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No601_Swallow
Mar-12-2014, 05:51
In the run-up to patch 4.2, I'm paying more attention to wind direction, windsockery and runway boards. But I've always found the runway boards a weird annoyance, until now.

In our spawning "method" (see sig for details, obviously), one big reason for shrinking the runway to a 10x10 rump was to get rid of the boards (and sometimes markings?) that the game places around runways, but I'm now wondering about expanding the runways so they fit exactly over the existing textures on the map. Hence my new interest in the boards.

Firstly, I know that the Yellow boards indicate the best runway to take for the prevailing wind (a nugget I picked up in the discussion about the 4.2 readme). But what about the red and white striped one? What does that indicate?

Secondly, I'm testing at Biggin - which has three runways, so is a good place to observe the game's behaviour. When I spawn in at Biggin, I think one runway has yellow boards beside it. However after a few (ten or fifteen I think) seconds, these boards disappear and are replaced by the red and white ones at a different runway. Is this the first sign of insipient dementia, or has anyone else noticed something like this?

Thirdly, when I spawn in, the game places the boards at my airfield. But what about other airfields? If I go to Kenley, where I've placed a spawn point, I can find no boards or threshold marking. From this, I infer that you can only see your own spawn point's boards.

Fourthly, I wonder about multiplayer. If I fly from Kenley, with its boards, and my chum flies from Biggin, when I get to Biggin, will I be able to see my chum's spawn point's boards?

Apologies if this is all obvious, and well known. It's the first time I've looked at this in any systematic way.

Roblex
Mar-12-2014, 06:16
I saw someone say that the yellow boards showed the most into-wind runway but is that a confirmed fact? I took off from Rochford last night using the South East facing runway as it was showing yellow boards but then I saw that South Westerly also showed yellow boards. Someone said that currently if there is no wind set then the game assumes a very gentle Easterly wind so the runway facing South West should not have been showing yellow boards (or maybe I am misremembering and it was actually the North-East side of the other runway that showed yellow and I was being told that both runways are equally good for an Easterly wind)

Personally I have always assumed that the boards merely indicate a sort of 'one-way' system to encourage people to take-off and land in the same direction. If I was a bit more observant I might have taken notice of whether *all* runways have yellow boards in one direction, I have just been assuming that is the case.:goofy

bolox
Mar-12-2014, 10:40
I have no idea how boards work in MP, but I assume they are similar to SP.

One problem that can sometimes occur in SP is if you play two missions in a row on a custom field with different wind direction/custom runway, the boards are not 'destroyed' between missions. This can lead to a rather cluttered field.
Exiting game and restarting clears the boards.

Regarding boards at other 'normal' airfields- they will show yellow boards if an active AI unit takes off from that airfield and will vanish shortly after take off cycle is complete.. Red and white boards (and white T marker) appear when a unit is landing at that field. This appears to be part of the ingame ' airfield AI'

ATAG_Colander
Mar-12-2014, 11:45
Yes, change the wind direction and the boards will change to the most suitable runway.

ATAG_Lolsav
Mar-12-2014, 11:57
@Colander: Does this means the yellow boards (for take of) will be always leading the plane towards the wind?

No601_Swallow
Mar-12-2014, 12:18
I have no idea how boards work in MP, but I assume they are similar to SP.
THey're a bit of a mystery. I think they're yet another example of how CloD is pure genius if you look at it in one way, or a dysfunctional heap of ordure, if you look at it another. A C++ squiggly bracket from perfection, and yet...


One problem that can sometimes occur in SP is if you play two missions in a row on a custom field with different wind direction/custom runway, the boards are not 'destroyed' between missions. This can lead to a rather cluttered field.
Exiting game and restarting clears the boards.
This is something about CloD I've always found a bit worrying - the way ghosts of missions or even GUI screens seem to "linger" after the mission is over. I wonder if that's ever something the TF eggheads will be able to streamline? It also makes testing a pain in the bum because you've got to quit the whole game between try-outs.


Regarding boards at other 'normal' airfields- they will show yellow boards if an active AI unit takes off from that airfield and will vanish shortly after take off cycle is complete.. Red and white boards (and white T marker) appear when a unit is landing at that field. This appears to be part of the ingame ' airfield AI'
This is also interesting - that the boards are a sort of AI effect. If they react that way to coming and going AI, I wonder if they react that way to coming and going human pilots too. Time to lasso a couple of squadron buddies for testing!

No601_Swallow
Mar-12-2014, 12:22
@Colander: Does this means the yellow boards (for take of) will be always leading the plane towards the wind?

That's my understanding. This is all with the new ground handling in 4.2/4.3 in mind, when wind may be more important, and hence which runway you take off. (In coop style DF missions, it's not really an issue, since the mission builder will insert whatever wind he wants, and presumably plan his spawn points accordingly, but in more "public" servers, or when weather is randomised, or - in future - changes dynamically... it could be very helpful to be able to check the state of the boards!)

At the moment, it's a bit tricky to test, because I find the appearance and indeed disappearance of the boards sometimes unpredictable, if not downright capricious. As always, testing continues...

ATAG_Colander
Mar-12-2014, 12:33
@Colander: Does this means the yellow boards (for take of) will be always leading the plane towards the wind?

Yep. That's what tests have shown :)