Gecko6

Ok folks this is where I need to step in and give direction on what needs to be done next. Instead of trying to prove how hard this journey is going to be, the best thing is to get the team together and discuss this. What I can do is host a Team Speak server and allow everyone to connect to it for a Town Hall meeting. I will post the agenda and times here. We have several web tools to choose from but we need to figure out our teams process first before we settle for a tool. So let me get a TS server and stay tuned for further information. PS. I have had many folks offer their time and effort to such a project and I believe that this is going to be a launch pad for future Simulation Developers. So no one is excluded. Work hard and finish your assigned tasks and learn from the more experienced folks.

That is true except for the Phantom, Corsair, Tomcat, A-6, Thud, and others until we get some xp with coding radar and other more complex displays. Strike Fighters is the obvious launch pad for DCS moving forward.

Back at ya! : )

This would be very cool. Not sure how accurate any 3 view drawing would be.

Good points. I believe the UAV idea is worthy of discussion. For such a huge undertaking we would need to have a phased approach for sure. Phase 1 Get model out of Max and into the Modelviewer along with animations, textures, and .lods. Phase 2 Take aircraft and make it AI controllable and get them to fly effectively. Phase 3 Alpha of cockpit model in game and make air frame player flyable and interface it with DCS as a Mod. Get ED to review and begin steps towards license. This alone will take quite some time. Phases 4 though 12 will become increasingly more complex. I just want to reiterate that this is not going to be a 3 month effort were we can release a full bird in game. It will be a long term development cycle. The key is that we would need very dedicated resources that want to see it through the end.

Hell you can even use your efforts in this project as course deliverable s. : )

I concur with your view. The two air frames that I offered up were based on complexity of the on board systems and number of Countries that flew them. I am all for a WWII bird or even an OV-10. Even a OH-6 Loach as it is a single pilot bird. Key things that I feel should be taken into consideration for a first attempt. Single Seat. No Radar or MFD pages Multi-National flown air frame Multi-role in nature We should have a Wiki that explains in detail how to achieve success in that area. There needs to be a public and private "core team" area in such a site. This is mostly to retain data integrity and quality. What happens with open development is that we task folks to delver an object, code, or texture, etc... and then they disappear. So we need to keep those tasking very focused and manageable. Then the "core" team assembles / integrates the work done. We are on the same sheet of music and I am just the first one to stand up and attempt to attract interest. So far I have a list of 8 folks to include a Modeler, Audio, Scripter.

Of course I am pulling this out of the top of my head, but this is a list of roles needed to get out of the gate. Lead Modeler - Air frame, Cockpit, Pilot, LODS etc.... Texture Artist - All textures internal / external Avionics Lead - Cockpit instrumentation Release Manager - Project Lead Mod Packager - Bundling aircraft into DCS Mod file structure Flight Dynamics Coder - FM development LUA script coders - effects, instrumentation, animation, impact detection, weapon systems, internal systems (failure simulation), to name a few. As I have pointed out that these are all roles that can be filled by multiple team members and not limited to a single name. So we can ensure development when Real life steps in and pulls us away. It is not my position to scare anyone off but this is a serious effort and we will need to treat it as such if we hope to ever release anything. I am happy that this has met with such a positive response.

Now I have used some commercial names but I currently do not have a business ID but that is minor and way down the list of priorities. The fun thing is to come up with a Dev team name. Birds of Prey (BOP) Tactical Air Command (url = TACAttack) Light Tactical Vehicles (LTV) Ghost Squadron (GS) Feel free to provide ideas. But once the team is assembled it will be our final decision of course.

I have the ability to host project collaboration tools and I would gladly provide the working space. First step is to see who is willing and able to support such and effort. Secondly, we will have to begin to get our development framework up and running.

Ok all I have been sitting back contacting all of my old dev buddies from Strike Fighters days and most recently FSX and X Plane. I am the only one that Real Life has not pulled away from Sim Development. I see the Gazelle project took off very nicely and I am excited to see them grow. Is there anyone that would like to talk shop and possibly go into a public / joint venture? I have found two great starter aircraft that do not have radar or any complex systems to code as a first effort. For fixed wing I would propose the F-100D The model is awesome but heavy on the verts. It is showing that it has around 80k. Well above the 50k max target for DCS. But the price is very attractive. $20.00 USD. The Roter Wing that i would suggest is the AH-1S This girl would go perfect with the Hewy and I have always wanted to fly her in Real Life. This model is only 30k but the cost is $110.00 Reality I understand that this is a very long shot and momentum will be slow going but if we can muster a core team that really wants to build something great we can move forward. This is just a toe in the water and I have not done any research on licensing, logistics, or even documentation acquisition. Keep your posts positive and anyone can tell me I am full of shit or that my idea is stupid. The worst that can happen is one of the big dev houses beat us too it first and we still get the birds in DCS.

I have a few extra gauges and thought that I would post some pics to see if anyone is in need of them. They are A-7 parts but will work in the A-10A, F-4, A-4, B-52, UH1, AH-1 ect... Also I have an few extra B8 grips and an ESCAPAC II seat. To start off with I will show a few of the gauges that I have more extra. Next I will do the panels but they are A-7D specific. Sorry but my images are HUGE and poor quality. I will update this asap with much better images.

I have been stumped on how to call the effect and which lua script that I attach the effect. My guess was within the PlaneConst.lua. To get color and dispersion rate for the smoke is a tough nut to crack. Good news is that I am getting up to speed on my Lua scripting.

Very Nice! Not like you have been simming for ever :)

Great offer! I had not reached the point where I would need to have such a capability, but soon will be. You saved me allot of future heart ache Brydling!

When I was in Germany during Reforger I had come across a RAF Harrier FARP that was utilizing an American Drive in Theater and they were short taking off and landing inside the fence. I have to say it was pretty cool. I know we can import static objects so maybe you can have someone build a Soccer field and make it an Airport / FARP with in DCS? As for strike aircraft vs. ATA pukes. I am there with you guys. I am just venting I guess because Ron is bringing out the AV-8 before the A-7D. Again I look forward to fly with you guys and I am glad you have your bird on the way!

I have not figured out the draw of the AV-8 but I am not one to question others likes or dislikes. Farps are only square plots of land and you will need a rolling take off to get airborne with any respectable load out. You will need a road or hi-way to utilize and yet the ground road texturs float above the grass and will cause hell with any type of aircraft landing or taking off. The AV-8 is a very short legged, few shot wonder. I cannot see them being anything but victims of the Mig-29, SU-27 and 33. But I look forward to seeing them in game. What are your plans to employ the AV-8 and what missions are you going to fly?

Thank you monotwix for posting that. I enjoyed that very much. Nice to see the way aircraft come to be, Blue or Red. : )

Not sure if this is going to sound right but Fantails are sexy. :)

SLUF

HS that is a buy now price of 399? Who ever wants it better grab it up because you will not see one at that price in a hell of a long time. My A-7 throttles were almost that much. Good luck to who ever grabs it up!

Vampire. You confirmed what I suspected was going to be the issue. Connecting smoke intensity and length to rpm. I gave up on thrust connector for when you kick in the power in a high G turn and belching huge dark smoke. True I need to get up to speed on lua and I am willing to do so but I need a good mentor. :)

Will do. Good call. Any idea what they are called? (Found them) located in \Eagle Dynamics\DCS World\Scripts\Database\db_weapons_data.lua [26] = { CLSID = "{A4BCC903-06C8-47bb-9937-A30FEDB4E744}", Picture = "l005.png", displayName = _("Smoke Generator - white"), Weight = 220, Cx_pil = 0.00048828125, attribute = {4, 15, 50, 89}, Elements = { [1] = { Position = {0, 0, 0}, ShapeName = "AIM-9S", }, -- end of [1] }, -- end of Elements }, -- end of [26] Should be no problem getting them to smoke by replacing the ShapeName with the nozzles from the F-4. The tricky part is determine the lua code that can pull turbine RPM for each engine so we can turn on and off the smoke effect. Thanks for the idea.

The whole plan for this is to get used to and identify key files in preparation for adding a new flyable aircraft. I have learned allot and my comfort level is much better. Next step would be to bring in AI models for the missing Phantoms along with the clean skinning templates. Now if we want to take this effort to the next level? Then there are a whole new set of requirements, skill sets, and tools are needed. Here are a few screens of the higher rez default skins.

I have been tweaking the config files to give the AI abit more power to work with. I found that they were cruising just above stall speed and having to go to full AB to get back some Alt. Eventually they failed to plan ahead and became a dirt dart. Now they cruise right around 400 m/s and the attitude is more natural and not so nose high. The AB and heat blur effects have been tamed down to look more realistic. I have several USAFE squadrons in place but I am stuck on the following. Skins. The phantom model calls out 2 skins textures: ID=0 US SEA cammo but done in very low rez. ID=1 German Grey cammo that is also done in low rez. To date: I have raised the size of the texture from 512X512 to 1024X1024 I can call out both versions but cannot get the model to use the local .dds files and not revert to the global/textures. version. Until I figure out how the model calls the texture "which I believe is left over from Lomac" I am stuck with only two versions of the cammo. Options: Figure out how to ensure local squadron textures are used and not global. Work on a whole set of decals and use them to do the squadron paints. The other thing I am stumped on is how to get the engines to smoke. See this thread.http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=93289