Hello Everyone,

I'm relatively new to sims and lately I've been doing more fudgin around with SF2 than flying. Now, keep in mind that I'm not a modder nor do I have the knowledge or financial ability to work with 3DS. That being said, I love the SF2 series. As a new comer into the sim hobby this game has allowed me to introduce myself on how planes behave and the fundamentals of air combat. Hopefully this will facilitate a transition to more complex games like A10 and the like. OK, I love what TK has done with plane models and cockpit models, but to me something did not feel right with the cockpit models, in particular the windscreen view and FOV. I don't want to make this into a rant so I'll get to the point. 1) the stock windscreen did not feel correct, it feels like there is too much windscreen area, I now there may be some real F4 Jocks out there and they can correct me if I'm wrong, even if you have had the rare opportunity to sit in the cockpit of an F4.
In my research (or looking around on the web ) and the fact that I have been able to sit in some early fighter cockpits, the recurring theme is that the windscreens on these early generation war birds were very claustrophobic, the SF2 stock cockpit does not convey this at all. 2) the FOV settings, 90 in particular distorts the cockpit breaking the little immersion the game achieves. The modification to the cockpit is just a cockpit.ini file modification everything else has been left alone, it seeks to minimize the distortion caused by the 90 FOV and allowing in the process to make the front panel readable while keeping a peripheral of the windscreen. The cockpit.ini file is optimized to work best at 90 FOV providing the player with a 90 FOV terrain view while keeping the inside cockpit panels at somewhat closer to 60 FOV, the best of both worlds. one added plus is that the modified cockpit views convey a feeling of depth on the cockpit panels. There are too many difference to list on this post when compared to the stock cockpit.ini file so the best way to show the differences to experience it for yourself. Send me a message if you are interested on this file to try it out and I will happily send it to you. I have attached some photos so you can get an idea of what I have going here, got to go now, bye!


-Los

Using only the pics you have provided and comparing with my own photo resources, I have to agree that your mod is more correct. I am interested in identifying all of the changes you made. I also think you should publish your work on the Third Wire forums, possibly as a technical support issue requesting a correction in the stock files!

Nice work - I to agree that your mod is more realistic from pic's I've viewed. Would be much apreciated to obtain the mod/change for the pit.

Good work!

I would bet that when you look up, you get some clipping of the canopy glass. This is what happens to me in the 3rd party MiG-21 cockpit when the viewpoint gets placed too close to the glass. TK may have intentionally offset his cockpit to avoid clipping issues and/or to provide a better view for gameplay purposes. But it may have been purely accidental. Usually, when you point out a mistake, he eventually corrects it, quite frequently in the next patch cycle.

Nope, I ran into that when changing things so I compensated for that because I did not want it to break immersion like the stock 90 FOV was doing, did you take it for a test? Run it up and let me know what you think. remember it has to use the SF2 stock views.ini file for it to work correct.

I use TrakIR and I spent some late hours making sure clipping didn't mess with my immersion
I don't know anything about real modding, the ini is all I had to work with and I tried to make the best of it. Because of the direct and simple approach that TK took when making the cockpit model, it permitted reconfiguration of the entire cockpit, he has the right idea. the flexibility of this game is what makes me love it so much.

-Los

Would love to give this pit a go

This mod is a keeper I made just a slight change in the cockpit model position to bring its canopy frame in line with the external 3d model. Looks just like the photos of the real F-4E and works great in the game.

Streakeagle,

Now that you have checked it out, how do I make it available to everyone so they can get it without contacting me?


-Los

There are several places you can post it. The best one being CombatAce.com. Zip up your files, include a readme with directions, and upload. Another good place is Avsim.com, but no one has uploaded anything there for years.