Vrs Tacpack

[Scalp]

Hello,
I would like to know if it is planned to use the Vrs tacpack with Joinfs, sorry if the question has already been asked

[Peter]

Hi,

Yes, this question has come up quite a lot, which is not surprising

All I can say at the moment is that I'm going to add as much support as I possibly can for it. I have the VRS products installed but have not had much time to investigate it fully. Others say they have had some success using JoinFS and tacpack. The next version of JoinFS will have support for simulator objects such as boats and I believe that will help to progress this further. Apparently firing missiles sometimes launches the default model aircraft instead of the correct ordnance, but this is something that ought to work and I just need to look into it.

There may be elements that I simply won't be able to get working, but this should become clearer on further investigation. It certainly won't be until well into the new year before I'll be taking a look.

I think JoinFS would be an ideal multiplayer client for Tacpack, but that's just my personal opinion.

Thanks for enquiring.

Peter

[Scalp]

thank you for your quick reply

[Tisor]

JoinFS has already arrived to the VRS Forums:

https://forums.vrsimulations.com/forums ... =7&t=17678

Thing is, the VRS developers don't like JoinFS as it's architecture, as least from what they are saying, would never be compatible with Tacpack:

I can already see a lot of potential issues in terms of TacPack compatibility, not the least of which is the inability to tie Host preferences to a specific user. The TacPack needs a "host" in order to establish rules for the session. If The host changes in the eyes of the TacPack (or can't be established in the first place), it'll be like playing whack-a-mole. Hopefully it'll still work as we expect as long as the original session-starter (Host) stays in-game.

No telling what that will do in reality, but on the surface it sounds like a potential nightmare for the TacPack.

Sad news. Maybe this could be a clue for Peter to look into... maybe the Hub mode will give this a go?

[Peter]

It's still early days for JoinFS and there's still a good six months of work on the todo list, but perhaps after that we can look at extending JoinFS beyond its current scope or creating some new tools for war gaming. Can't make any promises though.

Peter

[Tisor]

Just copy paste from Tacpack forum by Adiemus, who I think is one of the Head Developers from VRS:

The TacPack just leverages the synchronization of objects and their state that the FSX MP system does, as well as the events and APIs provided to know the session is MP rather than SP. If JoinFS (or any other 3rd party MP system) replicates this well enough, the TacPack should indeed work with it. (Though it's possible the TacPack won't *know* that it's in an MP session, since it currently relies on getting the standard SimConnect callbacks to inform it that it's in MP to know. If JoinFS either emulates these, or provides an alternative API that can be used, we could in theory make it work fairly easily...once my son's age isn't measured in "weeks" anymore)

Maybe this can give you Peter some clues if sometime (not now) Tacpack would be compatible. Maybe it would be worth to get in touch with this guy now, he looks interested.

[Peter]

Hi,

In the latest test version 1.1.4 it now broadcasts all models that start with "VRS_", "FSXatWar" and "VACMI". So you no longer need to use the auto-broadcast option if you were using that.

Don't forget that when you Scan For Models you need to tick the Misc folder and add any additional folders as necessary.

Peter

[Peter]

Unlikely the damage will work as well but I shall try a few things out, such as forcing a missile object's position directly on to an aircraft. That may activate the correct damage response.

Peter

[edakridge]

We have identified a couple of things that are working and not working. Both players were flying in FSX. First the good news: The radar signal from the VRS SAM site was transferred via JoinFS and both players could see the missile that was shot at the SAM site. Now for the bad news: When an aircraft is "Shot Down" the effects are transferring, but damage is not. You can see your aircraft in flames, but no discernible damage. We will continue to test and post results.

Peter, keep up the good work!

[Peter]

That's great, thanks. I'm now in touch with VRS, particularly about the damage, so it's looking positive.

Peter

[edakridge]

Great news!

[sgraypgh]

Peter sorry if there is another post with an update, but I didn't seem to find it. Has there been progress with the A2A damage yet? Thanks again for continuing your efforts with this amazing addon!!

[Peter]

Peter sorry if there is another post with an update, but I didn't seem to find it. Has there been progress with the A2A damage yet? Thanks again for continuing your efforts with this amazing addon!!

I'm afraid there hasn't been much progress on this. Currently fixing a few things with the X-Plane support and adding a built-in comms system which is almost ready, but it may be a while yet. Once those are out of the way then I'll revisit the damage.

Peter

[sgraypgh]

Thanks Peter for the quick reply. Looking forward to all of the new features as they come available.