Ilya Yevchenko posted an update at the IL2 Sturmovik website:
know many of your are anxious to see more progress shots of Pacific Fighters. Here's a few shots showing of some of the exciting things we've gotten done in the past few weeks:
* Added a lot of new planes, including the B-29 Superfortress and the flyable A6M2-N Rufe (a floatplane version of the Zero); * Implemented openable canopies. You will be able to toggle the canopy open/close at any time during flight; * Implemented folding wings. AI aircraft further down the cue will start on carrier decks with their wings folded up, and will fold them down when their turn to take-off comes up; * Implemented pitching and rolling carrier decks. This will depend on weather - in clear weather the decks will be virtually static, while in rough seas it'll roll quite violently and make carrier landings even more complicated.
Those of you who can visit us at the National European FlightSim Aviation Show in the UK will see all this plus many more exciting things, such as the attack on Pearl Harbor on our beautiful Hawaii map, and of course a chance to discuss the project with Oleg Maddox himself.
Red Dog started working on navigation charts for Falcon 4.0:
We (Jaillie and me) have the project to create approach charts package for each major airport in Korea for Falcon 4. I did this for Lomac (Crimea) and I feel it would be a great addition to the Korean navigation volumes of my checklists.
Each major airport would have his own package of approach chart (mainly TCN/ILS approach when TCN are collocated or visual/ILS when there's no tacan), Departure chart and airport diagram chart.
As you can imagine, this would be a tremendous work since the airports are pretty different in F4 than in real life. I use real life navigation charts to make these but they need to be heavily modified.
The first one for Osan airbase is already finished and can be found
HERE
The latest patch for US/UK versions of LOMAC is now available.
This is the second patch for Lock On: Modern Air Combat and is designed to address many of the bugs identified following the release of the V1.01 patch. This patch has enhanced the game by providing better performance and stability and enhanced or added additional features.
IMPORTANT: Please take a look at the Read Me file for a list of updates and fixes. There are many changes to Lock On as a result of this patch and the Read Me file will provide you with detailed information. You will have to re-set your graphics options and re-configure your input devices following installation of this patch. Several key commands have changed and are noted in the revised KeyCommands.doc that is installed to the /Doc sub-directory. Summary of Changes:
Enhances Radar Warning Receiver functions Added Mission Goal/Score/Status Window for both Single and Multi-player Multi-player scoring system added Added new CCRP bombing mode for U.S. aircraft & “aeronautical mode” for Russian aircraft Improved performance of AGP-63 Radar for the F-15C Improved the performance of the AIM-120 AMRAAM. Corrected network speed selection settings Several new single-player, multiplayer, and training missions were added New controller axes added Revised scripting language used for many settings. PLUS many, many other adjustments, improvements, and features. Please consult the Read Me file for exact details.
There was posted a great article at the FreeFalcon 3 website about the ATO:
FF3 includes some updated ATO enhancements that began with the FF2.1 patch and is a continuation of the ATO edits that began with FF1. To better understand what the data edits are, one needs to understand how the following files impact the ATO and what edits the FF Team has done to improve the quality of the campaign ATO/mission generator.
Thanks to SimHQ for posting info on the third installment of the Airborne Assualt series. Here is a preview of the article:
"Conquest of the Aegean™ covers the entire Greek Campaign, where German, Greek, Italian, British and Commonwealth forces fought to halt the oncoming blitzkrieg before the start of Operation Barbarossa. Also included is the follow-on airborne-led assault on Crete, which proved to be a gamble for the Germans, but a very successful one. This tough island campaign pulls no punches as both sides fight tooth and nail to achieve success by holding the critical airfields. Finally, the road not taken… Malta was a thorn in the Axis side in the Mediterranean for the entire war. Planes based on Malta proved crucial to protecting British supplies and hindering German and Italian supply routes. While plans were discussed to attack this bastion, they were never executed. Conquest of the Aegean™ gives you have the ability to give the green light to the attack on Malta and fight as either side to see how things might have turned out."
Ratty announced today the release of a patch to replace the SP4 missile data with the SP3 data:
This is a stand alone version of Ratty's missileFix BMS data v1.61 but without the BMS stuff.
So if you have vanilla Sp4 or Sp4.1 with cockpits, Hitiles, or whatever installed or not and you want the old Sp3 missile set then this is the file for you.
Today the new Fighter Ops site and forums were launched:
Along with the rest of the Fighter Ops team I am extremely pleased to announce the new website and forums. You are now sitting in an F16C on runway 3L at Nellis AFB Nevada. Have a fly around your new home and see what interesting things you can find, I am sure you will enjoy the changes we have made and will have fun exploring the new features. You will find the first screenshots of the work in progress on the terrain engine via the "recon" button on the left MFD. Now that things are starting to ramp up screenshots and announcements will be much more frequent, so strap in, kick the tires and light the fire, it's going to be a great ride!
Please help us in thanking our new Webmaster Patrick "Slammer" Konsor and our new Artist Juergen "Dingo" Lautenschlaeger for all their FANTASTIC work making the new webiste and forums a reality.
The SP4.1 BMS data was released 2 days ago by Ratty:
Whats in the file:- updated BMS friendly HDR file (Thanks for heads up Mike Rivers) SA bar fix (Thanks Rufus Parsons) enabled zbuffering for all 3d cockpits Maverick Altitude adjustment for launch vehicle (thanks Ktel) graphical stuff for aircraft Sound/graphical stuff for F16's (Thanks mirv for help and adjustments) Sp4.1 move speed adjustments (Thanks to Ktel) Also added ability to revert to Sp3 missile set.
'm very happy to inform you that F4AWACS v1.1 is available for download. F4AWACS is a program that can display in a map, all the real-piloted aircrafts, that are flying in Falcon 4.
Today there was posted an new article at the FreeFalcon site about some new planes that will be in FF3:
The Free Falcon Team is pleased to announce the addition of over 20 new aircraft and helos to Falcon 4.0. One goal of FF3 is to bring the aircraft and weapons selections in Falcon 4.0 up to a 2005 standard. Several new aircraft and weapons are scheduled to become operational in the year 2005. Some of these are true 5th generation fighters like the EF-2000, Rafale-B & C and the F/A-22A. The JAS-39 and the Rafale-M are already in service with the Swedish Air Force and French Navy respectively. The new aircraft in FF3 represent months of research, data base work, modeling and skinning and should be good additions to TEs or campaigns. While there are some limitations to simulating new aircraft that have classified performance parameters, intense research was conducted in an effort to provide the most realistic simulations possible.
In case you missed it BBall updated his column earlier this week with a memorial day tribute. Here's a snip;
Many of the incredible men and women that performed these feats of courage and resolve are still with us, and many hundreds are passing on each day. Still we honor them. Their sacrifice both on the battlefield, and on the home front, is as astonishing today as it was back then. Lest we forget the pain not borne of battle, they that sent these children to fight suffered too, but in a less violent fashion. The agony of a Mother or Father whose home was adorned with a star in the window cannot be understated….those wounds never heal. Our world has taken sixty trips around the sun since that fateful Tuesday morning in June of 1944, and once again young men and women are bleeding on foreign shores. Memorial Day this year has touched my family in a way that I had not given much thought to ‘till recently. Please allow me to explain as I give my tribute to the men and women of the D Day invasion....
Eric "Snacko" Marlow has sent me an old Falcon video that he discovered whilst going through his hard drive. Here's what he had to say about it.
Hi all - I was recently pouring through some of my old archived files and I ran across this video. Though a bit dated, I thought I would share it with the community. This video was used for various internal Falcon demonstrations, and was created as a "proof of concept" regarding how best to create videos that could be shown through the various media sources. It was never released to the public and pre-dates much of the community add-on efforts.
While viewing the video, it brought back a lot of memories. Check out the "large shadows" when the aircraft are on the ground - that should give you a sense as to how long ago the video was developed ;-) The cockpits are not the high-res cockpits found today, and the 3D models are the originals. But in the end, the video does show of what Falcon originally had to offer, and it did so with a "fun" music video feel to it.
In recognition of Memorial Day 2004 - Enjoy!
Snacko
Thanks to "Crash" for being my wingman and helping me film some of the scenes.
