WWW.YSFLIGHT.COM

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OLD UPDATES

12/26/2002

Looks like the new version is going well. But, some problems are reported. So I made up an update patch. You can download the patch from the following link.

[Workarounds for reported problems]

↑ 12/26/2002 Updated again

12/17/2002

Released the new version (Ver. 20021205) The changes are shown below.

(By the way, 3D Dogfight Screensaver is also updated.)

Remade polygon models of some airplanes including B747, B777, F-16, F-16 Thunderbirds, F-18, F-18 Blue Angels, Kfir, Rafale, Su-27, Mig-29, etc.
Radio communications that allows a player to send commands to friendly airplanes. You can tell B-747 to go for dogfight, but I don't think that works well though :-) Anyways, bad commands yields accidents. It's a game, please try and figure out the best way to lead your wingmen.
You can choose wingmen when you create a new flight.
You can choose wingmen in Endurance mode.
Landing autopilot
Improved rudder auto coordination. (For players, it's more difficult than the previous one because now it has some time lag. But, for more airplane-ish motion, I like it better :-)
Improved computer airplane's AI.
In network play, you can fly an endurance mode or an intercept mission. So, you can fly a coordinated dogfight, or coordinated base defense with your friend (the server airplane needs to present in the airfield).
Smoothed motions of network airplanes (artiricially).
Fixed the problem with some joysticks (I hope)
You can use keyboard to control elevator and aileron, in addition to mouse and external joystick.
You can see HUD in external view (you need to go to Option->Config to set up)
You can turn off all ground-to-air fire before starting the flight.
Added "MAXIMIZE" in initial window configuration.
Improved internal data structure. (You may not notice it though)

11/22/2002

I'm trying to release the new version within a month. (At least trying). I've added some screenshots of the new version.

10/21/2002

Some more information about the next version.

I've been working on improving an AI routine for computer airplanes. I spent the last weekend to come up with a better G controller that is used in YSFLIGHT's AI routine. I had to solve a partial differential equation to figure out the good way to control G, but I did it, and I think it's pretty successful.

Why did I have to wrestle with a partial differential equation? It's because YSFLIGHT is not cheating in the flight model of computer airplanes. In YSFLIGHT, computer airplanes and player airplanes fly according to the same flight model. It's not true in some commercial flight simulators. (Of course, such cheating flight simulators don't get good customer evaluation, so good ones are not cheating.). Typically, a player airplane flies according to a realistic flight model so the player feels it's real. But, often computer airplanes doesn't follow the same flight model, because realistic flight model makes it very difficult to program an AI routine. I think it's cheating, and I didn't like to do it. So, I decided to go hard way. I made YSFLIGHT so all the airplanes follow the same flight model as the player airplane. As a result, I had to spend big amount of time to implement AI routines. (Formation-flight AI was the toughest one, and I'm still trying to improve).

Anyways, the new G controller is working pretty good. So, please look forward to the duel with the computer airplanes in the next version. (I hope I can release it in November or December).

06/28/2002

Information about the next version
Although I haven't decided when to release the next version, I post some information about the next version.

Showing HUD in outside airplane views
Showing Indicated Airspeed in HUD (So, you'll see 30kt when you are on a moving aircraft carrier.)
No ground-fire mode
Control elevator and aileron by keyboard
"Maximize Window" is added in screen mode selections (if you have a decent graphics card, but are experiencing a problem in full-screen mode, you can try this.)
You may not notice, but internal data structure is made better.

I was thinking control-by-keyboard does not sound good. It's just difficult and not a fun. But, I'm receiving increasing number of E-Mails saying he/she wants to use YSFLIGHT in a laptop PC because YSFLIGHT is so light. Finally I decided to add control-by-keyboard option.

These features are already programmed and being tested. And, there are some other features that I'm considering to add. But, the following features are not programmed yet, thus I cannot say for sure if I really add them.

Endurance mode in network mode
Intercept mission in network mode (defend a base with your friend, or you can join the attack...)
Straight flying auto-pilot
Retry previous flight mode
Zoom/Mooz (or do you call it unzoom?) in Tower view

I think I'm going to release a beta version sometime. So, please visit this page often!

05/25/2002
Release the new version!

05/15/2002
Here's a screenshot of new flight record utility YFSUTIL. In the past, if you create a long flight record, it took time to jump to the moment you actually want to show. This new YFSUTIL will allow you to delete non-important portion of your flight record. I will release this new YFSUTIL as soon as the new version of YSFLIGHT becomes available. (The new YFSUTIL will still be a beta version. This program will someday integrated in YSFLIGHT, but I don't know when).

05/11/2002
Site renewal!

I'm planning to release the next version soon. Here's a list of the changes.

[BUG FIX] Flare remains indefinitely during Network play.
[BUG FIX] An airplane dispelled by the server remains indefinitely.
[NEW] AAM and AGM is drawn on the radar screen. (AAM : Red, AGM : Yellow)
[NEW] Control Tower View
[NEW] The airplanes included in the previous extra airplane pack (Alphajet, Amx, Hawk, Draken, Su-22, Su-24, Su-25) are included in this version.
[NEW] A new map "PACIFIC_ATOLL" is added.

12/17/2001
Released beta version as a Christmas present :-)
You can download from Airplane Software Download page.

07/27/2001
Extra airplane pack (Alphajet, Amx, Hawk, Draken, Su-22, Su-24, Su-25) is now online.
Please download from Airplane Software Download page.

07/27/2001
Released following two programs.

A patch that solves "Opening Demo" problem.
YFSUTIL, which is compliant to YSFLIGHT 20010718 version.

07/18/2001 (Around 11AM)
One bug in the new version is confirmed. If you turn off "Opening Demo", the program crashes in the choose-airplane-screen. This problem is solved simply turning on "Opening Demo" again (you have to close the program once and have to re-start the program, after turning it on). Please refer to FAQ also.

But, to reduce the confusion, I'm going to release a patch soon.

07/18/2001 (Midnight)
Released the new version! The changes in the new version is as I have already posted on 07/10 and 06/10. And, if you have a problem in font (if you cannot read characters on HUD), please refer to FAQ for workaround.

NOTE: The flight record created by the new version cannot be played by the older versions.

07/15/2001
Screenshots of airplanes, which I could not include in the new version to be released on 18th. I couldn't test these enough. I guess I'll release a extra airplane pack after the releasing the updated program on 18th.

07/10/2001
Some info about the new version. In addition to the new features described in the 06/10/2001 updates, the new version is planned to be released on July 18th (Eastern standard time). Eight days from now. The new version has a new map "TOHOKU", which means north eastern region of Japan.

And, you can load/unload ordinances before flight. Since 'Smoke oil' is considered a kind of ordinance, all the airplanes can trail smoke if you load smoke oil before flight. As for network play, as long as the new version works as a server, 20010124 version can connect to the server as a client. The client, however, may have some problems such as sudden disconnection. And, if the map 'TOHOKU' is chosen, the client of 20010124 version cannot join the game because the 20010124 version does not have 'TOHOKU' map.

I think I can release the new version on time. Please stay tuned!

06/10/2001
Some infos about next version.

[New Features]

New configuration option "Shadow of dead airplanes." Shadows of dead airplanes will not be drawn if this option is off.
New weapon: Aerial Rockets. A-10s, A-4s, A-6s etc. are able to use aerial rockets.
Rudder works in the air even when "auto-coordination" is on.
Airbase Defend Mission: Your base is under attack! Take off with your wingman and defend the base! (Unfortunately, Pearl Harbor map will NOT be added :-)
Visual effect of ordinance. As can be seen in SCREENSHOTS, ordinance will be visible in the next version. You'll be able to see launch of missiles, bombs and rockets.
Fog (OpenGL version only): The scene will be a little bit more natural.
Improved Z-buffering (OpenGL version only): You can choose an option to use better Z-buffering technique. But, it requires fast graphics card. At least if you have P3-450+GeForce2MX (same as my PC), there will not be any problem with this option.
New sound effect for "Bombs-away" and "AGM/Rocket launch".
Full-screen mode will be available in OpenGL version. (Well, it's working on my PC. I hope it will work on the other PCs. :-)

[May or may not be added]

Load/unload weapons.
A new map and new airplanes.

Release date is still not fixed. I haven't started pre-release test yet. It means that the release will not be before July. But, hopefully I can release the new version by late July.

02/02/2001
Released Service Pack for 20001125 version. The program updates 20001125 version into 20010124 version.

You can download the upgrade program from download page.

CAUTION:
Network feature doesn't work between different version of YSFLIGHT2000. All server and clients must use same version.

Major changes are:

Fixed the problem : In the 20001125 version, if some client's network connection was unstable, sometimes server PC froze and stops responding. In the 20010124 version, the server disconnects clients if the connection is too unstable to sustain the connection.
Fixed the problem : In the 20001125 version, if many clients are connected to a server, some clients' airplanes becomes invisible from the other clients. The problem is (supposed to be) solved in the 20010124 version.
Fixed the problem : In the 20001125 version, if a client logged on to the server 1 (or more) minutes after the server started, its airplane doesn't behave correctly in the other clients. The problem is (supposed to be) fixed in the 20010124 version.
If an airplane which doesn't exist in a local PC is requested to from the other PC, the program substitutes an airplane that exists in the local PC. (Typically A-4 Skyhawk is assigned)
Fixed the problem : In the 20001125 version, if a client player took off by B747, B777, B-52, Concorde or those
airplanes which has more than 32768kg of fuel, the fuel doesn't show correctly. The problem is fixed in the 20010124 version.
6. Fixed the problem : In the 20001125 version, if you killed a client airplane, sometimes you get a ghost of the client
(^_^;) And, if you attack the ghost, the client PC will crash (^_^;). The problem is fixed in the 20010124 version.
Fixed the problem : In the 20001125 version, if you load a flight record, and chose airplane before re-playing the record, then took off, the weapons and explosions are not recorded in the flight. The problem is fixed in the 20010124 version.
Fixed the problem : In the 20001125 version, records of bombing were not correctly loaded (thus, were not properly re-played). The problem is fixed in the 20010124 version.

11/25/2000
New version is released!! Major changes are as I've written on 11/05.

NOTE: The flight record created by the new version cannot be played by the older versions.

11/05/2000
I guess next version will be released on November 25th as long as I don't find any serious problem on my program :-) Major modifications are as follows

Network Play
Added new airplanes. YS-11, B-52
Added new field Naval Air Facility ATSUGI
Formation Flight (fake) AI became smarter. Now it tolerates up to 500kt.
For whom doesn't have a throttle lever, player can choose "mouse as joystick" option.

I couldn't take time to add WW2 airplanes for this version. Sorry.

Actually, the manual linked from this page made a premature start. You can preview the manual of the next version here.

10/07/2000
Released minor upgrade patch. The modifications are listed below.

Fixed the problem that some computer airplanes crash by tail-strike accident while taking off. (Some airplanes still cannot take off because they cannot accelerate before running out of the runway).
Fixed the problem that airplanes crash by tail-strike accident when performing formation landing. If you are flying with mixed type of airplanes, still they may crash upon landing. I'm working on this problem.
Fixed the problem that airplanes drop off the aircraft carrier when you are flying with recorded airplanes.
Fixed the problem that airplanes tend to nose-up and may cause tail-strike accidents upon touch down.
Added ILS facility view. You can switch to an ILS facility view by F6 key. Using this feature, you can enjoy close look of carrier takeoffs and landings. Typically, there are more than one ILS facilities. Repeat pressing F6 key to switch to next ILS facility.

07/03/2000
New Release! Major changes are as follows.

Can take off and land the aircraft carrier
Free fall bomb
Can specify the wind to try cross wind landing
ILS approach
Radar
Endurance mode (enemy airplanes are created automatically while 15 minutes)
Fast forward/Rewind during replaying flight record
Speed up drawing graphics
Clouds are saved in the flight record
The program takes 'tail strike' type of accidents

NOTE: The flight record created by the new version cannot be played by the older versions.

05/27/2000
In the current developing version, I've implemented aircraft carrier. Also, now wind is added. And I found that when I land the aircraft carrier, the tail of the airplane collides with the carrier if I pull up the nose too much. I think if tail strike accidents happens only on the carriers, it is not consistent. So, in the next version, I'll take tail strike more strictly on both aircraft carrier and normal runway. And I received several E-Mails saying that drawing speed significantly degraded after I added ground fire. I was thinking that it doesn't happen for non-OpenGL version, but anyway it's happening. So, I took care of this problem. The drawing speed will improve in the next version.

I was thinking to release the next version late August, but, I may be able to release beta version sometime next month. Stay tuned!

05/19/2000
I'm working on aircraft carrier. Now, I can take off and land the aircraft carrier. Also in the next version, cargo airplanes will not commit suicide if you choose one as an enemy airplane in dogfight. (Cargo airplanes will just circle around).

03/06/2000
Two bugs are reported. And they will be fixed in the next release. Please refer to the information of "NEXT VERSION" below for details. I'd like to thank everyone who helped me finding and fixing these
problems.

03/03/2000
Updated FAQ.

02/27/2000
I'm writing a utility program to take care of .YFS flight record file. As I mentioned, new version has lots of moving ground objects. As a result, size of the .YFS files tend to be larger. But, unless you fly Anti-Ground missions, record of the ground objects are just waste of the storage. So, I'll put a utility program to rip off or reduce the ground objects' record from the .YFS file. It'll also be able to replay the flight record with fast forward and rewind. It'll be online soon.

02/26/2000
New Release!

Airplanes added in this release:

B-2 Spirit
E-2C HAWKEYE
Mitsubishi F-2
F-104 Starfighter
S-3 Viking
IAI Kfir
Dassault Rafale

Features added in this release:

Anti Air Artillery and Surface to Air Missile
Bridge (You can fly underneath!)
Hangar that you can taxi (or fly) through
New air fields.
Smoke is rendered smoothly in OpenGL version
Decrease the missile lock-on range against stealthy airplanes.
Maximum 3 friendly vs. 5 enemy dogfight
If an airplane has two guns, it shoots two bullets at one time.
Installer (You'll never suffer from the message "File **** not found")

Bugs fixed in this release

Some keys makes program crash. (I used these keys for testing some features, and forgot eliminating them)
Memory Leak problem is fixed in the next version.

01/31/2000
I planned to release dogfight screensaver this January, however, I couldn't make it. The new semester began and I got busy. And, actually I've written the screensaver code once, but it got some problems. It took some time to fix the problems. But, it's almost done. It'll be out hopefully 7 to 10 days.

Dogfight screensaver uses YSFLIGHT2000's flight simulation kernel. Airplanes flies different flight path depend on the initial situation. Maybe you'll not get bored of it.

01/12/2000
Tomorrow will be my birthday(^_^;) It has nothing to do with the development of YSFLIGHT2000, though(^_^;) Well, I don't have a big announcement, but I'm writing YSFLIGHT2000 Screensaver. Apparently, many people (including myself) liked the opening demo of YSFLIGHT2000. I'm building that demo into the screensaver, adding some configuration menus. The program will be out late this month. Stay tuned!

12/26/1999
I implemented stealth issue. Now, F-22, F-117 and B-2 are not locked on unless the enemy comes closer. The lock on distance is reduced ten times smaller than other airplanes.

12/21/1999
I'll build some more flight simulators using YS FLIGHT 2000 as a kernel. Dogfight screensaver will be uploaded soon (planned late January). Also AIR COMBAT EDITION and FORMATION AEROBATIC EDITION is planned, but not decided when.

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OLD SCREENSHOTS

"Choose Airplane" screen of the next version. (2001/06/24)