Zurawski

... And some of us modders want hugs because we have massive EELs. Thus the huge egos.

While I have a hard time believing earth is the only planet to support life... I have a an equally hard time believing that if there were other sentinel beings we would not have been introduced to them already. (Well... knowing some people I do... they may be choosing not to interact with us.)

I've seen object in the sky I could not identify (I guess that is truly the genesis of an unidentified flying object eh?) I recall one late evening in my youth... lying on the front lawn with a couple of buddies (No alcohol or drugs in use FWIW)... All of us observed two glowing objects at a high altitude flying directly at each other on the same trajectory path. At the point where they intersected, there was a momentary glow (We thought they collieded)... however after the initial glow, one glowing object continued on it's original flight path... Never could figure out what we saw. Another instance just this summer while Walleye fishing in Superior Wisconsin (way up nor't)... My wife and I watched a non-decrepit glowing object dart about the sky... If it weren't for the speed transitioning from one direction to the next, I would have quickly written it off as a jet aircraft... but the sudden changes in direction and the speed in which it did it... I can say for a fact it was no jet aircraft.

I bid $65.00 and require you to forfeit ownership and rights to the on-line alias of Major Lee

EULAs became a necessary evil when a few mods included assets that were created by one entity and either copied in entirety or modified slightly and uploaded as another's work. (In fact I if I recall correctly this Diego fiasco was in this same vein)... Long story short, this website had to put it's foot down and advocate that all uploaded assets had to include some sort of EULA and acknowledgment of those who contributed, even in part to the final consistency of the uploaded asset. Fact is, EULAs are worthless with non-profit assets. Within this community, all it does really is spell out in not-so-vague verbiage, it is common courtesy to obtain an assets creators permission to utilize his asset with disclosure and it cannot be re-packaged for sale. Outside this community, without this verbiage, someones assets could be re-packaged for sale in part or in whole and the creator would have absolutely no recourse to claim compensatory damages. Reality is, if someone uses our assets, so long as it's a non-profit project we appreciate permission asked, and still usually look the other way when not. Perfect example is the Sabre cockpit... It's been used in just about as many uploaded mods as the A-4 cockpit. I've received plenty of requests for permission, however there are an equal amount of mods that it's shown up in that no permission was obtained. I tend to look at this and go "meh" no harm no foul... I see it as complimentary of my work. I've only had one instance where it showed up in a payware project... and it boiled down to an honest mistake due to it being such a prolific cockpit, ownership was assumed. One email and it was rectified with no harm done and no feelings hurt. I think I can speak in large part for the majority of people who have uploaded projects for the community to use... we do it because we love our hobby and wish others to share in the revelry. To say we don't enjoy the accolades of a project well received would be a bold face lie. However, I don't for a second believe we do it seeking only glory and adulation. We fully know and except the fact that our offerings will be critiqued. The problem is, there are those who believe it's their god given right to flippantly cross the line of "critique" to that of "criticism". IMHO there is no right to criticize ones work, especially when provided freely... But I have to digress to my previous post to justify this behavior. The Internet community is void of true emotion and there is no fear of social repercussion. One can pretty much say and do what ever they wish with impunity because they can hide behind the social and moral firewall the Internet provides.

With my schedule... I think I only have time to be the "fluffer".

With every intention to lighten the mood of this thread...."As a man, don't ya hate it when your wee willy sneaks out of your boxers when your walking from the mall to you car with arms full of packages?"... I know I do. That said... The Internet is truly one of the most bizarre mediums to gauge moral compass. With few exceptions (and fewer exceptional people) could a person knowing another person so little, walk up and say or do what we do without blinking an eye. Such is the the benefits of a detached emotionless void this Internet medium truly is... I call many of you friends... yet I've never had the pleasure of shaking your hand. Many of you I trust like a brother... yet I've never looked into your eyes to gauge your moral center. I revel in your personal triumphs... yet I have no measure of their worth. "Do unto others as you would have done unto you".... Nowhere does this have more meaning than on the Internet... and more importantly on this website... and within this forum. My wife, the sweet heart nurturing saint of a woman that she is... would likely tell everyone to "Knock it the f*** off and quit sweating the small stuff!" ... sigh ... she's so eloquent with words. WTF does this have to do with anything? Well, the way I look at it... if I have to explain it, the intent is lost on you...

Cool... I'm all for stop-gap stuff to keep the Osprey's interest peaked... You guys know my production speed (slow and slower...) I've still got to do the cockpit and stuff before I go fooling around with the AMV-22 Hammerhead! That said... I have a proof of concept in my garage that is going to blow your minds... Let's just say... "Something wicked this way comes"... MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA.... (Zur's maniacal laughter)

Hmm... Worlds largest prize wheel? tick..tick..tick...tick..tick...... "big prize ..big prize!"

... Just in time for the Thanksgiving weekend! MV-22B Osprey Beta Release v1.0 “The V-22 Osprey is a joint service, multi-mission, military tilt rotor aircraft with both a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and short takeoff and landing (STOL) capability. It is designed to perform missions like a conventional helicopter with the long-range, high-speed cruise performance of a turboprop aircraft. The V-22 was developed by Bell Helicopter Textron, which manufactures it in partnership with Boeing Helicopters. The initial operators are the U.S. Marine Corps and United States Air Force. The FAA classifies the Osprey as a model of powered lift aircraft.”… Wikipedia. Welcome to the beta release of the MV-22 Osprey for use in the Thirdwire series of flight simulations. This package is provided as a public shake-down to: 1.) Get community feed-back before the final version is released. 2.) Allow the community to enjoy the project while waiting for the cockpit to be completed. I realize not everyone agrees with my staggered release philosophy, however I find this works best for my snails-pace development process. Remember the cockpit it just a placeholder… I’ll be working on that while you good people put the plane through its paces. I encourage you to work the Osprey over and critique it as you will and communicate with me anything you find that you believe will benefit the final release. I’ve been doing this a long time and have a fairly thick skin so do your worst! Installation 1.) Unzip the archive. 2.) Cut/Paste the MV-22 folder within the aircraft directory of your Strike Fighters, Wings over Vietnam or Wings over Europe Installation. 3.) Cut/Paste the MV22.wav sound file within the MV-22 Sound folder into the Sounds directory within your Strike Fighters, Wings over Vietnam or Wings over Europe Installation. 4.) Fly and have fun! Flight Instructions STOL – (Short Take Off and Landing) - Rotate the outboard engine nacelles (done by activating the keys you have mapped to controls thrust vectoring) above 45-degrees (I find around 60 works best). Release brakes, slowly feed in throttle. As you exceed 80 knots, apply full up elevator and apply full throttle. As you climb, raise gear and slowly rotate the engine nacelles to zero to achieve horizontal flight configuration. Approach landing in this configuration as you would a conventional aircraft. VTOL – (Vertical Take Off and Landing) - Rotate the outboard engine nacelles to their full 90-Degree position. Slowly apply throttle to exceed 75 percent (this will change with any cargo load or fuel use… adjust as necessary). While in hover mode, direction and attitude is controlled by pitch and roll. Rudder input controls rotation about the axis and throttle obviously effects climb or decent. Landing is a bit more difficult… You’ll need to rotate the engine nacelles to 90-degrees, reduce throttle and bank a bit to scrub off speed. Once below 240 knots, drop gear to increase drag, further reducing airspeed. As you slow to below 100 knots you will develop some buffeting… this is normal as the wings are obviously losing their lift. I find a good controlled decent can be achieved around 60 percent throttle. Goose the throttle a bit before touch-down to soften the landing. Operational Notes 1.) The Osprey must be flown in hard mode. The osprey does some really bizarre things in normal and easy, so don’t even try it… 2.) The real-world Osprey is fly-by-wire… the onboard computer does a lot of the workload that you will need to do to fly the Osprey smoothly and efficiently. Rule of thumb: Use small control inputs while in hover and don’t over correct when it gets squirrelly. If you ham-fist the Osprey it will throw you all over the place. 3.) This is a very poly-heavy project (15,180 polygons)… Don’t be surprised if your PC chugs a bit. Final release will be more poly-optimized with recursive lower-poly lods, so the final release will run considerable smoother. 4.) Left to model are: The damage bits and artwork, lower-level lods, and the cockpit obviously. That’s it… fly have fun and don’t be afraid to critique. Legal gobble de gook Everything contained within this package was created me. Nothing within this package can be modified and uploaded as your own work without express written consent from me. Nothing within this package can be included with any other free or commercial package without my written consent. Available "now" at my website here: Zur-TECH.com Will also be available here at CombatAce as soon as it's approved!

To answer your question... "yes" there will be modalities to load in the back of the Osprey included in the final package, including paratroopers... Right now the jeep just squeezes in... the truck definitely has some issues... Better yet... I have a dedicated "attack" variant in planning... should be more than sufficient for blowing the @#$! out'a some tanks.

Well... I guess proof is in the pudding! ... Now I just have to figure out how to implement them without looking cheesy. Just tried with the slimer method, which worked... but with the rotors at speed they looked like twinkling Christmas lights. Going to have to experiment with a small alpha-layers smear to get the trail effect. Thanks for the immediate assistance guys!

Oh I have an attack variant on the back-burner that everyone is just going to love...

Well... If anyone can confirm or dispute these rotor-tip lights, I will be eternally grateful... I will add them...(Looks quite cool IMHO) if they exist in reality... but only if they are physical lights and not just NVG artifacts.

You misunderstand... no complains from me regarding the content of initial post. I agree with you... years past I've posted threads of the same vein and venom. Problem is... all it really does is make "us" feel better for venting. There are people who criticize because that feel that have an inalienable right to do so. Posts like yours don't bother them because they really don't give a rats arse what you think and will continue to do it just to spite you. Souls lost... can't help them. Then there are those who lack the right vocabulary to do it without sounding like they are being critical. Obviously with the Internet being a global community, this is a hazard of the job. Time on the boards tends to educate these folks and or their idiosyncrasies become commonplace and it's easy to read into their true intent. Lastly there are the odd few that just are clueless... No matter how fine a point you put on it, they just don't see a problem with the temperature or attitude of their posts... I consider them our local blondes.

Personally I develop my projects and release them to the community with the sole intent of reaping accolades... It's weird fetish I know, but I guess it's better than exposing my genitals to old ladies in the park. Seriously... I imagine most mod developers are like me in the sense that what we do we do as a personal hobby. The nice thing is we typically release many of our mods to the community so they can benefit from the results of our hobby as well. (Read: we are typically thoughtful and generous...) And I'll publicly admit it... I enjoy when a community member thinks enough of my work to offer praise and kudos. It gives me a feeling of gratification knowing that someone finds value in my meager hobbies results. What steams our rice is when a community member goes beyond critique and crosses over into criticism... There really is not a fine line between the two... When you critique you find flaws and politely offer input on how to improve the product. When you criticize you attack the product and person or persons who created it, with no intent to provide valued feedback. Personally the "gimme--gimmes" are a double edge-sword... Initially I find them flattering, in that this person obviously enjoys the product and would enjoy seeing more of it. It starts to rash when the request goes beyond the scope of what the project was ever intended to be.

"Brilliant"!!! I find the launch-circuit-land with the Osprey the most fun... Tip: when approaching the ship use just a tap of forward nacelle to keep pace with the ship... This way you don't have to change pitch attitude to maintain forward airspeed. Excellent job!

Fuel load is to spec... I argue what this sim needs is in-flight refueling! I've yet to play with fuel usage values... so there's obviously an issue to add to my "to-do" list. Thank-you... Final release will include paratroopers, various altitude par-drops and a vehicle or two... So at least we can "pretend" we're doing something other than flying around aimlessly. Final will also include a USAF and USN variant as well... so I got ya covered. Keep'm coming guys! Let me know how your handling the the STOL and VTOL capabilities? Because of my practice, I've obviously become "very" proficient at flying this bird... I need to know how everyone else is doing with the new flight regime...

The hardpoint location is set-up for the jeep right now... I plan on providing a few different loadout packages in the final release (Paratroopers... high-alt cargo drops... low-level cargo drops... maybe a vehical or two. Only thing available right now is the jeep.

Well... let me re-qualify my statement. In normal mode the lift developed from thrust is more instantaneous than in hard, which translates into a very short throttle quadrant especially while in hover mode. Also the stall delta is dramatically reduced which means its hard to stall the lift bodies in order to VTOL and hover... Ultimately Hard mode makes it more predictable....

Long story short... this bird requires a little practice and and a lot of patience... I've become so proficent in this bird, I can take-off and land virtually anywhere! My favorite challenge is to launch off a carrier, make a circuit and put it back down on the aft of the ship.

OOPS... Consider this an addendum and tips post. Flight ~ To transition from vertical flight to forward flight, feed forward nacelle "slowly"... get some air flowing over the wings. If you put it in too fast it will pitch you into the ground in a snap. ~If your having a problem coming into a hover/vertical landing to slow... feed a tap of forward nacelle to get a little forward momentum... ~ Game starts with the props clipping into the ground... sorry, it's just a limitation of the game engine. ~ The key you have mapped to open bomb-bay, opens the cargo door... not that there's anything in there... it just looks nice. ... That's it for now... I'll update if I see anything else I managed to forget. Thanks for the kudos guys! I hope you folks have as much fun with it as Iv'e been!

OOPS... Consider this an Addendum and tips post. Flight ~ To transition from vertical flight to forward flight, feed forward nacelle "slowly"... get some air flowing over the wings. If you put it in too fast it will pitch you into the ground in a snap. ~If your having a problem coming into a hover/vertical landing to slow... feed a tap of forward nacelle to get a little forward momentum... ~ Game starts with the props clipping into the ground... sorry, it's just a limitation of the game engine. ~ The key you have mapped to open bomb-bay, opens the cargo door... not that there's anything in there... it just looks nice. ... That's it for now... I'll update if I see anything else I managed to forget.

Ah ha! So you were the excitable young fellow I spied peeping through my parlor window! You see my good people, what Dave failed to mention it that in my hast to extinguish the smoking jacket and my hair piece... I removed the highly flammable yet unbelievably comfortable smoking jacket, leaving my taught muscular body exposed for god and country to see... ... at which time I observed with my eagle like vision, honed whilst lion hunting on the plains of the Serengeti, a rather rude fellow peering lustfully at my glistening statuesque body...

Zur leans back in his Corinthian leather reading chair, adjusts the sash on his smoking jacket and takes a long pull on ivory carved pipe filled with an aromatic blend of Columbian tobacco and apple essence... Sadly I knew nothing about Thirdwire or Strike Fighters until I chatted with DanW (He was helping me with the F-6F Hellcat textures for Pacific Fighters at the time)... He showed me a few screen captures from some textures he was working on, explained what a robust modding engine the SF engine was and pointed me in the right direction to create a mod for the game. Thus became the F-86 Sabre series and my new-found hobby of modding for Thirdwire games. I've never looked back... Oleg and his minions were a great bunch to work with, and I truly enjoyed the IL-2 games... The modding restrictions just eventually turned me away. IMHO there is no easier engine to mod for than the Thirdwire engine... This sim and it's community have also brought me people I truly consider friends... Things tough to come by now days.