   Flight sim dynamic campaign... how???
  So, you''ve played Falcon 4.0, Enemy Engaged: Commanche vs. Hokum, and all the other flight sims that tout a dynamic campaign. If you''re like me, you''ve probably asked "How the *#^$ do they do this?!??!" This is exactly what I''m asking. How DO they do this?? I mean, the incredible amount of computation that must go on to run basically an ENTIRE war in realtime is mind boggling. I know Falcon 4 had a "bubble" that encircled the player, but I don''t know how it worked.If anyone can give me any insight, I''d really appreciate it! I''ve been wondering this for a number of years now...wowo 
  The answer is simplification I would guess. Whenever the player does not watch a specific area of combat, there is not need to make exact or regular updates to the units in that area. A much more rough and CPU inexpensive algorithm can be used when this occurs. ;  This is what I have been thinking too. I still can't seem to understand how an object switches from the "rough and inexpensive" algorithm to a full blown simulation of the object.Example:Objects A and B are computer-controlled aircraft. They are engaged in a dogfight out of the range of the player's "bubble" (ie, they are using the inexpensive algorithm).When the player comes closer to objects A and B, they will eventually be switched over to the full blown simulation algorithm. But what happens if one of the objects is switched over before the other? How is it possible for one aircraft to have a dogfight in real-time with another aircraft that is not being updated in real-time?This is the main thing I am not understanding. Any ideas?wowo   [edited by - wowo on March 24, 2004 3:29:48 PM];  Not sure, but the way I would do it would be to keep track of relationships between entities.  Each entity would have a reference to the entities that it is currently engaged with (either fighting or cooperating with).  If an entity switches over to the real-time, all of the entities it is currently engaged with also switch over.   [edited by - CodeMunkie on March 24, 2004 3:35:00 PM];  That''s a good idea. I never even thought of doing it that way Thanks for the replies, I''m gonna go ponder this some more.wowo ;  If you can find the RP5 Manual for Falcon 4 I know it has a rather thorough explanation of the campaign engine. ;You can download the source for the two EE games, and try to figure out Razorbacks code.http://www.razorworks.com/enemyengaged/source/EECHSRC.zip ;  Ok, it''s not Falcon, but Dynasty Warriors 1-4 does something similiar.Each battle pitches 2 armys against each other with thousands of people. Each person is in a small group of about 8 people.When you are near a group, they move around and fight as if they are individuals. But when they are out of sight, the CPU just performs it''s AI on a squad level ;  That RP5 manual was just a quick google search away Downloading both the manual and the source to EE:CH right now.Thanks again! 