F-35 Lightning II version 3.0 for Prepar3D v2.5

[aeronauta]

Roaming through the P3D forum there have been some very strange happenings due to either the language of the PC not being US English or the user name having special characters in it.... may be??

Jorge

[Dino Cattaneo]

Rob has been so kind to investigate the issue and has apparently found a solution - which is related to loading times. I'll let Rob comment on this once it is confirmed to work.

If it is confirmed to fix the bug, it will be included in the next update of the payware F-35 - that will also include other features which I'll disclose soon.

[rcbarend]

The problem that Hans ("stickshaker") was experiancing (and I can induce myself when using the package on FSX-Acceleration too), has to do with a "bug" (or whatever you want to name it) in FSX / P3D.
I.e.: when a gauge is loaded at aircraft/flight load, the gauge is already running whilst FSX / P3D doesn't accept Events issued by the gauge yet, during initialisation of the flight.
This "deaf" time highly depends on your PC speed, and how FSX / P3D loads (from harddisk, from the Windows cache, SSD, etc.)
Most of you probably have a faster PC then me, and run P3D from a local drive; unlike Hans who runs P3D from an external USB drive.
This explains why probably no-one has seen this problem before using this F35 package ......

I fixed the problem, and sent an update to Dino and Hans.
Just waiting for Hans to confirm that this indeed solves his problem, or if there is a "filename" problem as well (on top of this timing problem).

Rob

[Dino Cattaneo]

This will be a good reason to update the F-35 package... actually the number of reported bugs is quite small, but there are few points that need working.

Some things I have been working on:
- Solved minor texturing issue (not much visible in P2.5 - but mouch more evident in 3.0)
- ICAWS updated to include audio cues
- "no geometry" cockpit model for cockpit builders
- Minor improvements to handling (for better realism)
- Improvements to refuel system

Suggestions / requests welcome (although I can only promise to consider them!)

[Stickshaker]

Hello, back from a short business trip. Rob, thanks so much for your efforts! I can now fly this beautiful plane and can wait for TacPac to appaer on V3.1 to enjoy all its features. I will test your solution tomorrow (need to get some things sorted out first) and report back. Dino and Daube, also thanks for your help!

[Chris Sykes]

Dino has the LGB issue been resolved yet?

[Dino Cattaneo]

No, not yet - I will work with VRS to get it solved.
As of today - the seeker seems to correctly identify the laser spot... but guidance fails in most cases.

[Chris Sykes]

Thanks Dino. BTW the Typhoon looks awesome!

[Stickshaker]

I tested the file that Rob sent me, but it did not make the VSTOL gauge work. I re-installed the file but no luck (Rob, I adjusted the panel.cfg etc). For me, shortening the filename works fine. I do not know what to conclude from this as regards the loading time issue.

[rcbarend]

I tested the file that Rob sent me, but it did not make the VSTOL gauge work. I re-installed the file but no luck (Rob, I adjusted the panel.cfg etc). For me, shortening the filename works fine. I do not know what to conclude from this as regards the loading time issue.

Hi Hans,

Neither do I know what to conclude.
As we tried sunday, the evidence (on your PC) was clear that it has something to do with the filename, because we tried that consistently back-and-forth a few times.

And that's a problem that has nothing to do with the loading time problem.
I just found that by accident, when trying a few things for myself.

Anyway, you know how to solve it for now.
We just have to keep our eyes open if we ever hear of such a problem with another user.

Cheers, Rob

[Stickshaker]

I think that is a good conclusion. Thanks again, Rob!

[Chris Sykes]

Just to clarify an OS limit is as below for the path+filename length if this helps?

All components together including null terminator D:\somefolder\somesubfolder\somefile.extension{nul }

260

Limit imposed by Windows OS.

[rcbarend]

Hi Chris,

I just discovered this potential issue myself, browsing the internet.
Although it appears to be not an MS-Windows version restriction, but related to the used file system format (ie. FAT / FAT32 vs NTFS).

Don't know yet how Hans' external disk drive is formatted (that seems to be what's unique in his PC setup).

Although I can't imagine that this really is the problem ....
I don't know exactly how Windows composes the complete pathname on its internal API, but this 260-character limit sounds unlikely to be the culprit in this case.

Thanks anyway ....


Rob

[Chris Sykes]

That was going to be my next option if it wasn't the OS. At lease you all got to the cause and its sorted

[ejoiner]

In case you do not follow my facebook page or my blog - here are two preview pircture of the new version 3.0 of my F-35 project.

This version is specifically built for Prepa3D + Tacpack. Main features at the moment are:
- An improved visual model (F-35B only at the moment... but the F-35A is being worked on) with more 3D details and better textures
- Improvements to the cockpit fuctionality (including ASR mode and TFLIR / DAS ....although they will not be completely independent due to memory restrictions)
- Improvements to the VC graphics and functionalities
- Improvements to the flight model according to the latest publicly available information

I realize this is a little bit of an old thread, but how does this payware version compare to your version that comes with P3D 3.2? I am wondering if I need to buy this beast if it has other functionality?

Eric.

[Dino Cattaneo]

Sorry for the late reply - the "stock" P3Dv3 Lightning II is basically a non-Tacpack, -A version only, work-in-progress version of the new package - I gave it to LM as I thought it was already much better than the previos model.

If you are a Tacpack user, the payware "full" version features a much better Tacpack intergration (including TFLIR, DAS and other stuff) along with the -B and -C models.

If you are not using Tacpack, apart from some minor visual refinements, the only big thing would be the new -B and -C models - which look much better than the old freeware version IMHO.