Com-Central.net

Hey guys, there are more than just JG300 guys interested here. I've been reading the posts and want to join in the fun.

Hi Wingnut,

By all means you and anyone else are more than welcome to join the fun, please please please!

I hope it doesn't sound like anyone's being excluded or that it's a JG300 takeover....that would be a GROSS misunderstanding and I hope you don't have that impression!

The reason you see so many smelly Sau's in this conversation is simple.....we're a talkative, gregarious bunch really, plus Ascout has both the history behind it (having served and all) and has been perfecting some dedicated sceneries for YEARS.....literally.....plus the authentic maps and mission data, and the idea are his submission from long ago...this has been a long-term idea that's been percolating and is about to come to fruition. We are very excited and motivated about this and hope that all Com-C members (Transload and Hovercontrol members also, whoever has a good steady hand on the stick and the interest) take part when its ready.

Fr8ycat does the helo work as you know and his father also served there. His OH-6A was just redone in a U.S. Army Scout version and we'll be looking for BETA testers for it...interested?

And me....well I'm just blabby and do enough little odds-and-end work to ride the coattails of these two greats....

Believe me.....the end product will be a multiplayer online mission that will take advantage of all who want to be a part....and the more the merrier!!!!

We'll need both good fixed-wing pilots and rotary-wing pilots....you're definitely included in both categories and the latter would be a slot I'd encourage any of us rotorheads to take to allow room for the fixed-wing guys to fly the Sandy's.

We do have a laundry list of items to cross off the list as this builds but it's getting shorter and shorter, we're getting very close, is there any particular part you'd like to assist with?

Thanks!

- RAF92_BattleHawk

What mesh? I'm really interested in this so mabey one on ya could tell me!

Sorry Battlehawk, missed your post....here's the answer.....

There is an add-on terrain mesh (terrain mapping) for South East Asia (SEA) that brings the Vietnamese countryside to LIFE.....the deep valleys and dramatic peaks, as opposed to the somewhat mild terrain that default FS9 gives us.

That mesh terrain add-on is available from Avsim (search for SEA terrain Mesh or Vietnam terrain mesh). We'll also package it in an EZ-installer for this exercise.

You don't NEED it to fly this mission when we're done getting it all ready and packaged, but it defiinitely enhances the experience of flying in this part of the world.

Heck yeah...this mission(s) is open to anybody with the "right stuff" (just keep in mind that I didn't install that chapel just so the choir would have a place to practice).

This series of missions can accomodate from 2-3 up to infinity depending on the leg and interest. Room for several types (again depending which leg it is).

All we ask is for the same serious committment and attitude as the Sunday Flights seeks. And remember...we never leave a man behind.

And me....well I'm just blabby and do enough little odds-and-end work to ride the coattails of these two greats....

Bullfeathers....Stoopy is the only guy with one foot in the Tactical Operations Center AND in the cockpit!

Stoopy,
I'm mystified about your hangar appearance...this is how it looks to me...after each export of the scenery, too. Must be a confused tex file somehow...

ALSO...there is a new Phu_Bai_Redux in the JG300 Hidey-hole...download and check it out with mesh on and off, please. Note textures over at the ASA place...do all appear? (it's the place with the big antennae).

Great stuff fella's !


fled

Stoopy, I am interested in the test of the scout OH-6, and I have that scenery mesh already installed. I also have Al's Chu Lai base that you have been showing though it's probably an older version. I did notice two small errors. LZ Chippewa had some gun bunkers in mid-air, and there is an antenna in mid-air I believe at LZ Bludgeon or LZ hill 410. I have a Bell AH-1S Cobra with army paint that might be usable, though its not from that time frame. I came in to replace the AH-1a Cobra. The major difference is the chin guns. This one has the 5 long barrelled mini-gun, and the model 1a had a short barrelled gun and a grenade launcher on the chin. I haven't seen a model 1a in freeware. As Ascout pointed out the 2002 version is missing rotor textures. I've also looked around and Simviation has a large collection of Vietnam and Thailand airfields to play with in their scenery pages. Check them out.

- RCAF_Wingnut

Stoopy, I am interested in the test of the scout OH-6, and I have that scenery mesh already installed. I also have Al's Chu Lai base that you have been showing though it's probably an older version. I did notice two small errors. LZ Chippewa had some gun bunkers in mid-air, and there is an antenna in mid-air I believe at LZ Bludgeon or LZ hill 410. I have a Bell AH-1S Cobra with army paint that might be usable, though its not from that time frame. I came in to replace the AH-1a Cobra. The major difference is the chin guns. This one has the 5 long barrelled mini-gun, and the model 1a had a short barrelled gun and a grenade launcher on the chin. I haven't seen a model 1a in freeware. As Ascout pointed out the 2002 version is missing rotor textures. I've also looked around and Simviation has a large collection of Vietnam and Thailand airfields to play with in their scenery pages. Check them out.

Al Simms mentioned to me that he is using a payware version of mesh for the area (he may have designed his scenery with it's use in mind), not the freeware one that Stoopy and I use...this may, or may not, account for the floating items you mention. Terrain altitude discrepancies can account for this phenomenon from my own 'experiments'. Phu Bai has a slight one from stock to freeware mesh, but the difference is only a few feet and can only be seen as a slight rise in the hill surrounding the runway and occasionally, some fading roadway surfaces when you fly in the "right" spot. No floating structures or surfaces, though.

This is what makes it tough to do the firebases and Khe Sanh itself...west of Camp Eagle, it gets hilly right quick.

That AH-1S also has a funny external sight or something on the cockpit side that I find distracting.

Those Royal Thai airfields are nice, highly detailed...I use about three of them....Nakhon Phanom is a nice short hop from "I" Corps in fixed wing...I usually use an A-26 for that.

Roger, Wingnut, thanks!

Consider yourself a BETA tester for the Fr8ycat's newest version of the Loach then, once he gives the installer a quick look for his approval....we were hoping you'd volunteer since you tested the last two.

Do you have links or filenames for any of that stuff at simviation?

Chu Lai looks good but for this mission "package" I don't believe we are planning to visit it - although it can certainly be put to use in the future. Ascout probably hit the nail on the head with it being due to dissimilar terrain mesh's in use. Hmmm.

Ascout, also I downloaded the fresh Phu Bai Redux, and I don't have roof textures on that hangar and many of the small barracks. I wonder if you might be able to recognize the BMP file by browsing the texture folder?

Here's what I have - the original Phu Bai folder is still present but disabled and "deleted" form the FS9 scenery library menu. I can try killing it altogether later to see if that changes anything.

Stoop, check the small barracks roofs in another light or angle. They are a corrugated reflective metal that looks almost white from some angles. The hangar I'm not so sure about.....

I asked that you check the 8th RRU base up close (with the antennae) because after I put in some of Al's buildings there, some of the other building textures were really tardy to show up in an overflight...one may interfere with the other. If so, I'll have to delete something from that addition or find the culprit.

Chu Lai is quite a bit further south down the coast from Da Nang even, and for sure a fixed wing mission if you're going to work "I" Corps north. It's on the aeronautical maps I sent, but a long haul. If going to the western mountains of "I" Corps north, Da Nang is the northernmost base to fly from, and even that's stretching it in rotory wing.

Will do, but it will be later tonight. Also, could be something on my system alone....I'm set up for minimum detail and (what I think are) stock textures, for the last PROPS racing which just ended last week. I can switch over to fancy Environment Pack textures and SEA mesh with a few clicks but hadn't done that in the flight above.

Could be my system tho, and for that reason it would be good to get another set of willing eyes on it.....check PM in a bit.

Yo, WINGNUT...

Check yer PM's, Dude....sent you a download site for something I'd like you to try....

You know I think we're starting to look good here.....time to make a shopping list, let me know if there's anything missing:

1) Aircraft: GZR's A1D Skyraider - will provide a link and see if it can also be included in the download package for this exercise without modifications, depending on freeawer agreement it comes with.

2) Aircraft: Bell UH1D Army - also will provide a link and see if it can also be included in the download package for this exercise without modifications, depending on freeware agreement it comes with. Will also look into the add-on sound files Fr8ycat mentions above. SUggestions on offical versions welcome just to make sure I'm looking at the right one (Ascout!)

3) Aircraft: Last but not least, Fr8ycat's new OH-6a Army scout is ready for BETA! Definitely a great compliment to this project. Thanks for offering your test pilot skills for this, WIngnut!

4) Scenery: Ascout's new Phu Bai Redux in progress and looking promising!

5) Scenery: SEA Mesh terrain - will provide a link for downlaod, and will also see if it can be included in the download package for this exercise without modifications, depending on freeware agreement it comes with.

6) Scenery: New BGL scenery file to provide LZ's, waypoints and some effects, pretty much done and just needs a checkout by someone (info above, previous page). Would you be interested in looking at that too, Wingnut?

7) Flight plans: Done and wrapped up, with one cosmetic thing outstanding, just need to redefine the waypoints since some of them were adjusted after the flight plans were made - the GPS will show turns that don't exactly line up with the waypoints. No biggie to fix and they still work just fine right now. Maybe a flight test in MP with 2 or more folks would be a good idea prior to showtime.

8 ) Packaging: As much as possible of the above will be put in an "EZ" installer so as many people can install and participate with a minimum if fuss. How much of the above will depend on what each freeware EULA says about inclusion in other freeware packages.

Either way, the download list will be kept consolidated and as short as possible so any interested parties can easily participate. Then we can set a date and go fly this thing!!!!

And BTW I'm serious about some Transload and Hovercontrol folks being invited along also if no one here has any objections.....we fly 16 to 20 pilots together at one time in PROPS practice races and as long as everyone has their FPS limits set to something reasonable it's no problem...and the site of a sky filled with UH-1's, OH-g's and A1D's at dawn will be something to behold.....

Anyone have "Flight of the Valkyries" in MP3 format???

Stoopy, if you can, fire me all the 'readme' files or links from all the download files needed and let me get in touch with all the authors. A suggestion would be to make as minimal number of "EZ" installs to cut down on the bugs or compatability issues...:chug:

Roger, will do as soon as I round 'em up.

Another suggestion would be once this is wrapped and ready, start a new thread, lol!

Otherwise participants will start on page one and their eyes will gloss over...when in fact it wil be simple as pie.