TeTeT's Vietnam War Vessels

[Linx]

Thanks for the update!

Loving the Maddox's new anti-air capabilities. The flak puffs are wonderfuly scary!

Edited July 29, 2024 by Linx

[Hawkeye60]

 

[TeTeT]

Hi,

two screens from Whiplash, showing in progress work for the A-1 Skyraider. Kudos to @seabat for the nice liveries!

 

[danythunder14]

22 minutes ago, TeTeT said:

Hi,

two screens from Whiplash, showing in progress work for the A-1 Skyraider. Kudos to @seabat for the nice liveries!

 

very nice Skyraider

[TeTeT]

Hi, it's time to introduce the complete team here in this thread. Vietnam War Vessels is not really a single person effort! Here's the team in alphabetical order:

 

Beldin:
Hello, I've played computer games basically since they were invented. Aviation and military history enthusiast. Long time Recording Engineer going back to the analog tape days. I started modding games for personal use back in the early 2000s. DCS is the first game where I've attempt to share my efforts with the community.

Citizen:
Hi, I'm Citizen! I've been an avid flightsimmer since I was very young. My first game was Microsoft Flight Simulator 4.0 for the Macintosh, and it was A-10 Attack! by Parsoft that fully cemented my love of the genre. Like many others, I'm also a fan of the Operation Flashpoint/ARMA series, and I keenly remember being annoyed at so many servers transitioning to some weird zombie mod. For better or worse, DCS is the high water mark for military flight simulation, and I'm glad to be a very small part of pushing the genre forward.

Hawkeye60:
I am a 3D modeler, Astronomer, Master gardener: I won the silver plate award at the USA Topsfield Fair, Engineer, Tech addict, Amateur Musician, Flight sim addict! Been flying sims since 1986 on a Apple 2E Sublogic! Bought every sim since!
Eagle Dynamics has been taking my money, and been a member of the DCS community since 2016 but flying it since 2020. Started modeling back im 2017 with Markindel, Crazyeddie and Stonehouse, the best of times.

Odyseus:
Hello, my name is Odyseus. I love all things military. I've started modding back in 2003. I had zero experience but I really wanted to learn. So I joined multiple projects in the ARMA 3 community. I ve been playing video game since I was a little kid and I always like a passion for simulator. Now I've the opportunity to bring some of my work to DCS by helping with the Vietnam War Vessels mod.

Petr005:
I'm a hobby 3d modeler and I've been involved in multiple projects: RHS for Arma 3 and up, various Squad mods and the infamous Burning Lands Vietnam. I find the Vietnam War period interesting as a modeler and look forward to contribute to the Vietnam War Vessels mod.

seabat:
They taught me how to march down the middle of a street when there was perfectly good sidewalks. They said "did you see the bats in the cargo hold?"  I had not so I went to look.  Never saw them but as I actually went to see bats the name stuck. Learning how to do liveries for DCS Modules now.

Spino:
Hi, Spino here!  I got into flight simming about ten years ago with the Microsoft Flight Simulator series.  My first combat sim was CFS3, which really got me hooked on combat aircraft simulation.  About five years ago I discovered DCS, fell in love with it, and never looked back since.

TeTeT:
I'm TeTeT, a long term DCS and Arma 3 player. I started modding with Arma 3 and expanded late 2023 into DCS. I've been interested in the Vietnam War since a long time, played various boardgames like VG Vietnam, Downtown, Silver Bayonet, Platoon back in the day. Since 2014 I joined the Arma3 Unsung Vietnam War mod team and now run Vietnam War Vessels for DCS. We're building and rigging assets for the Vietnam War era and focus on AI assets.

toan:
I'm an aeronautics enthusiast and I have been using DCS since 2020. Because I'm also a pilot and amateur sailor, I'm quite addicted with DCS naval assets and naval aviation, testing large carrier groups battles, and enjoy testing multiple ships, aircraft and weapons.

Whiplash:
I'm Pedro a.k.a "Whiplash" from the beautiful country of Portugal. I'm a modder and one of the developers behind the S.O.G. Prairie Fire and Spearhead 1944 DLCs for Arma 3. I am deeply passionate about gaming, particularly within the Mil-Sim and Flight-Sim genres and everything Vietnam War related.
 

[TeTeT]

And a WIP screenshot of the MiG-21 model, that now much more resembles a MiG-21MF. Work done by Odyseus!

 

[seabat]

WIP A-1 Skyraider's on SAR escort.

seabat

[Devil 505]

Thought I would introduce myself to the team on this thread.  Two buddies and I fly every Thursday and usually early AM on the weekends.  We have been continuously updating our Dynamic Marianas mission to simulate a Vietnam experience in DCS using all the Vietnam mods out there that are good to go.  Eightball and Tobi really upped their game with the Cayuse which has been one of my primary birds I have been flying since it came out. 

Absolutely cannot wait for Violent Nomads G model Cobra and now I see the Sandy above.  below is a list of mods and official aircraft we have on our private server right now.  The team would love to get our hands on your Sandy and test it out.  The Bronco that was released is awesome, I just wish the team who created had some more time to work on it.  It is a ways out if they ever get back to it. 

I included a video below of us flying on the server.  Hunter Killer Missions are what we enjoy the most right now typically with an A-4 or F-4 overhead.  I am 43 and grew up around the F-4 and F-14 down the road at our Naval Airstation.  Very fond memories of the Phantom.  On our server, I am hoping we can incorporate CSAR missions when we get shot down.  We have done it before on a pretense server where when we go down, if we eject and the pilot lands, it automatically spawns a pilot in the location where we touch down and creates a rescue mission.  I hope we can take it further and start spawning wrecked aircraft, like the cargo variant of the Cayuse, so we can recover downed helos with the Chinook.  I have already tested picking up the Cayuse with the Chinook and it works just fine.  Our mission editor Guru, Mistermann will be jumping in on this convo no doubt.  The man is a wizard with the DCS ME.  We owe all the hard work in the mission to him. 

Really look forward to contributing to this forum and bringing more ideas to the DCS Vietnam scene.  I have tons of literature and photo books on just about everything Vietnam Aviation and special forces oriented if you need reference material.  Also a lot of museums around where I live that I can probably get photos of some real stuff.  Hope you enjoy the video and thank you all for the hard work you are putting into the mods for DCS Vietnam.  We will be adding your ships to the map as well.  I am embarrassed to say they are not on there yet.  List of aircraft and mods below in game.  If I leave any out, Mistermann will correct me,

Mods: Bronco, A-4, Cayuse, AI Seaking mod for Navy, UH-1 attachment mods, Cayuse Mod pack

Official: F-5, F-4, CH-47, UH-1, OH-58 stripped down to the Vietnam style scout, AI B-52, just added the Mig-15 and Mig-21 in case we fly opposing sides   

 

 

 

Edited September 4, 2024 by Devil 505

[TeTeT]

Thanks for the update @Devil 505! I haven't tried your mission yet, but it's for sure on my bucket list. Growing up close to a number of airfields in Germany, the F-4 Phantom was a well known visitor of the skies above me during childhood and youth. Though it got replaced by F-16s when I grew up.

On the AI A-1 Skyraider, we currently still face a number of minor and major problems:

1. For making it take-off from a carrier, the engine type needs to be 3, cannot be a prop plane. So the engine sounds like a jet engine Any ideas how to change the sound independently off the engine type?
2. The prop blur doesn't rotate currently, easy fix probably
3. When wings are folded, pylon loadout is unaligned. We know that it can be fixed, just need to figure out how exactly
4. The birdle is a bit misaligned, reasonably easy fix
5. The overall size of the mod is due to 8k textures excessive. We've reduced the default textures to 2k and will offer a separate high res download
6. AI deployment in combat has hardly been tested currently

I've just discovered that the default take-off taxi routes are off, due to a misalignment within the F-8 model. This will be fixed in the upcoming 0.6.0.

The MiG-21MF is waiting for some texture work to be complete, will be also available as AI asset, but not for 0.6.0.

Unfortunately I cannot give a time estimate when the fixes are in, I had thought we'd push 0.6.0 out end of August, but as you see, work is not done yet.

On the birds (A-1, F-8, MiG-21MF), how high is the interest in flyable SFM versions using FC3 modules? I wish I had experience and time to provide a full cockpit and EFM experience, but this is out of reach currently.

Cheers,
TeTeT

[Devil 505]

13 hours ago, TeTeT said:

Thanks for the update @Devil 505! I haven't tried your mission yet, but it's for sure on my bucket list. Growing up close to a number of airfields in Germany, the F-4 Phantom was a well known visitor of the skies above me during childhood and youth. Though it got replaced by F-16s when I grew up.

On the AI A-1 Skyraider, we currently still face a number of minor and major problems:

1. For making it take-off from a carrier, the engine type needs to be 3, cannot be a prop plane. So the engine sounds like a jet engine Any ideas how to change the sound independently off the engine type?
2. The prop blur doesn't rotate currently, easy fix probably
3. When wings are folded, pylon loadout is unaligned. We know that it can be fixed, just need to figure out how exactly
4. The birdle is a bit misaligned, reasonably easy fix
5. The overall size of the mod is due to 8k textures excessive. We've reduced the default textures to 2k and will offer a separate high res download
6. AI deployment in combat has hardly been tested currently

I've just discovered that the default take-off taxi routes are off, due to a misalignment within the F-8 model. This will be fixed in the upcoming 0.6.0.

The MiG-21MF is waiting for some texture work to be complete, will be also available as AI asset, but not for 0.6.0.

Unfortunately I cannot give a time estimate when the fixes are in, I had thought we'd push 0.6.0 out end of August, but as you see, work is not done yet.

On the birds (A-1, F-8, MiG-21MF), how high is the interest in flyable SFM versions using FC3 modules? I wish I had experience and time to provide a full cockpit and EFM experience, but this is out of reach currently.

Cheers,
TeTeT

I wish I could help on the development of the AI Skyraider but I am afraid that is above my pay grade.  My contribution to the campaign(s) we make, and the Vietnam mission revolves around storyline for accuracy on our coop campaign(s) and historical accuracy on unit types and missions we put together on the Marianas (Vietnam) mission. 

Our IT/ME mission maker is the real wizard and brains behind the scripting and actual design of the mission.  Sad to say, my PIMAX died over the weekend (first gen from the kick starter days) and now I am awaiting a new Crystal Light.  Grounded until then.  We will try to incorporate your Skyraider for sure.  Real work has had me out on travel, so I only got back this weekend.  There is a lot of talent on these forums so I am hoping someone can reach out and assist you.  Looking forward to finding a way to script attacks with the Sandy.

Great story about the Phantoms and Vipers.  I too have been lucking enough to grow up around the majority of the US inventory.  When the Phantoms left, we still had Tomcats lingering around but they too were eventually replaced by the Hornets on base.  Our base used to be a Naval Reserve base, but now it is Joint Naval reserve to include Navy, Marine, and USAF.  Pretty cool because now it's a gang bang of all military aircraft.  On any given day we F-35's, F-16's, F-18's, C-130's, T-38's and the occasional B-52 coming and going.  Every once in great while we are graced with the odd F-15 or F-22.  

As far as your final question, I would honestly say not to invest time into SFM models unless its a massive burning passion of yours.  The Skyraider is already in developments along with the F-8 Crusader.  The guys making the A-1 are actually using a real one locally where I live to create theirs.  Then we already have a Mig-21 in game.  I am sure the community would never complain about a free SFM mod but to be honest, the bar for free mods is being set pretty high these days.  I would say for us, we only fly the Cayuse, A-4, and Bronco with the occasional C-130.  Unless your plan was to match or come close to this fidelity, I would say AI is the best way to go.  We need more ground units for that period to go after in the jungle to.  

There is some pretty cool AI tech (website) out there now where it will create the 3D assets for you and then you incorporate the model it makes into 3D3Max or whatever software you use to create mods.  You can use a single image or multiple to have it create the object.  It requires a monthly fee but there has been some neat stuff made.  If I was savy enough, I would be tempted to start making Vietnamese ground assets utilizing that website to create the foundation of the 3D object and then sculpt it from there.  

Wish you the best of luck and look forward with what you decide to keep bringing to the table.  We need more Vietnam era assets.  I appreciate all the hard work you and your team do for the community. Links below to the cool AI site for creating 3D models.  Might assist in the mod community.  There are more out there and growing. 

Meshy - Free 3D AI Model Generator

VMOD 3D Library: Customizable, hyper-realistic digital fabrics

moonlander.ai - The first AI copilot for 3D game development

[toni]

Uhmmmm  successful Super Hornet testing onboard the Bonhome Richard !

Yeaaaaah

[toni]

by the way Tete, would you give a try with the USS Coral Sea CV 43 ?  

[TeTeT]

3 hours ago, toni said:

by the way Tete, would you give a try with the USS Coral Sea CV 43 ?  

Sure, if there's a nice model around to base the DCS edm upon?

[TeTeT]

Meantime we continue our test of 0.6.0. Changelog from today, reflecting work from the last weeks:

2024-10-11
  A-1 Skyraider
    - Optimize textures
    - Fix pylon alignment problem when wings are folded (kudos Violent Nomad)
  F-8 Crusader
    - Fix catapult alignment problem
    - Add wheels to collision shell
  CVA-31 Bon Homme Richard
    - Fix misaligned taxi paths for catapult take-off 

[toni]

not the Coral Sea, but I found this Kitty Hawk on Turbosquid !

[toni]

TETEs, can I contact you and  we talk about this in private ?

[R. Winters]

Toni, there are a few reskins for the supercarrier on user-files. For Kitty Hawk, America, and Constellation. It works and I can hardly tell the difference between Nimitz and Kitty Hawk. Kitty Hawk Class Supercarrier Repaint Part 1 (digitalcombatsimulator.com)

 

I do agree that we need to see the Midway Class in game! https://www.cgtrader.com/3d-model-collections/midway-class-aircraft-carriers-pack-cv41-cv42-cv43

[Devil 505]

Posted Yesterday from ViolentNomad.  The AH-1G looks to be getting closer to release,

 

 

[TeTeT]

Vietnam War Vessels 0.6.0 is now available!

 

This release is the result of collaborative efforts from Hawkeye60, seabat, Beldin, Stratos, itsdotbmp, and Violent Nomad in development, with Whiplash and SideKick65 contributing new mission editor screenshots. Special thanks to our testers James J. Jackson, Zabbie, and Slapshot for their valuable input.

 

The update introduces the AI A-1H Skyraider, a versatile aircraft known for its role in the Vietnam War, equipped with 15 pylons for diverse mission capabilities. Additionally, the F-8 Crusader has been refined for smoother catapult alignment, along with updates to taxi and take-off paths for the CVA-31 Bon Homme Richard.

 

There are three zips on the download page https://github.com/tspindler-cms/tetet-vwv/releases

TeTeT.VietnamWarVessels.0.6.0.zip - this zip contains everything, it's a one stop shop for the mod

TeTeT.VietnamWarVessels.base.0.6.0.zip - only contains the basic livery, much smaller install size

TeTeT.VietnamWarVessels.liveries.0.6.0.zip - contains the extra liveries and has a huge disk foot print

[ggrewe]

Awesome work TeTeT & team!

Thanks for all the hard work put in

Been looking forward to the legendary A-1 Skyraider for ground pounding missions.

Hopefully you going to add to the ordinance load-outs going forward?!

A-1H Skyraider of VA-25 with toilet bomb on USS Midway (CVA-41) in October 1965

[ViolentNomad]

Edited October 17, 2024 by ViolentNomad

[Devil 505]

Back in the OH-6 with the boys (Zipper took the Kiowa).  This is still my favorite helo to fly.  Looking forward to some good times when Violent Nomad gets his Cobra released.  Going to be off the hook.  Toyed around with some camera effects in this one.  Need to work on getting the Sandy in there next.

 

 

Edited October 18, 2024 by Devil 505

[TeTeT]

Two videos on the Vietnam War Vessels mod. @sidekick65 looks at the 0.6.0 release:

 

I have made some progress with help of RamaMarines on the textures of the O-1 Bird Dog, another AI SFM asset:

 

[Devil 505]

Our rockstar mission maker discovered a CSAR script using the Huey.  Below was my first run at it this evening.  Been a while since I flew the hog.  Need to dust off the hover boots for sure.  This is going to add some good times for the coop scene.  We have generated downed pilots, but it also creates CSAR missions for players who successfully bail out.  This was my first time testing the script.

 

[toni]