Squiffy

Holy Crap! Why didn't I think of that. Of course the trick is to get it to load. I'll work on it, thanks.

Hi guys, I've been messing around with the cockpit textures after installing the Early Black cockpit mod yesterday. Out of the box, the glass in the black mod looks better to me than stock, since it doesn't reflect as much of the lens and greasy glare that makes sniping bandits in vertical, near zero g, AI hammer head defensive climbs more difficult. So far I have found several textures and one in particular may have the most impact. But getting them to load in game is still a challenge since I'm not very experienced with creating texture mods in DCS. Here are the texture files I think are involved: C:\Program Files\Eagle Dynamics\DCS World OpenBeta\Mods\aircraft\F-86\Liveries\Cockpit_F-86F Sabre F-86F_Cockpit_ILS.dds F-86F_Cockpit_Texture2.dds F-86F_Cockpit_Texture2_SPEC.dds F-86F_cpt_L.dds F-86F_cpt_L_SPEC.dds This last one, cpt_L_SPEC is an alpha channel in one layer (specular). The one before it, cpt_L may be the primary one creating the reflection. It has a base texture AND and alpha, filtering the projector lens image however is designed in the model. I think this is the main method of creating the reflection visible to the pilot. This I would like to minimize as much as possible. I have tried several places to get my modded files to load: 1. In the Early Black mod folder by swapping filenames with stock to tell them apart. 2. In the Early Black mod, in the cockpit folder instead of liveries 3. In my save game folder under the mods/aircraft with a new cockpit folder, in folder or in a zip. I am pretty sure I would need to change some other files like luas and such. Can anyone help or suggest the best place to start? I used to paint and mod a lot in the CFS3, Roman BOB-MiG Alley days and have just gotten back into it. DXTbmp still works! Thanks!

Yeah, the sweep on the 100 is a good bit more pronounced, and the relative area of the vertical stabilizer is less than that of the 86. This and roll/inertia coupling contributed to the dance. Very scary and happens at low speeds like landing! https://www.historynet.com/deadly-sabre-dance/#:~:text=First produced in 1953%2C the,pilot's throttle hand—an afterburner.

For what it's worth, after some fantastic research by Curly, here is an epic gun harmonization photo I found a couple years back. I left it on my computer at work and wanted to be sure we all got to see it. It's a night time shot and the ricochet is pretty cool too. This is at 1 g, but you can see the almost laser like trajectory at convergence distance on the gun range. Cheers!

While high g leading may not have been the norm for the Sabre, it was an established defensive effect for avoiding the slower Mv cannons of the MiG. This was the main point of Boots advice. In a 4g turn or higher, it was impossible for the MiG to lead the Sabre enough to hit it. I did not mean to say the Sabre COULD make hits vice versa. The higher Mv of the bullets meant the Sabre could make more effective leading shots, especially at longer ranges, and lower g. Remember, the 6 50 cals are grouped close together, just like on the P-38, Mosquito, and B-25 gunships of WWII. In no way am I saying they on par with cannon, but grouped 50 cals did do damage and were a step up from the dispersed 303s of the early Spits. We have all heard the quotes of surviving LW pilots on how the Spits 303s sounded like gravel on a tin roof when getting hit. The 8 50s of the P-47 Jug are legendary. And on another tac, one of the most annoying things I find about trying to land hits on the MiG is the difference in roll center between the two planes. The MiG wing is shoulder mounted, the Sabre is belly mounted. So when at low speed, say at the top of a standard climb defense from the AI, rolling or yawing to get your pipper on the bandit can be really annoying because the gunsight moves in an arc around the wing spar below the cockpit, while the MiG pivots closer to the the center of the cockpit if not the gunsight itself. Maybe it's my old clunky HOTAS Cougar but I have flow the Sabre enough to see this.

The MiG cannons were powerful, scary and extremely effective! Now I can't find the exact clip but this episode has Boots in it. He was there and he scored kills. As crummy as the radar gunsight was, it was good enough to make a difference.

But are the mods satisfactory on the latest beta? I have avoided updating because I want to keep the ability to edit .luas. As far as the physics argument has gone, I concur with the regulars here and was part of the discussion myself. The main thing that was overlooked above this time was G loading and corner speed. Maj. "Boots" Blesse did a fantastic interview for Dogfights years ago where he described the main advantage the 50s had over the cannons during the conflict. And this led to air superiority. The higher muzzle velocity, and it HAS to be higher and correct, meant that the Sabre could pull lead on the MiGs in high g turns over 4 g, where it was IMPOSSIBLE for the MiG to pull enough lead to get hits on the Sabre. Look at my sig file and you will see Boots famous quote, often told to rookies when they were in trouble. This, combined with the superior radar gunsight, are key traits of the Sabre and must be represented accurately. Yes the SFM for the MiG is "undefined" at Mach = 0.0, meaning it should be 0 and not 1 point something... Sputnik cheat and so on. We can edit lift, drag, roll rate and even the first and second "polars" of the lift coefficient. I have done my best and made progress but there is something fundamental to the all powerful British jet engine that gives them almost infinite thrust.

Thanks 2alpha, I have tried the AIM-9B, especially in those power climbs to no avail. I will stick with my edits for now. And I just recently saw a MiG-15 two seat video on YouTube where the instructor gives the young new pilot a check ride and they do touch and goes. They also practice stalls and get the feel for the sloppy aileron authority at low speeds. They back down to between 130 and 150 kts and do some test rolling side to side. The authority is really low and gone at those speeds. Another point where the Sabre excelled in roll rate, which lent to the scissor tactics. Our problem is still the Sputnik climb defense the AI uses after the scissor works, rolling or flat. They just punch it and off they go into a vertical climb, while the Sabre is low energy and then can't follow close enough. More accurate fire and shell dynamics will help here so you can tag them a bit more and degrade their performance if there are no changes to AI. I will edit the MiG SFM again to reduce the roll Theta in the matrix at low mach numbers.

Fantastic! Thanks very much. I can say that I got it again at least twice the past few days. Last time was under negative g with the ear ringing. Probably some throttle movement too. After that normal cockpit sound was gone except for radio and ear ringing. External was fine as usual. I made it back and landed OK. I am still running 2.7.6 so that I can use my .luas. Can someone assure me that the new restricted f86.lua and shell_table.lua are more acceptable?

Does anyone have a nice clean gunsight glass texture to download? I really want to swap that out.

And that Jump Blues is basically Bebop! (again late 40's, 1950s!) The higher speed riffs and frenetic sound was a way for traditional African American musicians to compete with the mainstream Swing bands that were copying and dominating the earlier style, and make it fresh, challenging and new again, "authentic" to the culture. You might also compare the frenetic pace to the new popularity of "up pills" or "recreational" amphetamines appearing after WWII. (Some were prescribed by flight surgeons for long overseas missions. Richard Bach describes this in one of his books on the Tactical Air Command experience in the early 60s. USAFE ferry and deployment. Can't remember which one.) Jack Kerouac's epic "Beat" masterwork _On the Road_ provides many examples of the "recreational" practice in civilian life.

Late Swing, Early Rock n Roll, Sock Hop, Boogie Woogie style. Notable instrument is the electrified acoustic (jazz) guitar which gives you the familiar Chuck berry sound. Check this out:

The Sabre, as is, can NOT accelerate with the MiG-15. And yes, the g load is an issue. I was able to adjust this in the MiG .lua by knocking down the g suit number as a percentage of 1.0. even the MiG-19 was way too high at something more than 2.0 even for a bird with a g suit. Also, you can limit the max g and roll angle in the .lua. But AFAIK, the newest versions of DCS world and beta do NOT allow .lua edits anymore because of abuse in multiplayer online. With such a clear distinction between online and offline so easily attained, I can't understand why this was done. I, for one, have never played online because I just haven't been practice enough to feel presentable. Mostly because the AI is so OP. a couple years back I looked into the SFM for the 15. Sure enough (and maybe even the Sabre) there is a paradoxical anomaly in the SFM matrix. There should be absolutely no lift at Mach= 0.0 but somehow the SFMs show some value greater than 1.0 for the lift coefficient. Maybe there is something to this because the coefficient is multiplied by airspeed, but at Mach = 0 it should be 0, or at least something much less than 1.0. I am pretty sure this is where it get's it's Sputnik ability and has recently taken advantage of it in the lame AI update to zoom climb and stall turn. The Sabre has no hope of following it here, so no, the Sabre can NOT accelerate with the MiG. While this is somewhat historical, for skill setting like rookie and trained, it horribly frustrating one on one. I feel like now you need at least 3 v 1 with Sabre advantage to form a defensive circle and keep enough energy in your wingmen to meet them MiG at the top of it's climb. This seems to be the only way to make a dogfight, 3 v 1 last less than 15 minutes or some nonsense. I have purposely kept my Beta install back at 2.7 to keep my .lua edit ability. Even cheating the Sabre thrust is not enough. M2 muzzle velocities are better but range and life need to be boosted way up to get realistic behavior to come close to the mv historical advantage. Z, I see you were referring to mp online. I am talking about offline AI.

Nothing too bad. I guess some want more weathered or even higher res skins, but for me, I want to get rid of that annoying greasy gray hue to the gunsight glass/lens reflection in most angles relative to the sun and clouds. I'm still using Beta 2.7 or so in order to keep my Sabre Lua edits. With the current AI MiG power climb defense, it's friggin' disgusting trying to snipe them in the "wild blue yonder" with your supposed higher muzzle velocity rounds while they stand on their tails. Nobody cares what the reflection of the projector lens looks like, or which airman puked in your cockpit last, we're trying to tracer lead the Sputnik wanna be "coef. of lift > 0 at airspeed = mach 0.0" bandit.

+1. I would love a clean gunsight glass, especially with the new clouds and weather.

Thanks NineLine, They are very sensitive to negative G too. Every once and a while I'll jam them up just as I line up on a low six surprise, because I overshoot a bit. A tiny bit of pressure on the sitck and bang, no guns for 5 minutes and a mad dive to lower altitude. "Selected" gun heat would help bring them back too but I need to practice that.

And the mighty towers

Hooray! 0.4.6 works! Thanks for the support. Now I have to delete the 2 VP towers because they are WAY too close to the runway!

OK on it right now. Will post back, thanks.

Not at my rig right now but is the latest version 0.9.6? Also, where should I find the config files with manual install? I will look at the Blue - Red airfields again and if the VP Lighting towers are visible there I will know it's some other anomaly preventing them from appearing with a new placement in an old mission. I suspect this may be the case because I can fly without the sim crashing, even with invisible VP tower.

The bullet speed was updated to 870 or 890 as I recall. Better but not great. More importantly, the barrel warp is still way too high. You need to be able to edit the F-86.lua to change this. Knock the variables way down to near 1.0 to get more realistic distortion. Still not sure if this still works after 2.9 update. I am still on 2.7.

Thanks, I'll test this later tonight. AFAIK, the shader model files in my DL date from 4/2021

Hi guys, I just installed this manually and it seems to be working for the most part. I discovered that the mod folder has an "unnecessary" folder in it labelled "main." This does not appear in Rudel's screenshots above and may only be needed for the mod installer. My mod appears in the DCS menu as VPC Object only and NOT VPC Airfield Equipment. I checked for missing files and can't find any. The fix is installed in the shaders folder and the sample Blue airfield works great. I haven't tried them at night yet but when I tried to add a VP Lighting Tower, it loads fine but does not appear in game. The label is there but no model. I added it as a ground unit. No crashes just invisible object. I'm on 2.7 and trying not to update yet to keep my Sabre gun mods. The smaller VPC lighting cart #3 works fine.

Oh here's a thought... what about .lua's? Can they still be edited? If so, I may still update as I think the M50 shells were updated to a higher mv. If we can still edit down the barrel warp in the Sabre I may go ahead and update. 902 m/s is still better than the 870 or 890 but if that change was already made to the weapons.lua I may live with it. Honestly the only thing holding me back beyond that is the frustrating loop AI where the Sabre just doesn't have the thrust to follow the Ace/Aerobatics champ flight control at the top. I must admit though, that even with the higher speed and g AI circles, having a bit more mv would be helpful. It's just wicked boring to go chasing so called Rookie MiGs all day or knife fighting until you land enough gravel on his ship to take him out.

The Force is strong in this one.