Quarterly Update Q3 2016

Hey Guys,

Apologies I haven't been posting lately. What with holiday season, tech demos and bug smashing I simply haven't found time to get around to typing this.

This weekend was the first in many that I've had off to relax and put fingers to keyboard.

The last quarter has seen many challenges and great opportunities for us.

We had an excellent time at Duxford in September, even though we didn't have our kit there.

It was the first airshow at Duxford where the team could relax and actually enjoy the airshow without working.

I even got to take my kids on the Saturday who really enjoyed it.

TFC bought some excellent replica cockpits that work extremely well with DCS.

I spent the Friday before the show helping the guys get the P-51 cockpit up and running and it looked amazing and was a great hit during the show.

I'm looking forward to seeing what TFC do with these for future air shows at Duxford.

At the moment we haven't talked to TFC about what kit we will have there next year but it will likely be VR in some shape or form alongside the replica cockpits.

I'm in discussion with a few manufacturers on hardware so hopefully we'll have some great kit to show off next year also.

During the weekend we had the pleasure of meeting up with some of the ED team that flew over for the show.

Some of the guys from Polychop also came and we had a great chat about the future (no spoilers, sorry).

We landed a contract for a well know watch manufacturer that also happens to have a jet team in France.

They wanted the Hawk converted to team colours with a few brand badges here and there on and in the jet, as well as objects around a race course and aerobatic display where you fly along with the team. You may have seen some pictures on our Facebook feed.

DCS performs excellently with both of these scenarios and I'm looking forward to updating the Hawk aerobatics mission to fit that of an air show with the new DCS aerobatics scripting.

We're looking forward to attending the first event early next month to see how it all fits together with the public.

We will be looking to do more of these kind of events next year so keep an eye out on our Facebook page for event details.

https://www.facebook.com/veaosimulations/

We also had a few tech demos to military and civilian aircraft manufacturers and each and every one of them love DCS (of course they do) and the ability it has for realistic flight models and systems modelling.

Discussions are ongoing for solutions with those throughout this year and next.

We also some had challenges with our modules.

Hawk is proving to be like a band-aid that keeps peeling off at the corners. We fix one thing and patch it up and then another part of the plaster peels off and we have to focus on that.

One of the main issues we have is with the ASM code. DCS has changed a lot over the past year alone and it's become very clear that the original ASM code just can't keep up.

Bug smashing is one thing but this is something entirely different.

It affect you, the people flying it, and us the developer trying to keep it updated and flying well.

Hawk has taken way too much focus of the dev team than it should have trying to fix things, only for more things to break with a DCS update.

The ASM code should be robust enough that any changes to DCS won't affect the aircraft. It simply is not.

So what do we do about it?

Well this is my plan for the future. I can't give any timescales because at the moment I am still discussing with the team and ED the best way forward.

Quite simply we will re-code the ASM from scratch. Keeping it robust enough that any DCS updates won't affect core systems of the aircraft.

We have already done this with P40 and have not seen any of the kind of problems that we see with Hawk and DCS updates.

P40 has been a great test bed for the technology we have put in place internally within VEAO and this will carry over with all of our future modules.

The other aspect of the Hawk that has not been popular are the cockpit graphics (texturegate).

Well, you will all be pleased to know that the cockpit will also get a big overhaul in terms of graphics, on par with the P40 and other DCS modules.

Again the P40 is testament to the talented team we have on-board now, in terms of cockpit graphics level, and that team will at some point focus on Hawk. Again timescales have not been set yet.

Ah yes, dual cockpit is also on my agenda. If we're going to do stuff from scratch again then we will also implement the technology that ED has put in place with the L-39 to achieve that.

Some things are still being worked out but I for one are looking forward to giving some instruction whilst sitting in the back of your jet.

So, basically a big update to Hawk will happen in the future. It will be next year some time and when I have more details and timescales to share, I will.

And no, I'm not currently planning to charge for these updates.

On to P40.

Well the module is almost there. We are putting the finishing touches on her. Things like missions, auto start/stop procedure, training missions, updating the manual for weapons, ah yes weapons and the final checks of the checklist before a module can be released.

As I mentioned above, the technology we have put in place with P40 has been testament to the team thinking about keeping it robust and future-proof for any DCS updates. So far the technology has held up with the core systems.

Next step is the module verification which will happen very soon then it's out the door to you.

Other modules:

Typhoon

Many thanks to all of you that have been part of the Typhoon discussion. Please keep this discussion going with your thoughts and comments and we really enjoy listening and chatting to you about what we are doing for Typhoon.

The external model is now about 95% complete and work is already well underway on the cockpit model. When I have some more whitebox models to show you I will.

We are still in discussion with our partners on systems and this will almost certainly keep going on during the entire development cycle of Typhoon. That's the nature for modelling a front line fighter jet.

Bearcat

I received some updated whitebox images recently of the Bearcat re-model and she is looking stunning.

We will no doubt show some of these off next year when the time is right.

Spitfire XIV

You may have seen some of the images Rob posted on our Spit XIV on our Facebook page (if you haven't, make sure you go check them out) and the texture work, again like P40, is excellent!

I've also recently received some whitebox images of the cockpit and WOW, you guys will be impressed. Again Gibbage is doing an awesome job and I can't wait for him to start texturing it.

All our other contracted modules are in various stages of development and I am simply amazed by the quality level of these models, even in whitebox stage.

Our focus is also very much on the VR experience and having a superb model and texture set is paramount to this.

P40 is currently main focus with the next module taking focus after that (I'll let you know what it is when P40 is out).

I'm going to leave it at that for now and hope that the Hawk fans out there will look forward to the update next year and those waiting for the P40 won't have to wait much longer.

I'm thoroughly enjoying flying her and no one wants to get her in your hands more than I do.

Have a great autumn/fall and I'll be in touch again with the regular monthly update next month.

Thanks,

Chris.

Thanks for the update, Chris! :)

Huge text to read. Thanks a lot! :thumbup:

Good luck! It's sad to hear you must redo almost all the work you've done on the hawk, but I can't quite contain my excitement that this might also be an oppertunity to bring multicrew to the hawk. It's great to see that despite such setbacks you guys seem to be doing quite well, and securing more work outside the consumer market.

Thanks a lot for the update!

great work team.

Great update :thumbup:

Hello Chris, thanks for the update.

I would like to ask you a question, what do you think about the F7F Tigercat or the P-38?

They have spinny things on the front and that's Pete's bag.

I prefer big grey noisy things.

Hello Chris, thanks for the update.

 

I would like to ask you a question, what do you think about the F7F Tigercat or the P-38?

Tigercat is very likely, P-38 is not in scope for us I am afraid

Pman

Thank you for the update, I'm looking forward to the Hawk upgrades and I appreciate the continued support for it. I appreciate you've had issues with it and you're clearly the first to admit this. But some of the comments we've seen aimed at you guys and the Hawk on social media and youtube etc has been total vitriol. An embarrassing part of our fan base. Hopefully these people will finally clear off once a few tweaks are made. I'm excited for the Typhoon also, can't wait to see more on that. Best of luck with all of it..

Great update VEAO team, Looking forward to seeing the Hawk updates and information. As Python said above thank you for keeping the support with the Hawk even though I don't own it yet. It was your first project and would love to see it come around in the near future. Always nice to have developers work with the community and also give there time and effort to make great new products and also to make there already released products even better.

Thanks VEAO

Thanks for your comments guys :)

Thanks for the update, im very happy to hear that the Hawk will be given the "experience treatment" and that the Typhoon will also get benefited by it, im also more into big grey noisy things!

I read this update, I read the ovations... I throw my beer.

Why is ED tolerating these dissimulated blame placing of your misses on them? "Oh is the updates". Well why the others have working systems? Why the others have extremely more complicated systems that work with these updates but yours don't?

How come that watch maker (rofl) chose your Hawk for their team (I seriously don't know what they could do with it but let's just take it like this) and make a "contract" for some skins (lol) when DCS has their actual plane (L39) that is miles... miles over Hawk... not to mention again... is exactly their plane and they already can have a free skin?!?! Are they affected by a mysterious illness?

What can it be?

It can't be the ASM... cause you said you will do it from scratch. It can't be the cockpit... because "somegate". What? The external model? It's a Hawk not a L39 for crying out loud! And they can have one! Free!

Please don't tell me is the FM. Just don't!

And why is such thing worthy of an update?

P40 has to pass ED standards. I think you are trying to create a sort of pressure hype about it. Maybe you will try to force some things if you have enough PSI. Personally, I appreciate the systems from DCS WW2 fighters but what I put in first place is the FM. If someone comes and tells me he has great models for Altimeter, Bank indicator, Engine RPM, and some super fuel flow mathematics but no FM... my interest is ZERO.

Good 3D model is standard now. F2P games have excelent P40 models.

Damage Model is planned to be developed for DCS so at the moment we can live without an advanced one.

But FM? That is mandatory especially if we want DCW World online multiplayer to really take off when Normandy map is released.

We simply can't afford to have an UFO WW2 fighter come into the arena and ruin the play and what 109/190/p51 have build with "signed off" FM by some celebrity that forgot to check if flaps or gear do something to it... just because people cheers how it goes hyper-sonic.

Why is ED tolerating these dissimulated blame placing of your misses on them? "Oh is the updates". Well why the others have working systems? Why the others have extremely more complicated systems that work with these updates but yours don't?

In all fairness, they don't blame ED. Instead, they explain that they rework their own code.

They only explained how the problems surfaced.

Thanks for the update (and the hard work)! Really appreciate it! :thumbup:

You can drop the cockpit textures quality to medium if you haven't done that already, that should help with the performance. High quality textures are overkill in size even though they offer marginal visual improvements.

Ok, so we will have another big update to the Hawk next year that should fix the issues and bring it more up to the quality of the other DCS modules. Forgive me for not holding my breath...

Well, great news that multiplayer functionality will be added. Not so good news that you have to rewrite so much code.

Thanks for the update guys, and i hope everything goes smoothly.

Fantastic news.

Keep up your work and for sure the infos we need.:thumbup:

Thank you

Good to know to expect the new ASM next year. That means we can concentrate on other things this year, and not bombard you with the constant "how is the Hawk doing"-posts (I know I did).

Now on the subject of VEAO and ED updates... Ells never said in his post that ED is to blame. I don't understand where you got this. Ells pointed out, that they had approached their first system model (that is, the Hawk) in a way that was easily affected by many changes in ED updates on DCS. More than anything he practically said "sorry, we did this poorly" and are now going to fix it. I think you don't understand, that any given system can be coded in a ton of different ways. Each has it's own pros and cons, and each has it's own vulnerable points. In this case, the approach VEAO took with the Hawk clearly was not very well compatible with the way ED has coded DCS and how they update it.

I do believe there is a lot more pieces to the puzzle under the hood for as to why certain things work and others (most) don't.

Bottom line is, Hawk will be fixed in due time, lessons will be learned, AND if you don't want a certain module: don't buy it, or get a refund.

Regards,

MikeMikeJuliet

To set the record straight I never blamed ED at all.

As MMj has said; the way Hawk was coded was not for a unified exe which DCS now is.

The program used to be seperate exe files. One for the ME, user GUI, Etc and another for the actually flying in sim.

They were unified around 1.5 I think and that is when the AHRS and HYD issues occurred.

The jet is designed to "trip" on a power surge and this is essentially what it is reading when you spawn back in for a second time so AHRS trips as does the Hyd system (as designed).

We can't simply turn off the trip mechanics as that will break a lot of other things; hence re-coding for the way DCS now works.

And again current ASM code is not compatible with that way.

The sim is evolving greatly and our current code simply won't keep up with that evolution.

P.s. Don't throw your beer, such a waste!!

P.s. Don't throw your beer, such a waste!!

Depends on the beer :smartass: Cheers!

To set the record straight I never blamed ED at all.

As MMj has said; the way Hawk was coded was not for a unified exe which DCS now is.

The program used to be seperate exe files. One for the ME, user GUI, Etc and another for the actually flying in sim.

They were unified around 1.5 I think and that is when the AHRS and HYD issues occurred.

The jet is designed to "trip" on a power surge and this is essentially what it is reading when you spawn back in for a second time so AHRS trips as does the Hyd system (as designed).

 

We can't simply turn off the trip mechanics as that will break a lot of other things; hence re-coding for the way DCS now works.

And again current ASM code is not compatible with that way.

 

The sim is evolving greatly and our current code simply won't keep up with that evolution.

 

P.s. Don't throw your beer, such a waste!!

Depends on the beer :smartass: Cheers!

I agree Stick with a good British ale or a nice Belgium lager*

Pman

*other countries are available :lol:

Thanks for the update!

Kiiiinda excited for the Hawk changes (especially MP cockpit), although it is sad that you have to redo it again from scratch. I am sure that will take a lot of programming work that I (and y'all too I think) would have liked to see spent elsewhere.

I also admit I had hoped for Vampire/Meteor news, but we can't have everything in one update I guess.

Sooo, yeah. Thanks, and now go back to work! :D