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Hawker Hunter F.55 - No.2 Squadron, Royal New Zealand Air Force, 1970

We probably would have but our main man died................... RIP Ollie, your work is sorely missed, as are the many chats we had.

Recently I had an opportunity to re-install FlightGear (stable ver. 2020.3.19) on my 2013 Mac Pro and was pleasantly surprised - with no crashes, decent FPS for the most part, and various other improvements that were incorporated over the years. I had dabbled briefly in FlightGear a couple of times before (around 2013, and again around 2020) - but eventually removed the flight simulator from my hard drive on both of those occasions. Since my particular setup(s) are with dual AMD video cards, I thought I would post some (illustrative) tips below, as well as representative pics of the sim when at best, or very good, settings. I will this time around keep FlightGear on my hard drive - makes for a good, free flight simulator. For command line entries and tips that should be plugged into the "Additional Settings" option of FlightGear, see the info. immediately below. Make sure to remove the info. included in brackets if copying the commands into the relevant settings section. ----- --prop:/sim/gui/current-style=0 (better GUI style for AMD cards) --prop:input/mice/mouse/mode/button[2]/binding/value=2 (gets rid of horrible mouse-as-yoke feature that sometimes automatically turns on) --prop:/sim/rendering/photoscenery/enabled=true (gives more photo-realistic scenery whenever possible; to be fully implemented in later FG versions) --prop:/sim/rendering/hdr/envmap/update-continuously=false (disables continuous siphoning and updating of terrains, to enable seconds command below) --prop:/sim/rendering/hdr/envmap/update-rate=5 (terrain refresh rate set in seconds; good values are 5 or 10, for minimal stuttering) --prop:/sim/rendering/max-paged-lod=1300 (stock max paged LOD no. is "200"; recommended is not to exceed about "1900" on AMD) --prop:/sim/rendering/plod-minimum-expiry-time-secs=60 (stock min expiry time is "180" secs.) --prop:/sim/rendering/multithreading-mode=DrawThreadPerContext (should improve multithreading capacity, at least slightly, and add a few extra FPS) --prop:/sim/rendering/database-pager/threads=12 (stock thread rendering no. is "4," with more threads improving ave. FPS; set as per your CPU threads no.) --prop:/sim/rendering/vsync-enable=false (force disables vsync to improve FPS) --prop:/sim/rendering/multi-sample-buffers=true (this is anti-aliasing; set to false to disable and remove entry immediately below it) --prop:/sim/rendering/multi-samples=2 (anti-aliasing value; lowest is 2, also good is 4; avoid 3) --compositor=Compositor/HDR/hdr (modern rendering pipeline for better graphics details and shaders; rarely breaks scenery; still mostly experimental on AMD vid. cards) --units-meters --disable-splash-screen --disable-horizon-effect --enable-distance-attenuation --enable-specular-highlight --enable-clouds3d --fog-nicest ("nicest" improves look of fog with more subtleties while "fastest" makes fog appear and disappear more quickly; no real impact on AMD FPS) --shading-flat ("smooth" apparently improves look or depth of shaders; preference is for "flat" since I have not noticed difference in quality on AMD) --texture-filtering=2 (this is anisotropic value; lowest is 1; also good is 4 or 2; avoid 3) --bpp=32 (can also use 24 but have not noticed an FPS improvement with 24; would say 32 is better for FPS overall) --terrain-engine=pagedLOD --lod-levels=3 2 5 3 1 (also good is 4 3 6 4 2 for best visual quality on AMD but still mostly FPS-friendly; recommended is 3 2 5 3 1 for balance between visual quality and solid FPS) --lod-res=2 (default is 1; also good is 3; avoid any other values besides 2) --lod-texturing=raster (better than "bluemarble" as far as I have been able to test, with smoother loading of textures) --lod-range-mult=3 (default is 2; also good is 1; avoid all other values besides 3) --enable-texture-cache ----- On a broader note, it's important to tweak the rendering, shaders, and LOD range settings in FlightGear - to get the best experience on your AMD video rigs (be it a dual or single AMD setup). The frequencies, by the way, on my dual FireProD700s have been OC-ed, via MSI Afterburner, from a clock/memory of 850/1370 to 1024/1380 MHz. Be sensible with the rendering options - particularly with the maximum number of scenery and aircraft tiles - anything above a value of 1900 or so is both useless and an FPS hit. (The scenery/aircraft tiles no. may also be set via the relevant command line entry indicated above in this post.) Take note as well of cloud density and visibility values. Anything beyond a visibility of 35 km or so is questionable since it does not widen further the cloud carpet but is, once again, an FPS hit. Pic 1 - Sensible/Best Rendering Choices for AMD Video (in FlightGear) Next we look at the shader options that also require careful thinking and tweaking. Take note that "landmass," "urban," also "water" - give different visuals if they are set to the maximum level (of five). I personally prefer how the landscape/terrains look with those three settings at a value of four - with crisper graphics - but tweak according to taste. Also worth noting is that I always run the LOD value on my rig(s) at "-1," via the excellent little program "ATISetLod" that is available under the top post of this thread. Pic 2 - Sensible/Best Shader Options for AMD Video (for crisp and fairly realistic graphics) Also important is to tweak the LOD range settings to get a good balance between visual quality and decent FPS, with no stuttering or crashes. Focus in particular on the maximum distances for the detailed, rough and bare scenery ranges - I decided eventually on cutoffs of 3, 17.5 and nearly 45 km. Other cutoffs worth considering are 2.5, 15, and 40 (or so) km, as well as 3.5, 20, and 50 km. Anything beyond the latter values will, again, most likely not make much of a difference with the visuals but will contribute a noticeable FPS hit. Take note also of the "high detail" and "AI/MP interior" values. I'm getting good results with values of 250 - 260 pixels for those options; also good are values of 300 (or so) pixels. Those two values may be tweaked to taste, for the most part - but, again, be sensible since they may impact on FPS. Pic 3 - Sensible/Best LOD Range Values for AMD Video Last, let's not forget to tweak our custom FlightGear profile (in our AMD settings panel) as best we can, to minimize stuttering, pausing, or crashes. Take note in particular how the shader cache is set to "On," not to "AMD Optimized," and how, even though I have enabled CrossFire mode, frame pacing is set to "Off" (which eradicates stutters on my rig in FlightGear - had tried with frame pacing "On" and was not pleased with the results). If you have only a single AMD video card, experiment with leaving the CrossFire option on (set to "AFR compatible"), or turning it off entirely. (NOTE: I have not noticed any FPS downgrade with anti-aliasing set to 4EQ and edge-detect, anisotropic value at 8, and tessellation at 16. Tweak to taste obviously.) Pic 4 - Good AMD Settings for a Custom FlightGear Profile Recommended also, if having any instability with FlightGear on AMD video, is to stick with the "Pro" variant DLLs (drivers) for AMD, instead of the consumer/Adrenalin ones. I particularly like the ver. 19.x.x Pro series of drivers, as well as the venerable ver. 17.x.x ones (the latter of which I have installed on the 2013 Mac Pro). To find links to the Pro 19.Q3 DLLs (the last version of the Pro DLLs to support CrossFire, by the way), see this page. Below follow several representative pics with the settings illustrated above applied - FlightGear provides a nice selection of aircraft with usually very good monoplane FMs, especially for tricycle-gear (small) civilian aircraft such as Cessnas, also for airliners like the (classic) Boeing 707. For multi-wing contraptions on the other hand and more realistic/historical FMs for biplanes, triplanes, and the odd multiplane, the gold standard(s) remain heavily-modded First Eagles 2 and RoF, as well as recent iterations (UE edition onwards) of the excellent WoFF series. Happy flying, Von S

I just wanted to fly a Tornado for myself. Everything I found in the new simulators was roughly below what we had in the old DI Tornado. I was looking for something that allows you to edit files to make the same plane as DI, but with newer graphics. And then I got to know the community of this forum better and I want to stay here. Even if Kevin gave me a hard time at the beginning ;-) But he was right ;-)

View File SF2 A-1H/J Skyraider (mcz) Remod Pack by MontyCZ SF2 A-1H/J Skyraider (mcz) Remod Pack by MontyCZ 1/8/2024 -For SF2, Any and All- Another 1stGen Salvage Project... This is an SF2 Remod of MontyCZ's A-1H Skyraider. Historically this was the VERY first aircraft mod released for SF1 in 2005. While the model still has some issues (see "Notes"), it's fully functional, with some limitations, in the SF2 environment. This mod is supplied with just about all the original (many rebuilt) skin sets I could find from the 1stGen SF mods section and from Marcfighters. These skin sets cover US Navy, US Air Force and South Vietnam Air Force units. You have ... USN: VA-35 "Black Panthers" USS Saratoga, 1959 Med cruise, (Beirut crisis?) VA-52 "Kinghtriders" USS Ticonderoga, 1966-67 VN cruise VA-65 "Tigers" USS Intrepid, 1960-61 Med Cruise VA-75 "Sunday Punchers" USS Independence, mid-1962 SEA-VN cruise VA-145 "Swordsman" USS Ranger 1958-59 WesPac (tagged "VA145E") VA-176 "Thunderbolts" USS Intrepid, VN cruise 1966-ish (bumblebee art) VNAF: 1st FS, Bien Hoa, 1961 (VNAF1 - overall very light grey, blue/red devil fues band ) 514th FS, Dan Nang ~1963 (VNAF2 - overall medium grey, tiger stripe fues band) 518th FS, Bien Hoa AB ~1970 (VNAF3 - 3 tone SEA camo, yellow/black checks fues band) USAF: 602nd SOS, 56th SOW (various RVN & Thai bases 1962-1970) 2nd SOS, 56th SOW (nite black unders, ~1968) There is also an extra blank USN skin called, oddly enough, "USNGrey1" This can be used to create any other units as one desires in the Gull Gray/White scheme. The texture set ini for each skin has a small notation at the bottom with historical notes. While many skins had to be remade, some are still 'as issued' (un-retouched). All are in bmp format. As is usual, serial/BuNums are as historically accurate as possible. Those 100% are marked with the star (*), those correct, but unable to match to a modex are marked with the plus/cross (+), those with no mark are generic. All skins have been updated to use the last known LOD (5/2009), and have been updated to use the latest decal style. Decal randomization is TRUE. For those units listed in the game's SquadronList ini, my (patent pending) 'fake SqTail' decal is used to activate their name displayed on the Loadout screen. The SF2 'date switch is used for all services on their respective skin sets. Sounds and drop tanks are included. All weapons used are stock in-game 3rd Wire items. The data ini has been brought up, as much as possible, to current standards. When in-game, you'll see A-1H/J Skyraider (MCZ) on the Aircraft Selection dropdown. This will differenize this one (MontyCZ) from the 3rd Wire or Razbam Skyraiders. This mod DOES (sorta) cover both the H & J variants, as there's very little (actual) difference between them. The wing fold is active, it uses the Standard Animation Keystroke (tm), Shift/9. The canopy CANNOT manually be controled; it's linked to the flaps. As is always reccomended, unzip to a temp folder or your desktop to give easy access to the rest of this readme for it's install instructions. Also, give the "Notes" a browse, as it explains certain issues this model has, and the change logs. Good Hunting and Happy Landings! Wrench Kevin Stein Submitter Wrench Submitted 02/01/2024 Category A-1  

View File SF2 night vision camera Night vision camera ================= OK. This solution is not perfect, but a wile better than anything we've had so far. All you need to do , is to replace the entry in the AVIONICS.INI file and add textures. Pls, test it and let me know your opinion. INSTALLATION ============= Just replace entry of DTVFilterMaterial in your AVIONICS.INI and put TV Filters in Objects/Aircraft. You can change color of filter by editing this line in AVIONICS.INI: TextureStage[01].TextureName=..\ORANGETVFILTER.JPG CREDITS ======= It's my final solution for this problem , but it is development of millions (trials) we did with ODS30 team to solve this problem. Submitter guuruu Submitted 02/01/2024 Category Utilities / Editors  

When I was a kid, I always wanted to be an Air Force pilot. Perhaps unbelievably, the reason for all this is that I fell in love at first sight with the F-22 serving on the other side of the world. Unfortunately, for various reasons, it has become an eternal dream. As a child, I have been trying to fly the best jet in the world by games. The first flight sim I encountered was Novalogic's F-22, and then the F-22 Lightning 3 of the same series, when I stumbled across CombatAce and saw that WOE has the F-22 (apparently it was just a mod), I told myself that I was going to fall in love with this game. So yeah, it's just a story about love and love.

View File Shenyang J-7(Type-62) Fighter prototype silver I tried my best to find the correct fonts,this is the most similar fonts “毛主席万岁” is means "Long live Chairman Mao" On 17th January 1966 the first Shenyang-built J-7 Fishbed made its maiden flight at the hands of Ge Wenrong(葛文镛) If you haven't downloaded my J-7, it doesn't matter. It can still be used by throwing it into the folder of MiG 21F-13 Submitter BF109K4SL Submitted 01/31/2024 Category J/F-7  

For my part I already understood that it is an indicator composed of 2 in 1, so it is not enough just to change the textures... if you wonder why it was not considered something so basic, I think the explanation is because the model comes from the SF1 and WOX series, iirc these versions did not show the speed in MACH whose change came with the SF2 series. So why bother making an indicator that can't show mach speed due to the limitations of the game engine?

I looked at the current date, February 1st. Two two weeks have passed since the start of this thread. My life has been very busy in the past two months, although I still have time to play FPS occasionally,lol. Hope you lads and gents are all well and have a fulfilling and best 2024!

LOD creation script uses a multiRes modifier. It works on multiple geometries and retains the geo type. It retains the skin modifier too, so you can run on a skinned character as well. This will make LOD0 Highest poly count LOD1 Lower LOD2 Even Lower and it will save a lot of time marking these LOD. created by LOKO lod_creator_1_updated (1).ms

Great!I really need this! In the past, I have been unable to optimize the number of faces without destroying the surface mesh.

It's a standard 'speed indicator - Mach meter' gauge. Here's how it's done. This is from the F-4E cockpit made by Ravenclaw The Mach meter part is gratued up to Mach 2.4 --- And this is the speed indicator from the F-14 TMF cockpit : There's only one part to indicate the Indicated Air Speed. The Mach meter part is missing. It can be fixed only by reworking the original 3D source file of the F-14 TMF cockpit. As it is an old cockpit (2010) it's probably impossible for various reasons.

BAC Lightning F.56 - 1.° Grupo de Defesa Aérea, Força Aerea Brasileira, 1987

oh, and i thought you were going by Adam Pierson until recently (Wrench? mid 1990s)

What got me into SF?? I don't want to think that far back....(2005). Lets just say, that coming from the Janes USNF/ATF/FA series (where I built a boatloao of novel conversion mission sets) I was given to understand this was 'the next FA". Unfortunately, it never had the in depth mission builder FA had. But hey, I"m still here. You bunch are stuck with me!

In 2003... I discovered SFP1 with later WoV, WoE and WoI. I played FE also. In 2006... I met Combat Ace and the TW games community. Today I play only with SF2. SF2 (and FE2) is in my opinion very playable with its full "moddability". Here at Combat Ace I have found plenty of friends thanks to the games of TK !!! P.

I had my first flight sim on my Amstrad 664, cannot for the life of me remember what it was called though, then I upgraded to the Amiga, and I really went in for Flight sims, I had Falcon, F16 Combat pilot, Birds of Prey, Gunship, F/a 18 , F14 fleet defender, and several more including several of the Janes series. I eventually got my first PC and continued the trend. My first big love was EAW, that got me hooked on modding and editing the sim, I prgressed to the IL2 series, and ended up with Lock on, then I discovered SF Gold........I have DCS, and IL2 Battle of.......well all of 'em actually, but I always come back to SF/FE as it is just so good, user friendly, uncomplicated, and fabulous to mod and skin, DCS is superb, but I am NOT a real fighter Pilot, and although I WAS in the RAF, I was an RAF Regiment Gunner, so I like things simple, as my poor ol' Rockape brain cannot be bothered with having to press 2 million buttons, and flick almost as many switches just to adjust the seat height in the pit heehehehehe. I find this series of sims ( SF/FE) to be fun, stress free ( mostly) and easy to use, fly, and mod/skin. Long may it continue.

I was a big janes fighters Anthology and Microsoft CFS 1 and 2 player way back and was a semi-regular on the old Netwings and sim-outhouse forums. I remember 2003? Dave posting some screen shots from the original Strike Fighter Project One there. i was hooked and the first opportunity I bought the game. Unfortunately it was a second hand "Wally World" edition. Took me a while to track down a "real" copy and the rest is thousands apon thousand of siming hours of history.

I liked it's equivalence to European Air War in terms of being able to jump in and fly a quick mission or dig into a campaign. I know people say it's "lite" compared to something like DCS but I think as a COMBAT sim it really excels at delivering that experience. I really don't like DCS for a lot of reasons I won't go into here. Let's just say it is not my go-to sim. If I want a FLIGHT simulator I will go with MSFS or X-Plane. Easy to play, easy to mod, great community, great mods. What is not to like from a easy to access COMBAT simulator?

Working on Multiple Carriage, "Smart" Bomb Rack BRU-55 for a new project that I am working on with friends.

basically, USMC does not spontaneous generate as a CV based unit. They are NOT normally carrier based in-game*. You can choose them for single action missions, but for campaigns they'll have to be assigned to said carrier (think of Korea, where 2 squadrons of Corsairs were assigned to one of the CVLs). That having been said, USMC MUST be in Nations ini for said terrain. Weither or not they'll spawn of the "L" series boats is guesswork. And those would only be Harriers and/or helos. They WILL however, spawn on regular CV/CVA/CVNs. Off the top of my head, terrains that have USMC in the nations list: Korea3, NAfrica, Lybia, DBS, Formosa, the stock IcelandNA, NorthCape, Panama, Persian Gulf and others (I should know -- I worked on all of them). And of course, the PTO WW2 maps (duh!!!) *fly a single misssion off the boat in a MC bird, and see what the parked aircraft are

Just before I migrated to Windows 11, of which I'm still experiencing massive 3ds Max issues and falling back to the old development computer, I had a few goodies underway that I need to unload. Much to everyone's surprise, the mystery vehicle has been revealed. And the assigned crew here are not happy about Wrench's rusty van serving American hot dogs. But in secret, some are really starting to enjoy them. Created this just for fun in case you like it. Wrench, I'll PM you with more details and see what other changes you might like. And maybe, just maybe if you sell more dogs you can get this thing a fresh paint job...

Well... i totally didnt get carried away and started "reworking" the TODs with the Vietnam mod after about a week or so of testing different stuff i have finally come up with something im ready to show off theres still some issues like floating buildings but its not noticeable (its because i created a single lod for each texture) and smooth shading issue im not sure how to fix that ive tried everything i could think of Performance wise? not hit at all from what ive noticed Heres the Results!

I'd reccomend the building be not so densly packed. Don't forget, the terrain have to place target items inside those boundries. up to and including full rail yards. I should know, i've had that issue with MANY terrains I've built but they do look good