Century Series (American Heavy Metal)

[bismarck]

This impose me to stop to rebuild my second PC where I'm reinstalling all from scratch , and test these new beauties....

Giorgio

[mikeblaze]

Here's a preview of coming chapters.... and yes, there will be bare metal, grey, and camo where appropriate.

[bismarck]

Hi Mike, I installed every packs of Starfighter, also the fix, but I still have the problem with the steering nose wheel.
Something has changed from previous release, but it doesn't work right, at least for me.

More precisely, here what I've noticed.
Especially when the taxi line turns of 90 degrees or more, in the initial phase, the wheel turns on the other side with high angle, in the second phase of the curve, it turns correctly, but with an minor angle. This is especially true, when the aircraft turns on the right.
Another problem noticed is when the AC finishes a pushback and must turns of 180 degrees. In this case the wheel does "more or less" what it wants... randomly a bit to the right, a bit to the left...

Have you received any feedback about?

Thanks, Giorgio

[mikeblaze]

This latest Starfighter package was tested pretty vigorously before I uploaded it, and here are my thoughts on the animation. The nose wheel doesn't really work too well at any rate in the AI engine, and I can't animate it through its full angle of rotation because it does some really weird things under AI. Taxiing, esspecially around turns, is one of the things that gives FDE guys fits, and obviously turning in the AI world drives the animation for the nose gear. Some of these nose gear assemblies on various (real) aircraft rotate more than 45 degrees off-center, but the AI engine sometimes has no rhyme or reason to when it detects when the aircraft is in a turn, activating the nose-gear steering. I animate my nose gear assemblies (Mirage, Crusader, Starfighter) at a maximum of 15 degrees off-center, which is more gentle, but still subject to the sometimes dodgy AI engine. I can shorten the lag times (make the nosegear move faster) in the XML, but this can cause 'snap' turns of the gear, again not realistic. In the end, this is just really nice auto-gen scenery, and as long as it looks nice on the flightline, contacts the ground appropriately, and flies within an acceptable AI flight envelope, I am good with it.

I have found that there are two types of simmers, those who like to see populated airports and active air traffic ('plane flyers'); and those who are into virtual plane-spotting (plane followers'). The two groups use the sim in two different manners, and it is not always possible to please both groups.

With that in mind, thanks for the feedback, and enjoy the subsequent releases.

[MIKE JG]

Mike what parameter are you using to trigger the nose wheel steering animation?

I ask because there are only a couple that you can use and a couple seem to work better than others.

[mikeblaze]

Here are the next installments of the Starfighter saga..... The Royal Netherlands Air Force (24 models/80 serials) and the Royal Danish Air Force (12 models/32 serials). These, and the Dutch NF-5s, just got uploaded to AVSIM.

[Firebird]

Lovely stuff.

[delbydoo]

Thanks Mike

[Chrisb]

Just downloaded them all.

Thanks Mike.

Chris

[edhave]

Here are the next installments of the Starfighter saga..... The Royal Netherlands Air Force (24 models/80 serials) and the Royal Danish Air Force (12 models/32 serials). These, and the Dutch NF-5s, just got uploaded to AVSIM.

That brings back memories

Ed

[Firebird]

Nice looking scenery,Ed. Is it NL2000 or something else?

[mikeblaze]

It wouldn't be me if there wasn't at least one issue every fifty or a hundred serials or so, lol.... In the Danish package, on the Bullpup AGM model (guided2), the missile rails for the center-line AIM-9s are missing (they are sitting in the LOD1 main model, invisible to all). I fixed this for the forthcoming F-104 Norwegian package (next out, probably by tomorrow), and you can just copy the updated model over to the Danish aircraft folder. I will also note this in the documentation.

[edhave]

Nice looking scenery,Ed. Is it NL2000 or something else?

Yep it's NL2000

some nice F-104 info
http://www.i-f-s.nl/index.htm

[mikeblaze]

Here are some Easter eggs..... They have matching F-5 paints over on the other thread. These should be at AVSIM by tomorrow.

[mikeblaze]

Just a note to everybody....

I am not disappeared, but I am slowed down significantly for the moment. I suffered a significant line-of-duty injury to my shoulder at the end of March (torn rotator cuff), and am trying to rehab and avoid surgery. As a result, I have been put on a light duty profile at my fire department, which actually forces me to go in to work more days a week; therefore I have had significantly less time to model in the off hours. I'm not quitting by any means, but my usual meteoric pace has been fractioned for the time being. I have a couple of things near completion on several of my threads, so I will be posting more pics and projects as I can manage.


It's a neck-and-neck race to see which I finish first, the RCAF/CAF or the Italians. I am trying to match the RCAF/CAF with the CF-5s I am into as well. We'll see how it shakes out.

[bismarck]

It's a neck-and-neck race to see which I finish first, the RCAF/CAF or the Italians.

....are you interested in my point of view?....



Giorgio

[Firebird]

So Canadians it is then!

[lewis]

Wishing you to get well soon, that is more important for now, flightsim can wait a little bit. Cheers, Lewis

[mikewmac]

Mike,

I hope you are back up to speed soon, but don't push too hard and make things worse for yourself.

[delta_lima]

Hello!

It's been a while (a few years!) since I logged on last. Since then, I have migrated to FSX, and slowly rebuilt my AI environment. Unitl two weeks ago, I somehow completely missed the news about Mike's A-4s, F-8s, and F-104s - how could a person be that clued out??? Over the last few weeks, I've figured out AIFP, and using the FSX-convered MAIW traffic files adapted to retro a/c, been slowly bringing to life some of my favourite bases with these lovely models. The F-8s in particular, have brought me such enjoyment!!!

Then, logging on here, I hear about '102s??? When will the insanity end? Too good to be true, I say. So looking forward to these, and as a Canuck, to the RCAF/CF 104s. Mike, your work has brought so much enjoyment - not just there "mere" planes themselves - but the details like the chocks, engine covers, ladders, etc. Simply delightful. I hope you recover well - and in due course, whenever released, your old retro 102s and remaining 104s will be thoroughly enjoyed.

Again, many kind thanks,

DL