FSX Acceleration Grumman F-14D Tomcat V1.06

Acceleration Grumman F-14D Tomcat v1.06. The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is a supersonic, twin-engine, two-seat, variable-sweep wing aircraft. The F14 was the United States Navy's primary maritime air superiority fighter, fleet defense interceptor and tactical reconnaissance platform from 1974 to 2006. This package contains an entirely new visual model, with self shadowing, bump mapping and photoreal hi-res textures, working virtual dynamic cockpit, 3D gauges and completely new flight model. Acceleration package required. Designed by Dino Cattaneo - see readme for full credits.

VERSION 1.06 PUBLIC RELEASE August 19th / 2009
MODEL BUILD 60
COCKPIT BUILD 26

****************************************************************
PLEASE, BEFORE INSTALLING AND FLYING THIS VERSION READ THIS FILE
****************************************************************

Hi there. This is the latest (1.06) public release of my Grumman F-14D Tomcat project for Flight Simulator X:Acceleration. It is second update in a week...sorry for the inconvenience. But I had some "strong" feedback that the flight model was not up to par with the rest of the package... I knew it, but while I planned to fix it in September, I thought it was better to fix it right now. So, this update has a completely new flight model, which I hope will significantly boost the realism, along with several visual fixes.

A special "thank you" to Paolo Oriani (who has contributed significantly to this project providing additional 3D modeling and XML code) and Aaron Swindle (for having allowed the inclusion of his FS2004 sound package - I've only slightly modified it to include F-18 sounds for compatibility with Acceleration events) and Mike Durao for the new bump maps.

A I had no time to write the manuals, I put together some basic information from the rel flight manual with some notes about the main differences you may see in the sim. There is not enough detail for the newbie, but I shope it should help anyway. I expect to see some great flying and wonderful repaints :-)! Have fun!

*************
COMPATIBILITY
*************

This project is a FSX:Acceleration NATIVE plane, hence Acceleration is required to make it work. It has not been tested under SP2, but, as it is using Acceleration supersonic flight dynamics may well crash FSX:SP2. Apart from that, sounds, HUD and MFDs are aliased from Microsoft Hornet.
NOTE: fligh model is drastically different from previous versions. Before flying in formation, you may want to make sure all the other players have the latest model.

****************
REVISION HISTORY
****************

VERSION 1.06
- Fixed animation ramp and canopy texture glitch in 1.05
- Fixed missing polys in new HUD

VERSION 1.05
- Completely new (and hopefully much more realistic) flight model.
- Fixed missing shadows from some part (it was a really weird bug in the compiler...)
- Fixed shadowing issues on tails and rudders (finally)
- Fixed canopy reflection mismatch with fusalage
- Changed HUD geometry - now it is closer to the actual F-14D
- Added much more visible geometry to the VC while looking back (for Track IR/ freetrack users)
- Miscellaneous VC geometry cleanup
- Added BuNo Plate in VC (missing)
- Minor fix to reheat effect (still no modeled flames - see v1.00)
- Added a simple PDF with basic documentation

VERSION 1.00
- Added specular mapping for all the main textures of the external model.
Specular mapping allows some neat per-pixel shining effects. For repainters:
the surfaces are encoded with a specular mapping power of 30. A good starting point for you spec mapping is:
1 - Take your diffuse textures (that is the "regular" ones)
2 - decrease Lightness by 50 units (or even more)
3 - add a unform 64-64-64 alpha channel (higher value means sharper reflection)
4 - save as "_spec" and convert to DXT with imagetool
NOTE: as existing repaint may not have specular mapping, the default specular will be loaded instead...
this will probably lead to strange effects so you may want to make a backup of the existing installation
in case you want to roll back.
- Modeled afterburners are gone. For two reasons:
1) Some users were experiencing some issues (like black borders or fully white color)
2) The source code for them is gone. File corrupt and no backup. And no time and will to redo them.
- Changes to the a/b affect to furtherly decrease effect bleeding through the fuselage (hopefully gone)
- New bump maps by Mike Durao (who has patiently redrawn all the panel lines by hand - thanks Mike).
- Slight imporovement to the tail shading...there is something strange happening in that area, but I could
not solve that completely.

VERSION 0.99
- Fixed glitch in radar radome opening
- Afterburner effects redone (modeled 3d)
- Engine nozzle redone
- Tweaked engine dynamics (less powerful)
- Tweaked gears/flaps/spoliers aerodynamic coefficients
- Ajusted arrestor hook contact point (courtesy of James F. Chams)
- Added custom sounds courtesy of Aaron Swindle (I've pasted some stock F-18 sounds for full Acceleration compatibility)
- Changed canopy texture to allow crew names for repainters
- Fixed minor glitch in fuselage geometry

VERSION 0.95
-Fixed formation lights
-A/B effect coding redone (effect bleeding through fuselage when a/b is off should have been fixed)
-Fixed non working pitot heat switch
-Cleaned several cockpit texture glitches and added shadows (courtesy of Brandon Templeton)
-Reworked nose and canopy geometry
-Redone AIM-7 and AIM-9 models
-Fixed minor glitches in the cockpit geometry
-Minor tweaks to the flight model (reduced maneuverability)
-Closed minor openings in the cockpit model (scenery bleed through geometry)
-Removed smoke effect call (smoke effect presence was a mistake - this was left there from an early F-14A build,
but afaik GE engines have do not produce so much smoke. I had removed the effect on my system but the entry was still there...)

VERSION 0.94
- Further revision of the tail geometry
- Minor enhancement of the ventral fins geometry
- Slight modifications to in-flight handling

VERSION 0.93
- Revised tails geometry and animation

VERSION 0.92
- Addresses inverted taileron movement during roll

VERSION 0.91 - Hotfix for minor visual issues:
- Formation lights missing from right tail
- AIM-7 wings too big
- Scenery peeking trough the pedals in VC

VERSION 0.9 - FIRST PUBLIC RELEASE

*************
KNOWN ISSUES
*************

Visual model:
- Wing sweep behaviour is approximate. Paolo is working to improve this.
- Maneuver/auxiliary flap behaviour is incorrect. Paolo is looking also into this issue.

Virtual cockpit:
- Some MFD buttons are not working (Unknown - XML code seems correct, same MFD works if compiled alone)
- Several buttons/switches not working or incorrectly mapped (for some I did not have time, others are just mistakes - please highlight the most annoying ones)
- Autothrottle not working (XML code seems correct... I can't tell why it is not working)
- Incorrect reading of some gauges (I had no time to fix them so far)
- GEN RESET button is mapped as MASTER BATTERY (real tomcat relies on external electrical power before engine start).

Flight model:
- Latest flight model has incorrect stall conditions (working on this)

Miscellaneous:
- Manual and checklist are missing. I had no time to compile them so far.

************
INSTALLATION
************

Extract the .zip file into the main FSX folder (so that all .fx file go into the Effect folder.
Default 2D HUD is 16:9 - alternate CFG file for 4:3 displays and 16:9 backup are provided (see relevant subfolders).

******************************
SPECIAL ANIMATIONS / COMMANDS:
******************************

SHIFT + E then 2 (exit 2) - Refuel probe extension
SHIFT + E then 3 (exit 3) - Make two 2000lbs JDAMs appear (no impact on flight model)
SHIFT + E then 4 (exit 4) - tilts the radar radome for inspection

Wing sweep is controlled automatically.
A flap intelock (kindly provided by Paolo Oriani) will raise the flap automatically above Mach 0.3

"Wing fold" command makes the wing oversweep for "parking" (no interlock with flaps in this case,so you should retact the flap first)

*******
CREDITS
*******

3D model,textures,virtual cockpit and flight model by me, Dino Cattaneo
Additional 3d modeling (wings, tails,ladder) and XML coding (AoA indicator and flap interlock) by Paolo Oriani
Fuselage texture enhancements and new bump textures by Mike Durao
Sound package by mr.Aaron Swindle (I just made some small additions for FSX:A compatibility)

Thanks to all the testers and supporters:
Phil Thompson;Tom Pettegrew;Jeffrey Roets;Josh Picard;Matthias Postema;Keith/ Creepy847;Diego Menendez;Mathieu Moura;
Aaron Jane;AJ Pasko;Lars Dolmen;Peter Morgan;Rudy Death Eagle;Bob Riviera.

Special thank you to:
Javier Fernandez for producing his wonderful freeware Nimitz carriers.
Robert Morono for his almost daily feedback and support on several forums.

Dino Cattaneo.

Rating

There are no votes yet

Care to Share?

Leave a comment