4.12.2 de-bugging

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Ventura

Not sure if this has been addressed, but the 'Radio Silence' box in the FMB doesn't have AI stay off the radio.

If the "radio silence" option just keeps AI from calling out things like course changes and waypoints, but still allows it to use radios in combat, that's realistic.

Radio silence is used to keep the enemy from detecting your presence. Once you're under attack or you attack yourself, the enemy has, by definition, detected you so there's no more need for it.

There actually need to be three options for radio use:

* No radio silence.

* Radio silence. AI only breaks radio silence when they attack or are detected or spotted by the enemy.


* No radio. AI doesn't use the radio at all. Necessary for planes that weren't equipped with radios.

[sniperton]

We have buttons for
pitch +/-
supercharger +/-
mixture +/-
etc.

Please, please, could I have a button for radiator- ?

[stovak]

Originally Posted by sniperton

Please, please, could I have a button for radiator- ?

+1

[sniperton]

We have HUD messages for actual
pitch
supercharger
mixture
throttle
etc. setting adjustments.


It would be great to have one for trim settings as well. Could be made optional, via config.ini.

Thanks

[majorfailure]

Originally Posted by sniperton

It would be great to have one for trim settings as well. Could be made optional, via config.ini.

Thanks

Yes please

Originally Posted by sniperton

Please, please, could I have a button for radiator- ?

+1

And an optional HUD fuel gauge(keypress for fuel state) for planes that currently have no working fuel gauges, but had them in real life (e. g. the Yak family, P-40...)

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by sniperton

Please, please, could I have a button for radiator- ?

One button to open or close the radiator is a bit simplistic, since different planes had different radiator controls. Some had a simple open/closed option, others had detents that only allowed the radiator vanes to be opened in certain positions. Some had fully adjustable radiator controls.

The big problem with the radiator controls is that they're on a "pivot" rather than being on a "slider." That is, pressing the radiator control button once opens it to 20%, pressing it again takes it to 40%, and so forth, until you get to 100% open. But then, you press the button again and you go back to 0%! AFAIK, no airplane ever had radiator controls like that.

What needs to happen is that the default radiator control should be a "slider" where you can adjust the radiator vanes from 0-100% and back again. For planes which didn't have radiator controls, the "slider" is fixed at 100% open. For planes which had detents, pressing the radiator control button opens or closes the vents at the next level.

[stovak]

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

One button to open or close the radiator is a bit simplistic

I think he's not asking for a single open/close button, but an added 'radiator minus' button to close the rad/cowl in steps to go with the current 'radiator plus'. In order to close the rad by one step we have the awkward task of cycling through eight positions using the 'open' button, and it's quite easy to overshoot and have to start again. A 'close' button would be much appreciated.

There is a slider-axis option already, but of course we don't all have enough sliders

[IceFire]

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

One button to open or close the radiator is a bit simplistic, since different planes had different radiator controls. Some had a simple open/closed option, others had detents that only allowed the radiator vanes to be opened in certain positions. Some had fully adjustable radiator controls.

The big problem with the radiator controls is that they're on a "pivot" rather than being on a "slider." That is, pressing the radiator control button once opens it to 20%, pressing it again takes it to 40%, and so forth, until you get to 100% open. But then, you press the button again and you go back to 0%! AFAIK, no airplane ever had radiator controls like that.

What needs to happen is that the default radiator control should be a "slider" where you can adjust the radiator vanes from 0-100% and back again. For planes which didn't have radiator controls, the "slider" is fixed at 100% open. For planes which had detents, pressing the radiator control button opens or closes the vents at the next level.

What you described is what he's asking about. So you're both on the same page

He said he wants a "radiator-" and a "radiator+" so you can open and close. Maybe wasn't put the clearest way but it sounds like a good idea.

I'd actually say that for compatibility sake you can still maintain the Radiator Toggle or you can have Radiator Open and Radiator Close buttons that work in a similar way to the flaps. Not sure how many aircraft had an open/closed arrangement and how many had a system where they can be finely controlled (by slider for example).

It'd be a bit more work than just adding the button presses. The mechanicals of all of the aircraft we have might need a going over to know how each should function. Not a bad thing IMHO but it would take some time.

[sniperton]

Originally Posted by IceFire

He said he wants a "radiator-" and a "radiator+" so you can open and close. Maybe wasn't put the clearest way but it sounds like a good idea.

Yep, sorry for my English. The logical way would be to go from 'closed' to 'open', and then backward, from 'open' to closed'. Plus and Minus. No cycling through.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by sniperton

Yep, sorry for my English. The logical way would be to go from 'closed' to 'open', and then backward, from 'open' to closed'. Plus and Minus. No cycling through.

I'm not sure if TD wants to bother with it, but "radiator" settings are even more complex than I thought for some planes.

For example, the P-39 series didn't have preset "detents" for the radiator like I thought. Instead, it had open and shut (i.e., 0 or 100% open) shutters for the Coolant Radiator and the Oil Cooler, as well as what I believe to be a 0-100% slider-type control (in the form of a push-rod that could be elevated or depressed) for carburetor air heat, and a switch for carburetor air filtration.

Carb air heat controls were necessary to prevent engine stoppage at altitude due to carburetor icing. Filter controls allowed the pilot to choose between hot unfiltered air (presumably waste heat from the air or oil cooler systems) and cold filtered air (presumably outside air pulled in via a filter intake).

Likewise, the F6F-5 also had separate shutters for oil coolant and the intercooler.

Things also get complex for the P-51's radiator systems, as this very old thread describes:

http://forums.ubi.com/showthread.php...d-speed-Forums