** DCS: F-14 Development Update - September!! **

[Woogey]

Absolutely stunning! Never seen such attention to detail in any simulation. The cockpit textures are of course, out of this world, they look so real - which brings me to a personal concern. While it's true that the Tomcat is an old airplane by today's standards, but we are simulating a Tomcat in it's "glory days", and it is also very true that cockpits and planes get worn out pretty quickly, however, the current screenshots feel a bit too worn out to my personal taste.

 

I have seen the F-14 recently in a few museums, the most recent one in Mobile, AL and Pensacola, and even though the planes saw plenty of abuse from visitors, they were not that worn out in certain places.

 

Is this the level of wear and tear we will see? The knobs and switches feel as if they will break as soon as you touch them :)

 

Regardless, amazing job.

 

I couldn't agree more! While I understand, and have read Cobra's reply to this exact concern, I also hope that somewhere down the road we can get a "fresh out of the depot" version of the A, B, and D cockpits. While I understand that these were workhorse machines that got beat up pretty quickly, We could also compare this module to your favorite beloved model of sports-car. I'd prefer to hop into a classic car that was in good (Not Pristine) condition, over one that looks like it has been left out in a field with rats and birds making a home in the Cockpit!

 

What I don't want, is a request like Clean Cockpits, to take precedence and delay our release any further than it already has been.

 

The textures DO look amazing even as is, and I can not wait to get my hands on it! Please Cobra and the Heatblur team: All I want for Christmas is my F-14.

 

-Woog

[HawkeyeHHDF]

Being an Aviation Electricians Mate in the Navy on F14s, these depictions of the cockpits are dead on for a fleet bird on cruise. These panels, indicators, screws , knee panels get removed and replaced constantly, they even got the worn yellow circuit breakers. Now typically the cockpit is supposed to get painted every 112 days, but on cruise what happens is the panels are pulled, a FOD and security check is done, panels get touched up and panels go back in, even if they are worn, biggest gripe from pilots would be from light bleeding thru the panels for NVGs. This is a great and realistic cockpit.

 

Absolutely stunning! Never seen such attention to detail in any simulation. The cockpit textures are of course, out of this world, they look so real - which brings me to a personal concern. While it's true that the Tomcat is an old airplane by today's standards, but we are simulating a Tomcat in it's "glory days", and it is also very true that cockpits and planes get worn out pretty quickly, however, the current screenshots feel a bit too worn out to my personal taste.

 

I have seen the F-14 recently in a few museums, the most recent one in Mobile, AL and Pensacola, and even though the planes saw plenty of abuse from visitors, they were not that worn out in certain places.

 

Is this the level of wear and tear we will see? The knobs and switches feel as if they will break as soon as you touch them :)

 

Regardless, amazing job.

[Nosferatuwhisky 1-1]

The sense of entitlement is shocking.

 

The module is still in development. Why would they tell us a date for release if they aren’t 100% sure it will be ready?

[Koriel]

;3616020']The sense of entitlement is shocking.

 

The module is still in development. Why would they tell us a date for release if they aren’t 100% sure it will be ready?

 

Wow....

 

They have told us a date. All I'm asking for is clarification on what can be expected of that date. How's that entitlement? It's a normal request for information. If I deal with customers, I give clear answers to clear questions. (At least that's my goal.)

 

I don't like riding a hype train. It gets very tiresome. I think Cobra847 should stop playing around and grow up. At least ED does it better, they don't tease dates and such.

[Cnuke]

Would love to do realistic force feedback implementation, but no one in the team actually has a force feedback stick, and they're not that easy to come by nowadays :joystick:

 

EDIT @Swither CHECK PM please.

It would be fantastic if you could, by raising the bar it could start a ffb revival in joystick hardware.:thumbup:

 

Give a try on ebay (.com/.de/.co.uk) as you can find plenty of them and some of them are sent internationally as well. Maybe the community can help you with one, either by purchase in their country and send it to you.

I'll keep my eyes open for a bargain.

Edited September 4, 2018 by Cnuke

[Silverado]

Resolution of Lantrin display looks awful, is this correct? Hard to say for me because I've never seen Lantrin with fishbowl display, but later ones with PTID looks much better.

[OnlyforDCS]

Would love to do realistic force feedback implementation, but no one in the team actually has a force feedback stick, and they're not that easy to come by nowadays :joystick:

 

Are we at least getting a centering force so we don't have to fly with "floppy" sticks? I mean there is third party software which can do this, but Id rather not be running extra background processes while running DCS, we all know how resource hungry it is ;)

 

Also It doesn't have to be 100% realistic. Just something to provide more immersion. Even something like the stick starting to vibrate at edge of envelope conditions (just before the visual airframe shake cues) could go a long way towards providing a very immersive sensory cue.

[Cnuke]

@OnlyforDCS I agree.

 

@Swither You got a PM

[Dino Might]

I remember two years ago thinking, "oh great, cat will probably release right around when my kid is born...."

 

Looks like my prediction will come true, just with a different kid :megalol:

 

I figure there will be a couple of minutes to go downstairs and crash it into the fantail a few times in the early morning hours between bottle feeding and diaper changes, because I won't be sleeping either way.

 

Thanks for the update. Looking forward to it!

[LcSummers]

Saw now the update. I am speechless. I had to look twice before i realized that these are ingame shots (cockpit). Wow such amazing detail.

 

 

Thats a whole new world. Fantastic stuff.

[Mule]

Superb!

 

As someone who mainly fly's on my own, the whole Jester thing is something I am particularly looking forward to.

 

This is going to be a great and classic module.

[Flamin_Squirrel]

Are we at least getting a centering force so we don't have to fly with "floppy" sticks? I mean there is third party software which can do this, but Id rather not be running extra background processes while running DCS, we all know how resource hungry it is ;)

 

Also It doesn't have to be 100% realistic. Just something to provide more immersion. Even something like the stick starting to vibrate at edge of envelope conditions (just before the visual airframe shake cues) could go a long way towards providing a very immersive sensory cue.

 

Flight control is achieved through an irreversible hydraulic power system, so you're not going to get any vibrating through the stick.

[OnlyforDCS]

Flight control is achieved through an irreversible hydraulic power system, so you're not going to get any vibrating through the stick.

 

Not even when the whole airframe shakes?

Edited September 4, 2018 by OnlyforDCS

[Nosferatuwhisky 1-1]

Not even when the whole airframe shakes?

 

especially then ;)

[Flamin_Squirrel]

The whole airframe may shake, but you're not going to get any particular feedback through the stick itself.

 

I can see where you're coming from from a sensory cue point though.

[Tirak]

Being an Aviation Electricians Mate in the Navy on F14s, these depictions of the cockpits are dead on for a fleet bird on cruise. These panels, indicators, screws , knee panels get removed and replaced constantly, they even got the worn yellow circuit breakers. Now typically the cockpit is supposed to get painted every 112 days, but on cruise what happens is the panels are pulled, a FOD and security check is done, panels get touched up and panels go back in, even if they are worn, biggest gripe from pilots would be from light bleeding thru the panels for NVGs. This is a great and realistic cockpit.

 

 

No windex on a carrier :megalol:

 

 

The worn cockpit looks sweet but the fact that the displays are all marked up is not something I'm happy with. It makes for great pictures but not great gameplay as the resolution of our screen is not the 'resolution' of our eyes. The only option I really want is to make sure there aren't any thumbprints or smudges on things so i don't have to worry if it's my monitor or a somewhat (in my opinion) overzealous recreation.

[HawkeyeHHDF]

Those screens look like that too, between ground crew and pilots touching the screens, and they didn't get wiped down a lot, I get what your saying but they paint a pretty accurate picture of it.

 

No windex on a carrier :megalol:

 

 

The worn cockpit looks sweet but the fact that the displays are all marked up is not something I'm happy with. It makes for great pictures but not great gameplay as the resolution of our screen is not the 'resolution' of our eyes. The only option I really want is to make sure there aren't any thumbprints or smudges on things so i don't have to worry if it's my monitor or a somewhat (in my opinion) overzealous recreation.

[M1Combat]

HeatBlur -

 

 

 

Can we PLEASE get a 3840x2160 shot of that carrier deck for wallpaper use?

 

 

Thanks in advance :)

[CheckGear]

Being an Aviation Electricians Mate in the Navy on F14s, these depictions of the cockpits are dead on for a fleet bird on cruise. These panels, indicators, screws , knee panels get removed and replaced constantly, they even got the worn yellow circuit breakers. Now typically the cockpit is supposed to get painted every 112 days, but on cruise what happens is the panels are pulled, a FOD and security check is done, panels get touched up and panels go back in, even if they are worn, biggest gripe from pilots would be from light bleeding thru the panels for NVGs. This is a great and realistic cockpit.

 

Question - was the F-14 really the maintenance monster is was reputed as being?

[HawkeyeHHDF]

Question - was the F-14 really the maintenance monster is was reputed as being?

 

Yeah it really was, it leaked all the time, wires and computers were constantly breaking, I worked on Deltas but even some of them had this old brittle Capton wiring that would break . I think the average for flight hours to maintenance hours was upwards of 80 man hours for every flight hour, granted this was an average. During enduring freedom we actually had a 100 percent combat sortie competition rate which was unheard of in a Tomcat squad but it was after 9/11 and we were motivated.

[Scourge]

Dirty, Greasy, Tomcats and Intruders. I remember that. Saw a lot of that living close to Oceana Master jet base in Virginia Beach VA. Planes idling on the runways waiting to take off, 250 ft. from were we parked and watched them do touch and goes, listening to our Radio Shack UHF scanners. U.S. Navy Aviation, Rocks.

[CheckGear]

Yeah it really was, it leaked all the time, wires and computers were constantly breaking, I worked on Deltas but even some of them had this old brittle Capton wiring that would break . I think the average for flight hours to maintenance hours was upwards of 80 man hours for every flight hour, granted this was an average. During enduring freedom we actually had a 100 percent combat sortie competition rate which was unheard of in a Tomcat squad but it was after 9/11 and we were motivated.

 

From what you know has the Super Hornet been any less of a maintenance monster? I know maintenance was a big factor in the Tomcat's retirement and maintenance a big factor in both the acquisition and continued production of the Super Hornet.

 

Dirty, Greasy, Tomcats and Intruders. I remember that. Saw a lot of that living close to Oceana Master jet base in Virginia Beach VA. Planes idling on the runways waiting to take off, 250 ft. from were we parked and watched them do touch and goes, listening to our Radio Shack UHF scanners. U.S. Navy Aviation, Rocks.

 

It'd be nice if we got an AI A-7E Corsair II as well. Then it'd be the 1980s all over again!

[HawkeyeHHDF]

From what you know has the Super Hornet been any less of a maintenance monster? I know maintenance was a big factor in the Tomcat's retirement and maintenance a big factor in both the acquisition and continued production of the Super Hornet.

 

 

 

It'd be nice if we got an AI A-7E Corsair II as well. Then it'd be the 1980s all over again!

 

From my friends that work on the Super Hornet it isn't as bad, because the plane does a lot of the troubleshooting for you, with certain BIT codes and what not. Also a lot of those parts are still under warranty. Part shortages was a big reason planes stayed down as long as they did.

[RotoFly]

Will be the same as the original data 2 cockpit ??

 

mmm

[MrDieing]

To all complaining about release dates yada yada; Y'all just a bunch of crybabies with less patience then my mom when she told me dinner was ready now.