4.12.2 de-bugging

[Pursuivant]

More about the P-40 series.

Despite being described as a plane with "no vices" (Caldwell) it seems to be very difficult to recover from a high speed spin even when applying proper technique to stop it (kill throttle, full opposite rudder).

This despite the pilot's manual (here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/117829198/...-40-Warhawk-WW) stating that it should be possible to recover from a spin within 2 turns and 1-2,000 feet (~330-660 meters) loss of altitude. They don't say whether it's a low or high speed spin, however.

While it's for an earlier model, the pilot's notes for the Tomahawk (http://www.456fis.org/P-40_PILOT_MANUAL.htm) indicate that the plane should come out of the spin unless held. This seems different from my experience.

Using arcade mode, I'm noticing that I'm getting pilot kill hits from rifle-caliber MG shots directly from ahead or behind (through the front of the cockpit or fuselage), despite the fact that all but the Hawk 81/P-40A-B/Kittyhawk series the P-40 had armor or armor glass in those areas. (1.5 inches of armor glass, 7 mm of armor below the cockpit combing down to the engine block, 7 mm behind the pilot. The pilot's seat wasn't armored, however.)

Additionally, any hit to the front of the engine through the prop boss instantly (or nearly instantly) kills the engine.

Any hit from the front through the radiator housing kills the oil/cooling system, resulting in engine shutdown within about a minute. While this is legitimate, it's possible that the damage boxes for the cooler system are larger than they were in real life (see diagrams in the pilot's manual).

Reading maintenance manuals for the P-40, it appears that the coolant assemblies got slightly larger in later models but the oil cooler got smaller. The P-40D & E models have a frontal coolant radiator surface area of 1.11 square feet. The P-40F model has a frontal coolant radiator surface of 1.75 feet. The oil cooler is 95 square inches on the D & E models, 35 square inches on the F.

I'm still hunting on info about the armor around the P-40's engine.

Also, for a time U.S. P-40s in the U.S. were using 91 or 92 octane gas to preserve the 100 octane gas for flights in combat zones. I've seen, but can't find, comparative numbers for P-40 performance using both 100 and 91/92 octane fuel. It would be nice if it was possible to choose your fuel type, and it would definitely reduce arguments regarding aircraft performance.

[sniperton]

Old bug, dunno whether reported before:

Normandy map, near Caen, to the South of Louvigny, at 76.5:59.1, a wrong object, a vehicular road bridge is connecting two rail sections, making East-West rail traffic practically impossible for the whole Caen region.

[idefix44]

Originally Posted by sniperton

Old bug, dunno whether reported before:

Normandy map, near Caen, to the South of Louvigny, at 76.5:59.1, a wrong object, a vehicular road bridge is connecting two rail sections, making East-West rail traffic practically impossible for the whole Caen region.

Near this bridge, going west, at Eterville, a house at 75,36:59,36 and a shack at 75,47:59,47 straddle the railway.
I guess that they don't help the traffic...

[sniperton]

Yep

Originally Posted by sniperton

Old bug, dunno whether reported before:

Normandy map, near Caen, to the South of Louvigny, at 76.5:59.1, a wrong object, a vehicular road bridge is connecting two rail sections, making East-West rail traffic practically impossible for the whole Caen region.

Originally Posted by idefix44

Near this bridge, going west, at Eterville, a house at 75,36:59,36 and a shack at 75,47:59,47 straddle the railway.
I guess that they don't help the traffic...

When 4.13 comes out (in two weeks, for sure), we'll see what happened to them

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by sniperton

When 4.13 comes out (in two weeks, for sure), we'll see what happened to them

Maybe those misplaced railroad bridges and buildings represent the work of the French Resistance!

Very clever Maquis, to replace a road bridge with a railroad bridge and to make buildings straddle the rail line, rather than just using dynamite!

[majorfailure]

Again Kursk map:
Quadrant E7 near Dimitriev-Logovskiy - there is a road bridge where a rail bridge should be. This makes the western part of the railroad network pretty useless.
Quadrant F3 near Lgov - rails across a river without a bridge - not tested if trains will drive across despite that.
Quadrant I3 there is a railway crossing with a road, but instead of going across the road, there is a gap in the rails. Now the western part of the railroad network is totally useless.

I'm a bit astonished noone ever discovered this or if so it wasn't corrected

[Oscarito]

"Next Enemy View" key still shows the "Stationary Camera View" in adition.
Think there is no reason for this anymore since 4.12v provides a key to cycle through cameras.

[Treetop64]

Originally Posted by majorfailure

Again Kursk map:
Quadrant E7 near Dimitriev-Logovskiy - there is a road bridge where a rail bridge should be. This makes the western part of the railroad network pretty useless.
Quadrant F3 near Lgov - rails across a river without a bridge - not tested if trains will drive across despite that.
Quadrant I3 there is a railway crossing with a road, but instead of going across the road, there is a gap in the rails. Now the western part of the railroad network is totally useless.

I'm a bit astonished noone ever discovered this or if so it wasn't corrected

There are several such bugs on the Kurland Peninsula map as well. At least two airfields (Cranz and one other I can't remember at the moment) have AI parking nodes on a taxiway, resulting in AI aircraft taxiing and crashing into other AI machines parked on the taxiway, rendering those airfields all but useless for AI aircraft.

A rail line in the mid-eastern and north-eastern part of the map is missing bridges, rendering those rail lines useless.

[Vendigo]

When ejecting from a He-162 with the engine on fire, the pilot's "life" stays attached to the plane not the pilot figure until you fall out your eject seat in midair. Just like the third person view during ejecting. Can this be corrected?

[IceFire]

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

Using arcade mode, I'm noticing that I'm getting pilot kill hits from rifle-caliber MG shots directly from ahead or behind (through the front of the cockpit or fuselage), despite the fact that all but the Hawk 81/P-40A-B/Kittyhawk series the P-40 had armor or armor glass in those areas. (1.5 inches of armor glass, 7 mm of armor below the cockpit combing down to the engine block, 7 mm behind the pilot. The pilot's seat wasn't armored, however.)

Additionally, any hit to the front of the engine through the prop boss instantly (or nearly instantly) kills the engine.

Any hit from the front through the radiator housing kills the oil/cooling system, resulting in engine shutdown within about a minute. While this is legitimate, it's possible that the damage boxes for the cooler system are larger than they were in real life (see diagrams in the pilot's manual).

There are a lot of problems with the 3D model for the P-40E and M... both are getting a make over for a future patch. Totally new 3D mesh and damage model systems... I don't know for a fact but I would make a guess that this may help with the poor damage modeling.