Contrails — Changelog
Version 1.2


MODES AND BEHAVIOUR

- Two contrail modes, switched with the "mode" line in settings.cfg:
  arcade — War Thunder style;
  realistic — more realistic
- Each mode has its own settings block (ARCADE / REALISTIC): lifetime,
  growth, opacity, nozzle gap ("gap") and fade-in time ("fadeIn").
- Contrails now fade in gradually behind the engine. The "fadeIn" setting
  controls how long it takes to go from invisible to full density.
- Thin contrails in the distance no longer flicker or disappear.


ENGINE COMPATIBILITY (ADVANCED JET ENGINE)

- Contrails now appear behind AJE turbojets, ramjets, piston engines and
  rotors. Previously AJE engines had no contrails at all.
- Electric propellers leave no contrail.
- Contrails from AJE propeller engines are no longer as wide as the
  propeller.


REALISTIC MODE LOOK

- Reworked to match real photos: thin parallel lines right behind the
  engines that within a few seconds spread into a wide, lumpy band (about
  3x wider after 1 s, 10x after 3 s, 18x after 6 s), then slowly keep
  spreading.
- New textures for realistic contrails: cloud-like lumpy edges, denser
  rims and lengthwise streaks.
- Realistic contrails have softer, more transparent edges.


PARTICLES

- New "Vapour as particles" option (per mode): draws the vapour as
  cloud-like puffs instead of a ribbon. Puffs stay fixed in the air; far
  away they are merged to keep the particle count low.
- No more visible "steps" where particle detail changes with distance.
  Puffs that are dropped further away now fade out smoothly while the
  remaining ones grow.
- The start of the trail no longer breaks up into separate dots;
  neighbouring puffs always overlap.
- Each puff is now made of several layers spread in 3D, so it looks
  volumetric and no longer visibly turns with the camera. Puff tilt is
  fixed in the world instead of following the camera.
- New particle settings (window and settings.cfg): quality (detail far
  away), spacing (distance between puffs, in contrail widths) and layers
  per puff.


SETTINGS WINDOW AND INTERFACE

- Settings window in the toolbar (needs Toolbar Controller with
  ClickThroughBlocker and SpaceTuxLibrary). Changes are applied in flight
  and saved to settings.cfg when you press Apply. Without Toolbar
  Controller the mod still works, just without the settings window.
- Settings window redesigned: grey background with a light grey border, a
  close (x) button in the corner, and a text box next to every slider to
  type any value.
- The settings window is localised into two languages, Russian and
  English, depending on the language of the game client.
- Presets: type a name and press Save to store the current settings, pick
  one from the list below and press Load to bring it back (then Apply).
  Presets are stored in GameData/Contrails/PluginData/Presets.
- Settings file comments are now in English.