Updatemeldung zum Tornado von Indiafoxtecho
MSFS TORNADO PROJECT UPDATE and FAQs - LONG POST
(Spoiler: no news about the release yet)
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Let's start discussing the elephant in the room, that is the release date: at the moment it is not set. We have still some minor bugs to squash, a couple of things we'd like to improve and features we want to add. So, while it is already completely flyable, it is not ready yet. Moreover, we are getting dangerously close to SU15 release and spring sales, which are both not great as a launch window for different reasons.
Bad news, we know. On the other hand, the XBox preliminary test went really well - and the plane runs better than we expected (credits to Asobo).
Anyway, the project is 99% done - so you will not have to wait too long to fly the Tonka - but you know our mantra ("it is ready when it is ready"). You also know that our projects are constantly evolving, so we are already planning for post-release improvements, but this does not mean we will release an incomplete project.
We will provide an update on the release date ASAP.
Now, time to reply to some FAQs:
PRICE:
Exact price depends on a number of things (applicable VAT, currency exchange etc.) but it will be in the area of 29.99 EUR + VAT.
VERSIONS:
The core version is the (very) early Tornado IDS. External models for early GR.1 and ECR versions will also be provided, but they will share the IDS cockpit.
WEAPONS AND LOADOUTS:
The aircraft model will include the following: - MK-82, MK-82SE, MK-83, Kormoran and Sidewinders
- AGM-88 for ECR version
- External fuel tanks (including 2250L for the GR.1 version)
- BOZ, Cerberus and Sky Shadow pods As you know, weapon models are NOT allowed on Marketplace items, but the IndiaFoxtEcho Companion Package will be supported and fuel tanks and ECM pods should be present also on XBox copies.
BACKSEAT/MULTICREW
You can jump on the backseat, but functionality will be limited to what is necessary for navigation and normal aircraft operation.
Proper multicrew is NOT supported (hopefully this will be improved with MSFS2024).
Note that at the moment, if you start "cold and dark" YOU MUST jump into the backseat to start the Main Computer and the IN, SAHR, Doppler and CRPMD systems.
LIVERIES
Since the whole team is Italian, the livery package at the moment is a little biased towards the Bel Paese... but we will add more liveries in future. At the moment we have:
- 11 AMI liveries (9 IDS + 2 ECR)
- 4 Luftwaffe liveries (3 IDS +1 ECR)
- 5 RAF liveries (3 camo + 1 desert + RAE)
- 1 Saudi livery
We are working on more, and we'll also provide a paint-kit.
IN-FLIGHT REFUEL
We are using a solution similar to the F-35, so that, in certain conditions, you can actually refuel the aircraft during flight. However, it refuels "out of thin air". Buddy pack will not be present in the initial release, but we are looking to add it with an update.
TERRAIN FOLLOWING RADAR
It is there... well, sort of. Given that a proper TFR is not natively supported by the SDK, we have explored different possibilities (including some which were very accurate, but had potential compatibility problems)...and in the end we decided to go for a simple solution - which works relatively well.
Basically the avionics use data from the radar-altimeter to try and guess the terrain profile... it works better than expected, provided that the ride height is higher than the highest altitude variation you will encounter. Of course, the higher the speed and the lowe the ride height, the higher the collision risk.
X-BOX RELEASE
As we wrote above, the initial test was very positive in terms of performance and load times... but of course we will retest the final version. If these results are confirmed we will release the XBox version along the PC version, otherwise there may be a slight delay.
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