Donationware Corsair...which is the best

[OBIO]

I have been looking at the Dware Corsairs....been looking for a really good Gullwing Wonder for a while and have not really found one to my liking...well, not fully to my liking. If a fella were to purchase one (1) donationware Corsair, which would meet the following requirements the best:

A) Frame rate friendly...perferrably Multi-LOD (breaking parts is not a big deal...kind of over rated in my book).

B) Very nice flight dynamics..and by very nice, I do not mean easy to fly, I mean like the real plane. The 3 I have in my collection now all seem very sluggish, slow and wimpish.

C) Skinnability...not real important, but would be nice to have a nice straight forward texture mapping.

OBIO

[Corsair Freak]

Hi Obio,

I have the Corsairs pack by FDGv2 it includes:

F4U-1
F4U-2
F4U-1A
F4U-1C
F4U-1D
F4U-4
F4U-4B

it's Multi-LOD, but I don't know if it has breaking parts. I wouldn't DARE shoot down a Corsair. :costumes: Very nice airfile too.

Only thing I didn't like about the Corsairs pack was that Morten's skins don't work on it. They're only for the F4U-1 Birdcage which is different from the Birdcage in the Corsairs pack. (I might buy those too. :d)

CF

[Wulf190]

Get the FDG2 set and yer done!:d

[Jagdflieger]

Can't go wrong with the CFS 2 pack.

These shots are from beta testing, but you can see the detail lavished on them by Gramps.

[mississippi]

Can't go wrong with the CFS 2 pack.

These shots are from beta testing, but you can see the detail lavished on them by Gramps.
Gramps Corairs are the beast and there a good by two . :d

[Corsair Freak]

Oh! I forgot, The Mk. II is also included in the Corsairs pack. :jump:

[Eoraptor1]

OBIO

I have to go along with the Donationware pack. It doesn't have all the virtual cockpit eye candy of the Aeroplane Heaven pack but as an all-around CFS2 a/c, it's the best out there in my opinion. You get great frame rates using the DW F4U as AI, which is what I really like. It doesn't matter that a plane has all the bells and whistles if it turns the sim into an expensive slide show. I also really like the upgraded stock Corsair for similar reasons. Just out of curiosity, what F4Us have you been using?

JAMES

[OBIO]

I only have the OH stock Corsair installed at the moment...dumped the other two. But the air file I have is horrible. The Corsair has all the grace of a crippled goose....nothing at all like what I have read the Corsair handled and flew like. Have tried a number of air files and none of them really feel right.

If anyone has a good air file for the Corsair they are willing to share...would be very appreciative.

OBIO

[Eoraptor1]

I only have the OH stock Corsair installed at the moment...dumped the other two. But the air file I have is horrible. The Corsair has all the grace of a crippled goose....nothing at all like what I have read the Corsair handled and flew like. Have tried a number of air files and none of them really feel right.

If anyone has a good air file for the Corsair they are willing to share...would be very appreciative.

OBIO

I do agree with you about the stock airfile; right out of the box I thought it strangely underpowered.

Have you tried the 1% or Bruce Thorson air files available at Netwings? NOTE: I only use these as player a/c; neither one of them land very well as AI. You could tweak the MOI in the airfile to make the AI better, but then, not having gone back to formula through the speadsheet, you dn't have an authentic 1% airfile. There should also be an ultrareal F4U-1 airfile by Lawdog here at SOH that includes prop torque effects. I recommend learning to fly this a/c at "EASY" setting and then moving up in difficult as you become proficient. Expect to crash until you get the hang of it.

There's also an airfile and accompanying aircraft config by Doc Halliday at Netwings that's a lot of fun to fly, but I have questions as to it's realism. If you've done a lot of reading about the Corsiar's flight characteristics (which I suspect you have) it pretty much does what you might expect at indicated airspeed. At true airspeed, you're flying at about 450 knots in level flight at max throttle. That's all I'll say about it, because I don't want to start another online shootout over airfile authenticity. Some people got really mad when Bob Dylan picked up an electric guitar; some people get mad about airfiles...

JAMES

[Eoraptor1]

I need to correct a mistake in my last posting about the max level airspeed of Doc Halliday's Corsair. I should have said a level max speed of about 400 knots true airspeed, not 450.

JAMES

[DauntlessDriver546]

The D-Ware Corsairs... totally get them... I refuse to fly any other Corsair...

[Eoraptor1]

Okay, I dug into my backup discs and fixed myself up a Corsair using Doc Halliday's airfile and air config. GET IT HERE: http://www.netwings.org/library/Microsoft_CFS2/Misc/index-4.html I took it up to 20,000 ft over China in moderate wind and got up to 358 knots true airspeed without using WEP; about 411 mph with the center tank 80% full. I don't know how I got it in my head that this a/c got up to 400 knots, but I felt obliged to make a second correction. Some of my references on the F4U-1A place its top speed at 417 mph at about 20,000 ft, but others max it out at around 395. I've seen a report of a "cleaned up" F4U that maxs out at 431 mph true airspeed w/WEP. SEE IT HERE: http://www.wwiiaircraftperformance.org/f4u/f4u.html

The reason I wanted a second look at this particular airfile was that I noticed it was the one preferred by Christian Kurkio in his VF-17 "Cherryblossom" campaign. I've gotten used to using 1% airfiles for my player a/c, and Doc's airfile is (as admitted to by it's author) designed to "get the performance I see as more accurate on my computer". I promised Bearcat I wouldn't start another "realism" argument over airfiles on this forum, so I'll leave it with this question: Has anyone else used this airfile in missions, and if so, what did you think? Doc says how to use the plane in his readme, along with explaining the hows and whys of the airfile. Even more than with the stock Corsair, you have to stick to the energy fight. You have more speed, but aren't invincible. If you use the Corsair RealityX file your chances of flying it apart in a dive are quite good.

Thanks again,

Your Friend,

JAMES

[bearcat241]

Hey, don't look at me Eoraptor!!! :icon_lol:....i'll let you guys sweat the small stuff. I don't have a single lame duck in all of my Corsair fleet, regardless of the maker. :ernae:

[Eoraptor1]

Hey, don't look at me Eoraptor!!! :icon_lol:....i'll let you guys sweat the small stuff. I don't have a single lame duck in all of my Corsair fleet, regardless of the maker. :ernae:
The forum records may be lost, but I remember very clearly giving you my pledge of good behavior; in another airfile thread, in fact. I also know I have a Bearcat F4U airfile somewhere in my backup discs. Lot's of snap in the ailerons, as I remember. Did you ever upload it?

It's the Ghostpony modded Corsair airfile that gets up to 400 knots level. That's where that number came from. I was beginning to think my mind was slipping.

I really do recommend the Donationware F4U pack.

JAMES

[bearcat241]

This is what i use for the stock Hog AI, but you can customize it to fit the DW Hogs too. And don't blame me if the air file cops bust you in the act of enjoyin' this... :icon_lol:

[Eoraptor1]

This is what i use for the stock Hog AI, but you can customize it to fit the DW Hogs too. And don't blame me if the air file cops bust you in the act of enjoyin' this... :icon_lol:

Bearcat, this is a Colonial Viper you're flying. It is very cool.

JAMES

[bearcat241]

Bearcat, this is a Colonial Viper you're flying. It is very cool.

JAMES


"Colonial Viper"...lol...that was the impression i got from reading accounts of actual WWII Hog drivers who didn't know BG in their day :d. I once had the pleasure of conversing with a Korean war vet who flew the Hog from land bases on the peninsula...he absolutely loved it, as most land-based Hog drivers did.

A bit of trivia: The Hog has the distinction of being the only US-built fighter with multiple kills against the US-built P-51 Mustang in A2A engagements. Google "The Soccer Wars".

[Rami]

If I may chime my two cents...I also agree that the new FDGv2 Corsairs are the best overall buy for your hard-earned cash. You will not go wrong! :ernae:

[Eoraptor1]

"Colonial Viper"...lol...that was the impression i got from reading accounts of actual WWII Hog drivers who didn't know BG in their day :d. I once had the pleasure of conversing with a Korean war vet who flew the Hog from land bases on the peninsula...he absolutely loved it, as most land-based Hog drivers did.

That's no accident. I watched a borrowed copy of the Battlestar Galactica: Razor DVD last week, and in the special features, the shows makers say right out that their Battlestar concept was directly based on a WWII carrier group. (I've also seen on Sci-Fi Channel that it was based on a Forrestal class carrier.) They said they wanted the set design to appear to a casual observer that they were looking a Discovery Channel documentary on carriers. Funny, I had Battlestar Galactica in the back of my mind the whole time I was watching Carrier on PBS.

JAMES

[Eoraptor1]

I forgot another add-on Corsair airfile; that being Blue Devil's 1.10% airfile; the one bundled with his replacement Mk8 Naval gunsight. Get it HERE: http://www.sim-outhouse.com/index.php?lloc=downloads&loc=downloads&page=downloads&FileUploadName=Blue%20Devil&ammm=15&pap=2

I have NO idea how "accurate" it is. There's quite a bit of snap in the ailerons, and the a/c rolls very easily, even at high speeds. It has prop torque effects similar to Lawdog's F4U-1. You have to use your foot brakes a lot on takeoff until the rudder gains authority, otherwise you'll roll over and be "Ensign Eliminated". It's not exactly easy to fly, and has a tendency to "hunt". I find myself trimming the a/c quite a bit in flight, but this may be completely accurate as far as I know. Just another option.

JAMES