ASOBO P-51 IMPROVEMENT MOD

[collensr]

Yay !

 

[ftl818]

Just brilliant! What a joy to fly and the taildragger behaviour feels real. Well done.

Thank you soo much!

 

[RandallSnow]

Ah, cool!
The T-6 has a small texture problem below the wings, with some mirrored textures. Would you be able to remedy that as well?

Maybe. I've tried to avoid re-distributing Asobo models, especially in 2020, but I've heard of the mirrored textures being an issue so it's something I've made a note to look at as I dive into making some liveries myself.

 

[Priller]

Downloaded! Something for after dinner! Thanks Randall!

Priller

 

[LouP]

Awesome, now we need Echo 19 to step in again.

LouP

 

[collensr]

Love the smoke !! I have tried the red handle to open the cockpit but to no effect am I in the wrong place Randall?

 

[RandallSnow]

Love the smoke !! I have tried the red handle to open the cockpit but to no effect am I in the wrong place Randall?

Hold left click, then right click to unlock the handle, then it slides back.

 

[collensr]

Hold left click, then right click to unlock the handle, then it slides back.

Many thanks Randall

 

[RandallSnow]

Single right click works to unlock too.

I've been alerted to a couple small bugs with the primer logic on both platforms, and sounds in 2024. I'll patch those and update.

 

[RandallSnow]

Back on topic:

Now that an early version of the T-6 has released, I'm refocusing effort into the Mustang while continuing to use the 6 as a "flying laboratory" if you will.

With that being said, I spent an embarrassing amount of time this weekend re-integrating JT's cuffed propeller into the 2024 Mustang. It was a resounding success after clearing some hurdles. I accidentally found out that I made the 2020 prop a few inches too large, so that will also be addressed in a later update.

Next up - fixing the landing gear animation and LOD1 model. Also planning to address the clamshell doors not animating over multi-player/replay modes.

One last thing, I may have a lead on maintenance intervals, failures, etc thanks to the efforts of other community "Improvement Projects". More on that later.

Back to work!

 

[LouP]

OMG, I just spent three hours in the DCS P51 just trying to get in the air for some target practice. It was one thing after another. In the beginning it was mostly controller set-up issues but later on it was just so much more difficult than MS that I had to keep making adjustments in my flying. After realizing that I was loading way too much ordinance (throwing me overweight), I finally got air born with a full load of rockets and ready to go have some fun. Then I checked my external view only to find one of my gear stuck down. All I can think of is that I must of slide slipped it a bit on take-off. I was so p^&%#$ at myself that after cycling the gear several times to no avail, I limped over to the target area anyway with one wheel down. At least I got to fire my rockets and guns. I need that stick to get here in a hurry as the yoke isn't helping my cause at all LOL. I know it's not a MSFS story but had so much fun, thought I would share. BTW, I have awesome flybys now and it didn't cost me extra ;-)

LouP

 

[Daube]

You illustrate one base issue with MSFS: the realism of the warbirds in MSFS is too much limited. The flight model and basically nothing else.
This not only makes them very boring, it also allow us to get very bad habits, which lead to immediate punishments when switching to more realistic versions of these birds.
I wish A2A would have released at least one of their warbirds (and NOT the T-6) in MSFS... I love their Comanche, but there's just no Spitfire or Mustang in MSFS for me.
And no, I'm not reinstalling DCS just to circle around the airport with a decent Mustang.

 

[RandallSnow]

You illustrate one base issue with MSFS: the realism of the warbirds in MSFS is too much limited. The flight model and basically nothing else.
This not only makes them very boring, it also allow us to get very bad habits, which lead to immediate punishments when switching to more realistic versions of these birds.
I wish A2A would have released at least one of their warbirds (and NOT the T-6) in MSFS... I love their Comanche, but there's just no Spitfire or Mustang in MSFS for me.
And no, I'm not reinstalling DCS just to circle around the airport with a decent Mustang.

Couldn't agree more. While the Mustang isn't necessarily a hard airplane to fly, it will bite if you push the envelope. I'm pretty confident that will be something we can reflect in the near future.

 

[RandallSnow]

Working on fixing the tailwheel model. This required remaking some of the components to get the geometry as close to 1:1 as possible given somewhat limited resources.

 

[RandallSnow]

Ah, cool!
The T-6 has a small texture problem below the wings, with some mirrored textures. Would you be able to remedy that as well?

Hey Jankees! I just wanted to take a quick moment to circle back on this comment as well as write a small update with regards to the Mustang.

I see what you mean with mirrored inspection plates on the underside of the wings. As near as I have been able to tell, this can't be fixed in the 3D model itself, but *should* be fixable with some texture work. It looks like there are several "layered" faces in the model, and upon painting in Blender the software actually paints the wrong faces, so in my experimentation I've had to manually select the right faces and use "face masking" to force Blender to paint those specific faces.

As for the left outboard flap texture being all kinds of messed up, we have a solution. It looks like the developer accidentally used a lower LOD flap than they were supposed to for LOD 0/LOD 1. It may be difficult to tell in the photo but the bottom flap model having softer "rounded" edges gave a huge hint as to what the issue actually was. This will most definitely be in the next update to the Texan. When will that be? Hard to say at this exact moment.

That brings me to the next thing. Where are we at with the P-51? After the T6 released, I started working on overhauling the systems, flight model, and engine model. At this point, some testers, including John are testing things for me and providing very valuable feedback. So far we have:

• Full CFD, Soft-Body Physics, and New Prop Simulation (watch out for the left rolling tendency on takeoff)
• Complete overhaul of the flight model and engine model with the new physics simulations.
• Validated HP, MP, RPM, and fuel flow values through the power band.
• Validated roll rates and stall speeds/behavior at various speeds and altitudes against NACA reports.
• Rewritten mixture lever interaction to "snap" to detents for Idle/CO, Run, and EMERG. Rich.
• New tailwheel strut/model and adjusted contact point accordingly.
• New throttle/MP/RPM relationship allows idle at ~500RPM as per real world (those of you with Echo 19 sounds will really love the new cold start and idle tones).
• New ground physics model as with the T-6 (WIP - too sensitive to ambient wind speed).
• Full per livery state saving, including which prop is used.
• Custom in-game panel to be used as an A2A style "hangar" - checklists, performance charts(?), monitor component health/permanence, reset maintenance items, etc. (major WIP).
• Rewritten hydraulic system logic (WIP - clamshell doors will sync across MP traffic).

So what's wrong/needs to be done?

• CG and thrust values need validating (nose over tendency above 30"MP).
• Known bugs with new features and physics mentioned above.
• Custom priming/startup logic needs implementation (no such thing as a guaranteed start).
• Driving the prop at ~30RPM with the starter while maintaining 2024 compatibility needs investigating. We can't do it the way Flying Iron does and maintain 2024 compatibility due to the new sim handling prop animations "natively".
• State saving sometimes loads fuel incorrectly.
• Drop tanks/bombs/shackles - still high on my list, no idea how to implement yet.
• 2024 - Chocks and covers.
• Damage/permanence - life limited parts, 25/50/100 hour inspections, etc.

Suffice to say things have been very busy for only being "in my spare time" projects. There's plenty more to do, but I am truly excited about where it is all heading.

See you in the skies!