streakeagle

I can revert to POV hat, but why? As long as the profile is smooth, responsive, and stable, TrackIR makes you feel like you are in the cockpit. The feeling is further enhanced by having a very large display filling your actual field of view. After years of using TrackIR, I can still get disoriented and lose visual track on a close-in violently maneuvering target that I would not have lost using a POV hat. But I will gladly live with that problem for the immersion it provides the other 99% of the time. Welcome to the club!

Over the time frame from Expansion Pack 1 to SF2:NA's final patch were a lot of "little" changes per those listed above. The trend trend for the past few years has been to resolve complaints by making a change that causes worse problems than the original complaint. TK's forums have been a "Monkey's Paw". You wish for something, but get unintended consequences. For years people had complaints about the terrain engine: 1) The way ground objects popped into view. 2) Sorting issues with clouds and terrain. 3) The 1998 dated look of the terrain mesh height resolution and textures. TKs solution to these problems: 1) Make objects fade into view rather than pop-up. The new effect looked great, except that you couldn't even see the runways until just before landing. Of course the fade-in distance had been locked down. So, TK provided an ini key to disable the new system. But disabling it might cripple future changes and still didn't give you control over the view ranges. For me, the biggest problem associated with this change was the limits on view distance to aircraft. The "fix" that allows people to turn off the new system does not solve my problem: aircraft used to be visible as soon as they rendered as a single pixel AND met the ini file specified visibility range. Now, they appear at a hard-coded range per the horizon distance settings with no regard for the ini setting or 1-pixel rendering range. Even at the farthest horizon settings, B-52 size aircraft go from invisible to quite large, which makes fighting using visual spotting look as bad as the old system's terrain popping into view. 2) Since low level clouds and objects have sorting issues and many people using mods complained very heavily about these problems, TK hard-coded the clould altitude limits to a much higher level. This didn't fix the problem, it just hid the problem. Now you won't see as many sorting issues because the clouds can't be at historical low altitudes. I like to create and fly historical missions. A key component to getting historical results are the visibility conditions imposed by the historical weather. In Vietnam, the clouds were low, usually about 3,000 feet, but you can't make clouds any lower than about 10,000 feet. 3) Aside from much improved support for naval actions, SF2NA brought the new terrain. This new terrain cost TK a lot of time and money to develop. But, it comes at a high performance cost, doesn't look that good in its stock release, is partially locked down, and modders get no support in the form of tools or even answers to basic questions about how to make new terrains using the new system. There was also another little itty, bitty problem: the increased resolution came at the expense of the overall map size. If you want maps that look as good as first person shooters, then the maps have to be the size of first person shooters. Of course, the original terrain system was already limited in map size. It was a flat square rather than based on the real shape of the globe. But now it is a much smaller square. Now, you can still use the old terrain engine... but the way the game handles getting close to the edge of the terrain was changed which broke many modders' terrains. The Monkey's paw never fails to aggravate those wishing for improvements to the SF game engine. Call me selfish, but I never cared that much about the terrain. All I care about is the air-to-air fight. So, aside from the dramatic change to visibility ranges for aircraft and cloud ceilings, none of the above got under my skin too much. But, when people started complaining about missile reliability and how hard it was to win, the Monkey's Paw clubbed me over the head. Rather than suggesting that these players use less than hard settings, TK just changed the weapons to be dramatically more reliable for the player. As "lite" as the SF series was supposed to be, it was actually a pretty good simulation for the effectiveness of early air-to-air missiles. Now, later missiles are almost a sure thing and even some of the earlier missiles will hit very consistently. From the very beginning of SFP1, each major patch brought new things at the expense of new bugs. When WoV was released, the flight models and AI got hosed. The flight models were mostly fixed by WoE, but the AI didn't really improve until WoI was released many years later. SF2 brought DX10, which greatly enhanced the look and performance of the game, but that came at the cost of multiplayer. So, maybe the post on the Third Wire forums wasn't stated correctly in terms of describing the time frame, but I more than understand the frustration of the poster. As is mentioned above, you can't go back to earlier versions if you want to use later content. SF2 remains the best survey sim available that leverage current hardware capabilities. The stock flyable and AI aircraft library is simply amazing in scope and quality. Throw in the free user mods, and you still have an incredible range of options to fly anything in any time frame. But if TK could have addressed problems without limiting the modders or creating new problems, it could have been so much more. Now, his focus is mobile games. I look forward to any new SF2 content that may pop up, but I dread what problems are going to be caused by installing them. Of course, it is entirely possible that there will not be any more significant releases for SF2. I am not holding my breath waiting for Expansion Pack 3.

Not that original or shocking... reminds me of all the different things Madonna did over the years trying to top herself.

Iris really dropped the ball losing M2M. RAZBAM was already going to be a key player in the DCS lineup, but having MSM take his F-15E and bring it to RAZBAM was a hell of a coup. I hope the 3rd parties get DCS figured out in a way that lets them match DCS:A-10C quality but crank out more than 1 plane every 3-5 years. Tac Pack has yet to show good enough results to get my dollars to go into FSX/P3D. I am staying solely committed to DCS where the only limits are the planeset and mapset from a combat perspective.

That is an interesting way of doing business... defecting to the competition and then marketing a product that upgrades the former business associate's product. Presumably, the target market is people who already have the Iris F-15E, otherwise you can't make money unless the customer buys the competition's product first. I know Metal2Mesh migrated for sound business reasons, but this is still quite amazing when you look on the surface without the background context In the time in which no one else has released any DCS addons, one company has already released an awesome UH-1, has an Mi-8 just around the corner, and I am willing to bet an AH-1 derived from the experience with the UH-1 waiting in the wings. I have the UH-1 and will buy just about any other helo released by Belsimtek. But I am still anxiously awaiting the MiG-21bis. I hope Metal2Mesh's work is fully utilized by RAZBAM to release DCS products this decade.

Has little to do with the pressure and everything to do with the chemical he used to repair it: You have to inform a shop if you use instant tire repair foam, or it might explode

To actually get the product go to: http://www.flight-replicas.com/P-40N_basepage.htm I don't buy FSX modules, but if I did, it would be the Accu-Sim/Wings of Power P-40B, P-40C, AVG model, RAF Tomahawk, and Russian Tomahawk found here: http://www.a2asimulations.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9&products_id=47&zenid=d4e036910530fc5d79d8a40b0fac14ec

Absolutely awesome! I can edit these into photo real printouts to use as placards until I get around to ordering engraved plates. Much better than the low res slightly out of scale manual drawings I used to lay out the wood console.

Great stuff!

I never had a problem with the whole quantity versus quality thing. Capun's team produced a whole lot of assets that still aren't available any other way. So it was a nice balance: let the pros take their time and produce a few really good planes (think Mirage Factory) while exploiting the less polished but usually still useful material from Capun's Skunk Works. My son has a ton of little die cast metal planes and I used SF mixed with any and all available addons to make most if not all of his toy planes flyable in SF. Could not have done that without Capun's vast library. As an example, the Lockheed Constellation is available from Capun in exactly the same paint/markings as my son's toy and as such my son loved seeing and flying it in SF. Of course, this was also an example of sloppy work as one of the control surface animations was wrong (one of the elevators? been awhile). I still have access and Capun even helped me when I forgot my password. I can remember flying with Capun online beta testing WOE one night along with several other well known old guard SFP1 characters. I have no ill will toward Capun, I just never fully understood his position on several issues. Of course, who am I speak as Column5 banned me from his personal forum for supporting DigitalOverload's right to request proper ejection sequences and the ability to shoot 'chutes on the Third Wire forums? Capun's private SF mod site reminds me of Gulf Knight's private Jane's USAF mod site. I refused to pay Gulf Knight for access to his forum to download mods that he somehow managed to secure exclusively. At least Capun doesn't have a mandatory annual fee. Of course, if SFP1 had not come along, I might still be playing Jane's USAF and probably would have followed its fanbase to Gulf Knight's forum. Jane's USAF is still the next best sim for Vietnam era air combat with stock flyable F-105D and F-4E. Aside from its flawed AI, flight modeling, and the slow crazy aerial ballet resulting from the mix of the two, Jane's USAF was an impressive survey sim.

I never imagined it was so hard to get info on an F-4 variant. I have piles of F-4 books. Some of them have several photos of F-4EJ, but none of them have very much useful technical info on them. Finding photos of armed F-4EJs is like finding photos of armed Israeli aircraft. I don't know if Japan rarely flies armed or if they censor photos the way Israel does. While I never cared much before, the lack of information makes me want more! I want a good book on the F-4EJ in English. Not just a paint scheme book for modeling, but an excellent technical and photo history.

The photos at this website are interesting and dated: http://nabe3saviation.web.fc2.com/aF41j.html This one from 22May81 shows an AIM-7 Sparrow being carried:

I guess I am so far out of the SF community that I have no idea what you are talking about. It seems almost anyone who downloads anything eventually gets banned from Capun's site. As rarely as I go there, I got a download limit warning from Capun once. Long ago, you made it clear who you are, what you have done in your past, etc. As such, I would never question your character without hardcore evidence to the contrary -- unless your name was zerocinco ;)

Recovery operations are always painful, and with the size and scope of this one, I am amazed that you were able to recover so much. Good job!

I have been on Steam with Arma2 from the start. Steam has not always been the fastest about updates/patches/beta patches, etc. I love the idea of Steam and it mostly works great for me, but I haven't really had any problems with ED's direct way of doing business using torrents to get all the big files. The updater sure can be slow, but I have always gotten the entire update the night I it was released, so it's not that bad. At this point, I prefer to wait a week or two before getting updates anyway -- to many major bugs in initial releases. If and when Steam does something better than my standalone, then I will consider migrating if it is allowed. But for the time being I have everything installed and working and have been easily staying up to date.

OK. It would be nice to have a website with all this documentation to help others. I fully intend to publish my sketchup drawings when I have finished my project and can make them as accurate as possible. Thanks for the help!

I like proper Steam titles where I can install the title on as many PCs as I want. I have all of my Arma 2 software and Star Wars Battlefront 2 via Steam x 3 accounts so that I can have 3 players at any time. But I don't see the point of having DCS on Steam if it retains their existing DRM system that limits install rights. Since I already have everything that is currently available from DCS independent of Steam, I don't see any incentive to migrate unless ED does something to give me no other choice. I think Third Wire has the absolute best: no DRM of any kind and re-download at will. The only hassle is retaining the original download link, and a small email to TK can overcome any problems that may cause.

Fantastic! I wish I had everything you have. I will settle for good photos with dimension labels like the first one you did for me. My intention would be to eventually have some company make engraved plastic panels for me that I could overlay onto a wood frame and equip with appropriate knobs/switches. In the meantime, I could use good photos to make laminated paper printouts for overlays. The original printout I used to position the Thrustmaster A-10 throttle was from the USAF flight manual. It was very low resolution, yet still looked very good. Laminated photos might look so good that I could get very lazy about having proper plastic ones made.

It wasn't meant to be practical at all, but simply prove that a man could actually generate enough power to fly without the aid of any other power source. The key to flight is power-to-weight. The Wright-Brothers weren't recognized as first because they discovered aerodynamics. They were simply the first to realize that the recently developed internal combustion engine had the required power-to-weight to allow the air frame tech of that time to fly. Now, the modern lightweight materials permit dramatically much lighter airframes and hence a much lower power-to-weight requirement for propulsion. Despite lacking wind tunnel research and advanced materials, Da Vinci's ideas were very close to practical. It is great to see others validate his work on ornithopters, despite all the limitations of man-powered flying machines. On worlds with lower gravity, this tech might even be practical some day.

Thank you very much! I can easily scale these kind of pics in Sketchup and get wood marked up and cut out :) Are the little black knobs with 4 ribs twist caps for fuse holders? I tried finding those for sale on the internet and can't get anything even close. Where you have 175mm, I have 180mm and where you have 185mm, I have 190mm. I was just a 5mm out of 175mm in error (less than 3%), not too shabby for the rough numbers and calibrated eyeball estimates. But that may mean that my entire throttle console is off by that much.

Hint: Read the column on the right of the Osprey book cover.

My wife decided not to go last year, but we have confirmed tickets for this year. She is going to run the 1/2 Marathon. I get to spend 1 or more days at the museum plus whatever else we can find to do in the Dayton area. I think we will be at the airport by noon on Thursday and return home Sunday evening, so we should have plenty of time to browse the museum in spite of her running engagement. I have been there only once, but what a grand trip it was. The XB-70 and X-3 made it unique (superior?) compared to the Smithstonian. I just finished Olds' autobiography. He was an amazing individual and did so many things that I loved and respected. But he failed on the home front. He put his career almost completely ahead of his family and chose a Hollywood actress for a wife who refused to support him and had many of the problems that Hollywood people have. Having briefly attended and resigned from West Point myself, I enjoyed Olds' comments about it. He had it made, only had to endure 2 years of that before graduating and getting trained to fly P-38s. Unlike some of the aces (i.e. Steve Ritchie and Randy Cunningham), he seemed to be a down to earth person respectful of everyone around him rather than focused on his own image and legend. The contrast between the way the military worked back then and now is just way too funny. They lost planes to training or lack thereof at amazing rates from WW2 right up to the late 1950s. Olds hopped into planes and flew them with little or no ground training. He did informal formation air shows, sometimes with losses. He wanted to see what it was like to depart an F-4 with adverse yaw in his very brief conversion training. He fell from about 30,000 feet down to 10,000 before finding a way to recover. I still wish stock Thirdwire SF unslatted F-4s properly exhibited this behavior. I want DCS level F-4 Phantoms so badly! Olds seems to have preferred the P-51 to the P-38, but apparently loved the F-4 more than anything else he had flown. I don't know if performance and handling was much of a factor. I think he simply preferred whatever aircraft he happened to be flying when he was having good experiences and he appears to have enjoyed his time flying F-4s in Vietnam more than anything else in his life.

I envy you ;) I could use dimensions to the nearest mm for everything you have pictured on the left throttle console and the main/center panels. I have the wood waiting for me to make the gear/flaps position aux panel for the front of my throttle console, but I don't want to draw/cut anything until I am sure about the size. I have accurate drawings, but only approximate scale. Combined with real numbers, I can get a lot more things done much more accurately. But I should be able to get some if not most of the numbers I want myself in September, so don't waste your time helping me unless you have nothing better to do than dimension photos of old F-4 panels ;)

That is where I got the survival pack/lower cushion, lumbar/upper cushion, and parachute pack. But my original goal was to make a much cheaper wood "sport" scale seat rather than build a complete real seat. Not having a real seat handy to get some measurements I missed while in Pensacola, I cheated by buying nearly $600 worth of real parts, raising the total price quite a bit. Now that I have actual dimensions, I may build another one purely of wood with home-made cushions for my son. I used thick high-grade wood for most of the structure to make it durable enough, so the cost for just the seat as it is about $800 or $900, with the console about $1,000. Of course a complete real seat in good shape is $5,000 or more. If I build a 2nd one, I may try cheaper materials and try to keep the finished cost of just the seat to about $300-$400. The price of decent seat cushion foam is fairly high, but I can get my mom to sew up the seat covers to save some money there. Eliminating the survival pack and using just wood also allows the seat to become decent storage space with a fliptop lid. I could keep unused/extra peripherals and cables neatly stored under my butt ;) I bought two highly reputed 1/32 scale seats to make my initial plans, but discovered they were very inaccurate in some dimensions. I am supposed to go to Dayton, Ohio in September so my wife can run a 1/2 marathon and I can visit Dave's USAF Museum. I may get even more accurate numbers for even closer to scale wooden plans. I really want proper throttles. I would prefer real ones, but they are extremely rare on eBay and when they do appear, the bidding will easily go outside my budget. So, I want some good measurements that I can use to scale up some photos I have of the complete mechanicals hidden by the console. Proper rudder pedals adjusted by a handcrank like the real ones would be nice, too!