baffmeister

Thanks for the info. Will cross check the PS power rating from the Japanese site to see how it matches up with the HP ratings I got from Wikipedia. The one minute take off power rating could be modeled like a low altitude WEP rating but will wait for now to see if anyone finds more information. Many Soviet aircraft from WW2 had power ratings that were unrestricted as long as temperatures and pressures were OK. I think the La-7 may have been an exception with a 10 minute WEP rating. I did skip doing the Min/Max entries for now but will probably use your data for the next update. [ Will check them out with Mues' 0.4 viewer, just to see how it works. Looking forward to that!] Regarding the fuel tanks, I have seen some La-11 three view drawings that show two fuel caps on each wing but those drawings aren't always accurate. I will leave the tanks alone for now, maybe someone can find more info. [lots of other things I can work on.] Not sure about Soviet fuel weights. I just use the 100LL avgas fuel weight for piston planes and the JetA weight for jets. Probably not real precise. I think some of the older jets actually used avgas for fuel, which would be a significant difference.

NP. Will send the entire Skippy Seafury I have installed via PM.

Possible carrier issue? The Skippybing Seafury I have installed has been very well behaved. Here's a screen shot onboard a Colossus class carrier: I remember getting quite confused regarding all the lods that Skippy made for his Seafury. I doubt that's causing an issue but here are the lods I'm using: [AircraftData] AircraftFullName=Sea Fury FB.11 [sb] AircraftShortName=Seafury AircraftDataFile=Sea_Fury_DATA.INI CockpitDataFile=Sea_Fury_COCKPIT.ini HangarScreen= LoadingScreen= LoadoutImage=Sea_Fury_LOADOUT.BMP LoadoutFile=Sea_Fury_LOADOUT.INI AvionicsDLL=Avionics60.dll AvionicsDataFilename= UserList= [LOD001] Filename=Sea Fury.LOD Distance=50 [LOD002] Filename=Sea Fury-001.LOD Distance=100 [LOD003] Filename=Sea Fury-002.LOD Distance=200 [LOD004] Filename=SeaFuryLowMedRes.LOD Distance=500 [LOD005] Filename=SeaFuryLowRes.LOD Distance=10000 [shadow] CastShadow=TRUE ShadowCastDist=10000 MaxVisibleDistance=800 [DamageTexture] DamagedPostFix=_Holes.tga [TextureSet001] Directory=texture802 Name=Royal Navy 802 NAS Korea Nation=RoyalNavy Squadron=802 NAS Specular=0.500000 Glossiness=0.550000 Reflection=0.050000

New aerodynamic tester for the La-11 attached. I still have a lot of work to do checking min/max extents/damage modeling and need some information regarding fuel tanks that I haven't found online so maybe someone can help with that. Regarding the FM, it gets a new CDL table and engine table that is based on, I think, reasonably good data. The Shvetsov ASH-82 engine appears to have been designed for medium altitude so the power drops off quite quickly above 20,000ft. I'm getting about 430mph TAS at 20-21000ft which is the max speed according to internet info. At sea level it does about 380mph which seems reasonable to me although I have seen some internet info that ranges from 350mph to 430mph at sea level. The 430 at sea level seems very unlikely. The La-11 is quite light compared to a Seafury or Mustang but it has considerably less wing area so the wing loading, assuming equal amounts of fuel, is about the same as a Mustang. You will want to limit fuel when able and keep the speed up during dogfights. The FM now has some working shock animations but I haven't found a way to get the tail wheel to castor. I have also included Wilches' prop fix as well as using the previous slow prop tga as a medium prop tga, which adds a bit of animation when starting or shutting down. After looking through the out file, it does seem that the model was built without a propeller. Wilches fix is probably the best bet at this point. Just add the three prop TGA's to each skin folder. You may want to consider changing the ConstantSpeed=TRUE statement to FALSE which will show the medium prop tga when taxiing or idleing. I have never noticed any performance differences between ConstantSpeed=TRUE or FALSE but don't want to risk potential "patch mayhem" if ThirdWire ever makes some changes to the prop behavior. The next update will be on my KAW FM Update thread and will probably include the Yak-9P and IL-10. Here's the new La-11 FM: LA-11fmKAW0.95.zip A couple of questions: Does anyone know the distribution of the fuel tanks for the La-9 and La-11? From online sources the internal fuel capacity for the La-9 is 825 litres and for the La-11 1100 litres. I think the La-9 had a fuselage tank and two wing tanks in the inner wing sections. For the La-11, I think it had the same fuselage and inner wing tanks as well as two wing tanks in the outer wing sections. I have also seen some photos and diagrams of the La-11 equipped with "No Jettison" wing tip tanks but not sure I want to get involved with that. Did the Shvetsov ASH-82 have a WEP rating? The info on Wikipedia shows 1850hp at 2500rpm for take off. The other horsepower at altitude ratings are all at 2400rpm but was wondering if 2500rpm could be used at altitude, to generate a bit more horsepower.

Here is the most recent Seafury FM. Should be the same as the one I sent you. [Version 1.0] I gave it a quick test and the wings fold fine [shift 9] and the parked Seafurys show up on deck with wings folded. The canopy is on shift-0. [you're a busy guy, I know!] Sea_Fury_DATA-V1.0.zip Not sure about the lights on this one, don't throw out your current data.ini!

Wrench, I had wingfold animations working on the Seafury. You should have that data ini in a PM somewhere. [From quite some time ago.]

Attached is an FM for Veltro2Ks' Do-17z model you can get here: http://combatace.com/files/file/15216-dornier-do-17z/ It's a nice model with 2 lods so should offer better frame rates than the A-Team version. This is beta 0.96 standard and is a bit different from the previously released BoB bomber FM's which are in the process of being upgraded. Beta 0.96 changes: The aerodynamics are unchanged, it's still a variation of the Generic WW2 bomber FM I've been using and is meant for AI use only. If you really, really, really want to use this as a player flown aircraft I would recommend making a dedicated ATTACK version. Some changes to crew armor protection. Considering the amount of armor protection I assigned to the pilot it seemed too easy for the pilot to get killed. Not sure exactly what the problem is but I have also included armor protection for all crew members and it seems to have reduced the potential for the pilot to be killed. The accuracy of the bomber gunners has been increased a bit. The engine thrust lines have been moved inboard quite a bit. With realistic thrust positions the AI has a hard time flying on one engine and will usually end up going around in circles at some point. With the new changes the bombers have a better chance of maintaining flight and getting back to base. Interesting observation: a few times I have seen the AI do an engine restart after engine fires have been extinguished. Very cool! Here's the FM: D0-17V2Kfm0.96.zip

I started work on a Seahawk FM update for Paulos Indian Seahawk pack [thought it would be easy peasy!] but had some major issues right from the get-go. [ and I'm no where close to doing carrier trials!] Considering the large number of varients and the issues I've found at this point I think it would be good to just get one aerodynamic beta tester going. Any objection if I post a test FM for your "What If" KAW Seahawk? Probably will take a week or two before I get something worth posting.

ThirdWire forgot to add a line in the Spit24 data ini. [i noticed this on the Spit14 as well but haven't checked the others yet.] Add this line to the tail gear section of the Spit24 data ini: [TailGear] SystemType=LANDING_GEAR Retractable=TRUE DeployTime=5.0 AnimationID=1 DragArea=0.08 HideGearNode=TRUE ModelNodeName=tail_gear_strut InsideNodeName=tail_gear_bay_inside ShockAnimationID=4 ShockStroke=0.12 SpringFactor=2.0 DampingFactor=1.8 WheelNodeName=tail_wheel RotationAxis=X-AXIS ReverseModelOrientation=FALSE RollingRadius=0.13 CastoringWheel=TRUE CastoringNodeName=tail_gear_frame Steerable=TRUE MaxSteeringSpeed=30.88 Locking=FALSE MaxSteeringAngle=45.0 InputName=YAW_CONTROL ControlRate=1.0 HasBrakes=FALSE RollingCoefficient=0.05 MaxDeploySpeed=71.53................................................ADD THIS LINE MaxLoadFactor=4.0

Interesting! I've been adding 100kg pilot weight to the empty weight of my WW2 FM's. Will check it out.

Thanks for the assorted information. I'm going to check out Mues' Lod Viewer to see what it can do. Sounds like it might be a good replacement for the hex editor thingy I've been using to look at out files. Fastcargos' ruler tool has been a big help to me and the results regarding damage modeling have been quite good, I think, but very time consuming. Wrench, probably better if you or someone else puts together an update package. Too many things I don't understand regarding skins, damage textures etc. Once I put together an La-9/11 FM I'm happy with it will be posted and free to use by whoever. There is an excellent Stary pit available [probably everyone knows that!] but not sure if it's included in any current packages. Thanks for the link, Wilches, will check it out. Looking forward to your KAW mods Stary!

Cripes, I don't even remember doing an La-11 FM, although it's on "the list". Were can I get the FM I don't remember doing? Found it! Posted some La-9 and La-11 FMs back in 2012. I'm going to review them and check Do335's edits as well. I was planning to update the North Korean prop plane FM's at some point. Probably just minor updates for the Yak-9P and IL-10. La-9/11 will get a major update. Regarding the Lod viewer, is it good for checking Min/Max extents, collision points etc? Many of the old models seem to use data from other aircraft so I review all that data now using Fastcargos ruler tool. It can be a very time consuming process so anything that makes the task easier would be very much appreciated.

Attempting to build a Dunkirk campaign for the Euro WW2 map. It's beginning to work properly but lots more tinkering required. Do-17's bombing the evacuation fleet. No hits!

Yikes! More questions than answers now! Have you considered just using a few air units per side to see if you can get it up and running? Also, I'm not a campaign expert but the ones I have looked at only use a maximum of 10 entries for the AirOffensive section. Another entry that looks a bit suspicious, for the Luftwaffe side: StartGroundOffensive=1 StartInterdiction=1 Morale=80 Supply=120.......................................More than 100% supply permitted? I will take a closer look but something I have been wondering about that maybe someone can answer: For a campaign with no ground war is there still a requirement to have some Strategic Nodes in the data.ini?

Heck, could you upload the BoB campaign ini's here so I can have a look? That will save me the trouble of downloading the entire SF-1 campaign package. I tried to make a BoB mini campaign for my own use but it only lasts for 1 day! Not sure if it will be of any help but comparing the two different campaign ini's may help find a solution.

Attached is the second 1941 ETO FM pack. They have the usual customized WW2 AI edits and damage modeling as well as revised MaxSpeedSL entries that are still experimental but make them beta 0.96 standard. More info in the ReadMe. FM's included: BF-109 F-1 and F-2. These are for the A-Team models so access to that site required for these. Spitfire 5A [early]. The last gasp for the TMF/Wrench Spitfire 1A! Less than 100 of these early Spit 5A's were assembled from existing 1A and 2A airframes. They retained the 8 Browning machine guns but got the RR Merlin 45 engine. As far as I can tell, they still used the old fabric covered ailerons and didn't have drop tanks or bomb racks. For the later Spitfire 5 versions I plan on switching over to the Cocas/Wrench packages but that's down the road a bit. The installation instructions are based on having the previous ETO FM pack installed. Westland Whirlwind. Two versions included. The first version didn't have bomb racks but was quite effective as a fighter and the cannon armament was used to good effect on ground targets. I have it classed as a FIGHTER with secondary SEAD and ARMED_RECON roles. In the summer of 1942 60+ Whirlwinds [survivors?] were equipped with bomb racks. I have them classed as ATTACK with secondary CAP and INTERCEPT roles. It has been very difficult finding reliable internet information regarding the Whirlwinds performance so this FM is more of a guesstimate than usual. More info in the ReadMe. You need the Veltro2K/Wrench package available here: http://combatace.com/files/file/13858-sf2-ww2-eto-westland-whirlwind-mk1-pak/ Here's the FM package: ETO_FM-1941-0.96P2.zip

Yay!

Thats the way I think about it. The initial stall buffet is like the stick shacker and then if you pull a bit harder the nose starts to move up and down with a bigger amplitude. I think of that as overpowering the stick pusher. A little too much and "away you go!"

Very good realism upgrade for ThirdWires overperforming F-104G FM. I don't mind ThirdWires "soft around the edges" FM's but the F-104G performance seemed very generous. Much better now.

I like to fly missions within the fuel constraints as well so for longer missions I fly the Hi-Low-Hi profiles also. [ I use accellerated time and the wing leveler autopilot during the cruise portion, switching to real time approaching the IP.] I have managed to get back to base a number of times when I thought it was going to be impossible. The only trick I can advise is to fly high and throttle back a lot. Some aircraft gain very little speed and burn much more fuel at high cruise power settings. By reducing power a lot you may only lose 30-40kts of cruise speed but get much lower fuel consumption. On one F-105 mission I flew I burned a huge amount of fuel during the climb and cruise portion with a heavy load out and thought there was no way I could get back but after dropping bombs and a climb to about 34000ft at max non AB power I throttled down and was surprised that I got back to base. That's the only advice I can offer. Edit: When things don't work out with the fuel I just give the squadron the "return to base" command and land at the nearest friendly airport, assuming that the squadron actually followed me in.

As if I didn't have enough half finished FM's scattered around various threads. Sometimes I find a really nice aircraft package that I would like to install into my "Normal" Strike Fighters install but I find the FM's could benefit with the inclusion of the most recent ThirdWire mach and alpha tables and sometimes a few additional tweaks to the FM. I plan to post those FM's here for beta test and hopefully pick up some information in the process. The main objective is to put together an FM that will fit in with a typical Strike Fighters install. The first beta test FM is for the F-101B Voodoo, which you can get here: http://combatace.com/files/file/12117-f-101-mega-pack-version-20/ Eventually I plan to update all the FM's in the F-101 package but just working with the F-101B for now. The original Column 5 F-101B FM had an interesting pitch-up effect that I made use of in Paulo's recent Javelin package. With the pitch-up effect in the F-101B I managed to crash the plane while maneuvering in combat , crash the plane on short final , and crash the plane on the downwind leg while doing circuits ! From what I was reading online, there was very little margin of error between pitch-up and full flap approach speed during heavy weight landings in the F-101 so the effect is probably quite accurate. For my own sake and probably some other folks the effect has been reduced in this new FM. There is also a new stall warning horn included but I'm not sure what warning system was eventually used in the F-101. Some possibility it ended up with some kind of stick limiting system. Some other notes: The FM has been updated with newer ThirdWire tables. The roll rate has been increased but it's still quite slow. Some of the old jets had a lot of restrictions on allowable stick inputs at higher speeds but don't really know what the situation is for the F-101. Some nose heaviness has been removed at take-off and approach speeds. The take-off/approach flap and gear speeds have been increased but don't know the actual numbers. [i think a low gear speed was an RL issue.] It's possible to carry 2 AIM-4's instead of the 2 Genie's. Here's my information wish list: Flap and gear speeds? Real life handling issues? [anectodal is OK.] Whats up with the AIM-4's? Some of mine are specific station [why?], but they all seem to be infared guided. Sometimes when installing a mod some new weapons get installed but I have totally lost track of what's going on with the AIM-4 so if anyone could direct me to the latest and greatest AIM-4 missile's it would be appreciated. [i'm not a weapons guy.] I would REALLY like to have the airborne nuclear effect for the Genie but don't know where to get it. Here's the FM: F-101Bfm0.95.zip

Thanks SupGen, download in progress. I really have to figure out this AIM-4 business. Never really used them until installing the F-101 and I got the F-102 on deck!

Cliff7600, your approach is interesting but I really can't stray that far from the way ThirdWire does things. There is a lot going on "behind the scenes" with ThirdWires flight engine and my intent is to make FM's that fit in with their aircraft. For me, at a hobby level, the less I stray from the TW approach the better. Streakeagle, I understand your interest in HiFi fm's and the benefits of more refined tables but it's well beyond my capabilities at this point. I did build a 1 deg symetrical CDL table to test in some ThirdWire types and it offered some improvement on the margin but less than I expected. Your drag graph is interesting. From my in game testing the TW aircraft tend to accelerate through mach 1 too quickly compared too real life numbers and they seem to easily go supersonic with external stores. I suspect your graph explains why. Ultimately, if you build a HiFi FM it may not fit in well with the TW aircraft so then what? You have to build an enemy aircraft Hi Fi FM to fight against and put the 2 in a seperate install! [ Although it would probably be fun, for someone with the capabilities, to build Hi Fi FM's for some of the 1950's X-planes then run them through a test program to see how they do.]

I enjoy C5's FM's as well so leave them more or less intact. ThirdWire uses some tables that are common to many types [i haven't checked them all!] and they cover a wider aerodynamic range so I think using some of those tables actually improves fidelity, especially around the edges. The post stall/departure behavior is much improved with the newer tables. Other tables I try to use on a best fit basis but still learning about that. I have back checked some of my FM's when I find real world data and some are OK, some not so good. It's all part of the "learn as you go" process. Anyway, there aren't that many people doing FM's and my approach is geared towards volume so if I come up with an FM that I think "fits in" with the stock ThirdWire FM's and also addresses some AI issues I'm just going to post them and players can decide for themselves.

I have frame rate issues with the F-5E cockpit but my system is low end. [no point going into the details.] I was wondering though, would there be much of a frame rate increase if the control stick and throttle were removed? It may be possible to do this via ini edits then adjust the view angle to make the missing bits less noticeable. May give it a try.