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Author Topic: DCS F-14 Tomcat  (Read 31689 times)

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Offline Asid

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Re: DCS F-14 Tomcat
« Reply #15 on: June 20, 2017, 04:55:21 PM »
Amazing detail  :eek

Hopefully it will not kill frame rates  :pray
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Offline Lusik

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Re: DCS F-14 Tomcat
« Reply #16 on: June 20, 2017, 10:01:42 PM »
Amazing detail  :eek

Hopefully it will not kill frame rates  :pray

They try to optimise it as much as possible. A lot of it is done with bump mapping. The mesh is not that complex, although this is  a flight sim and the model is on par with FPS games.  :o This is from Heatblur Facebook page.

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Offline Lusik

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Re: DCS F-14 Tomcat
« Reply #17 on: July 23, 2017, 11:54:01 AM »
From Heatblur's Facebook page:

"Fox Three! For DCS: F-14, an accurate simulation of the AIM-54A and C Phoenix missiles is integral to the realism and recreation of real life combat scenarios for the F-14. We’ve poured months of time into conducting research, scavenging for documentation and performing CFD simulations, all in order to give ourselves a better understanding of what this missile is capable of.
We now believe that we have a very firm grasp of the actual performance of the AIM-54 with both Mk.47 and Mk. 60 engines. We’ve promised to be transparent with our research and conclusions on the AIM-54-- in part as we want to ensure high levels of confidence in our implementation, which is especially important in the MP Arena. We’ve prepared a short whitepaper on some of our conclusions and findings above. Enjoy!"



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Offline Lusik

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Re: DCS F-14 Tomcat
« Reply #18 on: August 30, 2017, 07:57:28 PM »
F-14 flight model highlights. No fly-by-wire here.

 
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Offline Asid

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Re: DCS F-14 Tomcat
« Reply #19 on: August 30, 2017, 08:14:43 PM »
That is awesome.

Thx for posting Lusik  :thumbsup
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Offline Longknife

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Re: DCS F-14 Tomcat
« Reply #20 on: August 30, 2017, 09:40:59 PM »
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Offline Lusik

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DCS F-14 Tomcat
« Reply #21 on: September 12, 2017, 09:24:34 AM »
From devs' Facebook page:

"One of the most difficult parts of developing the F-14 is developing your AI RIO companion- JESTER AI. For Jester, we want to make sure that the AI feels as lifelike as possible.

We have begun work on the AI’s “Human” behaviour model, which will simulate the RIOs current task, visual focus and detection abilities.

JESTER will move his head to look at exactly where the switch/indicator being manipulated or used is in the cockpit, and thus will not be able to scan the sky at the same time. Thus the RIO will have significant difficulties with visual detection when under heavy radar workload, as his head is buried in the DDD and TID screens.

The RIO has a focused viewing cone of roughly 30 degrees, and a peripheral vision field of roughly 100-130 degrees. Inside the focused viewing cone, the RIO will more quickly detect targets, while detection range and speed is significantly reduced in the peripheral vision. We also account for the sun, the horizon and line of sight (JESTER will not see through mountains or clouds). Thus, the RIO might even notice contacts in his peripheral vision while manipulating radar controls, but at a much lower chance than if actively scanning the sky, and thus using his focused viewing field.

Making sure that the RIO is bound by realistic human limitations is in the very foundation of our work, and it is important not only for immersion, but also to maintain appropriate multiplayer balance.

Below are three screenshots showing the system in action!

In the first image; Jester is looking straight ahead and has seen both the Carrier and the aircraft in the distance (yellow markers denote detected units).

In the second, he is looking down into the cockpit and manipulating one of the backseat controls.

In the third, he's looking at the locked targets, the dropped flares and has also seen one of the fired missiles. Note that the second missiles has not yet been seen by the RIO."






Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
« Last Edit: September 12, 2017, 02:39:27 PM by Lusik »
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Offline Asid

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Re: DCS F-14 Tomcat
« Reply #22 on: September 13, 2017, 01:29:25 PM »
This is awesome Lusik.

Thanks for posting  :thumbsup
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Offline Lusik

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Re: DCS F-14 Tomcat
« Reply #23 on: November 26, 2017, 12:42:29 PM »




An update from Heatblur simulations:

"Dear All,

The entire Heatblur team is very hard at work on both the F-14, Viggen and other new projects. While we’ve tried to keep you up to date with smaller updates over the past few months; now may be a good time to give you a better overview of some of the systems development on the F-14!

Much of the focus currently lies with high level, core elements of the F-14 that made it such a valuable replacement for many aircraft in the Navy and probably the most formidable and diverse fighter aircraft of its time. Much effort is currently being spent on our recreation of the Hughes Airborne Weapons Group 9 (or AWG-9), it’s various modes of operation and weapons, as well as continuing the development on JESTER AI, our AI RIO pilot companion!

The AWG-9, heart of the F-14 Tomcat



(...) What really set the AWG-9 apart for its time was the many functions it offered to both Pilot and RIO that no other aircraft had at that time. The AWG-9 radar can use both Pulse Radar and Pulse Doppler modes with six basic modes, which in its time made it absolutely second to none. These six main modes are:

PDS: Pulse Doppler Search,
RWS: Range While Scan,
TWS: Track While Scan,
PDSTT: Pulse Doppler Single Target Track,
PS: Pulse Search,
PSTT: Pulse Single Target Track.
The AWG-9 also offers some ACM modes that would allow the crew to quickly lock onto a target in a high G, maneuvering fight, including:
PLM: Pilot Lockon Mode (the pilot could lock on a target directly ahead of him),
VSL: Vertical Scan Lockon (A vertical beam ahead high between +15° and +55° or ahead low between -15° and + 25° elevation and 4.8° azimuth from the aircraft datum line)
MRL: Manual Rapid Lockon (Also called NRL or NFO Rapid Lockon) - which would give the RIO the possibility to manually steer the radar with his Hand Control Unit (or “HCU”) towards a visual target and lock it. This mode was rarely used.
In addition the F-14 had a separate antenna for AIM-7 Flood Mode, which could be used in a situation when the radar would fail- alas this was considered fairly useless. (It has been described by our SMEs as a “Holy-shit-bad-idea-mode”, and pilots weren’t scored a kill during training if they used this mode).

All of these radar modes have now been implemented and their functionality improved over the past few months. To some extent, JESTER AI is now able to operate some of these modes as well. Modeling the AWG-9 in great detail will make the experience of being an F-14 RIO great fun and challenging- as well as accurately representing the real world effectiveness of the F-14.

All 4 air to air weapons of the F-14, both provided by ED (AIM-9M, AIM-9P and AIM-7M) and Heatblur (AIM-54A-Mk47, AIM-54A-Mk60 and AIM-54C-Mk47), as well as the M61 Vulcan Cannon, are currently implemented and available. These weapons constitute the core of the early F-14 experience. (...)


The Jester-AI – your very own RIO
For those of you not aware yet (are there any of you out there?  ) JESTER AI, is our proprietary AI, designed specifically for multicrew aircraft. Our goal with Jester is to make him (or.. it? Is that mean to JESTER?) both feel alive, adaptive and flexible, but also realistic in terms of the limitations and capabilities a real RIO would have. Jester will not make it easier for you than any real human experienced RIO would in Multi Crew, and we've already spent a lot of development time and resources to model things like a rudimentary human component model, which accurate models where the RIO is looking, what switches he is manipulating and more.

The ultimate goal and plan is to make Jester capable enough that you won’t have to jump into the back seat at all, as long as you don’t want to do something very specific.

A lot of effort has been put into making the underlying framework for Jester is as capable as possible. This allows us to create complex behavioral trees that dictate Jester’s behavioural patterns and actions in many different situations that might arise due to internal cockpit events (e.g. RWR spiking, fuel reaching bingo state), player interaction (e.g. telling Jester to lock onto the closest enemy), or external events (e.g. Jester having visual on a bogey or noticing a missile launch).

At this time, we’ve recorded well over 2.000+ different voice files, ranging from single numbers, to entire phrases. A big challenge for us has been the creation of a voice library and voice synthesis system which will allow for more naturally generated procedural statements. In our early design discussions, we decided to opt for a combined approach of sentence building, as well as having many complete phrases and sentences. In this way, we’re able to combine the flexibility of a fully dynamic system with the authenticity of entire phrases.

The entire Heatblur team would like to thank Grayson Frohberg for putting his amazing voice to great use, and putting in a monumental effort in recording thousands of voice lines. You’ll all be grow to be very familiar with Grayson’s beautiful timbre a few weeks into flying the F-14.

We expect that Jester’s list of capabilities will be somewhat limited at early access launch, but by having focused on the main underlying structure and behaviour trees, we are now able to rapidly grow its’ functionality. The last couple of weeks we’ve focused on adding BVR capabilities and in the near future we will switch over to WVR, start and landing procedures, as well as navigation. Here’s a sample of what JESTER is already capable of:
Using TCS and Radar STT modes
Spot and IFF bogeys both by radar and TCS, including making BRAA calls
The ability to spot and call out incoming missiles detected by RWR
The ability to react to RWR detected threats, both surface- and airborne, as well as their type and direction
He visually detects missile launches and calls them out (when in his field of view)
You can order him through a command dial to look into a certain direction
You can order him to lock differently prioritized targets, lock the closest or next bandit, lock the next target ahead, launch the next missile, break the STT lock and much more.
He will identify the target type via TCS in BVR
He will advise you to break if he spots the missile very close (and in time of course)
If spotted properly and in time he will advise you the direction to break
He will call out SAM launches and threats both visually and in RWR
He is able to call out groups of targets
He provides the player with an action system that works like a radial command that can be bound to both HOTAS and Keyboard.
The command radial menu allows the player to easily navigate through the command menus and submenus in a very short time.
The commands build on each other logically, so that the player has a quick and easy overview and does not lose much thought navigating the commands.
In time we will also add more modalities for Jester that will give the Player a deeper impression of having a “living RIO” in the back seat with a great range of possibilities for the Pilot to interact with the AI.

Full text can be found here: https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=196159

More screenshots:


A typical TID display repeated on the Pilots HSI


A compiled example of AWG-9 Post-Processed Targets. Click to Enlarge!


A compiled example of some AWG-9 TID Screens.


Non Post-Processed radar returns in Pulse Search modes differ greatly. Click to Enlarge!




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Offline Asid

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Re: DCS F-14 Tomcat
« Reply #24 on: November 26, 2017, 04:46:26 PM »
Looks great.

Thank you Lusik for taking the time to post this with images  :thumbsup
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Offline Asid

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Re: DCS F-14 Tomcat
« Reply #25 on: September 03, 2018, 01:15:00 PM »
The F-14 Update

Ongoing work on the aircraft itself has been distributed across a broad range of development areas.

Primarily, and non-exhaustively, these include:


Flight Model

We’re now getting close to completing the final pre-release tweaks of the flight model. The aircraft (still) flies closely to our available performance data and parameters; but we’ve been continuing our heavy back and forth with SMEs, again, repeating ad nauseum: to truly capture the spirit and behaviour of the Tomcat. Some highlights of areas that have been touched upon lately include:

•   Roll behaviour/performance & wing position: We’ve been correcting various inconsistencies between our simulation and the real jet in roll handling, inertia and lateral responsiveness, especially with the wings swept aft.

•   Elevon drag in ground effect: We’ve been looking at and tweaking behaviour and the influence of the elevons on the aircraft in ground roll or ground effect situations.
This has been important in order to more accurately simulate the immense drag and utility that the elevons presented during landing or other ground operations.
Differential stabilizer inputs will now turn the aircraft in the direction of stick movement, and the elevons are now more effective at acting like massive airbrakes during your ground rollout.

•   Turn performance: We’ve been spending considerable time fine-nudging and tuning turn performance and related parameters.
This is delicate work and has required a steady balance between changing too much and causing cascading effects. Like most of the FM in this stage of development, these changes are truly minute and will continue until launch day (and beyond!).


wut?


Engine

Our engine model is now reaching advanced maturity and we’re reaching the stage where we’re adding features not deemed integral to the operation or simulation in the Early Access stage. However, because a deep and robust engine simulation is even more important for the F-14A; we want to make sure to have a head start on this area of development.


Some of the changes and items added to the engine modeling lately include:

•   Connected various missing interconnectivity between integral aircraft systems, e.g. correct data flows between CADC and AICS/AFTC.

•   Added several new failures; including supersonic inlet buzz and pop stalls due to lost CADC Mach signals.

•   Engine compartment failures due to sustained extreme temperatures, either from engine malfunctions causing extreme EGT or battle damage. We’ve done our best estimate guesswork on how quickly the structural compartments would fail based on the temperatures we’re simulating inside the engine compartment.

•   Multitudes of tweaks and corrections; changes to thrust penalties from AICS errors, turbine overtemp time/severity before turbine begins to degrade and much more. As our engine simulation becomes more deep, we will begin to spend more time fine tuning inconsistencies across the entire simulation gamut.

•   Overhauled compressor stall chance and variability - and began to account for more variables impacting the correct operation of the engine: e.g. spin direction in a flat spin.
Once we consider the F110 to be fully complete; we will turn all of our attention on the P&W TF-30.


Our new and improved LANTIRN visual shader

Other areas of the simulation that are being worked on become more broad. In no particular order or priority:

•   Jester AI: This is a massive topic and we’ve been focusing a lot of our attention on this area. In particular, we’ve been working on:

•   Re-recording all older, or non-fitting voice lines (especially those that were recorded prior to us having a solid understanding of how the system would look). This has resulted in re-recording a few thousand lines in the past month and a half.

•   Adding code support for making JESTER appear more lifelike. Mistakes, uh’s and ah’s, conjoining multiple separate statements into one where possible. I think we’re all familiar with ArmA-ness in speech and it’s difficult to avoid this entirely, but we’ve been trying to alleviate this as much as possible.

•   Complete redesign of the User Interface from a visual standpoint. While we’ve been pleased with the usability of the JESTER Rose UI; it was in dire need of a visual overhaul. We focused on a few key areas during this process, namely: Quick readability at a glance, strong identifiable category colours and iconography, pleasing and responsive interaction animation (opening, closing, item selection) and enhancement of text space. We’re currently implementing this new redesign fully and it may not be entirely complete at launch, but we consider it a high priority.

•   Teaching Jester a lot of tasks pertaining to navigation, radios, radar and fleshing out his capability as much as we can prior to release. Make no mistake; Jester will be at its most rudimentary form on launch, but our ultimate goal is to provide ourselves with a solid foundation to build upon.


JESTER UI mockup. Categories are purposefully generic in this mockup. In-Game appearance may differ.


Art! ART!

The big elephant in the room. This has been the cause of a lot of hurt and pain (financially, life-wise, PR, etc.)
It really is the cause for the biggest chunk of our delay and the additional cost overhead has been massive.
Quality has to always take precedence, no matter how frustrating for everyone involved (and that includes you guys  )

Again, in no particular order, priorities for the art team have been:

•   Full completion of exterior textures. This has been an immense task. We’ve hand laid thousands of screws and rivets (yes, manually, each one. ) according to laser and photogrammetric scans. There have been no shortcuts, and no cut corners. This is probably the first and only time we go into this much detail on such an “inconsequential” thing whether screws are in such extremely precise locations.

•   Completion of the Pilot’s cockpit textures and functionality. This area is now for the most part complete and will wrap up in the coming days. We can’t wait to fully unveil the novel and unique features that will elevate our artwork to the next level. That’s coming on the 7th!

•   Completion of the RIOs cockpit textures and functionality. This area is scheduled for completion in the coming weeks of September and will be one of the final major items left for us to conclude.




Other major items that we’ve been improving, changing or implementing include, in shorthand:

•   Full completion of the ALR-67 RWR
•   LAU-138 CMs
•   Main fuselage CMs
•   Connecting various subsystems missing their various dependencies.
•   Improvements to the kneeboard.
•   Addition of many avionics failures in various different systems and subsystems.
•   Overhaul of weapons stations numbering and connections to fit new exterior model.
•   Several additions to datalink, carrier-aircraft, aircraft-aircraft and behaviour between navigation and datalink type systems.
•   Improvement of LANTIRN Pod: Improved visual shaders, more accurate fonts, masking lines and other symbology.
•   Continued work on the Forrestal class and associated assets; including deck cranes and other vehicles. We’ve begun with the very basics; by trying to perfect the look of our carrier deck. See screenshot below!
•   ...and much much more.

Current planned free content for the F-14 includes:

•   Forrestal class carriers (compatible with all carrier aircraft)
•   A-6E
•   KA-6
•   1x F-14B Caucasus Campaign
•   1x Persian Gulf F-14A Campaign


That just about sums up most of what we’ve been working on over the past 1,5 month(s). Obviously we’ve somewhat slipped from the 90 day estimate we made 4 months ago; but not dramatically so, and while we easily expect to be ground down mentally over the next period of time, it’s just about time for us to get our ducks (turkeys) in a row and close what will essentially be a long chapter in each of our lives.

We hope it will have been worth it.

Tune in at heatblur.com on October 7th for our special unveiling. We won’t let you down!

Sincerely,
The Heatblur F-14 Team




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Offline Asid

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Re: DCS F-14 Tomcat
« Reply #26 on: October 01, 2018, 12:09:49 PM »
"This winter is in the claws of the cat. Tune in on the 7th to see what our Tomcat is all about."



http://www.heatblur.com/
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Offline Frankie

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Re: DCS F-14 Tomcat
« Reply #27 on: October 01, 2018, 12:54:56 PM »
Wow. Big Reveal on 7the October. Either it will be a trailer of Topgun2 with the Tomcat making a cameo appearance with Tom Cruise, or Heatblur's super-detailed Tomcat in all its glory. Either way, expect to be thrilled.

DCS: F-14 JESTER AI - Behind the Scenes

This guy has the best job in the world. He gets to play with Heatblur's
DCS F-14 before the world does, and his voice is Jester AI's!


 
Jester AI in action.
« Last Edit: October 06, 2018, 09:45:16 AM by Frankie »
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Offline Frankie

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Re: DCS F-14 Tomcat
« Reply #28 on: October 06, 2018, 09:22:10 AM »
Guess Who's Calling The Ball
 
...see 1:32 of the Video

Note: The Display monitor goes wonky at 1:58 and dies at 2:00 because Hearblur has a Cat, named Tom,
that it wants kept inside the bag, before the Reveal on 7th October 2018.


DCS: F-14 by Heatblur Simulations Reveal Stream,
Scheduled for 7 Oct 2018

Click here to see what time and when:


I can't wait!
« Last Edit: October 06, 2018, 09:50:23 AM by Frankie »
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Offline Asid

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Re: DCS F-14 Tomcat
« Reply #29 on: October 06, 2018, 02:26:51 PM »
 :drool
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