Caesar

Well, I brought it up against a Flanker (AI) and it went a lot better than expected. Of course, a human player would be completely different, but I'm at least building some confidence with my handling!

Heatblur announced a release date for their F-14: 13 March marks the Early Access launch date for the F-14B.

I take no offense. It absolutely seems like the HB Turkey will be the most in-depth study simulation of the plane, and I can't wait.

HB did say that the A will also be coming out after the B, so you will be able to fly it at some point.

This is spot-on. Rolling limits are lower than symmetrical due to torsion. It is not modeled in SF2 to my knowledge, or at the bear minimum, it won't cause early breakage if you're within the aircraft's max g * structural factor - I don't know if the airplane breaks faster if you're doing something like a 10g snap roll or whatever. As to the hard limiter on the F-16 (which the aircraft does have in reality), I know the third party F-16s and F/A-18s utilize the CAT1 G Limiter developed by one of the folks here at CA (can't remember specifically who; Fubar maybe?). We used it for our AI F-14s in the Super Pack to stop them from doing a one-and-done max G pull at the start of combat to make them slightly more survivable, but you can put it into whatever aircraft you want. [CAT1_G_Limiter] SystemType=HIGHLIFT_DEVICE DeploymentMethod=AUTOMATIC_G_loading CLiftdc=-2.7500 CDdc=0.0 Cmdc=-0.350 AreaRatio=2.000 SmoothDeployment=TRUE Setting[1].Angle=45.0 Setting[1].DeployValue=7.33 Setting[1].RetractValue=7.25 MaxDeflection=20.0 MinDeflection=0.0 ControlRate=5.0 ModelNodeName=Internal It allows you to pull up to, but not beyond the deploy value. I don't think the TW F-16 uses such a limiter, and hence why it can overshoot 9G.

That's hard to say. As MB said, damaged engine mounts can mean any number of things, from no noticeable performance degradation to the engine catching fire. If you really want your aircraft to start breaking and rip off wings or damage engines, you can set the StructuralFactor= values to 1.0 and start overshooting regularly to see what happens. As to how accurate SF2 simulates the breakage, the answer is "not very".

I don't think you can model something that specific. If memory serves, you can damage or set your engines on fire if the fuselage section is considered "damaged" or "destroyed" by the overstress, but that's about as far as it goes.

In the data.ini, the max g is multiplied by the structural factor, so it's usually 1.2-1.5x the maximum g. I can't remember the default value, 1.2 seems to stick in my head, but you can modify each component's "StructuralFactor=" line to suit what you want. Still, the aircraft doesn't immediately break when you overshoot this, it just has a higher chance. Normally, it takes a massive overstress to outright break components off the airplane, but the more small excursions above max g*SF, the more likely something will come off. It all changes based on patch levels; I remember one of the 2012 patches was a lot more sensitive and the aircraft would break more quickly from overshooting. Currently, it seems like it happens much more rarely.

Specific system damage, a-la DCS or other more in-depth simulators isn't modeled in SF2. Rather, each main component of the aircraft (wings, stabs, fuselage, etc) is taken into account and if you exceed the g-limit times the structural factor, have a chance of breaking. Normally what happens is the wings get ripped off. Sometimes the aircraft starts smoking, and if you have the debug on, you can see if the aircraft is considered "destroyed" even though you're still flying it. It's been a while since I've broken an aircraft, but I know I ripped the wings off a B-2 during SAM defense about a year ago, so it still happens at the current patch level. Way back (nearly 10 years ago) I recall ripping both wings and a stab off of an F/A-18 in a 24g pull up just to see what would happen.

RK, I may have missed a call-out on the fuselage section. Please try to download the attached, and replace the data.inis and loadout.inis with those from the archive. Let me know if this works. Revised ODS F-14s.7z

OK, so for the ODS F-14A vs. the SP F-14A_82, there are a few differences, but I'm hoping the following will work as a quick fix. Go into the ODS F-14A_Data.ini and try to make the following changes: // TARPS Setup--------------------------------------- [PhoenixStation2ALQ] [...] ModelNodeName=suppphoenix02 <---change from suppphoenix02b to suppphoenix02 [...] [PhoenixStation4TARPS] [...] ModelNodeName=suppphoenix04 <---change from suppphoenix04b to suppphoenix04 [...] The ECA pylon is not to be found anywhere in the data.ini. Add the following to the Data.ini (below [PhoenixStation4TARPS]): [PhoenixStation1ECA] SystemType=WEAPON_STATION StationID=21 StationGroupID=0 StationType=SEMI_RECESSED AttachmentPosition=-0.45,1.9,-0.891 AttachmentAngles=0.0,0.0,0.0 EjectVelocity=0.0,-2.0,0.0 LoadLimit=2000.0 AllowedWeaponClass=EP SpecificStationCode=F14 AttachmentType=USN ModelNodeName=suppphoenix01 NoJettision=TRUE PylonMass=55 PylonDragArea=0.02 You'll have to add the ECA to the F-14A_Loadout.ini under the recon section: Loadout[21].WeaponType=ECA Loadout[21].Quantity=1 It appears that this same peculiarity happens in the F-14A+, albeit you were getting a Phoenix pylon on it because the ModelNodeName was correct on the A+. You'll need to add in the ECA station (in this case, it would be station 23, rather than 21) into the Data.ini, and a call-out in the Loadout.ini (reading Loadout[23].WeaponType=ECA and Loadout[23].Quantity=1). Hope this helps.

That might fix it; sorry, I haven't had much time recently. What I'll need to do is see what the aircraft included in ODS look like, since I don't remember what version they were or what their loadouts (etc.) look like.

OK, that's really helpful actually. The ODS install might be missing some of the weapons or may have different call-outs for the loadout. You might want to copy over the following folders into your ODS install from the F-14 SP zip archive: ECA, ECAN, EFA, F14DDE, F14DDL, LBDD, RBDD, ALQ-167 These are the various countermeasure systems for the F-14 which are called out in the .inis (though it looks like you already copied over ALQ-167). Try that and see if it works. If not, I'll see what else I can come up with.

RK, So, I ran some tests. In the basic package, all of the TARPS loadouts work (pic below for one of the F-14A+ loadouts). What version are you running, and did you install all of the weapons? It looks from your pictures like the ECA/EFA is probably missing on the A+, and I have no idea what's going on with that F-14A. Could be the wrong pylon call-out, but again, I can't recreate the problem.

The ALQ-167 is included in the F-14 Super Pack under the Objects/Weapons folder, and is called out in the Loadout.ini(s) for the F-14 under the Recon sections [Recon'82] StartDefaultDate=1982 DefaultFor=RECON Loadout[29].WeaponType=F14DDL Loadout[29].Quantity=1 Loadout[30].WeaponType=ECA Loadout[30].Quantity=1 Loadout[25].WeaponType=ALQ-167 <- Right Here Loadout[25].Quantity=1 Loadout[26].WeaponType=TARPS Loadout[26].Quantity=1 Loadout[13].WeaponType=AIM-9L Loadout[13].Quantity=1 Loadout[14].WeaponType=AIM-9L Loadout[14].Quantity=1 Loadout[01].WeaponType=AIM-7M Loadout[01].Quantity=1 Loadout[02].WeaponType=AIM-7M Loadout[02].Quantity=1 Loadout[17].WeaponType=Tank330_F14 Loadout[17].Quantity=1 Loadout[18].WeaponType=Tank330_F14 Loadout[18].Quantity=1 If you don't have it for some reason, try to copy and paste it again from the zip archive.

Operationally, the F-14 never carried them, but you can change the data.ini and loadout.ini files to allow it to. I did a theoretical F-14 on my own install and replaced the AIM-7 slots with AIM-120s. Go into your Data.ini file and change [MissileStation1bis], [MissileStation2bis], [SparrowStation4], [SparrowStation3], [SparrowStation2], and [SparrowStation1]'s AllowedWeaponClass= from SAHM to AHM (AllowedWeaponClass=AHM). Also add "NATO" to AttachmentType= (AttachmentType=USN,NATO). This will put AMRAAMs into the Sparrow stations, while leaving Phoenix on pylons. It will prevent the aircraft from carrying AIM-7s, however. The other option, if you still want to carry AIM-7s in those slots, is to make the station allow for SAHM,AHM (AllowedWeaponClass=AHM,SAHM), but for some reason I recall this made it go a little wonky. Changing the loadout.ini, just go through and switch AIM-7(variant) with AIM-120(variant) (e.g., AIM-7M to AIM-120C) for each of the associated weapon stations to change your default loadouts.

Jabbers just did another with an initial overview!

Gotcha. So, you can do a rudimentary HUD with only rounds showing for your purpose. Problem is it might interfere with your normal gun sight. This is an example that will at least show you your remaining rounds: [HUD] HUDMaterial=HUDMaterial HUDColor=0.0,1.0,0.3,0.8 BoresightOffset=0.0,0.0 ViewportTopLeft=-0.155,-0.195 ViewportBottomRight=0.155,0.210 [HUDMaterial] EffectShaderName=fltHUD.fx DepthBufferCheck=FALSE DepthBufferWrite=FALSE RenderedInOrder=FALSE AlphaTestEnabled=TRUE CullMode=NO_CULL LightEnabled=FALSE UseLightLevel=FALSE SpecularEnabled=FALSE EmissiveEnabled=FALSE FogEnabled=FALSE AmbientColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000 DiffuseColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000 ZBufferOffset=0 PriorityLevel=1 BlendOp=BLEND_SRC_ALPHA NumTextureStages=1 TextureStage[01].TextureName= TextureStage[01].MipMap=FALSE TextureStage[01].FilterEnabled=TRUE TextureStage[01].StageColorOp=TEXTURE_MODULATE_DIFFUSE TextureStage[01].StageAlphaOp=TEXTURE_MODULATE_DIFFUSE [HUDFont] TextFontName=Arial TextSize=14 TextBold=TRUE [HUDModeNav] Symbol[01]=HUD_WeaponCount [HUDModeAA] Symbol[01]=HUD_WeaponCount [HUDModeAG] Symbol[01]=HUD_WeaponCount [HUD_WeaponCount] SymbolType=WEAPON_COUNT_TEXT TextPosition=0.0,0.140 HorizontalAlignment=CENTER TextFormat=%01d You'd add this to the bottom of the aircraft's AVIONICS.ini file. Others out there might have better solutions.

Okay, so, again, what aircraft are you talking about? Let's say you're flying an F-14. It shows you the remaining ammo times the hundred on the HUD. So, your HUD shows "6" at the center bottom. That equals 676-600 rounds of ammunition in the gun. 5 = 599-500, 4 = 499-400, etc. Other A/C will show exact numbers (e.g., F/A-18 on the HUD, or the F-16 on the left MFD.) So, what aircraft doesn't show the ammo counter you want?

It depends on the aircraft. Some have counters in the pit, some on the HUD. What aircraft are you trying to see this on?

New Tomcat video "Strike on Krymsk":

Merry Christmas!

Niiiice! That'll fill out the US 4th Gen group nicely.

ALCON, Earlier today, Heatblur ran a live stream of the F-14 to show off some of the aircraft's capabilities, and current state of development. The stream is long, at over 2 hours and 9 minutes, so you may want to skip around. Some highlights include: 1. Aerial refueling with a KC-130 tanker - this takes a long time, both Victory-2 and Diamond-2 have a hell of a time getting contact. 2. Low-altitude strike 3. Air-to-air engagement (not any proper dogfighting, mostly stand-off and against non-maneuvering targets) 4. Inadvertent night-time carrier landings (the mission went on longer than planned, apparently it was supposed to be at sunset. Hilarity ensues. Probably the most interesting thing for me was the breakage that happened during the first live stream. The CAP flight (Victory) lead F-14's INS failed, breaking from the shock of the cat stroke, which prevented Victory-1 from using his AIM-54s in TWS. I believe he used one in close range against a bomber. Dash 2 became the shooter at long range. Then, the strike flight (Diamond) lead's auto wing sweep failed some time before he began his approach to the carrier, so he had to switch to manual. He seems to lose SA of his altitude or maybe gets spatial-D and puts it in the water. The other three make it back, with Victory-1 taking three attempts to get the plane down, while Victory-2 gets it on the first attempt. It will definitely be interesting to test out, whenever the heck it gets released, especially knowing you may have to fight with some systems broken, or having to try to reset them. I wonder if any other aircraft in DCS have that fidelity of modelling? Either way, it was an interesting first look at a full mission in the HB Turkey.

IIRC the SFP-1 series has the A-6 cockpit and maybe something for the F-104. I can't remember specifics, but if you need those LODs for an SF2 mod, you might want to at least hang onto the discs.