Sim crossing with X-Guard seems to have become less reliable in the last week or so. I am tweaking the algorithm. A preliminary version is available in the new Nimbus. Expect updates to other aircraft soon.

Here’s a list of most of the changes that were made:

• Engine sounds re-done to have a lot more steps
• Old TCS scripts removed
• Combat system upgraded to the latest version of VICE, which also supports TCS
• VVDE upgraded from 4.0 to 4.5 – this is a major overhaul
• Throttle available in steps of 5% below 40% (5, 10, 15, etc.)
• Double-tap support added for stick. Rapidly press an arrow key (or WSAD) twice to apply maximum force in that direction. Good for avoiding sim borders, the rapidly approaching ground, etc.
• VHI X-Guard, which momentarily turns the vehicle physics off during sim crossing (original idea by Francis Chung)
• X-Guard turns on above 40 knots to help prevent the usual way SL spazzes out on sim border crossing – it’s off below 40 knots. It can also be completely turned off, or forced to run at all speeds. In automatic mode it will activate even below 40 knots if it detects that the scripts are running slowly (which would indicate bad sim performance.)
• X-Guard crosses more slowly the more avatars you are carrying.
• Several control system & physics refinements
• Support for Reentrant Integration Physics version 2 (used in autogyros)
• Various code cleanups
• Several scripts were merged to take advantage of the higher memory limit now available
• A bunch of control surface scripts were removed & had their functionality implemented in other scripts to cut down on the number of total scripts
• Guest/copilot support is a bit better developed. Control can be given and taken at will during use. At this time, dual control is still not available due to this bug. (Please log in at the JIRA and vote for it!)
• A bug affecting power off glide & other physical behaviors after engine stoppage was found & squashed
• Reverse thrust up to 20% is allowed to assist in slowing descent during a steep approach to landing
• The F-16 shuts down its engine on a water landing to avoid ingesting water. It could float and operate like a seaplane before, which was a little silly.

In 2007, the F-16 was a slightly smoother border crosser than it was on that day. Maybe this is because of the exponential growth curve the grid is on, maybe it’s because of the data centers in multiple locations, maybe it’s because the software itself isn’t quite as fast. (A combination of all of these factors, I should think.) After going through a few spazzy sim handoffs, I started to miss having the option of X-Guard. And so I resolved to do two things.

1. The Nav-Tac HUD, being a scripted attachment, is part of the load that has to be moved over the sim border. I decided to overhaul the way the multifunction display works and make a few other tweaks, the upshot of which is that the HUD is now about ten scripts lighter. The work took several days and I’m happy to report that it resulted in a handoff savings of at least a second on a regular basis. The new Nav-Tac HUD is now available from the auto-update system. All you have to do is attach your old one and you’ll be offered the new one.
2. Originally, I was going to finish the new airplane and then backport VVDE 4.5 plus VICE combat extensions to the F-16. I’ve decided to just upgrade the F-16 to version 4.5 and give it VICE combat now, leaving the new airplane for later. At the time of writing, the 4.5 upgrade on my prototype model is complete and I’m retrofitting the old Terra Combat System code to work with VICE. (VICE actually includes TCS support, so F-16 owners will still be able to engage in combat with TCS-equipped vehicles. I’ve heard that older versions of TCS don’t work with newer versions, but hopefully newer versions can just be dropped in to older planes.)

Barring unforseen difficulties, I expect to have an updated F-16 in the autoupdate system within a week or two.