Zephyr Net

Howdy all...

Here is a short list of some of the major changes that will be implemented in the next version of FA Futures (to be released August 31st)...

This is only a list of 'some' of the improvements, there are many more not listed here. A detailed list of changes will be released with the libraries...

I will list them by category...

New Vehicle and Aircraft Skins

1) No more 'shimmer' effect on any FA Futures aircraft and the game can now be run at full graphics without interferrence. All USN aircraft have new skins and no longer need limited graphics. I have implemented improved versions of Jimbos F-18E/F and a modified version for the C/D also with a new colored shape to match the improved skins. I have finished off and improved a version of Jimbos test F-14 skin and brought all new Tomcat skins up to FA Futures standards and incorporated the tail graphics from the previous version of FA Futures and a new colored shape to match new skins a a much improved version of what was in the previous version of FA Futures. The EA-6Bs have also been brought back to a greyish color and improved with the darkened canopy. They will have the same detailing for the tail codes plus much improved additional graphics. The new F-15E and F-15Ks have an all new shape color and an improved skin that removes the shimmer effect also. The AV-8B Harrier has the older green/grey cammo effects on its new skin to better match the USMC helos in FA Futures.

2) Almost all aircraft now have the Jimbo 'darkened' canopy effects. I have worked hard on this and found that it much improves the 3 dimensional look of the aircraft.

3) All aircraft with afterburners have also an improved version of Jimbo's afterburner, which looks much more 'solid' and believable then either the default FA version or the previous FA Futures version. (obviously I owe alot to Jimbo! Thanks Jimbo!)

4) All Helos have a brand new helo blade skin that I think more realeastically portrays those blades spinning in flight. The V-22 Osprey has my new USMC skin and new shape color that I left out of the previous version of FA Futures by accident..

5) The new M-1A2 Abrams MBT skin has been brought closer to 'photo realeastic' as possible with the previous skin being kept only to represent the South Korean K1A1 MBT...

6) The Admiral Kuznetsov Carrier has an improved skin to better replacate the placement of helos parking spots and improve the overall look of the ship.


New Flight Models

1) All Helos have Kap's improved flight models, plus I tweaked them a bit to better limit some of the vertical maneuvers possible by some of the helos. All weapons loadouts are fully US Army/USMC standard loads.

2) The vehicle brakes have been reduced to realeastic levels for all aircraft so to better simulate true landing rolls.

3) Aircraft are now more 'G' limited when carrying full battle ordnance.

4) AI versions of the SU-33s will now 'take off up the ski ramp' on the Kuznetsov Carrier. They will no longer fly through the ramp.

5) Aircraft now exhibit true landing and take off speed limitations, plus realeastic limitations on landing gear loads. If you land to hard or to fast for that specific aircraft it will be destroyed.

6) AI only version of certain aircraft to better represent realeastic loadouts that these aircraft will carry (They can exceed the 6 active loadout limitations of human controlled versions and carry a much more diverse selection of weapons) plus they carry the new AI only flares described below.

7) EA-6B Escort Jammers now function effectively as escorts to protect ofhter aircraft from inbound SAMs. Thanks to KAP for these beauties! His escorts work well in this manner and were quite imaginative in their implementation. I improved them a bit to make them more effective against the improved SAMs in FA Futures.


New Weapons

1)New BLU-107 Durandal Bomb. The new Durandals will now fully replacate the realeastic weapon and 'float' directly down once dropped by the attacking aircraft, then fire its rockets after its stabilized and accelerate directly 90 degrees down into the runway and cause heavy craters. from 12 to 15 durandals will destroy any runway in FA Futures. (See new damage area for details on runway damage)

2) vehicle smoke grenades. Armored vehicles will now pop a covering smoke screen when in close combat with opposing vehicles.

3) SAM Sites. All SAM sites on the Korean Map (SA-3,SA-6,SA-10,SA-12,MIM-104 Patriot) will now be fully destroyed if you hit their radar vehicles with a HARM or other guided weapon and will not fire on you unless you fly directly over the site so they can use their backup optical guidance capability to seperately engage you.

4) All AI Only aircraft have new Flares that incorporate real smoke trails and the AI will drop these flares whenever you are in a position (or other enemy AI aircraft) to fire an IR weapon at them. The AI will drop the flares in this realeastic manner when either engaged by aircraft or dropping weapons on ground vehicles as they overfly a column or installation within range of ground based manpads. The new Flares emulate those in the new Lomac for the streaming effects and the way they disperse...

5) Russian B8 and US LAU rocket packs now fire rockets in a more realeastic dispersed pattern and the AI will fire all rockets from each tube in a burst. Damage levels from teh rockets have been better adjusted for realism. Rockets will further disperse once the fuel is completed exhausted and gravity effects take over.

6) Aircraft cannon have been reworked to make dogfights alot tougher

7) ECM Pods have been reduced in effectiveness to better display their more limited effectiveness. The jammers will still funciton, but will be less effective the closer you get to the threat.


Scenery

1) MAJOR CHANGE HERE! All Airbases in FA Futures will now show bomb damage details when destroyed. If you attack with the new Durandals and drop them in a string directly on the runaway (vs the small target box we are all familiar with at the runway) the runway will be crated when it is destroyed with an all new destroyed surface shapes...

2) Repaired Runways. Repaired runways with filled craters will now be available to better represent combat engineering repair. These repaired areas will be prone to taking additional damage if that runway is bombed again.

2) All 'parked' scenery helos now have stationary (non turning) blades. This better emulates how parked helos on the LHA Amphibs would look. There are also versions with turning blades to better represent 'just landed' or warming up helos for missions that may require these.

3) All ships now display a limited 'wave action' when moving through the water.

4) Bomb craters are now fully modelled and if used will cause destruction to any aircraft that comes in contact with them on a runway.

5) Industrial Sites (IND1.OT and IND2.OT) plus the Nuclear Reactor Cooling Towers, will now display real smoke. The stacks will all emit large clouds of smoke or steam continuously to better represent realeastic targets.

6) New Opposing Forces airbase control tower with functional radar and functional air raid sirens that will be user settable for detection and warning range against enemy aircraft. New air raid sirens in certain civilian buildings to warn citizens of impending bomber raids.

7) All scenery aircraft now can be placed in any position and have their shadow show in the correct position. The shadow bug of only facing north has been corrected.

Well again this is only a hsort list and it is meant to be a teaser to get you to download the new version that will be available from http://vnfawing.com on August 31st 2003.

I hope you enjoyed the list. Please feel free to comment!

CAG out...

Plus, I forgot to add, that there will be lists of weapons JT codes and vehicle NT, aircraft PT and SEE and ECM code listing availabe soon after relase for those that want to use the information for detailed mission building.

Also I have reduced the size of the MM file on the Korean Map and built some missions that have detailed airbases in each (1 for Seoul, 1 for Kunsan, 1 for Taegue, etc) to use as a starting point for mission construction. That selection of missions should be available the beginning of the second week of September...

CAG out...

Wow, some of the new features leave me baffled on how you did it.


Are these flares an "ordnance" that the AI launches when they are within a certain range from an enemy? Does this "ordnance" actually attract the missile like real flares in FA or the sun?

Also, for the smoke screens, were you able to get the smoke to stay close to the ground instead of floating up in air like a weather balloon? Could it be possible that the smoke shape has movement info hidden in it like a .JT file? The only other way would be for the smoke to rise from something in the source code.


And about the smoking factories...is something that makes smoke like a missile hidden underneath them so the smoke clips through the factory?

1) Flares Questions... Yes and No...

It is based on a weapons JT file, but they do indeed effect IR missiles.
However they are proactive and not reactive, as current AI flare use is (AI still hits normal flares when the missiles are actually launched). They will launch these flares whenever you are within IR missile range of them.

2) Smoke grenades dissipate after launch, they do not tend to 'float' away. Standard smoke 'floats' becasue it is hard written into the source code for it to behave in this manner.

3) No, the smoke from teh factories and the cooling towers is not a missile, and it does not start from below the factory, it comes from the stacks, especially the 'steam' rising from the cooling towers for the nuclear reactors, as it begins from just inside the lip of the tower...

Anything else you want to know before I release this?

Hi,

CAG,
Very interesting list.
I for one am awaiting the Kuznetsov with the skijump.
Are you also modelling the HMS Invincible and Ark Royal etc similarly with the skijump?
Also, re: flares, do they pop when enemy aircraft get within a certain range, or do you have to initiate the release, and then they start?
Can the sequence of their release be timed/ controlled by the pilot? As there were ""reports"" that the French had tested and found that the R 73 was hungry for flares in a certain pattern.
How effective are your Russian made weapons in FAFutures2?
How have you modelled the GSh 301K and the GSh family of aerial guns? I mean, hiow effective are they, as they are widely believed to be better than most, and a few (8-10) rounds are enough to knock out most.

_________________
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http://13vultures.tripod.com,

Centurian's
http://www.theforsakenoutlaw.com/main.htm

LOL I been working on this the better part of 2 weeks LOL mostly darkening and adding sweep to the proper side of the tip. some of these look EXTREMELY much like they are actually rotating rather than vibrating, and the twin rotors look MUCH cooler (to my eyes anyway). Remember the Euros spin in the opposit direction LOL had to go back and fixx that a while ago lol

_________________
Fighting for justice with brains of steel

Let your anger be like the monkey which hides inside the piniata.

Is that all European helos or just Russian?

Zephyr

looking from the top down the US stuff spins counterclock wise, the Russians spin clockwise, all the aerospatial stuff spins clockwise(except Augusta Mangusta, and Super Frelon which uses guts from the CH-53 ) The British Westland stuff spins our way (anti-clockwise as they would say) as well.

_________________
Fighting for justice with brains of steel

Let your anger be like the monkey which hides inside the piniata.

Crap! No I didnt put that much effort into it!.LOL! I just made the blades themselves visible so you can see the spin, I didnt dictate the direction fo the spin itself..

Ok let me address these one at a time...

1)The skijump on the Kuznetsov was developed from data on this from another lib maker that has successfully altered shapes (created a similiar skijump and created teh Pyramid I use for the Communist Monument I use in Pyongyang). The skijump existed in previous versions of FA Futures, but the AI would take off directly through it, now they take off 'flying up the ramp' for additional realism...

2) Not making any other carriers as I have started trimming the number of objects in the lib set to make them more stable. Expect new carriers in other versions of FA Futures in other campaign theaters, not Korea...

3) AI flares are dropped by the AI aircraft independant of what you do, they drop them depending on whether you are within range and envelope for releasing an IR weapon at them. THese new flares are only available for AI controlled aircraft..

3A)(the new streaming smoke trail and length of existance, coupled with the new flare graphic itself truly adds alot of 'depth' and a better feeling of 'altitude' when in a fight as the smoke streams slowly dissapate as you twist and turn through them in the dogfight...

4) Russian made weapons are quite effective.. The R-77 is not to be taken lightly, nor are the Russian anti radar missiles or cluster bombs. I have improved the other closer ranged missiles to make them more effective, plus the B-8 rockets are now quite effective and look great when AI fires them in a barrage...

Russian LGBs are also accurate and quite effective...

Their IR weapons are also effective but limited in hitting power(the AA-8 has a weak warhead) and the AA-- is flare hungry... The R-27 can be accurate and long ranged, but can be decoyed relatively easily if observed early in its flight path...

To avoid these missiles you MUST practice missile evasion, flares and chaff alone will not do the trick...

Russian cannons are very effective and a few hits by a Gsh-301 cannon will knock down any fighter. The AI will only fire them when in effective range of target.

Russian MBTs are also effective, but have a more limited range and survivability when compared to the M1A2 Abrams or Challenger II...

Russian ships now have very effective SAMs and surface to surface antiship missiles and effective AAA...

I would reccomend you definately use standoff weapons when attacking them...

Russian artillery and artillery rockets are expremely effective...

Using concentrated fire they can destroy nearly any ground fortifications or enemy ground forces, short of a heavy armored force...

an idea for FA-2.

the "weapon camera" it's fine for IR and TV weapons, but it needs to be hacked to just show ID data for RADAR weapons.

_________________
Fighting for justice with brains of steel

Let your anger be like the monkey which hides inside the piniata.

Actually the new FDL Data link now going into cockpits will allow full visual imagery of targets from many sources...

Predator, Global Hawk, U-2s, and satellites...

Thus future conflicts are expected to have full imagery of all targets directly into the cockpit..

It is September 1st, I feel used and violated ahah.

Jimbo

I have run into an XP compatibility issue...

I will need to shuffle some of the files around to balance the libraries to enable the new version to work corretly with XP..

XP can be a real drag sometimes!