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VAEO: Hawk


Silver_Dragon

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VAEO Hawk Update

 

Friday, and 1st November...WOW!!
The past year has really flown by, excuse the pun.
Looking back over the last year we've had some great victories and some major setbacks but we're pushing through those to come out on top.
If you have a dream, follow that dream and work damn hard to achieve it.
The Hawk development is testament to that and what an amazing team we have.
For those that don't know I started this project over 8 years ago after a discussion with the late great Jim Mackonochie and we had a collective vision; to allow members of the public to fly in a Hawk jet in the simulator so they can get one step closer to being in the Red Arrows.
With Jim's enthusiasm and support from himself, Wags, Nick Grey and the guys at ED we have achieved that vision.
But not just achieved it, we're going the next step and allowing you, the DCS community to fly this beautiful bird.
The public feedback we have had over the past month has been amazing and very uplifting.
The team take great pride in our work down to the last rivet on the paintwork to the meticulous 3d model and the last line of code keeping us up till the early hours of the morning and it's great to see you enjoying our product.
To that end, I have extended the public testers licences through to the end of November and am extending an invitation to the first 30 people to email me at ells@veaosimulations.co.uk to receive a limited time alpha licence.
The screenshot competition has now officially closed and we've had some amazing shots taken of the Hawk with other aircraft.
I'll be processing the images over the weekend and early next week into a voting system so you, the community, can pick some winners for the full product when released.
As a little added extra I've been speaking with the Virtual Red Arrows sponsor Thrustmaster and have secured some products to give away for Christmas. Details will be posted soon so keep an eye out here or on our Facebook page.
I also received an email from Tango last night wanting to add one final screenshot to the competition.
For the keen eyed of you out there you'll notice that the Sidewinder weapons panel is active and a distant explosion
Suffice to say I can't wait to get back home to test it out to get it ready for the public testers to start deploying them in the air.
Again I'd like to thank all of you for your amazing support and comments about our product and wish you a happy November.
Chris and the VEAO Team
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  • 4 weeks later...
VEAO Hawk update

 

Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..........
We anticipated November but encountered a 3 month delay, so that put's us at around February (anticipated).
That's about as close as I'm going to say right now.
Also having a few legal issues with calling the Hawk a "Hawk" so we might have to change the name. I was thinking "Talula", what do you think?
Chris
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VAEO Hawk update. Buscan programador para el AFM

 

With the advance of the Hawk we are currently looking for an AFM programmer to join the team.
The person must have excellent engineering background knowledge of flight dynamics and be able to code proficiently in C#
Applications should be made by email to ells@veaosimulations.co.uk with a CV or resume of your experience.
Interviews will be held online and a fair selection process will be undertaken.
More details will be given upon receipt of the application.
Many thanks,
Chris.
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  • 1 month later...
Ya hay fecha de salida y precio, será a finales de febrero, la versión traerá cabina clicleable y habrá dos versiones, una inicial a nivel de vuelo FC3 (39.99$) y un upgrade posterior con AFM de +10$ (49.99$)
El anuncio oficial:

 

Hey guys,
I can't believe it's the middle of January already, this year is going to fly by, excuse the pun!!
Development of the Hawk is going very well and she is up and running in DCS World 1.2.7. with full weapons capability so all my stressing on that front is over, thank you ED!!!
This takes us to the next stage of development, BETA...yes you read that correctly
We have a small group of public testers that will become the first closed Beta testers alongside our dedicated VEAO testers team. They will be testing all aircraft functions to make sure it's purring like a kitten and biting like a tiger.
Which will then move us to the next stage, hmmm I wonder what that one is, suggestions anyone??
Following a team discussion last night and pending any natural disasters, zombie outbreak, IPR lawyers putting the breaks on or Tango getting hit by a bus; we are pleased to make the following announcement.
Hawk Open Beta will be released as an FC3 level aircraft with fully clickable cockpit before the end of February 2014!!
Confused? yes we thought you might be so please let me clarify.
We are still working on the AFM, in fact that's going very slowly so we will be releasing the open Beta version of the Hawk as an FC3 level aircraft (as it doesn't have AFM) but it will have the fully clickable cockpit as some of you have got used to in the public alpha release.
Should you not wish to use the clickable cockpit, we are looking at an option to turn that off/on.
Now some of you may argue that this is in fact a DCS level aircraft because of the fidelity of the systems and clickable cockpit but we felt that without AFM it would be unjust to call it DCS level.
So do we call it DCS:Hawk or simply Hawk or something else. We think in line with ED's FC3 products we will simply call it T.1A Trainer to differentiate this version from the full DCS AFM version.
Costings; well we have considered the cost of standard FC3 aircraft add-ons and cost of DCS level add-ons (current and future) and have taken a decision as it will come with fully clickable cockpit functionality.
The product will cost $39.99 and when we have the AFM version ready for release there will be a $10 upgrade charge should you wish to go for that.
Final DCS:Hawk product will be $49.99
We feel that is reasonably priced for what you will get in this version which is basically everything you would expect in a DCS level fidelity aircraft apart from AFM.
By releasing the aircraft next month and taking sales it allows us to further invest in the AFM programming. As you know I have fully funded development over the past few years but further investment is required and this is the best way to do it. We get investment and you get to fly the product, win win on both sides.
To clarify; this will be a paid-for BETA version. Some things will not be implemented fully yet and we will make it very clear at the time of selling what is included and what is still left to be completed.
Thank you again for all of your support and interest in our products.
Chris and the VEAO team.
Also please note that past competition winners will receive the FC3 Hawk and the upgrade to DCS:Hawk when it's available.
Edited by Silver_Dragon
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VEAO prepara una ronda de preguntas y respuestas para las 17 UTC

 

Hi Guys,
We will be hosting a Q&A session this evening at 17:00UTC where you can ask questions about being a 3rd party developer for DCS; what's involved, where do you start, what do you need, etc.
We'll also be taking questions on the Hawk and Typhoon mods and streaming a live flight with weapons test.
Teamspeak info:
ts110.light-speed.com:8384
Twitch TV info:
Hope to speak to you there,
Chris.
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  • 2 weeks later...
VEAO Hawk Mk1 Update

 

Hey guys,
It's been a while since the last dev diary update so apologies for that and you'll read below why that is.
No news is good news right
The team have been extremely busy over the past few weeks getting a Beta release ready for the beta testers to have a play with and I think judging by the feedback we're getting they are loving the improvements to the jet.
We've had a couple of bugs running around the system; things like HUD not working and weapons unexpectedly not firing from one wing but they are under control and will be fixed in the next patch for the testers.
We also had a good multiplayer test last week and all jet slots in the mission were filled with testers lining up to get some flight time. Thanks to Snoopy for organising that and it went very well. It was also very humbling to see over 9 Hawk's flying around in the same airspace, and not all doing aerobatics.
Damage Model
And now to talk about something we haven't really mentioned before; the Damage Model.
We've kept this a very closely guarded secret and for good reasons.
Crow has done some amazing work on the damage model and break down of the collision model ready for the February release which will then be further worked on during the public Beta phase.
The aircraft has been broken down into "cells" which are specific to certain parts of the airframe, and systems within them.
When a cell gets hit by a bullet as an example, the part of the 3d model within the cell will show damage but we're not stopping there.
Within each cell we know what "system" is affected, be it hydraulics, electrical, etc. and that system will either degrade over time or outright be non functional upon the hit. This will have knock effects to other systems that the damaged system is tied into.
One simple example could be that a wire leading to the nav light, within a wing section is damaged. The nav light may work perfectly for an amount of time before ceasing to function.
This is the level of detail we will be going into throughout the Beta stage.
I'm not going to reveal any graphics, renders or screenshots just yet but let me throw some numbers at you.
So, to the numbers. Here is a breakdown of the amount of cells for each section of the aircraft:
Front section - 12 cells
Mid section - 12 cells
Aft section - 19 cells
Wing section - 17 cells
Total damage cells - 60
That's a whole lot of damage to be taken on specific sections of the aircraft and the systems within them that can be affected, I hope you agree.
The model has been updated to incorporate these cells and like I said some of the cells have had the damage 3d model applied to them. Blondie is re-texturing the main skins to take account of the new 3d model and Snoopy is looking at the US skins as well.
Once we put all of the pieces back together again and into the mod and released to the testers I'll post up some screens.
To the Future
We are still on track for a release at the end of February.
Ed have done some updates to core DCS World for us that affects multiplayer capability, I.e. if you don't have the mod installed, you can't get in the aircraft and we'll be testing those out over the next couple of weeks.
We're working on our backend and frontend payment and licensing process, with integration into ED's own website system, module manager and of course Steam.
So the next four weeks for the team are going to be our busiest I think to get this amazing product out to you.
Once again thank you for all of your support and enthusiasm, it is amazing!!!
Chris and the team.
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VEAO Hawk update

 

Good morning guys and what a beautiful sunny morning it is in London today, I feel a productive day coming up
Damage Model
To carry on the discussion about our damage model; essentially Crow has finished the modeling for the damage model and I have to say what an amazing job he has done!!
Here is a list of the cells that I talked about earlier and as you can see there are a lot!!
Damage-Cells.jpg
Each cell within the sim recognises when it has been hit and the damage will vary from small bullet holes to large holes to complete damage.
That's now handed over to Tango who will start to code the damage model to the systems which is no easy task.
The damage model as it is now will be included in the February release but the systems damage model will be worked on through the public Beta phase as it's a mammoth task.
As an example here is the schematic of the modelled hydraulic system.
hydraulic.jpg
You can see the level of detail that has been coded into the Hawk in just this one system and there are a few to work through.
For future reference I'll be describing these as "systems damage model" so you know what I'm talking about.
Apologies about the blurred pictures bit I want our testers to have a go at shooting each other and testing the damage model first before posting up images publically.
This is the part I don't like, seeing out jet all shot up
HUD
The HUD has been tweaked and the HUD glass 3d model has been put into the mod.
Still a little bit of tweaking to do to make it fit perfectly but at least the testers can actually aim the rockets and guns now.
To Do
What's on my to-do list today:
Keyboard and joystick controls integration - I'm going around the cockpit coding in all the switches, dials and levers into the default templates so it makes it easier to assign your controls. I'll then hand that to Tango to integrate into our code so they actually work.
Training missions - The engine start up sequence has changed, so I need to amend the first training mission and then carry on writing the other missions for navigation, weapons, etc.
And as this is a British aircraft I'm afraid no Morgan Freeman voice over, you'll have an expert airline pilot Captains voice instead
CRM - I think i've mentioned this before but we will have a CRM system where you can log in to retrieve your activation codes. We're still working with ED on hooking our system into the module manager within DCS World but we also need this independently for our licence system, so I'm working on some of that today. This also includes the Paypal integration and testing so I feel my credit card getting a bit heavier today. I just hope the refund section works!!!
Here is my current test page:
payments-test.jpg
That's all for today and I hope you have a lovely Sunday,
Chris.
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  • 2 weeks later...
VEAO Bae Hawk se retrasa por contencioso de licencia IPR con BAE.... eso si, atentos a lo de "cambios fundamentales" en la 1.2.8... interesante
http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1996452&postcount=1
Dear All,
Here is the current situation with the Hawk anticipated release date for the end of February.
We are still in discussion with BAE regarding the IPR licence agreement of using the Hawk name, shape and functionality of the aircraft. This has taken longer than expected and will put us past the anticipated February release date.
There are also some fundamental changes coming in DCS World 1.2.8. that benefit all 3rd party developers and you, the pilots flying our mods.
We feel that given the delay on the IPR issue, we can benefit from these changes in 1.2.8 and want to make full use of them to give you a better product.
Therefore; release of the Hawk will be delayed until the IPR issue is resolved and DCS World 1.2.8. has been released to the public.
We would like to thank you for your continued support and patience on the Hawk project and look forward to seeing you flying Hawk around in DCS soon.
Chris and the VEAO team

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

 

Hey guys,
Latest update time.
Firstly apologies for not posting sooner, I have had to deal with work issues with my boss leaving and me assuming all responsibilities for her work, along with a promotion of course
This has kept me away from the keyboard for a considerable amount of time; however development has still been going on behind the scenes with me checking in with the team from time to time.
We are releasing the latest build to the testers in the next couple of days.
There are quite a few changes to the models both cockpit and external based on their feedback and some from our friends in the RAF, along with some tweaks here and there.
The navigation database has been updated to incorporate the current airfields and beacons in DCS World and the testers will be carrying out many navex's in the coming days I'm sure.
Unfortunately there's nothing pretty I can show you that you haven't seen already in the past few weeks as most of it is code related. Not saying Tango's code isn't pretty of course, just it's more, well, errrm, functional lol
It's awesome to see the MiG-21 team at Leatherneck Studios get back on track and I hope you give them as much support as you have given us.
I'm very excited to fly their module (and shoot it down of course.....shhhhh).
The Hawk can give the MiG-23 a good run for it's money so will be interesting to see what the MiG-21 does to her.
I'm off on holiday this coming Saturday for a week to see my parents in Spain and catch up with some Spanish friends whilst there.
At least I'll have some time to catch up on all things DCS.
Have a great weekend guys and catch up soon,
C.
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  • 2 weeks later...
Hey guys, a quick update as to what's going on at VEAO.

 

After coming back from a relaxing time in Spain I haven't stopped this week but it's been an amazing week so far and I'm sure I'll crash at the weekend haha.

 

Sunday night I headed up to RAF Conningsby with Pman and after a sleepless night with excitement we headed in to the base on Monday morning to get up close and personal with a few Eurofighter Typhoon's, something very few are privileged to do.

 

For obvious reasons I can't go into details on the visit but suffice to say we learnt a hell of a lot!!

We'd like to thank the RAF and 3 squadron for their hospitality and an amazing day.

 

We even got to see the 2014 Typhoon demo display right over our heads and you guys are going to love it if you get out to see it this year!!

 

After entertaining the RAF crew with a few beers and another sleepless night with everything buzzing around in our heads (not the beer of course) we headed down to TFC's hangar at Duxford Tuesday morning.

Many thanks to Nick Grey, Fred and all of the tech's at TFC for allowing us to clamber all over their aircraft getting some amazing photos.

 

Whether your sitting in a Eurofighter cockpit or a Spitfire cockpit the sheer awesome overwhelming feeling of the history of the aircraft and the RAF is staggering and very humbling.

 

The VEAO dev teams are currently hard at work putting some finishing touches on Hawk and getting a flyable Typhoon ready for me for a military tech demo with a Hawk/Tornado pilot instructor next week.

 

This has taken priority over the consumer versions for obvious reasons but we'll be getting the next Hawk release to the beta testers very shortly with any further comments or tweaks from the demo next week implemented.

 

Part of the tech demo is also to discuss licencing which is a long tedious process and I'm hopeful the conversations at the demo will speed things up a little bit.

 

I've had many questions regarding when we will release the Hawk.

As much as I'd like to announce a date, we are simply not in a position to do that yet.

As I previously posted there are features in 1.2.8 that we think will benefit everyone and we're currently working on those. Plus the licencing issue is ongoing as I just said.

 

Meanwhile work is going on in the background for our order processing website, product pages and activation code licencing system. This also includes integration within DCS Module Manager, ED's website and Steam.

 

So, when we have the green light to sell it, you will have multiple ways to seamlessly purchase it.

 

Very exciting times ahead!!!

 

Have a great rest of your week and weekend and I'll update you after the tech demo next week.

 

Thanks,

Chris.

 

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=2023674#post2023674

 

el hawk permanece en boxes, y el eurofighter le puede adelantar?? parece como que tienen mas contacto y dialogo con este equipo.... veremos...

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VEAO Hawk update:

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=2026473&postcount=1074
.0.18.0 Patch Notes
Exterior cockpit re-textured - new ejection seat, added HUD
Ejection sequence added
LP Fuel Cock animation fixed and texture updated
Exterior lights positions fixed and tweaked
Nozzle position fixed
Weapon pylons added
GPS removed from external model
Pilots head movement added over MP
Attention light on when spawn airborne fixed
Magnetic compass night lighting added
Nav database updated
ADI Markers corrected
AHRS ILS/TACAN tweaks
TACAN terrain masking added
Damage model updated
HUD glass tweaked and HUD position tweaked
Hawk Beta testers please see VEAO forums for latest build.
Thanks,
C.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
VEAO Hawk update

 

Following the announcement from Wags on DCS Product Terms, we are pleased to clarify the following for the Hawk:
Hawk for DCS - Standard Flight Model (SFM) and Advanced Systems Modelling (ASM) - Initial Release
DCS Hawk - (in development) Professional Flight Modeling (PFM) and Advanced Systems Modelling (ASM)
Definitions:
Standard Flight Model (SFM). This has not changed and defines a more data-driven means of achieving flight dynamics, in conjunction with some scripting.
Professional Flight Model (PFM). This is generations beyond an AFM/AFM+ and is based upon:
• Use a wider array of wind tunnel tests CFD methods for aerodynamics parameters calculations.
• A higher level of aircraft construction details for forces calculations. For example: our landing gear model includes individual kinematics of retracting/extending is used to calculate its movement, servo-piston forces, etc. In such cases, we truly use real lengths, arms, etc. This also includes such items as a realistic simulation of airflow along the airframe due to the propeller or helicopter rotor thrust.
• Realistic simulation of Flight Control, CAS and Autopilot systems.
• Realistic simulation of Hydraulics, Fuel, Electrical, Engine and other systems influence flight characteristics.
• Unprecedented access to test data packs.
Advanced Systems Modeling (ASM). An ASM enabled aircraft goes into great depth to model the intricacies of the various cockpit systems, to include functionality for almost all the buttons, switches, dials, etc. A key element of an ASM cockpit is the ability to interact with it using your mouse. ASM DCS examples include the A-10C, Ka-50, P-51D, UH-1H and Mi-8MTV2.
For Wags original post, please see here:http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=2039947#post2039947
I will be updating the Hawk product page today and will release the link shortly.
Thanks,
Chris.
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  • 4 weeks later...
http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=2061718&postcount=1205
Update Time
Hey guys,
Well it's been a little while since the last update so I thought I'd bring you up to speed on what's been happening over the past few weeks.
As you know we're gearing up ready to release the Hawk to you and that involves the testers trying to break things and we fix them for them to break them again so we can fix them a little bit more. Boring right, well that's what makes the perfect DCS aircraft so that's the process we go through and have been going through since we gave the 1.2.8. version to the testing team.
Suffice to say we're having a little issue with certain navigation systems that Tango is working through with the testing team.
We opted to create our own navigation system for our aircraft. There were a few reasons for this that have been mentioned already, for current and future aircraft.
With this brings inherent problems that I'm confident Tango can work through.
Work on the rear cockpit has been ongoing for a while now and I've shown off some eye candy recently showing that. The rear cockpit modelling is almost finished and will be handed over to our cockpit texture artist very soon.
We will then start work on the switch implementation system in tandem allowing for front and rear control of the aircraft via seat switching.
Multiplayer control and dual sharing of the cockpit will come down the road later either using ED's system or our own.
Which brings me on to the re-texturing of the front cockpit. The textures you currently see and will get at release are our basic textures. Very soon after public release we will release the high-res pack as part of a patch. I'll post up some comparison shots soon but want to let the team get on with it a little bit more before I do that.
We're working with ED to implement the Hawk into core DCS as an AI aircraft.
This means that even if you haven't bought the Hawk, you can still see it flying around in the sim negating the need for a multiplayer patch.
We're also working together on fixing a few key bugs that are preventing public release.
I have a military tech demo this coming Friday so have been busy mission writing and fine tuning a few things for that.
When I'm back next week I'll be finishing off the manual, training missions and missions that will ship with the public release.
We also have a few volunteer translators that will first translate the quickstart manual, followed by the full manual.
The voice overs for the training missions are also being recorded and will be updated into the training missions at a later patch.
Which nicely leads on to the patching system. We are in discussion with ED on how best to patch the aircraft in future. As I've mentioned the Hawk will be part of core DCS but that opens up discussions on SFM/EFM versions and we're working through that at the moment.
We can guarantee that it will be the least inconvenience to you that won't affect the version you have bought.
And on to the CRM system, this is the front and back end processing for taking orders and payment from our web site. Work has started on the back end and front end pages and we'll be letting our testers have a little play with that soon.
Part of that system are the product pages which are almost complete for the Hawk.
We've elected to mirror the ED website product pages so it is familiar to you, and so we can easily implement the product within ED's own website and Module Manager.
Licensing issues with BAE are ongoing with our lawyers but hopefully we can get to a resolution quickly.
That's a pretty good snapshot of what we're working on and I hope to bring you some more eye candy really soon.
As to when we will release, well you'll just have to wait and see....
Thanks,
Chris.

 

 

 

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