The current version is: 1.6
SourceForge project
Download the latest version of the simulator (Win32 binary)
If possible, please use the SourceForge system to make suggestions or submit bug reports. If you want to contribute code, please contact me by email - my address is in README.txt.
I'll leave the items below for now, but the SourceForge project contains the most recent information.
Bugs
Please keep in mind that all the following have been 'fixed' in v0.8.7 (with fixed meaning, they behave the same as they do in the game). If you find any differences between the simulator and the game, please contact Sord (in game as Sord or email sord@battlespot.com )
- Rotation is not treated the same as it is in Egypt. This applies to most applications of rotation, and all 4 types. If you use rotation in your design, be sure to test it in Egypt before entering your design in a competition.
- Launching rockets down, then down again ought to turn them around. Unfortunately, it appears to leave them in the original orientation in game, at least in some situations. Similarly for down, then up; up, then up; etc.
- Some glowers will appear and disappear as you zoom out due to the large viewing volume.
- 'Cylindrical' rotation left/right
- Launching a rocket up/down (in game) puts the child rocket in a plane defined by a line in the parent's forward direction at time of launch and a point directly beneath the launch point. The simulator seems to use the 'up' direction from its ancestors. In game, an 'up' direction is only used when the parent stage is vertical (so there would be an infinite number of planes defined by the forward line and the point).
- (New in 0.8; 0.7 and 0.7a behave correctly): Rings launched from a vertical rocket have both their "up" and "down" launch directions pointing in the same direction. In game you can create a hovering but expanding ring by firing a ring from your vertical rocket (e.g. platform) and then firing in the "down" direction with speed 0 and thrust 10.26. In sim 0.8, whether you fire down or up the ring falls.
Feature Requests
- A resources readout would be interesting. Just total glowers for starters, and the gunpowder/aluminum if it's possible. - This is on the list. I'll get it into the next release.
- any chance of a way to set the ground / background color? Also bigger glower blobs would be very nice. they are a bit hard to see atm. - What color would be preferable? And are the glowers big enough, or do they need to be bigger?
- A Linux version of the pyro simulator and a good GUI to create the fireworks. - I plan on releasing the source after I fix these bugs and add a few things on my wishlist. I've found a great GUI library to use called GLUI.
- A grid at ground level for scale. - I would like this too. It'll take some work to pin it down, so I'm putting this off for now.
- I wish clicking the close widget (X) on the various dialogs didn't quit the application. I've accidentally quit (losing data) a number of times when trying to dismiss a dialog that way.
Observations (Game vs. Simulator)
These are some tests run to compare the game behavior versus the simulator, version 0.7a. These should help debug the simulator as well as improve understanding of the directions and such in the game. The observations assume that the simulator starts looking north (if you were standing on the field, north would be in front of you).
Launch Directions
| Stage | Description | Duration | Speed | Thrust | Rotation | Axis | Color | Parent | Direction | Rockets | Reps | Offset |
| 1 | Initial | 2 | 20.58 | 0 | 0 | right | none | | | | | |
| 2 | Platform | 5 | 0 | 10.26 | 0 | right | none | 1 | forward | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 3 | Up | 2 | 10.26 | 0 | 0 | right | red | 1 | up | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| 4 | Down | 2 | 10.26 | 0 | 0 | right | yellow | 1 | down | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| 5 | Left | 2 | 10.26 | 0 | 0 | right | green | 1 | left | 1 | 5 | 0 |
- Game: Red glowers sent north, yellow glowers sent south, green glowers sent west.
- Sim: Red glowers sent north, yellow glowers sent south, green glowers sent east.
Up/Down Rotations
| Stage | Description | Duration | Speed | Thrust | Rotation | Axis | Color | Parent | Direction | Rockets | Reps | Offset |
| 1 | Initial | 3 | 30.78 | 0 | 0 | right | none | | | | | |
| 2 | Platform | 5 | 0 | 10.26 | 0 | right | none | 1 | forward | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 3 | Up | 2 | 5.00 | 60 | 45 | up | red | 1 | up | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| 4 | Down | 2 | 5.00 | 60 | 45 | up | yellow | 1 | down | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| 5 | Left | 2 | 5.00 | 60 | 45 | up | green | 1 | left | 1 | 5 | 0 |
- Game: All glowers crashed into the ground.
- Sim: Red glowers rise, yellow and green glowers crash into the ground.
- As per the other remarks, Rotation+Thrust is bugged, careful observation in game shows that Upwards rotation causes the tip of the rocket to rotate towards the sky (from it's launch orientation), and Downwards towards the ground (Yargh)
| Stage | Description | Duration | Speed | Thrust | Rotation | Axis | Color | Parent | Direction | Rockets | Reps | Offset |
| 1 | Initial | 3 | 30.78 | 0 | 0 | right | none | | | | | |
| 2 | Platform | 5 | 0 | 10.26 | 0 | right | none | 1 | forward | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 3 | Up | 2 | 5.00 | 60 | 45 | down | red | 1 | up | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| 4 | Down | 2 | 5.00 | 60 | 45 | down | yellow | 1 | down | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| 5 | Left | 2 | 5.00 | 60 | 45 | down | green | 1 | left | 1 | 5 | 0 |
- Game: All glowers rise into the air.
- Sim: Red glowers crash into the ground, yellow and green glowers rise into the air.
Conclusions
If the back of your head is to the south and your face is to the north, you are looking at a clock, and your head is a rocket always travelling in a direction as if launched from your feet, then:
- It appears that the simulator (v0.7a) is rotated 180 degress counter-clockwise versus the game. It also means that...
- If you look down to your feet, the "up" launch direction is out of the top of your head.
- If you then turn 90 degrees to your left (still looking at your feet), the "left" launch direction is out the top of your head.
- Turning 90 degrees to your left again, the "down" launch direction is now out the top of your head.
- Turning 90 degrees one more time, the "right" launch direction is now out the top of your head.
- Up/Down rotations (and presumably left/right, but it is more difficult to test without thrust) follow the same as the above, but it is the direction of the thrust vector, which is opposite the forward launch direction. So if you are looking at your feet, with thrust coming out the base of your skull (south), a "down" rotation rotates thrust down to the ground so acceleration (assuming thrust > gravity) is toward zenith.
Orientation of Ring Rockets
| Stage | Description | Duration | Speed | Thrust | Rotation | Axis | Color | Parent | Direction | Rockets | Reps | Offset |
| 1 | Initial | 3 | 30.78 | 0 | 0 | right | none | | | | | |
| 2 | Platform | 1 | 0 | 10.26 | 0 | right | none | 1 | forward | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 3 | Ring | 2 | 10.26 | 60 | 45 | down | yellow | 2 | ring | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| 4 | Left | 2 | 10.26 | 0 | 0 | down | green | 3 | left | 1 | 2 | 0 |
- Game: Yellow glowers rise, indicating (I think) that they are launched with the same orientations as the four rockets fired in the up/down/left/right directions. Green glowers are launched in a counter-clockwise fashion as expected.
- Sim: Yellow glowers fall, and green glowers are launched in a clockwise fashion. Switching the rotation direction to 'up' causes yellow to rise, while they will fall in the game.
- The rise/fall of the yellow glowers is due to the rotation+thrust bug, all rockets are launched with the 'Top' being the side facing the sky (Yargh)
Further tests...
A few conclusions about the orientiations of rockets launched in different directions could probably use some more testing. Specifically, for example, if a rocket launched left from the platform its self launches a rocket to the left, will that rocket be launched south or will it be launched into the ground? Similarly for a right-launched rocket launching a rocket to the right. This may have some bearing on whether or not the launch directions of a rocket may become flipped with respect to the thrust direction. -- Ash.
This is excellent. Thanks Ashmael.
Answer: A left/right launch will always be parallel to the ground. So if the first left goes west, the second left will be south. -- Sord
In addition Up launches will always fire towards the ground at an angle perpendicular to the parent and Down launches will always fire towards the sky. In game Up and Down launch directions are reversed, note that Up/Down rotation directions are however not reversed. In game the model appears to be simplified so the rockets always know which direction 'Up' is in, this is particularly confusing for people expecting a full 3D rocket orientation.
More notes...
Apparently some of the conclusions above aren't correct. Per Yargh (and confirmed through testing), the thrust vector is not always opposite the forward vector. Applying thrust and up/down rotation in some or all cases causes the thrust vector and the forward vector to rotate in opposite directions. For example:
| Stage | Description | Duration | Speed | Thrust | Rotation | Axis | Color | Parent | Direction | Rockets | Reps | Offset |
| 1 | Initial | 10 | 11 | 0 | 10 | down | none | | | | | |
If you observe the rocket arrow closely (in game), the rocket its self will curve one direction while the arrow will turn to point opposite the direction of travel, indicating that thrust and forward are turning to point in the same direction. Grrr. -- Ashmael