So as the title states today is the Big day, a little over an hour from now. I have some hopes for this title to be some little gem that we can all fly as a group. Once you have it downloaded and set up perhaps we can relay info back and forth in this thread and help each other out and try out the multiplayer aspects etc. Perhaps we could get a CAP 2 channel on TS? (which I don't know the pw to lol) I will most likely be setting up my stick and such for a little while as I'm sure most of you will be, but I want to be up and flying quick. So how many of you are definitely getting it? There will be an option in the game to get Beta updates and basically be trying out new features as they are tested (you can read about that here: http://devblog.sim155.com/2016/06/like-phoenix.html ) anyway post what you think about it.
My 4Gb card better be able to handle it, lol I'm starting to get a bit apprehensive though I "won" a free copy and was assured it was legit and as yet I've heard nothing about how I am to collect it, so here now the site is live, people are downloading it ..and still nothing
It's a very early version and I do find the dark graphics to be a problem. But it may be that I haven't found the cockpit light and no missions are flown during the day. It looks like the screenshots and removing the smudge or water stains on the visor does not change that everything looks like it's gone through some filtering.
I don't have a clue what to do yet but the campaign thing looks nice (Harpoon-ish) although I cannot perform even the simplest task. Read very closely what is included in this release, do not expect a finished product.
HOI4 is downloaded now and I think I will switch to that until I can have a few daytime hours to attempt to map all my controls i CAP2 and get some bombs on target.
Bought, installed, tried. Made it through roughly 40 minutes, have sent a refund request and uninstalled it. Might be fun for some, but this was marketed as a sim, and that it is not.
I've installed it now and after facing down a few small issues got it working to some satisfaction and it's not all bad, it is early release and does have promise. As I tweak some things I'll be able to do a little more with it I think but hey I can't complain about it yet.
I have an X-52, I was going to use the Throttle slider for nozzles but it proved to be too short of a throw so it ends up on Elevator Trim knob [all programmed through the game interface at the moment] Flaps toggle/Airbrake/Flap Auto on the Throttle hat. It's kind of guesswork to learn because there is no instruction take off starts you on the deck and Landing starts you in the air. There's a list of objectives which tick off as you achieve them but no real flight instruction, Obviously this is a work in progress. Here's a little video which is great reference
Not decided to buy it yet, looks really dark to me like flying in the North Cape area at winter, aslo it seems avionics are totally unexistent. BTW, there are enemies trying to shoot you down?
Not decided to buy it yet, looks really dark to me like flying in the North Cape area at winter, aslo it seems avionics are totally unexistent. BTW, there are enemies trying to shoot you down?
The Tab key changes the MFD's and the HUD, mousing over various panels/switches reveals a small box with placeholder labels for some possible future controls. Other than that not much in the cockpit ATM. I have been concentrating on Take-off and Landing; Take-offs from the carrier are basically set nozzles about 30, Flaps to STOVL, Full Throttle, release brakes, dial back the nozzles as you leave the deck, Retract gear, Flaps to Auto. Objective box ticks these items off as you do them and when complete the training scenario ends. I haven't even started to do the air to air or air to ground training till I can successfully land on the carrier which is of course a Hover landing. If you see my videos above you can see me hopping all over a Ground Base runway trying to get the feel for it (and I hope that the black texture is a placeholder). Seems to me that once I'm hovering the plane seems to drift diagonally and it doesn't fly like a Helo while hovering so this is challenging. A landing is to approach the ship from starboard Port Aft maintain Hover and slide over to the deck which can be seen in the in-cockpit Harrier video I posted as a reference. All in all it's not too bad kinda sim light but has potential. BTW Happy Birthday Stratos
^ Bong...what is your fuel state and weapons load when trying to hover? Your pylons should be clean and you should not have full fuel tanks. You cannot hover safely in the harrier unless you have the proper weight characteristics.
^ Bong...what is your fuel state and weapons load when trying to hover? Your pylons should be clean and you should not have full fuel tanks. You cannot hover safely in the harrier unless you have the proper weight characteristics.
Just what the mission provides for the scenario, however there's one which is Basic Maneuvering or something as the title and starts on deck and I played around with loadouts, just guns. Have to be careful there too because landing on AA Heat causes a crash, reduced fuel load and water (don't know what that is for yet) no turbulence and 5knt wind. I can get off the ground just fine but hovering is another thing, as soon as my forward momentum bleeds off it seems to just sink into the water and even full throttle doesn't help, and when I get the hover stabilized the plane rotates and drifts uncontrollably. And I say this with the knowledge that the Harrier is one of the most dangerous airplanes to fly having lost over a third to accidents over it's service life ;-)
Make sure your wings are clean. It has been reported that changing your loadout options in the preflight interface does nothing, so even if you select just guns, there is a strong chance you will at the least have some dumb bombs loaded on those pylons. Take off, fly around and unload the bombs and you should notice a big difference.
I'm continuing to upload videos to Plays.tv featuring what I'm playing around with, thankfully I can pause the game and change buttons and controls to make it easier on myself learning how to do stuff and some of that is in there too for those of you wanting to see how it plays
I'm seeing good things about it to be honest. I think its unfortunate and not always fair the way Steam reviews work for Early Access titles. Its early access meaning, like it or not, the buyer is a part of the development process helping the developer in what to fix, what to add and what to adjust. If the developer is worth their salt, they know they have a work in progress and will listen and the product eventually becomes better and better.(At least for the serious early access games)
I've seen many reviews of people complaining who've not put any time into it. Since it was JUST released, I have a problem with some of the negative reviews, mainly the condescending, "this software insulted me" type of reviews. If its polite and constructive that doesn't bother me as much though its still, to be fair, way to early judge it in the spirit of a full review that a completed game gets. I just wish the disappointed folks or people who forgot what they were getting into would just grab their refund and bow out quietly. I've done that with some EA games only to keep them on my wishlist or follow list so that I can remember about them and return another day to see if its progressed at all. I have no money at the moment but this is one I'd definitely buy into if I could. I'll just have to wait and cross my fingers hoping that this title will grow and become a quality lite sim.
Thanks Bong for all the great videos and input from your time with the game.
I am learning new stuff gradually it's a steep curve without any real instruction; MFD's have some clickable buttons that's one thing, Tabbing through the HUD reveals one setting that also raises the refuel probe and also changes what MFD's are displaying so that's a bit confusing, hard to figure out how to select A2G/A2A mode but I have managed to fire off missiles and drop Mk81's though it seems to be only through trial and error. Well off to work I'll play with it some more tonight.
How are the avionics Bong? Specially interested in A-A and A-G radars, NVG If is there any chance to load a FLIR pod.
I'm really interested to see If this can be the next Strike Fighters style game, but that will depend on editor support and specially modding availability.
Are radio comms in this build, or will they be implemented in a later build? I adore the idea of a SF-style sim with a solid campaign, but radio comms somehow can make or break a game for me (not just the audio, but the actual wingman commands). If not, I will grudgingly wait even if it means paying more...
Here's the link to my page, http://plays.tv/u/Krt_Bong About Radio Comms, don't try to map any buttons. I discovered a play stopping bug last night by attempting to map an F key, it assigned the same key to three different commands and messed up my view keys trying to change it back so now I can't get into cockpit view because its also assigned to view wingman and ordinance and so far I can't figure out how to get all the controls back to their defaults because the default gamepad key just wipes all the flight controls and replaces them with Xbox configuration Oy Vey! I did finally fix this by uninstalling and deleting the game folder and reinstalling (less than ten minutes) some of the view keys have multiple instances of the same assignment [F1 on three of them] but they work.
-As said, you need to be nearly empty of gas and carrying no ordnance if you want to do a VL in the Harrier. 1.0-1.5 gas+water were pretty average numbers for VL performance. This depended on altitude and temp, so hot or high enough and you cannot VL. Ordnance counts in this and at 500lbs a bomb you can do the math. Even the Litening pod, gun, or DECM will cut into that weight.
-Water increases allowable JPT and earns you about an extra 1000lbs of thrust. Switch is up above gear and flaps switches. T/O: Water flows when throttle is above 97% IIRC, LDG: Like T/O but JPT must be above a certain threshold as well. 500lbs=60USG=90sec if you use it all at once.
-Sounds like there is a HUD switch in the game. In the jet, left of left MPCD there are three pushbuttons: NAV, VSTOL, A/G. A/A can only be selected by selecting an A/A weapon (done in the jet by the left side thumb switch on the stick).
-The Harrier is sensitive in the hover, but shouldn't go wandering off at the drop of a hat. The VSTOL performance is pretty hit or miss in Harrier sims, so I have no idea if what you're experiencing is normal or not.
One thing that strikes me as weird, is that the velocity vector seems to be permanently out to the left from what I can see in the video. The only thing that should really cause that is a wind from the right. Actually, if you wanted to get picky, the VV should be caged to the centerline of the HUD in NAV and VSTOL modes (I think that mode in the video is the NAV mode since there is no slideslip ball at the bottom though I'm not sure about that gun cross). Only A/G and A/A I think have an uncaged VV.
On the fence about getting this now or waiting a bit. I really hope that it turns out to be good.
The HUD has a hover mode I believe and there may be things modeled I don't understand yet as there are no manuals. Ive found going with guns loadout and 5000 fuel and 250 water is a good start for normal takeoff and then drop the bombs (because it still loads you with bombs) after I get up I can hover pretty well at that point and I have made a few deck landings now, ugly but intact.
Found out yesterday after making a few landings on Throttle and Rotary nozzle adjustments and gritting my teeth, that there is a Vertical Hover mode (V key) which is necessary for vertical landings.. and all this time I've been doing it manually . Since the update you can go clean so there's that
Found out yesterday after making a few landings on Throttle and Rotary nozzle adjustments and gritting my teeth, that there is a Vertical Hover mode (V key) which is necessary for vertical landings.. and all this time I've been doing it manually . Since the update you can go clean so there's that
Nice Bong! I mean nice, Bong! I have this penned in for my first flight tomorrow
Awesome, I'm updating my Plays.tv page all the time with new video. So far I have a pretty good working knowledge of the game to where I can generally fly, fight and return to deck. Some functions may not work yet because some things just aren't quite finished but there is a game in there so be patient if you run into a few glitches. I'm finding my way around and soon hopefully we'll have multi player function. That would make flight training helpful if it is indeed going to happen. If you have any questions about gameplay I'd be happy to share what I know so far.
I got slightly distracted by DCS for a while but tried out a few flights today.
What are you guys mapping the nozzles to if I may ask? I currently have 'nozzle+' and 'nozzle-' mapped to 2 buttons on my 3D Pro but that only gives 10 degree increments.Do I need more refined control for the nozzles? In the controls there is a option to map to 'nozzle' and I assume that needs an axis to be mapped to.Wish I had an extra axis on the stick for that.
I got slightly distracted by DCS for a while but tried out a few flights today.
What are you guys mapping the nozzles to if I may ask? I currently have 'nozzle+' and 'nozzle-' mapped to 2 buttons on my 3D Pro but that only gives 10 degree increments.Do I need more refined control for the nozzles? In the controls there is a option to map to 'nozzle' and I assume that needs an axis to be mapped to.Wish I had an extra axis on the stick for that.
In the first build there wasn't nozzle +/- option to bind, only the analog nozzle control. I also have joystick with one throttle so had to map nozzle to my throttle and throttle +/- to joystick buttons. It wasn't very good setup.
Now since digital nozzle controls were added (in 10° increments) I mapped 2 joystick buttons on my throttle to control the nozzles and also the two "hover stop" (90° nozzles) and "hover brake" (100° nozzles) to another 2 buttons for quick snap from 0° to 90/100°. With this config I'm able to land on moving LHD.
The chatter on this newly released sim is overwhelming.
Maybe there is not much to say about. You can look at the videos on youtube. The most interesting feature (at least for me) isn`t complete yet, the dynamic campaign. You can play it a bit, but it would not even save the current status. I hope it will be what I´m looking for.
. Since the update you can go clean so there's that
