posted 02-27- 08:39 PM               

I know there are some texture issues to be sorted, and half the cockpit dials don't work, and here and there there is a little tidying up to do, but I'm not worried about that, before I go towards the final realease I'd like to have bug reports, CTD's, problems, thoughts on it being to hard or to easy to shoot down or blow bits off.

So, if you want to test the La-7 and bug report for me then please do, it'll help alot so that I can then work towards a final release

Thanks Guys

La-7 d/l link: http://members.nbci.com/naturlich/La-7BetaTest.ZIP

No missions included, PP6 required, please don't test if you're a newbie, or atleast, don't post loads of questions about how to install it etc (no offence, but in this thread I want to concentrate on bugs and not explaining what to do)

~Nat~

posted 02-27- 10:21 PM               

I noticed that the lod switch-in distances are maybe a bit too short. You can see the fuselage frames at quite short distances. That plane is undamaged at that point.

I also noticed a funny texture thingy below the wingroot, looks like a mirrored leftover of some sort?

I had two lockups, both when the plane was feathering down towards the ground after taking fatal damage, well before crashing. I'll try to do some more experimenting if I find the time.

Looking good so far!

Camo

------------------
Camouflage
XO, Lentolaivue 34
www.muodos.fi/LLv34

posted 02-27- 11:04 PM               

As for why your system is showing it that way.. I have no flippin clue, I can zoom right in and never see those parts cause they are inside, you should only see them if the panel covering it gets damaged and detaches. I dunno how to fix it for you either, thats the most current version I have

Oh, that thingy you mentioned, thats the as yet unfinished airscoop lol

posted 02-28- 12:14 AM               

The LA7 is my favourite ride in FA2.. I got a 27 kill streak in one last weekend. Boy do those pony pilots get a shock when you overtake them at ground level

TS

posted 02-28- 04:29 AM               

I thought it might be a lil unfriendly in the FPS, but it's hard to tell on my machine, another good reason for a beta now, there are a couple of places I can drop the poly count but I don't think it'll get a great deal better, theres alot of parts make up the plane now.

Thanks Tail

posted 02-28- 04:40 AM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by Nat:
Hey, don't everyone go thinking that top pic from Camo is how the La-7 looks.. ...thats freaky man, I hope to christ that it's only you seeing it like that.

---

Thats a highly zoomed picture, I was flying behind it some 2000ft away. At really close ranges - gunnery ranges - it looks ok. Sorry, I wasn't quite clear in that first post. I have all settings at max, I guess that affects the LODs in some way?

Control surfaces missing seems to be a SDOE feature, since I see it in other planes as well. Kinda like the sky showing through the cockpit floor.

Do others see the same thing?

quote:

---

Oh, that thingy you mentioned, thats the as yet unfinished airscoop lol

---

No, not the airscoop, which I believe is the "striped" thingy on the centerline. Look above it in that picture, it looks like the wingroot fairing texture has been mirrored on the outside as well. That thing that looks a bit like a paper airplane.

I got some new leads on the lockups. I parked myself behind the La7 and shot its right wingtip and left wingroot trailing edge off. Maybe one panel off the right side as well. The La7 tried to turn left and the game locked up. Maybe the lockup is because the La7 tried to use the ailerons but the right aileron and left flap were shot off at this point already?

Camo

[This message has been edited by LLv34_Camouflage (edited 02-28-2001).]

posted 02-28- 07:27 AM               

I hope this fixes your lockups, pls let me know, and I'll start working on some other minor code fixes.

posted 02-28- 11:03 AM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by Nat:

I don't ever see that problem no matter how close I am

---

Thats right - you should be as FAR away from it as possible. It is a problem with the far lods! Try padlocking the La7 from about 1-2 miles and zoom in. See it?

posted 02-28- 11:25 AM               

The mirrored damage still occurs. Shoot the left wingtip and the right wingtip gets damaged.

The plane is a real FPS hog. Especially when damaged. I usually get around 70 fps with a simple 1vs1 mission. In the La7 vs G-6 mission I have around 30fps. I just shot the La7 and its engine caught fire. My fps dropped to 5! Usually when its smoking the fps stays around the same... Weird...

Also, I noticed the tail is very tough. I've tried to shredd it with my prop, but no chance... Also, if I collide with it, sometimes the La7 doesnt get a scratch while my G-6 explodes. Maybe I collided with the tail?

The wingdamage crash is gone.

posted 02-28- 11:44 AM               

The bullethole texture on the left wing is misaligned. It is actually visible in that last picture.

posted 02-28- 12:49 PM               

OK, here's a point, there isn't a tail, you can shoot off the H & V stabs, but the tail doesn't detach on this one, I'm happy to do that aswell, this was a very sturdy aircraft and lets face it, a tail droppng off just isn't realistic, it's just fun to see it, the current DM is good enough to cover that, the H stabs can be shot off, or if the panel on the fuse there detaches the stab goes with it.

Yes I didn't re-code the wings yet, well, I looked real close at the code, but haven't found whats making the other wing section come off yet, but that was a good find, one I'd never seen before, but it's there so I'll find the bug and fix it.

I can reduce the FR hits alot, I was hoping I wouldn't have to, but it seems I will, it'll basicaly mean removing the damage lods from the fuse, or cutting the switchin so you have to be real close before they come in

I'm not sure why the FR drops with the engine damage, actually I thought my recoding of it would have saved fps since it uses less code now, I'll run some tests and see what I can do, but it shouldn't be killing FR like that.

Fuse Panels: They don't always detach, they have a lowish obhits, and obProbs decide wether the panel becomes obNoCollide (you can shoot through it) or it detaches, just kindof adding the effect of putting enough holes into a panel that shots will go straight into the fuel tank, or engine, or hydraulics etc, it gives you a chance that with only a few hits you can get straight inside, or it might take a few more, it helps stop .303 ripping the guts out before they should do. When I add some of my other damage effects you'll see the damage where you colided, but I think you probably didn't do enough to force it to detach, or maybe it became obNoCollide but didn't detach, so without other effects you wouldn't know.

Oh, I'm glad you're testing against the G6 I think currently there's only the G6 and Spit IX that are a match performance wise (thats if the G6 FM is pretty precise, I guess it is)

posted 03-01- 08:50 AM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by Nat:
Thanks for all this Camo, it is a big help

---

My pleasure, I like shooting VVS planes down in my G-6.

quote:

---

OK, here's a point, there isn't a tail, you can shoot off the H & V stabs, but the tail doesn't detach on this one, I'm happy to do that aswell, this was a very sturdy aircraft and lets face it, a tail droppng off just isn't realistic, it's just fun to see it, the current DM is good enough to cover that, the H stabs can be shot off, or if the panel on the fuse there detaches the stab goes with it.

---

Wow thats a long sentence!!

Point is, when I collide with the tail there is NO damage to the La7 whatsoever. The prop on my G-6 curls up and the engine stops, but the vert/horizontal stabs on the La7 stay intact...

quote:

---

or cutting the switchin so you have to be real close before they come in

---

It doesn't matter how far I am from the La7. I jumped into a coast gun, some 10 miles away, with F5 and the FPS was still 4. No effect when zooming any way or the other either!

quote:

---

Fuse Panels: They don't always detach, they have a lowish obhits....

---

Cool.

quote:

---

Oh, I'm glad you're testing against the G6 I think currently there's only the G6 and Spit IX that are a match performance wise (thats if the G6 FM is pretty precise, I guess it is)

---

Well, the La7 sure gives me a hard time!

quote:

---

OK, 1 bug down.. FPS is the next fix

---

Good luck!

posted 03-01- 11:05 AM               

Well, from your findings I've just finished a complete rebuild of the fuse, lots has changed and some bits have been removed, you'll now find a few more parts come off if you punish it enough, I know you like doing that LOL I was also still getting a CDT sometimes, seems I've nailed that now (fingers crossed) the canopy has also been changed and is lower in polys. So, lowewr poly canopy, parts removed, other parts broken down more and hidden.. so, hopefully this one will be a little friendlier on FPS, it's still uses more than the G6, but thats always going to be the case, I just want to trim it down as much as I can.

I dunno why the stabs weren't comming off in a collision, the obBodypts aren't set right so I removed alot of them ready for adding maybe tonight or tomorrow, maybe thats why they didn't damage, I know they can be shot off so I reckon the body points was the cause, main thing right now is the cdt, which seems to be gone, and getting the best FR I can, the good thing is you tell me everything you find wrong, some I expect and knoew still need to be done, but others I didn' know about, you're testing is exactly what I need

OK, the latest La-7 is: http://members.nbci.com/naturlich/La-7.sm
and the new pit: http://members.nbci.com/naturlich/La7pit.sm

I've shot it up real bad and although FR drops when damage LODs come in, I've not had it drop down to 4 or 5 "yet"

Thanks again Camo

posted 03-01- 06:02 PM               

How many engines are in this thing? Is it like the Il-2's engines? Cool if it is.

Also wings start shaking badly around 395 and break off around 420. Also if you hit the ground your wing passes thru the ground without harm. And the same weird wing thing happens to me but in a further out position. Look at Camos pics.

posted 03-01- 07:08 PM               

Snake, I test the top speed of the aircraft, and have never lost a wing, having read your post I just ran my 20,000ft speed test mission, and put it at a 60 degree down angle from 20,000, I lost the left wing at 605mph and got down to 8,000ft before that happend, why you're losing yours at such a low speed is a lil wierd...

Sailor, yeah that wobble from the gear is buggin me, but I'll clear it up soon, it's on the low priority list lol on the pilot, far as I know thats normal, infact sometimes you can still take control of the aircraft (although you can't do anything) and you'll notice you're view point is somewhere in the bottom of the pit like you've been squished

I've just checked the gunsight, glad you mentioned it, the textures were still ref'd to my La5 folder, so I've changed it and here's the fixed gunsight: (drop it in the La-7 folder) Thanks for letting me know Snake! http://members.nbci.com/naturlich/GunSight.sm

The wing body points are corrected yet, I've just finished placing them on all the fuse parts that need them, and done the H and V stab, wings are next.

The engine is similar to the IL2, except this one is radial and doesn't have a water system, and also has more cylinders and actually 2 props (1 hidden) I had to do this because the torque induced roll from 1850hp in a very light airframe was simply too much and would always flip the plane on take off, using 2 props has allowed me to make 3 of the 7 engines backwards, thereby counteracting the 4 forward engines torque effects, now there's only a slight pull when you throttle up.

Don't worry to much about the missing wing parts, thats a little LOD work, just need to set the distances better and then do a final check of the code.

Thanks for all the testing guys, it helps to keep me on track and stops me getting bored with it knowing you're testing lol

Oh yeah, the number of engines, 7 in total, the actual angine is a 14 cylinder 1850hp aircooled radial, so I split it into 7 smaller engines so that 1 engine = 2 cylinders, 4 engines are forwards and 3 engines are backwards. 2 props, 1 is hidden and backwards the other visible and forwards (counter torquet setup) the counter torque can be lessend if you think there's not enough, I'll just cut it down to only 2 engines backwards.

The fuse is now split into 5 parts, all of them will detach if enough damage is done to them, I've managed to shoot off the nose which takes the engine with it and leaves a bit of a big hole in the front end, and the AI still wont bail! lol, each part has a section of airframe and a body panel, panels "may" detach or may not to uncover the airframe, but at some point they will become obnocollide to allow internal damage to things like the fuel tank, engine, pilot, hydraulics and the body section, and in the future other internals will be once it's perfected in it's current form.

anyway, I talk to much sometimes lol

Thansk Guys

posted 03-02- 04:31 AM               

Really nice piece of work Nat, pushing back the boundaries of what can be done yet another notch!

I haven't found too much of an FR hit, but I suppose if you put enough of them in the air...it's all a tradeoff. Do you want a nice round fuse, or higher FR's...

From what I know of the model, it's not the damage effects that eat the FR's anyway! I reckon the FR's could benefit from a 2nd level lod to switchin with a lot fewer poly's.

Still, from the sound of the Beta testers reports, most of the bugs are ironed out...can't be far away from a full blown release....

posted 03-02- 10:26 AM               

Once I've gotten all the body points put right I'll try and think of a way of making low level lods, thats not very easy to do the way it's built, but we'll see.

Yep Tail, with these reports it's really helped me get on track now so hopefully I can get a full release ready soon, after that there will probably be some rolling updates as more internal work gets added, but with the completion of the La-7, the La5FN will follow soon after, then it's back to the IL2 for a rebuild

posted 03-02- 12:05 PM               

Thatis really great work!

A thought: If you want the ai to bail when the nose is shot off, just detach the left wing at the time the nose is destroyed. The ai should bail then, and for us human pilots, if the nose is shot off, we should bail too. I bet the plane would not be flyable anyway and I am positive in real life it definetly would not be flyable.

posted 03-02- 12:32 PM               

Well, the one time I've seen the nose come off the aircraft more or less flopped around, it glided sometimes until thenose was pushed into the air cause of the weight loss, then it would stall, fall and glid some more, it didn't go very far though lol

What I'll do is lower the obhits in the nose and shoot it off a few times to watch what happens more, then see about detaching a few other bits when it goes, it's a good idea though, one that I used for some other things.

One thing that I have noticed is that it's virtauly unflyable with 1 H stab missing, is this usual? I think it is, but most aircraft currently fly fine with one missing, being nothing more than a little twichy in turns, don't get me wrong, La7 can fly with one missing, but it's damn tricky and you'd be better off landing.

Again though, thanks for all the reports and suggestions guys

posted 03-04- 05:16 PM               

For fun I made a mission with Jedi's beta2 breakable Corsair, what a blast watching these planes fall apart in the sky