Suggestions for quality of life improvements to the module

[Arctic Fox]

I have been flying and greatly enjoying the Mirage F1 over the last couple of days. However while playing I have been thinking of a few additions or improvements that could be made to the overall interface of the module which, in my opinion, would greatly improve the player experience:

The ability to change aircraft settings in-mission: Currently laser codes, countermeasure programs, burst and salvo settings seem to be only selectable from the mission editor. This is fine for pre-canned single missions but in open multiplayer servers this makes it impossible to adapt the jet to the situation or player preference, since the ME is not accessible. Currently, the standard method for changing settings like this for the vast majority of modules in the game is via the kneeboard, for example as on the F-5E here:

This is a fairly good way to do things since it allows the aircraft to be set on the ground after spawning in, but the options are locked in the air where they would obviously not be accessible to the pilot, and I would love to see something like it implemented.

(I love the inclusion of checklists on the kneeboard by default by the way)

For countermeasure programs and burst/salvo settings another option would be to be able to override the ME settings through the Special Options menu, as seen for example on the JF-17 here:

This would allow players to set their preference and not have to fuss with things when entering a mission. However, I think the ability to change things in-mission should be the priority.

Add a Special Option to force enable or disable the radar cover: Related to the above, the current method for removing or attaching the radar cover shroud is perfectly fine for ground starts, however it is impossible for a player to adjust it for an air-start mission. Having an option in the Special Options tab to force the shroud on or off (or leave it according to ME settings, of course) on all missions would both make this possible and generally make it so players have to fiddle with less things to configure the jet to their liking when spawning in.

Idle and afterburner detent zones: This has been mentioned a few times by others on the forum. The F1's throttle seems to have a large range of travel dedicated to the afterburner which makes it difficult to control in normal flight with most consumer throttle. Adding an option to set how much of the travel is dedicated to idle and AB would make things easier for players to adjust to their setup. For example, the Mirage 2000 has an option like that in the Special Options tab of the game:

More keybinds: There are some bugs with the keybindings that you are probably aware of, but besides those, I think adding additional options to go directly to various radar modes and range scales, for example, instead of only incrementing them up and down one by one, would be very welcome.

Faster dial scrolling when clicking the mouse and dragging: Currently it is very time consuming to adjust dials such as the TACAN additional target bearing and range, or the fuel indicator. Making it so that clicking and dragging the mouse on these dials will adjust them faster, while leaving the scroll wheel slower to make fine adjustment, would make it much easier to handle those systems. This could be tied to an option in the Special Options tab so players can adjust the speed to their liking.

Adjust or display fuel quantity as of last refueling/rearming: Currently refueling in-missions seems to automatically reset the fuel indicator to the correct level, but attaching external fuel tanks does not seem to change it, leaving the player to have to manually calculate how much fuel they should have or make adjustments to it. Either automatically adjusting the quantity based on what external tanks were loaded (or, again, having an option in the Special Options for that) or leaving a note on the kneeboard for how much fuel was loaded on the jet as of the last time it was refueled and rearmed would make this a lot simpler. For example the Mirage 2000, which has a similar fuel system to the F1, displays such information on the kneeboard:

This would be beneficial for future variants with air-to-air refueling capability, where a message from the tanker about how much fuel was transferred could be noted down to allow players to adjust their fuel totals appropriately.

Edited July 24, 2022 by Arctic Fox

[ondro1911]

nicely writren

all of these things really should be added to improve our experience especially in MP

[Ala13_ManOWar]

I believe the first one you mention is related to cartridges load, isn't it? That should be a core game feature and IIRC ED is seeking to add that to all modules, at least the modern ones which should have it, like Viggen already have though it's a external tool from Heatblur.

[Arctic Fox]

It has nothing to do with data cartridges specifically. In the Viggen it's used to select a data cartridge, but in the F-5E and almost all other modules it is simply used to select options that the ground crew would set on the jet or weapons on the ground outside the cockpit, as you can see. If ED adds a full aircraft configuration panel that allows these settings to be changed then the kneeboard method will be moot, but until then it's more or less the best method for allowing settings like that to be changed.

(The JF-17 has a different system for changing laser codes that allows individual pylons to be configured to different codes via the ground crew menu, though this is technically also possible via a kneeboard implementation.)

Edited July 24, 2022 by Arctic Fox

[Bashibazouk]

I have a question-suggestion - The autopilot keybinds don't seem to all work, so I need to hold the key on my HOTAS, then use my mouse to press the second key required to start the AP. I'd like that second button A to be bindable. It's in the list, but doesn't work on my machine. If this is a result of some mod I'm using, let me know and I'll pull my head in.

 

cheers,

 

BB

[MAXsenna]

8 hours ago, Bashibazouk said:

I have a question-suggestion - The autopilot keybinds don't seem to all work, so I need to hold the key on my HOTAS, then use my mouse to press the second key required to start the AP. I'd like that second button A to be bindable. It's in the list, but doesn't work on my machine. If this is a result of some mod I'm using, let me know and I'll pull my head in.

 

cheers,

 

BB

It works fine for me. I have all the AP buttons mapped to a TM MFD Cougar. Are you going too fast? 

[Bashibazouk]

Thanks for the suggestion - I'll try slowing down to see if it makes a difference, but I suspect it's more likely I have a mod that's interfering with my binds. Your clarification is very helpful, thx: Glad to know it's working OK. I had a feeling the problem was my end as no one else had reported it.

 

EDIT: one other possibility, as this sort of thing has happened to me one before, IIRC. It might be that I need to just reset and start from scratch with binds as on  one occasion, I'd setup my binds and an update confused the input files. I was getting the red duplicate alert, even though I didn't have anything duplicated. A reset fixed that one. Maybe I'll try resetting everything first, and if that doesn't work, try a start with no mods - if it works, install half the mods, then a quarter etc until I've found the culprit. I might do this in the future as the problem is annoying but certainly doesn't break the sim or my enjoyment, and the process is rather lengthy. All that said, I really do like the F1!

Edited October 30, 2022 by Bashibazouk

[t-stoff]

I'm now diving deep in the Mirage F1 and I just found out this thread. Has anyone found a workaround for the bearing/navigation knob slow response? I have a virpil throttle and I binded it one of the dials and I'm afraid it will wear it off prematurely due to extreme usage while navigating throughout a mission.
(now using a keyboard button, its fast!)

Edited February 6, 2023 by t-stoff

[Biggus]

8 hours ago, t-stoff said:

I'm now diving deep in the Mirage F1 and I just found out this thread. Has anyone found a workaround for the bearing/navigation knob slow response? I have a virpil throttle and I binded it one of the dials and I'm afraid it will wear it off prematurely due to extreme usage while navigating throughout a mission.
(now using a keyboard button, its fast!)

 

If you're using a rotary encoder, there might be some settings in Virpil's software to accelerate the input.  I don't have a Virpil throttle, but that function exists for Winwing's software and I'd expect Virpil to have done something similar.

 

Back to the topic though, I really hope we can program our laser codes and countermeasures from the cockpit soon.  I've been thoroughly enjoying using the F1 online lately but there are times where I cannot operate effectively with other players and AI.  Add those features (plus the AUF2 dual rack) and I'll be as happy as a pig in mud.