novaHost - Application Settings

Nova Host supports a few command line options and loads application and plugin settings from an INI file.

Command Line Options

Looking at the included runNovaHost.bat file you'll see the following options:

CODE

bin\novaHost.exe --cfgFile cfg\novaHost.ini --databaseOverlayBase E:\CM\data\DB_OVERLAY

--cfgFile

This option is used to specify the INI file Nova Host should read application settings from.

--databaseOverlayBase

This is used to specify the location of the DB_OVERLAY directory.

It is used to populate the selections in the Database plugin for jumping to different ATP positions in the visual database.

INI File Settings

The specified --cfgFile can contain the following tokens.

App Settings

The following settings apply to the Nova Host application.

UpdateMode

This token specifies how Nova Host will "tick" supporting both synchronous and asynchronous operation.

SOF_SYNC

When UpdateMode is set to SOF_SYNC Nova Host will run in synchronous mode.

During synchronous operation, the IG sends a start-of-frame (SOF) message to the Host to signal the beginning of each frame.
This is the preferred mode of operation as it creates less jitter when flying, especially when running in conjunction with a DIS tactical environment such as MACE.

Note that when running in synchronous mode the plugins and Nova Host status bar widgets will not update unless the IG is running and Nova Host is receiving SOF packets.

ASYNC

When UpdateMode is set to ASYNC Nova Host will run in asynchronous mode.

During asynchronous operation, Nova Host sends data to the IG at a predetermined rate specified by the AsyncTickRate token.

This mode can create more jitter when flying but is useful for testing things like the host running at a faster rate than the IG.

AsyncTickRate

This token is an enumeration that specifies the tick rate in asynchronous mode (UpdateMode=ASYNC).

The following values are supported:

CODE

enum UpdateRates {
        UPDATERATE_1HZ = 0,
        UPDATERATE_5HZ = 1,
        UPDATERATE_10HZ = 2,
        UPDATERATE_15HZ = 3,
        UPDATERATE_30HZ = 4,
        UPDATERATE_60HZ = 5,
        UPDATERATE_120HZ = 6,
        UPDATERATE_240HZ = 7
    };

In synchronous mode (UpdateMode=SOF_SYNC), this token has no effect.

PluginPath

The path to the plugins (novaHost*Plugin.dll) directory.

UiPaths

The path to the .ui files directory.

The .ui files define the plugin GUI layout can be loaded and modified in Qt Designer.

Plugins

The ';' delimited list of plugins to load.

ShowErrorPopups

Enables/disables showing a popup error message when the GUI or a plugin generates an error.

ShowConsoleMessages

Enables/disables showing messages in the console.

Note that messages are always shown in the Output tab.

HideConsole

Enables/disables showing the console.

JsbSimRoot

Used by the FDM tab's JSBSim interface code.

Internal use only.

AircraftDir

Used by the FDM tab to configure aircraft selections.

PositionsDir

Used by the FDM tab to configure initial position selections.

IcdFile

The ICD text file to load.

Used by the Spy and Playback tabs.

Network Settings

The following tokens define the Nova Host network settings.

aeRosettaCfg

This token contains a ';' delimited list of ',' delimited token/value pairs for aeRosetta.

Most notable is the CigiVersion token which can be set to CIGI_31, CIGI_32, CIGI_33, and CIGI_40.

See rosettacfg.h for a full list of tokens an their descriptions.

SocketSendAddr

The address to send CIGI packets to (the IG IP address).

SocketRecvAddr

The address to receive packets from.
Note that setting 0.0.0.0 = INADDR_ANY = Receive from any address on this port.

SocketSendPort

The port to send packets to.

SocketRecvPort

The port to receive packets on.

SocketSendBuffSize

The size of the send buffer in bytes.

SocketRecvBuffSize

The size of the receive buffer in bytes.

SocketRecvNonBlocking

Allows the receive socket to block waiting for IG packets.

Internal use only.

Plugin Settings

Plugins can also read settings from the INI file using the NovaHostSdk::GuiIniSettingsApi described in the Plugin API section.

See the Database Plugin for an example.

Note that plugin settings are documented in their sections.