FastCargo

Except we have no chutes...or are you talking about deliberately ditching? FC

Maaaaybe.... Perhaps you should look on the first page of this thread... Just FYI ya know. FC

Well, the symptoms sound like an electrical fire. If I remember correctly, the typical time from when an electrical fire is first detected to when the aircraft is unrecoverable is 15 minutes. We try to train to that standard. Pretty much the rule is if you think you have an internal fire of any sort is to get the aircraft on the ground right the hell now. Right now, like most cargo jets, only the lower holds can be actively fought with halon. The upper (main) cargo deck actions are to cut off the air supply. However, we have been testing 2 things...one is a cargo cover for individual pallets that is very fire resistant and can hold heat in. The other for the 'cans' is an overhead halon system that if it detects a fire will slam a pipe into the top of the 'can' and fill it with halon. However, there is nothing that can be done for an electrical fire...far as I know other than trying to de-energize the electrical bus that has the short/fire...but usually you don't have the time to troubleshoot. Honestly, an electrical fire scares me more than anything else a large airliner can be stricken with...because other than getting the jet on the ground, there is nothing than can be done about it. FC

Oh no you didn't! FC

Here's a question to folks...are there any sims where the AI simulates a good 'boom and zoom' opponent? Not a joke, I'm seriously asking. FC

From Air Transport World The UPS 747-400 freighter that crashed 50 min. after takeoff from Dubai International Friday attempted to return to the airport after its pilots reported "smoke in the cockpit" and that they were "unable to maintain altitude," according to a preliminary report issued by crash investigators Sunday. Both pilots were killed when the aircraft went down in an "unpopulated area between the Emirates Road and Al Ain Highway" near the airport, said the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority, which is leading the crash investigation. The aircraft was en route to Cologne but its pilots sent a message that they were returning to Dubai about 7:15 p.m. local time, or 22 min. after takeoff. "The UAE ATC Centre issued a clearance [for the returning 747 to land] when aircraft was approximately 40 km. from touchdown," GCAA stated. "The aircraft was high on the approach and was at 8,500 ft. at 24 km. from touchdown. It passed overhead the airfield very high and made a right turn...The aircraft tracked southwest and rapidly lost altitude. At approximately [7:42 p.m. local time], radar contact was lost." GCAA said Sunday it had recovered the cockpit voice recorder and was searching for the flight data recorder. "This is a terrible tragedy, and all of us at UPS extend our deepest sympathies to the families and friends of both of these crewmembers," UPS CEO Scott Davis said. The company identified the pilots as Capt. Doug Lampe of Louisville and First Officer Matthew Bell of Sanford, Fla. Both were based at UPS Airlines' Anchorage domicile. According to UPS, the aircraft's tail number was N571UP. It took delivery of the freighter from Boeing in September 2007. "The airframe had flown 9,977 hours, completing 1,764 takeoffs and landings," it noted. "It was up to date on all maintenance, having just completed a major inspection in June 2010." One of 12 747-400Fs in UPS's fleet, the CF6-80C2B1F-powered aircraft had a payload capacity of nearly 258,000 lbs. The US National Transportation Safety Board designated Senior Air Safety Investigator Bill English to lead a team of specialists to Dubai to assist GCAA with its inquiry. Included on the team are technical advisors from US FAA, Boeing, UPS, GE Aviation and the Independent Pilots Assn. union. According to Flight Safety Foundation's Aviation Safety Network, the weather at the time of the accident was clear. Wind was at 6 knots, visibility was 8,000 m. and the ceiling was "unlimited."

You proceed under a false assumption. There is nothing preventing someone (including military members) from buying or selling the game...privately. The only thing that has been done is prevent the game from being sold at a specific, government leased, location. FC

Okay folks, get a grip. First, some perspective. The only thing that has happened is that the PX general has told Gamestop within the PX/BX to not carry the game. The game has not been banned in the US. The game has not been censored by the US government. No military personnel or dependents have been told or ordered to not purchase or not play the game. There are plenty of other sources to get the game if you want...and probably at a comparable (or even cheaper) price. Seriously, comparing it to fascism? I get REALLY tired of this kind of hyperbole about anything. Keep your head on straight and discuss. FC

No to both. FC

There aren't nearly as many aircraft and we haven't had the time. FC

If you make it the seat, it will show up in a parked aircraft. If you make it the pilot, it won't show up when the aircraft is parked. FC

PX Commanding General Explains Global Ban on Medal of Honor Game From Kotaku.com The commanding general of the Army and Air Force Exchange Services told Kotaku today that his decision to have Medal of Honor pulled from U.S. military bases worldwide was spurred by "well-documented reports of depictions of Taliban fighters engaging American troops" in the game. "Out of respect to those we serve, we will not be stocking this game," the Army & Air Force Exchange Service's Commander Maj. Gen. Bruce Casella, told Kotaku. "We regret any inconvenience this may cause authorized shoppers, but are optimistic that they will understand the sensitivity to the life and death scenarios this product presents as entertainment. As a military command with a retail mission, we serve a very unique customer base that has, or possibly will, witness combat in real life." The determination to not offer Medal of Honor, first broken by Kotaku, impacts all Army and Air Force Exchange operations worldwide, including its website and 49 on-base and post GameStops. Any reserve or preorders placed through shopmyexchange.com will be cancelled. Preorders originally placed through GameStops on Army and Air Force installations will be transferred to the nearest GameStop off the Base or Post.

If you're talking about the 'terrain fade', you should feel right at home. Living in SA, we both know about that typical summer TX haze.... FC PS And that looks like Nellis alright...the terrain around there looks spot on.

I guess you'll just have to wait and find out. Sheesh. FC

Redownload the FakePilot mod. http://combatace.com/files/file/7721-fakepilot-addon-for-pilot-method-of-addon-parts/ Copy the 3 files into your Objects/Aircraft directory. That should fix the problem. FC

Alright, lets clarify a bit. First, an Effect (any effect) uses a TGA file, but is mostly created with the ini entries located in the Effects folder. It has nothing to do with the LOD file, or ANY file in the aircraft's folder except being referenced in the data.ini. Most afterburner Effects (as well as smoke, wingtip vorticies, etc) are like this. It sounds like you understand this part. Second, one exception is the AfterburnerNode, but this only works for SF2, requires a specific section of the LOD to be dedicated to it and to be called out in the data.ini. That DOES require a specific TGA file located in the aircraft's folder...look to the Eagle Super Pack for SF2 to see an example of how this works. However, this is NOT for Gen 1 sims...the capability doesn't exist in any Gen 1 sim (I just checked to make sure). Third, what you are seeing is not an Effect. What has happened is that the modeler mapped the Afterburner.TGA file onto the engine part. You cannot 'transfer' this to any other aircraft. It is part of the aircraft. If you delete the afterburner.TGA file, you will simply see a white disk where you see the glow now. The best you can hope for is to find on the other aircraft where that part is mapped and adjust the texture accordingly. Or do what I talked about in the first post. As far as the syntax for the ini files goes, let me reiterate this one more time: There is NO Rosetta Stone for the ini's. There are bits and pieces in the Knowledge Base, logical thinking, and in the forums using the search function. The ONLY place that documents what every single line means and how to use them is inside the original creators brain (TK). And even he doesn't remember it all exactly all the time...check on the ThirdWire forums if you don't believe me. A lot of the knowledge gained has been through trial and error...that's the way the series works. Most terms are self-explanatory, for those that are not, you can usually find an explanation somewhere. About the only thing that is still fairly nebulous is the flight model portion, and even that, there are some definitions out there. The senior modders around here have figured a lot of this through lots of skull sweat, taking the initative to play with it until it breaks, searching, trying, referencing. We have tried to get some of this information out there, however, because we all have real lives, we can't dedicate our time to wrapping it up in a nice neat bow. FC

It's really simple. Afterburner 'nodes' are a part of the aircraft LOD that light up (become visible) with the particular texture assigned to it. However, this feature DOES NOT EXIST for Generation 1 TW sims (SFP1/SFG/WOV/WOE/WOI). You can put the line into a data.ini for a particular aircraft, but unless that aircraft A) has the node as part of the model and B) is running in the SF2 series sims, nothing will happen. What I suggested you do is complicated, but that's because you are trying to make something in the Generation 1 sims that does not exist and is outside of the sim's original abilities. People have learned about the syntax of most ini files through the Knowledge Base, the search function (both here and Google/Yahoo), applying logical thinking, and by trial and error. Relatively little was learned from TK directly due to the fact that if he tried to make a 'ini bible', it would take all the time he has, and no new sims would be built. FC

First, to do it the way SE would like, it would HAVE to be part of the aircraft model, otherwise you will not be able to have sections to be destroyed...it would be either all or nothing. In addition, you couldn't have it 'flap' in the windstream unless it is part of the model. I have a way to do that, but I have to think about and test it first before I let y'all know how it works... FC

RCS settings in the sim are calculated by the size of the 'hitboxes' for the particular aircraft. So it means for non-stealthy aircraft, the RCS should match roughly what the aircraft has in real life. However, in the data.ini of the aircraft, there is a line called BaseRCSModifier under the [DetectSystem] portion of the ini. This modifier is exactly that, simply multiply the modifier by the rough RCS of an average non-stealthy aircraft of comparable size, and that will give you the average RCS value. In other words, find a real world value of say something like an F-15, the projected value of the F-22, find the ratio (say something like .01), and plug that value into the BaseRCSModifier line. FC

1. You can make a concentrated effect that could simulate an afterburner node. You would have to add a second engine for each engine...one uses the standard effect, the second uses the 'afterburner node' effect. Obviously, you would have to create the effect, the engine, and manipulate the fuel usage and thrust values to not affect overall aircraft performance. 2. Well, considering the gun is actually in front of the pilot...but that's neither here nor there. Anyway, what I suspect is that the Gun entry in the data.ini is listed under a Component that has a the ShowFromCockpit parameter is TRUE. You could simply move the SystemName entry for the Gun to a Component where the ShowFromCockpit parameter is FALSE. FC

Actually, I first learned about this feature in WOV/WOE, so I'd imagine something so useful would have been carried on later iterations... FC

Spinners, It resizes for you in game. I've got several models that have much higher resolution skins, but the sim pares them down. Works pretty good too...I think it does it at the front end during the loading portion, so there is no slowdown once you're in the sim proper. FC

Wonder if the DO at the HANG Group could get me a job there... Went drinking more than a few times back when we went through pilot training together. Dang I'm getting old... FC

You should not need to do anything except copy the texture directory to the specific aircraft folder. As long as the texture has it's own Textureset.ini file, the lines in it will be automatically added to the aircraft ini file. FC