Tyrant's Virtual Missions Tools Q&A

Post by **Tyrant** » Sat Jun 29, 2019 12:48 pm

Work still progressing. Cloud cover and towering cumulus implemented. The little "hats" on the circles indicate towering cumulus.

: Screen Shot 2019-06-29 at 8.46.36 AM.png (23.55 KiB) Viewed 10910 times

: Screen Shot 2019-06-29 at 8.46.44 AM.png (838.84 KiB) Viewed 10910 times

Post by **Zeus** » Sat Jun 29, 2019 12:51 pm

Wow! Looking great!!

Post by **Tyrant** » Tue Jul 02, 2019 10:51 am

Update: just found a bad bug in this version. Do not use - can crash BMS when loading the generated weather.

OK, I believe VMT is now at beta status. This means that everything's done but there are still a couple minor bugs that I know about and I expect to find more. As always, you can download this version from the "dev" channel here:

http://org.craigandera.vmt.s3-website-u ... s.com/dev/

It would really help me out to have people trying this to see how it works for them, and to report bugs here.

The big thing that changed in this release is the weather. VMT now generates weather that varies across the map in the following categories:

- Visibility
- Weather Type
- Cloud coverage
- Cloud size
- Cloud base
- Cumulus towering
- Winds both at ground level and aloft
- Temperature
- Pressure

There are knobs for controlling all these, so you can influence the range

I've also removed "wind stability areas" rolled it into an overhauled "weather overrides" feature. You can now control any weather parameter, not just wind and weather type, setting it to change to whatever you like and havnig it fade in/out for a more gentle transition. Want to create a wind sheer layer at 9000 feet? You can do that. Want to have cumulus clouds start towering up around home plate on return? You can do that too. Etc.

What's left:

- Fix a bug where sometimes changes to weather parameters don't trigger an update in the displayed weather.
- Write all the missing help strings.

Enjoy!

Post by **Tyrant** » Tue Jul 02, 2019 12:55 pm

Unfortunately, I just found a bad bug in this version. Using the generated weather can crash BMS. I'll get it fixed. Hopefully no one is affected. This is what beta is for, though!

Post by **Tyrant** » Tue Jul 02, 2019 1:00 pm

I'm going to leave this version posted so people can still look at the features and (if so inclined) find bugs in VMT itself. Just don't save the weather and try to fly a mission with it.

Post by **Tyrant** » Wed Jul 03, 2019 7:51 pm

OK, this time for real! v058-19 now available on the dev channel.

http://org.craigandera.vmt.s3-website-u ... s.com/dev/

This is another beta release, but I fixed a bunch of bugs, including a few nasty ones I found when testing out the fixes for the last batch. I also added the ability to override temperature and visibility, since it was easy and it was an obvious omission.

Please have a try if you feel so inclined. Hopefully a full release will follow before too long, but I'm hoping some of you will help me find a few more bugs before that happens.

Post by **Tyrant** » Thu Dec 31, 2020 5:13 pm

I've got a version of VMT that I think will work with 4.35. Will be posting it before too long.

Post by **Tyrant** » Thu Dec 31, 2020 6:13 pm

Available here:

http://org.craigandera.vmt.s3-website-u ... /435-beta/

Would love it if people could give it a test drive and report any problems they find. This time, unlike with the 4.34 version, I promise I will finish the updates and post to the stable channel once we're happy with it.

Welp, I guess now I have to get my 4.35 setup flyable so I can make sure the generated weather works.

Post by **Tyrant** » Sun Jan 10, 2021 3:43 pm

New version up that should work with Balkans and ITO. It's still a beta version because the workaround for Balkans and ITO is a temporary hack that I need to find a better way to handle. But in the meantime, here's something that should work.

http://org.craigandera.vmt.s3-website-u ... /435-beta/

Post by **Tyrant** » Sun Jan 17, 2021 1:42 pm

New version. No user-visible changes - all that's different is that I was able to remove the workaround I had in place for Balkans and ITO and replace it with something correct.

http://org.craigandera.vmt.s3-website-u ... /435-beta/

Someone on the BMS forum is reporting that there's an issue with VMT-generated TWX files. I'm not clear on the details, but it's the only issue I'm aware of at this point. I'll try to get clarification. If it's a bug, I'll fix it and get a GA version out. If it's not a bug then this version can go GA. Would love to get this sorted and off my plate in the next couple of weeks.

Post by **Zeus** » Sun Jan 17, 2021 2:18 pm

Tyrant wrote: ↑
Sun Jan 17, 2021 1:42 pm
New version. No user-visible changes - all that's different is that I was able to remove the workaround I had in place for Balkans and ITO and replace it with something correct.

http://org.craigandera.vmt.s3-website-u ... /435-beta/

Someone on the BMS forum is reporting that there's an issue with VMT-generated TWX files. I'm not clear on the details, but it's the only issue I'm aware of at this point. I'll try to get clarification. If it's a bug, I'll fix it and get a GA version out. If it's not a bug then this version can go GA. Would love to get this sorted and off my plate in the next couple of weeks.

I looked at his "bug report" and I can't possibly see how that would be TWX / FMAP related. I'll download latest and test this week.

Post by **Tyrant** » Sun Jan 17, 2021 2:25 pm

Zeus wrote: ↑
Sun Jan 17, 2021 2:18 pm
I looked at his "bug report" and I can't possibly see how that would be TWX / FMAP related. I'll download latest and test this week.

Thanks I was a bit confused too. Definitely appreciate bug reports but I will admit I'll be happy if it turns out to be a false alarm.

I did have to make a change around how TWX files get generated. The 4.35 format is way more complicated for me to deal with. So I won't be terribly surprised if something is amiss.

Post by **Tyrant** » Tue Jan 26, 2021 2:09 pm

Given that I have not heard any more about issues with the TWX, and in the absence of any other bug reports, I've made the changes for 4.35 available on the stable channel (the main release channel).

http://org.craigandera.vmt.s3-website-u ... om/stable/

This release is identical to the 4.35 beta previously posted.

Post by **Tyrant** » Mon Mar 08, 2021 4:12 am

v062 available at the usual place:

vmt

A couple of bug fixes for some fairly serious issues. Thanks to suhkoi69 and gundam over at the BMS forums for reporting them.

Post by **Tyrant** » Thu Apr 08, 2021 1:52 pm

v063 available at https://440thvfw.com/vmt. Bugfix for PPT icons sometimes disappearing.

Also of note: 32-bit versions are no longer available, as I can't get them to build any more. Hopefully here in 2021 that's not a problem for anyone.

Post by **Zeus** » Fri Apr 09, 2021 1:18 am

Tyrant wrote: ↑
Thu Apr 08, 2021 1:52 pm
v063 available at https://440thvfw.com/vmt. Bugfix for PPT icons sometimes disappearing.

Also of note: 32-bit versions are no longer available, as I can't get them to build any more. Hopefully here in 2021 that's not a problem for anyone.

Thanks Tyrant - and I would hope we are all running 64 bit at this point.

Post by **Tyrant** » Sun Jul 18, 2021 11:07 am

Carved out a bit of time to try to work on the list of bugs people have reported. Found a couple that were preventing missions from Kuwait and Polar Vortex from loading. Those should work now. There's still a bug where some of the flags won't load in Polar Vortex so for now I'm publishing on the dev channel. I'll spend more time later tracking it down. In the meantime, here's the build dev v063-5 if anyone wants to use it:

http://org.craigandera.vmt.s3-website-u ... s.com/dev/

CheckPoint · Post by **CheckPoint** » Sun Jul 03, 2022 11:46 am

Hi Tyrant,

Are you planning a VMT update for BMS 4.36 ?

I was pleased to use it back on BMS 4.35.

Regards, CheckPoint

Post by **Tyrant** » Sun Jul 03, 2022 12:53 pm

Does it work? I haven't used BMS myself since 4.34. I would be willing to get it up-to-date for 4.36 if changes are needed, although the one big question mark is whether my flight sim computer still works...I don't run Windows except on that one machine, which has been sitting in a corner under a pile of stuff since moving my office a few months ago.

I'm guessing it doesn't work or you wouldn't have asked, but just want to make sure changes are needed before I start excavation.

CheckPoint · Post by **CheckPoint** » Thu Jul 07, 2022 9:36 pm

Yes it worked well with 4.35, but no longer with 4.36. Gap in the database I suppose.

Regards

Post by **Tyrant** » Fri Jul 08, 2022 11:32 am

Yeah, database changes are what break it every time there's a new version.

OK, I will carve out some time to update it in the coming weeks. Hopefully the changes are minor. Thanks for the report.

Post by **Tyrant** » Sun Jan 29, 2023 1:05 pm

Six months having passed since 4.37 and me not having finished it, I came to the realization that I'm not going to. I posted this over on the BMS forum.

---------------

Hi guys. Sorry for the lack of update. Started coaching my daughter’s robotics team, and that has taken up a huge amount of my time (but is also very fun).

That said, I think the real reason that I haven’t worked on it is that I am totally burned out on it. I did get some help from someone with the file formats - which was super awesome - but it’s still incredibly tedious and every time I went to go work on it I just felt like I wanted to be doing anything else.

I feel terrible about this, but I think the reality is that I’m going to stop supporting VMT. It has just become actively unpleasant for me to work on, and much as I want to provide it for y’all, it has gotten to the point where it just doesn’t make sense for me to spend my spare time this way.

Apologies again, and also for not coming to this realization sooner and letting you know.

Post by **Derk** » Mon Jan 30, 2023 6:00 am

Thanks for the update Tyrant. I can imagine chasing all the updates was a challenge. Thanks for the support and effort you have put into this helpful tool.

Post by **Nick** » Mon Jan 30, 2023 4:33 pm

Thank you Tyrant for your huge commitment. I completely understand what you mean and how you feel. Don't worry, you have made the right decision for yourself. The tool is / was fantastic. BIG THANK YOU!

Post by **Tyrant** » Tue Jan 31, 2023 1:08 pm

Hey thanks guys - very kind of you to say so.

Stay well.

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