Special Aircraft Service
Battlefield - Airborne - Tactical (BAT) => BAT Tech Help => Topic started by: SpongeBob on May 30, 2020, 01:08:17 PM
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I'm revising the loadouts of soviet planes, and I've found some visual glitches in MiGs-21.
I've begun with MiG-21 FL Fishbed-D. In this version the only problem is the ventral pylon when bombs and a droptank are selected.
This is a summary of my results. I include if ventral pylon (where the droptank should be attached) is visible or not; if droptank is present or not, and a 'visual judgment' (if everything looks normal or if a visual glitch is observed).
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MiG-21 FL Fishbed-D (export), 1965
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Ventral pylon
Loadout visible Droptank Visuals
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Fighter 3: 2x R-3A Yes No OK
Fighter 3: 2x RS-2-US Yes No OK
Fighter 3: 2x RS-2-US (flare) Yes No OK
GAttack: 2x FAB-100 No No OK
GAttack: 2x FAB-250 No No OK
GAttack: 2x FAB-500 No No OK
GAttack: 2x ZB-360 No No OK
GAttack 3: 2x UBI-16-7U Rocket Pods Yes No OK
GAttack 1: 2x S-24 Rockets Yes No OK
Ferry: 1x PTB-490 [droptank] Yes Yes OK
Fighter 3: 2x R-3A + 1 PTB-490 Yes Yes OK
Fighter 3: 2x RS-2-US + 1 PTB-490 Yes Yes OK
Fighter 3: 2x RS-2-US (flare) + 1 PTB-490 Yes Yes OK
GAttack: 2x FAB-100 + 1 PTB-490 No Yes Floating droptank
GAttack: 2x FAB-250 + 1 PTB-490 No Yes Floating droptank
GAttack: 2x FAB-500 + 1 PTB-490 No Yes Floating droptank
GAttack: 2x ZB-360 + 1 PTB-490 No Yes Floating droptank
GAttack 3: 2x UBI-16-7U + 1 PTB-490 Yes Yes OK
GAttack 1: 2x S-24 Rockets + 1 PTB-49 Yes Yes OK
Fighter 6: 1x GP-1 Gunpod Gunpod No OK
Fighter 7: R-3A + 1 GP-1 Gunpod No OK
Fighter 7: 2x RS-2-US + 1x GP-1 Gunpod No OK
Fighter 7: 2x RS-2-US (flare) + 1x GP-1 Gunpod No OK
GAttack 12: 2x FAB-100 + 1x GP-1 Gunpod No OK
GAttack 12: 2x FAB-250 + 1x GP-1 Gunpod No OK
GAttack 12: 2x FAB-500 + 1x GP-1 Gunpod No OK
GAttack 12: 2x ZB-360 + 1x GP-1 Gunpod No OK
Fighter 7: 1x GP-1 + 2x PTB-490 Gunpod Yes (wings) OK
GAttack 13: 2x UBI-16-7U + 1 GP-1 Gunpod No OK
GAttack 14: 2x S-24 Rockest + 1 GP-1 Gunpod No OK
Ferry: 3x PTB-490 Droptanks Yes Yes (3x) OK
Most loadouts look fine, except for the combinations of bombs and one droptank. Then, the ventral pylon is not shown and the droptank appears to float under the plane.
Here, a MiG-21 FL with 2x R3-A missiles and a droptank correctly attached to the ventral pylon:
(https://i.postimg.cc/J4GRwzSN/Mi-G-21-FL-2x-R3-A-Droptank.jpg) (https://postimages.org/)
Now, the same MiG-21 FL with 2x FAB-250 bombs and a droptank 'floating' because of the absent pylon:
(https://i.postimg.cc/k5y060kM/Mi-G-21-FL-2x-FAB-250-Droptank.jpg) (https://postimages.org/)
Oddly, the ventral pylon does appear in some rocket/missile loadouts without being needed, since no droptank is included, for example,
the 2x R3-A option without droptank:
(https://i.postimg.cc/nzyg6nmk/Mi-G-21-FL-2x-R3-A.jpg) (https://postimages.org/)
A final strange thing is that the loadout list is not shown in-game as it should be according to the #JTW3 > STD > i18n > weapons.properties file.
This is what I see in the QMB:
(https://i.postimg.cc/VvsZy56X/Mi-G-21-FL-Loadout.jpg) (https://postimages.org/)
And this is what I have in weapons.properties file:
#####################################################################
# MiG-21FL
#####################################################################
MiG-21FL.default Default
MiG-21FL.rocketK13 2x R-3A
MiG-21FL.2xFAB100 2x FAB-100
MiG-21FL.2xFAB250 2x FAB-250m46
MiG-21FL.2xZB360 2x ZB-360
MiG-21FL.2xUB16 2x UB-16-57U Rocket Pods
MiG-21FL.rocketS24 2x S-24 Rockets
MiG-21FL.droptank 1x PTB-490 Droptank
MiG-21FL.dt_rocketK13 2x R-3A + 1x PTB-490
MiG-21FL.dt_2xFAB100 2x FAB-100 + 1x PTB-490
MiG-21FL.dt_2xFAB250 2x FAB-250m46 + 1x PTB-490
MiG-21FL.dt_2xZB360 2x ZB-360 + 1x PTB-490
MiG-21FL.dt_2xUB16 2x UB-16-57U + 1x PTB-490
MiG-21FL.dt_rocketS24 2x S-24 Rockets + 1x PTB-490
MiG-21FL.gunpod 1x GP-1 Gun Pod
MiG-21FL.gp_rocketK13 2x R-3A + 1x GP-1
MiG-21FL.gp_2xFAB100 2x FAB-100 + 1x GP-1
MiG-21FL.gp_2xFAB250 2x FAB-250m46 + 1x GP-1
MiG-21FL.gp_2xZB360 2x ZB-360 + 1x GP-1
MiG-21FL.gp_2xdroptank 2x PTB-490 + 1x GP-1
MiG-21FL.gp_2xUB16 2x UB-16-57U + 1x GP-1
MiG-21FL.gp_rocketS24 2x S-24 Rockets + 1x GP-1
MiG-21FL.3xdroptank 3x PTB-490 Droptanks
MiG-21FL.none Empty
As seen before, in-game list includes "GAttack" or "Fighter" versions, but there are a lot of underscore symbols (_) that make it difficult to read. I thought that weapons.properties was just a cosmetic file, but it seems that there is something else that overrides it.
At the moment, I've just checked the MiG-21 FL version, but I will have a look to other versions. At first glance there are problems with MiG-21 PFM, too.
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Did you see my reply to the Su-7 thread?
The properties file is just cosmetic. It is not up to date at all in JTW and assload of work I can't do / want to do alone, simply put.
The prefixes are only relevant in their cod form, where they manage the visibility of pylons. discovered a java error that prevents the centerline pylon to load. But that I already explained in the Su-7 thread.
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Hi Vampire,
yes, I've seen your reply in the Su-7. And that was the reason to open a new thread, since problems in Su-7 and MiGs seem different.
You asked me if I had seen problems in other MiGs so I began this report. As you say, putting a ventral pylon in all configurations that carry a droptank under the fuselage could fix the problem with MiG-21 FL. However in some models (like the PFM) I saw a different problem: two bombs overlapping under one wing, leaving the other wing empty. Since I am confined away from home and I don't have joystick, rudder, etc, I cannot fly properly, so I can spend some time just checking visuals. There are so many different versions and loadouts that I thought that it could be helpful to make a one-by-one revision.
Concerning the properties file, I wasn't aware that they were not to date, so it is good to know. I agree that the work needed to mend it is overwhelming, so I understand that it is left as it is for the moment.
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My screenshot shows the same loadout as yours over there, just fixed ;)
It was bombs loaded on wrong hooks, but it was exclusively the FAB500s... most likely a copy/paste error that carried over and over for that loadout.
I did not see this error anywhere else.
The prefixes are used as references in java, telling the game which pylon mesh to display. (like, if loadout starts with "GAttack_3":, then display pylon 1,2, 3...)
For some reason I do not know, the Gattack: prefex was not set up correctly, having no reference to show the central pylon at all. I added that line in java and all is well again.
The twin bomb loadouts without the center line tank now also display the (empty) pylon. But who in their right minds rides a Mig-21 to a Ground attack mission with no external tank? ;)
Changing the loadout name itself would also be possible, however, each old mission using this loadout would then break with "explode on spawn"
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Good to hear that it has been fixed.
So, I understand that the problem is in the prefixes code, so once it is fixed it should work with all planes and variants having those prefixes.
I see there is no need to change the loadout names, because it would bring compatibility issues with old missions.
However, cleaning up the weapons.properties file would be nice. I remember you asked for volunteers to do that task.
I've tried a tool developed by Storebror to creat a weapons.properties file from the in-game data and obtained an updated list.
https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,59468.msg655197.html#msg655197 (https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,59468.msg655197.html#msg655197)
I could try to manually change the names that appear in-game (although the task is hard: more than 24000 lines in weapons.properties, but not all of them have to be altered) and share the file once I finish.
But I would need some guidance. What changes should I made?
The more obvious are to remove all underlines and replace by space, to improve readability (for example: Fighter:_2xR60+1xDroptank changed to Fighter: 2x R60 + 1x Droptank).
What other changes did you have in mind when asking for volunteers?
Cheers
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The weapons.properties is already in the works. Let's see how far we get places.
It is just very extensive work.