Aeroscout

I'll do that, thanks :)

again, I wished this to be a discussion on how to make maps and missions, not how to conduct one's self online! (but if this is where you wish to go with it, by all means...) The "lockon boring?" question was rhetorical. I find Lockon to be one of the best and most worthwhile games I ever played! All I was looking for was a new location for a map. Any way, I played on the RAF server for the fist time in forever today (I had avoided it for a while due to CTDs) and it was a blast! The flat Crimean can be lots of fun!

Mountains being the "best" is a matter of opinion. I do see the advantages of mountainous terrain for mission building, but not all air engagements occur over them. However, I think people are taking this post in the wrong direction as well. I don't want to start a discussion on how to improve online play, all I was asking for was a bit of variety. I understand the only way to make online play more cooperative is to make coms mandatory, which isn't going to happen. In short, all I (and probably some others) am asking for are different maps and some variety in the weather. The old MiG-29A Mission on the 504th server was fun, and a bit different. Aero out!

Ok, let's face it, unless you your doing some ground pounding and enjoy pwning the AI, the only place to fly is online, on hyperlobby, and I'm not a ground pounder! So what happens when there is one server (namely the 169th or 104th) has all the people in it? well, unless you wish to fly around aimlessly, you're kinda forced to fly in that server. And what if that server (169th) has had the same map for the longest time, and the second most popular server (104th) has that same map? well, you could imagine that, due to lack of options, one could become quite board in a matter of days flying online. Ok, it's time to be frank. I'm tired of the current maps! Every time I find some free time, I log on to HL, just to find that, once again, it's the 169th thats popular. I join, and I spawn at the same airbase, same time of day, same weather, same everything! I fly out, shot someone down, someone shoots me down, I type "GK," click quit, click FLY and repeat! Spawn at the same airbase, same plane, same time of day, yada yada. I want something different! And it's not as easy as "just go to another server" because, frankly, there is no one in any of the other servers! (and the 104th has the same map) Maybe it's about time someone made another map. (I'll even volunteer if a server wishes to host mine!) Remember the Crimean? "Oh, Ya! I forgot about that! Isn't that that big land mass over there to the west?" and what about the Kerch Strait? I loved those missions. There's more to the lockon theater than just the Caucasus Mountains! Remember that "Crimean Tour" video? I'm sure someone could make many missions around some of the things in there! Naval missions could also be a blast! And how about the weather? Add some overcast, or some rain! In short, change something so that it's not the same thing every time we log onto HL. Lockon's becoming boring, and it's a shame. Also, for goodness sake! Put the F-15s and the Su-27s on different sides! Oh, and before I take lots of crap for this, I do appreciate very much what PoleCat, Ice and all the others do to make online play possible. This post is merely a friendly suggestion and constructive criticism, based on my observations of online play. Also, this is not a post about the current "airquake' situation as I believe we beat that horse to death in grimes' thread. I don't post here much any more, but I just wanted to point this out. Thanks, Aero out

FINALLY! installing NOW! rep inbound

Urze had this good tutorial a while ago. I use Paint.net right now, but basically: 1) cut out plane and past on a second layer. (if in cockpit, do this to cockpit interior as well.) 2) use the clone tool to remove edges of plane on first layer. 3) put a slight noise texture on the grass if the plane is close to or on the ground. 4) blur and motion blur background. if you are inside the cockpit, blur the canopy rail and entire cockpit interior) 5) change contrast, brightness and saturation to make the colors stand out more and make it darker. do the same to the plane. 6) blur the plane slightly to make the edges a bit softer. (too much and you won't be able to focus on anything) 7) add lens flares to any flares and the sun if in picture (can't do this with paint.net :( ) This works quite well for me, but I'm no expert. I'm sure there are MANY more things to do to make it even better, but these are the basics.

Like I posted over at lockon-files, I don't think the pilots are proportioned correctly. Their heads look too small or something. They still do look very good though. I look forward to more updates! :)

Which would you prefer, an EKRAN that's so realistic it's in Russian and you have no idea what it's saying, or an EKRAN that's still quite realistic but in english so that you can actually read it? IMO, I prefer the one in English. It's still giving you the same info, just in English. Of course if you know Russian, it doesn't matter.

now you're just teasing us :D My god that's awesome!

that's exactly what we are discussing

Well, Razdolnoye is kinda out of the way and not many mission editors use it, especially online. If you were to re-position Novorossiysk, this would create a lot of confusion in online play as many missions use this airbase.

Well, this one was a surprise! It says "download" for me now, even when logged in, but still having trouble (no 'coming soon' to be found!) Well, it's only a matter of time until it turns up on the virtual-jabog site. (if it's even been released yet)

High School student as well. It sucks...

can't wait! DOWNLOAD FASTER!!! :D EDIT: Yes! very well done as usual!

It's vista and you're going to have to deal with it. If you can't stand it, dual boot with XP.

Where's the UH-60? (actually, the seahawk's even cooler. ASW!) Ya, Comanche's pretty cool, but...

Very good point It's not only language barrier though, but there are those who simply don't have a mic, or have a crappy one like me and have TS problems. And, there are also people (once again like me) who are quite shy and get very uncomfortable speaking to people directly. This obviously leads to solo flights. One thing I've noticed is that these solo flights lead to the air quake. I don't know, but maybe a mission could be organized so that a group of 4 planes have one flight plan while another 4 planes have a different one in a different location. That way you don't have 60 thousand planes all firing missiles at one another in the same place. You could also match Fighter's flight plans with ground pounders' flight plans, encouraging cooperative play. Any thing that will help prevent solo flights

Turn your haze to advanced.

While I don't mind strictly a2a battles, I have realized that this is getting a bit boring. Like you said, I also think too many of the servers have battles in the eastern mountainous region. What happened to the Crimean? It's no wonder ED got rid of it in Black Shark. here are some of my suggestions to add to grimes' discussion: More battles over the Kerch strait and over Crimea. (I miss those a lot) I'm tired of that mission (on both 104th and 169th) with that tall mountain as bulls eye. encourage ground pounding by creating "walls of sams" that must be taken out first. (just an idea, don't think it will work) create a 2 fronted war with blue starting on both ends of the map (Crimea and Georgia) with Russia in the middle. Players can chose which side to start on. don't start a new mission on a server until an objective has been achieved by either side (I think 104th does this already.) longer flights than just Sochi to Maycop, but not so long as Dzhankoy to the Kerch strait. (I'm guessing Kirovskoye to Kerch Strait would be a good distance)Just my 2 cents. I really hope online play can become more fun.

I prefer spring (Love the nice vibrant colors) but I can live with summer. I don't like autumn and I especially dislike winter. My 2 cents...

I was thinking the same thing. You can do this now with Flanker 2.5 and lockon

I do once, but unless the mission changes I usually don't bother. (just more of the same stuff) I always read it for the servers' rules

I'm guessing this means were getting close?!

hmm... very nice! But could you make it so that every airport has one and we don't have to add it as a static object every time? Just a thought. I'm checking out the mod out now!

Isn't it funny how tomorrow is April first... I'll leave it at that. :D