Brit_Radar_Dude

The life span of Sims is much, much longer because new Sims come out so rarely compared to regular games (as Sims are a niche market). In addition, there is so much content in a Sim that you get so much more playing time out of it. Sims and their adherents are not typical the rest of the computer games market. The average Simmer is middle aged compared to the typical spotty 14 years olds who make up the target market of most computer games. Lockon came out in Winter 2003 and five years later I'm still into it. I've a bunch of other games that I bought at the same time or bought more recently that just gather dust on the shelf now - MoH series, CoD series, etc. You play 'em a couple of times and that's it. Fun when you get them, but not really replayable much. The constant stream of Mods from the Community helps keep a Sim alive too. I seem to recall reading on the Forum that the deal was that whilst UBI did indeed still own the Lockon name, ED were allowed to make one "unofficial" addon (plus patches to it) themselves - hence FC. I expect there was no patch number limit on that agreement, so ED are not prohibited by any deal with UBI from bringing out 1.13 if they so choose. More likely that staffing pressure on current and future projects will be the determining factor that would impact that. I'm sure that, despite the rave reviews that BS is getting so far (doubtless thanks to ED's attitude to get it as perfect as they can before release), there will be enough bugs eventually come up and a BS patch will be needed. Work on that, plus the next DCS modules, may curtail 1.13 despite ED's desire to do it.

deviletk - you said you have vanilla Lockon, I assume patched to v1.02, sadly for you TacView only works with Flaming Cliffs v1.1 or later, so won't work for you. You will have to make do with watching the track you made of your flight. If you open a track in the Mission Editor, then you can edit it and change views with F1,F2,F3,F4,F5,F6, etc, etc to get a better view of the fight from external views, missiles view, etc, etc.

You only get the diamond if you have marked that unit as a target using the TARGET button in the Mission Editor. Here is my standard cut and paste blurb about the diamond etc. Mission Editor Info related to Air to Ground What is the Diamond? The diamond is your Target Designator. It simulates that some forward observer has pointed a laser at the object to designate it as a target. Imagine we have some forward troops or recon that is on the ground and has spotted our target. They put a laser on it, and then we see the diamond in the HUD because our A-10 carries the Pave Penny laser tracker. That's the idea anyhow. Why is it there in some missions and not others? If the mission designer has set up an ATTACK waypoint and used the TARGET button to mark a particular target(s), then you will see the diamond as soon as you change to air to ground mode (7). If the target is out of the field of view of the HUD it will have an X through it. If you kill the target and there are multiple targets are set up, the diamond moves to the next target, and finally dissapears when you have killed all the marked targets. Some mission designers might only mark some or none of the targets you need to kill to get mission success, other targets may only be mentioned in the mission briefing. If there are multiple targets in a mission, you can swap the diamond between them by pressing ' key (depends on your keyboard - anyway it is the same key that swaps airfields when you are in NAV - RETURN mode). Be aware that if you set up some vehicles or ships in a group then the Mission Editor treats that group as a single item when you use TARGET button. Once you target it and then try to target another item in the group the mission editor will latch to nearest thing (usually a building) leaving you wondering what is going on. I still get caught out by this with ships as a group of them by default are quite spread out and they dont look like a group. I then try to target a second time and it targets a building a 100kms away! When you have a group targeted then if you kill the 1st in the group, the diamond will move to the next in the group etc until all destroyed then moves to next TARGET'ed unit/group. If there are multiple targets in a mission, you can swap the diamond between them by pressing ' key. But remembering what I said earlier about a group of vehicles being regarded as one target, then if you had two groups designated as targets, it will swap between the 1st in each group. you can't move the diamond along the column of vehicles. Doesn't stop you bombing them, but the diamond will always point to 1st in the group. This can be kinda confusing until you get used to it. Is it necessary to lock on by pressing TAB? All the diamond is doing is showing you where the target is located. You still have to attack it yourself with whatever weapon you choose. If you choose a Maverick then you have to lock it on, but if you use gun / rockets / dumb bombs, then obviously you dont. What is the ATTACK point? It is a type of waypoint, shown on the map as a triangle instead of the usual circle, in the Mission Editor(ME). As you fly your route it does not appear any different to other waypoints to you as a pilot. But used in conjunction with the TARGET button in the ME, it will cause targets to be diamond'ed. If the aircraft is an AI(computer flown) one, then it tells the AI when to begin an attack and what to attack. Do you have to reach a particular waypoint before you can lock on? No, but generally the mission designer will have chosen a particular waypoint (near to the target) as an attack waypoint. Some missions might have several attack waypoints if there are several targets. Before you fly a mission, look at the map, remember which waypoint is the attack waypoint (triangle) so you know where to start looking for the targets you are tasked to destroy. You might find there are enemy SAM/AAA defenses or enemy aircraft you have to kill simply to be able to get through to your actual mission target, keep your eyes and ears open for threats - the RWR (Radar warning receiver) can help. In one of the A-10 training missions there is the diamond to show you where to drop your weapon load but in the other using cannon and rockets there is no diamond. As I said above, sometimes the mission has been designed so there is a diamond, sometimes not. Is there a difference between targets and mission goals? The SUCCESS / FAIL at the end of a mission is caused by having used the Mission editor to set MISSION GOALS with the icon on the left of the screen that looks like a sniper sight. Also not all goals are that some target be DESTROYED, some goals are that a unit, group or target SURVIVES, this enables misson designers to make missions where you have to protect friendly units or defend a base. Having these as seperate actions means that a mission can have SUCCESS/FAIL goals set without necessarily having targets diamond'ed. Two examples - mbot's excellent UrbanThunder mission which has an attack waypoint, but no TARGETs assigned http://forum.lockon.ru/showthread.php?t=9039 or my Smerch Hunt mission, which has no attack waypoint at all... http://www.lockonfiles.com/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownloaddetails&cid=61&lid=36&ttitle=A-10_Smerch_Hunt#dldetails

Hey Frazer, excellent movie! Nicely different music to the usual Lockon movies and some great flying - very chilled out and relaxing to watch.....

Exactly. 50 bucks seems to match the PC game price in the UK where you pay even more for a new console game for your crap-Box or Piss-2.

Did you mean having the targets respawn? That isn't possible, I'm afraid. I suppose you could have a number of bandits set to take off from the enemy airbase at 5 minute intervals so the next bandit arrives after you have killed the previous one?

If you especially wanted B-52 to do your carpet bombing, try setting up a custom payload with just bombs internally in the bomb bay and nothing on the external pylons.

http://www.alasrojas.com/Descarga/lomac/ficheros.htm Not used it myself, but the above link to the Spanish site AlasRojas has a CVN-76 skin if you are bored with CVN-70.

BASE is what height the bottom of the cloud starts, THCKNESS is how tall the clouds are (above the BASE). However as I said in my earlier post these settings only seem to work for when you have a density of 9 or 10 to give total overcast. If you set the base of total overcast to 500m then that is exactly where it will be and you will even get a nice effect a little below that base height of patchy cloud When you set density 1-8, then the base never seems lower than about 2,000m. The THCKNESS doesnt seem to change the height of the clouds much either. Dont know if that is because I have cloud Mods loaded up, I'd need to check. Above them it says FOG, so no surprise that they affect the ground level fog/mist. ;) THCKNESS is the height above sea level it will reach. DENSITY is how hard to see through the fog is, it runs from - (no mist/fog) down to 5m (pea soup!!) Fig/mist obviously needs no BASE slider as it starts from ground level - D'Oh! Try experimenting with it. Fly over a hilly bit of Lockon terrain with various thicknesses of fog/mist, see how it partly fills the river valleys. Try different times of day as well, you can make Lockon look really pretty. If you spend the time to experiment with time of day (sunrise, sunset, night), clouds, fog, snow/rain, general visibility distance etc, you can get some great looking effects in Lockon. I already suggested in an earlier post that you try an instrument only landing challenge in near zero visibility, give it a go, it's real fun. :music_whistling:

Lockon is clever enough to know that there is only one Admiral K, so you cant add a 2nd one in the same group. It wont even let you add a 2nd Russian group with a (second) Admiral K in it. Ditto with the American CVN-70. It should also do the same for Russian frigate Neustrashimy as only one was built but they forgot that. If you look in .....\Lockon\ME\MEInit.xml and search for (eg) CVN-70 you will see it has a line that says singleton="yes". I assume if you edit to say "no" it would then allow you to add multiple carriers. As always back up first. A borked MEInint.xml will stop Lockon from running up - SO BACK UP FIRST!!!

That's just how it is, I'm afraid - kinda all or nothing. 0 gives no clouds, 1 - 8 gives scattered clouds with little difference between the settings, 9 or 10 gives total overcast. You have to be set to at least 5 to get precipitation ie. rain / snow. With settings of 1-8 the base seems to be never lower than a couple of thousand metres whatever you set the base. When you set 9 or 10 the overcast will go down as low as you set the base. This means it is possible to set up a really foul weather landing at an airbase by setting the ground fog and the cloud overcast to overlap to give you zero visibility. Good practice for instrument flying and landing. After a couple of minutes, you'll be sweating for sure - LOL!

Sales figures are commercially sensitive in most organisations. I would imagine ED to be no different.

Happy Birthday from across town - LOL!

LOL!! I think only Brits will have heard of Ross and Brand. Most everyone else wont get the relevance of the Manuel reference........

Go to Mission Editor. Top left of screen click the OPEN icon (or click File, Open). Bottom right TYPE OF FILE pull down menu, click the button and choose Saved States files Hope this helps....

I have never had "save states" work, most folks haven't. It appears to be borked. If you are bored flying to the part of the mission where the action is, try CNTRL/A to speed up the Sim for the boring bits. SHFT/A to go back to normal speed.

Here is some useful SAB-100 illumination time that I found on the Spanish lockon site - AlasRojas. ALTURA TIEMPO 1.000 m. 1:10 min. 2.000 m. 2:48 min. 3.000 m. 4:28 min. One thing you can do is have an accompanying AI jet armed only with illumination bombs that is targeted in the Mission Editor against your target. he does the illumination for you, so you can do the actual attack. You may need to experiment a little, I find that the AI don't always get the illumination exactly over the target......

Not enough night missions or campaignsare made, so I say put a few night missions in your campaign. You could have other flights dropping flares for you, so you have to make sure your time over target is accurate or the flares have burned out. AAA rather than SAM defenses as they look pretty at night when they fire at you.

Funny safety briefing on an aircraft. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=9ta9ltJGxjk&feature=related Japanese cops meet Darth Vader. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=0y9NfbTBqFA&feature=related John West Salmon advert. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=36ua-sSf4yk Football manager not happy with a player. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=51t293goB9o&feature=related Natalie Imbruglia Torn - mime by David Armand and Natalie at an Amnesty International benefit in London. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4TM3GbxaNLI

Sure. I can come to your house with the Mod whenever you like :music_whistling:

Rats!!! Only just seen this thread. I was in Birmingham visiting friends last weekend and could've gone if I had known.....

Basically, if you have more than one GROUP assigned to an airfield then the 2nd GROUP won't appear until all of the 1st GROUP have taken off and cleared the immediate vicinity of the airfield. The way round this is to make sure you are all in the same GROUP. Make yourself and some AI wingmen eg F-15's in one FLIGHT and add for example some air to ground F-16's in the other FLIGHT. Of course you will share the same waypoints. Make sure you are set to takeoff from parking area. Even though you share the same waypoints (of course your own aircraft and the AI wingmen in your FLIGHT don't have to follow them), you can be allocated different TASKS and even assigned different TARGET's from ATTACK waypoints. Alternatively, there are some bases very close to others, so you can have AI taking off (or landing) from a neighbouring base. For atmosphere, maybe have a friendly helo landing at your base as you taxi to the runway, have a couple of fuel trucks wandering around the base. Look for missions by a guy in the community called MBot, he is pretty good at adding atmosphere to an airfield with a few well placed static objects and moving AI vehicles / helo's / planes. Run the start of his missions to see how they look, then open them in the Mission Editor and see how he did it. Mbot mission pack link A problem you might find with certain airbases is that your aircraft will start in one part of the base, the AI might be clear across on the other side of the base. It depends on the base, the size of the aircraft - small AI jets will start from a HAS (hardened aircraft shelter) if there are any on the base. Also on some bases, the taxi time from the starting position (HAS or parking spot) to the runway can be a long time, the AI taxi at a fixed speed that you cannot alter. The taxi time can vary from a couple of minutes to over ten minutes :( I made an investigation into this - Taxi time link By placing static object aircraft to occupy parking spots, it is possible to amend which spots you/AI start on. Hope this helps....

http://img67.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture057qb0.jpg Left to Right - IguanaKing (Sean), Skopro_PL (Tomasz), Brit_Radar_Dude (Steve), 214th_Hitman (Kevin) and Sean's brother Mike (not a Lockon nut, but a good bloke). Picture by Sean with his cool camera with infrared remote control. That is what is in his hand pointing at the camera! Taken at the Rampart Shooting Range in Colorado Springs. As Fox said - it's great to meet other Lockon folks in the Community. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=KKY3TBWzB9I http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=bpGKK1ZUnAc&NR=1

Are you sure about that? I think maybe Classid of the Aircraft is wrong. I think it should be the CLSID of Carrier and CLSID of AircraftCarrier With Catapult. <LandRWCategories> <Category CLSID="{05708AED-329E-41c3-9C51-9CCE4AA09380}">Carrier</Category> </LandRWCategories> <TakeOffRWCategories> <Category CLSID="{A899CB38-FECC-46ef-9F85-165779669F56}">AircraftCarrier With Catapult</Category> </TakeOffRWCategories>