My Flight Simulator

[alberts]

After some years of (discontinuous) work, I’m ready to announce the first public release of my first complete application in Ogre.

MyFlightSimulator (Myfs) is a free radio controlled airplanes simulator. Although I plan to incorporate powered models later, it focuses solely on gliders by now. It can be downloaded from http://myfs.agsh.net.

It is free but closed source, although I have released some of its components as standalone open source projects (Camera Control System and Input Control System). I will probably open source other components when polished.

It is currently in its early development stages and failures may occur, although I think the public release is stable enough.

It uses:

• MyGUI – For the graphic user interface
• Berkelium – For the graphic user interface
• OgreNewt (Newton Game Dynamics) – For the physic
• Camera Control System – For the camera management (subproject of MyFS)
• Input Control System – For the keyboard, mouse and joystick management (subproject of MyFS)
• Paged Geometry – For rendering trees and grass
• SkyX – For rendering the sky and clouds
• Lua – For the scripting
• OgreOggSound (OpenAL) – For the sound
• OgreWater – For rendering the ocean
• Ogitor – For maps creation
• NSIS – For the setup
• CrashRpt – For sending crash on errors
• WxWidget - For the editor

Below are the mandatory screenshots and a video preview of the first public version I release soon.

[drwbns]

Looks good, maybe you can add some game modes to it if you haven't started that already. Nice job

[alberts]

Thanks Drwbns. And yes, it has :

• Fixed axis distance: how far can you go in a predefined direction?
• Maintenance: stay in the air as much time as possible.
• Max altitude: how high can you climb?
• Open distance: how far can you go?
• Precision: land as close to the target as possible.
• Speed: get to the finish as quick as possible.

[PhilipLB]

Looks cool!
I wonder, how you simulate the planes? Do you use a physics engine or something home baked?

[bstone]

Nice job!

[alberts]

Thx

I wonder, how you simulate the planes? Do you use a physics engine or something home baked?

I use OgretNewt (Newton Game Dynamics). That was (is) a tricky part. I read a lot of books about how to simulate airplanes but I don’t like how most people do it. Usually, airplanes are physically simulated as a unique rigid body and forces are applied assuming the airplane shape (two wings, a rudder...). I tried something different: the airplanes are built by linking physic objects with joints. Each object has its own physic characteristics, such as mass, drag, lift... No shape is assumed in the engine so it is possible to simulate not so typical airplanes (delta wings, paragliders, hanggliders...).

This method also has its disadvantages: joint simulation is costly and in certain situations some instability may appear.

I’ve added a screenshot of the model editor.

[areay]

Nice one alberts

[alberts]

Thanks arey.

I've just released the web and the first public version. It can be downloaded from http://myfs.agsh.net.

[NotCamelCase]

Heyy everyone, first post here I liked the game really even if it's in early stage. One bug : plane parts got separated easily like crazy due to the mouse sensitivity as I moved it left-right. I'm also thinking to choose such game genre to implement for my graduation project but now i'm scared

[alberts]

Thanks NotCamelCase.

One bug : plane parts got separated easily like crazy due to the mouse sensitivity as I moved it left-right.

This is probably due to the instability problems I mention in the first post. Does this happens in "normal" flight conditions (around 25 Kmh) or in high speed maneuvers? How much FPS do you get? You will need about 40-50 FPS to get it working correctly (disable trees to increase the FPS).

I'm also thinking to choose such game genre to implement for my graduation project but now i'm scared

Not so difficult if you simulate the planes as usual (one rigid body) and do not parametrize everything, as I do. Contact me if you need some help.

[NotCamelCase]

Thanks NotCamelCase.

One bug : plane parts got separated easily like crazy due to the mouse sensitivity as I moved it left-right.

This is probably due to the instability problems I mention in the first post. Does this happens in "normal" flight conditions (around 25 Kmh) or in high speed maneuvers? How much FPS do you get? You will need about 40-50 FPS to get it working correctly (disable trees to increase the FPS).

I'm also thinking to choose such game genre to implement for my graduation project but now i'm scared

Not so difficult if you simulate the planes as usual (one rigid body) and do not parametrize everything, as I do. Contact me if you need some help.

Yeah it was flying at high speed. That's why then. FPS was around 45. Handling the plane parts' actions separetely to simulate the whole flight better is pretty good and challenging idea.

Hope it goes well.

[alberts]

Increase "Desired FPS" option to 120 and restart. That should help.

[alexiusnexus]

I tried something different: the airplanes are built by linking physic objects with joints. Each object has its own physic characteristics, such as mass, drag, lift..

I like your idea

[Etty]

Nice work, it would be very interesting to add real terrains to the maps. I'm also using terrain paging and pagedGeometry I'm happy to see another use of it.

[alberts]

Thanks alexiusnexus and Etty.

it would be very interesting to add real terrains to the maps.

Once you find a solution to the seams between pages I'll work on this .