Top Gun Update is out

DennyA

DennyA

SOH-CM-2023
So it's the Maverick livery for the F/A-18, the Darkstar hypersonic jet, and aircraft carrier landing trials. They added a little detail to Fallon during a recent update so I was hoping to see it populated with Navy jets and more detail along with this release, but no luck there.

Alas, the carrier is only accessible in the missions, so really hoping they share the info on to program a moving carrier to third-party developers so we can get them outside of the missions. (Asobo said it's "not the right time" to add carriers outside of the mission, whatever that means.)

If you'd like to see carriers outside of the Top Gun missions, please go upvote:
https://forums.flightsimulator.com/...rom-the-world-map-and-in-multiplayer/520602/3

MSFS_TopGunMaverick_Screenshots_04.png


The carrier stuff is disappointing, but the hypersonic plane is fun!
 
I edited the COMP files to my liking....it was too reflective before....I'm happy with this though!

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I see this as more of a "proof of concept" than anything else, since the carrier is basically a gimmick at this point, but once Asobo either enables it in free flight or puts the relevant bits into the SDK, it'll open a lot of doors for 3rd party content.
 
I think I'd have to be in a coma to be less interested in Top Gun 2, but I did try this carrier landing challenge. Surprisingly, I caught the third wire on my first attempt, but lost points for not going to military power when I hit the deck. Rather good fun - I might get the Hornet in DCS and try it out there.
 
lost points for not going to military power when I hit the deck
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Ditto, so I'm just 5001th in the world...
The carrier landing was well worth the cost, especially in VR, looking forward to doing it in the Tomcat in the future :)

You can get a bit of free flight and e.g. visit Miramar first, and fly around the carrier (it is moving though not fast) but you get 'wave off' if you pass the carrier which ends the mission :(
As does missing the wire and getting a bolter, would be nice to go around and try again but that's a limitation of all landing challenges.

EDIT there is a mod at https://flightsim.to/file/33841/top-gun-carrier
that adds the carrier as an airfield in free flight, it's a kludge so it doesn't move...arrestor wires work but don't release.
EDIT: doesn't work for me, I fall through to the sea (which is now grass)

I did manage to get rid of that annoying ILS/mirror graphic at the top of the screen in the official challenge though :)
 
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keithb77 said:
Ditto, so I'm just 5001th in the world...
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5001st out of 7.9 billion is nothing to be ashamed of. :)

I don't think I'll bother with anything else connected to this DLC. I took the Darkstar for a taxi and take-off at Edwards, but exited after a few minutes. I can understand how it might appeal to people, though.
 
Regarding the TG DLC, "if it isn't from Scotland, it's $#%&!" The whole thing is very playstation-like, or Xbox if you prefer. It would seem that MS put time into this offering, when so many other bit and bobs in the sim are poorly executed. Oh well.
 
Ok, tried it and missing touchingcloud-aircraft-fa18e-sw a lot. In my rig working with A-burner not possible. Even unable to accomplish a simple take off as requested. When it works only left engine lights up. Tried some of the missions and really, I don´t like this add-on, have no need for them. Ah...and that experimental blackstar causes me a CTD...
 
I wasn't expecting, well, anything from this DLC considering I got what I wanted out of it months ago (the F-18) but I actually had a lot of fun with the Darkstar. It was a pretty unique experience, I did the training mission first which took a few tries to get right but overall did a really good job of teaching me how to get up to 120,000+ feet and cruise at mach 9.5+.

The challenges for the F-18 are also a nice addition. I am apparently one of the few people who really like the F-18 and the way it handles (there is a lot to be desired at lower speeds/high AOA but for what I'm using it for, to have fun, it's fantastic) and the low flying challenges are great. Not too long, not too short, not too easy, not too challenging, but if you really want to sink your teeth in and optimize your route, there is room for that too and global leaderboards let you see where your time ranks worldwide or between friends. I really like the break down at the end that shows your altitude, speed etc per course section so you can see exactly where you are losing or gaining time.

Also, the sound design of the both the F-18 and the Darkstar are phenomenal. I play exclusively in multiplayer and they have a presence like no other. The engine whines, the sonic booms, the afterburners, the way the sound lingers in the air long after the aircraft is out of view, it's just perfect. My only complaint is that I haven't heard the Super Hornet "whine" at all, but maybe that's only a thing with older F-18's? I've only seen a Super Hornet once, but our old CF-18's are a whiny bunch (example here: https://youtu.be/EQWvtHifdsY?t=420)

So overall I don't really have any major complaints. Could the DLC have been better? Sure. Could the DLC have been better while remaining free of charge? Probably not.
 
keithb77 said:
Do you not have a problem with the huge countdown and go graphics remaining and blocking the view ahead?
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No, but I saw a few people with that same issue on the official FS forums.

Edit: Found a solution, it's been logged by the devs as a bug but in the meantime there is a fix


We’ve logged it, but in the meanwhile a workaround is to go to Options → General Options → Accessibility → Set Menu Animations to “ON”.
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https://forums.flightsimulator.com/...own-numbers-and-go-not-disappearing/520603/19
 
The movie is a lot of fun! Saw it Tuesday. As with any movie, there are aspects of the aviation part that are silly, but that was true of the original too. As a fun action film, an interesting treatise on being in the latter part of your life, and a ton of amazing F/A-18 pr0n, it's fantastic.

dvj said:
Regarding the TG DLC, "if it isn't from Scotland, it's $#%&!" The whole thing is very playstation-like, or Xbox if you prefer. It would seem that MS put time into this offering, when so many other bit and bobs in the sim are poorly executed. Oh well.
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Ya'll have to look at what it costs to support, develop, and maintain a sim like MSFS. It is critical that we grow the Flight Sim market if we want to keep it alive, and that includes people who are more into the action and excitement of flying than into realistic simulation of systems minutia. If Asobo can release fun action and visual-oriented flying experiences while continuing to improve the realistic, detailed aspects of the sim, everyone wins in the end.

Also, we are allowed to have FUN sometimes between serious simulations. It doesn't hurt your reputation. :)
 
nice screen shots of the Lockheed "Darkstar" model

The glowing effect is a nice touch, wonder if the model gets longer at that speed :)


I'm in the 'this-doesn't-really-appeal-to-me' camp but I think this DLC is great for the community and the sim. It'd be interesting to see the business plan for this -- was it paid for by the movie marketing, or sim sales?, etc. Hopefully it will ultimately help sustain development, operations and maintenance of the sim, which is good for all of us. I suspect though we'll see that darkstar buzzing around all over the place in multiplayer (which I've avoided mostly since the F-18 came out)

I've yet to download any of this TG content and don't plan to for some time. I think if the flight model files were accessible I'd be interested to see what tweaks they've done for ~mach 10 flight.

- dcc
 
My assumption is that Paramount paid for the entire DLC (developing two airplanes and an aircraft carrier is probably a rounding error on a $152 million movie budget), but I wouldn't be at all surprised if Asobo/MS approached Paramount with the idea initially.
 
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