From: dd@doc.ic.ac.uk (Demetrius Dracopoulos)
Newsgroups: rec.aviation.simulators
Subject: Summary: Flight simulators under X
Date: 16 Nov 1992 14:56:44 -0000
Organization: Department of Computing, Imperial College, University of London, UK.
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: swan.doc.ic.ac.uk


From: bass@neptune.convex.com



Subject: ACM Flight Simulator Frequently-Asked Questions List

This article contains the answers to some Frequently-Asked Questions
(FAQ) about the ACM Flight Simulator.  It has been posted as a response
to the growing interest in ACM and to reduce the net traffic in the
"rec.aviation.simulators" newsgroup.

The following questions are answered:

    Q: What is ACM?
    Q: What machines does ACM run on?
    Q: How do you run ACM?
    Q: What aircraft are simulated?
    Q: Where can I get ACM?
    Q: Who is/are the authors?
    Q: Why won't ACM compile under HPUX?
    Q: Is there an PC or Mac version of ACM?
    Q: What is the current "official" release?
    Q: When will there be another release?
    Q: Are there other versions around?
    Q: How can I learn about modern air combat tactics?

Of course, this FAQ won't answer all the questions.  If you have a
question about ACM, please e-mail me at "bass@convex.com".  I'll
try to reply as soon as possible.  I'll also update the FAQ and
repost it periodically.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: What is ACM?

ACM is a LAN-oriented, multiplayer aerial combat simulation.  Players
engage in air-to-air combat against one another using heat-seeking
missiles and cannons.

ACM is not the SGI flight simulator.  ACM is not Sun's "Aviator".
Neither is it related to any commercially available simulator.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: What machines does ACM run on?

I personally know that HP, MIPS, Sparc, Sun3 and DEC versions exist.
The operating system is BSD-style Unix.

>From the README file:
    ... [Riley's] main design objective was to provide source code that
    could be easily compiled and executed on a wide variety of
    platforms.  To that end, ACM is written entirely in C, exploiting
    the programming features of Unix, X11, and the BSD socket interface.

    ...I suspect that an 10+ SPECmark system could handle a typical
    multiplayer load...

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: How do you run ACM?

ACM exists as two programs.  The first component, named "acms", is a
server process that manages the multiplayer environment.  It also
manages the flight simulation and display management that is required.

The second, named "acm", is a small program that, when invoked, starts
a session on a given workstation.

Most players will prefer to run the "acms" process on a back-end server
system on their local area network.  Players at client workstations can
then invoke the "acm" program to begin play.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: What aircraft are simulated?

Two aircraft are modeled: the General Dynamics F-16 and the Soviet
MiG-23.  The missiles are AIM-9M Sidewinders.  The cannon is a
20-mm M61A1 Vulcan.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Where can I get ACM?

ACM can be FTP'ed from "export.lcs.mit.edu" (18.24.0.12).  It's in the
"contrib" directory:

    % ftp export.lcs.mit.edu
    Connected to export.lcs.mit.edu.
    Name (export.lcs.mit.edu:xxx): anonymous
    331 Guest login ok, send ident as password.
    Password: _________
    ftp> cd contrib
    ftp> binary
    ftp> get acm.2.4.tar.Z
    ftp> quit

Now, you'll have to uncompress and un-tar it, like so:

    % uncompress acm.2.4.tar.Z
    % tar xvf acm.2.4.tar

This will create an "acm" subdirectory.  There is a README file that
will tell you where to go from here.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Who is/are the authors?

ACM was written by Riley Rainey (riley@atria.com).  In the credits,
Riley cites Dan A. Dickey's assistance in improving the server code.
The 3-D graphics routines are closely based on an article in "Byte
Magazine" by Franklin C. Crow.

Many others have sent in bug fixes and enhancements that have been
incorporated into ACM.

Also, there is an ad-hoc ACM development forum which functions was a
sounding board for Riley to bounce new ideas off of.  It also functions
as a beta-test group and forwards suggestions and enhancements for
inclusion in the next release.  Two of its members and their areas of
interest are:

Brad Bass (bass@convex.com) - addition of conventional flight and 
    navigation instruments.  Inclusion of FAA navaid and airport data
    for IFR flight simulation.

Tim Tessin (tjt@cirrus.com) - experimentation with higher-performance
    graphics systems (Sun GX accelerator, XGL), sound, and increased
    simulation and combat realism.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Why won't ACM compile under HPUX?

Some of the library functions have different names.  Add the following
to the end of "fsim/manifest.h":

    #ifdef hpux
    #define NEEDS_COPYSIGN
    #define srandom srand
    #define random rand
    #define sigvec sigvector
    #endif

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Is there an PC or Mac version of ACM?

No. At this point, ACM relies heavily on X-windows and the Berkeley
Unix socket interface.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: What is the current "official" release?

ACM2.4 was the last release to come from Riley and was posted to to
the Usenet in September of 1991.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: When will there be another release?

Riley anticipates the release of ACM3 before the end of the year.
Enhancements *may* include:
    + a "chase plane" view
    + enhanced realism while moving on the ground
    + use of NACA stability derivatives for pitch, roll and yaw models
    + faster graphics performance
    + an improved head-up display (HUD)
    + some nav instrumentation

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Are there other versions around?

ACM was distributed as source code.  This has encouraged much user
experimentation.  Many people have used ACM as a foundation for an
arcade-style shoot-em-up game.  Others have added additional aircraft
types, surface-to-air missile sites, ground vehicles and more scenery,
and wage extensive battles in teams.  Still others have added
conventional aircraft instrumentation and built IFR simulators with
navaids and runways from the FAA data tapes.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: How can I learn about modern air combat tactics?

1. Mike Spick's _Modern_Fighter_Combat_, published by Prentice Hall.
2. Robert Shaw's _Flighter_Combat:_Tactics_and_Maneuvering_, published by Naval Institute Press.
3. JD Webster's _Air Superiority_ and _The Speed of Heat_ board game simulations

[ 1 submitted by Riley Rainey (riley@atria.com) ]
[ 2 & 3 submitted by Neil Galarneau (neil@progress.com) ]
----------------------------END---------------------------------------

**********************************************************************


From: klapka@vette.colorado.edu (Igor Klapka)

One of the best Flight Sim i have ever seen under X-Unix is the Silicon Graphics one.
It runs also on ethernet so dogfight between several computers is easily possible
( and really really great )
It uses, unfortunately, the GL graphic library from SGI. So as it, it can't be used on
others Unix-platforms. (The Silicon Graphics server is sgi.com (?? 192.48.153.1)) 
BUT, source code is disponible.
If there is someone who wants to translate it under X-windows ... :-)


About that Flight-Sim,  is there anyone who knows how to define crash detection on new
grounds? 
Building new montains is very easy with data files, but planes doesn't detect them.


************************************************************************

From: jon@destin.dazixco.ingr.com

fltsim.tar.Z    simple flight simulator for Sun.  Uses pixrect
                directly, not too nice for X.  Does no collision
                detection but nice toy.  Several years old.

aviator         nice full blown cripple-ware multiplayer network
                dogfight and flight simulator.  Uses USGS terrain data
                for various locations.  You have to pay $$ or only get
                to fly for two minutes, and then back to the startup
                menu.   Run's only on Sun's and uses the GX in
                proprietary ways.

                latest version: 1.8

acm             Nice network dogfight simulator.  Much slower than
                aviator.  Uses generic X and can run on any unix box.
                Available on export.lcs.mit.edu:/contrib/acm*.tar.Z

                latest version: 2.4

flight.tar.Z    unauthorized copy of SGI flight/dog programs ported to
                run with pixrect.  Very difficult to find one of
                these, and probably not legal.  Nice fast network
                dogfighting.  Tends to bog down the whole lan with
                packets.  Great response, but flight dynamics are not
                the most realistic.

**********************************************************************

From: Paolo Montrasio <montra@ghost.dsi.unimi.it>

I know  there exists a X11 flight simulator called ACM.
ACM is an up-to-8 players air combat simulator. It simulates an f-14
like plane and a mig-?? like one. There are 2 airports, one for f14s
and one for migs and a few mountains (not very nice looking) you can
flight trought. The two aircrafts are quite different: the mig is
heavier than the f14, but it can flight faster. You can fire heat
seeking missiles (you have 8 of them) or you can use gun fire (500).

To play it you must run a daemon on a machine and then each player
must run a client that cares about displaying things. I ran it on a
68040 NeXT and the speed was good. The graphic is not very good, but
the enjoiment of playing against a friend makes it irrilevant. There
is also the possibility to play against drones.

You can ftp it from

HOST export.lcs.mit.edu,
DIRECTORY contrib

-rw-r--r--  1 ftp      ftp        240457 Sep 21  1991 acm.2.4.tar.Z

*******************************************************************

From: zwa@pluto.ee.cua.edu
here's some of what i can find on Internet:
        acm-2.4         Xlib-based F-16/MiG-23 flight simulator
                        wuarchive.wustl.edu:/usenet/comp.sources.x/volume12
                        i don't know if it really is version 2.4,
                        but the version i have is 2.4 & it's the latest.
                        i don't remember where i got this version.
        flight          Silicon Graphics Inc.'s "flight" flight simulator
                        compiled for Sun SPARCstation's.
                        transit.ai.mit.edu:/pub/flight
        aviator-1.8     Artificial Horizon Inc.'s FA-18A flight simulator
                        compiled for Sun SPARCstation's with
                        GX graphics accelerator
                        grape.ecs.clarkson.edu:/pub/aviator
"acm" can run across network, it's free and comes w/ src's.
        it's too simple but having src's is a big plus.
        i heard about plans to include ILS (may be even some nav aids)
        and improve the scenery generation.
"flight" is also free, but it only comes compiled for Sun SPARCstation's.
        i read a news post by someone saying this prg worked on his
        SPARCstation IPX (w/ GX ofcourse), but i tried on my
        SPARCstation 2GX & never worked.  it kept core dumping.
        it also has network version "dog" (dogfight), "shadow", & "radar".
"aviator" is not free & u can only buy bin's.
        it has v. impressive scenery (digitized images & data from real-life
        geo database).  it also needs SPARCstation with GX graphics accelerator.i never got it to work on my Sun.
        u can only download the demo 1-minute version from the net.
        i was told Sun sales rep's give this prg away to their prospective
        customers, but my sales rep never mintioned it when i bought
        the sys.



Dimitris Dracopoulos
Imperial College
London
Xref: sparky rec.aviation.simulators:468 comp.sys.ibm.pc.games:22815