MAG-12 had some elements of VMA-211, 225 and 311 just arrive at Chu Lai that morning. Some aircraft had yet to receive complete markings.
A number of the pilots and their A-4's had yet to see combat. Marine Hueys were on watchdog.

Barely a few hours on the ground, and a report that VMF-235 was engaged only six miles to the NW of the new base, with a large Viet Cong contingent.

VMA-225, refueled and armed, was dispatched to the target area. Welcome to Vietnam.

Units had begun rotating to Japan. From Oct-Dec 65, VMA-121,223 and 224 arrived with an average of 20 Skyhawks each.

1967 brought VMA(aw)533 and their Intruder to Chu Lai.

I appreciate the work that goes into this game and I did buy the orginal YAP2 plus some missions.
But I reckon the graphics engine is just starting to look so tired.
Just wish we could have the same game, but say with the up to date graphics of say DCS or Rise of Flight.
Like I say - just dreaming.

Point well taken. As a partial excuse, 8 posted pics that show off the engine in its worst light...gray. When under an overcast, the details just evaporate. The engine IS tired compared to modern First Person Shooter games. I think it is still viable within the confines of a mission for a while longer.

With great respect, I disagree. I'm not talking about first person shooters like BF3, I'm just talking about a modern sim standard.

As I say - I love your work and love the artistry of your missions, I just find the graphics of the Third Wire engine rather old and ugly after DCS and Rise of Flight. The flight models are also rather clunky.

I even think the new graphics for Strike Fighters North Atlantic look old.

I seriously reckon you guys should make inquries about the Jet Thunder engine. It sounds like it's near launch after some major hiccups and all the noises being made is that it will be open for modding. They'd be wanting a cash injection right about now I'd think. And they've even got an A4, so there's Vietnam sorted!

As I say. No offence. I would just love to see the passion you guys have for this theatre given full justice in a modern sim engine.

Was thinking about re-installing YAP2. Will it run on Windows 7?

We've talked to IL-2, Jet Thunder, Northrup Grumman, open source, etc...for years. There are no viable options for such a narrow niche game.

The only thing that stands out as looking bad is the apron texture. The uv tile scaling looks way off, you could lose a wheel down one of those holes! The rest of it looks good to me.

Cheers

Terrain tiles are a bit low res thats all - the WOV engine is actually DX9 - the same as DCS A-10C and Falcon BMS.

I agree it's the ground irks me the most. it looks terrible.

But the clouds are also shocking. And the flak/tracer in YAP2 is terrible.

Such a shame when the aircraft as so lovingly modelled.

We might be able to fix the airport ramps but, in the end, 512 tiles just don't have the detail needed. Going to "concrete" is a decent arabesque. I think our clouds look like clouds I have seen in the air.

So what's the long term plan? Are you sticking with the Strike Fighters engine and will there be more Vietnam senarios?

First, to respond to the awful Chu Lai ramp pictures:

Here's what we did when we concentrated on fixing an error.






Using a concrete ramp and realistic revetments coupled with more realistic ground object models (and not those lousy A6's Mike has been asking to replace), we get a pretty good effect. We succeed when it is taken for granted. We fail when it is noticed.

As far as long term, YAP3 runs on both XP and Windows 7. There are over 150 combat missions in those sets that cover the gamut of what pilots did in that war in every machine. We would just be repeating ourselves to add to it. We have a mission called SSDD...that is Same Sh*t Different Day which is what many of us felt we were doing. There is no need to do it to you, too.

We don't see ourselves escaping from the Thirdwire engine. It is going its own way now and we cannot follow along. We are finishing Rising Sun because we want to. The engine works quite well for prop planes. We have two other ideas that we are exploring. The one we will do right after Rising Sun Phase 3 is unique...never been done before by any game company ever. We know we can pull it off but we are assessing our chances of turning a profit. If this engine is going to be hated as much as it seems, then we would be smart to let the ideas die.

You may have seen some of our new stuff. Our Nimitz is the best we have seen yet. We have no plans to "operate" the Class in the North Atlantic. We have all the modern aircraft and can outfit them in a week.






Newport News


Coontz


Turner Joy in paint now.


Our new Thud




So, that's about it. YAP3. Update all mission sets. Rising Sun 3 & 4. Then the new idea IF we can get an indication that it will be accepted and not just dinged because we cannot come up with a quarter of a million dollars to update the environment.

Nice!!!

I thought the flak and tracer are actually dead on as from 05s experience - thats nothing to do with limitations - other sims just dont portray it correctly - but you can of course download some different effects from combatace to make it a bit more hollywood.

The same for clouds - find another cloud1.tga - there have been loads of cloud and environment mods at Combatace over the years if it bothers you that much.



For the record the SF2 series is DX10 making it one of the most advanced engines out there - North Atlantic adds code that paves the way for a good Falklands based game.

These titles just get better and better for me. The YAP/RS team has given me the most accurate immersive air combat representation of air warfare in SEA to date. I do love 'eye candy' also, but the way YAP 1 & 2 allow me to experience the intensity and immersion during missions are fantastic. Their dedication to this era to be compatible with V2 of the SF series has just made it even more fulfilling. Whatever is in the works for the future from this team will be a great delight for the followers of this team. I just hope they can stay in the game for as long as possible given the changes associated with the sim engine. Thanks YAP/RS team for the great experience! BRAVO!!!!

VR NIELS

I should address the criticism about our AAA and didn't. YAP's flak is pretty much right on. Since I may be the only person who has actually faced all those types of guns, I know them intimately. To say they are inaccurate, I assumed was a reference to the way they appear in-game to a non-combatant.

I made the 37mm white before I knew how to make a more subtle version but it IS white and every other game has it wrong. 57mm tracers are big red balls and if you fly through a stream of them, they look like bowling balls. When showing Dick Rutan one of his missions, he remarked "Hey! There's the Ron Ferry! Amazing. But, you know, there was always a 57mm south of the river that shot at us when we crossed the beach." Right then, our 57mm started firing at his F-100F. He laughed then said "Bigger. You have to make them bigger." So we did.

One thing gamers need to remember about YAP, it comes from combat experience (and not just mine). It comes from dozens and dozens of men that flew these things. We never fixed the SAM smoke but that was because I could not get the right color orange but I have tried. Our gray 57mm is pretty much right on also. TK's black flak is good for the big guns (85 and 100).

I always wanted to Ban Laboy at night but nobody would believe what we presented because they have not seen it.

Fantastic ships!

I'm with Niels,could''nt have said it any better.