Holiday Greetings from (a very, snowy and cold Sweden), goes to
you Superhornet-fans all over the world and I hope, sincerely, that this
will give us some "stick-time" and putting a few more simflight-hours under
our belts, whatever sim we may choose.

I have been reading the excellent SimHQ articles and forums for many years now,
and greetings goes,of course, to the eminent staff of SimHQ. Posting members are
not forgotten. In short, it´s been another fantastic year for me.

Hopefully you will agree with me, that there is a lot going on regarding our hobby, in general.
Prop-heads are getting their stockings full of recent releases and un-official user-mods and
that seems to go for most of the Jet-buffs.
Shamefully I have a confession to make.. I have in complete secrecy been working on this very sim
for quite some time and, for the most part, it has been a success! A time-consuming success...

This is my Christmas-gift to you, Janes-fans.. Stay tuned for screenies..

Thanks, Double_Patch.

By working do you mean, a game add on, or an amazing AAR? Cause either one would be awesome.

NPO, I´m sure there will be some awesome AAR´s posted sometime in the future ...
and I´m sure you can do them better than me.. but ..

My initial post was to be an alert to the community that there IS work-in-progress,
behind your back - until now and I think the TSH-team,( with Blitz and others ), is also doing
something useful for our sim, but there is not much mentioned about it in forums.
The next "big thing" is probably a secret until it is officially published .. as usual.

Right now I´m going to find a fast and reliable pic-hoster somewhwere ...

Double_Patch

Intrigued....very intrigued!

Looking forward to your work Double Patch!

Hi, khriztian, wish I was on your latitudes, in South-America, because it´s very ugly outside, over here..
but this tread is not going to be about the wheather..

FYI, I did post over at TSH-Team´s Support forum, take a peek..

Thanks "mucho"

Double_Patch

Hi, this is my favoured loading-screen, when I click "FLY" :


Remember the last time when you did fly a pitch-black night-mission and you were
annoyed with that (ugly?) bright yellow "shooter"-texture and then seconds later found yourself
sitting in a dark cockpit waiting for take-off ... well, this could be the way to go.

Grab it, by right-clicking the picture above and save it somewhere.
Open it in Irfanview, go > Image > DecreaseColorDepth, tick 256 Colors > click "OK" then
> go Save.. or Save As.. LOAD_S.bmp and you´re done, when you past it in the Wrapper-folder.

More to come...

Double_Patch

Next up ...I have been diggin´ deep in my screenie-collection and decided to show you the following :

(Do not let it distract you from your celebrations - )

First up is ...




Next.. CVN-76 heading north




A view from the crew...




..while we wait for the "shooter"...to finish his coffee...




...and the rest of the crew is in hiding...




A quick peek from my office...




Two,looking good :




Emma, in front, instructing me in "How-To-Land" :





Strange stuff, indeed...




Tomcat left..




Some skinning resulted in this one :





Christmas is over, and a Happy New Year to you, All.

Double_Patch

Four more shots for you...

A complete re-make and a better use for the ea-blimp :



On cap somewhere :



Late afternoon :



To bed in burner :




Double_Patch

Your work looks awesome Double_Patch!!
Especially the cockpit and the fog effects.

The blimp looks neat too.

Some neat cockpit stuff there, but it seems to be based on older lo-res textures and not the high-res TSH textures.

Hi again, khriztian and thanks for your very kind words..
and Hi, Joe. You are right and wrong at the same time, here.. let me explain..

My work is not based on TSH-cockpit-textures.
(I´m trying to prove it with the rest of the close-ups)
Most textures is maxed out, meaning 1024 X 1024, and is
considered to be hi-res, except for smaller things in the cockpit,
HOOK-lights and other things...

Textures are developed according to my own made NEW templates.
To get these templates I had to put into it a lot of working-hours. It took me six months
to figure out what was going on with textures in this cockpit. I have been surprised, in a good
way, what could be done and dissapointed in what was impossible to do. I have walked that extra mile,
in trying to gain more knowledge about it, and was prepared to go even further, but found a
temporary stop now, to my on-going investigation of graphics in this sim.
Dispite all time spent in all this, I still think is was worth it.

Thanks Joe, you won`t be dissapointed...

Later,

Double_Patch

I´m back..

Set of pics 1024 X 768 using Slikk´s POV-mod :











WIP-Testing - front stuff and hud :



Joe, you didn`t specific point out anything, so I cannot make any comments...
I´m in good spirit, and now, we have a better view of things you are interested in.

The Janes-blimp :



The Squad :



Nose Up :




Double_Patch

Double_Patch,

The thing that immediately jumps out in your cockpit shots (other than the cool textures you are doing) is the blocky text. This is the main improvement offered via the high-res TSH cockpit textures. This text is the thing that I tend to notice the most when flying, as it of course is the way we interpret everything shown to us while in flight.

Install TSH v4 and see what I'm talking about (with JSGME it will be easy to drop in the install, look around, and then uninstall and revert back to your current state). My opinion is that it would be better for your work to use the TSH v4 cockpit as a starting point, so that the sharp text and other improvements made there would be the base for your work.

Hope you will consider it,
Joe

Thanks, Joe! You knew it, well - the good lettering in v4, should be maintained, and at least be on-par or better.
With this statement you are, perfectly right. The lettering, had a bit of "OMG-factor" in it, when it arrived.
While I´ve had my main focus on the over-all, larger picture, perhaps... Joe, I agree with you, on this one.
The hunt for v4.5 or more will continue.

In the very beginning of the new year, I´m going to post shots of re-makes and a few "world´s-first" for this sim
and even a trip to Iraq...


My very best goes to you Joe, and the rest of you all...

Double_Patch

Kicking off the new year with the following ...

Cockpit look left-down :


...look back - my new seat :


New back-lit buttons for the night-fighters :


...look down :


... and a few more vPanels :


... a very interesting find is this :

... and the text facing outwards is not mirrored ...

Now, let´s get serious... :

We will return to this little bugger later.

While wrestling with the textures strange things can happen :

A successful re-make, and yes, there was
cigar-smoke in my lab, that day ...


... what the developers didn´t tell us ... :

... that we could update our Mavericks ourselves, already ten years ago.

Iraq screenies will come later, still looking for them, sorry...

Next time I´ll show you some more of this :
The new carrier - work-in-progress ...



Double_Patch

Your work looks very promising indeed,
Thanks for the update!

:O Is that an 80 mile HSI map screen with colors?!

Want!

You can already do that, the catch is that your airplane indicator is in the bottom of the HSI, not in the center. While centered you only have colors up to 40nm.

Yeah, I know that. Its colored fully on the bottom MDI, green on any other, and only goes up to 40.

But the screenies showed a full color HSI map on the bottom MDI up to 80 miles.

Amazing work, Double_Patch!

Thanks, Tordo!

As promised: Screenies, words later...



















... Work-In-Progress.

Double_Patch

The HSI will always go to 80 miles with the map displayed, if the "DCTR" (decenter) option is toggled on (which it is in the screenshot).

Aw, thought it was only 40 miles. D:

Double_Patch:

Are you planning make a downloable version of this wonderfull work?

In my Squadron, we have many JF-18´s pilots! And they are pleased with this news. They dont post here, because they dont understand english language, but they are very anxious for know it!

Thanks in advance!

Seconded. It be great if we could download this stuff. Really looking forward to the cockpit mod with TSH hi res text.

Great work Double Patch!

Thanks Tordo! Regards to you and the healthy spanish-speaking community, from me...

..and to you CanuckHornetR2, I have the same answer... I have a download for you soon..
The content have not yet been decided, by me. So far we have only seen small parts of
what I have on my monitor, right now ... and there is more for you to see ...

Now, back to the cockpit:
A new set of cockpit-screenies was made this evening with parts of
TSH v4`s vFrames. All lettering was copied over to my new textures.
See below :






...I should have done it from the beginning, yes ?

Back to training ... "Doing-the numbers" ...


... but next time, you can´t hold me back... it´s Iraq..


Double_Patch

Looks great! I like the green tint on the HUD.

/C

Hi Clark ! .. the green hud, is the fruit of an investigation I started some time ago..
( you can change the color or even remove it, by switching cockpit ) or
bring up a new sight in the hud, for aiming your rockets, but this must be tested...
Just an idea I got recently...
I´m trying to make changes to the game a bit more predictable ... and two of the three
major show-stoppers are already history ...
Clark, thanks for coming here, your skills in hex-editing is, very much needed ...
( hint : the carrier.. )

Later,
Double_Patch

I signed up to congratulate him for his work, that will definitely revive our simulator. Hopefully we have more news soon.

Congratulations again!!


ECV56_Yunga
Wing Jane´s F/A 18
www.ecv56condor.com.ar

Hi yunga, and welcome !

Next up, is some random Iraq-screenies ...






...fine-tuning the oil-rig...










...testing an Osprey-skin ...





Double_Patch

Tanks Double_Patch!!!

Nice screens!!!!!!!!!!

Started a new tread. http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3189056/New_graphics_glitch_or.html#Post3189056

Yunga,thanks! more screenies inbound...
Regards to your Squad.

Double_Patch

Hi all !
Just a small message from me that I´m (still) alive an trying my best
to work full speed on some sim-related things I want to be completed,
before posting some new screenies.
As it is, real-life stuff have been a bit of a distraction for me but I´m back on track, now.

Regards, and Happy landings....

Double_Patch

Good to hear from you and that you are back on your proyect.
Just for asking, are you working with TSH or completely by yourself?

Cheers,
Khriztian

Hi, khriztian !
The answer to your question is this :
I´m working completely on my own, since day one, with this.
Could be one reason why it takes so long.
My plan is, to make everything I´ve done as an add-on to the current
TSH-team patch.

Thanks,
Double_Patch

Carrier and oil rig looks great. Are these based off original size or higher sized image files?

Hi Rudel!

..and Thank you, very much, for your kind comment...
..and yes I´m a bit late for you, and blushing, because of this.

When it comes to textures in the game, it´s obvious that very
small changes could be made without increasing sizes.
Carrier PCXs are now 1024 X 1024 px and there have been no
fps-issues with that, so far.
(I have a low-end system, to check these things out.)

The oilrigs PCXs are also increased in pixels, but not so much.
A small edit in the oilplatb.3dg have been done: a new helopad-circle was added.

Thanks,
Double_Patch

Any updates Double_Patch?

Beautiful stuff!

Hi , Rudel, and everyone else.

The investigation continues... Right now I´m testing some BIG textures
in the game !! ( success with 2048 pixels has been done in some places : D )
Could be a world record . .

I´m also considering to provide you a download link for some stuff I
want you to test for me , and . .

Trying to find a guide to make the package "Mod-Enabler-compatible" . .

Writing a description of the content . .

Checking rules for linking and finding a host for the files . .

. . and reading the Boards . . .

See, lots of things for me to do ... : )

See you soon,
Double_Patch

Double Patch,

Tell us how you are doing this? Are you a C++ programmer?

Ripcord

Hi Ripcord.

Doing what, Ripcord ? There is nothing spectacular in these things,
I´m afraid . .

I´m not a C++ programmer . . Wish i would, though . .
But there seems to be no code, on the horizon, to to do some work on, yet. : )

My planning is , not to brake things in our installs, which means
I must adapt to the Mod Insertion-tool already being used by many . .
and do some testing . .

Next .. BIG textures ( PCXs ), seems to be possible IF not linked to any 3DGs . .
and there is a bunch of these, in the game.

Double_Patch

Thanks for the reply! I can host your files for you.

http://www.vmfa-531.com/ResourceDepo.

@ Ripcord: It's nothing more than increasing texture size and making more detail. Some 3dg files can use larger *.pcx files. Just like when Fritzdog discovered 1024res use for the Hornet.

Thanks, Rudel, for your kind offering.

Not the first time I see this, and I thank you for it. : )

As you said : "Some 3dg files can use larger *.pcx files" . .

So far only BIG PCXs can be used for "environmental" stuff in the game,
and there is chance to go further but my best GFX-card can´t handle
4096 pixels, and I don´t know if it will make >> that much difference . .
File sizes is getting HUGE, that´s all . .

There is a "Not more than 1024 pixel" - limit on the carrier and the cockpit.

Double_Patch

I think 2048 is big enough...lol Im not sure what the limit is on the carrier, but I was not implying there was one.

fa18resourceyahoo.com is my e-mail. When you're ready for me to host, you can send iot there.

Keep up the good work!

hmmm...

Thanks, Joe.. for clarifying. lol. . ((I knew, it would help a bit,
to restore the ea-blimp back in the game : ))
I´m still praying for a tool to edit and add new textures, to those
pesky 3DG-files properly and still have moving parts.
What really comes to mind is vwhbk2.pcx and vdk2.pcx, in the cockpit, and
the usage of these two textures. It actually looks like, the cockpit has been
"dumbed-down" by the Devs due to fps-problems, back then. . .

Again, Thanks,
Double_Patch

If you have already modded those 2 files, you will know it causes a headache to achieve any detail. Especially since it is used on a variety of surfaces.

You guessed right.

There's no point increeasing texture file resolution until the graphic engine/game code can support a)higher bpp and b)wider texture palettes.

Above 1024x1024, it's pointless... and probably 512x512 is enough with the current engine...

Cheesr!

1024 is actually descent to get great detail of any of the textures. I hope you can find a way to be able to use full RGB colors one day. Then we could theoretically change the 3dg *.pcx to *.bmp by hex editing the "text" within the 3dg file.

Thanks , iam73. . I agree with you in things, but "real-seamless", non-repetitive
cloudlayer-textures, now in 2048 pixels is fantastic to see in the game.
Estimated footprint is now 20Mb or so. (6 PCX-files)
I´m getting lower FPS in clear skies. ; )
The game rendering engine seems to have no problems with that at all.

Next thing to do, is trying to add new cloudlayers and make the whole thing random,
and / or, in the missionbuilder just pick one . . I´ve made attempts to do it,
by poking in the exe but there was a "no-go". Just an idea I got earlier. .
Perhaps there is some "hooks" about it already in multiplayer mode. .

The carrier hull (read > Large 3D-objects) really needs big textures, to
look really good in our game.We can´t have that now.

Nice thread you started, iam73, keep going. .

Double_Patch

Any updates Double Patch?