baffmeister

The 505 MPH is the redline indicated airspeed for the P-51D. [ found on the internet] The present drag on the FM won't allow it to go that fast during level flight at sea level but should be attainable during dives. During my rather informal tests I was getting about 370 MPH with WEP at sea level. [75% fuel, clean.] I haven't run any speed tests at altitude yet but assuming the ThirdWire engine table is OK the speeds should be reasonably close. I guess one thing to watch for is if the AI aircraft show any signs of unrealistic speeds at low altitude. My understanding is the AI uses a simplified flight model so there is some potential for issues.

A very quick FM update for ThirdWires P-51D attached. For WW2 use it will require some edits to the date range etc. I decided to try and reverse engineer a "fix" to try and get performance closer to book numbers. My suspicions about this FM always centered on the very high CDL number for the inner wing section so I have messed with that to try and generate sea level speeds closer to what is published. [ around 375mph at sea level with WEP] Some other changes made including rudder edits. When I adapted the ThirdWire Spitfire IX and S-99/199 FM's for WW2 use they seemed to work very well. With new engine tables and some minor edits I had no particular problems matching performance numbers for the Spitfire 1a and BF-109E's. The P-51D is way more difficult so I think a "mistake" was made in the FM. Anyway, I plan to do some more work on the P-51D for KAW use but for now here is an early beta tester. P-51D_FM0.90.zip

I always thought the TW P-51 was too sluggish as well but don't forget, it carrys a LOT of fuel so if you are in the habit of using the "Alt N" function you may want to consider loading only 50% fuel + drop tanks prior to departure. I recall testing the AvHistory P-51 FM and it seemed to have much better performance. It would be interesting to try and port that FM over to the TW model but those AvHistory FM's are VERY complicated and I don't think it would be a simple task. May give it a shot at some point.

Here is a KAW specific update for Paulopanz's recently updated Sea Fury package available here: http://combatace.com/files/file/13443-hawker-sea-fury-fb11-mk-50/ This update has some KAW specific damage modeling and AI changes. I have also included some Sea Fury 45 imp gallon drop tanks if you haven't downloaded the latest version yet. Paulopanz and company did a great job updating the very old model but it still has some issues. The weapon stations are poorly positioned and the ailerons will self center when doing left turns. I am a bit undecided how to classify the prop planes for KAW use. I have this one classified as FIGHTER but for air to air use the only option is CAP and INTERCEPT which I think they would have been assigned if required. The Sea Fury was a very versatile airplane and could carry removeable cameras in the rear fuselage so the RECON statement is legit. For KAW use there is an option to edit the date range so it won't be available until it actually came into service during the Korean war. The dates are to the nearest month and the research is a bit "light." This date range option was included in the F-80C update as well if you wish to do the edit. The F-80C was removed from Korean war use a couple of months before wars end. I did some carrier trials with this FM and it seems OK. When on autopilot the player aircraft traps OK and when player flown it's not too difficult. With the current patch the AI only aircraft are removed from the game as they approach the aircraft carrier landing pattern. I did notice some potential conflicts with parked aircraft so have included some revised data.inis for the aircraft carriers Collosus and Illustrious. Here's the update pack: KAW SeaFury 0.99.zip

EXCELLENT!

Thanks for the heads up. I hope to put together a BoB FM pack in a month or so and will include a "kit" for the updated Hurricane 1A but not sure if there will be many skins available to go with it. If thats the case I will also include a kit for Wrenchs' Hurricane 1A SF2 package.

Good point. I will try adjusting the control mach table for the ailerons to [at least] reduce their effectiveness around mach 0.80. It would be nice to be able to introduce some cockpit buffet/vibration at certain speeds but not even sure if that is possible. The TW transonic buffet effect seems to be hard coded. [ still haven't given up on generating some stall buffet for the high mach vs. "g" issue but it may require some very odd CL0 and CLa tables.]

F-80C beta 0.91 FM attached. Thanks to Fubar I got a T-33 and P-80A flight manual PDF to look at so have made some changes. Also found a bit more online info so have bumped up the lift quite a bit. The T-33 / F-80C could pull quite a bit of "G" even with an unpowered elevator but it did have a problem with heavy buffet when pulling G at higher mach numbers. The heavy buffet zone is considered a "No Go" area due to structural limitations and is a bit of a handicap. Not so bad at low levels but much worse at high altitudes. Here are some numbers based on the T-33 flight strengths chart: Max G at 0.80 Mach limit: 5000ft = 5.9G 10000ft=5.0G 20000ft=3.1G 30000ft=2.2G 40000ft=1.4G At lower speeds the structural G limit is 7.33. I can't replicate the heavy buffet problem in the FM so have just limited the max G available at higher Mach numbers. If you get involved with any MiG-15s at high altitude and find the plane not turning very well all you can do is slow down to about 0.70 mach. Other changes: Fuel tanks adjusted and range reduced. [i like to keep the range numbers conservative] Realistic engine spool-up time. [around 13 seconds from idle to max thrust] Dive bomb and rocket AI adjusted. [Dive bomb AI tested with the An-64 500lb bomb. Results will probably be quite different if using TW stock bombs.] The pilot AI has been adjusted using Fubars F-86 FMs as a guide. The damage modeling has been adjusted using Fubars F-86 FMs as a guide. [ I plan on doing this for any other KAW FM's I do to keep things consistent.] Will leave the F-80C alone for awhile and take a look at the Panther next. F-80C_FM0.91.zip

I was getting over 6G's in high speed turns but will look into it.

Thanks for the pin-up! I will probably be doing a few more KAW fm's in the future so will just post them here. The F-84 and Panther fm's seem good to me and I certainly won't be messing with the Sabres and Mig-15 but some of the prop jobs may get a look.

Drop in FM for the Veltro2K/Wrench Defiant package available here: http://combatace.com/files/file/13938-sf2-ww2-eto-boulton-paul-defiant-remod-pak/ Notes: The Defiant saw its first action in early May 1940 and was withdrawn from daylight ops in late August 1940. They were never based in France but did operate over France and the low countries from bases in England during the Battle of France. Only 2 Squadrons saw any action during daytime ops. After some heavy loses the plane was used for night intercepts and was quite successful in that role. Some later versions received pilot operated radar equipment in the fall of 1941. This data ini covers the daylight phase only from May, 1940, to August, 1940. To get the gunner to engage targets the plane is classed as ATTACK and the pilot is equipped with a fake gun included in the package. Put the fake gun in the Guns folder and put the Data ini in the Defiant aircraft folder after backing up the original. Issues: This plane uses some work arounds to get it to work and is mainly intended to make it's appearance during the Battle of Britain and then go away. The AI do get some kills and if player flown you can try leading your entire formation underneath the bomber formations to see how they do. If you get involved with any Luftwaffe fighters good luck to you! The gunner turret firing angles are quite realistic and can shoot 20deg left or right of forward, max depression 0deg, max elevation 72deg. The actual elevation possible was iirc around 80deg but there was a gun sight limitation. The real turret could rotate 360deg and fire straight ahead over the top of the prop but this one is yaw limited to 20deg left and right of forward. I couldn't find a lot of aerodynamic information for this airplane but it seems to have had a reasonably good roll rate for the period. One interesting characteristic was the difficulty holding the aircraft in a dive at speeds over 350mph. This characteristic probably wasn't confined just to the Defiant and is something I will be looking at in the future. I have tried to model that behavior but it's not very accurate at present. Also, I have been having problems getting the plane to belly land so still some work required there. The Defiant got the 100 octane updates the same as the Hurricane and Spitfire but to keep things simple I am only making the "late" version of the Defiant. Package here: DefiantPack0.90.zip Thanks to Heck for doing some beta testing on the beta tester! This is the last BoB FM I plan on making. Eventually they will get put in one big package for upload but that may take some time. Next project will be some Battle of France FM's and probably a few post BoB FM's so Britain can go on the offensive.

I have to say that tods always look best when placed for the specific tile. This can be an issue when placing buildings at an angle on a tile but for trees it's not such a big deal although still somewhat time consuming. I think the terrain deserves specific placement for the trees.

No luck addressing the floating tree issue. Sometimes, with old terrains, updating the terrain data file will fix the floating tree problem but the Desert data included in your upload looks up to date.

It works OK for me. I think the tile with the green dots [last screen] could use some trees on the transitions. I am also getting a floating tree problem but not sure what causes that. Will try some tod files I have with the stock TW tree and see if they float as well.

"Stuck in a Fictional Hell." To paraphrase Streakeagle a bit. The neverending fictional terrain I started building is only about two years behind schedule and progressing very slowly. A basic version may see the light of day eventually but for now it is probably best to think about a salvage operation. The terrain is based on the stock Desert tiles but they have been expanded quite a bit with more transitions and some new tiles. Something they don't tell you in terrain builder school; If you make a bunch of new tiles and transition tiles you have to put Tod's on them! I was going for a Thirdworldish look and tried to keep things in scale so it required a lot of tods. Over 1000 on many. The situation is complicated by the terrain editor not saving the Tod inis properly so sometimes you can't go back to edit mistakes. I think the results are better than stock so if anyone is building and or modifying a WW2 or Thirdworldish terrain based on the stock Desert tiles these Tods will be available for free!. They aren't finished yet but if you send a PM I will forward whats been done to date for the stock tiles and will send the unfinished ones as they are completed. The tods use some Stary and ThirdWire textures but the TW textures could probably be improved on to generate a bit more variety. Definitly would have been better to have some additional building designs but it's a done deal now. P.S. Anyone know how to get rid of the white "Halo" around the palm tree? It is most obvious at a distance but gets less noticeable at close range.

The copy/paste for the transparency was from the TW Sea2City25 tile[iirc], the one I used to build the harbour from. To capture the shore line transparancy texturing I extended the copy quite far into the black non transparent section of the tile. It involved a bit of 1 pixel micro surgery to get it to work. Your way would work fine I think but I had some problems at the shoreline interface when using a somewhat similar approach. I like the look of those Calcutta tiles. Like TW Desert city tiles but a bit different? Here's your direct replacement CityPort1 tile added in. Only 4 more to go! And, thanks to Gerwins terrain tool, a map for the new terrain:

At last! Started working on this port tile a long time ago but could never get the TGA thing figured out. Finally had some success with Gimp and got this one finished. The main problem was trying to match the reflective properties of the new tile to the stock TW water tiles. Took awhile but managed to dismantle a TW tile in Gimp then copy and paste the grey [textured] "reflecto" layer into my new port tile. Voila:

Would make for a great visual update! I have some tod files using TW's stock tree TGA that would probably work well with the tiles in the last picture. Quite a few trees placed but still sparse enough to fit a semi-arid area. Let me know if your interested.

Frogfooting around the patch.