Reinstalling Windows, FSX and the SDK

Windows 7 performance assessment of my computer - My nerd side is relatively happy but needs a new super-fast hard disk to match the rest (...and I'm pretty sure FSX will still be sluggish :-) )

Unfortunately I had to face the failure of one of my hard disks - I had a backup of most of my source files, but I lost some part of my work on the F-35 and few minor tweaks of the F-14.

On the bright side, this forced a much needed system cleanup (format of the main HD and clean install of Windows XP, FSX and its SDK)... And the reason why I am writing this post is a "pro memoria". It is not the first time I do this, and I always face some difficulties in having the FSX modeling SDK work. It really annoying - and I know that some people approaching the SDK are let down by these issues. On the other hand, other persons do not have this kind of issues - which makes the whole thing even more frustrating for those who coul not manage to make the modeling SDK work.

If you follow the SDK instructions correctly - and they are correct! - you may still be unable to compile a model...for several reasons.
So, I am writing down all the "undocumented" steps you may need to take to make the modeling tools work (either 3D Studio or Gmax) with FSX.

1. In the international options you must have the numbers set in the "American way" that is a "dot" should separate the integers from the decimal, while the "comma" separates the thousands (e.g. 113,123.75) - this is the opposite of the "classic" Italian setting - for example. This may create issues in .xml files
2. Download and install the .NET FRAMEWORK 2.0 - If you do not the FSX exporter DLE will not work (and appears as "missing" in the modeling tools). .NET was not installed after my clean and genuine Windows XP SP2 installation
3. Download and install the DirectX 9.0 SDK - otherwise XtoMDL will not run (Note that the DX9.0 SDK version is NOT the same as the "regular" one)
4. Now you can complile your modeld and be happy

By the way, I've also installed Windows 7 64 bit, just for curiosity, and it seems to work fine. Given that, on my machine (i7920 and X295), Vista 64 bit made FSX run smoother (in DX10) than XP (by almost 9-10 fps with the same settings!), Windows 7 seems to work really good. Time for a OS upgrade? Not sure - may be some of my development tools don't work... Still, the new Windows seems good.

Updating the F-14D flight model

Just a quick note about the F-14 dynamics: I know that v1.00 dynamics are not that good - possibly with the exception of carrier operations. They were developed with carrier ops in mind, and relatively late in the project... and there are some major mistakes.

As I had received a "strong" negative feedback from one user, which was right in many respects, I decided to redo the dynamics by scratch. You know I take criticism seriously (well as seriously as it is reasonable for a videogame)... Long story short, a new flight model is being tested and it is not as bad as the previos one - I will release it shortly.

Few more screenshots of the Lighting II

F-35A for FSX - external modeling is almost done

A preliminary flight model is in place - and seems to work fine, provided that, of course, some of the data are estimated.

Most animations are implemented and seem to work correctly.

A couple of sleepless nights (for wrong reasons) meant significant progress in F-35 modeling. Outer model is almost done - everything is modeled,textured and animated with the exception of the weapon bays, the refuel receptacle and the special effects. Work on the virtual cockpit is just started - but modeling shoud not take much time as the F-35 'pit is extremely simple from the geometric point of view.

F-35 Lighting II - first screenshot

F-35A AA-1 over Fort Worth NAS (FSX - Scsney is MegasceneryX Dallas/Fort Worth)

As today is an unusually rainy day here in Genoa, I finally had the time to complete the main texturing of the F-35A model I am working on - so here is a picture. I'm posting just one image since the modeling is not complete (cockpit and weapon bays) and several parts are untextured yet (landing gear, part of the cockpit - and weapon bays of course). Basic animation is working - but it will be redone with custom sequences.

All the main textures are photoreal and up to 4096X4096 in resolution...this means you will have to modify the config file to allow for large textures....and this also means that the model takes a little longer to load.

For now, I'll stick with the AA-1 model (CTOL development aircraft). BF-1 (VTOL) and CF-1 (CATOBAR - rolled out few days ago) are not completely ruled out for now, but they are not scheduled so far. Albeit similar, those models differ substantially from the CTOL version...and unfortunately the differences are in critical areas for the 3D model... Besides, Iris Simulations is working on an F-35B...

I'll probably add a production model - provided that I will get reliable information on the changes planned to the AA-1 design (e.g. I know they are planning to change the nose gear door to a split one, and I think they are porbably moving the auxiliary exhaust nearby the engine nozzle from the top side to the lower one - my guess based on the fact that both B and C protos have in there).

As for a release date...it will be done when it will be done.

Experiments in specular mapping

F-14D for FSX:Acceleration with added specular mapping - I struggled to get an angle that could highlight the effect most. I gave it relatively "subtle" value so it is barely visible from most angles. I like it....and looks much better in motion.

Sunny weather here in Italy so I am spending most of my spare time on the beach rather than in front of a computer...Therefore my FSX design-work is proceeding veeery slowly. As you may be aware of, I am working on an F-35A model. As there is some chance this may become my first payware project, I am trying my best to make a top notch model - I want it to include every "bells and whistles" allowed by FSX - and so I decided to spend some of my time on testing things I am not really good at or never implemented at all.

One thing I never employed successfully in my models is specular mapping. Basically, for those who do not know, specular map is a texture map which defines what will be the color, the intensity and the sharpness of the reflection of the material on a point-by-point basis. This was not possible in FS2004 and allows some very cool specular effects.

I never implemented it on my models as, in the tests I did, I felt it provided an excessive shininess of the surfaces. On the other hand there are some really coold models out there that use it with extremely good effects - so it had to be there for the F-35....hence I used the Tomcat as a testbed for this effect.

After few attempts I realized what I was doing wrong - and it was the base color of the specular map: to achieve a good looking modern-military-paint reflection you should use a very dark specular map. In the example shown in the pictures, the specular map was obtained by taking the diffuse map. darkening it by 50-70 "units" and applying an uniform alpha channel of 64 value. Obviously, if you are less-lazy than me, you could have tuned both on a per-pixel basis. Specular power was set to 30 (raising it and/or the alpha will result in smaller hotspots - which tend to highlight the mesh defects - better to avoid that IMHO).

The specular model will be part of the next update. And the F-35 will be shown (in pictures) as soon as the main texturing is complete: I am making a 4096x4096 photoreal texture for the fuselage and wings by "assembling" hi-def photos...results are good - but process is slow.

IL-2 Sturmovik:Birds of Prey demo impressions

IL-2 Sturmovik demo - available now on X360

I was very curious to test the demo of Birds of Prey - which promised to be the first attempt to serious flight simulation on consoles in a while...so I downloaded it as soon as I got back home yesterday and played it for a while...

The demo consists of a brief tutorial and two missions: an air defence mission on a Spitfire over the Dover cliffs and a ground support mission on a P-51 in Germany.

The initial impression was of a huge disappointment: the demo starts in "arcade" mode and it is basically "Ace Combat WWII" (albeit more realistic in flight model and gunnery). Usual console flight-action and much disappointment.

Once you have completed the tutorials or a mission, the demo unlocks "realistic" and "simulation" modes: of course I immediately switched to "simulation" and it made huge difference. For example you cannot use external views, nor you have any kind of markers on targets or waypoints. Damage model is realistic, and its effect on maneuvering is reasonable. Much more important, the flight model is challenging: ham-fisted yoke handling will result in plenty of stall and spins - by the way, spin-recovery works in the proper way. Plane handling raises the biggest question mark on the simulation mode and it is control peripherals. Flight sticks are rare among X360 owners (and not widely available in shops) and controlling the plane with the pad does not feel right: the control scheme is weird with some good points (triggers to "zoom" the view and fire -ala Call of Duty) and some bad ones (right thumbstick controls both throttle and rudder...)

What I like:

• Finally a serious attempt to bring a flight simulation on XBox 360.
• Graphics: plane models, cockpit and landscapes are generally wonderful and the game is smooth.
• Unforgiving flight models in simulation mode.

What I do not like:

• Gamepad control is definitely not good enough for simulation mode
• Graphics: special effects (like water reflection, gunfire or smokes) are mediocre
• Some artistic licence in cockpits, liveries, historical accuracy and realism (e.g. no blackouts, redouts or g-loc)

All in all,being a PC-simmer I am not sold on this one. But it is a good attempt - so good that I was trying to hit the "ESC" key of the PC keyboard (sitting next to the 360 pad) to go back to the menu. Worth a second look.

Last, I understand producers wanted to underline the legacy to the "Sturmovik" series...but really does not make much sense to keep Sturmovik in the title. Aside, "Birds of Prey" reminded me of an old simulation game I used to play on Amiga. It was great...but definitely too ambitious for that time...

http://www.lemonamiga.com/?mainurl=http%3A//www.lemonamiga.com/games/details.php%3Fid%3D163

On the near future of flight simulation...

Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of IL-2 Sturmovik show some beautiful scenery and plane detail

Cockpit details are amazingly good

Ok, do not panic. It is hard to admit, but it is happening. Finally a console game that looks like it could be called a simulation... The Sturmovik series is heading towards several gaming devices including Nintendo DS and Sony PSP - but we don't really care about those handheld toys :-)...

The main thing for us (us meaning responsible adults who spend a considerable amount of time pretending flying airplanes) is that the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions look really good. And if the previews around the internet are to be considered a serious indicator, they are probably the closest thing to a PC-sim ever.

Sure some compromises have been done, like 100x100km "chunks" of scenery or like some deviations from historical accuracy done for the sake of balancing the difficulty (the latter point has already started some "flame wars" in several forums).

I am still skeptical - but I have to confess it is mainly because I don't like WWII warbirds too much... if we were talking about a Korean or Vietnam wars scenario I would be completely sold on this one.

How will the X360 pad work? What is the actual level of realism? How deep and dynamic will the campaign mode be? Well, as PC simmer I must be skeptical. But, we have to confess that the PC-simulation genre is becoming more an more a "niche" in the videogame world (and it wasn't like that in the good-old-times) and the only interesting things in a while have been Rise of Flight and DCS:Blackshark (both from Eastern Europe like Arma II btw).

Maybe the console user-base can give new momentum to flight simming...

Official IL-2 Sturmovik:Birds of Prey here:

http://www.il2game.com/

PS For those wondering about the F-35...Well, it is coming very nicely but I've got the main landing gear bay completely wrong. I will remake it and then make a wip update.