YSFlight 20170314 Test Version (UPDATED)

[flyer17]

i dont know why but in my pc the airplanes on the map preview looks so weird glitched

because i say that i prefer the another version
and the shadows .....

[Grigor]

I agree with all this. With respect to Mr Soji, there are so many simple things he could have done, but didn't, to improve the game, and so many things he added that we don't want or need. I'm still using fsmaindx.exe in version 20120701 - everything after that has been either too slow or lacking certain essentials. (My main beef is that the ground shadows of airplanes vanish once they get to "coarse" range. For me that's a game changer, so to speak). Also with the new features of SRF objects one can only use Polygon Crest, which again is way too slow and clunky...

The point: maybe someone should make a whole new game engine, from the ground up, open source, which uses all the DNMs, DATs, SRFs, FLDs and so on that we've spent so much time and effort on. Does Mr Soji have a monopoly/copyright on the DNM, FLD or other format? If he does, we could just add an "import from YS" feature.

It's a huge task, the work of years, but imagine - sky colour that darkens with altitude - custom weapons with configuration files - parasite aircraft - custom explosions, smoke and flames - all this and whatever we want, whatever else we could imagine...

I love this game for its simplicity, its speed and accessibility, and especially the scope for add-on creation. After all these years it's become a medium I work in. The game engine has been the part I've always found lacking.

Is there anyone who could do this? Anyone who can define the first steps?

[u2fly]

The point: maybe someone should make a whole new game engine, from the ground up, open source, which uses all the DNMs, DATs, SRFs, FLDs and so on that we've spent so much time and effort on. Does Mr Soji have a monopoly/copyright on the DNM, FLD or other format? If he does, we could just add an "import from YS" feature.

It's a huge task, the work of years, but imagine - sky colour that darkens with altitude - custom weapons with configuration files - parasite aircraft - custom explosions, smoke and flames - all this and whatever we want, whatever else we could imagine...

I love this game for its simplicity, its speed and accessibility, and especially the scope for add-on creation. After all these years it's become a medium I work in. The game engine has been the part I've always found lacking.

Is there anyone who could do this? Anyone who can define the first steps?

P-s-s-s, dude, I have an idea for you: lets make "LibreYS" flight simulator based on Blender Game Engine! (why not?!)
Here is starting point: viewtopic.php?f=223&t=8090

About formats specification: YSFlight formats are open file formats (like "OpenDocument Format" or "Scalable Vector Graphic"), but there no official specifications for DAT, SRF, etc.

But near complete formats specifications already included in YSFlight Handbook (see link in my sign)

[Swift]

A lot of good points there. YS is one of those games that doesn't require an extensive set of skills to mod as we've seen with a few new members.

Instead of taking the steps to build a whole new engine, why not consider using an existing multi platform engine like unity? i'm not even going to entertain unreal engine since low end computers won't have the ability to run it with decent framerate.

as for file formats, (this was discussed in a discord call with someone) all the files are in plain text so you can't really claim copyright on something that anybody can technically write.

[Flake]

Though they are open formats the idea of using a space delimited text file to define game parameters and models is uniquily Soji's intellectual property. We may be able to get away with using the ys formats, but a seperate conversion tool is probably best.

[u2fly]

the idea of using a space delimited text file to define game parameters and models is uniquily Soji's intellectual property.

No, its not true. Space delimited text file for game properties used in many other games.
>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma-separated_values
Only possible intellectual property could be 8-characters words used as variables in DAT or YFS files.
In DNM and SRF there no such abbreviations, that could be copyrighted (where only 1-3 characters words used).

[Judah14]

Though they are open formats the idea of using a space delimited text file to define game parameters and models is uniquily Soji's intellectual property. We may be able to get away with using the ys formats, but a seperate conversion tool is probably best.

IMO that would only apply if those ideas are patented, and since they are not then the YS file formats could be used in other software. A similar case is the use of Microsoft Office file formats in OpenOffice.org (which developed into LibreOffice and Apache OpenOffice) before Microsoft released the specifications for the formats. The developers of OpenOffice.org reverse-engineered the Microsoft Office formats so that OpenOffice.org could use those formats (in addition to its own OpenDocument format).

[Barr]

Hey has anyone noticed that the plane will cast a shadow on itself too? Its not perfect but some surfaces seem to cast what I think is a shadow? Or maybe its some glitch on my end?

For example on the stock 747 there are these popup panels on the wings that cast a small but dynamic shadow on the wings

[u2fly]

Hey has anyone noticed that the plane will cast a shadow on itself too? Its not perfect but some surfaces seem to cast what I think is a shadow? Or maybe its some glitch on my end?

Now its not glitch, its the feature of YSFlight 2017 test versions... We already discussed, that while in YSFlight has tonn of really needed things, cast shadow is not what we expect from new versions of YSFlight... Read this topic from first page and you will see.

[Krux]

For example on the stock 747 there are these popup panels on the wings that cast a small but dynamic shadow on the wings

YS seems to give a shadow to all objects and it is displayed on the nearest surface. So aircrafts like the 747 that has panels on the wings will display shadows on the wings. Glitchy :3