Gambit21

I’d be happy with some basic ground crew models with standing/casual animations that can be placed as needed.

The airfields actually flashed a light beacon in Morse. Do we have such a light in the editor? Haven’t looked yet.

Superb job - excellent module. Just sitting in the cockpit and starting her up is a treat. Looking forward to getting into some tight spots and scaring the wits out my Alligator.

In simple terms UV’s are a flattened/2D version of the mesh. This mesh can then then be painted on etc, and the texture is simultaneously applied to the 3D model, or is applied importing.

Aye, but a Solomons/Slot map would be a different deal/theater than New Guinea. New Guinea is huge, the Slot is huge. Hard to beat 'The Slot' though...daily brawls between Wildcats and Zekes, float planes...

I can't remember which of my books I read this in, might have been "Fire In the Sky" by Eric Bergerud...anyway a pair of P-38's encountered a lone Oscar down in the South Pacific...I forget exactly where. Both P-38's took turns making gun passes, repeatedly...but the Oscar pilot evaded every time. Finally after 20 minutes or so the P-38's gave up and went home. I'm more of a Zero guy, but I love that little story.

If you’re talking about “E-Sports”, ego driven “good” players and air quake servers than sure - but that was never my thing. Otherwise players fly what appeals to them historically or emotionally - good players or other wise. Also I didn’t say that I “found” suckers - I said just about every pilot encountered fell into this trap. A disciplined Corsair pilot will own a Zero yes. Also you’re correct in the sense that no ego-driven pilot only out to boost his score would likely choose a Zero. Many of us don’t fall into that category however and would do just fine with it.

My statement is made on past experience. I flew the Zero extensively, many, many, many times against the mentioned opponents in a different time and place. I lost very few fights, and I even came out on top when outnumbered more than once for a simple reason I'll outline below. Granted this wasn't a perfect simulation of these aircraft - I get it. Relative differences were in the ballpark enough however to make a statement on this. Point is, it's more than a match in multiplayer - why? This is because most online pilots, including those flying Mustang or Corsair etc will succumb to their ego, or simple lack of discipline. Even if they know that they shouldn't get sucked into a knife-fight, they will...it happens almost every time. Whether they do it out of ignorance, or because they figure "just this once" or "I'm good enough to pull it off"...whatever the case is, they almost always will make this mistake...and the Zero pilot will have them cold if he's good. I lost count of how many Mustangs, Corsairs and Hellcats etc I shot down elsewhere in that "different time and place" despite my supposed disadvantages. I had all of the advantages I needed when I could dictate the fight, and I almost always was able to dictate the fight. On the flipside when I flew I Corsair I could also dictate the fight and stay away from the Zero's guns at will, but then I had discipline. Bottom line most online pilots will allow themselves to get pulled into a low and slow brawl and the Zero wins. So that's the real difference between the actual war and PvP online play. That said, the A6M5 was a legit threat against even early Hellcats...make no mistake.

Once again, simply not true.

That is simply not true.

Just as the title says - How does one display text/radio messages on the left, instead of the right side of the screen...I’ve seen it done. Any help appreciated.

Careful what you wish for - that can be a giant resource hog. I’ve seen the results of this elsewhere and it’s not all good news.

You can get up and running in the Viper, and dropping dumb bombs in an evening. That means cold start, take-off, drop a few bombs, straf. Nav can be another evening. That said, consider the F-14 as well...it's a fantastic module. Fly the Hornet for an hour, and spend 30-45 minutes tinkering with something else.

Let me put it this way. I wish the current F-15 was already full-fidelity - but it's not. So then given the development cycle, going forward there are other things I'd rather see over the next handful of years...like an AH-1, or an F-4, or Skyraider, or an Akagi carrier, a Zero, a Wildcat....or a UH-60...and on and on.

The F-14 is about the perfect airplane, it's a wonderful module - just beautiful. You have a greater connection to the aircraft, it rumbles, it shakes, it gives you feedback, it straddles nicely the period between the F-4 and the 4th gen fly-by-wire fighters. If you're used to flying WWII fighters (like I was) you'll wear it like a glove. If you're used to yanking on FBW aircraft then you'll have to adjust a bit. It IS "visceral" though like Spurts said above...good description. Just like early-war WWII aircraft are more visceral than late war WWII aircraft, (I've often used this term to describe them) so the Tomcat is more visceral than later fighters...HB did a great job with capturing that. Plus it's the only aircraft with Top Gun music playing in your head when you fly it...so there's that. By the way I'm finding the Viper fairly intuitive, easy to pick up...there's no reason to not fly both the Viper and the Tomcat. Whatever you do though...fly the Tomcat.

If any real life Apache guy is interested in being a SME for me, please end me a PM. I have Jay Stout for the Hornet, and T-Day and an older A-model guy/friend of mine for the Viper, I don't have an Apache guy yet. This campaign is A. a ways out.... just doing ground-work right now on nights that I need a break from the Viper build and testing. B. will feature a lot of armed recon, border patrol, some maritime patrol, CAS, supply interdiction/hitting convoys and other things I'm sure that haven't been thought of yet. This isn't an "all out" land battle/war scenario, but we'll work on some armored convoys etc. Early days still. I'll need help with proper comms etc. If interested I can tell you more about what I've done previously via PM or email - this isn't my first rodeo.

I see. well if it’s not part of the Viper/Hornet/F-15E early 90’s timeframe (forgot the Mud Hen earlier) and I’m moving it forward, then at that point I might as well call it 2002 - 2007 somewhere in there.

I appreciate that. Doing this (simulating an earlier variant) is relatively easy to accomplish with the Viper and Hornet. (early 90’s) It seems that pulling the Apache into this scheme is more like using a Viper, and telling the player to pretend it’s an F-5. To stick with my vision I think the Apache version of this campaign will just have to move into the early 2000’s.

I will it seems - thank you. I’m trying to ‘Homogonize” 3 different platforms into a theater of operations, and I was trying to set it in the early 90’s. I’ll either move the whole thing up, or just move the Apache campaign forward.

I think it's a limitation of your wrist/yanking our stick to full deflection suddenly and immediately with no resistance, thus resulting in much more deflection that would be possible in real life. I've never once ripped the wings off an F-14 nor felt like I was close to it, and I've flown her to the limit... but I'm used to flying WWII aircraft so it comes naturally. Be a bit more conscious, listen to the aircraft, and stop yanking the stick...it's not a FBW aircraft.

Aside from the FCR/dome and data link... What are the primary differences between a Gulf War Apache and what we're about to get. I'm trying to get a handle on if I can create a campaign simulating and earlier model with the DCS version by simply omitting certain things, (emissions by other aircraft thereby no data-link) leaving off the FCR, only allowing certain loadouts etc. Of if the differences are such that I can't plausibly pull this off. Any opinions/help appreciated.

I think he means more 'down in the weeds', 'old fashioned', drop the bomb down the enemies throat', jink like hell, get out of Dodge kind of flying. This is more of the flavor I want, rather than 15 thousand feet 'dial a shack' which is great in real life and your LIFE is actually on the line, and it's a real job etc etc. For my purposes/vision though - creatively I find this less appealing both to build for and fly. I need to find plausible reasons to get the player low and in those valleys etc...going back in time a bit makes this a more plausible. A narrative about a Russian-assisted IADS and gnarly super-MEZ will do the rest.

Thank you for the replies and response so far. The idea is to only provide content that increases accessibility without giving up anything in the realism department, but also provide an exciting experience that emphasizes 'flying' and less 'airborne systems operation', to the extent possible with the platform. Low altitude ingress, more 'put the thing on the thing' flying. Also comms are a bit more engaging/less structured if you go back a bit, so this appeals to me as well from a creative standpoint. I did get some feedback from one of my Viper SME's, and LGB's were in use during this time frame, but there's plenty of room for creative license in any case, even if I did go later. I can turn off emissions in the editor which takes care of the Data Link, so you have AIC (scripted) and your radar. That's the vision at this point...build is underway but I need to make time-frame decision soon...placing ground assets soon/SAMs etc.

At this juncture with the currently available modules, and ones on the way, the sim is in need of a Vietnam map...I think this is money on the table just waiting... Grab it before someone else does. MiG 19 MiG 17 A-6 A-7 Huey A-4 mod F-14A in the "what if the war lasted a few more months" scenario. Perhaps an actual F-4 down the road by a third party...yes a Vietnam appropriate variant would be the smartest move if I do say so. Plenty in DCS for a Vietnam/Southeast Asia map. My second choice, Solomon Islands or a generic 'islands' map that can stand-in for a variety of Pacific settings. Korea can make use of several modules, MiG 15 and and Sabre obviously, as well as the Mustang and upcoming Corsiar. Southeast Asia is probably the best bet though all things considered. Although who knows when, I'm betting on a Cobra at some point too.

Aerobatics task...requires test, adjust, test...but then everything does. Unless I find out differently later, I'm staying away from scripting (not because I can't do it) as I want bulletproof (read update proof) as much as possible mission logic.