Changelog 2.10: Difference between revisions

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This changelog is currently being written for the FG 3.0 release - FG 3.0 has not yet been released! But starting to write the changelog early, should make it much easier to come up with a comprehensive list of changes.
Available in: '''English''',  [[:es:Changelog 2.10|Espanol]], [[:fr:Changelog 2.10|Français]]
Please help us translate in other languages!


==FlightGear 3.0.0 ChangeLog==
==FlightGear 2.10 Change Log==


The FlightGear development team is happy to announce the v3.0.0 release of FlightGear, the free, open-source flight simulator. This new version contains many exciting new features, enhancements and bugfixes.  New features in this release include an experimental renderer supporting real-time lighting and shadows, and improved terrain rendering.
The FlightGear development team is happy to announce the v2.10 release of FlightGear, the free, open-source flight simulator. This new version contains many exciting new features, enhancements and bugfixes.  Highlights in this release include improved usability, better terrain rendering and a fully scriptable 2D rendering system.


Founded in 1997, FlightGear is developed by a worldwide group of volunteers, brought together by a shared ambition to create  
Founded in 1997, FlightGear is developed by a worldwide group of volunteers, brought together by a shared ambition to create  
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FlightGear features more than 400 aircraft, a worldwide scenery database, a multi-player environment, detailed sky modelling, a flexible and open aircraft modelling system, varied networking options, multiple display support, a powerful scripting language and an open architecture. Best of all, being open-source, the simulator is owned by the community and everyone is encouraged to contribute.  
FlightGear features more than 400 aircraft, a worldwide scenery database, a multi-player environment, detailed sky modelling, a flexible and open aircraft modelling system, varied networking options, multiple display support, a powerful scripting language and an open architecture. Best of all, being open-source, the simulator is owned by the community and everyone is encouraged to contribute.  


Download FlightGear v3.0.0 for free from [http://www.flightgear.org FlightGear.org]
Download FlightGear v2.10 for free from [http://www.flightgear.org FlightGear.org]


FlightGear - Fly Free!
FlightGear - Fly Free!


=== Some of the major changes include: ===
You can help us write the changelog for the upcoming FlightGear release at [[Next Changelog]].


'''Aircraft operations'''
{{#ev:youtube|MZVCmHgAX6Y}}


'''AI system'''
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZVCmHgAX6Y


'''AI Traffic'''
=== Major Enhancement in this release ===


'''Flight dynamics'''
'''Improved modularization'''


'''Random Buildings'''
Architecture improvements introduced in this release mean that subsystems such as the traffic manager may be stopped and re-started dynamically within a simulation session.  In future releases it is expected that more and more subsystems will support this function, making FG more scalable, and more flexible for distributed multi-machine simulators.


Shortly after the 2.8 release, a number of users reported severe memory growth issues related to a new feature: [[Random Buildings]].
'''Atmospheric Light Scattering'''


Unfortunately, the buildings are generated when the tiles are loaded, and it is this that causes the memory occupancy problems rather than visibility itself (subject to big view ranges causing the loading of more tiles). Aggressively limiting the maximum available visibility range might help, if it's causing more tiles to be loaded, but it is very dependent on the amount of Urban and Town terrain.
[[File:Light_scattering_dec12_05.jpg|thumb|400px|F-14b over the alps at dusk]]


For performance reasons, all the buildings within a tile are a single object currently. The memory capacity could be addressed by changing the implementation to something closer to the trees, where a (relatively) small number of buildings are instantiated at different locations. I don't know what this would do for performance though.
[[Atmospheric light scattering]] is an alternative rendering framework, using exceptionally realistic environment-dependent fog and light computations for clouds and terrain. The simulation includes the following lighting models.
* Rayleigh, Mie and diffuse multiple scattering of light in the atmosphere, on haze and on clouds, for more realistic atmospheric lighting.
* Volumetric ground fog simulation, so fog varies in thickness both horizontally and vertically.
* Realistic ambient and diffuse light curves for sunset and sunrise conditions, making evening flights more realistic.
* Improved night VFR flying due to a moonlight illumination model.


Stuart has now managed to get a prototype running using an instantiation of a shared geometry rather than a huge single object per tile.
Together with Advanced Weather, it functions as an integrated environment simulation in which the individual elements mutually influence each other. For instance
* Clouds and winds are influenced by the distribution of terrain elevation
* Prevailing winds, terrain slopes and stability of the lower atmosphere determine the shape of visible clouds
* Cloud layers and haze influence color and intensity of light reflections
* Winds influence wave patterns on water
* Light at sunrise and sunset is position and altitude dependent, allowing for phenomena such as Alpenglow or brightly illuminated high-altitude clouds while the ground is dark


So far the results are promising.  Stuart's standard test is at KSFO with the c172p, waiting until the intial set of tiles is loaded with standard weather conditions (e.g. no excessive visibility). With random buildings switched off  FG uses ~1GB memory.  With v2.8.0
For more powerful graphics cards, the framework includes procedural terrain texturing, including features such as the following.
random buildings, it's 2GB.  With instantiated buildings at present it is 1.5GB.
* Non-tiling slope dependent terrain texturing, so scenery looks more featured but with fewer tiling artefacts.
At KLAX, it's down even further, from 2.7GB to 1.6GB. So far, without any frame-rate impact.
* High resolution close-up texturing effects with up to 10 cm detail resolution and dynamically added bumpmap for low-level flight and better depth perception
* Environmental effects such as terrain wetness (including puddles), dustiness, mossiness, and snow cover. All adjustable by the user and respecting the terrain slope where appropriate.


This work is now checked into next/master.  You'll need an updated simgear and data to see any effect.
''' Improved performance, reduced memory occupancy '''


Basically, the design has been altered to use a scheme very similar to that of the random trees, where there are a small number of buildings created, and then instantiated multiple times.
Startup time and memory occupancy has been reduced by the implementation of a cache of navigation data.  Further memory occupancy reductions have been made by improved random buildings.  Frame-rates have been improved when using 3D clouds, particularly in overcast conditions.


The technique relies on a vertex shader, as the final position and rotation of the building are passed in on the gl_Color vector.  This in turn has meant that I've been forced to create new version of various vertex shaders. It might be possible to clean that up by having a new parameter to existing shaders indicating that position/rotation information is in gl_Color
''' Usability '''
[[File:Joystick Configuration Dialog.jpg|thumb|400px|Joystick Configuration GUI]]


There are three known regressions from the previous implementation:
Improving FlightGear's usability has been a focus for a number of developers for this release. Changes include:
* The reflection map appears to be broken, and is currently switched off. (this might be because the binormal or tangent are not being calculated correctly.)
* A new tool allowing joystick configuration in-sim, making it easier for new users to configure their joysticks as they wish and get flying!
* The buidings do not cast shadows in Rembrandt, though other objects _do_ cast shadows on the buildings. I don't know the reason for this.
* The Nasal Console has been improved to support copy/paste, making Nasal script development easier.
* At high building densities and certain angles of view, one can see gaps in the building placement where the edges of the scenery triangles go.  This is unfortunately inevitable, as we have less sizing information during placement.
* The About dialog now includes additional system information, and the ability to copy information to the clipboard, making remote diagnosis of users problems faster and more straightforward.
* The Select Airport option now displays an overhead view of the selected airport, allowing users to preview their new location, and making it easier to choose the correct runway or parking position.
* In-sim checklists have been introduced for a number of aircraft.
* An in-sim documentation browser is included, so users can more easily browse all the documentation available in the base package.
* The weather configuration UIs have been combined and rationalized into a single weather UI, making it easier to select a nice VFR day, or a difficult CATIII approach.
* Flight path can now be displayed on the in-sim map.
* Instant replay may now be saved as a flight recorder, edited externally to add a commentary, and then replayed as a tutorial, with the user able to take control at any point.
* Multiplayer setup dialog now includes a dynamically generated list of active MP servers, making it even easier to take part in FlightGear's worldwide multi-player environment.


You should now see significantly lower memory occupancy (500 - 2GB less depending on area and density) when running with random buildings enabled.  This will obviously be available in the next FG release as well.


''' Internationalization '''


Feedback/comments appreciated as always.
FlightGear continued to benefit from contributions from across the globe.
* The FlightGear Manual is now included in both English and French.
* System messages on startup are available in eight languages, just like the in-sim menu.


''' Flight Planning and Route Manager '''


'''Project Rembrandt'''
* Route Manager now has better support for Navigraph procedures.
 
* Auto-generated SIDs and STARs are available for airports where real procedure data is not available. This generates plausible straight in approach and terminal waypoints based on the route course.
Fred's been working on some fancy new effects, especially useful for our film-making enthusiasts.
* The "flightplan" Nasal extension function  has been improved, making it possible to retrieve a hash representation of the flight plan stored in the route manager. It is now possible to directly show a SVG image for each waypoint and connect them using OpenVG paths.
 
The [[Project Rembrandt|Rembrandt renderer]] has a lot of potentiality when it comes to post processing effects. Indeed, the interesting property of a deferred shader is that all stages of rendering are kept into memory. Post-processing is as simple as using a filter on a camera.
 
So currently the effects added in git are :
* Night vision including amplification grain and restrained field of view,
* Cinema effect including :
** Vignetting,
** Color shift, with Sepia as default value,
** Radial distortion (barrel and pincushion distortion, with scale compensation),
** Lateral chromatic aberration (purple fringing),
** Film wear simulation.
 
 
'''Environment'''
 
As most readers will be aware, FG supports two weather models - Basic Weather which represents METAR data directly, and Local Weather which models weather more realistically, with more variation. In 2.8.0 these were configured separately using different UIs. Stuart Buchanan and Thorsten Renk have been working on unifying the user interfaces to provide a more user-friendly and consistent interface.
 
'''Usability'''
 
A further usability enhancement has been made by Stuart Buchanan to allow configuration of joysticks through a GUI in-sim. Instead of configuring a joystick using XML, users can now change joystick bindings within the simulator - no XML knowledge required. The updated joystick configuration takes effect immediately. This work is also available in git, and should make it much easier for new users (or those with joysticks unknown to FG) to get flying.
 
 
The built-in [[Nasal Console]] has been updated to also add native copy/paste support, a feature that got implemented as part of the ongoing [[Canvas]] effort (see  [[Howto:Clipboard access using Nasal]] for details ). This feature makes it now possible to easily copy/paste snippets of code FlightGear, without having to use the "dump" feature.
[[File:Nasal-console-3.0.png|500px|The Nasal console in FG 3.0 with copy/paste buttons ]]
 
In addition, the "about" dialog has also been slightly updated so that it now shows a handful of OpenGL-related parameters, this info should make it easier for people to provide useful issue reports, especially related to their system's graphics support. For this very purpose, the dialog box has now also support for copying this info to the clipboard or simply take a screen shot that users can post on the forums.
 
[[File:About-dlg-3.0.png|350px|The about dialog in FG 3.0 with extended graphics information ]]
 


'''Canvas System'''
'''Canvas System'''


[[File:Airport-selection-dialog.png|thumb|400px|Airport Selection dialog, using Canvas to render the airport diagram]]


The Nasal API wrappers for the Canvas system have been committed to $FG_ROOT, so that people no longer need to manually load the required modules.
The "canvas" system is FlightGear's fully scriptable 2D rendering system, which makes it possible for users to easily create new instruments, HUDs and even dialogs and custom GUI widgets using FlightGear's built-in scripting language [[Nasal]] (which looks really similar to JavaScript). The Canvas can also be used for the creation of complex glass cockpit displays like navigational displays and other MFDs, none of this requires rebuilding FlightGear from source or writing C++ code.  
Furthermore, the fully scriptable [[Canvas]] 2D drawing system in FlightGear 3.0 has now support for:


* creating GUI windows (not just widgets, but also windows - which can be used for popup menus or menubars)
Canvas improvements in this release include:
* native copy/paste via 2 new [[Nasal]] extension functions, see [[ Howto:Clipboard access using Nasal]]
* Lazy updating/rendering to improve performance in situations where a texture doesn't need to be redrawn
* nested canvases, where a canvas may contain images created by another canvas texture [[Howto:Using raster images and nested canvases]]
* Creating GUI windows, including popup menus or menubars
* window stacking
* Native copy/paste via 2 new [[Nasal]] extension functions
* Nested canvases, where a canvas may contain images created by another canvas texture
* Window stacking
* raster images (vector images were already supported)
* raster images (vector images were already supported)
* handling GUI events using osgGA
* Improved event handling GUI events using osgGA
* A new DOM-based event handling system


Support for nested canvases will make it possible to also load canvas textures into other canvases, so that you can, for example, easily load an instrument into a GUI dialog, or even use GUI widgets in MFD instruments, which is a feature based on real avionics, i.e. as used in modern airliners like the A380 or the 787 - which are based on the ARINC661 standard.
'''Rembrandt'''
[[File:Fgfs-rembrandt-old-timer.jpg|thumb|400px|Rembrandt old film style]]


Nested canvases also make it possible for people to easily implement GUI tools using the Canvas system, for example a GUI instrument or panel editor can be entirely implemented in scripting space now, without touching any C++ code. Similarly, GUI widgets could also be created in a WYSIWYG-fashion, too - so that even a dialog editor or full GUI builders can be built using the Canvas system.
* The [[Project Rembrandt|Rembrandt renderer]] has been extended with a number of post-processing filters:
** Night vision including amplification grain and restrained field of view
** Cinema effect including:
*** Vignetting
*** Color shift, with Sepia as default value
*** Radial distortion (barrel and pincushion distortion, with scale compensation)
*** Lateral chromatic aberration (purple fringing)
*** Film wear simulation
* Additional aircraft have been updated to make use of Rembrandt effects.


In addition, Tom has also implemented support for window stacking in 08/2012. Check out the demo video below, which demonstrates how "nested" canvases and window stacking works:
'''AI Improvements'''
* AI aircraft take-offs and landings are now more realistic.
* AI tankers can now be found using the HUD target marker.


{{#ev:youtube|llVaasTEf44}}
''' Regional Textures '''


Missing features, and features currently under development, are listed at [[Canvas Widgets#Missing_.2F_Todo|Missing Canvas Features]]
Building on the work in 2.8, the following areas now have region-specific texture-sets for more realistic terrain:
 
* Caribbean
 
* Western Europe
'''Interface'''
* Iceland
* Tropical South America


'''Highlighted new and improved aircraft'''
'''Highlighted new and improved aircraft'''
*
*
'''Project infrastructure'''


'''Visual effects'''
* The Boeing 777 has improved cockpit, PFD and NavDisplay.
* The Dassault Mirage 2000-5 has various instrumentation, HUD and stores added.
* The Douglas A-4F Skyhawk has an improved FDM and cockpit, including terrain-clearance radar and navigational computer.
* The Hawker Hurricane has improved FDM and cockpit.
* The Mudry Cap 10B, a classic French two-seat training aerobatic aircraft has been added by the PAF team.


'''Other'''
'''Other'''
* Additional joysticks and rudder pedals are supported out-of-the-box:
 
* Additional joysticks and rudder pedals are supported out-of-the-box.
* An interactive aircraft download page allows users to filter aircraft based on their level of completeness and accuracy, making it easier to discover the true gems of our extensive hangar.


'''Bug fixes'''
'''Bug fixes'''
* See [http://code.google.com/p/flightgear-bugs/issues/list?can=1&q=Milestone%3D3.0.0 our bugtracker] for an extensive list of the bugs fixed in this release.
 
* See [http://code.google.com/p/flightgear-bugs/issues/list?can=1&q=Milestone%3D2.10.0 our bugtracker] for an extensive, yet incomplete, list of the bugs fixed in this release.


[[Category:FlightGear changelogs]]
[[Category:FlightGear changelogs]]
[[es:Changelog 2.10]]
[[fr:Changelog 2.10]]

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