Tomcatter87

Can confirm - the latest update causes my fps to suffer a lot in the remastered F-5 - it's about 11 to 17 now, while other modules do not cause any problems at all.

I noticed the _low part when the S-3 tanker lua was modified and thought this might be a foreshadowing of the payware assets pack that was rumored. So I'm happy to see we get even better models for free (for my part, the new S-3, B-52 and B-1 already looked great, but well, better is better, I guess). I'm pretty confident we can modify the description file for our livery to get the skins working again. Hope it will be the last time I gotta update the lua though

Wow, great to hear cold war assets by @currenthill might be possible. Since I mostly do air to air stuff, to my mind come fighters with really ugly 3D models, like the MiG-23 Flogger or the MiG-25 Foxbat, the british Lightning but also assets like IL-38 - I'm a Tomcat person and love to intercept and escorts big birds like this. Yak-38 would be really cool too. I know Cubanace has been working on one for a long time, though. Working Tanker assets like a Victor of a VC-10 would be awesome, too. [There already is a nice Cold War Assets Mod by Tripod, this one contains an older version of the Tu-95 and a Tu-16, we also have a simple mod for an okay-looking An-12. So I'll leave those ones out of my wishlist. ] Regarding ground units, I think the M48 and M60 Tanks could really have a better model. Also (not an expert) the T-72 we have in game looks quite modern? A stripped-down version would be cool. T-55 and T-62 Tanks would be great for a lot of scenarios - and I'm not sure if we have a good british Chieftain Tank in-game right now.

I know - and recommend everyone who's into setting up carrier missions to use it. For me, it's just not the solution to let the area in front of the island free of static objects. This space is empty only in carrier quals. That's why we mission builders must find compromises between a realistic looking deck and one that works with the new crew features.

Hey there, since I love to create realistic and busy flightdecks with many static objects, I was a bit concerned about the deck crew update. Right now, I'm busy trying out which layouts work and which don't (anymore). Maybe my findings can be of help to other mission builders and I'd be happy to read some of your ideas. Here's what I found out so far: 1. In the launch phase, it is possible to taxi around static Seahawks and Seakings in front of the island - but you have to place them carefully, as close to the island as it gets. I'm not sure about a Tilly crane or an E-2 parked there, though. 2. In the recovery phase, statics in front of the island are blocking not only the view to the plane directors, but also the taxiway that is now closer to the island. For both recoveries and launches, I'd really like to see the path being moved more to the landing area, where planes taxi in real life because there is always stuff standing in front of the island. 3. My workaround for now: Since statics in front of the island block the taxiway, I'll make sure that the forward parking spots are clear. There are two parking spots at the "point", the area in front of elevator 1, that are unused in most of my missions. Also we can delete static objects via script - emulating that aircraft have been launched or put below the deck. If those spots are free, the new directors seem to put me there. 4. Each plane captain has a certain standing spot for each parking spot. If you watch closely, you can find out where to put a huffer cart - it adds quite some immersion. 5. You can use an elevator as player: If you make sure that there are only spots on one elevator available, you'll be directed there. As soon as an AI plane parks next to you, the elevator goes down and you can taxi below the deck. At least this happened to me.

I have an idea for a workaround: What about a CVN-74 livery for one of the other carriers? Not sure which of the other ships would be the closest to the Stennis.

Really like the new update so far - gonna change the weather in a lot of missions now I also like the plane captains and directors. They really add a lot of immersion. We'll have to take that into account when building populated carrier decks, of course. To avoid being directed into static objects in front of the island, I'll use a script to delete statics on elevators 1 and 2. Also two spots in front of elevator 1 1 are empty in most of my deck layouts.

Looking forward to the update. In general, I think it's great that ED announces the updates beforehand - I just moved my installation to a bigger disk, but before that I really had to know what to expect to make sure to have enough disk space. Also it's a time issue, when we make a multiplayer hop we all have to have the recent version installed. That being said, maybe it would be wiser to communitate a calendar week for an scheduled update and share a definity date only if ED is 100 percent sure that the update will be ready. That way, maybe there will be less people disappointed if an update has to be postponed. I'm sure we all agree that it's better to have an update late than one that breaks the game. As much as I love DCS - taking a day off for a suspected day of an update would be too much and too uncertain for me.

So, keeping fingers crossed for this update.

Agreed. I even try to avoid overcast settings because of this. Especially visible on carrier decks.

Hey there, I was looking for real good polish Mi-8 skins and your screenshots looked gorgeous. Any chance you'll release it?

I've been in contact with "Dave "Bio" Baranek about the pod. When he was CO of VF-211 Fighting Checkmates, they used the pod for Operation Southern Watch, you can see it on some of his photos, too. Should have been around 1997.

I just replied to your PN - I have the impression you might be using an older version of my skin pack that did not include custom rudder textures yet. With the current version plus the fix, you should be good

It's really strange, both skins work for me. One idea what could be the problem: The texture file you might be missing is called low_S3BViking_Stabs_Diffuse.dds - the "fin" part is the forward part, excluding the rudder. Should be incuded in my low vis skin pack.

Any news regarding the Forger? I'm really looking forward to placing it as a static / AI plane on some carrier decks.

I'll take a look, thanks. Thought I checked it, though.

Here's the fix, I'll upload it on the user files section too. Just unzip it and place the folders with the Skin names into your S-3b tanker folder where you keep the liveries. Then click overwrite. s-3b tanker.zip

Thanks a lot, @Esac_mirmidon , glad my little Vikings find some use. Just updating the files, there'll be a fix for the tankers very soon.

I think that might be it, didnt notice it's set to true in Slyfa's file. Ill try it, thanks!

So far I was only able to fix the correct tanker fuselage-back being displayed. I tried renaming the fins and the engines part, but to no avail.

The description file is kinda working, so thanks again. However some parts don't work yet, like the rudder and the engines, among others. Seems not all texture sheets have been renamed. But Slyfa's file got me in the right direction, I'll work it out.

Sounds promising! I'll check it out and, if it works, finally be able to update my skin pack. Which will be reorganized now into one S-3 and one S-3 tanker pack instead one hivis and one lovis pack. Thanks a lot, @sLYFa!

Yes, I created my skin packs in the mission editor which was quite a pita.

Changing the folder name was not something I tried. But since the skins that are saved under S3B Tanker are still listed in the mission editor, I think the old location is still valid. Just the parts from the 3D model seem to have been renamed. An example for a working description.lua file would be a great help. Maybe @BIGNEWY can help? I'd love to update my skins for the community, especially for the upcoming Super carrier update.

As far as I know, the pod was sometimes used together with the TARPS pod to make the photo cats less vulnerable to threats.