FastCargo

Ah, specular mapping... FC

I've seen size comparison charts on this thing...it's bigger than the original PSP-1000. I'm not getting one...I stopped lugging the original PSP around a while ago once my phone could do everything my PSP could do except play 3D games well. That's the only thing cell phones still don't quite do well yet...iPhone included, mainly because on screen controls suck. FC

From Kotaku.com The PSP2 is finally here. Sony revealed its brand new PlayStation Portable at an event in Tokyo today, our first official look at the PlayStation maker's next foray into handheld gaming, the NGP or "Next Generation Portable." First details below. The Hardware Sony confirmed many of the features of the PSP2 that we've already heard in the form of leaks, rumor and speculation. The PSP2 features a high-resolution, touch-sensitive OLED screen that's larger than the original PSP screen, tilt-sensitive SIXAXIS controls, dual analog sticks, front and back-facing cameras, and a touch sensitive back panel. Sony boasts that the new PlayStation Portable is as powerful as a PlayStation 3. The device features built-in WiFi and 3G wireless connectivity and uses an all-new form of media storage for games—no more UMD. Here's how Sony describes it: "NGP adopts a new game medium, a small flash memory based card, dedicated for NGP software titles. Taking advantage of the flash memory feature, this innovative card can store the full software titles plus add-on game content or the game save data directly on to the card. By adopting flash memory based card, SCE will be able to provide game cards with higher capacity in the future, allowing developers to store more game data to deliver rich and immersive games." For now, Sony is officially calling the new PlayStation Portable by its codename, Next Generation Portable or NGP. It will be out this holiday in Japan. The Full Specs CPU: ARM® Cortex™-A9 core (4 core) GPU: SGX543MP4+ External Dimensions: Approx. 182.0 x 18.6 x 83.5mm (width x height x depth) (tentative, excludes largest projection) Rear touch pad: Multi touch pad (capacitive type) Cameras: Front camera, Rear camera Sound: Built-in stereo speakers, Built-in microphone Sensors: Six-axis motion sensing system (three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer), Three-axis electronic compass Location: Built-in GPS, Wi-Fi location service support Keys / Switches: PS button, Power button, Directional buttons (Up/Down/Right/Left), Action buttons (Triangle, Circle, Cross, Square), Shoulder buttons (Right/Left), Right stick, Left stick, START button, SELECT button, Volume buttons Wireless communications: Mobile network connectivity (3G), IEEE 802.11b/g/n (n = 1x1)(Wi-Fi) (Infrastructure mode/Ad-hoc mode), Bluetooth® 2.1+EDR （A2DP/AVRCP/HSP） The Games Sony showcased a handful of games alongside the reveal of the new PSP, including new titles Little Deviants, Reality Fighters and Gravity Daze, plus games based on the following PlayStation franchises. Uncharted Killzone WipeOut Resistance LittleBigPlanet Hustle Kings Hot Shots Golf Sony says the new PlayStation Portable will also play PSone games supported via its PlayStation Suite platform and will be backwards compatible with downloadable PSP games. To demonstrate this, Capcom's Jun Takeuchi demoed Monster Hunter Portable 3rd for the PSP on a NGP. Third parties have shown demonstrations of Yakuza 4 and Metal Gear Solid 4 running on the system, with Activision announcing a Call of Duty for the new PSP. Here is Sony's list of third-party publishers supporting the NGP as of July 27, 2011: JAPAN ACQUIRE Corp. ALVION Inc. AQ INTERACTIVE INC. ARC SYSTEM WORKS Co.,Ltd. ARIKA CO.,LTD. ARTDINK CORPORATION ASCII MEDIA WORKS Inc. CAPCOM CO., LTD． CHUN SOFT CO., Ltd Codemasters Software Company Limited Crafts & Meister Co.,Ltd. CyberConnect2 Co.,Ltd. D3 PUBLISHER Inc. Dimps Corporation Edia Co., Ltd. ENTERBRAIN, INC. FromSoftware, Inc Gameloft K.K. Genki Co.,Ltd. Grasshopper Manufacture Inc. GungHo Online Entertainment,Inc GUST CO.,LTD. HAMSTER Corporation HUDSON SOFT CO., LTD. IDEA FACTORY CO., LTD. Index Corporation （Atlus） IREM SOFTWARE ENGINEERING INC. KADOKAWA GAMES,LTD. Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co., Ltd. Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. LEVEL-5 Inc. Marvelous Entertainment Inc. media5 Corporation NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc. Nihon Falcom Corporation Nippon Ichi Software, Inc. NOWPRODUCTION, CO.,LTD Q Entertainment Inc. SEGA CORPORATION SNK PLAYMORE CORPORATION Spike Co.,Ltd SQUARE ENIX Co., Ltd. SystemSoft Alpha Corp. TECMO KOEI GAMES CO., LTD. TOMY Company,Ltd. TOSE CO., LTD. Ubisoft K.K. YUKE'S Co., Ltd. 48 companies in total. NORTH AMERICA Activision, Inc. Capybara Games Demiurge Studios Epic Games Inc. Far Sight Studios Frima High Voltage Software Kung Fu Factory Paramount Digital Entertainment PopCap Games Powerhead Games Trendy Entertainment Ubisoft Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment 2K Games 2K Sports 16 companies in total. EUROPE/PAL Avalanche Studios Climax Studios Ltd Codemasters Software Company Ltd Eurocom Developments Ltd Eutechnyx Ltd Exient Ltd Firemint PTY Ltd Gameloft SA Gusto Games Ltd Home Entertainment Suppliers PTY Ltd Impromptu Software Ltd Rebellion Rockstar Games Sidhe Interactive Sumo Digital Ltd Team 17 Software Ltd Ubisoft Entertainment SA Zen Studios Ltd 18 companies in total by Michael McWhertor, at Kotaku.com

Where's Maverick and Goose? 'Top Gun' footage used in Chinese Air Force exercise news story. FC

Sure...you can make 'invisible' parts that are interlinked with your visible parts and animate them. But in the case you are asking about the question is what are you going to tie the animation to? If you simply make it tied to a manual animation key (like opening canopies) it won't work. FC

Well, in a perfect world, a modder would update the package internally then simply reupload and adjust the package's release notice. In other words, the one version you find is the most current version there is...you can look at the F-15, Super Hornet and F-111 packages as examples. However, this can cost considerable time and bandwidth. A separate category just for updates sounds nice in theory, but I'll put money no one would look there anyway, or they would assume the update contains the complete package...which it wouldn't. The best thing is find the initial package and then run a search in the forums or the release thread for updates. FC

Exactly. One can certainly look at programs where much ado was made (MiG 1.42, S-47, Lavi) but nothing actually came of it. The T-50 and J-20 may be demonstrators, may be prototypes that may point in a particular direction of aircraft evolution, but until you see production examples rolling off the assembly line, it's all speculation. FC

"Fisher" price "Curtains" - First female B-1 crewmember, required reinstallation of toliet privacy curtains easter "Bunny" "Cuddles" caudell "Huggy" huggans "CJ" - Continuous Jam on the radio (bad comm discipline) causai "Moto" "D-Day" "DD" - Dead Dave - Was actually clinically dead during water training accident...recovered of course "Crash" "Thor" "Slo Mo" "Random" - Under stress tended to mix up call sign numbers on radio "Kitten" "Thorton" melon "Baja" - Went 'off roading' in an F-15 "Robo" "Chemo" - yep, looks like a chemo therapy patient cinamon "Toast" I've got tons more... FC

I'm pretty sure by making a M-117 guided by GPS, you turned it from a BOMB into a EOGB. Did the F-100 carry EOGBs? FC

Lexx, Though interesting, I'm not sure why you did that. I experimented with using the F-111 cockpit and found the pilots had to sit much too close together for it to look correct. The B-1B cockpit included with the B-70 download is a much better fit for several reasons: 1. Size - the spacing between pilots and overall size of the cockpit is a much closer representation to the actual B-70 cockpit. 2. Layout - The B-1B cockpit is a derivative of the B-1A cockpit, itself a follow on from the XB-70...all developed by the same maker (North American Aviation then Rockwell). Take a look at the family genes: XB-70 B-1A B-1B Note that the primary instrument layout are all very similar, as well as the locations of things like the fuel panel, engine gauges, etc. One thing that isn't shown here was that there was a proposal for the Valkyrie (noted in the XB-70 book I mentioned in another thread) of using tape for engine gauges instead of round dials...you can see that was carried over into the B-1. 3. Functionality - Engine monitoring (4 instead of 2), fuel usage, and weapon stations are closer to correct displays using the B-1B cockpit vs the F-111. In addition, I recolored the interior of the Valkyrie to match the B-1B pit, as well as redid the Mach tape and calibrated it so that it shows an accurate Mach number. Though I can appreciate the work you did, I'm just surprised you did it...the B-1B pit is better fit overall. Heck, if you wanted to remove the radar displays, you can go to the B-1B pit OUT file and find the radar screen nodes and move them yourself. FC

I'll believe it when I see production aircraft rolling off the line with reasonable cost and full certification. FC

Interesting. I knew they were being used as companion trainers for the F-22s...but aggressors too? Well, for WVR combat, they could work pretty good. They're basically EM silent, and nose on, they're pretty much invisible at anything over about a mile. Also, they have some special equipment on some of the Holloman birds, so they could be used to simulate different kinds of threats for very cheap. Also, even in Fighter Lead In, anyone going to F-22s automatically gets 2v1 sorties as part of their syllabus training in T-38s. FC

I'd imagine IP law can get kind of expensive. There have been documented cases of free addons incorporated into payware releases (with the author's permission) that was later revoked by the former freeware author...causing all sorts of legal trouble. The way some payware has been able to get around this is actually hire the freeware folks. Based on the revenue stream, I'd imagine TK can't afford the legal fees or hiring additional personnel...therefore, it's easier and safer to develop stuff in house. Also, TKs business model is to develop in areas that other sim companies aren't addressing. That's why the SF series address the early 60s to late 70s era of flying...because no one else does. At the time FE entered development, OFF didn't exist as payware, and ROF didn't exist at all. That has now changed. Also, the advantage FE has of addressing less known areas of WWI doesn't translate into increased sales, for that very reason...it's lesser known. FE wouldn't have been developed at all if not for the investment of said individual talked about eariler. It sucks, but ultimately, it is a business, and that requires making money. If the audience isn't there in sufficient numbers, especially if there are some deeper alternatives out there, that part of the business will get neglected. FC

The only way to get close to such a thing is using these parameters: But the LaunchAll=TRUE parameter is all or nothing, either the aircraft must all use the Takeoff[xx] parameters (in which case each aircraft must have a Takeoff slot - up to 16 that ALL have to be on the runway), or go back to the taxiway shuffle. FC

You copied way too much of the aircraft data.ini to the new aircraft data.ini, this is why your data.ini file is all screwed up. What you SHOULD have done instead is construct the stock ALBIII aircraft entry. The best way would have been to extract the stock ALBIII aircraft data.ini and put it into your stock ALBIII aircraft directory. Then made a full copy of that directory, renaming it to the desired aircraft. Then rename the basic ini file to the same name as the directory. You now have a basic, working aircraft. Then, if you want to copy/paste the flight characteristics, you need to be very specific. Do NOT copy any lines that reference specific mesh names, because I can almost guarantee the mesh names aren't the same...that's where you are getting visual problems. FC

"I say you log off and nuke the entire computer from orbit. It's the only way to be sure." FC

RAR is a type of archive format, like a zip file. Use 7-zip or WinRAR to open it. FC

Henrik, Yea buddy! I was thinkin that myself...though it made the work on a certain prop model unnecessary... FC

I think you still need the Taxi spots... FC

I would recommend it highly. It might cost about the same, but usually the aircraft are nicer, if not necessarily IFR capable. FC

STORM, All those TaxiHead entries are for taxiing. Only the very first position in the list will aircraft takeoff from (assuming you don't use the Takeoff[xx] positional parameter). The rest of the aircraft will each taxi to that position, then start their takeoff roll. The TakeoffHead/TakeoffTail=XX,YYYY parameters represent a line drawn between two points on the runway. The points are coordinates in meters from the 'zero' point on the runway, XX represents left/right,YYYY represents back/forth. The aircraft will attempt its takeoff roll down that 'line'. FC

You have never been gliding I take it? I've roared through valleys at 300 feet and Mach 1+. I've sliced through 40k+ feet, turning around to see my own curving contrail in the sky at 3G and Mach 1.2. I've seen the 'northern lights' while cruising at altitude in the dead of night. I've chased the puffies, leaving valleys of air with my wake, done loops, rolls, spins. 1 meter close formation in the weather, just enough to see lead's wingtip light and that was it... Putted around in the pattern in a Piper Arrow, a Piper Seminole and a T-41C. Went to Napa Valley in a Grumman Traveler...putting over San Francisco bay at 500 feet, 60 knots with the top open, feeling the cool sea breeze and looking down to see the fog tendrils slowly snaking their way into the bay, cresting over the Golden Gate bridge... Even lucky enough to scam a DACT ride in an F-16D while I was on Spring Break oh so long ago...confirming right there and then what I wanted to do in life. Gone fast on the ground too, dirt bikes, street bikes, sports cars, muscle cars, convertibles...most of them (other than the dirt bike) I've had at 140+ MPH at one point or another. My fondest memories however, are of the times I went gliding...soaring. After detaching from the tow plane, catching a thermal to ride up, hearing nothing but the breeze swishing over the airframe, seeing the turn and slip indicator (a piece of yarn on the nose) flutter with your speed. No engine noise, hardly any wind noise...like sailing, but with a far better view. Away from your problems, they seem small, up there. Alone, with your thoughts, admiring the beauty of the world. Surface transportation will never impress me, no matter how fast it goes, how fancy it is, or how much it costs. FC

DA, Unless you're making 3d models, the information I posted isn't really relevant. The exception might be for stock models, there may only be a limited amount you can put on per mesh. FC

Guys, check this out...TK has made a new exporter and has added SEVERAL new features: Some of the highlights include: Specular mapping - You can now use bitmaps or JPGs to determine how 'shiny' something is...it no longer requires it to be hardcoded in the LOD file. This is perfect for aircraft where some versions had shiny paint, others had dull paint, or different parts of the paint job were shiny or dull depending on the user. Plus Julhelm will stop whining about not being able to do it this way... Decal limits...because of these newer parameters, meshes may have more limits on amount of decals...future modelers take note. Vertex animation - Scaling has been supported for a long time (used in nozzles) but now individual manipulation is supported. This is great for flexible things like cloth, drag chutes...and wings. Large aircraft structures can now be made to bend seamlessly verses having very obvious pivots. Time to play... FC

Piecemeal, It is an advisory only. It doesn't come up because you have something on your system. I get the same message. I think it's tied to specific files, not specific users. FC