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Tacview 2.0, a glimpse into the future of flight analysis


Vyrtuoz

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Hello everyone!

 

After years of iterations and improvements listening to your feedback, it is time to put an end at this good old Tacview 1.x!

 

Tacview 2.0 is on its way and its goal it to provide you unprecedented flight and battlefield analysis capabilities.

 

Please have a look at the official FAQ and post here any remark and suggestions. I’m working hard on this version to make it your favorite tool for flight review.

 

http://lomac.strasoftware.com/tacview-future.php

 

UPDATED

 

2015-01-29

  • Added Online Debriefing question
  • Added Real-time Flight Analysis question

 

TacviewDCSWorld.jpg


Edited by Vyrtuoz
2015-01-29 FAQ Update
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Great but who purchased the v1 recently , will have to buy it again ?

L'importante non è stabilire se uno ha paura o meno, è saper convivere con la propria paura e non farsi condizionare dalla stessa. Ecco, il coraggio è questo, altrimenti non è più coraggio ma incoscienza.

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Great but who purchased the v1 recently , will have to buy it again ?

 

From the FAQ on the website:

Q: I bought (or going to buy) a license of Tacview 1.x, will I have to pay again for Tacview 2.x?

 

A: No, you won't have to pay for Tacview 2.0 Home/Professional if you already bought Tacview 1.x!

 

Even if the development of Tacview is longer and more expensive than initially planned (probably thousand hours of research and programing), I want to honor all the features promised from the beginning of this project. You will get everything you expected when you bought Tacview without paying more.

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Great project there. I'm really looking forward to this feature:

 

"I'm convinced that I will be able to implement a protection system, let's say based on a password, to prevent flight review without being authorized by the host first."

 

And if you would like test administrators for this I have a couple of DCS servers that could be used.

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"I'm convinced that I will be able to implement a protection system, let's say based on a password, to prevent flight review without being authorized by the host first."

 

This might be a shot in the leg... most competitive servers if they had recording enabled they will be passworded thus rendering useless the whole Tacview. People then will cease to waste CPU power for recording something that can't be viewed. Recording peaceful scenery flights is useless.

 

I think you Vyrtuoz need people to use your software not to lock them out of it. The idea sounds good but is a power... that will be abused.

 

Just my 2cents.

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Excellent news Vyrtouz. I have always found your package very useful, and reliable. Keep up the good work.

 

As for your doubts zaelu... It'll just encourage people to actually get involved, and not just freeload on server time.

 

Anyone can use our server, but they'd get far far more out of it if they join our virtual squadrons. I can't see restricting access to Tacview files as an issue in the slightest. All our members will be given free access.

 

I hardly think it will spell the end of Tacview because some servers are a little circumspect.

 

Check us out at http://www.rafairuk.co.uk

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Truly the tool will unleash some wonderful powers but not all of those powers are appropriate for pilots to receive in real-time. For people in other roles, real-time visualization will be absolutely valid and be invaluable. Think admins, mission designers, trainers and such.

 

Ideally the gods-eye Tacview feed would only be recorded on the server BUT made available 'in real-time' to Tacview clients who have a Tacview feed password for that server. The password would be there to allow clients who are supposed to have the real-time gods-eye view to have it.

 

Without a password; Pilots on a PVP server would just have to wait for a delayed feed or wait for a post-mission recording (the gods-eye view recorded and saved to a file). The file can be made available via any kind of mechanism. It could be sent automatically to the TV client or put on a webpage.

 

It don't think it is a good idea to allow real-time Tacview feeds available to pilots.


Edited by vicx
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What zaelu is worried is that Tacview can't be used for one of it's most important functions which is review what actually happened in a MP fight on 104th server or the likes because you can't get the password afterwards for some reason. What's important is that realtime viewing is prevented and people get the recording reliably after they have finished the flight with as little effort as possible.

 

I'm not sure if it's technically possible but the data could be encrypted while recording to prevent real time viewing. Decryption program or feature wouldn't work while the file is being written into but decrypting would be possible without passwords from the host.

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I understand your concerns. Cheating vs training has always been a hot topic.

 

Here are a few points to keep in mind while thinking about this subject:

  • It is already possible for a DCS World host to prevent recording through DCS World configuration options. So the “protection” feature is not new (even if it will have to be improved on my side with the new exporter).
  • After a server mission has ended, the host can give the password “of the day” to all its clients so they can option they flight recordings since there is no more cheating possible.
  • The password protection will be optional. You will be able to completely “open” your server so anyone can review the flight in real-time if you want…
  • Like today, it will still be possible (even if this is not always reliable) to record the flight after the client session has ended by playing back DCS track file, even if you didn't have any password or authorization to record the flight.

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So when you first have the "password of the day", or when server admin changes password, you can then unlock the track and remove the password? Or do you need to have the password saved to view the track if you want to look at it in a month or two? Or maybe save the tackview file with a "blank" password? We do exchange tackview files quite a lot, ;) even on this forum, and keeping track of a bunch of passwords for tackview files could turn out to be messy :)

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Off course! As soon as you have the password to open the file, you will be able to re-save it right away without any password. (This is still in conception, but that’s the idea)

 

So when you first have the "password of the day", or when server admin changes password, you can then unlock the track and remove the password? Or do you need to have the password saved to view the track if you want to look at it in a month or two? Or maybe save the tackview file with a "blank" password? We do exchange tackview files quite a lot, ;) even on this forum, and keeping track of a bunch of passwords for tackview files could turn out to be messy :)
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Yes, pass-worded live feed would be good to avoid cheating. And maybe if server could send password to client automatically at the end so the file is unlocked when clients disconnect?

 

Each client could have a random generated password for each connection so less work is done by admin and also would stop people from having a client connect and disconnect so they find the password.

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Great background picture with the E-2s! :thumbup:

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How does the online debriefing work? Does this work only for the person that purchased it? Or, say if I install it on my server can players involved in a server mission look at a mission debriefing? Regardless, it looks and sounds pretty cool and I will probably purchase it down the road a couple months when finances lighten up - I'm just trying to understand in the meantime.

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I'd love a feature to auto-compress tacview files on a given folder without havin to open the file, save it under a different file-type, and then deleting the old uncompressed file.

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I’m going to replace the old LUA script exporter by a brand new C++ DLL. The old exporter may be slow in some cases, is very hard to maintain and does not have access to all the information I would like to see in flight recordings.

 

The excellent work of DArt on LotAtc and the research and prototyping work of Vicx opened new doors to me. With the new exporter, I’m going to push the limit of what we can do as an unofficial add-on for DCS World. For instance, the new DLL is going to be much faster and will be able to access way more information than what the old export.lua script is able to see. All of this is going to be transparent to the user and cleanly integrated in DCS. An option panel will enable you to tweak the way data are exported, and an appropriate theme is included for the E-2 fans ;)

 

I’m almost done with the prototyping phase. I will start the effective development soon. The first dev phase for Tacview 1.x will be to release the new exporter using the old acmi format. It will offer new data like RADAR locks and ground objects. However, its full potential will be unleashed when I will have created the new acmi format and the new graphical user interface for Tacview 2.0.

 

The new format will be more extensible and powerful. The exporter will be able to record data in a compressed format (zip or 7z) so you will not have to repack the files to save space anymore. And it will probably support password protection to prevent cheating during network games (this will be obviously optional).

 

The new exporter will also be able to serve multiple network clients eventually. But this is for Tacview 2.0+. The online debriefing and the real-time flight recording are two independent features. The online debriefing is a way for a squadron leader (not necessarily the host computer of a flight) to control the 3D view, and selected objects, so other pilots could be debriefed about the same things.

 

I have not yet fully defined how the online debriefing is going to work license wise. For now, I’m on the idea that only the host will have to own a Professional license. You will not need to own a Professional License to enjoy a debriefing as a client. However, I still have to define, if you will need a Home license or not to attend as a client at an online debriefing.

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