JP (and co)'s Alphasim/Virtavia F-4 Revival for FSX/P3D

[klnowak]

All models ready... just two examples





greetings
Klaus

[Duckie]

For those who may be interested here are some white drop tanks and pylons (both wings and center tanks) for the RF-4s currently using the RF-4C model from the new updated pack "Virtavia F-4 Phantom II Pack 32". Three texture files are included. First back up the original files of the same name then just drop these directly into the texture folder you wish to use ie, "texture.RF-4B_Spook".

Steve

[Priller]

All models ready... just two examples





greetings
Klaus

Brilliant!! Uploaded to this place?

Priller

[Penz]

New instrument lights:


I suppose next version will be the final; it will, amongst other things, feature a completely unified stores package across all models (only exception is that the recce models cannot carry sparrows), improved VC switchology (allowing for cold starts), the night lighting, cockpit sounds, the new RF-4B with extendable front gear and a number of bug fixes.

Oh, and there will also be a list of what textures are used for what stores ...

Some time around next weekend, if all goes well.

By the way, I love all the wonderful screenshots, thank you all!

Cheers,
JP

[FlyingsCool]

Hi,

Perhaps this has already been pointed out, but the main gear cover on the right wing of the RF-4E is incorrectly set to a color instead of the r_gear texture, so it shows up as white. Even more minor, the thumbnails for the RF-4C and RF-4E are swapped between their respective directories (easy enough to move them back).

I just installed the models from the Virtavia_Phantom_Reloaded_V1.zip file.

Tom

[klnowak]

Brilliant!! Uploaded to this place?

Priller

Upload done.

greetings
Klaus

[Penz]

Hi,

Perhaps this has already been pointed out, but the main gear cover on the right wing of the RF-4E is incorrectly set to a color instead of the r_gear texture, so it shows up as white. Even more minor, the thumbnails for the RF-4C and RF-4E are swapped between their respective directories (easy enough to move them back).

I just installed the models from the Virtavia_Phantom_Reloaded_V1.zip file.

Tom

Those are among the bug fixes Tom, but thank you for reporting them! There is a similar texture issue on the GR.1, that has been corrected too.

Cheers,
JP

[expat]

I notice that the AB seems to comes in regardless of performance almost immediatly with any increase in acceleration. Most other sim aircraft engage the AB only when the throttle is at e.g., 95% of its maximum travel. This seems a bit more realistic. With the exisiting configuration, I find even if I want to accelerate even modestly from say 200 - 300 KIAS the AB kickis in when I don't want it to. Can this be looked at?

[morpheusfz]

I found the same thing with the afterburner. If you turn off the burner, I'm at about 50% thrust and the plane gets so slow that it can't hold up, the performance is very bad for a fighter-bomber

[klnowak]

The German Air Force also flew the F-4F with the AGM65 equipment. I have now tried to create this variant for me and at the same time also change the color of the
brake parachute to the type used in the German Air Force. Unfortunately, the brake parachute is not stored as a texture in the current model,
but only provided with a pure color.

Original





new model





Not complete ready ....but nearly.
If delta_lima is interessted in this model, i would like to send him this one when ready. Perhaps he would like to use it in one of his next upcoming versions.

greetings
Klaus

[Penz]

I notice that the AB seems to comes in regardless of performance almost immediatly with any increase in acceleration. Most other sim aircraft engage the AB only when the throttle is at e.g., 95% of its maximum travel. This seems a bit more realistic. With the exisiting configuration, I find even if I want to accelerate even modestly from say 200 - 300 KIAS the AB kickis in when I don't want it to. Can this be looked at?

We will look into that, thank you for reporting!

Cheers,
JP

[Penz]

Not complete ready ....but nearly.
If delta_lima is interessted in this model, i would like to send him this one when ready. Perhaps he would like to use it in one of his next upcoming versions.

greetings
Klaus

Hi Klaus!

Thank you for your kind offer.

Not sure what DL would do with the model, but I would love to add your AGM-65 models to the Phantom Reloaded weapons package (assuming they are legal to include of course!). Not sure if we make it to the upcoming scheduled release though, but it's nice to have future enhancements in the pipeline.

I will need the missile model(s), and any pylon/launcher modifications you made.

Cheers,
JP

[delta_lima]

Klaus, those look superb, and I look forward to trying them.

But as JP said, you might be thinking of either JP or Ulrich. I’m not a modeller or coder. Those two gents have done the heavy lifting in that area. I’ve just tested since they were released.

I look forward to your tanks files too. Those paints will look lovely with that last little detail sorted.

PS-sorry, been behind on my SOH “correspondence” - but I should also thank the “AS Phantom Phixers” for the upcoming RF-4 with all the enhancements. The night lighting too will be lovely, as I like to fly in all weathers and times as well.

[klnowak]

My mistake... shame on me. Will do what Jens Peter said. Beg your pardon. When the models will be ready, i will send those to JP

greetings
Klaus

[Dimus]

Just a short note as I am a Phantom maniac myself...

I think the F-4Fs, at least initially did not have the capacity to carry and fire the Sparrow as their radars were more simplified compared with the F-4E. Not sure if it was added later.

[Priller]

Just a short note as I am a Phantom maniac myself...

I think the F-4Fs, at least initially did not have the capacity to carry and fire the Sparrow as their radars were more simplified compared with the F-4E. Not sure if it was added later.

A total of 110 F-4F's were upgraded. This involved the APG-65 radar and AIM-120 AMRAAM as the main elements, along with many minor upgrades. The original plan was to upgrade 75 F-4Fs, but the number was increased to 110 in the late 1980s. Initially, the ICE upgrades were intended only for the interceptor wings, but more were upgraded due to delays in the Eurofighter Typhoon program. (from Wikipedia)

Priller

[PhantomTweak]

I can't speak to the individual models, but...

I worked on Phantom radar from my first day in active squadrons. After all the schooling. The radar I first learned was the one the Phantom had from it's origin. The Aero-1A, from Westinghouse. It was designed to guide the Sparrow during a long-range. high-altitude intercept. When it worked, it worked quite well at it's designed function. Had a lot of trouble with low-level air combat, though. It had a great deal of trouble picking out aircraft against ground clutter. Water included. It also was beginning, 10-15 years after it had first entered service, to suffer from reliability issues. Electronics that complex only last so long, after all, especially under the severe conditions they faced in aircraft.
The Sparrow missiles had a lot of trouble on their own, too. The heat, and humidity in South Viet Nam really screwed with the on-board electronics, and the ground crews didn't follow proper maintenance and storage procedures.

Then came the wonderful improvement to the Phantoms radar. The AWG-10A. It WAS an improvement, too. It had the capability to pick targets out against ground clutter pretty well. The real problem it had was reliability. We had a constant flow of Expeditious Repair items. Items they needed at the squadron to make a plane flyable. They were holding planes down for these items. We had to come in nearly every weekend and holiday to work, to try and get some of this stuff out. In other words, no time off at all. Hard on marriages, believe me. The main difficulty was with Westinghouse not being able to supply parts as fast as they failed.

Ok, a few years pass, and LO! Out came the AWG-10B. Basically, they redesigned the parts with the highest failure rates. It was nice to get some time off, finally!
They also redesigned the radar's computer system, so it worked even better against ground clutter. Essentially, software updates. They worked quite well too, although by now, Viet Nam was a thing of the past. From what I heard from the pilots and RIO's, they had upgraded, and improved, the Sparrow and Sidewinder missiles as well. They also trained the ground crews much better in maintaining and storing the missiles.

Westinghouse came out with AWG-10C as the final upgrade. By the time it was truly obsolete, they were focusing on transitioning to the F/A-18, and it has a hugely more modern, and reliable, radar system.
The Phantom, and it's radar, were out of Marine Corps service. So was I. I am a parts-level electronics tech, and the Hornet's entire trouble-shooting procedure consists of letting a computer tell us what board was bad, then replacing it. Anything more, that we formerly did, was now Depot level.

Have fun, everyone!
Pat☺

[Penz]

[Essex]

Phantastic

[Priller]

Wow JP, just WOW!!!

Priller

[gray eagle]

I can't speak to the individual models, but...

I worked on Phantom radar from my first day in active squadrons. After all the schooling. The radar I first learned was the one the Phantom had from it's origin. The Aero-1A, from Westinghouse. It was designed to guide the Sparrow during a long-range. high-altitude intercept. When it worked, it worked quite well at it's designed function. Had a lot of trouble with low-level air combat, though. It had a great deal of trouble picking out aircraft against ground clutter. Water included. It also was beginning, 10-15 years after it had first entered service, to suffer from reliability issues. Electronics that complex only last so long, after all, especially under the severe conditions they faced in aircraft.
The Sparrow missiles had a lot of trouble on their own, too. The heat, and humidity in South Viet Nam really screwed with the on-board electronics, and the ground crews didn't follow proper maintenance and storage procedures.

Then came the wonderful improvement to the Phantoms radar. The AWG-10A. It WAS an improvement, too. It had the capability to pick targets out against ground clutter pretty well. The real problem it had was reliability. We had a constant flow of Expeditious Repair items. Items they needed at the squadron to make a plane flyable. They were holding planes down for these items. We had to come in nearly every weekend and holiday to work, to try and get some of this stuff out. In other words, no time off at all. Hard on marriages, believe me. The main difficulty was with Westinghouse not being able to supply parts as fast as they failed.

Ok, a few years pass, and LO! Out came the AWG-10B. Basically, they redesigned the parts with the highest failure rates. It was nice to get some time off, finally!
They also redesigned the radar's computer system, so it worked even better against ground clutter. Essentially, software updates. They worked quite well too, although by now, Viet Nam was a thing of the past. From what I heard from the pilots and RIO's, they had upgraded, and improved, the Sparrow and Sidewinder missiles as well. They also trained the ground crews much better in maintaining and storing the missiles.

Westinghouse came out with AWG-10C as the final upgrade. By the time it was truly obsolete, they were focusing on transitioning to the F/A-18, and it has a hugely more modern, and reliable, radar system.
The Phantom, and it's radar, were out of Marine Corps service. So was I. I am a parts-level electronics tech, and the Hornet's entire trouble-shooting procedure consists of letting a computer tell us what board was bad, then replacing it. Anything more, that we formerly did, was now Depot level.

Have fun, everyone!
Pat☺

One time when I was at Miramar, I noticed in my squadrons AQ (Fire Control) shop a poster similar to this one of a HAWG-10 radar system
This one I did from memory, Couldn't find one like what I saw then. You may of seen one similar to this eh Pat?

[oldmsgt]

For a truly crappy unreliable radar you need look no further than this POS! Reviled and despised not only by maintenance personnel but aircrews as well! Not even suitable for a decent boat anchor! Shown below, the doctor attempts to find a pulse while a priest administers last rites. I offer up the venerable Texas Instruments APQ-99 on the RF-4C:
The Old MSgt

[rcbarend]

Oops …
Very interresting thread …. LoL
Not sure why I missed it up to now …..

JP, see our private conversation on FS-developer (not just on AB, but also my suggestion on weapons loadout drag).

And nice to see so many other flightsim contributors participating in this thread, that I had Email conversations with in the past, on various other projects (Ed, Ulrich, Pat, etc etc)

Cheers,

Rob Barendregt

[kdl]

I installed the "German_Phantoms_Livery" package into the Virtavia_Phantom_Reloaded_V1 package.
Following problem occur:
- the texture.cfg of all models are looking for a certain texture folder (texture.metallic):

[fltsim]

fallback.1=..\texture.VC
fallback.2=..\texture.metallic

which is not available in the Virtavia_Phantom_Reloaded_V1 package.

-Where/how can I get this texture folder, please??

[rohan]

another small problem with the German livery pack is that there are no thumbnail (thumbnail.jpg) files in there - presumably because most of the original paints were for FS9 . . .