F-35A Released at SimMarket!

The F-35A is available at SimMarket!

http://secure.simmarket.com/dino-cattaneo-f-35-lightning-ii.phtml

Hope you will like it!

F-35A Warming up the engines (and apologies to Scott Printz)

The recipients of the complimentary copies have highlighted some minor glitches in the package... no major issues, and I think most of the users would have been unable to catch them. But one was a major mistake on my side, that is I misspelled the surname of Scott Printz, who is the creator of the enhanced F/A-18 HUD xml code upon which Jivko Rusev has kindly created the custom VHUD for the F-35.
So, I've decided to stop the ditribution process, fix the glitches and resubmit the files.
Changes are as follows:

- Fixed several typos in the manual, including Scott Printz's surname (once again my most humble apologies)
- Fixed VHUD version (the version included in the previous build was not the latest, due to a mistake)
- Fixed aircraft.cfg (the version included in the previous build was not the latest)
- Minor graphic glitches solved

Good news is that the new build is already on the SimMarket server - now all the required files and informations are there. It will take a little while to create the product page but should not take more than few days I hope.

The product manual has been updated and can be dowloaded HERE.

Updated complimentary copies will be resent tomorrow (sorry...it is really too late and I am falling asleep). By the way I know that some testers have not received the dowload link... my apologies, I don't know what went wrong.

F-35 taxi to SimMarket and hold short :-)

I've just finished uploading the files to SimMarket. Everything seems OK, but it will take some time (hopefully not much) to set up the product page and make it available.

A download link to complimentary copies will be sent to the Beta testers soon - if anyone involved in the testing has not received it within few days please contact me.

In the meantime, here is a download link to the final user manual:

USER MANUAL DOWNLOAD LINK


Aside, please note that I've had some problems with rapishare (they have changes several things, including the account rules) so I am switching to Mediafire - so most of the older files are not available anymore. However Flightsim.com has a copy of most my freeware releases.

EDIT: Download link to complimentary copies to testers and contributors have been sent yesterday evening. If you are a tester or a contibutor and have not received it please let me know. Please note also that early deployement of such copies has not highlighted any major issue with the product, but few glitches were spotted:

- There was a slight misplacement of the head rest textures (reason: not spotted due to monitor setting - it will be invisible to many users)
- There was a slight misplacement of the wheel chocks 3d model (reason:not checked after final landing gear contact points placement - decision was taken to implement the "real" contact points regardless of the micro-oscillation issues)
- Installer could not automatically recognize FSX installation folder (typo in compiling the installer)

I've fixed these issues in the build for the final customer, and re-uploaded the file to SimMarket. As result, the current complimentary copies are slightly different from the retail copies. Apologies for the incovenience.

EDIT/2 I've received some feedback about the manual and I would like to highlight it is not completely correct about the "texture load" statement of the FSX.cfg file. That is, it is true that changing the settings in FSX will overwrite (and revert to the maximum default settings) some of the entries that control the graphics engine (in this case the maximum texture resolution - which is 1024 by default, but can be edited to 4096). This happens regardless of the fact you've changed graphics related settings or not. You cannot make the changes permanent by changing the write access as FSX will not work if the FSX.cfg is "read only".
However, there are some third party applications that will rewrite the fsx.cfg for you either by running a background process or by rewriting the .cfg every time you restart FSX.
The fact is: you can't make the changes permanent - unless you use a specific application:

EDIT /2 bis - I WAS INFORMED THAT THE INFORMATION AT THIS POINT WERE INACCURATE. MY APOLOGIES.

EDIT/3 RED LIGHT on release. It seems that the final package contains some very minor mistakes and a big one, for me - that is one of the contributors' names is misspelled. Will fix ALL of the defects before proceeding.

F-35 is ready for deployment...but I had another hard disk failure...

Another quick update to let you know that the F-35 (including its manual) is ready for distibution. The only thing that is holding its release is that one of backup hard disks had a failure and, while the project files are safe, I cannot access some of my records, like, for example, the list of the Beta testers - which deserve proper credit in the documentation. I should be able to retrive the files tonight - and finally upload the package to SimMarket sever.

(Partial) F-35 user manual download link (and complimentary screenshots...)

EDIT JULY 26th 2010

********************

THE FINAL VERSION OF THE MANUAL IS AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD ON A LATER POST.

DOWNLOAD LINK FOR THIS POST IS NOW DISABLED.

Just a quick update on the project - hopefully the last one before release.
The F-35 is done. It is far from being perfect - and I am sure that many enthusiasts will find several inaccuracies or defects. But I am pretty happy with it.
I am in the process of completing the user manual and then it will be released. I still do not have a release date as my paying job is absorbing much of my time - and, honestly, being so lucky to live where I live, I prefer spending my spare time at the beach rather than in front of another computer screen... let alone the fact that here in Genoa there is an unbearable heat wave in these days.

Anyway, here is a download link to the "main" part of the F-35 manual - so that you can better understand the features and the limitations of this project:

DOWLOAD PARTIAL USER MANUAL

The only things that are missing are the installation/hardware requirements/credits and legal stuff. Speaking of credits, I'd like to thank once again Roberto Leonardo, for the enhancements to the flight model, and Jivko Rusev and Scott Prinz, for the custom HUD.
I'd like to remind you that while the F-35 will be payware, it will be a low cost product (final price yet TBD). Jivko, Scott and Roberto gave me their contributions for free - and this means you will get a better product at no extra cost.

Most important, as I hope you are aware of, is that my plan is to use the F-35 to raise funds to enhance both the F-14 and the T-45, which will be freeware.

So, please be patient... it is almost ready. In the meantime, here are some pictures.

USAF F-35 with full JDAMs load

USAF F-35 nearby Nellis AFB

The initial F-35 prototype AA-1 over Edwards AFB