Ells228 Veteran



Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: London, UK Posts: 7,457

Development Update February 2016 Hey Guys,

Welcome to the February 2016 update.



So far it's been a very productive month on all projects which are detailed below.



In case you missed the Hawk Feb update, here are some updated highlights since I posted it:



Feedback from the Hawk pilots is being updated on our current EFM flight model. It has been thoroughly tested and verified to be authentic and realistic to flying a Hawk.

With the change to EFM comes additional features like differential toe brakes, parking brake and much more. We hope you enjoy flying it as much as we have testing it over the past few months.

By the end of this month the EFM will be released to ED for testing and verification and we will discuss with ED when the next patch for 1.5 and 2.0 can be put out with the update.



I have also recently had demo's with BaE Systems, the RAF and Ascent for our military discussions and everyone that has flown the new EFM thinks its outstanding!!

I can't wait to get it into your hands.



The updated cockpit textures are now implemented in the internal build and final tweaks are underway with switches and dials.

Our texture artist has done an excellent job making the cockpit look more realistic and so far we've had very positive feedback from you on the screenshots released.



Our testers have reported some FPS loss on low end and mid-spec PC's so we will be implementing three texture packs; High, Medium and Low which you can select in the Options tab. High will be 4096 templates, medium 2048 and low 1024.

This should give you enough options depending on you PC capability.



The new textures will be included with the EFM release next month.



Here are the remaining list of fixes and issues being worked on during February, again scheduled for release next month:

Weapons selector not working since 1.5.2 update.

Air start option - start with weapons system live including sidewinder cooling down time.

Sidewinder tone added.

Radio UHF and AM coms working (ground crew currently works ok).

When part of an aircraft wing is destroyed, the weps and lights still show (this will be done as part of EFM/ASM integration).

Airbrake test switch not working.

Realistic sounds to be added to external and cockpit.

Kneeboard joystick assignments not working for mark map and next/prev pages.

Det cord showing inside of canopy when looking back.

Controls indicator (Ctrl+Enter) working.

Auto start/stop commands working.

Altimeters 10,000 number rolling over too soon indicating 1950ft when it's 950ft.

Custom weapons added - Aden gun pod to start.

Damage model showing on some AI / multiplayer aircraft when air-brake deployed.

Add AHRS to start-up training mission.

Add remaining navigation training missions.

Safety pins removed from the model.

Other bugs reported by testers and public.



We are still on track for having most, if not all, of these issues resolved by the end of the month and I'll give a more detailed bug fix list in early March prior to the patch.



One thing not mentioned is the sight control box, we are still working on the best solution for implementation within DCS (differs from real life) which I discussed with a few pilots during the military demo's. This may not make the March patch but we are looking into it for a release very shortly after.



My aim is to have 99% of Hawk complete in Beta stage released to you in March, with the remaining items closed off very shortly after the patch if they don't make it.



This would mean that Hawk will be officially out of Beta phase 12 months from release.



I understand some of you are not happy with the aircraft, it's systems, textures, etc. and I can only assure you that we have learnt a lot of lessons from our first DCS developed aircraft and a lot of the problems we encountered will not be present with future modules.

We do not want another "texturegate" on our hands!!



Our next release being P-40F and releases after that will have very short Beta phases of life and will be feature complete upon release.



I am also hoping to have within the patch two missions from our friends at Close Air Solutions (CAS) which will give you a taste of the close air support role within the Hawk, showing you how formidable is it for a combat role.

This will lead into a full Campaign available in the future, details to be released soon.



Typhoon is still being worked on by out team. The new 3D models are being worked on as are the digital systems.

We are still researching with our contacts at the RAF on which features we can implement for a public release and how affective they will be within DCS; things like MIDS and DASS.

When we have more final details I'll let you know.

At this moment in time I am still shooting for a 2016 release (subject to change).



Now I'll hand you over to Pete for his side of things....



Hi Guys,

So it’s that time of the month again! Well it’s been a month of updates and fixing things, which makes a nice change!



On P-40F we have resolved both the vibration issue and the engine cut out problems and a few of us have now been able to fly the P-40F in DCS 1.5.2 and 2.0.1

This is obviously a great step forwards with most of the ASM functionality complete with only implementation to be completed, the EFM has a few irks that we are working out of it.

Aside from those the artwork is having a few additional tweaks from Rob on the external, applying some of the techniques that we have learnt since the P-40F was initially textured.

The internal has been finished off since it was last shown and once we have implemented some more of the ASM we will get P-40F over to Chuck who is biting at my heels to do some video work on the her.



So where does this leave us with release I hear you ask?

Well it will be after the Hawk EFM has made it to you, it will take us a few weeks to finish implementing and final testing for the new ASM, whilst the EFM should be worked on the same time.

Once this has been finished (think end of March to mid-April) then it will be passed to our internal testers and to ED, what happens after that I can’t speculate on as it depends on the above.

There really isn’t more detail I can give you then that other than pasting lines of code into an update haha.



On other projects the Spitfire External continues to be worked on with the cockpit mesh being 99% complete and will be textured in the next couple of weeks.

Prelim work on the ASM and EFM has been done and will be picked up again after Wildcat.



Wildcat is coming along nicely with the externals nearing completion and the internals almost complete as well, This is the next focus after the P-40F.



Meteor is pretty much mesh complete now after having a major cockpit rework, Damage modelling again is almost finished and I look forward to showing you some things for this after P-40F is released.



We had a major breakthrough with Buchon; the manuals that we had for it were partial and incomplete ones that I had obtained from contacts in the warbird community, however Dom managed to obtain a complete Ha1112 manual (all in Spanish) which has helped answer a few little questions we still had.

We have a bit of an Easter egg in mind for this aircraft so keep your eyes peeled towards the back end of 2016.



Only other aircraft is the Bearcat; our modeller has been extensively reworking some aspects of this and work continues, ironic really as the ASM + EFM are reasonably well built, work on this will pick up after Spitfire comes across the summer.



Anyone attending any of the air shows at Duxford this year should hunt me down and come and have a look at the WIP projects I will have with me. I will as usual have my tablet with WIP screenies and videos for you all to look at.



Until next month people. Have Fun & Fly Safe



Pman