Milviz F4 yes or no?

[747jet]

Hi Guys,

I am interested in this nice bird but I cannot find any reviews about it. What I have seen on pictures is very nice and looks great.
Want to be sure that it is worth the price. And I use FSX steam I read about CTD with this plane. I could not find much information in the internet.

Would you recommend the F4?

[Daveroo]

Mark ,
First,welcome to the SOH,i see only 6 posts,glad to have you with us...

as far as the F4??....dunno......



imma biiiiig help huh?? :wavey:

[WarHorse47]

I can only speak for myself. I like it and recommend it. I have the FSX Standard install without TacPack.

There are two models, the F-4E and F-4J which share the same cockpit. Milviz has done an excellent job of modeling internal and external features, sounds, animations, and other things and you will find a lot of repaints for both models.

One feature I like is the loadout manager which adjusts fuel and weights as you add or remove ordinance or fuel tanks. It can get very immersive with a cold and dark startup, setting the onboard nav computer, then flying to another destination just on lat/long coordinates and no ILS. Can't comment on the flight dynamics, but they do seem realistic.

The only things missing is a working radar and a better manual. There are no tool tips on all the switches, so its challenging to figure out what works or what does not work for the various switches. But that's what makes it fun (for me) is trying to figure things out (like fuel transfer from the external tanks).

Like other Milviz products, they have a good support forum and do respond to operating questions or issues. I had some CTD experiences with the earlier beta version, and was able to communicate directly with them via e-mail for a solution.

They are currently working on the J/S models, so I'm curious to see how those compare.

Hope that helps.

[747jet]

Ty for response. I use my military planes for more longer distances. For example London New York with one or two fuel stops. I know they are not made dor this, but just cruising through mountains and valleys is not my thing^^

I could buy the F4 at PC Aviator for about 45 dollars or for example at Aerosoft for 65 Euro. Lol very big difference in price

[StormILM]

Being one of the early Alpha & Beta Testers, maybe I am a little biased but having purchased nearly every build of different payware F-4's in the past, I can easily say this is the best F-4 model to ever see the light of day for FS. It's a challenging model to fly in all aspects but you do have the option to set the model up being Ready to Fly or Cold and Dark (giving you the option of jumping in and flying or if you with to go through all the steps close to the real thing). Both experienced and novice users will still get a very Seat of the Pants feel from the handling (meaning it's not care free) but with practice, it's one of the most rewarding FS models I have ever flown. The immersion is just top notch.

Buy it! You won't be disappointed.

[Christoph_T]

YES! ( Have been a beta-tester in the early phase too )

[747jet]

Hi Guys,

I could get the plane at PC Aviator for about 40$ which is about 37 Euros. I do not ask if this price is fair because normally the F4 is more expensive :redfire:
I also checked Aerosoft Homepage and they want 65€ for it and I don´t know why.
Bought quite much stuff for FSX last time and I have to slow a bit down lol^^

TUESDAY TUESDAY

[Peg o my heart]

Has the "Fail to create render target" been fixed?

[Cees Donker]

I know that feeling....

:mixed-smiley-027:

Cees

[Katoun]

Hi,

The render to target "problem" is fixed unless there's something I am not aware of.

You should get on the forums if you're still having it

The pricing at Aerosoft will be fixed tmrw.

Just so you're aware, we will be releasing the the F-4S/J soon and unless you buy it direct, you will not get any discount, should there be one.

Thank you

Kat.

[henrystreet]

Hi,

Just so you're aware, we will be releasing the the F-4S/J soon and unless you buy it direct, you will not get any discount, should there be one.

Thank you

Kat.

Ready when you guys are.

[747jet]

I finally did it and until now I am very impressed. I think this model is one of the best I have ever seen on fsx and it looks frame rate friendly, too.

I have some questions:
1. Is it normal that the black smoke behind the aircraft disappears at a special kind of thrust? It is only visible at low rpm
2. And is it somehow possible that the atc does not say "experimental" to the F4? He should say type "F4" or "Phantom"
3. And this plane does not have an Autopilot correct?

Sorry I just overflew the manual this evening :/ Will study it the next days

[WarHorse47]

I finally did it and until now I am very impressed. I think this model is one of the best I have ever seen on fsx and it looks frame rate friendly, too.

I have some questions:
1. Is it normal that the black smoke behind the aircraft disappears at a special kind of thrust? It is only visible at low rpm
2. And is it somehow possible that the atc does not say "experimental" to the F4? He should say type "F4" or "Phantom"
3. And this plane does not have an Autopilot correct?

Sorry I just overflew the manual this evening :/ Will study it the next days

Answers:

1. Yes.

2. You will need to make changes to each [fltsim] entry as well as in the [General] section in the aircraft.cfg for the ATC to recognize the aircraft properly. For example, the first entry is for the Edwards Test. This is what the stock entries look like:

atc_id=F4E
atc_airline=
atc_flight_number=00

This is what mine looks like:

atc_id=
atc_airline=AIR FORCE
atc_flight_number=294

The result is that the ATC will recognize you as Air Force 294.

The stock [General] section looks like this:

[General]
Category=airplane

There are no categories for type or model, so they will need to be added. This is what mine looks like:

[General]
atc_type=McDonnell Douglas
atc_model=F4
Category=airplane

I recommend studying how and what to edit in the aircraft.cfg using Notepad or another text editing program, and always make a backup of the original file before doing any editing.

3. Correct, the plane does not have an FULL autopilot but does have a partial one. Using the Aircraft Control Manager you can set keyboard commands for an autopilot and altitude hold. You cannot set a heading or navigation hold. So once you reach altitude, you can hold the altitude but have to control direction manually.

Hope that helps. Cheers.

[Katoun]

Hi,

Colin says: "For #1, the engines do not emit smoke when in afterburner. This is why it was (fairly) common for pilots to engage one engine in burner and the other in idle while flying to destination. That way, they would not be seen.

The S was the first F-4 that had smokeless engines (afaik).

The J in the upcoming product, will fly like the J and have the smoke but, as previously stated, will not have a dedicated J VC.

We are looking at doing a bundle for the two products (E and J/S). Not sure on that one yet..."

Thank you.

Kat.

[expat]

Is it possible to add a full AP i.e., freeware gauge to this model?

[747jet]

@WarHorse47: Ty for detailed explanation

Next question: I cannot delete joystick assignments in the configuration tool. I have one button assigned to my joystick but every time I delete it and restart the tool, it is assigned.
Keybord assignment works

[edakridge]

I run FSX "Box" with Tacpack. After a couple of patches the model is stable now. I love the modeling and the flight dynamics. Th disappointment is the non-functioning radar. Also, when I bought the Beta pre-order it was advertised as Tacpack enabled. Now Milviz will be charging extra for Tacpack compatability!

[Katoun]

Hi,

I'm sorry but the product was NEVER advertised as being Tacpack enabled. Not ever. We would never do that as we know exactly how much work is involved in doing a Tacpacked version of this aircraft.

We are looking at the radar as a possible in the non-Tacpack'd version but it's only a possibility.

For all questions that relate to how to do/fix things, please go to our forums. To do that, please read page one of the manual.

Thank you.

Kat.

[747jet]

Hi,


For all questions that relate to how to do/fix things, please go to our forums. To do that, please read page one of the manual.


Kat.

I sent a mail to the address in the manual for access into your forum and I do not get an answer. So it would be nice to get it because some things do not work not properly with my F4. Ty

[Katoun]

Hi,

We are not all full time workers. It can take a day or two to get a response. Sorry for your problems.

Thank you.

Kat.

[Katoun]

Hi,

The "render to target" problem is caused by using an older video card that doesn't support what we're doing. This is made clear on the sales site along with caveats about Win 8 and Win 10 not being supported.

Thank you.

Kat.

[747jet]

So after 3 hours of testing the F4, it looks like am too stupid for this thing. I have other military jets for example the Aerosoft F16 and for me the flight behavior of the F4 is much too light. It handles like an aerobatic aircraft.
I made a video to show the problem I have:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9gx68qC0Ho (I flew about M 0,5 and 6000 feet)

Am I doing something wrong?
I tried and tried it with the settings in the config manager but it looks like they do not change anything (honestly I do not know what the settings mean 100% :/ ) I do not play with a joystick (which would be the best I know), I use a Logitech game pad. All my mili jets handle ok but the phantom is the only one which handles like a (I don´t know). On my flight just at the moment I was at about FL450 with a speed of M 1.2. Suddenly the plane stalled and spinned around like crazy.
Would be happy if someone can help me.

[Katoun]

Hi,

The support forums are best for this but, you're correct that a joystick is best for flying this.

As well, though I will not comment on other products, this one flies like the real thing and that is according to 4 different real world F-4 pilots.

Thank you.

Kat.

[747jet]

Is it possible to give the Autopilot a VS mode? Although it is not real, it would help me a lot. I made a test and completely changed the autopilot section in the aircraft.cfg. Anyway this did not change anything and the AP handling was the same.

Can someone tell me the trick? I also looked in the Air file, but I could not find any point called autopilot there.

When I bought this plane it was not my intention to test around by myself lol.

[Victory103]

Mark, the Phantom is not done yet. Your vid is not how she flies in my sim with a TM Warthog joystick, if I did that she would depart controlled flight every time. As mentioned, RW former Rhino drivers and several beta testers are working to get this thing as close to the Dash 1 (flight manual) within the sim's limitations. I can only recommend if you are looking to get the most out of FSX military aircraft (really all aircraft), even a cheap joystick will vastly improve your enjoyment. Most fighter type autopilots, if they have one, are very basic and do not feature any form of vertical modes, mostly attitude hold. I know the coder is working his butt off to get the realism in every F-4 system, to include some nuances like INS/gyro drift.

[Katoun]

Hi,

The F-4E is finished and released. The next update will be some minor and mostly invisible fixes and updates.

After that, for the E, it will be Tacpack.

We expect and hope to be releasing the F-4J/S in a short while. Short is defined, for us, as when it's ready.

Thank you.

Kat.

[expat]

A request - I am potential customer for the F-4J/S. You can, as has been done before, ship the model with a RW accurate AP that has limited but realistic functions, BUT you can also code it so at the option of the user they can also add a full function AP too. That way depending on what you want to do a particular day, you can do either. There are so many things I am doing when breaking in a new plane, e.g. adding other gauges and various tweaks - or other PC things not FS related, that there are times I often really need to have full AP to maintain the flight plan (vs. hitting "pause"), just to be able to take my hand off the stick and use the keyboard, mouse, get a beverage, etc.

[747jet]

Of course Katoun defends his product, I would do the same if I worked at milviz. I have a few other pay and good freeware mili jets which should be much more agile like the milviz F4. But the F4 is twice as agile like for example the JF Euro Fighter or the Aerosoft F14, F16 or even Dinos F14 and F35.

Sorry this cannot be real. Since 3 days I am waiting for logged free into the Milviz support forum but I do not get any answer.

Is it then possible to program another AP into the F4, so that I can have VS mode? I added default GPS, and the radio autopilot fsx panel. I exchanged the whole autopilot section in the aircraft.cfg but the plane does not care. It keeps its standard AP. The only thing that worked was a small change in the flight tuning.
Any ideas?

PS: I really do not want to say the F4 is a totally bad product. The VC is great and the model is one of the best I have ever seen for my fsx.

[hairyspin]

Picks jaw off floor. You're flying with a gamepad, hacking around the config and reckon it's not realistic. I don't have the Phantom but I'll bet it doesn't just use the standard FSX systems. Milviz and other top-end developers use lots of custom code to produce the flight model so just poking here and there is not going to do what you expect.

If I poke around in my modern car's engine bay I needn't expect performance improvements like in the old days. Modern FSX add-ons are similarly complex.

And get a joystick, perhaps?

[Cees Donker]

Hi,

The F-4E is finished and released. The next update will be some minor and mostly invisible fixes and updates.

After that, for the E, it will be Tacpack.

We expect and hope to be releasing the F-4J/S in a short while. Short is defined, for us, as when it's ready.

Thank you.

Kat.

That's the version I'll buy......

Great planes Milviz!

Cees

[747jet]

Yes it is just my pad and I have to buy a stick. I think everything is said, this topic can be closed or what ever

[xpelekis]

Definitely Yes...


After that, for the E, it will be Tacpack.
The sooner the better... but no pressure. :jump:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPLgSuODNcM

Info & Download (http://flyingspirit.freehostia.com/Airpower/vietnamskies.html)

[Mach3DS]

Without getting into details...if you edit the aircraft cfg or any other configuration or command files you will completely break your F4 install. MV runs custom gauges and background processes for systems functions. Depending on what you edit you might get lucky and not break something but chances are good that you will royally Bork your aircraft function.

[xpelekis]

I guess you're talking about the CS Weapons. The AI is totally independant from Milviz F-4.