v813.0

Thought I'd resurrect the blog again :)

v813.0 has been published to the BETA channel. This update has the full day/night sequence implemented. This is needed for the upcoming campaign mode as that runs minute by minute throughout the full 24 hour day. You'll be flying missions at various TOD and through transitions from light to darkness.

To model the day/night transition the atmospheric rendering has been massively improved. The pictures below show features such as:

• Accurate sky rendering due to atmosphere modelling
• Moon Display
• accurate rendering
• atmospheric fx during 'moon rise' & 'moon set' (red tinge)
• moon phases
• accurate orbital motion, speed
• Stars
• accurate rendering through atmosphere
• accurate motion
• Sun Display
• atmospheric attenuation
• Terrain/Objects 
• Generally improved environmental lighting from Sky rendering
• Improved aerial perspective (eg distant terrain and objects lighting, attenuation and in-scatter)

You can dynamically change the TOD during free flight & training missions so give that a go to see the update in action.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words so here are ~50,000 words!:

Terrain with Satellite Imagery...

Here's a few screenshots of satellite imagery applied to the terrain. It's not quite complete or fully optimised yet but looks pretty good and runs fast :) Hawaii is the next region to be updated.
Further regions to be added will include MCAS Yuma and Cherry Point plus the 'Mach Loop' in Wales.

The first update with this included will be beta v810.1 which will be out soon. The v810.x series of beta's will include target ranges and updated training missions.

Following satellite terrain the next graphical update will be Open Street Map buildings and roads. With roads added we'll get to add vehicles, trucks, convoys (targets!).

I managed to capture these shots at 720p so apologies for that, I'll post more at 1080p with videos later.

v809.3 Beta

v809.3 is live now in the Beta and VR channels.

Features in this update include:

Updated Cockpit

• The latest iteration of the cockpit is a big improvement compared to before especially around the canopy.
• Areas being worked on now include:
• Canopy glass dirt effect to be refined
• More detail around the HUD optics unit and rear canopy detail.
• Night illumination textures.
• Movable switches.

Radar Modes

The new radar system models a scanning antenna/beam. You have control of scan azimuth, sc

• AA Radar Modes
• RWS - Range While Search
• TWS - Track While Scan
• VS - Velocity Search
• AG Radar Modes
• GMT - Ground Moving Target
• SEA - Maritime Target

MFD Displays

• RADAR pages
• Updated to show new radar modes
• EHSD - Horizontal Situation Display
• Hawaii MFD chart added
• RWR - Radar Warning Receiver
• Top down display of threats
• RWR Audio includes radar scan tones, system tones for new ground or air threat, locked threat and missile warnings.
• VRST - VSTOL, range, endurance, speed, time
• Functionality to follow...

HUD Displays

• AA Gun history i.e. displaying a gun 'snake'

Cockpit Items

• Added HUD master mode cockpit item, click to cycle through HUD Modes

New Controls

• TDC
• Target designator controls for selecting radar targets
• Slew TDC Overide
• Used with a an xbox gamepad. When held, the view thumbstick moves the TDC, clicking the thumbstick locks onto the nearest target.
• Toggle ingame menu's
• Duplicates the 'Escape' key
• XBox gamepad defaults updated
• Back button toggles ingame menu
• Right shoulder button

Thrustmaster MFD Cougar

• Automatic support for these MFD push button controllers.

VR

• Fixed potential issue on multi GPU systems where incorrect GPU could be chosen.
• Added Pixel density scaling factor for both OpenVR and Oculus. Upping this over 100% increases the visual quality in your HMD so if you've got GPU power to burn then check it out.  If you're already changing the OpenVR scaling factor by altering its config files then leave this at 100%.

The next update will be adding A/A auto acquisition modes, ground mapped radar displays, target ranges and updates to weapon training missions. Also the manual is due an update incorporating the new radar modes.