Lucien
01-29-2008, 11:46 PM
Hey everyone, this is my first post here.
I've made a flight simulator that (somewhat) emulates lift and gravity as well as normal flight. I've tried to make it as feature-rich as possible, including a throttle gauge, a digital altimeter and a dial altimeter for perspective. The plane flies somewhat realistically, and the ground acts solid enough so that the pilot cannot crash through the ground. All other collisions have yet to be implemented.
I'm having a few problems with the code, though. The plane runs smoothly in first and third-person camera perspectives, but when I switch to the chasing perspective the plane constantly jitters. I know the problem is probably that the lift and forward movement are executing in tiny amounts (moving up and forward every 0.001 seconds to increase throttle responsiveness), but I don't know how to extend the time-periods to reduce jitter without making the plane less responsive to throttle changes. Can anyone help me with this?
(Also, suggestions for a way to emulate momentum would be greatly appreciated. Currently, the plane simply stops and drops like a rock when you turn off the engine rather than falling forward and down.)
Next up, I have problems with switching from Chase to Third Person perspectives. After going into Chase and flying around a bit, when I perspective to Third the camera is tilted to either side and is not properly oriented to the plane. (At the time of this writing it's occurred to me that I could have the camera orient to the plane instead of the third-person dummy, I'll try that and edit this post after I confirm.)
Last problem, probably related to the same short movement durations and gravity constraints: On takeoff, the plane is a bit jittery and bounces up and down. The problem is cleared the moment it achieves flight speed and lifts off, and is most likely caused by the gravity engaging when the plane reaches the minimum gravity threshold. Can anyone help me work the jitter out of the gravity as well?
Instructions/Controls:
E: Throttle up.
D: Throttle down.
C: Retract/Extend landing gear. Note that the gear has drag- you will move faster with it retracted.
P: Change perspective. Third -> First -> Chase, looping.
-ARROW KEYS-
Forward: Dive.
Backward: Pull up.
Left: Roll or turn left (all wheels must be on ground to turn.)
Right: Roll or turn right
(It should be noted that users running Windows may view the altimeter in a different font than is intended; I've noticed that Windows-made Alice games all display 3D texts in strange positions and sizes. Apologies to anyone running Windows. The altimeter is the only 3D text in the game.)
I've made a flight simulator that (somewhat) emulates lift and gravity as well as normal flight. I've tried to make it as feature-rich as possible, including a throttle gauge, a digital altimeter and a dial altimeter for perspective. The plane flies somewhat realistically, and the ground acts solid enough so that the pilot cannot crash through the ground. All other collisions have yet to be implemented.
I'm having a few problems with the code, though. The plane runs smoothly in first and third-person camera perspectives, but when I switch to the chasing perspective the plane constantly jitters. I know the problem is probably that the lift and forward movement are executing in tiny amounts (moving up and forward every 0.001 seconds to increase throttle responsiveness), but I don't know how to extend the time-periods to reduce jitter without making the plane less responsive to throttle changes. Can anyone help me with this?
(Also, suggestions for a way to emulate momentum would be greatly appreciated. Currently, the plane simply stops and drops like a rock when you turn off the engine rather than falling forward and down.)
Next up, I have problems with switching from Chase to Third Person perspectives. After going into Chase and flying around a bit, when I perspective to Third the camera is tilted to either side and is not properly oriented to the plane. (At the time of this writing it's occurred to me that I could have the camera orient to the plane instead of the third-person dummy, I'll try that and edit this post after I confirm.)
Last problem, probably related to the same short movement durations and gravity constraints: On takeoff, the plane is a bit jittery and bounces up and down. The problem is cleared the moment it achieves flight speed and lifts off, and is most likely caused by the gravity engaging when the plane reaches the minimum gravity threshold. Can anyone help me work the jitter out of the gravity as well?
Instructions/Controls:
E: Throttle up.
D: Throttle down.
C: Retract/Extend landing gear. Note that the gear has drag- you will move faster with it retracted.
P: Change perspective. Third -> First -> Chase, looping.
-ARROW KEYS-
Forward: Dive.
Backward: Pull up.
Left: Roll or turn left (all wheels must be on ground to turn.)
Right: Roll or turn right
(It should be noted that users running Windows may view the altimeter in a different font than is intended; I've noticed that Windows-made Alice games all display 3D texts in strange positions and sizes. Apologies to anyone running Windows. The altimeter is the only 3D text in the game.)