F35 Lightning II - JSF

[EricM 0]

with a little practice you can land vertically pretty well (with joystick and thrust control) but when you're used to the harrier it's weird at first...

Indeed you need to point the nose downward to a certain degree for the plane to go down smoothly.

[Panda-PL- 0]

Pretty nice addon, I have just a couple of complaints:

1) the specular seems homogeneous, I tried to see signs of exploatation or paint fainting, but it seemed the same all around.

2) the cockpit iunstruments are from early concept model mockups, the actual flying fighter prototypes have FA18-style LCD screens with side buttons and some auxilary analog instruments.

3) just a bit dissapointed I didn't see nozzle animation. That would look great.

Otherwise it's a great addon, I like the bomb bays and flight model is great (that is, it flies good but not perfect! Wish more addonmakers knew moderation).

[Guest RKSL-Rock]

@ Sep. 18 2008,09:30)]2) the cockpit iunstruments are from early concept model mockups, the actual flying fighter prototypes have FA18-style LCD screens with side buttons and some auxilary analog instruments.

Sorry you've got that reversed.  The X-35 series had the old F-18 style MFD's.  The production standard has a single 500x250mm panel with no analog back up instrumentation at all.  All the primary flight info is integrated into the Helmet Mounted Display (HMD).  Backup systems are provided by another computer running from another discrete powersupply.

As for the VTOL etc, it flies nicely, easy to use etc I guess my only complaints would be:

1) VTOL anims really need tweaking.  The lower Lift fan doors are often 1/2 open at transitional speed.  This just looks a bit daft.

2) Releasing JDAM/JSOW in a dive results in the weapon passing through the model.  I'd really suggest adding some more mass to the weapons models.

3) Normal and spec maps could be done alot better. As it is the model looks like a Corgi diecast toy at some angles.

Other than that nice bit of fun to play with.

[[aps]gnat 28]

Nice Southy.

For VTOL, you may want to try increasing the mass so that it decends (or at lease stays level) instead of a slightly climb.

[eble 3]

Thanks for the feed back so far guys:

@Panda[PL]   the VTOL animations should be working, some versions like the USAF, USN,and stealth don't have the VTOL function, try the RAAF, RAF, US MArines verions

@RockofSL I'm going to go back and probably alter the lower lift fan doors to a wider angle, so in transition they will be at 90 degrees, weapon model are as per the original opfor addon and I must admit I probably neglected to check those, will go back and correct as far as I can.  Normal maps/spec maps first every attempt on a model, I'll re-visit if possible and tidy them up a bit(only found how to do maps 2 weeks ago)

@[APS]Gnat  yeah I was thinking of increasing the mass slightly to get the hover effect, I just didn't want to over do it and loose a little flight performance, i'll do some more tests.

@HailStorm I know what your saying re. the VTOL like the harrier, I'll probably make a version with the same handling.

Guys this release of the beta is get feedback so that I can aim the addon better for people expectations, from testing on the internode server the current vtol handling of the F35 was quite popular once you got the hang of it.

I'll do some more tests, and re-vamp the addon and aim for a new version.

Southy

[pyroflash 5]

Eble, great addon, but why not make use of the lovely afterburner while in auto hover mode to climb. that way when running full military power you descend, and while running afterburner you climb, just like in the real F-35B. I am not sure how the afterburner scrrpting controls the thrust, but am I correct that it does modify the base thrust by a certain factor? if so, should it not modify the altered auto-hover base thrust as well?

[[aps]gnat 28]

I just didn't want to over do it and loose a little flight performance, i'll do some more tests.

lol ... well my personal oppinion is that the performance is unrealistic .... accelerates, climbs, turns far too well .... but I guess thats why so many people like it .....

[Namikaze 0]

@blazer01:  Thanks for the link, that's really informative.  I must be missing the part where it says that the F-35 is VTOL-capable though.  STOVL, definitely.  Like the Harrier, in essence.  I found a video on YouTube that looks like a F-35 doing a VTOL, but the camera angles and everything else make it look exactly like the CGI video of VTOL that Lockheed used for marketing purposes. Either way, it appears that the vertical takeoff that occurs in the video is on a F-35 with no armament.

[NoRailgunner 0]

Nice addon only need some polishing/tuning here & there.

Agree Gnat its too easy to fly with it - hopefully his Su33 Flanker get some updates too! Don't like to fly in 3rdperson only because of this damn white dashboard.

[pyroflash 5]

the F-35B is capable of VTOL with some armament not over the weight of 8000 LBS I belive. Meaning internal air to air armament as well as very limited external A-A arms.

[bospor 0]

Very happy to hear that the stealth is a little balanced... Downloading!

Thanks Eble!

[an_enlarged_stomach 1]

awsome plane!!!!

The only complaint I have is that the AGM154 and JDAMs are not GPS guided, but I don't think that can be helped very much.

I think Fromz was able to make a GPS guided weapon, however.

Any way to contact him?

[Namikaze 0]

@Pyroflash: Thanks for the specifics, amigo. Clearly this is why there's such contradictory data out there. I figured that it was like the Harrier in that it has to be practically empty to perform a vertical takeoff. In which case, I would imagine that it would be pretty damn difficult to put in a VTOL weight restriction into ArmA. This is one of those "sacrifice a little realism for more versatility" options. Good to know. Thanks again, Eble for a great addon.

[the_shadow 0]

i dont know if it would work but it might be worth a try..

according to GPS targets..

why not make a "dummy" target that the mission maker puts in the editor (just like a soldier or vehicle)

a target that only the JDAM and JSOW (AGM154) can lock on to similar to how the GBU´s work exept the weapons wont work unless a "GPS" target is placed in the editor..

it could even be as simple as naming a static object to somthing like "GPS_target" (any object, soldier, car, tent, radio, dog, bird or whatever you like)

may require a little bit of scripting but i think it´s worth a shot

and would add something special to this bird

[Alex72 1]

What are the classname/s? Thanks.

[Ducatisto 0]

72 @ Sep. 19 2008,22:59)]What are the classname/s? Thanks.

rkt_f35_1", "rkt_f35_2", "rkt_f35_3", "rkt_f35_4", "rkt_f35_5", "rkt_f35_6

[Alex72 1]

Thanks!

However i add these to zGubas HPP for flares and they still dont drop. hmm... Maybe other mods block it. Back to more testing,

Regards

Alex

[william1 0]

right now you can't add flares because the addon is not XEH compatible, but Eble said it would be in a next update  

[Alex72 1]

Ah ok!

lol i looked into the addon and in the sound folder it has sounds for incoming and flare drop so i thaught i was goin nuts as i never got them to work. And not with your flares, your stand alone addon and not with zGubas mix.

Good to know XEH version on the way.

Regards

Alex

[eble 3]

Guys the beta 1 is out there to pick up any bugs, I don't want to rush a beta 2 out for small fixes, but in the next version it will fix:

Be XEH compatible

the USAF version show correct markings

flight performance tweaked further

model weight may be adjusted (slightly heavier)

still looking for a cockpit texture replacement

working shadows

damage textures

and maybe various other weapon loadouts.

Southy

[xav 0]

flight performance tweaked further

model weight may be adjusted (slightly heavier)

By this you mean it will stop climb vertical like a rocket once the AB is turned on?

[Alex72 1]

Thanks for the info about next update! Looks good.

I like the handling you have now. Sure it climbs pretty fast with AB, but i dont know if its possible to make it climb slower and still keep the handling/power/feel when going forward? It will probably need to change the whole feel. These jets have fast roll/pitch in real life so make it heavier/thicker handling maybe hurt the gameplay. Some A/C are heavy in ArmA to feel "real", but it craps out the agility the jets have in real life imo. To contra the fast climb you can have the fuel run out faster when AB is on so you only use it when absolutelly needed, like real life. But you might come up with even better feel than now (if even possible, you made a good job as it is). My 2 cents anyway.

Thank you for your effort, loving this jet!

Regards

Alex

[pyroflash 5]

The main difference between the AV8B2+ and the F-35B is the Afterburner which allows the F-35 to make proper vertical takeoffs with a near full air to air combat load.

[cdn_biggdogg 29]

Eble.....you've done some nice work but with almost all OFP conversions I've saw all have one thing in common and that is they generate errors such as this:

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">Warning: rkt_f35\rkt_jsf_usn_mesh.p3d:1 Error while trying to generate ST for points: 1848, 1837, 1849

in the arma_server.rpt file. This brings a dedicated server to it's knees trying to get past it. I got these errors for each version of F35 you have so it adds up to hundreds.

All in all you have a really good model, just needs some tweaking and polishing and it will be a great model. Keep up the good work!

[wld427 1705]

anyone know what causes that error?