the Random templates were modified in such away that they are not compatible, but for that there is a simple "find replace" list that should allow an easier transition from old to new format.
For the mission files, I strongly suggest to transition it too, I have not prepared a list of "find..replace" words but I hope to provide it in the designer guide appendixes.
So what is new
As of today, I have decided that messages should not just be a means to send a message, but they should have trigger like capabilities, meaning, messages should be able to:
- All messages are flagged as mx-pad messages, you can use labels and label colors.
- Call other messages ("next_msg") - this will allow to make a scripted conversation but without a player input.
- Change time at the end of the message ("set_day_hours" or "timelapse_to_local_hours" or "add_minutes" ) - you should be able to set the time in few ways but only one attribute will work.
"set_day_hours" allow you to set any day of the year, while the rest are limited in time. "timelapse" is limited to 24 hours and "add_minutes" to 4 hours. - Inject METAR file ("inject_metar_file") - A simple way to inject a custom metar file at the end of the message.
- Call a script ("post_script") - This has not been tested yet, but you should be able to auto execute a script or scriplet at the end of a message broadcast (after the time to display it has passed), it won't occur while the message is broadcasting.
It is important to be aware that the script scope is very narrow, it will probably won't know which "flight leg" you are in let alone an objective or task. This is still not fully tested so the limits are currently not knows, I might need to add a few functions to allow manipulation from QMM scope.
I think for a mission designer these capabilities should be useful since he/she:
- won't need to write a single code to create a dialog like messages and
- It would be easier to fit the message to the mxpad, we could split long ones to 2 messages and just call the second after the first one.
- It will allow to make certain actions at specific moments an easy task.
- Decrease the need for long or complex code in such cases (oh, I already mentioned that, so see the first reason).
I really hope to publish the first beta soon.
Here are some snippets I picked from my mission:
If you think there are other enhancements to add to to our messages, please send me an e-mail: "[email protected]".
Until next time
Blue Skys
Saar