Patch Nov 18th - F-14A release - Feedback Thread

[ebabil]

Its bombs are not attached to anything like B model.

[IronMike]

@IronMike

TL:DR. Unhappy. Need:

 

1. expanded, competent JESTER who does everything mentioned above

2. please fix the airspeed indicator bug bug. With a cherry on top.

3. Forrestal

 

 

You guys really don't need to be concerned to give air to your thoughts/ frustrations/ feedback here - at all. Ever. It always was and always will be appreciated. We don't put up these threads to hear how great everything is that we do. We put them up to hear your unaltered thoughts and honest feedback - no matter what that is. It will always be welcome.

 

That out of the way - most of the items you mention are currently being worked on. Some things however get put lower on the priority list. For example, working on pilot helmets and flight suit patches equals thumb times pinky 2 liveries less, etc... So we rather offer 4 instead of 2 initial liveries, and so on. Often it is just an either/or trade off, because "time"... Sometimes also one thing needs to be done first, before we can finish another... Also, we announced ahead that the late 135GR would release first - the A release is not like the B initial release, it is a step by step release, which is necessary simply due to limited time. More liveries will come and will be attached to their related later or early variants, etc...

 

Jester issues are complicated. Even more so, when for us things consistantly work as they should. We know the proof is out there, I mean we've seen it all and we believe you guys anyway always. But we just dont experience it ourselves - for our developers that makes it very difficult to pinpoint the problems. Rest assured however, that eventually we crack every nut, and eventually we will also crack this one.

 

Forrestal: is in the works, took a bit of a back seat atm because the engine nozzles were a monumental task to complete for our art team. We kindly ask for a bit more patience in that regard, once initial plans shift around completely, it isn't eazy to get everything back on track immediately as planned. That said: it is coming as promised and it wont be very long anymore - it would be unwise to give a date just yet though.

 

The campaign being pushed back is as Cobra mentions simply a necessity to let the story play out as it demands, and to open up more free content for you guys. It will come with a hopefully pleasant surprise regarding its 2nd part (which will follow later), but I don't want to spoil anything just yet.

 

I know it sometimes looks like "wtf guys, why are you depriving us from the goodies yet again!" - but pls don't forget: 95% of all decisions we make, we do to deliver in the end more, not less. That takes extra time, indeed. But in the long run it also provides more fun to be had on the rear end of things. Now everything is in movement, and seems imminently affecting day to day simming, but there will come a time "after" the Tomcat, and we want to release you into that period filled with content and goodies to the brim. Because we want that fun to last as long as possible. For this, all the parts need to be put in place first, and what may seem as a bit of patchwork now, will eventually represent a giant total, if that makes sense.

 

We didn't write off dynamic cockpits just yet, but we need to see to what extent we can really implement them. They are not merely wishlist items, we just treat them as low priority atm, as through development focus shifts and one may find other stuff worthier or more important to be worked on, with more gain for the player's experience. (The latter ofc being subjective in some cases.)

 

Speed callouts, etc has already been coded for Jester, we just need to finish the campaign to find time to record the callouts. In that sense this should happen soonest and first thing after the campaign.

 

As for things being straight forward, unfortunately they are not. Like someone mentioned the LAUs still not being textured. Seems like a small item, but isn't. Would we inject it now, it would topple all the other bigger items, which are just best to have out of the way first and so on...

 

It's likely a small consolation, and certainly not meant as an excuse (as I also dont feel there is really anything for us to apologize for, except for being total knuckleheads when it comes to estimates heh) but I hope it helps understand the state of affairs a bit and makes the wait for your most sought after items a bit easier. :-)

 

In the end I feel what's most important to you guys, is that you know what's going on, and that you are actively included in the process. Correct me if I am wrong in that. But if you have any burning questions, never hesitate to ask. We'll always do our best to give you as much insight as we can. In the end we want in most parts the same that you guys want.

 

[IronMike]

Haven't had too much time to test so far, but from an initial couple of flights, on the plus side we have:

• The A - "probably the worst engine/airframe mismatch we have had in years"
  

On the minus side:

• Flaps broken again
  
• Low speed turn rate reduced - so BFM nerfed
  
• Still have serious Jester issues - one of the most obvious being, Jester switching from TWS to RWS after 54 launch and losing tracks resulting in 54 going stupid
  
• 54 RWR still broken, so 54s banned in my squadron
  
• 54 terminal homing issues still causing very odd last minute misses - I know its probably EDs fault, but as a customer I just want it fixed
  
• The worst flame effects in game
  

Good job you've had an extra 2 weeks to fix stuff, because I dread to think what state it was in! Sorry guys, the feedback back is a serious negative :(

 

Thanks, we're looking into all these items.

 

In what sense is 54 RWR still broken? The only thing broken atm seems that PD-STT 54's missile launch warning isn't being registered by the ALR-67. Should work for any other aircraft though.

 

In what way would the flaps be broken? They seem to work just fine?

 

The flame effects are what is available in DCS.

Edited November 19, 2020 by IronMike

[Ala12Rv-Tundra]

I took off in my b model after a flight of a, and they showed up in the rwr as AI symbol.

I have no idea if that is correct.

[Jackjack171]

Pretty satisfied with the model. Patiently waiting for the fixes. Thank you HB, awesome job again!

 

[Kula66]

In what way would the flaps be broken? They seem to work just fine?

 

I think you said you were happy that they were accurately simulated previously - they've change dramatically and are much more fragile. Or is this another episode of 'I'll break them completely while I refine them' again?

 

[Sonoda Umi]

Testing sustained turn rate performance and it has dropped noticably in the B for some reason, by quite a lot, so much so that the F-15 now matches the F-14B in STR even between 0.6-0.5 mach, which is crazy. The A also doesn't live up to the charts. Right now I can't even achieve charted values for 5kft at SL.

 

Something is up... :-/

 

There are something I found as well. F-14B turing performance is downgraded considerably.

 

Any other has more reports?

[Moorhuhn]

 

There will be more official liveries added on a rolling basis as they get done. We focused on LR-67 equipped F-14A's for this version and we have some more being worked on.

As the other A's are ready we will add more of those appropriate liveries as well.

This is far from the final amount of liveries that will be available.

 

 

Thank you very much for feedback.

I am really looking forward and have now a good feeling about it.

Good to know the chapter isn't closed with just four skins.

 

Quality takes time. ;)

I think the end product of the late A will be amazing.

 

But please dont forgot now about the B.

There were still some HiViv skins missing for it and I am still hoping for the VF103 2000 Santa Cat with the legendary "Seasons Greetings" Fuel Tanks :wub:

 

If the complete skins were not ready until christmas, maybe just the two christmas skins (one for the A (VF211), one for the B (VF103)) could be added by a christmas surprise patch :music_whistling:

 

[flavnet]

Hi! I bought the F-14 Heatblur on 08-10-2018 (directly from Heatblur). I just updated 2.5.6.57949 Open Beta. Wanting to try the F-14 A, with the mission editor I create a simple mission (only the F-14A aircraft already in flight). I notice that in the box preview of the plane, F-14A it's exactly like the first F-14A (the non-Heatblur one!!). In fact, when I try to start the mission, the game crashes. The F-14B works perfectly, even if - after the update - I had to re-binding controls. Help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[MBot]

Thanks a lot Heatblur for the fantastic F-14A. I love it!

[Blinde]

Can I make a small suggestion to you Heatblur about those afterburner effects? Just make this official and change some parameters in F-14B.lua file and you get much more realistic looking flames, only the color needs bit more tuning. I don't understand why you haven't changed it already since it really doesn't require anything else and the results are far more realistic. Works with both A and B model but currently obviously brokes MP since it's not official.

 

Just change the diameter = 0.01, to diameter = 1.01, in engine nozzle section.

 

 

This is unaltered shot with just changing those parameters. Left engine is the default, right one has been changed to 1.01 and increased the length from 0.01 to 5.01

 

​

[flybull]

@ironmike

 

Thanks iron mike for your lengthy and considered reply to my post.

 

I understands the points you make and have faith in HB that in the long term - everything promised will be delivered, and more.

 

Would you please confirm the airspeed bug bug has been recognised and that will be rectified?

 

Thanks for your assistance.

 

Cheers

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[SandMartin]

 

Thanks, we're looking into all these items.

 

In what sense is 54 RWR still broken? The only thing broken atm seems that PD-STT 54's missile launch warning isn't being registered by the ALR-67. Should work for any other aircraft though.

 

In what way would the flaps be broken? They seem to work just fine?

 

The flame effects are what is available in DCS.

 

Can we expect early cockpit without dedicated RWR indicator ?

[tekrc]

my quick notices in the limited time Ive spent:

 

Compressor Stalls: dont seem to warn you or happen much at all for that matter. as far as I know you should be able to hear or feel compressor stalls coming with aircraft behavior. ive heard of groans and pops before the stall actually occurs. no matter how tight of a turn I pulled or how much I surged the throttle nothing seemed to happen until I forced a flat spin and only when I tried to exit the spin by sweeping the wings did the engine burst into flames without warning leading to the next thing.

 

Fire Suppression: short answer doesnt work. pull the cutoff, press discharge and fire is unaffected.

 

Glove Vanes? I know it was never confirmed we would get them functioning or just visual or whatever else... but they should still be present on the A models even if welded shut shouldnt they? looks like the B glove was reused and they either havnt been modelled yet or this is the subtle confirmation theyre being left out entirely to save on workload. or its possible the late model A this is based on doesnt have tthem at all but Im not sure on when exactly they were left out of production.

 

Sounds: the exterior sounds are a good step in the right direction for what the 14 seems to sound like, except in the cockpit view. seems to be nearly identical to the B sounds I am used to and even with the canopy open you cant hear the screech at all seems like.

 

I only had a couple hours to check it out but those were the things that stood out to me at the time. loving that its finally out though!

[Love_Beam]

Can we get a VF-41 livery?

[Skysurfer]

All good points made by everyone here with the major issues addessed. For me personally the biggest "issues" are more on the visual side in terms of liveries being too white, having generic pilots and mis-matches missile rails. Hopefully all this and the various typos and base system functionalities in the cockpit get fixes sooner rather than later. Keep it up. :thumbup:

[Ala12Rv-watermanpc]

Just want to thanks HB for the INCREDIBLE work they have done and are willing to do, the A model is out of this world!, simply outstanding guys, THANKS!!

[LanceCriminal86]

So did anyone read the "Enter the -A thread" or any of the recent sticky discussion threads? Seems like the answer is no, because a lot of this was already answered.

[Uxi]

Supercarrier thinks F-14A is a Hornet. I called "Tomcat Ball" in Voice Attack and the communication was Hornet Ball. Also noticed on a cat launch (which I usually always do two traps, one launch on the Instant Action Supercarrier Case I), they didn't tell me to extend my wings and told me to raise my nose strut as if I was still a Hornet, but only for the F-14A. F-14B had it correct (except for the known wrong signal for kneeling).

[IronMike]

B turn performance has been fixed internally.

 

[IronMike]

 

I think you said you were happy that they were accurately simulated previously - they've change dramatically and are much more fragile. Or is this another episode of 'I'll break them completely while I refine them' again?

 

Can you give me a bit more, paramters, etc? What exactly happened... Still a bit in the dark about what your issue is.

 

In general, nothing changed with the flaps, they are exactly as they were. Maybe it is just an impression that they break easier? The A has a different feel to it afterall, and overG-ing is easier in it.

[IronMike]

I took off in my b model after a flight of a, and they showed up in the rwr as AI symbol.

I have no idea if that is correct.

 

Fixed internally

[IronMike]

Hi! I bought the F-14 Heatblur on 08-10-2018 (directly from Heatblur). I just updated 2.5.6.57949 Open Beta. Wanting to try the F-14 A, with the mission editor I create a simple mission (only the F-14A aircraft already in flight). I notice that in the box preview of the plane, F-14A it's exactly like the first F-14A (the non-Heatblur one!!). In fact, when I try to start the mission, the game crashes. The F-14B works perfectly, even if - after the update - I had to re-binding controls. Help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

Are you running mods? This sounds as if one of the VSN mods is installed, or similar.

[Steve Gee]

I can now better understand why the Navy (range and fuel economy), and more importantly, it's pilots (performance) were happy to receive those F110's after a few flights with the TF30's. Nicely done, HB. Looking forward to ramp striking the Forrestal soon and I'll wait until March/April 2021 before whining too much about anything left over on the to-do list.

 

:)

[Golo]

My biggest issue with A right now is acceleration past M1, it struggles to get past transsonic region in all altitudes for me. With 2*XT(empty), 2*9Ls, and 2*7F(station 4,5) with full internal fuel down to 8k lbs I could not get past M1.05 in a slight climb at 20k ft climbing slightly to 25k ft.

Around M1 it just hits invisible wall (too much transsonic drag?). I cant belive TF-30s are that shitty, their subsonic acceleration is OK for me.

In comparison B accelerates trough M1 like bat out of hell, in slight climb from 20k ft to 25+k ft i was able to go from M0.9 to M1.6 easily (same loadout as in A).