HTAI F-16 FSX Beta and question

[gavinc]

Hi,
With the shiny new F-16s being releases is there any interest in conversions of the old HTAI F-16?

Assuming the answer is yes, I have a question for you folks.

I have attached 2 versions of the clean F-16C model.

Version 1 is closer to the original HTAI model with the canopy being 2 separate parts (open and closed) and the model flips from one to the other.

Version 2 has an animated canopy that closes when the aircraft pushes back. The problem with this is that I have to do every step of the conversion in one session, any mistakes means starting again from the beginning. Also there are some funky things like if you first view the model and it is airborne you will see the canopy close.

There is no cockpit night lighting in these models at the moment, I'm having trouble getting the lighting to appear when the canopy is closed.

Please try these models out in FSX & P3D and let me know which version to move forward with.

When we have consensus I will start tackling the rest of the F-16 models

thanks
Gavin

[Tranquil]

As much as i am looking forward to the Maiw F-16s, if they are not released for FSX im sure they will still have the canopy problems which is a shame, as a painter it would then be a hard choice which model to paint as doing it for 2 different models would be time consuming, so my option would always be to go for anything which is already available for FS9 and a bonus of FSX..

No attachments Gav!!!

Much thanks

Mark

[Greg]

There is definitely an interest, Gavin.

The MAIW F-16 is a humongous project and sometimes I'm not sure Mike and Kevin realise what they got themselves into. The FSX conversion is just an intention at the moment and will come on top or after all their current hard work on the FS9 models so I don't think we should expect it soon.

I'm not seeing any attachments either so something may have gone wrong when posting. If you're having trouble attaching the files then you can send them to greg at militaryaiworks dot com and I'll make them available for you somehow.

[gavinc]

Hopefully this will work.

Zip file was too big first time so they are now 2 separate files.

Thanks

Gavin

[hschuit]

(...) Also there are some funky things like if you first view the model and it is airborne you will see the canopy close. (...)

A couple of observations:
Your canopy animation is reversed, at keyframe 0 it is open, closed at 100. If the animation would start closed at zero and is fully open at 100 you will not have the closing canopy problem when the model spawns in the air.

The nose wheel has a steering animation which does not work for AI models in FSX/P3D, I guess you can get rid of it and save on drawcalls.

The gear has compression animation - this causes AI models to sit too high in FSX/P3D, I find that models without gear compression sit much better on the surface.

Something else I am trying to get my head around is do we really still need 7 or 8 LOD levels for AI models in FSX/P3D? I think with current hardware, vertices are no longer the main performance hitters, drawcalls are much more important. I tried a couple of native FSX models for myself which have only 2 or 3 LOD levels, e.g. 100, 25, 5 and I do not see a significant difference in performance vs. 7/8 LOD models. As long as you can keep the highest LOD below 40 - 50 drawcalls the model should be OK.

... Back on topic: The animated canopy version is nicer but the original on/off method is good enough for me.

[hschuit]

Ignore my comment about nose wheel steering - it works on your F-16 model.

[Foxbat]

I have the canopy model, RNoAF working great in P3D4. Watched it all the way from parking to takeoff & airborne

[MIKE JG]

At this point, if we're truly going to convert the MAIW F-16's for a newer sim, it might as well be P3Dv4.

[gavinc]

(...) Also there are some funky things like if you first view the model and it is airborne you will see the canopy close. (...)

A couple of observations:
Your canopy animation is reversed, at keyframe 0 it is open, closed at 100. If the animation would start closed at zero and is fully open at 100 you will not have the closing canopy problem when the model spawns in the air.

thanks for this - I knew it was something simple. Funny how when you stare at a problem for a long time you can't see something that is obvious to everyone else.

Gavin.

[Reggie]

Hi Gavin,
Is there a complete F-16 model you need tested in P3Dv4? I running v4 exclusively now and would be glad to assist and try some repainting.

Reggie

[gavinc]

Hi Gavin,
Is there a complete F-16 model you need tested in P3Dv4? I running v4 exclusively now and would be glad to assist and try some repainting.

Reggie

Thanks for the offer Reggie, I shook the moths out of my wallet and bought P3DV4 my self a little while ago.

I have the canopy fixed so that it animates the right way but I have flushed out a couple of bugs in MCX that prevent the xml from being parsed correctly. Once that is done then I should have a revised model ready for testing.

Regarding the repainting - it is the standard HTAI F-16 so all the default repaints should work fine.

Gavin

[Reggie]

Outstanding Gavin! On the few FSX native models available (JYAI F-15), I've gone ahead and changed the textures to DDS if there was an Alpha channel available.
In any case, I'll be looking forward to your release of an FSX native F-16 model. The offer still stands if you need any assistance.

Thanks for all you do,
Reggie

[John Young]

On the few FSX native models available (JYAI F-15), I've gone ahead and changed the textures to DDS if there was an Alpha channel available.

I'm a bit confused on that one Reggie. Are you talking about FS9 repaints for my F-15 in the example cited? My FSX native models come with .dds textures so there's no need to change those and the paint kit will allow you to create others. The alpha channel is required for the glass and any reflective properties on the airframe and can be stripped out of the existing textures to use elsewhere, but there's generally a copy in the paint kit anyway.

John

[Reggie]

You are correct John, I should have been clearer. I've used your paint kit to create textures for the 159th FW out of KNBG and the four squadrons at Seymour Johnson. I just made one example of each for now.

What I converted were the BMP textures to DDS for the HTAI C-130, C402, UGA T-1A Jayhawks, TC-12B, and the T-44 with AIG's model updates.

I apologize for any confusion. Trying to be patient until native models are developed, but anxious to get military AI into v4. I'm having to piece a lot of it together. It's made me realize how much you all put into development. Very time consuming.

Thank you for the native F-15 model, and for all you do.

Cheers,
Reggie

[John Young]

Aha, that's clearer Reggie. Thank you.

John

[Reggie]

While on the subject, is someone going to be able to convert the NBAI F/A-18? I know Nick has left the program.

[Firebird]

Reg, I have pm'd you.

[jeffmcnair]

While on the subject, is someone going to be able to convert the NBAI F/A-18? I know Nick has left the program.

Reg, I have pm'd you.

Merry Christmas! Is there anything new on this? I too am interested. With VRS superbug and tackpack now out for 4.1, I'm really needing all of my hornets now at Oceana and Lemoore.
Thanks!
Jeff

[Firebird]

There is and never has been any news on the NBAI F/A-18 conversion. There was only a question.

[jeffmcnair]

Roger that, yeah I was asking the question also. And since it was from months back, and not answered on these boards, I was also just seeing if anything had changed on the subject since then.
Thanks,
Jeff