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Everything posted by streakeagle
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Cockpit View
streakeagle replied to artiste's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - General Discussion
Someone probably programmed head bobbing or attempted to and connected the stick axis to cockpit position, or something similar. Typically, in the cockpit ini files, there are dummy instruments such as g-meters, that cause cockpit movement to simulate head bobbing due to g-load and or bank/roll/pitch indications. These can be safely deleted or commented out. -
I have some Honeywell lever lock toggle switches coming in from ebay to do the YAW, ROLL, PITCH, and INT WING TRANS switches, these should be real close if not identical to the switches used in the real panel. I am in the process of building an order list for a variety of switches and knobs with a supplier to cover as many of the controls as I can. Now if I can just get my hands on a clear sheet to cover the panel.
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How is your cockpit arrangement going? Please post photos when you are finished. I got all the left console panel photos squared up, resized, and pasted on to my wooden console. Could you take another photo of the left sub panel that is centered and perpendicular from a distance, but zoomed in to help minimize the perspective effects. Alternatively, if you could just post the original without the yellow measurement across the panel, I could make that work, too. What I need now is to get some switches and knobs mounted, then place some clear plexiglass or lexan about 1/8 or 1/4 inch thick to place on top. Is there anywhere I can buy those black knobs with 4 ribs that provide the lighting for the lables? Thanks, Stephen
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The F-4 weapons delivery manuals are available for sale at eflight manuals, but unless they have been rescanned, the prices are kind of high for the quality of the scan and the hassle of the electronic copy protections.
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F-15C Advanced Flight Model (AFM) in Beta Testing
streakeagle replied to Dave's topic in Digital Combat Simulator Series General Discussion
From Belsimtek forums via Wags on DCS forums: Looks like the BST site is down, so I will re-post their news about the F-15C AFM. Note that BST is developing the F-15C AFM and Yoyo at Eagle is developing the Su-27 AFM. --- DCS: F-15C Eagle. Advanced flight model development overview Dynamics modeling experts at BelSimTek are completing work on advanced flight and engine models of the F-15C Eagle for the upcoming module for DCS World. The current model featured in DCS was originally developed over a decade ago and represents an earlier generation of technological potential and resulting model accuracy and performance. Despite exhibiting generally correct aerodynamic properties under normal flight conditions, by today’s standards the model falls short of increased user expectations, computing power, and experience gained by the developers over time. In an effort to meet these demands, we have begun to develop new flight and related component models as upgrades to some of the existing DCS aircraft. As the primary U.S. jet fighter in DCS and indeed one of the premier fighters of the world in reality, the F-15C Eagle will be the first DCS aircraft to receive this upgrade. The flight model has been through over eight months of development and is now undergoing initial external (closed beta) testing. The complete aerodynamics model accounts for the entire spectrum of mass, force, and moment interactions of the aircraft as a physical object subjected to airflow. Unlike the mathematical approach of the previous model, which regarded the aircraft as a single point of focus, the new flight model consists of individual aircraft elements carefully tuned to reflect their unique aerodynamic characteristics and joined together to determine the sum vector of the airframe’s momentum. Such an approach makes it possible to accurately recreate the specific performance of the F-15C Eagle airframe throughout the entire flight envelope, including critical regimes like high angles of attack, stalls, spins, as well as specific flight conditions such as ground effect. Additionally, a new engine model is also created on par with the flight model to provide more realistic and accurate performance, for example featuring effects like negative G loading. The flight control system is modeled realistically, for example including input authority coefficients dependent on speed and altitude scheduling, the Aileron/Rudder Interconnect (ARI), Control Augmentation System (CAS), as well as Attitude and Altitude autopilot modes. F-15C refuel DCS: F-15C refuel The new model significantly improves the entire flight control experience making special flight conditions like air to air refueling, landing, and edge of the envelope flying far more dynamic, exciting, and possibly even more challenging. Even straight and level flight loses the old feeling of flying on rails. We are considering the possibility of creating a complete avionics model with clickable cockpit and accurate systems modeling. This would be a major development however, so a final decision has not yet been made. The estimated release date for the advanced flight model for F-15C Eagle DCS module is end of November, 2013. -
And so SF2 decided to crash
streakeagle replied to slick cowboy's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - General Discussion
I am not having any problems flying latest patch SF2NA with minimal mods besides aircraft and associated weapons/sounds/pilots/etc. Flying North Atlantic, Israel, and Vietnam with no issues. -
Real life may trump sims, but the "virtual" friends made over long distances through forums such as these can be all too real. Somehow, a little <S> or emoticon can almost be as good as having a real person standing there when you know the truly good intentions of the people posting them. Dave has had some rough times in recent years, I hope this latest event with his wife's father's health is the last one for a long time. Keep doing what you've been doing Dave... being strong and holding your family together! ...and taking care of CombatAce and its dwellers ;)
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Has anyone exported planes from WoI Expansion Pack?
streakeagle replied to Geary's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 1 Series - General Discussion
You can't bring WoI Expansion Pack content into SF1/WoX series... but you can bring SF1/WoX series content into WoI Expansion Pack game. It is a lot of work, but can be very rewarding if you aren't going to migrate to SF2, or want some aspect of SFP1/WoX AND SF2 updated aircraft (i.e. all the great F-4s and their cockpits). So, export stuff out of SFP1/WoV/WoE and bring them into to a WoI Expansion Pack installation and you will get what you are looking for. -
Has anyone exported planes from WoI Expansion Pack?
streakeagle replied to Geary's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 1 Series - General Discussion
The WoI Expansion Pack is unique. It provides a bridge between the early versions of SF2 and the SFP1 series. You bring SFP1/WoV/WoE content into the WoI Expansion Pack version AND you can bring some SF2 content (early lods that weren't locked away yet) as well. But: WoI does not support SF2 level RWR displays/indications and there are some bugs that TK never bothered to fix. SF2 was progressively patched beyond recognition, so much later lod content can't even be legally extracted and wouldn't work if they were. This unique install provides one interesting benefit: almost SF2 level game (looks and AI comparable to early SF2) AND multiplayer. At one time, I was trying to build a multiplayer install package for this setup, complete with all compatible SF2 models and textures. But I just didn't have the time and patience. -
Catalyst Control Center settings?
streakeagle replied to Dag's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - General Discussion
You cannot force anti-aliasing with an ATI 5870 in DirectX10. So, you should set the card to use application settings and then set the anti-aliasing to the desired level in the options.ini file of SF2, which you can find in the user folder for the game of interest. Apparently, you simply set the number to 1, 2, 4, 8, etc to match the option you want (i.e. 1 = none, 2 = x2, 4 = x4, 8 = x8). I hope this helps out! -
Looks like the ME-262 will be done
streakeagle replied to MigBuster's topic in Digital Combat Simulator Series General Discussion
Wags just posted details about Edge. Last item: maps can be projected onto globe. So, while DCS may not be set up to use the globe, Edge is. -
My Saitek X52 just arived
streakeagle replied to whiteknight06604's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - General Discussion
Is it a normal X-52 or a Pro? -
Looks like the ME-262 will be done
streakeagle replied to MigBuster's topic in Digital Combat Simulator Series General Discussion
I just wish DCS would trade in small flat maps for a true globe. They don't have to populate the whole globe, just build the same maps they are already making on the globe at the right place so that navigation works 100% correctly. Then, as more maps are built, you eventually cover the entire globe. -
Haven't seen a whole lot of F-16s go down during over a decade of continuous warfare. Even an F-35 can be destroyed on the runway. Numbers will overcome technology when the tech costs so much that the odds become outrageous. MiG-21s equipped with modern heaters and directed by AWACS/GCI are still a viable threat aside from their short range/endurance. There are not and probably never will be enough stealth aircraft in the US inventory to overcome the numbers we would face in a real all-out war. F-15s and F-16s have been adequate if not superior for anything less. Consider the money lost when an F-35 tries to do the A-10's job. F-35s will go down to AAA performing close air support. A-10s are about to be axed to keep the budget for the F-35s.
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Looks like the ME-262 will be done
streakeagle replied to MigBuster's topic in Digital Combat Simulator Series General Discussion
I had dropped all my backing funds due to the way they were waffling on the goods versus backing level. But given that they will probably make good on all the promised aircraft per funding level, I went back to the $40 pledge. Free: 1 plane of Bf109/P-47/Spitfire. $1: The other two of the first three. $40: All three plus Fw 190, P-51, and Me 262. Since I already have the P-51, that means I end up getting four aircraft at DCS level for $40 or $10 per plane... not bad. What remains to be seen is the actual quality of the simulation. I never cared for IL-2 flight models very much, though they did improve quite a bit toward the end. Now all I can do is wait to see when it is finished. -
As a one-trick pony (i.e. relying almost 100% on stealth for survival), the F-35 better remain very stealthy for the duration of its entire career. I have never been a big fan of stealth. All it takes is a technological breakthrough in sensor technology to waste both the money spent and performance trade-offs made to accommodate stealth. Just as there was a hi-lo mix of F-15s and F-16s, perhaps the strategy should have been to have a useful number of F-22 quality aircraft to support a much larger cost-effective force rather than trying to build an all-stealth force.
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SF2 - what has been taken away?
streakeagle replied to MigBuster's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - General Discussion
This change bothered me more than any other. The SF series already had some game oriented features to make gameplay more interesting for the player, but intentionally making separate laws of physics for players and AI for no other reason than to appease players that want to smoke the enemy without being smoked by the enemy is ludicrous. Couldn't such an effect been associated with the difficulty level or an optional checkbox? For most of the history of SFP1 and early SF2, the game got more and more detailed/realistic. When something didn't behave as expected, it was a bug and TK tried to make it right. Now, since around the release of expansion pack 1, every release seems to take a step backwards. However, I will say that I have not back-dated my installs. What little time I now spend on SF2 doesn't seem too bad despite all negative changes. I have seen enemies and wingmen use AA-2 and AA-8 missiles quite effectively. I also still have great difficulty using AIM-9Bs and AIM-4s effectively. So, despite any stated bias in the readme, I don't see any outlandish results caused by it. I hope DCS eventually matches the planeset and terrains of the SF series. DCS also needs much better air-to-air AI for both single player and co-op. AI needs to be scalable from novices to aces and able to reflect doctrine and training. While I enjoy DCS dogfights on 1 vs 1 situations, 1 vs 2 exposes some flaws and 4 vs 4 is just messy compared to SF2. Of course, SF2 is far from perfect. But, I think Battle of Britain 2 is the only sim I have played with equal or better air-to-air AI than SF2. -
Real World F-4C Question
streakeagle replied to Z09SS's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - General Discussion
Aerodynamically, the only difference between an F-4B and an F-4C is the wing bulges for the fat tires required by the USAF. This only slightly decrease lift/increases drag of the wings. The F-4D was nearly identical to the F-4E. Per the flight manuals, all of the "hard wing" (unslatted) F-4 variants could easily get into a violent departure at high AoA. With enough altitude, recovery was possible and easy... unless it developed into a flat spin. When the famous ace, Robin Olds, hastily converted to the F-4C after flying F-101s, he wanted to experience this problem. He went to 30,000 feet, yanked the stick back, applied some aileron to generate the adverse yaw, and went tumbling. He went below 10,000 feet before figuring out how to recover. -
SF2 - what has been taken away?
streakeagle replied to MigBuster's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - General Discussion
While it may look 1999 visually, I can tell you that in 2001, the only sims with F-4s and F-105s worth playing was Jane's Fighters Anthology and Jane's USAF. USAF looked a lot better, but a modded FA install played much better and had much more accurate FM limitations. To this day, there is no more realistic modeling of the 50's to 70's aircraft and weapons technologies. Only in SFP1/SF2 would you have an AIM-7E that would not work every time or an AIM-9B that is almost useless except against a high flying non-maneuvering target. But in the past year or two, missile reliability and warhead effectiveness was slanted back towards the arcade kill probabilities of most other sims/games. If Jane's USAF had been patched to have decent FMs, AI, and had the object size/time/distance scale corrected, I would never have needed SFP1. But TK stepped up and made a sim that had a great FM foundation that was easily comprehended and improved if you know aerodynamics. That the textures and resolution of the terrain were dated never kept me from enjoying the flying and fighting. But trading modability and realism for new terrain, locked down files, and arcade style combat is a step backwards. -
SF2 - what has been taken away?
streakeagle replied to MigBuster's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - General Discussion
This has been the problem for a while: Someone complains about a valid gripe and TK waves a cursed monkey's paw over the problem so that his "fix" makes the situation as bad or even worse than the original problem. -
SR-71s and U-2s were the heroes. These guys were getting shot at without the ability to defend themselves other than fly high and/or fast. The information they got could be critical to both tactical and strategic decisions that would effect the lives of many and even the course of history. As much as I wanted to be a fighter pilot -> test pilot -> astronaut as a kid, as an adult, I would have been all too happy to have been selected to fly the SR-71 or even a U-2. Of course, given that my vision went south in the 7th grade and I couldn't even be a WSO/RIO by the 10th grade, I would have been happy to fly anything at all for a living. <S> to all that flew into harms way to keep the country safe.
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Strike Fighters 2 Performance
streakeagle replied to bucklehead101's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - General Discussion
The game doesn't really leverage multicore as well as it could, so you are probably cpu limited.