Merker

Glad you found it too!

Indeed, this is what our current workaround is for the lack of F/A-18 fidelity catapult launches. As pointed out by Skate, it would require an EFM to utilize the catapult. It is more or less a flight model ability which allows you to do a rolling takeoff from the launch area. Going from SFM to EFM would require a great deal of knowledge and time which we are unable to utilize, and thus our current solution will remain in place. As much as I'd love to full fidelity launches, it's not really within the scope of the project code-wise.

July 2018 Update Hello again and thank you for indulging in another update from us! This month we’ll be featuring the advanced texture work done by Plusnine, including a few of the skins he’s been perfecting at a rapid pace. Other highlights include bug fixes, an update on carrier ops, and the usual release time anecdote. This we had a great deal of work coming from Plusnine as he went on a painting spree throughout the month. The PBR texturing on these really requires a lot of TLC, but as you can see below, the fruits of his labor are spectacular. Later in the month we also had some unwrap adjustments from Kryb that will bring up the detail in certain areas of the external model. Additionally, we have a few breakthroughs in bug testing. Much like myself running in the hot, humid weather of the capitol, we’ve been squashing bugs left and right. This includes our long time issues with our canopy glass. Previously, during a storm or any other time a bump map was in use, strange gray shapes would appear in our glass. After discovering that it was mixture of weird polygons and the result unwrap (whoops) we’ve corrected it with no additional work needed to adjust the texture. Speaking of the cockpit, Plusnine has also been hard at work with interior textures. In the weathering phase, there is a lot that happens in the cockpit, included paint chipping and sun fading on certain surfaces. There’s also and awesome texture for our glare shield. Check out the screenshots below! Moving on, I have an update on carrier ops. We will unfortunately be unable to include catapult-assisted takeoff with the current configuration of the SFM and the carrier takeoff coding in DCS. Never fear, however, as you can still takeoff using the rolling takeoff method that our flight model allows for. Perhaps post-release we could build an EFM to allow for such takeoffs and more realistic flight dynamics, however in the interest of releasing in the near future, it makes sense to go with what we have now. Next month we hope to complete our unwraps of the external aircraframe and continue our work on PBR textures. With the changes to our external unwrap, we will have a much more detailed external textures but will bring with it some additional work to get all of our skins up to the latest standard. There is also some standing issues with internal lighting for objects such as the gear handle and our warning lamps which need resolution. Our bug tracker also has an assortment of random other issues that we’ll be looking into. Going forward we are continuing at a good pace with minimal road blocks. As always, we’ll be sure to post here once we have a solid release window, which we'll likely do around 2 months before release. We also had some fun streaming this month, check out a short clip aerobatic clip from our last group flight! https://www.twitch.tv/videos/270622368 I hope to make some additional videos covering our cockpit systems in the near future once I have access to be a better mic. :lol: Thanks again for your continued support!

As Skate mentioned, it will not require an other modules installed and can be run on a "clean" version of DCS World (Thanks Skate!). Update will be on time, arriving sometime tomorrow in the PM EST.

Community A-4E Update: June 2018 Today marks my 24th rotation around our star, and in celebration we have a massive update for you all! We’ve been very busy bees this month, and are ready to (officially) reveal the fully modelled, unwrapped and textured cockpit. Between modelling and unwrapping, this work is the culmination of nearly two years’ worth of work (a celebration indeed). In many development houses, the work we’ve done would obviously go far faster. However as volunteers working with little background, it’s been a constant learning process which has gotten us to where we are today in a greater amount of time. Other important progress this month is the completion of our external lighting, addition of raindrops to the canopy and implementation of PBR textures for our external model. Let’s dive in! The cockpit textures are really what can take a model to the next level. This is certainly the case for us. Plusnine’s (callmepartario) work is truly astounding for the rest of the team to see. The amount of detail that a model can appear to have without actually modelling anything can be increased a great deal by correct use of shading, substance painting, and other key texture concepts.Keep in mind that these are all still very much an active work area, and even these images are a bit late as a result of the rapid progress occurring on certain pieces in the cockpit. Also in the texture arena was the implementation of PBR textures for our external model. This allows purely 2D details such as rivets and panel gaps to appear 3D. In use, it really brings the external model up a few notches and on par with other models in DCS. We still have some parts of the aircraft which need to be unwrapped, but once this is done it will have a very high amount of detail and will fit right in with other aircraft. I’ve included some examples below, observe how the panel lines are evident along the side of the fuselage and on top of the wing. These would not contrast like this without PBR. As an all-weather attack aircraft, the A-4’s cockpit requires good cockpit lighting during many missions. One of the final things which Gos and I worked on in the cockpit was our lighting, which most notably was his final update before passing. Thankfully, he left behind the code needed for us to extend this work to the external model, and with the needed updates, we have functioning external lights. Of course, we see this as an additive process where we will continually improve upon aspects as we go such as brightness. Another win this month came late last week, when the introduction of rain effects, along with a helpful comment from CptSmiley on reddit helped Plusnine and I figure out how to implement raindrops on the canopy. We’re working to refine it a bit, as I believe I haven’t implemented it with the correct material properties, but so far it looks great. Note the issue with flat grey in the canopy. The fix couldn’t make it into update unfortunately. Of course, I have several more great screenshots coming to you courtesy of the latest updates to carrier landings. Also be sure to check out my video on landing on a carrier with the A-4. A very big thanks to ED for making some bug fixes which allow us to land again! If the video link isn't working for you, visit https://youtu.be/MUv34ZsAZ3Y On the Horizon: This month I personally intend to complete the unwrap of the external model, as well as implementing carrier takeoff should our code allow for it. We already have existing methods of carrier takeoff (a special condition in our SFM) however we would like to have the most complete mod for you possible. Stretch goals this month include bugfixes for our canopy glass, unwrap of our external pilot and unwrap of our custom MER rack. We will not have an internal pilot, however given the cramped conditions I don’t think you’ll miss having one (it would get in the way very quickly)! Follow us on Twitch! We’ve started streaming on twitch around once or twice a week. Feel free to follow us to be notified when we go live! https://www.twitch.tv/plusnine_tvb https://www.twitch.tv/merker6/ Behind the Scenes: Another excellent month of progress! We’re making great strides which I think have certainly kept us on a good trajectory towards the release date I have in mind. Of course, we will not announce anything until we are absolutely sure it will be ready to release on-time and without serious bugs. Many good things to come, it’s not much farther now!

Updating coming! For reference, all updates go live on the 1st day of the month, generally in the afternoon EST. Currently making some last minute changes and creating a few videos for you :)

They're referring to my "ideal aircraft mod" which in all honesty I had no idea it was possible to to SARH. In either case, it's definitely easier to just do a non-radar aircraft in general for modding, given how complex it is.

With regards to a follow up, its unfortunately very unlikely given Gos's absence and my own professional life. However, if I ever were to work on another aircraft, I'd love to do a Vietnam-era F-8 Crusader or similar. Within the scope of limitations on SDK access to modders, the ideal aircraft for a DCS mod is pre-1970 without any radar or Semi/Active-AA Missiles. You get both the most fidelity, as well as the most usable aircraft outside of the WWII environment. Some models, like the F-8, A-4 and Mirage 5, served long past the 50s and 60s into the 80s and 90s. The Mirage 5 even continues flying today! Given the experience I've had over the past 2 1/2 years, I think that it would be much easier to select and execute the development of a new plane. It feels like a lot of knowledge to walk away from, but honestly its very difficult to make mod development happen when you have a demanding career which requires a completely different professional skill set. Burnout is also a very real thing, which I discussed in rather great length in this reddit post. We'll see what happens, but for now I (and probably the rest of the team) just want to see this thing through to the finish line before making any future plans.

It will be ready when its ready :)

The prowler is attached to the carrier mod, I have no idea how to place things on the carrier deck. We’re definitely not working on any other aircraft at this time, I’ve got enough on my plate as it is. :)

I know that the question isn’t directly saying this, but just in case somone misreads, we are not working on a Prowler or any other aircraft. The model you see is part of the carrier mod I’m using. The mod crashes DCS when you’re in a player aircraft, which I believe is why its no longer availible.

We have no plans to develop this as a full module. Lots of challenges involved and if I was going to spend another several years working on a plane, I'd rather do an entirely different one. You can only work on the same plane for so long without being burnt out. Personally, I already have an established professional career and could not do this as anything other than a hobby.

The cockpit was not originally modeled by us, it was purchased with a license which allows us to distribute it as an unpaid mod. We've since made a large number of modifications to it, including the latest one. We also reused original models I made for the first iteration of the cockpit.

Thank you! However, all texture work appreciation should go to Plusnine (I believe that his username on here too), who does nearly all of our 2D art. I'm just the guy making models and unwrapping things :lol: And thank you to everyone for your kind words of praise! I look forward to sharing more screenshots and videos with you all between our monthly updates during our alpha testing phase.

I’m using the now defunct USS Ronald Reagan by CrazieEddie (I think). I still have it In my install and figured the planes gave it a little more realism. Definitely looking forward to the Stennis!

Community A-4E Update: May 2018 Community A-4E Update: May 2018 April showers have brought May flowers, but also another update from our team! This month we met our internal milestones and I’m very excited to see this cockpit starting to look like the real deal. Fire-retardant lining: I’ve struggled to figure out whether this material is fire resistant or fire retardant (maybe both?), but what I commonly refer to as the cloth lining finally has a new, updated model. This model is both reflective of the finalization of certain objects within the cockpit model, as well as using much better modelling and unwrap techniques due to my increased skill in 3ds and blender over the past year and a half. Plusnine is doing a great job of selling this as fabric; something which I gained an even greater appreciation for after ambitiously attempting to texture myself and failing horribly. I can’t understate how much of an impact good texture work has on models. Unfortunately it’s very much an active work in progress so I can’t share any images, but I promise its really exceeding even my own expectations! Canopy Frame: The canopy model is something that has bugged me since we made the switch to a new cockpit model. Originally a very blocky and detail-less model, I’ve since revamped it to include key features seen in our reference examples. As you can see in the pictures below, it really does make a big difference in the quality of the cockpit model. Please note that the texture painting for the solid black and green-outlined models is still in progress and the canopy frame and screws are using solid colors. Behind the Scences: Unwraps for all interior objects are now complete, including the new fire-resistant lining and canopy models. Next month’s goals will be to continue texture work for the interior and adjustments to interior and exterior lighting. The cockpit is currently our central concern, given how much players will be staring at it. Fortunately, it would appear that any further cockpit changes will be minimal. After that we’ll be moving to the remaining work on the exterior and bug squashing. Of course, this wouldn’t be a monthly update if I didn’t have more screenshots to share. Here’s a few based on your requests! And with that, another monthly update concludes. Progress is continuing in a comfortable fashion towards release and hopefully we’ll have a firm date for you all soon. At this time, we want to hold off on giving out a date until we can be absolutely sure the aircraft will be in a releasable state worthy of the amount of our skills. Thanks again for all your interest, it gives us a lot of motivation to keep at it!

Haha, unfortunately the issues isn’t my ability, but rather its function in-game. I require the in-game radio for one of the tankers to lower drogue for me, which during my last attempt wasn’t working exactly as I expected it to. I’ll be taking a look again when I get home and make some screenshots.

I’ll do my best to get some of this! We’re currently working through some challenges with the collision shell of the model when under player-control. It currently has a tendency to fall through the deck after snagging the wire. Under the AI’s control, however, this doesn’t seems to be an issue so the screenshots will likely be external only. This may be a bit tricky since I haven’t done aerial refueling before. Gos worked with it but I haven’t tried it. I’ll try my best though!

Got it, I’ll try to put somwthing together! Also, to answer the question on Multiplayer, both the hosting server and client will need the same version of mod installed. The mod does have quite a few multiplayer specific bugs that we’re hoping to smash before we release, but it does indeed work in multiplayer if the correct parameters are met.

Update coming when I get home from work today! Anything in particular you’d like to see the A-4 doing in a screenshot?

Update coming soon, likely on Tuesday! (May 1)

On the subject of integrity check, we've been sweeping through our files to ensure nothing fails integrity check. We want to make sure that having the module won't give you any problems with joining MP. As of right now, I believe there may be a few things to clean up, but this will absolutely be resolved by release.

So to clear a few things up for everyone The external model for the A-4 still has some work to do, and the way I see it, as much work needed to bring it to completion as the cockpit. We plan to release everything together once we feel it is in a satisfactory state. As far as I'm aware, we have never been mentioned by name and we have never asked ED for modding support. Gos may have done so on the coding side of things, but this was never brought up to the group if it was. I remember reading this quote elsewhere, but not at all in the context of our project and rather as part of a discussion about dedicated modding tools (which I fully understand and agree with their reasoning btw). And regarding the legal aspect: We have had some intense personal discussions about this subject in the past, and while inconclusive, I will say that I would never attempt to develop a paid module without some sort of agreement with the IP owner (Boeing in this case). Mods are a bit of a grey area because you aren't asking for money but still potentially using their IP. I've never seen a flight sim mod taken down over IP though, and again, not having monetary gain involved is a reason. Gos actually sought out legal counsel early on to ensure we were doing everything right, since he was very methodical about these things. That's all I have to say on the subject.

April 2018 Update Hello all, First, I just want to thank you one last time for your support following Eric’s (Gos) passing. You’ve all been so kind to us and it’s been heartwarming to see all of your stories and anecdotes of his time in our community. Concerning the A-4, we are indeed continuing development. I made a small write-up of some of the events in the past few months of development on reddit, which can be found here. The short story of it is that all of our schedules are very demanding, and finding time to put into this project can be difficult. Gos was a professional software engineer, and he completed his work far faster than the rest of us. This is the reason for any shortage of content in the coming months in comparison to prior months. Nevertheless, we continue the path forward as we had all planned together, Gos included. This month and the previous month, for which there was no content update, saw what I would consider to be good progress. As of last Sunday, March 25, I completed the final unwrap of all existing cockpit models (!) and can now proceed with the final models for the cockpit. This includes the redux of the fire-suppressing liner in the cockpit which was previously a part of the cockpit, but must be redone due to changes in the sides of the cockpit. I strongly feel that this addition really brings the claustrophobia of the cockpit to life within DCS. Additionally, today I managed to get our AI carrier takeoffs and landings fixed. This had been a bug for several months and prevented the AI from doing either. Take a look at the landing and takeoff pictures below! Our goals for next month will be the completion of the liner model and its unwrap, as well as finishing the textures for the newly unwrapped cockpit parts. Stretch goals will include exterior lighting fixes as well as adjustments to the interior lighting. I cannot estimate a percentage completion for this project; however, I am gaining strong confidence in my projected release window. Our current mindset is to have an aircraft that looks good on the inside and out, and with minimal bugs. Once we have reached that point, we will be in a position to release. Before I go, I’d like to share a few screenshots we’ve gathered of the exterior to hold you off until next month. Thanks again!

I'm sorry all, but indeed we will not have another update until at least the end of March. Gos was a professional coder, and so a lot of update-worthy work came out of him. I'm an amateur modeler and thus am slower to get things done. We will eventually have progress to show, but for now I think its a bit hard given the circumstances. I apologize for the delay, I know a lot of people are looking forward to this plane and, likewise, we look forward to handing it over to all of you. All things in time, I promise it will not die.