F-14D Beta 1

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THIS POST IS OUTDATED - STILL ONLINE FOR RECORD

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Beta 1 has been closed - situation frozen as shown below.

External model:

1. Low frame rates. Sorry but I went for the maximum details. The Beta has already undergone a round of optimizations. I will do another round before release, but I do not think I can improve the performance significantly.If this bothers you too much, disable the aircraft self shadows. The F-35 will perform better. STATUS:OPEN; ACTION: FURTHER OPTIMIZATION IF POSSIBLE
2. Wing sweep happens at much higher speed than the real aricraft. This was done intentionally in order to prevent animation clashes with spoilers/flaps. STATUS:CLOSED, NO ACTION (BETTER KEEP IT AS IS)
3. Abrupt nozzle animation / afterburner. I tried to make it smooth (linking to the RPM) but coud not synchronize the nozzle with the a/b. STATUS:CLOSED, NO ACTION (BETTER ANIMATION WILL COMPROMISE A/B SYNC)
4. Landing gear does not kneel before cat launch: afaik there is no way to make the gear "kneel" on pilot's command (i.e. in the real Tomcat the nose strut is compressed 14 inches - the pilot command the compression via the NOSE STRUT switch)... Therefore I made a compromise while setting the gear contact points. No corrective action planned. STATUS:CLOSED, NO ACTION (AFAIK IMPOSSIBLE)
5. Tailhook does not touch the deck. STATUS:CLOSED (Solved on .mdl build 24)
6. Nose probe animation glitch (seems to sink into the fuselage too much). I knew this. I had major problems in keeping the fuselage smooth while "cutting" the probe vane, so there is a "visual patch" instead of a proper 3D vane... this is causing the glitch which should be visible only at close inspection. I will not modify it. STATUS:CLOSED, NO ACTION (TOO DIFFICULT).
7. Nose landing gear does not touch the ground. STATUS:CLOSED (Solved on MDL build 24)
8. Burner special effect bleeds through the nozzle. This is not much visbile on my system. STATUS:CLOSED; (Mitigated by contolling the .fx diameter - still visible - depends on graphic card settings)
9. Nose gear wheels/tires slightly too big. STATUS:CLOSED (Nose wheels and tires shrunk in build MDL 24)
10. Minor nose gear animation glitch (tire peeking through the gear doors). STATUS:Closed (Nose gear animation sequence reworked in build 24)
11. Minor spoiler gear animation glitch (actuators disappear into the fuselage). STATUS:CLOSED (Issue mitigated by reworking animation sequence in MDL Build 24, not completely solved but almost negligible. Complete solution would require a redesign of the spoilers which would be too time consuming)
12. Minor canopy geometry glitch (does not match perfectly with the fuselage); STATUS:CLOSED (Canopy assembly geometry reworked on build MDL 24)
13. Missing fuel dump effect. STATUS:CLOSED (Fuel dump added in model build 25, also FUEL DUMP switch now operative in cockpit build 17)

Interior model:

1. Low frame rates. Will try to make another round of optimization if I'll have the time. STATUS:OPEN; ACTION:PERFORM OPTIMIZATION IF POSSIBLE
2. AoA indicator replaced by VV indicator:
   Sorry but I've never managed to make a 3D Aoa indicator that works...so I've replaced it with a VVI. STATUS:CLOSED (Added AoA indicator thanks to XML code courtesy of Paolo Oriani)
3. Radar altimeter replaced by a gmeter:
   Same as (1) - the 3D radar altimeter was not working. STATUS:CLOSED, NO ACTION (CANNOT MAKE IT WORK)
4. Fuel quantity and engine panels showing weird values:
   I thought I've correctly reverse-engineered the parameters to do them in 3D but while I was making the Goshawk....but it was not true.
   STATUS:OPEN;ACTION:CHECK MDL,CFG,XML and refer to NATOPS
5. Several switches/knobs not working or mapped incorrectly
   I'm not sure I will have the time to fix them all. Please tell me what are the most annoying malfunctions and I'll see what I can do. Keep in mind that some of the Tomcat functions cannot be properly replicated in FSX without external coding.STATUS:OPEN; ACTION:WAIT FOR TESTERS TO IDENTIFY MAJOR MALFUNCTIONS: Some MFD buttons not working for no apparent reason.
6. Incorrect reading of some gauges.See (5). STATUS:OPEN; ACTION:WAIT FOR TESTERS TO IDENTIFY MAJOR MALFUNCTIONS
7. Autothrottle not working...can't tell why. I've double checked the code and it should work....Not sure I can fix it. STATUS:OPEN; ACTION:INVESTINGATING XML, MDL,CFG
8. MFDs are obiviously mutuated from the Hornet (BLASPHEMY!). I do not have the time and skill to make new, more accurate ones. STATUS:CLOSED,NO ACTION
9. Difficult access to CRS/HDG knobs. They are currently positioned in the "right" place, but they are difficult to access with the mouse pointer. Can be moved upwards. STATUS:CLOSED (Knobs moved upward for better accessibility in cockpit build 18)
10. Cannot start engines manually and in general cannot follow actual F-14D startup procedure ("cold and dark operation"). STATUS:OPEN, ACTION:ADD FUNCTIONALITY, WRITE FSX:A CHECKLIST
11. Windshield frame too big. STATUS:CLOSED (Geometry modified in cockpit build 16)
12. No VC Backlight - There is no backlight code in the Beta 1 build. STATUS:CLOSED (Backlight added in cockpit build 17 - green backlight+red diffuse light)

Additional functions/features in current build (18):

- HYD HAND PUMP (Mapped to Emergency Landing Gear Lever)

- FUEL DUMP SWITCH now opeartive

- MULTI STATUS INDICATOR shows mock weapon status

Flight model:

1. Approach speed - It appears to be higher than the real one (reading from the NATOPS). A/c tends to sink below 135/140 kts. STATUS:CLOSED (Modified .air file to lower approach speed - as side effect the stall speed is considerably lower than the real plane...but carrier approaches seem much more accurate)
2. Overpowered - While I've set the right engine values and a/c weight, I have the impression it is overpowered. STATUS:OPEN; ACTION:TBD After derating the engine and increasing the drag the plane seems still overpowered...
3. Speed brake effect - I've already boosted its effect...but it still seems weak to me... STATUS: CLOSED (Modified .air file - speedbrake is much more effective now, not sure it makes sense to increase its effect further)
4. Moving the control surface while on the deck causes the a/c to tilt... STATUS:CLOSED (No changes - I did some trials to fix this but I don't want to change the ground handling behaviour...it is not perfect but I think it is OK)
5. Asymmetric thrust during takeoff (ashore). Does not seem to be a showstopper often on my system. Keep in mind that AFAIK, the F-14D does not take off with a/b. Not sure if it is a real issue or not. Flight parameters look ok (symmetric values for engine location). EDIT: THIS WAS A TRICKY ONE...IT WAS DUE TO AN ASYMMETRY OF THE AUX FUEL TANK LOCATIONS:so it was dependent on the fuel quantity, STATUS:CLOSED (Solved by removing the fuel tank CoG asymmetry in the .cfg file)
6. Toe brakes effect weak. STATUS:CLOSED (Solved by boosting the toe brake effect in the .cfg file)
7. Roll rate slightly high. STATUS:CLOSED (Solved by reducing the roll control surface effectiveness in the .cfg file)
8. Gear retraction too fast. STATUS:CLOSED (Solved by setting the right retraction time 9.0 sec in the .cfg file)
9. Add 1 notch flap position. STATUS: CLOSED (Solved by adding one flap position to the aircraft.cfg)