DeviceLink

[DickDastardly]

Hi Hruks,
I'm working on a new set of BF-109K instruments for your great UDPSpeed program, designed for a 1280x1024 resolution screen. (The row of indicator lights at the bottom are just temporary graphics done in photoshop which I'll be replacing with proper 3D models).

Screenshot of new BF-109k gauges

I don't know if you read any English forums, but your program has attracted a lot of attention in several threads recently, particularly amongst home cockpit builders. You can see some examples of what people have built using UDPSpeed and some of my earlier Spitfire gauges here:

http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/t...644#4581057644

http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/t...854#5171083854

As you can see, your program has hugely increased the enjoyment of many IL-2 players, but there are a few limitations or bugs which it would be wonderful to get fixed:

1. All the gauges seem to round values extracted via Devicelink to the nearest whole number. This is fine for most of the variables (after all, you're not going to be able to see any difference between a needle on a speedometer pointing at 345.0 km/h or 345.1 km/h). However, for several Devicelink keys this rounding causes problems. Examples include clocks (which only display a whole number of hours), trim gauges (which display -1, 0 or +1 but not any intervening values), flaps indicators (which can't distinguish between raised flaps and combat flaps (as their corresponding values are -1 and -0.6 which is rounded down to -1), and several others.

2. There doesn't seem to be any way to draw a true artificial horizon in UDPSpeed. In the two sets of gauges I've released so far (on page 13 of this thread) I've used the horizon line to indicate roll and then used a seperate needle to indicate pitch. This does work, but is nowhere near as intuitive as a real artificial horizon. As this is probably the most important instrument it would be great to be able to draw the horizon line correctly with changes in pitch causing a lateral translation of the line, perpendicular to the angle determined by the roll.

3. There doesn't seem to be a way to query Devicelink keys via UDPSpeed which relate to multi-engine aircraft (for example the oil temperature of each engine). I'd love this feature to be added as I'd like to make some gauges for planes like the PE-2 or P-38.

4. Some aircraft, like the BF-109, have compasses which show the direction to a navigation beacon relative to the direction of the plane (i.e. "Devicelink 44" minus "Devicelink 42"). Would it be possible to add a variable for this (like the energy ones you added) so that this type of compass could be modelled correctly?

5. UDPSpeed crashes a few seconds after the death of the pilot in the sim unless you click "refly" quickly.

If you'd be prepared to tackle these issues, I (and many other users of your program) would be enormously grateful, and I'd be delighted to make you a set of gauges for any plane you like as a small "thankyou" for your efforts.

Alternatively, if you don't have the time, would it be possible for you to send me the source code for UDPSpeed instead so I could make an attempt myself? It's been a long time since I did any coding, but at least if I had your code I might be able to play around with it and make some small improvements, whereas if I start from zero I suspect it would take me months just to get to where UDPSpeed is already.
Cheers,
DD

P.S. My email address is mikejsteven@hotmail.com