Sound, Views, Environment

First a brief hardware update. There is a rumor that ADF will not run with the Riva128 based cards like the STB Velocity 128 3d and the Canopus Total 3d. This is mostly right. In reality ADF does not support D3d at all, though DiD plan a patch to add support. So ADF will run under any WIN95 video hardware, but in software only mode. Only with 3dfx will you get hardware acceleration. s

With regard to the sound stutter problem, it wasn't there in late betas so I doubt whether its directly related to swap file sizes. My swap file hasn't changed and no other settings have changed on my system and the stutter bug is very obnoxious at 800x600. On to matters at hand!

First another note on the active environment. Its alive and well in ADF and adds greatly to the feeling of immersion. I chose one of the wingmen training missions where CAS duty is the tasking order. In the five minutes of flight time that I actually spent in the air at various times, I took screen shots of Allied F15s, F16s, F18s and Apaches and took different shots at an EF2000 and a pair of Rafales. I also watched a U2S spy plane at high altitude over the battlefield. On the ground I saw T80s, M1 Abrams, and some Chaparral and Vulcan launcher systems, SA6's, a couple of BMP3s and some ZSU23s.

All this equipment is in good working order, the tanks are on the move and the aircraft are engaging one another, engaging ground targets, or trying to engage ME! I was most impressed when the EF2000 who was hit by an AIM120 that I launched was fighting for control and losing altitude but still managed to lock me up again! I had to use my last AIM9x to finish him off!

The problem with realism is that sooner or later one winds up making tough decisions. Do I feed my wingman to the wolves? Geez, a good pilot ain't supposed to DO that.... Hmmm. K, I've got bogies to the left of me and bogies to the right, and here I am stuck in the middle with you (to the well known tune)...

I invited a friend over last night whom I hadn't seen for about two months. He had never seen EF2000 and the last great sim he was into was Pacific Air War, although some years ago he flew F3 for a while. I showed him the demo mode of ADF and later I had to mop up the puddle of drool from my desktop (sadly, the poor bloke lacks recent hardware).

Stealth IS alive and well in F22 ADF. Try flying a CAS mission at 90% throttle at 10,000 feet and you will have every SAM for thirty miles eyeballing you like a fish at a convention of cats. The result is predictable... Here is the sequence...

I wouldn't mind this as much if the SAMs couldn't lock and launch in five seconds flat.... Ah well, every good pilot better know where the EJECT button is....

Some of the keys to flying stealth in ADF are managing your airspeed, not carrying external weapons any longer than you need to, not pulling high g manouvers, minimizing use of your radio, and managing your EMCON system. I find myself using mostly EMCON 1 and EMCON 3. Sometimes being stealthy means flying low and terrain following.

I flew the first AWACS mission again last night and for the first time had ZERO losses to 16 kills. Pays to fly the missions yourself whenever possible, and use your wingman for bracket and drag manouvers! Incidentally a "RADIO SILENCE" command would be useful in a simulation that models radio emissions!

Sound in ADF is a generation beyond EF2000. As in EF2000, you will notice fine attention to detail with regard to engine whine, wind noise, voice, warning signals, explosions etc. There still is no wind noise when engines are off and you are in the air. However, unlike EF2000, you will have far more voice interaction and doppler positional sound. (For more on voice comms see Preview 7 and Preview 6). About the only thing that isn't well modelled in terms of sound is the afterburner. Hmm.... now am I at 120% or 95%? The beta of Full Burn I have been flying models not only the POP but the entire airframe shudders when ab kicks in.

You will notice the doppler and positional effects all over ADF. For example, when your wingman pulls up tight beside you while flying the engine noise increases dramatically. When you pull up close behind a bandit you will hear the thunder of his engines. If your wingman is on the right you'll hear him there, or on the left you'll know it. At the merge with bandits the sensation of closing and passing can be dramatic. Outside views reflect these changes as well.

News and Views

The viewing system in ADF is more sophisticated than what we saw in EF2000 and TactCom. At first I found it a bit obtuse, but as I grew accustomed to using it I found it more powerful that the system we had had in EF2000. Lets talk about the padlock views first.

Padlock views in F22: ADF work on a filter system. Using F4 gets you into padlock. The default setting is "AIRCRAFT." However, using the F11 key while in padlock view you can toggle views to lock ground fixed objects and ground mobiles as well. Once you have the category you want, you use the "Z" key (thats... "zed", for all my US buddies!) to page through the views. (By the way, "wingman padlock" still has its own separate key).

At that point you can choose another view toggle, if you like. You can take any of these padlock objects and use SHF F4 to switch the view perspective. Default is PLAYER to OBJECT. Hit SHF F4 to see OBJECT to PLAYER,under any category of filter.

The "WIDE" view angle has also been separated out into its own category. We can now choose "WIDE" view on any view we call up. You want WIDE PADLOCK? Hit F4, then hit "K" and you are in wide angle padlock view. Do you get the feeling that you can make this view system dance if you want it to? If you happen to have programmable HOTAS this all happens in the wink of an eye. If you DON'T have programmable sticks, why are you reading this preview? Hop out and get yourself some pilots gear! (Check out our reviews linked from our HOTAS page.)

I've now got a toggle on my F3 threat padlock view. I use /P to bring up F3 and /R to bring up wide angle (K). This means that whenever I lock a threat I have a smaller chance of losing orientation since I have more of my own airframe in the picture. Works well. I also prefer the wide no cockpit view for a large sense of perspective. Man, at 800x600 under Glide this sim is incredibly beautiful...

As in EF2000, the viewing system is accessible while the sim is paused, which not only eases the learning curve but can also be a valuable situation awareness assistant. For example, if you are entering a knife fight and want to know the exact location of your wingman and your two opponents, you can pause the sim, check the wingman padlock view, switch to external padlock and take a look at the tactical reverse object/player views, etc. In a way its a cheat, but because of the limitation of a small screen view it really can be a help and a learning aid. Or, if you just enjoy taking a peek at what else is happening in the virtual environment, you can pause the sim, switch to Smartview and enjoy!

Another variable in the view system is that the "Z" key applies to other views also. So you want to cycle object/player padlock views to see where all the other aircraft within eyeball distance are in relation to your F22? Switch to padlock, switch to object/player and keep on hitting the Z key while the on screen world changes! You can similarly use the Z key for the Cycle Player/Target and Cycle Player/Threat views.

Speaking of these other views, the latter (F3) also doubles as the missile padlock view. When the most serious threat to your existence is a bandit on your six hitting F3 will give you that MiG 31. If he has just launched a missile and you are dodging, F3 will padlock the missile. Most of the time you won't SEE the missile, but after all a missile at even one mile away looking at the nose is going to be VERY small! Hitting SHF F3 will cycle the player-threat view through a ranking of the threats.

Gotta love that night flight! Click for a larger image...

Meanwhile, the traditional target padlock resides beneath the F2 key. Lock em up and then hit F2 and you have your current target locked. If a greater threat suddenly appears hit F3 to switch the padlock. As above, general views padlock is under F4.

Other traditional views are also present: fly by view, looping fly-by, satellite view, missile pylon view, an external movable view, and glance left/right views. Naturally, you can also pan anywhere you like around the virtual cockpit. Unfortunately with gamma settings broken we'll have to wait for a patch for that view to be very useful.

The F2 padlock system toggles between a cockpit to bandit lock and an external player/target lock. I rather like this since I occasionally lose my orientation to the bandit and a quick view across my aircraft to the bandit can be useful. Once you have invoked the padlock view you can cycle it across different aircraft with the Z key. At the moment this view padlock applies to aircraft near and far and may undergo some adjustments before release.

Die in action and choose from two filters in the smartview list to decide what part of the ongoing battle to observe. F10 filters Objects and F11 filters Allegiance. But you no longer feel like you are out of the picture, you can still listen in on the allied comms while you view your own or other aircraft. Smartview also governs the DEMO mode you can access from the splash screen.

Go to F22: ADF Review Part 9