streakeagle

For the record, I finally got this project working 100%. Every button/trigger is wired into a button on the MS Sidewinder board. My next goal is to build a reasonable replica of the Martin Baker ejection seat using wood (at least basic angles, shape and dimensions), then buy some actual seat cushions from eBay. If I get that far, I may build a similarly simplified wooden pit to the approximate dimensions of the F-4 pit... but that depends on how much space I have after I move closer to my "new" job I started back in February.

My wife thought she wanted a small laptop for checking email, facebook, browsing the internet, etc. while sitting in the living room watching TV... Then she discovered the main tradeoff... it may be fast enough to do routine chores, but it is much slower and the relatively low resoltion of the display doesn't give you much real estate to work with for browsing or reading documents. So now she has flipped 180 degrees. She wants a laptop that will let her play World of Warcraft while watching TV in the living room... and to give her the speed and quality of graphics she is used to, that means a 1600x1200 or 1920x1200 display with a graphics chip strong enough to drive the game at that resolution. Work gives both of us laptops (and her work laptop is probably strong enough to do what she wants), so I prefer to build my own desktop as a pure hobby/gaming machine.

You get one install of a 3rd Wire sim. So which sim? Easy choice: WoV has carriers, most diverse flyable planeset, and is based on history (the carriers are what make it a slightly better deal than WoI). 1 mod takes care of just about everything from planes to terrain to missions: YAP (even better carrier, much better terrain, almost every plane/object you could want, and of course 100 detailed historical missions). However, the arrival of SF2 changes the situation. I want WoV2. If I have to do it myself, I can force YAP/YAP2 to work with WoV2.

Great video. Showcases the wide variety of aircraft, weapons, and ground objects available in this sim in a way that is very entertaining especially with the choice of music.

Multiplayer has almost always been at the bottom of TK's list. He does infer he may someday make a dedicated MP version of the game (with flyable MiGs!). But, knowing what he is already committed to doing and that his financial stability depends on continuously releasing new titles, I don't see how he can do a multiplayer game anytime soon without subcontracting out the network code. I don't think TK will hire someone to code for him and I doubt he can afford to take the time to write his own multiplayer code. If Microsoft provides another free alternative to DirectPlay that TK can plug into his game with relative ease, then maybe TK might be able to squeeze in the multiplayer version. So here is the roadmap I see that must be followed for us to see TK release an MP version of the SF2 game system based on his own statements: 1) MS replaces DirectPlay with an easy to learn and use system that is up to date in terms of handling routers and firewalls. 2) TK finishes his current project list (which he revealed at his forums and is quite a big list when you count conversion of all the original sims to Vista plus the Suez addon and 2 or more other unspecified games/addons). 3) The available planeset from previously released games/addons provides fully flyable versions of MiG-17s, MiG-19s, MiG-21s, MiG-23s, Su-7s, etc. 4) A certain hot location run by Satan freezes over solid. With any luck, all of these conditions will have been met by the time my son is old enough to fly with/against me.

Once a working cat extractor is posted, I may look into whether it is worth merging my textures with TK's new cockpits. The new pits are great in details and texture resolution, but don't quite look photoreal. But the new cockpits are different from the old, so it may be too much work for me to adapt my textures to the new pits.

If you like multiplayer, try Aces High II from http://www2.hitechcreations.com/frindex.html It is free to download. There are offline missions to use for practice (you can create your own, but the game comes with a few and there are many available from other players). But it is mainly a subscription massive multiplayer online game, which you can try for free for 2 weeks. Warning: the free 2 week subscription will make you an addict! IL-2 has better graphics and more detailed/complicated engine management (not necessarily more realistic), but IMHO Aces High II has far better flight/gunnery/damage models. I prefer BOB2 over IL-2. BOB2 is truly amazing: graphics, terrain, realism, AI, huge bomber raids, etc. The only limitation to BOB2 is the planeset/map/campaign: you better like flying only Spitfires, Hurricanes, Bf-109s, etc. over the English Channel. Having said all that, the IL-2 series is the most comprehensive WW2 flight sim ever released, I can't imagine any combat flight simmer not having owned it/played it. IL-2 1946 has everything wrapped into one big package, so it is the way to go. While I own every IL-2 release (except 1946), I have never really gotten into it, but I thoroughly enjoyed taking off/landing on aircraft carriers with F4U Corsairs: challenging and fun.

It is a shame the F-104G could not still be in this package :(

Did you see the cockpit textures? My hi-res mods for the F-4 may have just become mostly obsolete! http://www.thirdwire.com/images/sf2_05.jpg You can see at least 3 different F-4 pits in the screenshots and the hi-res skins look great too. Look at the F-4E, it has the short gun muzzle, maybe even the hard wing with no slats? Strike Fighters and its 3d models are being brought up to the WoI graphics standard. It is already on sale and I have already bought it. Will install it and play later tonight... I am late for work now.

Historically, the North Vietnamese had so few MiGs while the USAF/USN had an overwhelming number of aircraft that the MiGs were generally restricted to flying radar directed point-intercepts of vulnerable bombers attacking North Vietnam. So, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to create a separate campaign with no MiGs for South Vietnam action.

While I would be happy to fly a Cessna 152, Piper Cub (especially a tricked out Super Cub), or better yet a Pitts Special biplane... But I think getting the chance to fly the X-15 would be the ultimate: a spaceplane. The X-15 was to the space shuttle what Project Mercury was to Project Apollo. It was the small, sports car version of the shuttle. Like the SR-71, it looks advanced enough to be featured in modern sci-fi movies as a space ship. Space... the final frontier... Air is good, space is better

The Cobra maneuver as executed in airshows may be of little defensive value, but the point of the maneuver was to show how superior the Su-27 was to F-14/F-15/F-16 aircraft in high-AoA flight which translates into high pitch/turn rates and superior controlability at the limits normally used reached and exceeded during air-to-air combat. The F/A-18 was the only US fighter prior to the F-22 capable of similar performance, though of even less usefulness due to its much lower thrust-to-weight ratio compared to the Su-27. The ability to instantly point the nose of your aircraft in any direction without losing control is extremely useful both offensively and defensively since the best defense is a good offense: i.e. imagine being able to snap back 120 degrees to lob and AIM-9X at a target who thought he was pursing you. The US and Germany teamed up to build the X-31 to specifically explore post-stall maneuverability even more aggressive than the Cobra. While not as maneuverable as the X-31, the F-22 is certainly more capable than the Su-27 in this area. How many Su-27s have you seen perched at 5,000 feet with their nose about 80 to 85 degrees pitched up while the aircraft is moving horizontally at less than 50 mph, almost a hover? I have seen an F-22 do that while waiting to perform at an airshow and was duly impressed with the awesome controllability this displayed.

For perspective on aircraft technology, consider the time it took to develop and produce the A-12/SR-71 compared to the F-22. Sure the F-22 takes advantage of modern materials and micro-miniature electronic technology, but the idea for this aircraft started around 1980 and they are just now entering service in significant numbers over 25 years later. The A-12/SR-71 is in some ways still a more advanced airframe and propulsion system. It was conceived around 1958 and flying operational sorties by 1963. To me, the aerospace technology explosion peaked with the light-weight fighter program (F-16/F-17) and the last Apollo mission. The space shuttle was under-funded and as a result lacked the performance that would have made it truly useful and cost-effective compared to conventional rockets. Now the budget has shrunk so much, we are taking a step backwards to Apollo-like conventional rockets and to do so, we first have to ground the space shuttle so we can spend a few years funding development for its replacement. Imagine if the USAF had to ground the F-4 in the middle of Vietnam to afford development of the F-15 and that the end result was a based on the previous generation, the F-86. That is the direction our manned space program is heading. Fortunately, the commerical space industry is finally going the direction that NASA originally wanted: an orbiter with reliability, maintenance requirements, and turn-around time little different from an airliner... and if they succeed, not only will they have done it on a fraction of the budget NASA has ever had, but they will actually make a profit once fully operational. If anyone can pull this off, Burt Rutan can. He is already an aerospace engineering legend, but if his work on a commercial space shuttle is as successful as it promises to be, it could put him up there with Werner Von Braun and Kelly Johnson.

Had the money kept rolling in and NASA continued to be lucky in terms of avoiding fatal accidents, we were supposed to have a permanent moon base by 1980 and be attempting a trip to Mars by 2010. Living on the moon would have accelerated the R&D necessary to survive an extended trip to mars as well as providing a great staging area/launch platform. Even with the current space station in place, the limited budget has kept the pace of advancement down to a crawl compared to the Mercury/Gemini/Apollo whirlwind. Space travel costs, how far do you want to go? I am of the opinion that it is critical to the survival of the human race for people to permanently live on Mars and/or any othe inhabitable body in our Solar system independent of all support from Earth. That way if a catastrophic disaster kills off everyone on Earth, humanity will still be around. Of course, if we are able to spread to other locations in our solar system, then our next goal should be to get to another star system before our Solar system dies. We need to simultaneously dump a ton of resources in Mars colonization via conventional technology and alternative sub-atomic faster-than-light theories that might be extendable to the macro world. It would be cool if before we could build a conventional spaceship to get to Mars, we figured out how to instantly jump there within the next 10 or 20 years

As I figured, combat is a downgrade compared to anything released since 1999... But, when used for its intended purpose (learning to fly airshow routines), it is both fun and challenging. Basically, you see the required flight path in the sky as a flat ribbon. You fly the path as closely as possible staying withing the ribbon by pitching and rolling. You are scored on how well you can match the ribbon in %, so 100% represents a perfect flight. If you aren't flying solo are flight lead, i.e. you are wing or slot, you can focus more on staying in formation instead of imaginary ribbons (such things can be turned off if you think you can fly the routine without them). The problem I see is that the view system is lacking for proper formation flying... TrackIR is unsupported and your view always auto centers. As yet, I am unsure of how well multiplayer works. With good net code, it could be the best way to play once you get the basics down in single player.

I met a former Romanian MiG-29 pilot on a jobsite one time. I had no trouble grilling him for as much information as he could give me. There was a bit of a language barrier, but he had picked up English very fast in the year he had been working here as a maintenance supervisor in an injection molding plant. It bothered me greatly to see someone who once flew fighter jets working so hard for so little money. I hope he succeeded in transitioning to commercial flying in the U.S. I have forgotten his name, but always wonder what happened to him.

It isn't that much more to get a 4870 instead of a 4850, so why did you take the lesser card? If I were building a PC right now, I would bet getting a 4870 with 1GB RAM. But I won't be building any PCs until I move to Kissimmee... need to keep cash in the bank for down payment/closing. After I move and see how my finances are doing, I will start looking at new PC options. By then, AMD might have a competitive cpu which will help drive prices down even lower than they are.

But TK had very specific terminology: A service pack was a major update to the core engine that in later implementations (starting with the 051506 service pack) could be applied without installing any prior service packs or patches. Whereas the 083006 patch consisted of minor fixes and required that the 051506 service pack be installed before it could be applied. So, you must have both the service pack and the patch to achieve the 083006 standard or a downloaded version of the games which have single file installation exe files that install the game already patched to the 083006 standard. Originally, with SFP1 TK required each service pack to be applied in succession to try to keep the download size as small as possible. Over time, high speed internet became a lot more common and some people were having issues with applying the right patches in the right order, so TK made the 051506 "rollup" service pack to simplify the process. Obviously, TK has completely given up trying to manage minimize internet bandwidth for both him and his customers, as he now makes nearly every patch a complete standalone capable of patching any installation at any prior patch level up to the current level.

If you buy (bought? don't know if TK has updated them yet) the download versions of the game, they install already patched to 083006... so no worries about patching anything. Of course of you want to play an earlier version (especially SFP1) you still need original CD releases, but is there anyone still interested in flying SFP1 at SP1, SP2a, or SP3 (post WOV) levels? SFP1 patches were initially called service packs. SP2 had a major glitch, so TK re-released it as SP2a. The release of WOV led to SP3 for SFP1 to bring it up to the same standard. AI and FM problems in WOV led to a series of hotfixes which started to confuse the service pack naming convention. The release of WOE marked the end of the original service pack 1-2-3 designation system. TK switched to using dates, which made a lot more sense since WOE had no service packs while SFP1 would need its fourth service pack to be brought up to WOE standards. The 051506 service pack for SFP1 was never officially called SP4 (which would have been SP1 for WOV). The 083006 patches were the cumination of various hotfixes for WOE (which never had a service pack). The release of WOI has marked a slight modification to the service pack/patch naming convention to make the release date more clear. According to TK, this is the final update for SFP1, which is technically SP5... an amazing number of major updates for any sim. If you can live with the AI, SP4 is fine... but the October 2008 release is better in so many ways: terrain, AI, weapons performance, damage modeling, formation commands, etc. The only consistent flaws I see in this latest revision are AI ground impacts when being tailed and difficulty ordering your wingman to attack your target. But having both friendly and enemy AI capable of getting missile and gun kills and Sparrows that actually miss a lot of the time especially at low atlitudes are worth these two little flaws.

Historically, no single political entity be it a mere country or intercontinental empire has lasted indefinitely. The last vestiges of the British Empire are still lingering, but has definitely been on a downslide since the rise of the United States from WW1 to WW2. The United States may as yet get stronger before it is supplanted by the next world superpower or it may already be on the verge of disintegrating... only time will tell.

Matrox has resolution limits for there triple-head system. I am pretty sure they can't do 3 monitors at 1920x1080. For now, I think the best option would be a 1080p HD projector for screen size (though a 65" LCD isn't too bad). But for resolution, the 30" monitors at 2560x1600 would be impressive... especially with high resolution cockpit textures. Whenever I get around to building a new PC, I may get a monitor at that resolution as I greatly appreciated the jump from 1024x768 to 1600x1200. My current PC simply does not have the CPU power to match up well with a heavy-duty video card like an ATi 4870 or an NVidia 260/280. For that type of resolution, it would be even better to use SLi/Crossfire, but Third Wire games aren't supported for multi-gpu setups. So, I will keep dreaming...

Only 37"? I am much happier with 46":

I love MiG-21s. Great video of the cockpit... love seeing gunsight and radar operation. Sound of the jet engine is nice too.

I think modern evidence/analysis of the Zapruder film is fairly conclusive as to how the "magic bullet" wasn't so magical and confirming the location of the shooter. However, there are still some strange contradictory events/facts that make me ask why does Oswald have to be the shooter? Oswald's background does make him look like a lonely loser that could have been a lone disturbed shooter... but if there was a conspiracy, it would have been hard to find a better patsy. But his background does include something that is exremely peculiar for the time frame: he managed to defect to the Soviet Union (how many Americans did that? and of those how many were ex-US military?) AND he returned to the US to live a "normal" life with a Soviet wife. This was the just after the era of the McCarthy witch hunt and the Cuban missile crisis! Why would the US take him back with a Soviet wife and not even keep an eye on them? Independent of Oswald, Kennedy was considered at risk and only at his own refusal did he not have a bullet-resistant bubble on his car, yet the Secret Service alters the route to one that permitted the "easy" shot at the slowed down convoy?... Mr. President, we have decided to choose an alternate root that will maximize the risk on your life and we are going to make sure the media broadcasts the new route so that everyone will know when and where you will be. The number of potential witnesses to various conspiracy theories that met untimely deaths is also still suspicious. Jack Ruby's assassination of Oswald was just a little too easy and convenient as well. Finally, for those that are so sure that JFK's assassination didn't involve any kind of conspiracy and was just a fluke, I submit to you the assassination of RFK. Compare those two situations to the shooting of Ronald Reagan: the lone nutcase was quickly and easily caught, was clearly the guilty party, and can be interviewed to this day. With the exception of Kennedy's death, Oswald should have been handled and lived through a trial just as John W. Hinckley Jr. was when Reagan whas shot.

Check it out here: http://thunderovervegas.com/ This sim is by the same people that did Xtreme Air Racing. If you enjoyed that sim (as I did) you will probably enjoy this one too. The graphics are no better (or worse) than XAR (very dated to say the least), but with these sims, it is more about gameplay and flight modeling. Though, Vegas seems modeled well enough to be entertaining, especially with the optional high resolution terrain addon. I have only done some free flights and watched the PC fly in "airshow" mode so far, but I have enjoyed what little I have done. This is no LOMAC or Falcon 4.0, so if that is what you are looking for, read no further. This is an independent (one-programmer) sim series much like Third Wire games. It has its limitations, but for only $10, I think it is pretty cool. There are multiplayer and combat options, but I have tested neither and don't expect the air combat gun and missile modeling to even be worth the trouble of trying out. I am curious about how well the multiplayer option works. Formation flying via internet connections cannot be good.