A-A Missile Effects Update

Hi guys request for an update to add some diversity to the missile effects.

I think the current effects suit SAMS and Russian missiles but not so much for western missiles.

Compare:

AIM120

[ATTACH]139141[/ATTACH]

I know lighting conditions and exposure probably change what we are seeing but the difference is still apparent, so should we bring back the diamonds for the western missiles and maybe missile add contrails depending on altitude?

What do you think?

Planes cause contrails because they heat up a large amount of air, expending it to create its trust, which then gets cooled down quickly. I'm not sure a missile would cause contrails as they do not directly heat up air to get their propulsion, instead they use a reaction which yields heat. I would tend to think that this might not be enough to create a drastic temperature change on enough air molecules to end up in a contrail. Also, the hypersonic speed of missiles would mean that there are more air molecules to heat in a given amount of time, making conning harder?

This is just an educated guess, hope someone has a real answer to this

Seems good enough to me, the contrail needs some time to form so the missile flies x distance ahead of it.

Maybe that's the reason you don't see it as much in the picture?

Also, over the years many variants of the aim-120 were developped, and i believe the newer versions produce less smoke while the rocket motor is burning.

Yes I agree the smoke trails do look good but I think there could be more flame variation depending on the missile.

Watch some more AIM120 or AGM88 launches and you will notice the pronounced diamond effect that's currently missing.

Its hard to compare videos or photos because there are so many unknowns (conditions, variant, etc) but I think we can all see that the current effects in game don't look as life like as they could.

Again just a suggestion and maybe its on the way already with new Edge effects.

I agree with the OP.

+1 I think, and I know it's work, to have an effect that best suites ordnance in terms of realism - that's what DCS is all about right?

Planes cause contrails because they heat up a large amount of air, expending it to create its trust, which then gets cooled down quickly.

Heating, expanding, etc. doesn't change a thing as long as the absolute moisture stays the same. In such conditions, you either need to cool the air or compress it or both to get below the dew point. Since burning hydrocarbons yields a lot of water though, the moisture content is changed, which condensates when the exhaust stream cools down to ambient temperature. Depending on the fuel used, the same can *potentially* happen in a rocket exhaust. A2A rockets use rather specialised fuels though. I don't think the exhaust contains much water vapor if any.

A lot of missiles/rockets need their own smoke set, its a bit of a mess last time I checked with S24/S5/S8/S25 all leaving identical smoke trails. Only S25L had its own much fatter smoketrail for some reason.

Also Hydra's should not have the same smoketrails as the russian stuff, pretty obvious when comparing recent Russian rocket footage from Syria to any Hydra use.

The whole thing needs looking at really.

With our lovely new vapour effects on the Hornet are we going to see any update to the missile flames?

That AIM-9X flame looks like its going to the moon.

ReHASH!

We need updated effects!

Little smoke puff then diamond effect similar to our afterburners?

These rocket motor effects are over the top and unrealistic when everything else is looking so good.

vs

Explosion effects for missiles also could do with looking at. And that's just the graphics. Properly simulated proximity warheads would be heavenly :)

In the end, we'll get there, be sure. Two weeks ;-)

The effect is almost 5 years old?

I would also like to see exhaust effect updates for missiles like the AMRAAM, HARM, the AGM-65 too.

Yeah all the missile effects need an update! The HARM/AMRAAM/AIM9 all look pretty simlar though just different sizes.

The Russian missiles look about spot on.

Just need some work on the western missiles.

The more you nittpick on eye-candy, the less they work on functionality.

Sure i agree functionality first but why not AIM for the most realistic possible? I don't think a flame effect is going to affect the flight dynamics.

The more you nittpick on eye-candy, the less they work on functionality.

Nah, don't think so, I don't think the graphics guy is doing the functional stuff...

"Oh sorry we didn't do this [insert functional item here] because some effects were updated" Don't think so.

Yes, Lunatic.

missile diamonds and initial dark smoke ploom please

similar to our afterburners

Having this effect would be nice

missile contrails? afaik we have then but theyre really bugged

+1

Gonna bump this again since watching the awesome DCS 21 and beyond video - the coming clouds look incredible!

That said will an Aim-9 launch still look like a ballistic missile launch?

On 9/20/2020 at 2:30 AM, dundun92 said:

missile contrails? afaik we have then but theyre really bugged

Do we? I've never really noticed, all I see is the normal smoke trail from the rocket, I'll have to do some testing. 

On 4/22/2016 at 6:47 AM, Ktulu2 said:

Planes cause contrails because they heat up a large amount of air, expending it to create its trust, which then gets cooled down quickly. I'm not sure a missile would cause contrails as they do not directly heat up air to get their propulsion, instead they use a reaction which yields heat. I would tend to think that this might not be enough to create a drastic temperature change on enough air molecules to end up in a contrail. Also, the hypersonic speed of missiles would mean that there are more air molecules to heat in a given amount of time, making conning harder?

 

This is just an educated guess, hope someone has a real answer to this

Pardon my ignorance about the AMRAAM, but there is high chance that AIM-120 can produce contrails. This comes from the testimony of a downed serbian MiG-29 pilot hat was shot down by an AIM-120A in 1999. He reported that he had visually identified 4 contrails heading towards him and his wingman. From the mission debrief, of the F-15C pilots that actually fired those shots, 3 x AIM-120A were fired from an altitude of around 20k feet, so I guess those were the contrails from the AMRAAMs. The MiG-29 pilot specifically recognized them as missile contrails coming from two launching aircraft. What is questionable here is how come he had noticed 4 contrails when only 3 missiles were fired, but I guess this be accredited to stress. 
Of course, this is only under the premise that the A variant had a smokeless motor, which if it didn't renders my post useless.