FastCargo

Also, there are a few odd shadows here and there on the mesh...again, I'll fix those as I notice them. If you see them, please point them out to me so I can fix them. Shouldn't change any mapping issues (gawd knows I don't want to have to do that AGAIN)... FC

As I suspected, reproportioning the aircraft messed up the flight control links...I'll have to redo them (though the rudder links are still okay...). Fixed animations are good...even the wheels didn't go out of round enough to cause a wobble. I have the original unproportioned MAX file, I may import particular parts if I don't like any results I see. I will have to redo the flight control links though....not hard work, but tedious. The mappings won't change, so the majority of your work will remain the same. I'd hold off on any insignia though.... FC

Actually, the original model is scaled wrong. It's about a foot short which isn't that noticable...but about 4 feet too wide...which is noticable. I've rescaled it and going to try to reexport it and see what happens. The main thing I'm concerned about are the hardcoded animations and pivot points...worst case, I'll have to redo all of them. FC

Back on topic: Dispersed field ops. FC

Flight #1. FC

EricJ, Sorry man, I ran out of time. I was close... All models are mapped (including gear). Basic animations complete (gear cycle, shock, and nozzle). Control 'links' will need to be added before they can be imported into game. FC

Well, I flew a lot of them...but 'Crewdawg' was my jet...there's even a photo of me going speed of heat (with the characteristic 'waist of fog') in that aircraft in a book somewhere... Nice addon there Dave! FC PS Found the book: http://www.alibris.co.uk/booksearch.detail...rt=r&page=1

Ah...there she is. FC

Well, you can do that, but they won't really illuminate. EricJ, Before you release the skins (once I get the model to you), send a skin to me with the slimers in place. I'll then use the skin as a template to cut the slimers out so they illuminate. FC

Honestly folks, the best cockpit to use is the F-111. Visibilities are roughly the same. I may in fact do the OpenCockpit thing depending on how Dels laid out the interior. The B-1B mimics much of the F-111's performance and capabilities in the low alititude area. The TF panels were almost identical, as well as a similar layout of tape gauges. The big difference is that the Bone has a CRT in place of the standard ADI the F-111 had. FC

Did a big reorg and triple backup of all my projects 2 days ago. I feel so much better... FC

I suspect the current mod tools (weapons editor) don't work in the newest versions of the TW sims. FC

johnrey, This is now twice within the last few days I've had to tell you to fix your signature due to an excessively large photo. I'm not doing this for my health. Fix it. And this doesn't mean substitute one photo for another. FC

Or buy a used TrackIR for $40 bucks...works fine. FC

Did you patch directly over your modded install? Gawd help you if you did. You didn't read the VERY FIRST post in this thread? Your Options.ini has probably changed. In addition, you NEED to use the newest weapons editor. There are A TON of threads that came out about this very issue when the Oct 08 patch hit the streets. FC

VERY complicated...Klavs81 has one, but it will take a long time to make flyable, if ever... FC

Man, it looks WAAAAY better now that it's got a proper paint scheme! FC

Thanks EricJ! Honestly, I'm not as interested in the Super Hornet as EricJ is. However, he has done great work on the F-5F skins, so I'm going to make sure he gets a good product from me. Which means doing the research and getting it right to the best of my limited abilities. Yes, there is another FA-18F out there. However, nothing says there can't be more than one with the corrections the current model needs plus it's stablemates. That's the way it works...Klavs81 has me do some work on the F-35, and in return, he's getting some awesome stuff done for me...you will see it soon. Eric, I hope to have all 3 models to you by Monday night to start skinning. The F and G are basically done, just awaiting to finish the E model...then I'll map all 3 at once. FC

Who said anything about a single seater... FC

Nope, the Yak-41 cheats. It uses all 3 engines in all modes. Which means the aircraft has a total thrust of 200000 kN (45000 lbs) in military power and almost 250000 kN (56200 lbs) thrust in AB...in all modes of flight. Which means in conventional horizontal flight, the aircraft has almost 20000 lbs of excess thrust. That might work for Ace Combat...not for me. FC

That was one thing I had to concede to reality in VTOL mode, AB use or not. In the real thing, AB is deactivated when in VTOL mode. However, there are issues in the Thirdwire sim if you try to do this. In the real thing, the lift fan produces slightly less thrust than a mil power F135 engine. However, if you try to put this in game (give the lift fan roughly the same thrust as the F135 engine in mil) the sim still maps the thrust curve over the entire range of throttle motion. Which means as you continue to advance the throttle, the engine develops more power than the lift fan, and the aircraft eventually will nose over and crash as you approach full power. Another way to explain...if full AB is 100 percent power at 100 percent throttle for the engine, and the lift fan is 80 percent power...the sim will not give you that power at 80 percent throttle...it will give you that power only at 100 percent throttle. You can see what happens. I stepped around this by making a 'four post' thrust setup where the total lift power is roughly 42000 lbs total, distributed evenly mainly between the lift fan and the engine. All four posts are vectored thrust at the same rate to keep the transition easier to horizontal flight. In addition, there is a fifth engine that is horizontal only. Now, what happens is that I tweaked the thrust cuvres so that as the altitude increases, the lift fan puts out less thrust in proportion to the thrust vectoring engine. But that is compensated by the dedicated horizontal engine which slowly kicks in as the lift fan fades out. The main reason is that the total thrust of the F135 is significantly less than 42000 lbs...and this way during conventional horizontal flight, the F-35 doesn't become a 'uber thrust' fighter. It does mean that you can't VTOL successfully much above 5000 feet...but then again, you shouldn't need to. So, the upshot? You'll get AB plume in VTOL mode, but conventional manuvering should be unaffected. Small price to pay for a somewhat stable VTOL aircraft. From what I was reading, 'bring back' capability of the B model won't be much more than the gun pod, some fuel above reserve, and a couple of 1000 lb bombs...I figured this was a fairly reasonable compromise. Now, if someone has a better way to make it so that as the throttle gets above a certain setting, the thrust curve flattens out for a particular engine, then we can make a more realistic 'liftfan' type setup. FC

Actually, I think JAT had rigged a fuel dump using the arresting hook key...I didn't try to see if it works. Dude, that video was AWESOME...and your VTOL skills are much better than mine...takeoffs work pretty nicely, but landings are trickier for me. Man, this thing is going to be sweet once a FM guru tweaks it a bit, though I have some ideas. Y'all need to REALLY watch this video, it's a great indicator of the B model's abilities. FC