Northrop P61 Black Widow set uploaded

MajorMagee said:
They actually missed the war by a month, but they did make a significant contribution with taking mapping photos that were done in the years before the war started.

The model would need to look a bit different to create this correctly, but I've already started work on a stand-in version with the models we have.
Click to expand...

There's a fair amount of "what if" in this rendition. The model is wrong as mentioned above though I've modified the flight dynamics to match the performance of the later RF-61C (F-15A). The finish while the 8th PRS was in service was bare aluminum, but assuming they had not been disbanded for operational maintenance reasons just prior to the start of the war, they may have reverted to gloss black for night recon missions over Korea. When the F7F-3P took over this role later in the war, they had great difficulty avoiding the Migs, so switching primarily to night missions as the B-29s eventually had to is not all that unrealistic.

Shot12-25-16-22-55-21_zpscpl7lxaf.jpg
 
The RF-61C had six cameras mounted in the nose bay. I've added a Photographer station that takes six different oblique shots and two along the line of flight that can be blended into a mosaic.

Mosaic_zpsrripywma.jpg


7 Images Captured From 32,000 ft above the airfield.
60 degree left, 75 degree down
60 degree left, 60 degree down
60 degree left, 45 degree down
60 degree right, 75 degree down
60 degree right, 60 degree down
60 degree right, 45 degree down
Center, 90 degrees down

Now i just need to figure out a photoflash weapon.
 
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Pilot stations

gosd said:
Had a look :2 pilots seats view and one radar operator seat.
This explains why there are 3 chutes. Can it be fixed without eliminating a pilot view?
Click to expand...

Just a thought, you might want to ask why the designer modeled the pilot stations that way before you go around revising the files..... just saying:wavey:
 
In fact I am using this model in order to try to understand to what the number of chutes are related and why in some cases their number comes out Ok and in other cases they are above or short of the number of crew.
 
MajorMagee said:
The RF-61C had six cameras mounted in the nose bay. I've added a Photographer station that takes six different oblique shots and two along the line of flight that can be blended into a mosaic.

...

7 Images Captured From 32,000 ft above the airfield.
60 degree left, 75 degree down
60 degree left, 60 degree down
60 degree left, 45 degree down
60 degree right, 75 degree down
60 degree right, 60 degree down
60 degree right, 45 degree down
Center, 90 degrees down

Now i just need to figure out a photoflash weapon.
Click to expand...

Great!! :encouragement: That's why I always wanted a new and better P-38 model that could be dressed up as an F-5...
Now, if you create two camera positions that picture the same area from two slightly different angles simultaneously, print the results and put them under a stereoscope, you could sell it as a 'CFS3 Intel Officer' -sim!
 
Okay, I figured out how to do a magnesium flare. It deploys at 2,500 ft, and lights up a pretty decent area. I created some new pylons so you can carry up to 14 flares that burn for 5 minutes, but they get deployed in sets of 2 so you need to plan ahead about what areas you really want to cover.

Magnesium Parachute Flares
Shot12-27-16-16-25-16_zpsilmso17g.jpg


Return Pass To Capture Images
Shot12-27-16-16-03-20_zpsn5lzb2yd.jpg


Oblique Photo With A Set Of Flares Deployed At Each End Of The Airfield
Shot12-27-16-16-02-20_zpswodhpalj.jpg
 
With my recent effort on the RF-61C night recon missions, I realized that there was something amiss with the brightness of the flare and parachute image at night (see screenshot above). The area illumination effect on the ground was fine (that's created a different way), so I didn't immediately realize there was anything wrong with the flare image itself. With AnKor's shaders the sprites are dimmed at night unless you specifically exclude them in the texturemagic.ini file in the shaders30 folder. To correct this I needed to add the dds filenames for the flare and it's local light effects to the list in the [FullbrightSprite] ; section.

If you've noticed any other effects that seem dim when they really shouldn't be you would correct them in the same way by adding the appropriate dds file to the list.
 
Hi All,

The updated set will be available in about 5 or 6 weeks. the model files will be updated to remedy the flap issue, and xdp files will be (already have been) edited to fix listed issues thus far. config files updated to correct landing gear placement etc.

For the issue raised for the main P61 set where the front turret did not have a visible reticle whilst using Ankors shaders. Major Magee put up a fix that moved the reticle position. but it led to a down sizing of all reticles for all P61 aircraft. I have taken that idea but instead of applying it to the n9_reflector_gunsight effect. I have created a second effect set called n9a_reflector_gunsight (put an A after the 9 in the name)

I then included a second texture labelled with a 9A for that effect to use. and in the .ini file for the shaders set I added in the second texture name and re-scaled that to the values listed.

I then had the 2 affected aircraft call on the second 9a named effects. this means there's no resizing of all the reticles in all planes.

thanks for all the comments and issue spotting.

regards Rob.
 
@Rob,
Thank you for the update and all the work you and your mates put in this excellent project.:encouragement::very_drunk:
 
Have just managed to get around to downloading this, absolutely brilliant and a fine Christmas pressie! Many thanks to all involved! :applause::applause::applause:

Off to spend a bit of time getting to know her. :)
 
MajorMagee said:
The RF-61C had six cameras mounted in the nose bay. I've added a Photographer station that takes six different oblique shots and two along the line of flight that can be blended into a mosaic.

Mosaic_zpsrripywma.jpg


7 Images Captured From 32,000 ft above the airfield.
60 degree left, 75 degree down
60 degree left, 60 degree down
60 degree left, 45 degree down
60 degree right, 75 degree down
60 degree right, 60 degree down
60 degree right, 45 degree down
Center, 90 degrees down

Now i just need to figure out a photoflash weapon.
Click to expand...

Has this kind of thing and the photoflash been tried with PR Mossies and the photoflashes for that matter with BC Lancs and Halis?
 
The actual photoflash bomb lasted jut 1/5 of a second. It relied on holding the shutter open on the camera in the dark until the flash went off exposing the image, and the then the shutter could be closed. That would make taking the picture in CFS3 problematic as you would never know when the 1/5 of a second will happen to hit ctrl+;. In this case I've chosen to go with a high intensity magnesium parachute flare that lasts 5 minutes. That way you can illuminate an area and then come back and make a photo pass. The original method avoids being illuminated by your own light source for more than an instant.

I suppose the duration could be reduced to a second or two to try to simulate a photoflash bomb, and you would just have to be quick on the keyboard to take the shots when you see the light. If you want to try it I can send you the files to play around with.
 
Can the magnesium flare time be reduced to seconds? I assume one would have to have the camera as well??
 
Experimenting just now, I was able to set it to 0.2 seconds, and you get a brief flash. To take a picture you have to be very quick on the pause key, and then you have time to select the desired camera view and take the shot.
 
Add this to your effects.xml file.

<fx_Light_GrndPhotoFlash ClassName="Lighting" LightType="Point" Lifetime="0.4" InitialDelay="0" FadeInTime="0.1" FadeOutTime="0.1" StrobeInterval="1" StrobeRitm="1" PosX="0" PosY="750" PosZ="0" RotY="0.0" RotX="0.0" Diffuse0="0 0 0" Diffuse1="230 255 255" Specular0="0 0 0" Specular1="0 0 0" Ambient0="0 0 0" Ambient1="0 0 0" Range="10000" FallOff="0" Attenuation0=".1" Attenuation1=".01" Attenuation2="0" Theta="10" Phi="30"/>

and then create a new weapon by copying any small bomb like b_40lb for example, rename it to f_40lb and change the contents of the xpd to look like

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<UnitData>
<General Allegience="" LongName="" ShortName="Flash Bomb" ModelName="f_40lb.m3d" BlastDamageScale="1.0" ImpactDamageScale="1.0" FireDamageScale="1.0" Priority="2" Type="weapon" EnteredService="03/01/1943" BlastDamageMod="1" ImpactDamageMod="1" FireDamageMod="1" Category="weapon" Country="britain" Mass="18.14"/>
<Description String="40lb Flash bomb"/>
<Weapon ImpactDice="1" ImpactDieSize="1" ImpactOffset="536" BlastDice="1" BlastDieSize="1" BlastOffset="301" FireDice="1" FireDieSize="1" FireOffset="100" WeaponType="torpedo" BlastRadius="25" ExplodeEffect="fx_Light_GrndPhotoFlash" GroundEffect="fx_Light_GrndPhotoFlash" WaterEffect="fx_Light_GrndPhotoFlash" Drag=".005"/>
<Loadouts/>
<GunStations/>
<DamageBoxes/>
<Systems/>
</UnitData>


and then add f_40lb as the PayloadType in your aircraft xpd loadout list.

My reflexes just weren't fast enough to consistently pause in 0.2 seconds, so I padded another couple of tenths in as fade in and out to increase my chances of catching it.
 
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