LawnDart

Thanks! When you change the aspect ratio in the config file does it crop the screen or does it actually display in widescreen from side-to-side with correct aspect ratio? Yup, looked at Dell LCD's too. Very nice, especially the 30" screen. Too bad I haven't found as good of a deal on one of those... LD

Anyone know how lockon plays or looks in 1680x1050 (or which setting is the closest avail)? Looking at a great deal on one of these, but not sure... http://viewsonic.com/products/desktopdisplays/lcddisplays/xseries/vx2025wm/

capttrob, Don't mean to pry or go too far OT, but where are you at now (considering ACA's and more recently, Independence Air's demise)? I've had the windshield on the ERJ go "ka-boom" and shatter into a spider-web pattern on my side at 30K once. That certainly gets your attention! BTW, the windshield heat on the "Urge" is 28VDC. LD

http://forum.lockon.ru/showthread.php?t=15207&page=2&highlight=virtual+thunderbirds

Part of certification test flights. I've seen the same kind of video for the plane I fly, the ERJ-145 and its certification, but without the same grim results (still quite hair-raising though). Basically a carrier landing without the strengthened gear to and support to handle it... I bet the test crew still left skid-marks in their pants after that one though!!! :D

Aha! That sums up exactly what I've found so far to be true. The same track I've been using plays back fine for anyone that has the Eng Web version, but it's 50/50 if they're using the Eng CD version of "Flaming Cliffs". It's not conclusive yet, but this seems to be the only "true" statement trying to get to the bottom of this bug and having our guys playback the track that seems to have this anomaly. In other words, it comes down to differences in installation... BTW, there's a thread in our forum that discusses the same topic, click here! Do you know of any other track bugs Bublik? You'd be the man to ask... Also, I'm well aware (like someone mentioned above) that the tracks are just "re-creations" of the events that took place and occasionally it can play back incorrectly if your not careful or fast forward too fast. I've never had that problem and even in tight-tight formation the multi-player tracks always seem to come out just the way you flew it. In single-player (formation) however with AI aircraft, they never play back the way it happened! LD

It's cool until someone dies, then not so cool! I love this kind of stuff, but at some point the pilot stops being SH and just foolish attempting dare devil stunts like these. And as far as the people on the hill... Yeah, they knew they had put themselves in that situation; however, I remember an Air Force accident where this exact type of thing happened and the people knew the pilot. They put themselves right where he said he'd be "showing off" (i.e. trusting him) and unfortunately half of them got injured and burnt and one person died from severe burns. I hope the pilot in this movie wasn't using any kind of AB (whether it be low or high), cause if he did, he sure as hell would have fried a few folks on the ground! Heck, even in military power he could have caused major burn injuries for the people. They knew, but really... it's not their fault for being there! Poor pilot judgment and the flying really wasn't that great, just cool cause he's a dumbass! LD

Very nice shots! Where can you download these skins? LD

I've come across a rather annoying track-file bug. I record a track while flying in formation and I can play it back on my computer without problems, but if I send it to someone else my plane flies the "profile" I flew, but "detached" from the Lead airplane or diverging further away the longer the track plays. The same is true in reverse. If the Lead pilot sends me his track, we "separate" and fly in far apart "in formation" but not as tight and close as it was recorded. Sometimes, the longer the tracks play the more we diverge from one another, when in reality we stayed in tight formation the entire time. When I watch Lead's track on my computer, this anomaly occurs and vice versa; however, while watching the track produced by the machine where it's played back, it runs just fine! Any ideas? I thought first it had something to do with zip or rar used to transfer the trk files due to compression, but that seems to not be the case as this still happened after transferring the trk file uncompressed, rared and zipped, all yielding the same results and bug. Version 1.12a was used on all machines. The only difference aside from system specs is that both the CD and Web version of Flaming Cliffs were used and their respective patches. Does anyone know why this track playback anomaly happens and the remedy for "drifting away into space" during playback? LD

Very nice maneuvering and beautiful skins!!!! :D Keep it up and tell your "mouse-wingman" he's insane! ;) LD

Dunno, compare the "standard" version to your movie "Tomcat Tribute" and see how the quality compares. For the standard version I was using 640x480 for the workspace and render, but the original frap footage was still 1152x864. That would be my guess, why it's clearer if it is... I'd be more than happy to help your already awesome movies get better any way I can!!! :D LD

Thank you and everyone for their positive feedback! Few people besides the real Thunderbirds probably understand how much time and commitment this takes. Each pilot has easily flown more than 50 hours per month during the past year in practice. I'd be glad to talk about that all day long, but the info is already available for those interested and can be found at our site: www.virtualthunderbirds.com Once again. Appreciate the feedback and yes, we're as anxious as everyone else to get the full movie out. There's just not enough time in between my real flying job, life and everything else.... but it's coming...:cool: LD

This project started about two weeks ago when I had too much footage I wanted to show the other guys and no good way of sending them massive chunks of video. I started putting together a short promo and it ended up being what you see! It all just happened by "accident"... The long awaited movie everyone is referring to (we know!!! trust me, we know it's overdue, but we're a lot closer now! ;)) will be much longer and feature full maneuvers for the entire High Show, sound FX etc etc. We want it to look and feel just as if you're going to an airshow and not miss a beat. So, to answer your question: No, this is not the movie! LD

Yup! Is that what you normally do? LD

Wow, such big words from the master himself!! :) Believe it or not, this was actually my first ever render from Lock-On and the first time I've used Vegas to make a movie too. All things considered it turned out quite well. I'm nowhere near a pro of any kind, I just know what I want. ;) Shoot me an email: lawndart@virtualthunderbirds.com and I'll fill you in on any details not covered, but basically I frapped in full size, 8x AA & AF, maxed out quality settings and made sure I still had a minimum of 15fps while running the frap engine. Granted it takes a powerful rig to do this! The render is at 3M, 29.97 fps, 5 keyframes per sec, 8 sec buffer, 100% sharpness and formatted (properties and render) to 1280x720. The original frap footage is even more clear than the end result, cause I gave it some blur FX and ray FX among a few things to give it more of a presentation feel, rather than a clear view. I certainly have some questions for you too about FX and techniques you've used in Vegas! We're gearing up to get started editing our monster movie (possibly 30+ minutes) now. Gimme a holler at the addy above! Regards, LD

News Flash: Announcing our brand new video: Virtual Thunderbirds Airshow Promo 2006 "Airshow 2006" comes in two versions for your viewing pleasure "standard 640x480" and "HD 1280x720". The HD version can be found through our movie page. Also hosted and available from www.lockonskins.co.uk and www.patricksaviation.com. A special thanks to our sponsor and partner, Thrustmaster and Guillemot Inc.

Ha ha! Good call... but all intentional of course! For those who don't know, the Thunderbird Lead Solo or #5 flies up-side-down in most of the formations and has the number painted up-side-down for that reason. Even on the pilot's flightsuit he wears it up-side-down and when they put their helmets on the shelves they turn his backwards with the back facing forward. Just one of those small perks for the Lead Solo... ;) Thanks for eveyone's comments! LD

Unfortunate timing. We're aware and it should be fixed shortly...

News Flash: Announcing our brand new video: Virtual Thunderbirds Airshow Promo 2006 "Airshow 2006" comes in two versions for your viewing pleasure "standard 640x480" and "HD 1280x720". The HD version can be found through our movie page. Also hosted and available from www.lockonskins.co.uk and www.patricksaviation.com. It's time to show what we do, what we've been up to and what we'll be bringing to a screen near you very soon! This promotional video showcases our type of flying, upcoming full lenght feature presentation and the kind of live demo coming directly into your home in '06! We know we've been quiet for some time and this is only a small amount of what we have in store for for airshow season 2006. This is our way of kicking it off with this promotional video. Thunderbirds Let's Run 'em Up! A special thanks to our sponsor and partner, Thrustmaster and Guillemot Inc. As always, additional information about us, The Virtual Thunderbirds, LLC, our sponsor or for Q & A's about our squad, joining or participating in this type of flying check us out @ www.virtualthunderbirds.com and visit our forums. Additional news *Uploaded on our audio page are brand new, 2006 Real World Comms from the Florida International airshow in Punta Gorda, FL. *Our OPS manual, found on our files page is updated better cover the entire callout and sequences of callouts the real pilots use during their demo. *Brand new screenshots, a.k.a Big Formations can be found in our image gallery, showcasing many 7/8-ship formations including "Texas-T" and "Big Arrow" and more. Press Release #1: Announcing Partnership between Thrustmaster and the Virtual Thunderbirds On behalf of the entire Virtual Thunderbird organization I would like to announce a groundbreaking partnership between the Virtual Thunderbirds, LLC and Guillemot Inc., makers of the Thrustmaster HOTAS Cougar F-16 flight stick. We are honored to be the first virtual demonstration team to endorse a top of the line product such as the HOTAS Cougar. Each of our pilots uses the HOTAS Cougar, and all Cougar sticks sold in Comp USA stores will feature a sticker of our Diamond formation on the box that states "Used exclusively by the Virtual Thunderbirds". In addition to endorsing what we feel is the best stick available, this partnership will allow the Virtual Thunderbirds to reach the lofty goals we have set for ourselves such as hosting our own live airshows, continued production of the finest airshow demonstration movies in the industry and the possibility of appearing "live" at certain trade and airshow venues. We appreciate the interest all of you have shown over the past year. This partnership demonstrates to the entire aviation community that we are serious about maintaining the level of Virtual Thunderbird perfection that we strive for each and every day. Press Release #2: Announcing the Virtual Thunderbirds Public Ventrilo Server Instead of keeping to ourselves completely, you can now join our voice comms Ventrilo server and meet others with the same interests, chat or use it for your own formation flights. You'll need to download the client from www.ventrilo.com and use a headset. To join our server click on the link on our contacts page and it will start up Ventrilo for you and log onto our server. It automatically saves the server in the server list for next time under the user name you created with your settings. All the cyan colored channels are open for everybody including the training channels for anyone wanting to host their own formation aerobatics session and use our server for comms. The red channels require a password (don't bother asking for it). We hope this will allow both us as well as you to hang out, fly and chat once in a while. Enjoy! The Virtual Thunderbirds | Crossing into the blue in pixels

I know in the past (previous versions of LO:FC) the unofficial suggested speed for hosting/clients to use was always 128/128 for online multiplayer, but with the latest patch and its increased stability I was wondering if that recommendation has changed? I'm aware how each ones bandwidth has a lot to do with this as well as the server and I'd do some testing myself if I had the time right now, but I need a quick answer for the time being if anyone has a anything new to recommend or stick to the old prooved 128/128kbit upstream/downstream to use with 1.12a? Regards, Lawndart

First of all: Sharp flying guys! Keep it up! I've found that I can frap using 8x AA (Anti-Aliasing) and 16x AF (Anisotropic filtering) as long as I disable SLI. That's the difference between frapping at 22fps vs 8fps for me. IDK why SLI enabled causes such a big drop in fps while frapping? Without capture on, I get 4-5 times the fps from outside views (i.e. 70-90 fps). I've heard others with similar fps drops using 7800 GT's, but even with my old sys I'd get a considerable fps drop while capturing. So, Alias, if you have a SLI enabled system try turning SLI off before frapping next time and then lower the AA and AF as well as other quality settings for your graphics card if it's not enough. As long as you can get a 30 fps end result (rendered), you'll be fine. In other words, if I frap at half speed and get 15 fps while capturing, I can speed it up in Vegas (2x) and achieve a render @ 30 fps for the final edit. My last tip would be to save the raw AVI's to a different partition from the one you have fraps installed on. If you have two harddrives, use a different drive as the target directory! Lawndart

Anyone else see random explosions in 1.12a multiplayer? Had this happen a few times last night. Flying over Kirovskoye and suddenly there are a few major smoke stacks and fireballs on the ground around the airport. Some clients could see them, while others couldn't. Restarted and the same thing happened again later the same night. 2 out of 4 clients could see a massive fire over the airfield that randomly showed up anywhere between 30 minutes to 2 hours of flying, while the other clients saw nothing. Anyone else have this happen? As you know, we don't use any weapons what-so-ever, we don't even have them mapped to our HOTAS sticks... Lawndart

Flew 4 different sorties last night, 3 with 6 pilots in Delta and none of our tracks had any abnormalities. We all run clean installs with 1.12, just our mod and no firewalls. Have not seen any difference in the tracks from what happened in the flight. Hope that helps... Lawndart

Check router/modem settings, firewalls and server settings etc. Just tried a flight and didn't drift more than usual from lead... 1-2 feet, all pilot induced and correctable. Will try again later on tonight and if I find something I'll post again, but so far nothing of this sort... Lawndart

MonnieRock, You just beat me to it. I was just about to say that this awesome coaster is at Cedar Point. They have another heart-stopping coaster called the Millenium Force, among the other 12-13 coasters in that park. Check 'em out! http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/inside_park/rides/thrill/rollercoasters.cfm Also, that chick wet her pants elsewhere. That pic has been circling around the net for years... :p