Mad Dog McEwan

Greetings from South Africa to all the folks at JT... I am not sure how many of you are aware of the Angolan Theater Project we at combat360 have been developeing for Falcon 4 over the last 2 years. Please if you have time go look at the update threads at http://forums.frugalsworld.com/vbb/showthr...31&page=2&pp=50 http://www.freefalcon.com/forum/viewtopic....r=asc&start=345 With the new AF release for Falcon 4, and the possibility of having to possibly redo a serious amount of our work to fit in with AF, the thought comes to mind to take our teams efforts somewhere else. So what has JT in common with the Angolan Theatre. For starters it took place in the same era (70-80's) which for us in Falcon meant a lot of "retro-engineering" to get F4's modern avionics "aged" to suit our theater. The second is we share quite a huge DB od high poly 3D models that is common amongst our 2 projects. As you might know all our models by far outweigh anything in Falcon 4 when it comes to detail. Our team has well over 250 new models ready pertaining to the campaign. The SAAF has been fundamental in supporting our project, by giving us virtually umlimited access to documentation, pilot interviews and photographic access to all aircraft involved, we have literally photographed every square inch of most of the a/c involved. - hence all out terrain and model textures being photographically modelled. The terrain and model shots in the threads above should give you an idea - one problem with the F4 engine is that existing 3D models and cockpits had to be "downsized" tremendously to be able to fit into the F4 environment, despite that I think we have achievd great results. From a research perspective, our campaign and every sortie is based on "historically" correct data, we have had the pleasure of 2 great advisors who like me took part in the real war in Angola, that being General Rafael del Pino (commander Cuban AF in Angola) and General RS Lord, commander of the SAAF operations during the war and author of the classic book about the Mirage F1 un SAAF service "VlamGat". In a further post I will post a complete list of aircraft and resources that can be shared. Here lies our 2nd option... We take the plunge at this stage, and swop our develeopment over as a "additional theater - Jet Thunder : Angolan Conflict" project. Skillsets - well again the pictures should say it all, apart form C++ skills, all graphics, sound production and folio work (I have been a recording musician for over 15 years), SRTM or DEMdata manipulation, and we have chaps such as TOPOLO (Dassault) and SAAF pilots to dev and help test our FM Data. Hope we can talk - Best Regards Mad Dog McEwan - South Africa combat360.com Team ==== 'Mad Dog' McEwan - all UI work, FM data, all textures, all terrain tiles, installer, tacedit, f4browse etc work. 'Kasper' Kriel - lead 3D modeller - all HLOD modelleing, features modelling, stores edits and finding "new bits and bobs within F4" and some C++ codeworx 'Gabriel' Cronje - TE work Pedro - C++ codeworx Major contributors ================== TOPOLO - all FM data on Mirage and Cheetahs ccc - for a HUGE HUGE amount of lowres a/c models and 90% of ground vehicles Twister - terrain/theatre/pathmaker work Hannes "noname" Wagner Techical Advisors/voice overs etc ================================= Brig.Gen Dick Lord - SAAF ret, F1AZ pilot, was in charge of SAAF ops during war Gen Rafeal Del Pino - Cuban DAAFAR ret, MiG-21/23 pilot, commander of Angolan Air Force during war Col Barries Barnard - Impala Mk2 combat pilot, border war ace, 85CFS Koos "Rapier" Kieeck - Impala Mk2 combat fighter instructor at 85CFS Kirk Kinnear - real cockpit project for Angolan Theatre (Imp2 and F1 pits), simkits, sim instruments. temp aclist - will do a F4Browse dump tonight AM.3C Bosbok An-2 An-22 An-24 An-26 An-32 AS350 Ecurecil Buccaneer S.Mk50 Beechcraft King Air BN2 Islander Boeing 707 Boeing 707-328 Tanker Boeing 737 Boeing 747SP C4M Kudu C-47 Dakota C-47 Dragon Dak C-47 Ambu Dak C-47 TP Dak C-54 Skymaster Canberra B(1) Mk12 Canberra T.Mk4 CASA C-212 Cessna 185 Cessna 310 CH-2 Rooivalk Cheetah C Cheetah D Cheetah D2 Cheetah DC Cheetah E Cheetah R Do-27 EMB-312 F-27 Friendship Gazelle IL-62M IL-76 MB-326KC Impala Mk II MiG-15 UTI MiG-17F MiG-21MF MiG-21bis MiG-23ML MiG-23UB Mil Mi-6 Mil Mi-8 Mil Mi-24/25 Mil Mi-17 Mirage F1AZ Mirage F1CZ Mirage IIIBZ Mirage IIICZ Mirage IIIDZ Mirage IIIEZ Mirage IIID2Z Mirage IIIRZ Mirage IIIR2Z Nord Noratlas Piper Arrow Piper Cherokee SA-316 Alouette III SA-316 Alouette III Gunship SA-321 Super Frelon SA-330 Puma SA-332 Cougar SA-365 Dauphin Shackleton MR.3 SU-22M SU-25 SU-27 Tu-134A Crusty Yak-40

Some screenies of the work on the new airbases - below are preliminary test of runways and taxiways at AFB Ondangwa. The Angolan Theatre will include only new airbases - nearly 15 new airbases and some bush strips will be included. I finally managed to figure out exactly how the Pt nodes work, but I am still totally unclear what a CRITICAL TAXI POINT and a FOLLOW ME Pt does - any info would be appreciated about them. Would you be interested in some photos we took of SAAF aircraft during this project? - we have literraly taken well over 4000 pictures for this project. ----------------------->> Impala Mk.II taxiing at Ondangwa AFB Impala Mk.II static model test for airbases - with panels open Impala Mk.II cleaning up fast off runway 08/26 at AFB Ondangwa. Mirage F1AZ rotates off Rwy 08/26 Impala Mk.II on strike in Northern Ovamboland Mirage F1AZ on finals Mirage F1AZ touch down and about to start streaming the chute (Chutes are animated - rotates)

Old and New School - hots in up !!! Impala Mk.II Gunpod tests Mirage F1AZ first tests 2D pit panels

Been a bit quite on the posting front - but Kasper is in Australia at the moment and I am in London on business - despite that we have been making great progress. I spent a great day with the staff at AeroSud who did the Mig-29 engine upgrade on the Mirage F1AZ (Super Mirage). They have given us excellent access to 3 Mirage F1AZ's and a Mirage IIIBZ for as long as we require. So yep I guess we have allready taken over 1000 close up pics of the aircraft above and the cockpits. They are also assisting in data edits to allow us to tweak all Mirage FM's and stores - TOPOLO - please if there is anything you need on the IIIBZ and F1AZ's then you must let me know so I can get this info. They will assist us with redesigning the avionics and radar on the Mirage F1 in Falcon 4, also the HUD modes - and best of all we will get the legendary Ivan Pentz to flight test the models as we develop them. This is a true honour indeed. I will attempt to upload some screenies ex-London from my ageing laptop - CET - thank you for the assistance in photography at AeroSud. Kasper if you are out there - try and post mate - when are you RTB? I am returning to JHB on Sept 19 - tomorrow night ex-London. Will be at Balalaika Hotel again, am in St.James/Sofitel at the moment if you can make comms. Anyway some screens - been working on the F1 a lot, re texturing in high detail has begun. Also work on 6 x 2D cockpit panels with new instruments inclusinf preliminary testing on a new HUD. (hope i have a screenie here to show this). Also Nigel, I have begun texturing AFB Ondangwa's taxiways and ramp areas - see screenies - and have managed to tweak the taxipoints. LP and SP's - they work well now - managed to suss it out. ----------------------->> Impala Mk.II rolls in for the kill Kaboom !!! Mirage IIICZ new skin tests - in progress

Some updates Most of the work over the last few weeks has been around designing new objectives/features for the Angolan Theater. Kasper has been quite active working on the new airbases and testing some new ideas around more 3D objects (trees etc) List of new airbases AFB Ondangwa (main forward base and center of SAAF air operations in Angola) AFB Grootfontein (biggest of bases - and home of buccs, canberras etc) AFB Mpacha (used extensively for Impala Strikes, COIN ops and logistics to UNITA) AFM Rundu (alternate base used by Mirages/Impalas) AFB Ruacana (small strip) smaller "army airstrips" Cuban/FAPA bases were large bases based on Soviet design and we will model 3-4 types to be used for Angolan bases. Luckilly we managed to get some excellent satellite data and images to model these to great extent, for example Menongue, Cahama, Ongiva, Cuito Cuanavale etc. Other important objects being modelled include extensive (4-16 tiles) terrorist bases used by SWAPO, FAPLA SAM sites and brigade HQ's. The nature of the war included some "unique" solutions to be modelled e.g. HAA (helicopter administraion areas) which basecally were temporary forward "landing zones" that were set up in the bush for logistics and launching operations from. So these are "cleared areas" in the bush that will be used by choppers and small transports to land and take off from. Another requirement were "bush strips" that basically were just flat areas in the bush or desert that were used by C130's, choppers and transports to use... Lots of work has been happening in the DB surrounding weapons and stores, also aircraft data, radar data, and work on hitboxes. We dont like the idea of flying a Mirage "through a tree" and not suffering any damage. On the issue of damage modelling... Kasper has done some preliminary testing on improved damage modelling, and CET is looking at the code to see how some of this can be incorporated. He is also dead set on working on a DX9 solution (mmmm but he realises the amount of work involved here after our last conversations) as to offer a dynamic lighting/shadow solution. TrXtr does not know it yet, but he is going to be helping on tools development especially helping Seifer with some Java on cockpit editor (hehe news to both of them), CATE rebuild to assist with a possible solution around "object placing", and then to finally complete my "falconeer DB editor" that I wrote in VB too long ago. Shutterman is our one stop photographic solution so he provides any reference images we need for texturing and cockpit design. Bones is being bestowed ownership of our TACREF section, providing a complete multimedia "source" to the entire war, its weapons, people, OPFORS, operations etc and he is involved also in some major data edits regarding radar performances and weapons performances (based on his real life involvement in this arena). Still no interest from AF or aany of the other "teams", so we are going ahead on our own. We have committed to finishing this theater, I will help on the Vietnam theater photographic tiles later, then our "SAAF collection" addons for FS2004, and high res packaged aircraft add ons to our standards for Falcon 4. Thats about it for now - beta to TE team by end Sept/October. --------------- Some "photos" from our "virtual Herman Potgieter" taken in the operational area Update Threads: Frugals >> http://forums.frugalsworld.com/vbb/showthr...31&page=2&pp=50 FreeFalcon >> http://www.freefalcon.com/forum/viewtopic....12d795c72326c82 CombatAce >> http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showtopic=8585 CheckSix >> http://www.checksix-forums.com/forums/inde...showtopic=56496 combatsim >> http://s7.invisionfree.com/COMBATSIM/index...?showtopic=4065 Website >> http://www.combat360.com> http://www.combat360.com The new c360 team

Sorry about the long delay in replying !!!!!! Been on business and busy as hell. Kasper will me modelling a Gripen after our beta (Oct), but ALL HELP will be appreciated offcourse !!!!! Please let me know what you have in mind

Hey Subarug Sounds good - please email me the pic or link to info@combat360.com - I cant see the image

Cheetah D2 before sunrise Update Threads: Frugals >> http://forums.frugalsworld.com/vbb/showthr...31&page=2&pp=50 FreeFalcon >> http://www.freefalcon.com/forum/viewtopic....12d795c72326c82 CombatAce >> http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showtopic=8585 CheckSix >> http://www.checksix-forums.com/forums/inde...showtopic=56496 combatsim >> http://s7.invisionfree.com/COMBATSIM/index...?showtopic=4065 http://www.combat360.com

Some more screenies taken on my laptop Cheetah D2 on finals C-47 Dak over Kaokoland AM3C Bosbok (Bossie) first FM tests - FAC (ignore skins) Update Threads: Frugals >> http://forums.frugalsworld.com/vbb/showthr...31&page=2&pp=50 FreeFalcon >> http://www.freefalcon.com/forum/viewtopic....12d795c72326c82 CombatAce >> http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showtopic=8585 CheckSix >> http://www.checksix-forums.com/forums/inde...showtopic=56496 combatsim >> http://s7.invisionfree.com/COMBATSIM/index...?showtopic=4065 Website >>

Some more screenies taken on my laptop Mirage F1AZ on ACM trials (texture tests) Update Threads: Frugals >> http://forums.frugalsworld.com/vbb/showthr...31&page=2&pp=50 FreeFalcon >> http://www.freefalcon.com/forum/viewtopic....12d795c72326c82 CombatAce >> http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showtopic=8585 CheckSix >> http://www.checksix-forums.com/forums/inde...showtopic=56496 combatsim >> http://s7.invisionfree.com/COMBATSIM/index...?showtopic=4065 Website >> http://www.combat360.com> http://www.combat360.com

A few 1024x768 sized screenshot desktops for you..... Cheetah D2's on patrol CHEETAH D2 DESKTOP Screen samples download here 1 >> http://www.combat360.com/4f4/screens/2005-07-13_004208.jpg 2 >> http://www.combat360.com/4f4/screens/2005-07-13_004297.jpg 3 >> http://www.combat360.com/4f4/screens/combo1.jpg 4 >> http://www.combat360.com/4f4/screens/combo2.jpg More later Update Threads: Frugals >> http://forums.frugalsworld.com/vbb/showthr...31&page=2&pp=50 FreeFalcon >> http://www.freefalcon.com/forum/viewtopic....12d795c72326c82 CombatAce >> http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showtopic=8585 CheckSix >> http://www.checksix-forums.com/forums/inde...showtopic=56496 combatsim >> http://s7.invisionfree.com/COMBATSIM/index...?showtopic=4065 Website >> http://www.combat360.com> http://www.combat360.com

We are having a combat360 team meeting at Swartkop AFB outside Pretoria tomorrow (Sat, 16 July) at 11h00B, oustide the SAAF Museum canteern next to the flightline. Objective of the meet will be to give a project update, meet new team members, and allocate tasking to complete the beta release. I have invited some new folk who want to contribute froma coding, research and modelling perspective. We will also discuss other combat360 objectives and assign some roles and responsabilities. Below are some screenies update - (pardon the quality, taken on my old bloody laptop whilst on business in JHB) TACREF UI Screen samples More later Update Threads: Frugals >> http://forums.frugalsworld.com/vbb/showthr...31&page=2&pp=50 FreeFalcon >> http://www.freefalcon.com/forum/viewtopic....12d795c72326c82 CombatAce >> http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showtopic=8585 CheckSix >> http://www.checksix-forums.com/forums/inde...showtopic=56496 combatsim >> http://s7.invisionfree.com/COMBATSIM/index...?showtopic=4065 Website >> http://www.combat360.com> http://www.combat360.com

Flew some campaign missions last night - some shots from my flight of F1AZ's.... The F1AZ is still being textured, so ignore current textures. The 14 bomb SAAF configuration is working like a dream and a ground targets nightmare. More later Update Threads: Frugals >> http://forums.frugalsworld.com/vbb/showthr...31&page=2&pp=50 FreeFalcon >> http://www.freefalcon.com/forum/viewtopic....12d795c72326c82 CombatAce >> http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showtopic=8585 CheckSix >> http://www.checksix-forums.com/forums/inde...showtopic=56496 combatsim >> http://s7.invisionfree.com/COMBATSIM/index...?showtopic=4065 Website >> http://www.combat360.com> http://www.combat360.com

Minor screens Dak over ovamboland - screenshot clean - resized only Olifant Mk1 in action Impala Mk2 climb out (ignore loadout) Gripen Pit 1st tests Mirage F1AZ delivers a stick of 14 Mk82's to Sam Nujoma Mirage F1AZ showing off 14 bomb configuration used by SAAF More later Update Threads: Frugals >> http://forums.frugalsworld.com/vbb/showthr...31&page=2&pp=50 FreeFalcon >> http://www.freefalcon.com/forum/viewtopic....12d795c72326c82 CombatAce >> http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showtopic=8585 CheckSix >> http://www.checksix-forums.com/forums/inde...showtopic=56496 combatsim >> http://s7.invisionfree.com/COMBATSIM/index...?showtopic=4065 Website >> http://www.combat360.com> http://www.combat360.com

Night flight testing - have posted some screens before about our "discoveries" about nightlighting. At the moment all aircraft feature new dynamic skin lighting (in other words strobes are seen miles away and it lights up the aircraft skin around the strobes location), new AB plumes that rotate, extend etc AND that can be clearly seen at night - a first for Falcon indeed. Another night lighting effect we added was to gorund vehicles (see screens posted before), so that trucks etc have headlights that can be seen at night, and some switch off their lights when they become aware of your presence. Whilst on the new list, you have seen the vids of the pilot animations, as in head, arms and legs move in all 3D views, also the helmet visor, and control columns are animated. Mirages with the "mice" shock cones in the airtakes move as well according to power settings, so do the turbines on all jet aircraft when viewed from the front.

Whirlwind tour indeed - going to photograph the Mirage F1AZ and CZ from pitot tube to afterburner petals. It's been a while since I did some updates but yep we are still steaming ahead as planned. I have 75% of the new terrain tiles done, otherwise been working on non DB related items. The most current DB is with Kasper at the moment to add the new airbases, features and update the new aircraft stores. Afterwards I just need to modify the new objectives and make minor changes to the new units. I worked also on the version 2 of the Tactical Reference Section, we allready changed the TACREF section as per the screenshot below, but I have now redone them to the new style (see below). So with the Angolan Theatre you will basically be getting a "whole online multimedia library" about the war. (equipment, weapons, people, places, units, operations, history). I have posted screens of all the other UI screens before so you can get a look at the new UI - it is 100% changed from original Falcon. Old tacref New tacref Mirage F1AZ over Ovamboland More later Update Threads: Frugals >> http://forums.frugalsworld.com/vbb/showthr...31&page=2&pp=50 FreeFalcon >> http://www.freefalcon.com/forum/viewtopic....12d795c72326c82 CombatAce >> http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showtopic=8585 CheckSix >> http://www.checksix-forums.com/forums/inde...showtopic=56496 combatsim >> http://s7.invisionfree.com/COMBATSIM/index...?showtopic=4065 Website >> http://www.combat360.com> http://www.combat360.com

[some shots from last night ACM tests. Had 4 teams of 3 aircraft (Mirage IIICZ, Mirage F1AZ, Cheetah D2 and Impala MkII) having an all out ACM camp. Strange but almost predictable, the Impala's generally came out best of the lot, as the fast movers had a hard time trying to stay on the Imps sixes, kept overshooting. The F1AZ's achieved the most "kills", The D2's next followed by the IIICZ's. The FM's (Mirage FM's by TOPOLO) are working very well indeed, the flight envelopes appear and behave very realistic indeed, TOPOLO has solved the mystery with the Mirage F1's at low speeds (they kept droppping out of the sky before - AI), and I have seen no "weird" jinxing. The Imp's are realy great to fly, super smooth and highy maneouvreable, same goes for the Cheetah D2, which is currently using a modified F1 FM, TOPOLO is working on the Cheetah FM. Updates Threads: Frugals >> http://forums.frugalsworld.com/vbb/showthr...31&page=2&pp=50 FreeFalcon >> http://www.freefalcon.com/forum/viewtopic....12d795c72326c82 CombatAce >> http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showtopic=8585 CheckSix >> http://www.checksix-forums.com/forums/inde...showtopic=56496 Website >> http://www.combat360.com

Cheetah D2 GIB texturing progress Bucc S.50 contrail tests Bucc S.50 2D cockpit panel tests

Dante damn I just typed you a long reply... and pasted all over it in notepad.... I will retype another long post later. I will try anf get Kasper to fill you in on 3D modelling specs, but on the texture side all models use multiple sets of 1024x1024 bmps converted to dds format. The theatre is 1536x1536 kms in dimension and the tiles are split into 3 levels of detail, each covering roughly a square km. Sets are 512x512 for Hdetail and then 256x256 and 128x128 for detail at diff heights. I think we should complete the project for Falcon 4 as is (as it is allready far in dev) BUT at the same time begin communicating, if you are interested offcourse, on how we could colloborate. I acknowledge that you are still in sim engine phase but I think this is a good place to get onboard, as we can def contribute in all areas. C++ coding is on hand but about Luea I am not too familiar at all... models and textures etc no problem for help.... pits as well (are there no 2D pits?? only 3D?) >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Well - the show must go on - despite AF Cheetah D2 on the prowl over Southern Angola Operation Reindeer, the Cassinga raid - Para tests by Kasper - ignore the stock c130 (modified with tail ramp) Impala Mk2, C-47 and SA330 Puma test flights - some new tile tests Updates Thread Frugals >> http://forums.frugalsworld.com/vbb/showthr...31&page=2&pp=50 Updates Thread FreeFalcon >> http://www.freefalcon.com/forum/viewtopic....12d795c72326c82