Track playback bug?

Post by **Lawndart** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:39 pm

I've come across a rather annoying track-file bug. I record a track while flying in formation and I can play it back on my computer without problems, but if I send it to someone else my plane flies the "profile" I flew, but "detached" from the Lead airplane or diverging further away the longer the track plays.

The same is true in reverse. If the Lead pilot sends me his track, we "separate" and fly in far apart "in formation" but not as tight and close as it was recorded. Sometimes, the longer the tracks play the more we diverge from one another, when in reality we stayed in tight formation the entire time. When I watch Lead's track on my computer, this anomaly occurs and vice versa; however, while watching the track produced by the machine where it's played back, it runs just fine!

Any ideas? I thought first it had something to do with zip or rar used to transfer the trk files due to compression, but that seems to not be the case as this still happened after transferring the trk file uncompressed, rared and zipped, all yielding the same results and bug. Version 1.12a was used on all machines. The only difference aside from system specs is that both the CD and Web version of Flaming Cliffs were used and their respective patches. Does anyone know why this track playback anomaly happens and the remedy for "drifting away into space" during playback?

LD

Jonnyb · Post by **Jonnyb** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 2:27 pm

I had or have a problem similar where i click ctrl-r, fly in our formations and when i have finished i name it and save it in a didfferent folder that i made espeacially for the IAT tracks. Am i actually able to save track's in a different folder or does it have to be in the normal folder?

Post by **Lawndart** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 8:58 pm

How is this similar to the previous question?

You can record, then save the track in any folder you like. You can also playback a track from any folder you like. The menu selection called "Open" in Lock-On loads any track or mission file, using a file browser and that's all it really is. You can load, save, open and playback from any directory.

LD

Frazer · Post by **Frazer** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 9:52 pm

I think the best man to ask is Bublik (Vladimir), creator of the "Phantom mod". He should know alot about this stuff.
Fraz

Jonnyb · Post by **Jonnyb** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 4:26 am

It's to do with tracks lol.

Post by **Lawndart** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 4:40 pm

Phantom Control deals with tracks Jonny, so the above remains correct and thanks for the tip Frazer.

LD

Thumper · Post by **Thumper** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 7:01 pm

LD,

I havent noticed the bug that you mention but I am having problems with tracks since the 1.12a patch was installed. I did a clean Lock On/FC install and then patched directly to 1.12a and sometimes when I save the track the filesize is only 2kb and it cant be opened. It seems to be a random thing too because some tracks save fine, while others don't. I'll try flying some close formation and swap tracks with wingmen and see if I can replicate the problem.

Thumper

Post by **Lawndart** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 8:59 pm

Speaking of... there's another "bug" that some of our guys have (I've never had it myself) where it doesn't save a track at all once you finish the sortie, even though you started the mission via "Record Track". Any info on this would be good too, but I'd still say the initial post has the most annoying bug.

LD

Burner · Post by **Burner** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 9:06 pm

I think the key here is that it works b/f xfer but not afterwards. LD try sending the track thru another medium, yousendit.com, AIM, or Email. If you've already tried this and you're not zipping the files then it comes to a disparity in LOMAC installations. Is it only happening between you and Bon or you and anyone?

Talking to Bublik is also a good idea, he's the most knowledgeable mod maker I've talked to; he has direct experience coding a program to read track files (Phantom Control).

Frazer · Post by **Frazer** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 10:55 pm

Now we are talking about all kinds of bugs, I don't do so much with tracks but I used to have problems with saving all kinds of things in lockon which start with the same number or letter. (only if you save them in the same map)

Post by **Lawndart** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 11:17 pm

Burner,

In two famous words: Tru tru!

I didn't think about yousendit.com. I'll give that a shot, just to rule out IM file transfers. We did send the files back and forth uncompressed using MSN, but with the same poor results. If it was made on my puter, it would play fine for me. If made on Bon's puter, it wouldn't play correctly on my end and vice versa. I've had this happen swapping tracks with Cobra too, but no one else I can recall. I'd lean towards something whacky with the Lock-On installations or the same version (1.12a) somehow being different between our systems, although I don't know where to begin trouble shooting?

Frazer,

Good tip about keeping your track folder "clean". Once I'm back home, I'm going to clean out the 200+ (?) tracks I have in my 1.12a folder and playback the buggy tracks again to see what happens? Maybe there's something with the file structure and Lock-On reading these files incorrectly if you hit a certain number or too many letters?

LD

Frazer · Post by **Frazer** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 12:07 am

Yea well, i'm not sure that will solve your problem but you could give it a shot. The problem i had is that if i already had something saved with, for example, starting an "A" then the second time i wanted to save something starting with an "A" it didn't save anything at all!

Since then i'm always saving tracks and stuff starting with a different number but i'm not sure if this problem still exist in 1.12(a) version of lockon.....

Post by **Lawndart** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 12:42 am

Strange, sounds like you had a case of the "Bon's". Occasionally, Lock-On will not let him save his tracks at all. Gonna pass along this info and see if it helps that issue with the tracks.

LD

BonJobie · Post by **BonJobie** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 3:49 am

Bon copies all!

Bon

Convertible · Post by **Convertible** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 1:08 pm

Not to kill the theory here, but I have saved all my tracks with 112 at the beginning and then changing the date behind it. My tracks all look like "112 April 17 VTB" The only thing that I change are the dates of the tracks. I have never had any issues with any of them or with saving them. Sorry.

Convertible