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More about the mission system

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I'm not going to go into great detail here because that is what the SDK is for, and it will provide everything you need to build a mission.

What I will do is offer some examples of triggers and actions we may use in a mission.

We use triggers to fire off actions which result in something happening in the world. One such trigger would be a timer. A timer can be started when the mission launches or can be activated by another action. It can count up or down and start and stop at a preset value. When the timer reaches a specific value it can fire an action or several actions. One or more of those actions may be to activate or deactivate other triggers.

Another trigger that we use a lot is a proximity trigger. In this case you define a 3D area in the world which when entered and/or exited will trigger an action. Another popular trigger is a property trigger which will fire an action when a simulation state or combination of states is reached (such as altitude, speed, attitude, etc). You can also check properties upon entering or exiting an area or filter for certain AI objects and use that criteria to determine if an action should be fired.

The actions are many and varied. The most common actions are to activate or deactivate objects (triggers, AI, scenery, animation, etc), play voice over dialog or sound effects, initiate aircraft system failures, define success or failure, and there are many more.

I hope this gets ideas flowing and when the SDK comes out you can be building missions in no time. When I am cleared to do so, I will release some screenshots of the mission editor we are using and plan to release in the SDK.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    May 18, 2006
    Paul,

    The mission system is very intriguing.  I'm in the training business and I see many possibilities for using this capability to facilitate procedural training.  Operational tutorials, guided step-by-step modules (e.g. checklists) and many other options... the sky's the limit.  This will certainly be a fun side of the hobby that can also be used to help others learn and enhance their flying skills.  Kudos to you and the team for adding this capability to FSX!

    Doug
  • Anonymous
    May 19, 2006
    Thanks Doug. We have been encouraging our third party developers to use the system to showcase their aircraft and scenery and they have expressed an interest in the training side as well.
  • Anonymous
    May 19, 2006
    I can't wait to get my hands on the mission builder.

    For me, this is one of the most exiting features if FSX!
  • Anonymous
    May 20, 2006
    It looks like this is an extension of the system you must have already had in FS9 to run the flight school sections.

    Looking forward to it. It seems to have payed off already considering the interest just this one aspect of FSX has stimulated.
  • Anonymous
    May 23, 2006
    Paul,

    All this sounds exciting stuff. I wonder if the mission builder system will allow for a wide-ranging complex system?

    In short, will it be Persistent, Open-Ended, and Complex? (For a longer form of the question, see http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=248&topic_id=8530&mode=full .)

    Best,
    Mike