gospadin Beta Tester

Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: 'Murica Posts: 1,948

A-4E July Update



Hi everyone, just checking in...



Progress has been slow in July, as most of the team have had vacations this month or been otherwise occupied with real life.



Since the start of July, we've been integrating more animated cockpit elements (switches, levers, etc.) into the code as the cockpit modeling moves forward. Unfortunately, there's something weird where our SSM cannot override the drawing of the arresting hook animation, so we had to back out our changes relative to making the hook lever clickable, and just rely on the keyboard command. (It's still animated.) The landing gear handle and other systems thus far don't seem to have similar limitations, there just appears to be something special about the arresting hook.



We also took the time to re-factor a lot of internal code to simplify weapon system setup, which makes it much easier for us to add new MER/TER racked weapons with minimal effort and fewer typos/errors. The electrical and hydraulic systems are coming along, along with the emergency generator properly powering the critical systems in the event of a primary generator failure.



With the help of another modeling volunteer, we're in the process of adding more period-accurate weapons which would have been used either in training or earlier in the Vietnam war, such as the WW2-era AN-M30A1 (100lb), AN-M57A1 (250lb), AN-M65A1 (1000lb) and AN-M66A2 (2000lb) bombs, as well as the AN-M81 and AN-M88 fragmentation bombs. (ED already implemented the 500lb AN-M64, so we're just extending that line of weapons.) We hope to show these off next month in their finished state. On a related note, we found a photo of Rockeye cluster bombs mounted to an A-4E in 1966 onboard the Oriskany, so we've added Rockeyes (Mk-20) to our arsenal as well.



We've also have added placeholder gun pods while we work on the 20mm Mk-4 cannon, and they are now integrated correctly with the weapon control panel. While the Mk-4 pods had a relatively high jam rate, the USMC used them to good effect in Vietnam, and with 2250 rounds available (750 rounds per pod) they're potentially quite useful in a CAS role against lightly armored targets.



Attached is a screenshot of a USMC VMA-311 Tomcats A-4E loaded for bear with six Mk-82 Snakeyes, four Mk-20 Rockeyes, and a pair of LAU-10 Zuni rocket pods.









--gos



Edit: Decided it wasn't fair to post an update without at least 1 screenshot. =P Hi everyone, just checking in...Progress has been slow in July, as most of the team have had vacations this month or been otherwise occupied with real life.Since the start of July, we've been integrating more animated cockpit elements (switches, levers, etc.) into the code as the cockpit modeling moves forward. Unfortunately, there's something weird where our SSM cannot override the drawing of the arresting hook animation, so we had to back out our changes relative to making the hook lever clickable, and just rely on the keyboard command. (It's still animated.) The landing gear handle and other systems thus far don't seem to have similar limitations, there just appears to be something special about the arresting hook.We also took the time to re-factor a lot of internal code to simplify weapon system setup, which makes it much easier for us to add new MER/TER racked weapons with minimal effort and fewer typos/errors. The electrical and hydraulic systems are coming along, along with the emergency generator properly powering the critical systems in the event of a primary generator failure.With the help of another modeling volunteer, we're in the process of adding more period-accurate weapons which would have been used either in training or earlier in the Vietnam war, such as the WW2-era AN-M30A1 (100lb), AN-M57A1 (250lb), AN-M65A1 (1000lb) and AN-M66A2 (2000lb) bombs, as well as the AN-M81 and AN-M88 fragmentation bombs. (ED already implemented the 500lb AN-M64, so we're just extending that line of weapons.) We hope to show these off next month in their finished state. On a related note, we found a photo of Rockeye cluster bombs mounted to an A-4E in 1966 onboard the Oriskany, so we've added Rockeyes (Mk-20) to our arsenal as well.We've also have added placeholder gun pods while we work on the 20mm Mk-4 cannon, and they are now integrated correctly with the weapon control panel. While the Mk-4 pods had a relatively high jam rate, the USMC used them to good effect in Vietnam, and with 2250 rounds available (750 rounds per pod) they're potentially quite useful in a CAS role against lightly armored targets.Attached is a screenshot of a USMC VMA-311 Tomcats A-4E loaded for bear with six Mk-82 Snakeyes, four Mk-20 Rockeyes, and a pair of LAU-10 Zuni rocket pods.--gosEdit: Decided it wasn't fair to post an update without at least 1 screenshot. =P

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M-2000C English Cockpit | Extra Beacons Mod | Nav Kneeboard | Community A-4E __________________ Last edited by gospadin; 07-29-2016 at 04:58 AM .