Prealpha release 6

[nnick]

There is so much data in airports or airlines database, that it will be not really necessary in the moment. You should always have in mind, that it will still be difficult to have more than 50 opponents in the game and let it run stabile.
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And by the way: I guess there are loads of airines implemented yet and I guess this are the most important and biggest ones IRL.
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Let pjank get the game itself ready, and after that we could think about additional airlines in the game. Or perhaps he (or someone else) can program an editor for the game, but the most important thing is to get the game ready and not if there are 500 or 501 airlines choosable from the start. It wouldn't get faster or better although somebody else will check the data out after being delivered and it feels like every players wants especially airlines from his hom- or favorite country, like @tjoeker, who wants especially Belgian carriers in the game. In former versions thers was a possibility to start with a not implemented airline, so you can have Air Belgium or Thomas Cook Belgium as your airline but the database will not be overloaded (what can take more time on processing in the game).
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Otherwise you can order the "JP Airline Fleets" by BuchAir in Switzerland and take out all airlines in the world with all airliners flying for them and put it into the game (JP Airline Fleets can be delivered on cd/dvd aswell, only write a special code and it can be added to the game)...
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 (The more I think about that, the more I would prefer an editor for all guys that have not enough airlines in the game.)

First of all, I agree that there is a huge amount of data already in the game. And more data means more to process. That does not mean people won't like the option to play that one small airline from their home country. In fact I believe that this is why TAP is so amazing, the data is HUGE, and editable. (If you just look for a airline manager, there are plenty of different options Therealnick)

Ofcourse one of the big adjustments to TAPv2 is working with a Database. This way it is lighter to process all the data. I think there could be some kind of compromise, why won't the game ship with a database with all the common data, and you can download expansion packs for the game. 

This way, if someone wants to go nuts for belgium, let them! I think it is fantastic to see that someone put's so much effort in it. But I don't think it is right if people put a lot of effort in something and they can't share it with the rest of the community. 

I know that making the game data "modular" takes time and again will slow down progress for now. But it just doesn't feel right to say no to people who try their best. As a matter of fact, didn't you became quite upset when your data was not implemented (yet). You said your self you put a lot of effort in it.

I guess we should let Pjank decide over this topic, and what to do with all the new and extra data.
Greetings
Nick

[pjank42]

The dimensions for airliners are a mix of calculated values and inputs from an user.

Regarding new data I will as a rule always add the things people "create", and I don't see it as a performance issue. I have optimized the code, so it will only load the airlines when needed, meaning that when you start the game with ex. 5 airlines, then it will only be those airlines which are loaded. My main focus will of course still be on the coding itself, but I am only happy with the fact that people want to contribute :-)

[Tjoeker]

About the slow loading of the airline list


I think this can be made to respond faster. - if it works like I think it works...


Does it currently read through all the airline xml files?
If not, then sorry for this useless post


Wouldn't it be better if we had a database of all airlines?
This means the game doesn't have to open those 1300 files, containing info it doesn't need at this point...

what should be in this database?

-airline name
-country
-cargo/passenger/mixed
-link to airline xml file
-favourite?
-...?

and how about adding some filters to this page (and the opponents selection page)?

-region
-country
-cargo/passenger/mixed
-favourite?

Then when the game gets created this database tells the game where to find these airlines.

On the downside, this means we'd need one extra step to implement airlines: importing the airline from the xml to the database.
So that the player still can create his own custom airline.



Like I said before, I'm a newbie when it comes to coding. I might be wrong about the optimization, but I think this would make loading the list faster..

[pjank42]

I will put them into the database but not for now, since it is a little more complex than that :-) But the performance isn't related to that since it is all loaded before displaying it so I guess it is related to the control for showing the data

[Therealnick]

@nnick:

I didn't want him to play other Airlines than the ones in the game, but he has the option to start a game with a  "new" airline, in so far it would not be necessaryto put too much ailines into database.

But the most important question is: how many opponents can I take into my game and keep it stabile? If e.g. 100 would be possible than it might be a bigger airlines database, but if it are still around 30-50 not necessarily.

I hope you understand what I mean.