I noticed quite a few aircraft-type addons popping up here and there, many of
them (according to deacc) were using large portions of the original acbeta
source. Back then I was still working on the aircraft, so I didn't consider a
source release. (I feel sorry for those poor guys that were modifying the
original Aircraft using deacc's output.)

I decided to spend an evening cleaning up the aircraft source and getting
it near mass-consumable. I know that I just won't have the time or willpower
to work on this particular project anymore, but I certainly hope that some
folks out there may be able to learn from what I've done. I only wish the
source were in better shape. I was just digging through it, commenting some
stuff and noticing how garish most of the source is. Mainly because I'd leave
the aircraft stuff sitting around for 2 months or more while I worked on other
things and I'd lose track of where I was. Here are a few quick guidelines
that may help you make more efficient use of this heap of addled code:

* DEFS.QC and AIRCRAFT.QC are the two most heavily commented files. Read
  through them and get a feel for what's going on before you start making
  major changes. There are minor patches here and there in many files, but
  AIRCRAFT.QC is the file that contains 85% of all the code you'll be
  interested in.

* The aircraft project is about a year old now, and I've only made 3 major
  visits to the source since I started, so there may be some inconsistancies
  here and there in the code. Shouldn't hurt anything but readability.

* This source is in pretty bad shape. (Mainly the AIRCRAFT.QC file) There are
  many optimizations that can be made. I've tried to document most of the
  problem areas, but give the code a good once-over yourself- don't just
  accept it as-is. It was difficult to develop robust QuakeC code on the
  first try back then. Now there's sufficient documentation and experience to
  get much better results without having to revisit your code, but I'm not
  doing a rewrite. :)   Some of the worst problem areas are in the aircraft
  weapons systems. Particularly the vulcans. Everything works, but a lot
  of code is just begging for optimization.

* QuakeC is a very strange creature, and was entirely undocumented throughout
  most of the course of the Aircraft's development. There are some strange
  quirks, and here and there throughout the code you'll see me taking some
  pretty outlandish stabs at seemingly simple tasks. Some of these are
  workarounds for real QuakeC problems. I've revisited many of these areas
  and commented out unnecessary code. If you are experienced, keep an eye out
  for older bits of code that can be updated.

* There are some pretty large chunks of code that are commented out. If you
  find a block of commented code that doesn't have a note explaining why it's
  commented, consider it dead code and delete it.

* Search through the source for "FIXME" and "TODO" to find areas where I had
  planned to make changes for the better, or places where I found problems or
  code blocks that need optimization. Following TODO or FIXME, you'll find a
  short note I made to myself about what I planned or needed to do in that
  area.

* Search through the source for "HACK" to find portions of the code where
  I shamelessly took the easy way out :) 


Good Luck with your aircraft-related project. I'll be around to provide some
help on a very limited basis. If you have a question or problem, email me
(wedge@nwlink.com) I'm always interested in what others are doing. Drop me a
line telling me where I can get your newest add on.

-Steve
June 29, 1997
(jeez, I shoulda released this a long time ago.)

