MW Mod 4 - Development Updates Thread - WIC: Modern Warfare Mod for World in Conflict

Progress with MW Mod 4.0 is going pretty smoothly. I'll constantly update this thread with new changes as they become implemented during the development cycle.

Change Log (1/22/2013):

• Joint Fire Support Network (JFSN) v1.0 application added into game python infrastructure.

1. JFSN provides coordination between infantry and support players, by networking MLRS rocket artillery units with the forward-deployed infantry.
2. A radio net is automatically setup behind the scenes while game is running. When an infantry unit (any infantry) or Airborne Squad calls down Direct Artillery special ability, a radio call to all available MLRS units is made, while target area threat and rounds required are assessed.
3. MLRS units need to "join" the JFSN network by pressing the Defensive Ability. Unit will become immobile, but can relocate as soon as it disconnects from the net. Because MLRS units are highly mobile, recharge time on Defensive Ability is relatively low.
4. Only a Forward Observer unit (infantry or Russian Command Tank) may initiate an artillery fire. MLRS unit itself cannot be manually commanded to fire. Support players can call their own JFSN artillery by spawning infantry or buying airborne infantry squads.
5. Only heavy Rocket Artillery units (M270 MLRS and 9K58 Smerch) are added to JFSN. Other artillery units will continue to utilize the existing independent targeting and use by the owning player. Support players that wish to play artillery using the old-school, non-networked style can purchase any artillery unit that is not MLRS.

• JFSN artillery unit composition:

1. Russian 9k58 Smerch: Equipped with (6) 9M528 300mm HE and (6) 9M55K1 Sensor-Fuzed Scattering Sub-munitions. 9M55K1 will split open on top of the target formation and release 5 anti-tank heatseeking skeets, homing into vehicles.
2. US M270 MLRS: Equipped with (12) M31A1 270mm HE with GPS/INS guidance for accurate bombardment. When attacking target formations, computer will artificially enlarge the Circular Error Probable (CEP) into the INS fire solution, so that guided rockets will distribute evenly over the target area. When attacking a single or point/fixed area, GPS guidance is used for precision CEP.

• PredictorFCS 2.6 gunlaying module. Program can now track & engage rocket artillery projectiles and game ordnances utilizing FLINT system. PredictorFCS 2.6 also introduces gun-to-gun integrated data-link -- incoming target tracks are distributed to each individual gun, in order to deal with saturation attacks.

1. US Phalanx C-RAM and Russian Pantsir S1 can now accurately engage rocket artillery and incoming missiles (except ballistic missiles).
2. Both systems will distribute and share target tracks between different guns operating in the same area.
3. System will track the incoming targets and ignore those that will be flying past them or targets that are non-threatening (targets not flying toward the unit).

• Joint Targeting & Designation System (JTDS) 2.0 update for aircraft controlling module in game.

1. Semi-active laser homing (SALH) seekers will now perform true laser point seeking, where they will literally lock onto the source of the laser designation, rather than a designated target unit.
2. With this improvement, SALH based munitions can be guided to wherever the JTAC infantry laser designator is pointing to. If you lase a blank terrain, a building or a bridge that has no enemy in it, the missile will track that laser spot and hit it. If you lase an enemy target, the missile will go after the target; if you lase enemy infantry, the missile will go after your new target. Wherever the laser points, the missile will now follow.
3. Man-in-the-loop redirect is now possible with new SALH seekers. If you want to abort your missile's target, simply lase the ground or switch laser onto something else, and the missile will change its flight path to your new laser spot, effectively aborting the attack on your previous target.
4. GBU-54 LJDAM (semi-active laser and GPS dual-mode JDAM) guided bomb is now added to F-18E Super Hornet aircraft for the US faction. The LJDAM can be launched against point target using GPS/INS guidance. When engaging a moving target, a JTAC infantry must provide terminal laser designation for the bomb to follow the laser spot.
5. KAB-500KR electro-optical guided bomb is now added to Su-35 aircraft for the Russian faction. The KAB-500KR can be launched against point target using EO (electro-optical guidance). When engaging a moving target, the bomb will lock onto the target using its EO seeker. Laser designation against moving target is NOT necessary! The bomb is "fire and forget" all the way to impact.

• AIM-120C-7 AMRAAM air-to-air missile now requires the launching aircraft to maintain 110 degrees boresight, in order to receive mid-course updates until the missile goes terminal ("pitbull"). If the launching aircraft goes defensive or otherwise turns around after launching the missile at long range, the missile will lose its mid-course data-link. The missile will then enter into "mad dog" condition where it will try to search for whatever targets is visible with +15/-15 degrees boresight scan zone of the seeker -- in most cases, missile will not find anything and go ballistic.

• RU Su-27 and Su-35 aircraft now activate evasive countermeasures when an enemy missile is homing into them.

• Removed mid-course updates on AGM-114L Longbow HELLFIRE missile fired from US Attack Helicopter for Experts. Missile will fly using inertial navigation to the assigned target basket, without any mid-course updates. Once arriving, data-link back to the Longbow radar is established to resolve target deconfliction for simultaneous salvo fired attacks.

• AGM-114L Longbow HELLFIRE missile now requires the Apache to maintain 110 degrees boresight facing to the missile itself, in order to receive target-deconfliction over data-link. If helicopter turns away, then missiles will lose this data-link and randomly go after whatever closest targets they find, without coordination.

• Flexible Interceptor (FLINT) Missile Simulation Engine 3.0

1. FLINT 3.0 now calculates all forces acting upon the rocket -- gravity, thrust, lift and drag.
2. Completely fixed the annoying bug where missiles often achieved "phantom acceleration" -- where an additional speed or deceleration was gained when control efforts were made by the guidance seeker.
3. Simulation of gravity bombs and ballistic rockets and shells are now provided for supported ordinances.
4. 3D Dynamic Launch Zone (DLZ) and Trajectory Equations are now supported by the FLINT engine. The program now has the capability to dynamically estimate a missile's Time of Flight (TOF) (also known as Time to Go or 'TGO') as it travels toward its target. Supported weapon systems (such as Patriot missiles, etc) will now take advantage of dynamic trajectory calculations to issue both engagement and guidance commands.
5. Angle of Attack (AoA) is now modelled and rendered accordingly to the missile's flight path. When missile makes sharp turns, you'll see that its smoke trail and engine exhaust flare will now clearly show the missile's angle of attack, as it banks sharply.
6. FLINT system now supports maximum altitudes of up to 2,000 wic meters (twice the height of Mega Map camera view).

• Improved flight modeling for tactical ballistic missiles to make them feel more authentic.

• AI bot players will now call both artillery and JTDS air strikes on enemy targets when encountered.

• New Unit (LAV-AD) added to USMC/infantry role for mobile short-range air defense. Equipped with Vulcan cannon and Stinger missiles.
• New detailed model for US F-22 air superiority fighter.
• New detailed model for RU Pantsir-S1 Medium SAM.

• Patriot Weapons Control Computer 5.0 program module for US Patriot Heavy SAM system.

1. Extensive re-write of the entire SAM/IADS control program to provide a more "legit"/authentic feel of the system behavior to real life, based on publicly available information.
2. Patriot system will now calculate dynamic motions in flight when making engagement and guidance decisions.
3. A virtual radius of 400 wic meters surrounding every Patriot radar is now designated as "Asset Threat Classification" (ATC) Area. Every ATC "grid" in the game map is considered as "protected asset" area, where air defense protections must be provided.
4. Every hostile target tracks are now calculated with the following additional data: Launch Now Intercept Point (LNIP) - the location where target would be intercepted, if a missile would be fired at it right now; Estimated Time to Go (TGO) - approximate time of flight it would take for the Patriot missile to fly out to the target and get into position for intercept; Time to Last Launch (TLL) -- the amount of time we have before we must launch the missile, in order to intercept the target in time, before it breaches a protected ATC area; Self Defense Threat (SDT) - if a target is making a threatening maneuver by directly flying toward the Patriot battery to attack it, the computer will now automatically re-classify the track as a Self Defense Threat (SDT) and make it eligible for immediate "weapons free" engagement.
5. Hostile aircraft and missiles are now prioritized based on threats made to protected ATC areas on the map. When engagement sequence begins, missile launches are prioritized based on each target track's threat level to protected ATC areas. Targets flying closest toward a protected ATC zone will be engaged first, while non-threatening targets flying away from ATC areas will have their priority reduced or become ignored.
6. Ballistic missile (TBM) tracks are now calculated with ballistic trajectory equations in accordance with En.wikipedia.org. Every incoming TBM track is now estimated with Predicted Impact Point (PIP) -- the location where the ballistic missile is expected to land. If the TBM will not land within Patriot's TBM protection footprint radius (up to 600wm from SAM site for PAC-3 missile, 400wm for PAC-2), the computer will ignore the track and let the ballistic missile fall harmlessly.
7. Although this feature is not yet provided, the radar processing logic now has the technical capability to calculate and estimate a ballistic projectile's source location of fire. Future versions of the Patriot system in game may provide Counter-Battery notification features to aid the team in countering ballistic sources of fire (heavy caliber rockets and ballistic missiles).

Edited by: blahdy

I like that you have added stuff in. But can you please fix the problems that are in the mod right now. Bradly not firing tow missile,Humvv not even firing at all, wheels not moving on the strykers, Apache Graphical bugs and more. Please i know it is nice to add stuff, but can you please fix the problems you already have.

Cal96 wrote: I like that you have added stuff in. But can you please fix the problems that are in the mod right now. Bradly not firing tow missile,Humvv not even firing at all, wheels not moving on the strykers, Apache Graphical bugs and more. Please i know it is nice to add stuff, but can you please fix the problems you already have.

We're investigating the problem reports submitted from users, but given the lack of time I have, it's going to take some time.

The problems you have mentioned are known bugs, but unfortunately they are more difficult to fix than originally anticipated. (For example, fixing graphical bug on Apache requires re-processing of the model from the original sources, which will take quite some time; likewise, fixing wheel animation on Stryker is going to take even longer, as we need to redo the UVW mapping, LODs and all of our original artists are no longer available due to real-life work complications).

Why don't you just put the humvv in from the original World in conflict? Why don't you use the skin from the Apache for beginners in MW mod 2.0? And will you be adding any more maps in?? like more desert maps?

If it was that easy, we would've done it long time ago.

The mod hacks up the way game engine interfaces with units, that even trivial things like humvees had to be reprogrammed behind the scenes in order for things to work. People don't realize it because it happens behind the scenes, but at least that gives you the answer as to the problems that we're having.

And Apache is a modeling issue, /not/ a skin issue. A hellfire missile mesh is not solved by swapping out texture file.

Like I said above, we're aware of these problems. I'm sorry that there's only 1-2 guys working on this project now and we have daily jobs to attend to while fielding new features in the mod, so it's going to take time to address all of the problems, no matter how trivial they are.

Hope you'll understand.

As for maps, no immediate plans at the moment, but things could change. There is currently mde_Libya, which is popular desert map.

-blahdy

Edited by: blahdy

Yeah i understand, thanks for your time, and good luck with 4.0