LOTATC - Installation & Use Tutorial - (v1.0 EN)

Daniel Prat

Informations

• Publié par: Nusug
• Nombre de lectures: 118
• Langue: Slovak

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Lock On Tactical Air Traffic Control

Installation & Use Tutorial

 

 

 

    Table of Content     I.   Introduction ........................................................................................................... 4   II.   Installation ............................................................................................................. 4   2.1 Software .................................................................................................................................. 4 2.2 Modification of the export.lua file .......................................................................................... 5 III.   Configuration of the Server..................................................................................... 5   3.1 Order of operations................................................................................................................. 5 3.2 Configuration of server settings .............................................................................................. 5 3.2.1 Airports Radars ................................................................................................................ 6 3.2.2 AWACS ............................................................................................................................. 6  3.2.3 Drawing files .................................................................................................................... 7 3.3 Saving & Loading a preset configuration................................................................................. 7 3.4 Save current graphics .............................................................................................................. 7 3.5 Mission Replay......................................................................................................................... 7 3.6 Set Encoding ............................................................................................................................ 7 3.7 Advanced Configuration.......................................................................................................... 8 3.8 Set MEinit file (Advanced User)............................................................................................... 8 IV.   LotATC Client .......................................................................................................... 9   4.1 Join a game.............................................................................................................................. 9 4.2 Preferences .............................................................................................................................. 9  4.2.1 « General » tab ................................................................................................................ 9 4.2.2 « TeamSpeak » tab .......................................................................................................... 9 4.2.3 « Units » tab .................................................................................................................... 9 4.2.4 « Label » tab .................................................................................................................. 10 4.2.5 « Display tab ............................................................................................................... 10 » 4.2.6 « InterTrolleur » tab ...................................................................................................... 10 4.3 Full Screen button ................................................................................................................. 11 4.4 Chat Button ........................................................................................................................... 11   2 V1.0

 

4.5 Filters ..................................................................................................................................... 11 4.6 Display ................................................................................................................................... 11 4.7 Map........................................................................................................................................ 12  4.8 TeamSpeak ............................................................................................................................ 12 4.9 Using while playing (« Tools » Menu) ................................................................................... 13 4.9.1 Map manipulations........................................................................................................ 13 4.9.2 Determine a simple BRAA ............................................................................................. 13 4.9.3 Controllers Chat............................................................................................................. 13 4.9.4 Edit the Tags in real time............................................................................................... 14 4.9.5 Multiple BRAAs .............................................................................................................. 14 4.9.6 Drawings ........................................................................................................................ 15 4.9.7 « Tools/Teamspeak »..................................................................................................... 15 4.9.8 Units Sytems .................................................................................................................. 15 4.9.9 Ergonomy ...................................................................................................................... 15 V.   Conclusion............................................................................................................ 16   Special Thanks ................................................................................................................ 16    

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I.  Introduction LotATC software introduces a real time air traffic control in Lock On. It allows the elaboration of sophisticated tactics with complex tactical situations. It offers a new dimension to the network game. Easy to use and intuitive, it is accessible to anybody after following an installation process that will take only a few minutes.

II.  Installation  2.1   Software Installation of the software is easy. You just have to double-click on the setup icon corresponding to your LotATC version: « Setup_LotATC_2.X.X.exe ». Series of typical windows allows you to enter preliminary information, needed for the installation (language, license agreement, installation directory, shortcuts in the Start menu).  

    Please note that at the end of the installation process, the installer will ask you if it is necessary to add the LUA script to your Lock On installation. If you are installing LotATC on a computer on which Lock On is not installed or, if it is not the first time you are installing LotATC and no change in the LUA has been announced compared to the version you owned: choose [No]. Otherwise click on [Yes]. In case of doubt, a click on [Yes] will always be safer for the good behavior of LotATC. To finish, for Teamspeak users, it is important to answer Yes » to the question: « Update the « TeamSpeak DLL? (avoid crashes) ». As explained in parenthesis, this will modify the « TSRemote.dll » file in your « {TeamSpeak}/client sdk » folder in order to avoid LotATC crashes. _   4 V1.0

 

2.2  Modification of the export.lua file After the installation, a « lotatc2.lua » file must be in « {lockon}/config/export/ ». It is a script which is specific to LotATC and that will pick up, in real time, all necessary information from the game. There are two simple manual operations you will need to do in order to ensure that LotATC will run correctly: -   First, you need to check that Lock On is OK to export its data. By using the notepad, open the file: «{lockon}/config/export/ config.lua » and check if the following line is included in the document: EnableExportScript=True . If you have EnableExportScript=False, replace False  by True to get the correct line. -   Now you need to ask Lock On to execute lotatc2.lua script at each launch of the game. To achieve this you just need : o   to open (using the notepad) the « export.lua » file that is in {lockon}/config/export   o   to add the following line at the end of the file :   dofile("./Config/export/lotatc2.lua")   o   to save and close it.   That’s it, you are ready to use LotATC !

III.  Configuration of the Server LotATC is actually made of two modules: -   LotATC_server that collects the needed data from Lock On and controls the general parameters for all air traffic controllers. -   LotATC client that is the actual graphic interface (radar screen) for the controller. _ 3.1   Order of operations You need to always launch LotATC_server before launching Lock On. If this procedure is followed, the software will then be very flexible concerning configuration changes and connections of clients during the game. Here is the server interface:  

3.2  Configuration of server settings The first thing to do is to define the server parameters. To do so, click on [Set]. 5

 

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This where you can define radars parameters and connection passwords for each coalition. You can set all radars that will be part of the radar covering zone and then set our degree of understanding of the tactical situation during the mission. To choose the side to be configured (linked to the coalitions defined in Lock On), click on [BLUE] to select the blue side and on [RED] to select the red side. Choice of   coalition to set.

Define available airbases radars (see §3.2.1)

Password of the coalition

Configuration  of (the) AWACS of the coalition.

Define drawing file (see §3.2.3) See §3.7 : Advanced Configuration   3.2.1   Airports Radars The list of airports radars that can be accessible to controller is located on the left. To authorize or not the use of a radar, you just need to tick or not the box next the name of the concerned base. It is then possible to manually define the detection range of each radar (50km by default). The association of these radars will allow the construction of the radar covering zone . 3.2.2   AWACS The controller can also decide to have access to an AWACS. We will define its parameters (detection range etc.…) on the bottom right of the interface. There are two types of AWACS: Lock On AWACS and Static AWACS. -   Lock On AWACS : If the mission creator has placed an AWACS (E-3, E-2, A-50) in its mission and that the box « AWACS from Lock On » is ticked, the controller will see what really sees the AWACS in game (and which depends on its position, altitude… etc. in Lock On). -   Static AWACS : If the mission creator didn’t place an AWACS in its mission, the static AWACS is then very useful and can simulate the la presence on an AWACS by defining its position and altitude (by clicking on [Map]). It is possible to cumulate the two AWACS types. Note that the Lock On AWACS can be destroyed where the other cannot. A destroyed Lock On AWACS doesn’t send anymore data to LotATC, the controller will then be « blind »!   Trick:  When choosing the position of static AWACS, use the mouse wheel to set the size of the detection range.

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3.2.3  Drawing files Lastly, to import registered drawing file (see §3.4), the path to the saved drawing file can be defined on the bottom of the settings window. 3.3   Saving & Loading a preset configuration If the server configuration is often re-used, it can be useful to save it to prevent having to re-create it each time. To do so, two buttons are used to load and save configurations:

  3.4   Save current graphics Same way as presented above, it is possible to save currents graphics. To do so, you just need to click on [Save current graphics]. The « graphic/drawing » part and its interests are further described below (see §4.9.6). 3.5   Mission Replay Each time you click on the [Fly] button in Lock On, LotATC (even if not running) creates a log file of the flight that allows replaying the mission later (like Tacview for those who know). The mission file is stored in the folder {lockon}/Temp and is named Lotatc2-AAAAMMDD- HHMMSS.log (date & hour of the mission’s start). Then, one click on the [Set mission.log to play] _ erver allows to open the MissionFile og re-visualize the mission on button on LotATC s .l and to LotATC. A window dedicated to play back control will open. It will then be possible to pause, speed up etc…  

    This has several advantages: -   Train to use the software before doing it in real condition -   Understand the radars settings: « Why can’t I see this target and in this other case I see it to late »? Please note that since everything is contained in the MissionFile.log, replaying a mission do not require having Lock On installed on your computer. 3.6   Set Encoding A button to define the encoding is accessible on the server (on the bottom left). For « occidental » versions of Lock On (English, German, French, Spanish…), you will choose the « latin-1 » type (defined by default after installation). For Russian version, we will choose the « cp 1251 » type.

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3.7  Advanced Configuration In server’s settings ([Set] button), an advanced configuration button for radar detection parameters is located at the bottom: [Global configuration] (see §3.2).  

    ·   The first tab is dedicated to the loading of the mission file (MissionFile .mis ). This will help LotATC to get interesting information for the controller: -   waypoints of each group -   the weather that will help changing runways orientation.   ·   In the next two tabs, you will define the ground units or ships that are going to be detectable in LotATC (only if inside allied radar detection range (see §4.5) and that will participate to the construction of the radar covering zone . However, it is possible to add other units, like for example Strelas or Manpads, or to remove some. By default, the selected units are all units that possess onboard radar susceptible to contribute to the global detection effort and from which technology (band, emission power) makes it detectable by ESM. Default settings are the most real choice.   ·   If you want to stick even more to reality, the third tab of this window will allow you to choose if the radars operation must to be realistic or normal (default). By ticking realistic, the radars envelopes will be base on those of real ones (instead of being « simple » half-spheres) and the target detection will be more delicate. 3.8   Set MEinit file (Advanced User). For advanced use of the software, mainly when using Lock On mods that deeply modify this file (for example: replacing existing models), or in case you are using LotATC where clients and server do not run with the same Lock On language, use this function allow LotATC to operate correctly. With a « standard » use, it is not necessary to modify anything.

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  IV.   LotATC Client _ actual graphical interface for the player. Once connected to LotATC_server, it LotATC client is the will download information of the game to display it on the map of the operation theater. All functions, setups, tools and other options are gathered in the toolbar on the top. The end of this document will explain the use of each button.  

4.1  Join a game

  To join a game, you just need to click on the [Connect] button. A window will open on which you’ll need to fill the following fields: - Host: if the server is running on your own computer, the host   address will necessarily need to be: localhost . Otherwise, you’ll need to enter the IP address of the hosting computer (same as when you join a Lock on game). -   Port: 10311 by default. To be changed only for advanced users.   Nota : LotATC v2 uses TCP only for router configuration. -   Login: Enter the login under which you wish to appear. -   Password: depends on the coalition in which you want to be connected. It is defined in the server configuration and must be different for each side. (see §3.2)

    4.2   Preferences  The [Preference] button gives to LotATC_client configuration for it to adapt itself to the user’s needs. The configuration window exhibits six tabs. 4.2.1   « General » tab Its use will be reserved to advanced users only. (see §3.8) 4.2.2   « TeamSpeak » tab It allows you to define the path to the TeamSpeak installation directory. Indeed, it can be launched and handled from LotATC. (see §4.9.7). To have access to the path field, you first need to tick the box: « Activate TS Management ». 4.2.3   « Units » tab This tab will give access to unit system you want to use. For example, if the controller must take care of Russian planes, he will certainly prefer to have metric system units (the ones the pilot has in his cockpit). On the contrary, he will prefer imperial system units if he controls American planes. Note that this option is only to set the default parameter but it will be possible to switch from one unit system to the other in one click (see §4.9.8).

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4.2.4  « Label » tab In LotATC, each « radar plot» is associated with a tag that displays main data on it. The available data on the tag are customizable and this is the purpose of this tab. -   Adding a label : You just need to select the concerned label on the left in the list inside which are stored all the available labels (for example for the heading: $[heading] ) and to add it the help of the arrow, in the list of information you want to be displayed (for allies or enemies). You can then re-arrange the labels for them to be displayed in a particular order on the tag, by doing cut/paste. During this operation, pay attention not to introduce syntaxes errors : check that each label is built this way: $[label] . -   Removing a label : To remove a label, nothing easier: you just need to erase it and take care not to introduce syntax errors and always have for each label: $[label]   Note: To avoid any cheat during human versus human missions, the label $[name] will not be working for aircrafts of the enemy side. The name will be then replaced by: « ??? ».   Four « checkable » boxes on the top allow you or not to: - Trace a [Line between label and target]   -   [Show label background]: slightly transparent by default, it can then be simply removed (in which case, the two following options will not be usable because linked to the tag background display) -   [Show shadow]: to display a shadow under the tag background -   [Shadow follow altitude]: to make the height of this shadow move with the altitude of the contact. It is also possible to modify the font of the labels by using the button [Set label font]. 4.2.5   « Display » tab For better understanding of the tactical situation, the display tab allows you to group or not the contacts that are close to each other to make it only one radar plot. However, the labels keep being displayed to prevent loosing the group’s number of aircrafts information. 4.2.6   « InterTrolleur » tab To finish, for the inter-controller communication (communication between all clients connected to the same server), LotATC includes an instant message tool. Here you will handle all the parameters of the chat module (see §4.9.3). You will be able to define if yes or no you want to receive sound alert at reception of a new message by ticking or not the dedicated box. Then you will also be able to define shortcuts in advance to quickly write sentences/words that are often used. Two buttons allow you to add or delete predefined responses: -   To add a shortcut you just need to fill the Name  field (the name you want to give to the shortcut. For example: « OK »), the Message  field (the message corresponding to the shortcut. For example: « Roger that! ») and to click on [Add]. The new shortcut will be added in the list on the left. In the chosen example, the use of the shortcut « OK », will make you write « Roger that! » in the chat. (see §4.9.3 to see in details the shortcuts utilization). -   To delete a shortcut, you just need to select it in the list and to click on [Delete] to remove it from the list.

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4.3  Full Screen button The use of this button is pretty easy: one click on it is enough to switch from window display mode to full screen display mode.   Trick : Shortcut for this function : F11 .   4.4   Chat Button Allows you to send messages to other controllers. See section 4.9.3 for more details on the use of this button.   Trick : Press S to directly access to the chat.   4.5   Filters A quick accessible menu allows you to filter information relative to ground radars and ships (positions, detection range, coalition). Do you wish to display it or not? The filtering obeys to the following rules: -   A white drawing designate an ally object -   A white drawing designate an enemy object   -   If the icon has a green background: LotATC will display the selected item. -   If the icon has a red background: LotATC will not display the selected item.   Example : Enemies      Allies    Ground radars Ships   Here you have chosen to:   For allies objects (drawn in white): to display the positions and detection ranges of ground - radars but to hide ships positions and detection range. -   For enemy objects (drawn in red): to display the detection ranges of ground radars and ships but to hide their positions. 4.6   Display This quick setting menu for display is accessible by clicking on the [Display] button.   · It allows to chose whether or not you want to display tags and speed vectors (a bit like filters described above but without making distinction ally/enemy) ·   It also allows you to display all the available radars and to select the one on which you want to center the screen and to show its detection circle. This has absolutely no influence on the radar covering zone. To do so, you just need to click on [Radar] and a list will open making a distinction between ground radars, naval radars and radars onboard AWACS. One click on anyone of them will center the view on it .and show its detection circle.

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