Need Help MCS (Military Combat Simulator)

[Darian Glinski]

I own a small company in Wisconsin. I have been a software engineer for 25+ years. I specialize in combat simulations used for training in the military. I have experience in 3D development as far back as 1997. Years ago I played extensively games produced by Janes and Sonalysts. For the last 2 years myself and a couple others that I deal with have been planning a extensive military combat simulator which will cover all historical and modern aspects of military history, air, land and sea. Now that technology has really improved, I would like to bring back what Janes did, reinvented, visually stunning, and very realistic. Taking my combined work in simulations my plan is to model all facets of combat in one simulator that models early to the modern day military experience.

We have decided to begin with Naval History. I have assembled many specs of early day ships from 16th to 18th century. While I am a 3D modeler and animator I also double as a programmer and designer. I can not hope to successfully model all ships, guns and arsenals on my own and budget is limited. I currently maintain one dedicated server that we will be putting our extensive site on, as well as utilizing a dedicated server for MCS. Already have extensive assets for procedural terrain generation using SRTM. So I am posting this in hopes of garnering help and dedicated partners to a long term project.

We will be using Unreal. I require character models, early day ship models. Currently pay for Speed Tree and Substance so that takes care of vegetation and I have a extensive library of art for varying trees and plant life. Also have a complete music library that will knock your socks off. Need sound effects specialists, texture artists and only a couple programmers who are familiar with C++ and Unreal. Must be organized, understand the development lifecycle, be a team player and a good communicator.

You may contact me via email at my companies email address:

darian.a.glinski@i3dix.com

A little about me. In the military for 10+ years. Multiple degrees in computer science, physics, quantum mechanics, chemistry and mathematics. Combat veteran, many awards. Simulations is my passion. Extensive work with SRTM.

This is not for the timid or inconsistent. This is a long term project with many obstacles to overcome. While we are starting with early day sailing ships the same simulator will move into early 20th century Naval, Air and Land vehicles as well as simulate the soldier combat experience in a very unique way that will capture a very broad audience.

If this just interests you and you are not interested in being part of the development team, please post your comments as I am ascertaining the level of interest from our potential audience.

5/26/2018

A little technical information on model requirements and know how. Unreal uses a 1 unit to 1 centimeter scaling. Models in Blender, and Max allow changing of Unit scales. Since dimensions of the model does not effect file size or memory load, we will be making models to exact specs. No scaling. This is to match terrain that is procedurally scaled from the SRTM database from Natural Earth.

Technology has improved enough just on modern desktops it is possible to model materials. Most games use hit points and armor. However, being a simulations specialist I can tell you this really negates what these sea vessels could and can do. Armoring was never consistent across the hull of a ship. So if you think about applying, I will be looking for people with an understanding of density, mass, volume, tensile strength, velocity, displacement, buoyancy, maybe some understanding of how to read material data. This does not mean I will exclude people, but it does show there will at least be a learning curve.

There is a lot involved in accurate simulation. Elevations, Temperature, Aerodynamics, Geo Locations, so, again, if you can't handle the learning, don't bother. Many years in simulation means a lot of learning I will be passing on as well. This is a team sport.

My company also owns 2 seats with iClone7 complete with the full 3D pipeline, store access, all of it. Expensive investment, but, for those proficient in iClone7 it offers the greatest character creation potential. I am proficient in Blender, have no knowledge if iClone7. So artists with some iClone background, would really be appreciated.

We are looking at Speed Tree Cinema. Right now we subscribe to Speed Tree for Unreal. The version is 8. I am pretty proficient with it. Any simulator categorizes trees by type for populating in certain regions that have those trees. So we have a extensive database of leaves for Speed Tree and Bark of specific types.

Substance B2M, Designer and Painter, would be willing to buy team license on a monthly basis. Familiar with these, great, I use B@M and Designer. Not the painter.

Discussing using Blender to make video cuts. But, might include in game scripting so movies are interactive with the game.

 

[con20or]

Hi Darian - it certainly sounds interesting! I for one would love to play it whenever you are finished.

FYI - at least two new Age of Sail games have stalled here recently, primarily because there are not enough developers to do the main work - so one observation - there are plenty of models, artists and musicians around but not many able to help with the heavy dev work, coding, etc. That seems to be where they all founder. So it is great you have experience already in your company in software engineering.

Lots of those models and sfx might be looking for a home now - the content will be in this section - it started as Hearts of Oak: Conquest of the Seas - then became New Horizons, then was wound down unfortunately. Hopefully someone along soon to give you more info.

Development

and lots of general models here

Ship Modeling

 

[Darian Glinski]

Hi Darian - it certainly sounds interesting! I for one would love to play it whenever you are finished.

FYI - at least two new Age of Sail games have stalled here recently, primarily because there are not enough developers to do the main work - so one observation - there are plenty of models, artists and musicians around but not many able to help with the heavy dev work, coding, etc. That seems to be where they all founder. So it is great you have experience already in your company in software engineering.

Lots of those models and sfx might be looking for a home now - the content will be in this section - it started as Hearts of Oak: Conquest of the Seas - then became New Horizons, then was wound down unfortunately. Hopefully someone along soon to give you more info.

Development

and lots of general models here

Ship Modeling

I understand. I have 2 developers. MCS is a military combat simulator. Unfortunately this would have to be commercial to ensure funding and I am guessing these were open source games. So to use the content there would have to be permissions for commercial use. There is also the scale issue on the models. Unreal used 1 unit = 1 cm. The Bermuda sloop for instance was 84 meters in length so that becomes 8400 centimeters in Unreal. The nice thing about unreal is the world is infinite no loading. Water plane is easy, SRTM procedural work is not. I am thinking on crowd funding the development as people that are paid are much more likely to be dedicated to the work.

I am going to need to filter who I bring on board as I'll be partnering them in the company in the l0ng term. Going to want to keep the MCS running in long term and establish modern warfare information and models later. Nice thing about SRTM is once you have the procedural data conversion set up you can create any theatre in the world. So not as tough as trying to straight model terrain of a segment of the world like the Caribbean.

 

[Darian Glinski]

Little about me, my company does private contracts involved in simulations for the DOD. I am a disabled combat veteran. I have 25+ years of software engineering, you name it, I know it. I already have several professional programs with licensing for use, Substance, Speed Tree, GitHub, iClone, and I carry 2 dedicated servers. One of which uses a LAMP + T configuration for Java EE. Currently have 1 developer on a content management system for our upcoming website. Real Linux guru, lots of experience. Think Geek and your close. My credentials are pretty good, 1 PHD in Computer Science and Technology, 1 Discipline in Math, 1 Discipline in Physics, 1 Discipline in Quantum Mechanics, 1 Discipline in Chemistry.

Yes, I could be working in CERN, or with particle colliders, but, I mainly love VR, 3D, and simulations. Engineering, anything creative. So after a talk with David who also has various degrees we are looking at the company budget and how to get this going with limited monetary resource. So, we are going to try this approach.

I am appealing to the community here for models mainly. Now in order to sustain a company and dedicated servers, there has to be a steady income. So, for those that contribute models according to specs, we will ensure credits, and a copy of the simulator free of charge including all simulator packages and expansions. This is an overall simulator using SRTM, so you will be able to sail, fly, across the globe. Enter any theatre and our designs allow for politics, population, economics, and the ability to not only enter into theatres of operation, but as infantry, land vehicles, sea vessels, and air. You basically will select Early, Pre-Modern or Modern eras, and gain access to what is simulated for that period.

Right now, we will start with the early era, which is the age of sail or historically the Golden Age. Models will need to be to exact specifications. Now I am willing to provide textures to modelers done in substances, out of our 1 terabyte database. We are designating this as a 5+ year project, with room for expanding as technology continues to progress. The first 3 years will be the major work. Early era technical schematics, information, very spread out, varied, and not well documented. I am approaching a U.S. Maritime repository for various U.S. Maritime information on ships as early as the 1600's prior to the establishment of the U.S. Also querying various Maritime Museums and record keepers for exact specifications for European, Russians, Middle Eastern naval vessels as early as the 1600's. This pretty much sucks up the budget.

Before I begin the project I am interested in seeing who is willing to hop on board. Blender, Studio Max, don't care as long as the format is FBX. You provide the model with express permission for commercial development and we send acknowledgment and credit information. As you model, I will provide you the exact specs, reference images, will supplement textures. Once we have a good collection of guns, ships for 1600's thru 1800's will begin doing the work to get them into our procedural SRTM terrain. Also will need characters, but with the ability to customize the characters with clothing, hair, eyes, think the Sims. Must be Mech Animation. Engine is Unreal with some tweaks and adjustments that are specific to simulations.

If your willing, post a comment here. You can query me at darian.a.glinski@i3dix.com. While our website is still not set up the domain is www.i3dix.com and will be operational, hopefully within a year. Thought about using joomla, but, just some things not in it we will need. So, probably set up the community there, with special spots for artists and contributors who can portfolio as a benefit to contribution.

 

[LarryHookins]

Realize the Dream

 

[Darian Glinski]

Yes, I offered to help with hearts of oak in the past. But reality is, good games are not made free. Now they would not consider any alternative and I would have brought my resources to bear on the project but would have fell thru by the sounds of it. So I am engaging in my own project that has been in design since that time but I have not implemented it and been unwilling because it's a major project. Before you engage in something of this magnitude, bringing in PHD's to do the work and the experience of many years of sub contracting DOD simulation projects for training, there must be resources.

Now, if I don't reach out and take the risk with my companies small budget, MCS will never be realized. If I do and I garner support, great, I think the trade off of art in exchange for the finished product and credits is a great idea. Maybe even some crowd funding. But first I must ascertain a level of interest in a military worthy simulation that is accurate, incorporates SRTM, TrackIR, and some technology I invested in that will allow for in home motion rigs. Interest in Naval Warfare, Tank Warfare, Air Warfare, Infantry, and the various things we have done for the DOD must be high. While I can't model classified information, I am willing to reinvent Janes back in the day with modern technology. Engine flat out is Unreal. Now as a programmer we have made tweaks to Unreal that especially address certain issues needed for simulation purposes.

This is not to engage in any prior projects from pirateahoy but this community tends to like Naval Simulations which is where we will start and I think once we are done you will be very impressed. Military simulations put you directly in the captains chair, when it comes to simulation with some very interesting technologies similar to TrackIR and is used at the most prestigious Naval Academies in the U.S. You get the experience of what it is like on modern naval vessels before one is taken out to sea. The same principles used in military training can be applied for any era of ships and the experience is intense and very addictive. So, you want to experience first hand what Age of Sail was like, great, show some interest, and a willingness to support and contribute. If not, fine, probably wont take off for a few years.

Companies like mine are few and far between. Developers like myself even more scarce. Many simulations on the game market are not derived from actual experience and technical information. They come close but lack all the right elements to give you the exact experience. This is what we will produce and if you have a good 32" Pixio Game Monitor, TrackIR, Voice, you will be blown away by the end of it.

 

[Martes]

Frankly, it sounds too large and too ambitious to be realistic.

Do I understand correctly, you aim for something like combination of Arma, Vehicle Simulator and Command: Modern Air/Naval Operations?
I am afraid to think even, how much resources such project may need to be accomplished.

While it may be nice, asking for models (or anything, beyond hiring programmers) at this stage looks too early. You can easily prototype the engine with dummy objects, that vaguely resemble ships. And then launch Kickstarter, or whatever.

 

[LarryHookins]

Darian: Mostly, I posted that link so that people could check out your resume which is attached, current as of a year and a half ago.

Martes: Arma is good for infantry. If you want to see how tanks work, check out Steel Beasts. If you get the newest version (a subscription version is not expensive at all), let me know if my four part tutorial on calling and adjusting artillery using real world techniques is still included. Vehicle Simulator is fairly good, but only for ships, and could use improvement. I've currently got 2115 hours in VSF.

Prepar3D has a SDK and I'm tempted to check that out for adding proper sailing ships. The good thing is that the entire world is already modeled in considerable detail with possibilities to add areas with super-high detail if needed, some already available as payware. It also has full real world weather downloaded from the Internet, seasonal effects, everything. Lockeed-Martin intended P3D to be used for training, so the base program should be accurate enough. If I were to do this, I'd be contacting payware Vehicle Simulator ship makers for the possibility to use their models... not for free, of course, and not until I had done enough work with a dummy ship for a proof of concept.

Hook

 

[Darian Glinski]

Frankly, it sounds too large and too ambitious to be realistic.

Do I understand correctly, you aim for something like combination of Arma, Vehicle Simulator and Command: Modern Air/Naval Operations?
I am afraid to think even, how much resources such project may need to be accomplished.

While it may be nice, asking for models (or anything, beyond hiring programmers) at this stage looks too early. You can easily prototype the engine with dummy objects, that vaguely resemble ships. And then launch Kickstarter, or whatever.

That's why it's done in stages. I agree, dummy objects is good. Essentially the first part of MCS is solely early era. Once that's in hand then you add the later eras. So, version one would be solely age of sail. You sell version one which is the simulator with age of age of sail and build on that. That is the thought here. MCS is not meant to be done all in one shot. Just modular. You have the simulator it's self then the packs that add on to it, like Naval pack - Early Era, then another pack later Naval Pack - Pre-Modern which would consist of your World War I and II ships, then add on another pack Naval Pack - Modern. I already did a Nimitz class CVN in my free time. Want to add the other classes of CVN's and DDG's. Then later you add Land Warfare packs etc. As you sell the pack add on's to the simulator you use the money to continue more production.

Yes, larger project. Extensively worked with larger projects over the years. Wouldn't have accompany if I wasn't successful.

 

[Darian Glinski]

Darian: Mostly, I posted that link so that people could check out your resume which is attached, current as of a year and a half ago.

Martes: Arma is good for infantry. If you want to see how tanks work, check out Steel Beasts. If you get the newest version (a subscription version is not expensive at all), let me know if my four part tutorial on calling and adjusting artillery using real world techniques is still included. Vehicle Simulator is fairly good, but only for ships, and could use improvement. I've currently got 2115 hours in VSF.

Prepar3D has a SDK and I'm tempted to check that out for adding proper sailing ships. The good thing is that the entire world is already modeled in considerable detail with possibilities to add areas with super-high detail if needed, some already available as payware. It also has full real world weather downloaded from the Internet, seasonal effects, everything. Lockeed-Martin intended P3D to be used for training, so the base program should be accurate enough. If I were to do this, I'd be contacting payware Vehicle Simulator ship makers for the possibility to use their models... not for free, of course, and not until I had done enough work with a dummy ship for a proof of concept.

Hook

We have worked with Unreal extensively adding tweaks. We have some fluid dynamics added into the source code on the engine that utilizes the GPU. Also have some other add-on's to the source code we have done over the years. I am capable of developing an extensive 3D engine solely for simulation from the ground up, but that's a very long route. So, Unreal possess the ability to simulate and you can do the Kismet work on Unreal to add what you want, as well as get into the programming part of it with C++ directly. I agree, dummy objects may be what we start with, but, you don't just swap in models so it adds to the production time. Getting things right is a per-model basis.

I think a good example would be the DDG's we did about 6 months ago. The polygon collision on the model that you see is good for figuring out hits, where it's located, mapping damage, but it's very poor in figuring out water lines for flooding. So the solution was to attach a invisible box that was divided horizontally into 3 quadrants and was scaled to size on the hull. The 3 Quadrants were below the water line, the secondary water line, and the hull part. The box was divided into quadrants vertically as well, into 4 quadrants. The vertical quadrants were stern, magazine, bridge and bow. So with these divides you could calculate below the water line, ship magazine and modify the tensile strength of the ships hull, calculate a penetration or non-penetration which is determined by the velocity of the projectile verses the density and tensile strength which I will not calculate here. Penetration of the ships magazine below the water line obviously could result in detonation and at least allowed for flooding calculations for the section of the ship. Obviously the Captain could seal off the section of the ship to reduce flooding. So, dummy objects would not allow us to add in the specifics until models were in place.

 

[Darian Glinski]

So, the thinking here after some discussion is to get the base part of the simulator started. We will begin Tuesday, well obviously this evening for me, thru memorial day, but my other develop will be available after memorial day. We'll get the coordinate system in place, the base infinite water plane, procedural clouds, sun and stars, time, obviously month and day are important for weather according to region, do some screen shots, get them posted.

Moving into a permanent home here thru June. So, July will be on it full force. get some input once we have that much. The main part for me is interest in the project. Obviously continuing to do contracts while working full time on this is a huge under taking. But I have yet to see a real quality simulator out there that does it all and is based entirely on researched mechanics. Obviously I have some technical information for later simulation that is not easily available.

Once we garner interest, throw in those dummy objects. Yeah, may extend production time but it will give the impression needed.

So thought I'd take a moment to share what we do have. A speech engine plugin that was developed 3 years ago. This was for the purpose of allowing trained in voice commands. The design we have planned takes the actual immersive approach. One of the reasons traditional game simulations are not entirely accurate is the lack of detail due to time constraints, keeping the player entertained, etc. Obviously a menu for command options you can do thru speech. So, the approach we will be taking by design is the captains chair.

Simulations we have done are very immersive. Typical day to day routines of crew, captain, loading are left out for production purposes. So we will work to facilitate those in the long run along with actual port locations we obtained from the various Maritime maps. Have some actual older maps of various cities at certain historic dates, but we think procedurally generating these cities and ports is a quicker alternative and will still give the right impression.

Voice commands were generally given to a yomen who then, would run to the location and give the order directly or some ships had several yomens that would hear the prior and then communicate the command in line to the ends of the ship. Modern vessels obviously have a more convenient telephone system that communicates command from a bridge.

Another plugin we developed is TrackIR. Obviously head movement is a great addition to any game. Obviously we will add in some view modes.

Now while modern naval warfare has much different boarding procedures and most combat occurs at distance with SSM's, SSRM's and various Ship to Ship missiles, phalanx guns, on board artillery, early ships were very close quarter. Non-Military ships were generally made up of a kind of militia, untrained of cowboy like sailors, experiences and non-experienced. Some were slaves forced into service. So, our design implements low poly crew on the deck that will be armed with various guns and weapons something you don't see in sailing sims. Should give the feel of what it was like when ships were close enough for crew to take pot shots at other crew but not close enough for boarding. Military ships generally carried trained and armed crew, some times men with muskets and you had the same effect passing in close to other ships, but more of a organized barrage.

Also we want to compile a complete Encyclopedia you can access in game on all the varying ships, designs, crew, draft, dimensions, also in game as we go along. Obviously players will develop a love of a certain ship type and knowing everything about that ship from bow to stern is essential.

The plan is to target Windows, Linux, and Mac OS. Mobile will be impossible. Varying quality options for everything, water, buildings, terrain, fog, etc. Extensive terrain database ranging from 2k to 256 size textures. Moved over to PBR a long time ago, which provides very nice visual quality compared to the old diffuse texture standards.

Obviously as former military I took the time extensively to learn about nitrated glycerin, it's production, stabilization and use in modern and earlier warfare. Took some time over the years to develop a comprehensive fire and explosion special effects library. Also some knowledge on magazines, how detonation works, the fumes of gunpowder propelling projectiles. So aim to model this to exact precision. Yes, I can make bombs, but don't try the ice bath when nitrating glycerin, use a cooler instead or you'll end up as a splat on the wall.

Also a little video I did tonight on creating a basic water plane mesh with proper scaling and low enough vertices on modern hardware when tiled at 512x512. The basic Unreal plane contains only 4 vertices and obviously for wave height there will need to be some algorithms that manipulate the vertices into waves. So I will be detailing proper construction of water, terrain, SRTM conversions for a broad audience of developers since there is not a lot of information out there on procedural terrain via SRTM, Cities, etc.

Interested on some input on our design plans I have described thus far.

 

[Captain Murphy]

Do you have a registered business? I tried to search for the company name in the states you listed on your resume sheet and nothing would come up.

Also, where did you get your PhD? It doesn't specify one on the resume from earlier, just showed the previous college. Though that was a couple years old.

 

[Darian Glinski]

Do you have a registered business? I tried to search for the company name in the states you listed on your resume sheet and nothing would come up.

Also, where did you get your PhD? It doesn't specify one on the resume from earlier, just showed the previous college. Though that was a couple years old.

I apologize that's an outdated resume. Yes, I do run a business. The original FEIN was in Minnesota 81-3195171. I originally started out of that address, however moved to a more permanent location in Wisconsin closer to one of my partners. The diploma was early on in the Associate of Science program thru a community college, I transferred. My PHD was obtained thru MIT, my Disciplines by Military Correspondence thru the U of M and on Campus for one of them, and partial on campus for another. Now they may have sealed the FEIN, for obvious reasons, but, it checks with the IRS on filing. That was a wrongly posted resume, I don't know why I posted the incomplete one, I may have been busy when I made the offer. I've always loved simulations, and since the DoD requires them to lower training costs, it's a good market. I got into it because of my many years of military service and my focus in 3D Computer Graphics. I personally go back to the Old Apple II GS, the days when DirectX was a wing library and when OpenGL first came out. Been in 3D computer graphics that long, but never did any public work. I've always wanted to build a simulator and retain what Janes used to be, but with a lot more pizazz.

But obviously when it comes to the civilian game market, never done it, but I have enough experience and know how, I can make it happen. However, the budget I have doesn't allow for everything, so I am simply hoping I can garner some support, or I am just going to do simulation development tutorials and hopefully people enjoy them. Might be delayed on the next video, got some things going on.

 

[Captain Murphy]

In case it disappears one day, this is saved for posterity!

 

[Darian Glinski]

In case it disappears one day, this is saved for posterity!
View attachment 32436

Well if you don't believe me, check my military background. Disabled vet has to make a living. Got plenty of source code I can show and connections. Also my degree was a general science degree originally starting out, not computers, though that was my background interest before going to college and Universities. The original Diploma for Programming was awarded originally by Saint Paul Community College in Saint Paul Minnesota. It was part of the Associates of Science which is a general science field. However I branched from that to include general sciences. I subcontract, I do not do all the work, I outsource, but, the problem with simulation work which I love is the length of time, technology, services expenditure versus the income. Doesn't pay what I need to focus on what I really desire to achieve by the end of my life.

Lookup the FEIN for Minnesota, I know it's there.

My MOS USARMY was 25U, Wisconsin.

How do you think I paid for college? My good looks? Nope, GI Bill. Any further questions, plenty of references, big guys. Oh and if it didn't occur to you, some things require a clearance, which, I just happen to have. Thing is, some times, things get sealed. That's all I can tell you.

But I do get it, why would I be on PiratesAhoy advertising help for a simulator. Well, I couldn't possibly love programming, or art, or simulations, or the experience you get with TrackIR, or motion rigs, or old sailing ships, or modern ships, or even air force, and maybe it's passion, not a job.

 

[Captain Murphy]

Well if you don't believe me, check my military background. Disabled vet has to make a living. Got plenty of source code I can show and connections. Also my degree was a general science degree originally starting out, not computers, though that was my background interest before going to college and Universities. The original Diploma for Programming was awarded originally by Saint Paul Community College in Saint Paul Minnesota. It was part of the Associates of Science which is a general science field. However I branched from that to include general sciences. I subcontract, I do not do all the work, I outsource, but, the problem with simulation work which I love is the length of time, technology, services expenditure versus the income. Doesn't pay what I need to focus on what I really desire to achieve by the end of my life.

Lookup the FEIN for Minnesota, I know it's there.

My MOS USARMY was 25U, Wisconsin.

How do you think I paid for college? My good looks? Nope, GI Bill. Any further questions, plenty of references, big guys. Oh and if it didn't occur to you, some things require a clearance, which, I just happen to have. Thing is, some times, things get sealed. That's all I can tell you.

But I do get it, why would I be on PiratesAhoy advertising help for a simulator. Well, I couldn't possibly love programming, or art, or simulations, or the experience you get with TrackIR, or motion rigs, or old sailing ships, or modern ships, or even air force, and maybe it's passion, not a job.

Seriously, I don't care what you claim. You don't have to impress me.

 

[Darian Glinski]

Seriously, I don't care what you claim. You don't have to impress me.

I know, just throwing it out there. Already doing the water material for the infinite water plane. Did the textures, with quality options, 2K, 1k, 512 for scalability. Since it's not likely going to get support for the project just doing some side work demonstrating development in video and making things realistic. This example actually shows the starter for water material in development, but doesn't include the wind algorithms. Know it's not relevant here, but good for developers. Not a lot of detailed information for developers and if I don't do a complete project maybe someone will pick it up.

Problem I am having before I can do the video is the Panner in Unreal. Never had the problem before where it's not working. Solve it pretty quick I reckon.