Eurofighter Typhoon Work-In-Progress

[stovall]

Something to definitely look forward to. Thanks Dino.

[Ian Warren]

That is looking absolutely brilliant Dino, one thing added to your artistry is the video just really whined us up .. just gorgeous

[Daube]

Superb !
One remark about the mirrors: do you plan to make them simply reflective in P3D, so that we could get the real reflections ?
As far as I understood, this is just a simple flag in the material, but the orientation of the mirrors need to be correct to be useful

[Dino Cattaneo]

@Daube - well, yes - flagging the material will result in a real "reflection" in P3Dv3 (if the user has set the dynamic reflections). A better way, IMHO, is to use the render-to-texture method (which will also work in P3Dv2). They both have a cost in terms of frame rate, obviously. Then, none of these will work in FSX. For the moment I am working for the FSX version first - and then I'll move to P3D...

[jagl04]

Hi Dino. Will the Eurofighter be ready to be mi present from the Befana?

Best regards and Boun Natale

[Daube]

@Daube - well, yes - flagging the material will result in a real "reflection" in P3Dv3 (if the user has set the dynamic reflections). A better way, IMHO, is to use the render-to-texture method (which will also work in P3Dv2). They both have a cost in terms of frame rate, obviously. Then, none of these will work in FSX. For the moment I am working for the FSX version first - and then I'll move to P3D...

I don't recall testing any model with render to texture... (or is it implemented like this in your Tomcat already ?)
The Razbam Harrier, which was made only for FSX, has simple reflections on the mirrors in the VC. In FSX, it's the envmap textures which is reflected. In P3Dv3, it's a real reflection. Granted, it's not beautiful, but nice enough.
How much better would it be with the render to texture ?

[Dino Cattaneo]

@jagl04

Unfortunately no... My "real life" job has destroyed my schedule... at present I think the Typhoon may be feature complete by the end of January (although it is already flyable!)

@Daube

Well... thing goes like this. If you flag a material for environment mapping reflection, it will show the usual "simple" reflection - unless it is in P3Dv3 with dynamic reflections turned on (which generates the "actual" reflections).
The way I did it in the T-45 and F-14 (it is an optional feature and needs to be "activated" by the user) is a render-to-texture...so there is a camera that points to your six and its rendered in the mirrors. You can control the settings and resolution of the camera, as well as a number of other parameters. This method works also on P3Dv2.4+...but it is more resource-intensive.
So, for the moment I am a little undecided... I may want to go for the new method.

[Dino Cattaneo]

For those who missed the update on Facebook:

Unfortunately I will not be able to release the Beta version of the Typhoon before Chirstmas as I planned... sorry for that, but it makes no sense to have an "half baked" Beta version. With the current pace, I should have all the 3D modeling and the MFD system complete by the end of the year... but it is coming along quite nicely...trust me... or trust the pictures :-)

[Stickshaker]

It will be more than worth the wait, Dino!
Happy holidays to you and all other Sim-Outhousers.

[StormILM]

I agree, it will be worth the wait and I will be ready to buy it when the time comes!

[scotth6]

It does look like it's coming along nicely. Thanks Dino for the update (I don't do facebook).I agree, it will be worth the wait.Cheers,

[Dino Cattaneo]

...and the finally the Virtual Cockpit 3D modeling is complete. Now let's tackle the avionics (...I have 62 lines on my to-do list)...

[Daube]

Beautiful job as usual, Dino

[Dino Cattaneo]

A quick video while we are getting closer and closer to the Beta version (taken in P3Dv3):

[jeffv]

Really nice!

[Dino Cattaneo]

[Daube]

That second picture is really cool

Concerning the first picture, could you remind me what kind of weapons are you planning to support ? I'm especially interested in the laser-guided bombs, since they remind me the good old EF2000 (DiD) days It was in 1995, a sim in which we could aim and drop a laser bomb from a virtual cockpit ! (and I think it was also possible in TFX, from two years before if I'm not mistaken...). Looking forward to do that again in P3D, 20 years later

[Dino Cattaneo]

EF2000 by DID was awesome (and so was their F22 simulator and TFX) - I've spent countless hours with ther games (including F-29)!

So far the Typhoon supports GBU-10 and GBU-12 (both will have USN colors, as they come from Tacpack) LGBs, as well as AGM-88 and GBU-31 (they are both part of the Typhoon weaponry although afaik no air force uses them with this aircraft). Storm Shadow will be present as visual loadout only (non functional).

Also, the aicraft will support AIM-9, AIM-132, IRIS-T, AIM-120 and Meteor A-A missiles (although at present AIM-132 and IRIS-T don't work due to a bug).

[YoYo]

Conformal Fuel Tanks. Bravo Dino!



From his FB.

[Daube]

First time I see such fuel tanks on a Eurofighter.
Reminds me of the F-16

[Daube]

Dino, please ensure the aircraft can be started from cold&dark without running into troubles with typical problems such as missing avionic switches etc... The kind of problems created by the usual cold&dark default flights in which we switch everything off, including generators, avionics, radios etc... Since some planes don't have these switches, having to press CTRL+E after starting the plane is sometimes a bit frustrating

[Bjoern]

Avionics switch and mixture problems can be overcome with an XML gauge sized around 20 lines. Tops.

[YoYo]

First time I see such fuel tanks on a Eurofighter.
Reminds me of the F-16

Its a Typhoon Evo . You can notice JADM also.



Picture: http://www.ainonline.com/sites/defau...amp=1384796375 .

[Dino Cattaneo]

Yes, I have decided to include some optional features from the "Eurofighter 2020" feature list, including JDAM, AGM-88 and CFTs. Storm Shadow will be present, too - but won't work with Tacpack (at least for the moment).

The Eurofighter consortium is indeed working on CFTs although AFAIK there is no customer order. More info here:
https://theaviationist.com/2014/04/2...r-typhoon-cft/

As for the "cold and dark" potential issues, I have to admit I often neglect these in my planes - I will have a look... as Bjoern noted, it is quite easy to implement some code that makes sure that non-existent switches are Always "on".

...then, Beta testing will strart soon - so we'll know if I screwed up something big.

[YoYo]

FYI. Beta soon: http://indiafoxtecho.blogspot.it/201...plication.html .