Monday, April 24, 2017

Eurofighter Version 1.06 Released!


***IMPORTANT!***
I forgot to "sign" the Tacpack files for multiplayer anti-cheating in the1.05-1.06 update to the Eurofighter... as result, if the server has anti-cheat enabled, you will be kicked out of the session. Please download the signed files (that must go into the main Eurofighter folder) from the side bar, if you want to use the updated Typhoon in multiplayer. Sorry for the inconvenience.

*** EDIT - A SIGNIFICANT BUG HAS BEEN DETECTED IN VERSION 1.05 - WILL BE FIXED IN VERSION 1.06 ***

A rainy Sunday is a good day for some "housekeeping" of my projects... so I have released a small update to the Eurofighter project which hopefully solves some of the problems detected in these first two weeks of deployment. There are still some issues to be solved, but given that my time for the Eurofighter in the next few weeks will be very limited, I decided to release it today.

You should receive an email notification from your distributor of choice that the installer has been updated to version 1.05. This is a full install that will overwrite all the existing files, so if you have installed additional repaints you may want to make a copy of your aircraft.cfg first. Changes are as follows:

2017-04-24
Product updated to version 1.06
- Fixed bug that made the elevon movement to be reversed
- Furtherly reduced excursion of canard motion

2017-04-23
Product updated to version 1.05
- Improvements to flight control animations
- Improvements to flight model stability in certain conditions
- Fixed bug which prevented external fuel tanks from being replenished in the configurator
- Fixed bug which prevented external fuel tanks from being replenished in in-flight refuel under Tacpack
- Fixed bug in TRK autopilot function
- Fixed bug in STA4 pylon visibility condition
- Adjusted position of guided bomb hanging from pylons
- Changed "Ready for Takeoff" condition so that Avionic Master is now set to ON
- Added missing white navigation light
- Fixed several bugs preventing correct frequency-to-channel Tacan conversion
- Fixed bug that made ZOOM IN/ZOOM OUT key functionality to be inverted in LDP controls
- Fixed minor bug in FUEL format

Friday, April 14, 2017

Roadmap for 2017-18 (Spoiler...more trainers!)

So... with the Eurofighter out of the door, it is time for me to think what to do next.
Well, in reality of course I have been planning and making some reseach for my new projects for several months...and here are my current thoughts.

F-35 LIGHTNING II UPDATE

I have been (slowly) rebuilding the source files for the cockpit, in order to create a new, official update to to the F-35 package. The update will be free for existing customers.
It will gather all the changes released through patches on this blog, and will also take advantage of some of the things I have learned and experimented with for the Typhoon (for one, better readability of the MFD and HMD, and improvements to the cockpit interface). I was trying to release this by the end of the month, but I am not sure I can make it. Here is how it looks like right now:


EUROFIGHTER TYPHOON UPDATE

I have also been working to fix the bugs and make some improbements to the Eurofighter package I released 10 days ago. Actually I have already a patch that will fix some of the issues in the current release, but I am waiting another week or so just to make sure that there no other high priority issues arise from the much larger user base (by the way...in 10 days on SimMarket the number of copies of the Typhoon sold has already surpassed the F-35 ones... which tells a lot about the popularity of FSX vs P3D, and of the Typhoon vs the Lightning)... The update will be released as a full installer in a couple of weeks.

SIAI MARCHETTI S-211

This is a small jet trainer, I have been working on for quite a while. After the ransomware attack I wanted a fresh start with a simple project (before deciding to resume the Typhoon) and since a privately owned S.211 is at the local airport I decided to do this. This project looks really good - although I realize that most people don't know this aicraft and may be a little puzzled by the unpopular choice. The extenal model is almost done, while I have dozens of great pictures of the cockpit taken at the local airport - so I believe this may be the best looking cockpit I have done to date (and possibly the most realistic aircraft I have made so far)...


LOCKHEED MARTIN T-50A

I have been seriously considering the T-50A, too. It is totally doable and would look great, and makes a lot of sense as an F-35-trainer... problem is that cockpit documentation is scarce, and there are not good pictures of it (especially for the side panels)


C-2 GREYHOUND / E-2 HAWKEYE PACKAGE

Feasibility for this project looks good but not great...I am postponing it to 2018.


SUPPORT FOR OTHER SIMULATORS

It is no mistery that I am playing with both AeroFly FS2 and X-Plane 11. They both have their own limitations, and, all in all, the FSX/P3D SDK is still way more flexible (at least for the 3D modeling and animation) than these two new platforms.
Still, I am considering to port the MB-326 and the T-45 to both platforms, and eventually the F-35A. But do not expect fully functional VC in neither.

Other projects I have been thinking about (or actually playing with):

T-45C GOSHAWK IMPROVEMENTS - There are some potential improvements which may not require the source files...

F-14 VERSION 3.0 - You really think I was not doing anything on the mighty feline? I am thinkering with improvements and new meshes... but I am not convinced it is the right way to go.

NEW MILITARY AVATARS PACKAGE: new models, with higher resolution meshes and mocap animations... this would look cool, but it is also relatively expensive to make (and sales of the current Avatar package are really low)

S-3 AI TANKER - I'll do it, sooner or later!




Thursday, April 13, 2017

Repaint Templates for Eurofighter Typhoon


As some of you are aware of, the Typhoon paintkit was lost in the ransomware attack I suffered from last year. So, in case you want to repaint the Typhoon, the closest thing I can provide you with is the set of uncompressed templates which are the ones I used to create the liveries.

Each texture is stored in a PSD file which contains the following layers (bottom to top):
- Blank texture with mockup color
- Generic UK texture
- Generic Italian texture
- Generic German texture
- Generic Spanish texture
- A "Mechanical Details" layer which contains the texture for the mechanical parts and details (these should not usually be repainted - exception being the refuel caps which are either dark grey or red).
- An "Usually Not Painted" layer which has all the details that usually do not have paint (e.g.radar radome)
. An Ambient Occlusion layer.

Color reference is as follows:

German Luftwaffe - FS35237 (this has a slight blueish tint to it)
UK Royal Air Force - BS381c-626 (aka Camouflage Grey or "Barley Grey")
Italian Air Force - FS36280 (Approximately - has also been quoted as FS36492)
Spanish Air Force - FS36231
Austrian Air Force - FS36492 (the same as the Spanish Air Force)
Royal Saudi Air Force - Two-tone camouflage - overall BS381c-626 with FS35237 on top

(taken from this very complete post: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/50168-typhoon-reference-information-updated-with-corrected-italian-typhoon-colours/ )

Download link is HERE

Friday, April 7, 2017

Impressions on X-Plane 11


The worst thing of being a flight simulation developer (well...apart from the sleep deprivation) is that you do not have much time to look and play with other people's creations.... there are literally dozens of aircrafts and add-ons that I'd really love to test, but I do not have the time. Let alone testing a completely new simulator.
So, I took a little break after the Typhoon release and had a look a X-Plane 11 while I am trying to decide what is better to do next... and here are my impressions. Please remind that this is X-Plane 11 Vanilla... no add-ons used.

Flight modeling
X-Plane series has always been famous for its flight modeling... basically, the flight model is derived from the "shape" of the aicraft, rather than numbers and parameters like in FSX/P3D. In some sense this is a much more elengant approach.
I do not know the intricacies of any of the stock aicrafts so well to tell "how good" they are - nor I have flown any of them for real... but the impression is that the all of the aircraft I tested had a very solid and realistic flight modeling. I have particularly appreciated the takeoff dynamics... for some reason I cannot explain they give you the best "takeoff run" feeling of any simulator I have ever tested. 

Graphics
The graphic it engine is impressive.... with a couple of drawbacks. Let's start with the things I did not like: the sea/water rendering, the stock textures and the day lighting. The water looks "fake" and a little flat - P3Dv3 makes a much better job in that respect (although still fa away from what modern graphics can do). And day lighting seems washed out - again P3Dv3 is superior in that respect IMHO... and actually Aerofly FS2 is even better - actually much better...it is the only one that manages to capture the intensity of a bright sunny day.
Stock textures are OK, better than FSX/P3D defaults (...not surprising as they are 10 years old!), but nothing to write home about.
And that's it for the not-so-great things...everything else is awesome.
The night lighting is miles above anything else - IT LOOKS REAL. And when you realize that even the cars in the streets have their own light source you marvel at this techical achievement.
Weather is also really good... and gives its best in the rendition of fog and low visibility conditions.
Another fantastic thing is the Autogen system. Much better, more flexible and more complete than FSX/P3D with an amazing level of detail (fantastic for helicopter flying!). By "flexible" I mean that it positions buildings and structures following the streets and the terrain features in a much more consistent and realistic way than FSX/P3D. Awesome job - with a minor note: the buildings look a litte tall, and there are not that many trees in italian cities and towns.
...and NO BLURRIES and NO STUTTERS.

Graphics performance
I would say it is very good to excellent. Sure, you I do not get the 200+ frames per second I get from AFS2, but if you consider how much is happening on the screen it is amazing. Sure, if you max out the sliders my old 3770k at 3.9GHz and the GTX1080 struggle to keep a smooth flight, but in general the performance is better than FSX/P3D in similar conditions.

Stock Aircrafts
Stock aicrafts are good, not great. The selection is OK and includes some planes specifically rebuilt for XP11, and some from previous versions. Considering only the XP11 aircrafts, they are good... I'd say they are great but the modeling and texturing (coupled with the "washed out" daylight rendering) makes it so that they do not look as good as stock AFS2 aicrafts. Still, they are way better than FSX stock aicrafts. In terms of systems and flight modeling they are really good for being stock aicrafts.   

Stock Scenery
EXTREMELY complete. Right out of the digital box you have the whole world, but the vectors and landclass definitions are much better than the stock FSX/P3D database - and they basically have a similar level of detail as ORBX Global Vector. Also, the default airports are much more detailed than in FSX and in general the stock scenery is way better. Still... the stock textures are good but not the best I have ever seen, and while the autogen is extremely detailed, some of its buildings look a little out of place (at least in Italy...but that is always the case in any simulator!).  

Weather
Weather graphical rendition varies from very good (cloud transitions) to excellent (fog). The effects in the aicrafts are just right - but my real life experience of flying in bad weather was really too short to judge.

Sound
Frankly the least impressive part of the package... it is not bad, but on my system it sounds OK but not great (maybe I am too much used to third party sound packages in FSX). Still, no complaints here.

Long story short:

LIKES
  • It is the most realistic and complete flight simulator you can buy for your home computer.
  • Night environment and lighting is absolutely superb.
  • Astonishing level of detail and scalability of the autogen system
  • Good stock aicrafts and extremely complete base scenery
DISLIKES
  • Daylight rendering looks a little washed out
  • Water rendering is not great
  • ...it does not have the same add-ons as FSX ;-)!
Final remarks:
If you are looking for a complete, serious and realistic simulation (and you have a modern, relatively powerful computer) - right now X-Plane 11 is probably the best thing you can buy.
Out of the box it is a solid, complete package that will give you hundreds of flying hours and fun.
You have to consider, however, that FSX/P3D add-ons availability is unbeatable...and new versions of P3D and Flight Simulator are likely to arrive in the near future. Also, P3Dv3 does a couple of things better than X-Plane 11 IMHO.
Aerofly Fight Simulator 2 has its own merits too - but at the current status of its development it is not as complete as the other contenders. Still has the best daylight rendering, the best aicraft models (graphically speaking) and delivers a conving Virtual Reality experience (which P3Dv3 and XP11 do not do with FlyInside). 

The night lighting is FANTASTIC - by far the best I have ever seen in a home flight simulation.

Cloud transitioning in a MD-82 - Weather rendition is very good to excellent. Cockpits are in general very detailed (but do not look as good as the ones in AF2).

Day lighting is not as bright as it should be. This is one of the few things I don7t like about XP11.

The Autogen system places houses and buildings following steets, highways and geographical features and delivers a convincing (but a little "fake"-looking) rendition. Vector database is excellent.

Sunday, April 2, 2017

Eurofighter Typhoon v1.00


Version 1.00 of the Eurofighter Typhoon has been released to distribution! At the moment the file is only available at SimMarket, but other distributors will have it online soon. Thank you all for your continued support!