Live Chat with Matt "Wags" Wagner - Producer
(Dec 4th, 2003)

(Spitfire8): The problem with the joystick Microsoft force feedback 2 is going to be resolved? (no return-to-centre force)
Matt Wagner: On the official site, I started a thread regarding what has already been fixed. This is list is not complete yet though. Hope that answers your question.

(Madmatt): Are there plans now or in the future to increase the fidelity of the naval and ground units? I speak of their lack of CIWS capability and limited ground fire, only BTR-70's and LVTP-7's engage with their MG's against low and slow planes.
Matt Wagner: The development team is very aware of the problem and are working on it as a high priority item. Naval systems has never been a focus of this project and thus a low priority. These systems may be addressed in a future patch though. No promises. Regarding MG fire, other vehicles do not have because they don't have enclosed/turreted mounts There are no such plans at this time.

(Shirazi): how come you don’t have to land or communicate in order to complete a mission?
Matt Wagner: if not, the player could quit the mission and win it regardless of a situation that would kill them if they would cheat by quitting. I'm not sure what you mean by "communicating".

(mattski_): Firstly, thanks for all of your hard work Matt, it's truly a revelation and a very enjoyable game. My first question is will we see enhanced refuelling and carrier operations in either the patch or add-on pack? Specifically, having to really grab the basket or boom and multiplayer carrier capability?
Matt Wagner: The development team worked very hard to try to get MP aerial refuelling, but the precision of the internet data was simply not sufficient to make it work correctly. They are still working on this and MP carrier code, but I can make no promises.

(Cragger): Wags what was your biggest regret of a goal the project did not meet that you had planned for?
Matt Wagner: dynamic campaign system: this was a central goal when we started and I regret that we were not able to include such a system.

(Tuff): Have there been any discussions with Ross about his Campaign system being added to Lock On?
Matt Wagner: Ross work is ongoing but is completely independent of Eagle's work.

(Punisher): will be any SDK for LOMAC?
Matt Wagner: I do not believe that Eagle has such plans at this time.

(twobells): could a pause be implemented that allows you to lock in your targets etc ( a sort of action-pause)
Matt Wagner: I don't believe that is possible, I believe that all game inputs must be made in real time.

(AkSt-Babianen): Any possibilities for more advanced features in the mission editor? Random waypoints/flight groups?
Matt Wagner: If Eagle were to decide to do some sort of follow-on product, perhaps then. However, I don't see that happening with the base product.

(twobells): what is your next project?
Matt Wagner: Sorry, but I cannot comment on that.

(Air-Killer): will be able the possibility of two teams in the same mission?
Matt Wagner: You can already do so by setting up aircraft in both coalitions. There are already several such MP missions included with the game.

(Punisher): what was the first objective for LOMAC, SP or MP games?
Matt Wagner: They are equally important to us.

(BigA312): Matt , do you still fly Jane's F/A-18 for old times sake?
Matt Wagner: Sometimes, still very proud of that title. Still keep in touch with team members.

(Rochee): Out of all the aircraft included with Lock-on, which is your favourite?
Matt Wagner: I probably spend most of my time in the Rook (Su-25), but lately, a lot with the Eagle to test radar systems.

(twobells): In your opinion why do you think the sim scene has produced so few titles in the last few years?
Matt Wagner: High cost investment, small market footprint, low sales compared to other types of titles. High time investment too.

(Iceman_AFS): Hi Waggs..do we have at least a small chance to get new planes like the F18,F14 etc. and with the choice to sit on the 2nd seat? If not I would like to know where's the technical problem since its possible in IL2FB
. Matt Wagner: As a free add-on, I sincerely doubt it. As an add-on and stand alone, anything is possible, but that is more up to the developer than me.

(badkarma): will campaign co-op multiplayer be supported in the future?
Matt Wagner: There are no such plans at this time.

(Phantomski): LOMAC is in many aspects the best sim around. Not in all, to be honest, but it has the potential to be ;) And now the question - could you please be more specific about the incoming patch (details about most important features) and the rumours F-15 will be slightly "upgraded" ? More technical, the better
Matt Wagner: again, I've posted a long list on the GD forum that gives details as to what has already been addressed, including changes made to the F-15 radar.

(aphid): is the European version any different from the us version? Will there be separate patches?
Matt Wagner: There should be no content differences aside from localization issues.

(Madmatt): I have noticed some issues in the game which I have not seen reported elsewhere. I wasn’t sure if I should post them to the official forums, what is the preferred method to report these issues?
Matt Wagner: Yes, please report on the official Lock On forums. We read most everything there and it really helps drive the priority levels of what and when things get fixed.

(T-Bird): What do you think of Bobcat's cloud textures? Does this give you any ideas relating to increasing fps?
Matt Wagner: He did a great job; perhaps such a change will be incorporated in a later patch. I would like to see that.

(bolt): I would like to know how much the performance of the game is affected by the number of planes in the air, vehicles on the ground - or if the performance is mostly affected by effects, like weather, water, scenery detail etc. - or, in other words: Is any campaign mission playable with a 1,8Ghz rig, 512 RAM and Geforce2 on lowest graphics settings?
Matt Wagner: Yes, number of active objects can play a big difference in FPS. As to what you define as "playable" is very nebulous and varies from player to player. Also, GF2 is NOT a support card for Lock On. I personally think at low settings, it can be playable though.

(Nasder): I like to create things to game, missions and such, do you know if there are any plans on releasing layered templates for Photoshop or such?
Matt Wagner: That would be up to the developer and I really don't know if they plan to release such resources.

(BigA312): Noticed that there are no NATO radar units available in the MB; can you share the intention of this?
Matt Wagner: there are many unit types we would like to have included, but time and resources prevent us from doing all we wanted. There was no plan to leave out such units.

(Tiss): Will the su-33 be more ground mission related? I miss more radar and optics guided air-to-ground missiles.
Matt Wagner: the real su-33 has no such AG systems, so to be realistic the Lock On Su-33 does not have them as well.

(Roskov): what are the bandwidth requirements for internet play? How many KB/s does each client use?
Matt Wagner: Sorry, I have no idea. That would be a technical question that you could pose on the official site. The internet MP programmer visits there and can probably give you a good answer-much better that the SWAG I'd give you.

([moose]HuBBa): Question: Is there or will there be a way to map the Padlock key to a hold-down function rather than a toggle?
Matt Wagner: Padlock is a toggle and will stay that way. As such, I don't believe so, or... if you have a programmable stick, you could set up a press and release macro, that should work.

(Nic): Multiple monitor support, has Matt seen this in operation and how did it look ? What kind of hit did the gameplay take?
Matt Wagner: sorry, I have not in fact seen this, but it is my understanding that the developer included surround gaming for the latest Matrox card.

(Eagle): In Mission Editor I sometimes have the problem of planes exploding on Spawn when I set them to spawn on the Parking area?
Matt Wagner: sounds like you have some other objects already in that area and they are spawning on top of each other. I'd check your mission and remove active and static objects on that area of the apron.

(ddocg): do you think LOMAC will be as big as iL2?
Matt Wagner: I sure hope so! :) I think the potential is certainly there.

(mattski_): Someone mentioned that AI aircraft will fly toward you and engage you if they have enough fuel, even if you are hundreds of kilometres away. Apparently this scenario was seen with a ground-hugging A-10 some 200Km away from enemy aircraft and with no enemy AWACS. Have you got any thoughts on this?
Matt Wagner: It depends on what mission type they are on. The different types have various radii that they will engage targets. For example: an escort mission will have a narrow engagement area and an intercept can have a very large one.

(Phantomski): Cobra and other "beyond flight envelope" manoeuvres - is it really only "scripted" (i.e. animation), or is it starting to be real modelling incorporating perhaps slightly something from disturbed airflow ?
Matt Wagner: It's my understanding that is actually a combination of the two.

(Tomcat): will the Russian plane not be able to select different payloads for corresponding hardpoints?
Matt Wagner: Russian planes, as well as all the others, can have various weapons on hardpoints. Players can use the payload editor to create their own payload layouts as well.

(ddocg): Is LOMAC future technology friendly, will it be playable in whatever form say 3 years from now?
Matt Wagner: Given that we don't know what the technology will be three years from now, that is an impossible question to answer. However, I think that most will agree that the game has lots of hardware growth potential in regards to taking advantage of increased details levels as hardware increases in capability.

(Kittenmaster): Hello, here is a question to Matt: Will the patch improve AI calculations, new memory management to improve game performance?
Matt Wagner: Aspects of the AI have been improved in the patch. As to that affecting game performance, I'm not sure AI has ever been a big factor in that. AG and BVR AI tactics have been improved. The AI is much more aggressive now.

(gredknap): Is the first patch weeks or months?
Matt Wagner: Weeks… Already in beta testing now.

(swataeric): Matt after I land the aircraft, how do I know where to park the plane?
Matt Wagner: There is no particular spot you have to park in, you just need to get it off the runway. I usually park in one of large parking areas.

(E69_Hog): First of all, thank you and team for all the effort. I know about third companies developing sim hardware like MDF, ejecting seats.... do you consider in the future to share that kind of information needed for that hardware to work with LOMAC?
Matt Wagner: I hope we can do so, and it fact I have put such third party hardware vendors in touch with the development team. Hopefully we'll some great results. However, please keep in mind that the team is very busy with other tasks at the moment--like the patch.

(radejet): are they any plans for improving the avionic system?
Matt Wagner: several improvements have already been made to radar performance in the first patch. I imagine that this will be an ongoing process.

(Nasder): When you land your plane, you can rearm and refuel. Do you think that repairing lighter "wounds" to your plane will be an option in the future?
Matt Wagner: I doubt it. The idea is a hot-pit turn around that would not include repairing damage

(EchoPapa607): First, congratulations on the team for a great product. I would like to know if the team has shared ideas with the IL-2FB team regarding common problems. I personally believe that some aspects in Lock On could have been improved just by learning from the work that was done in IL-2FB.
Matt Wagner: Sorry, but I'm not aware of the level of interaction between the two development studios. Despite using the same publisher, they are two separate companies

(ace24): Is any progress being made regarding the Blue (light blue) screen problem.
Matt Wagner: Our initial tests of the patch have had good results with Win98, so I hope this issue may be resolved as well. I personally have not been able to test this yet. I would also suggest making sure your vid card FULLY supports DX8.1. Please remember that GF2, 8500 and all MX cards are not supported. All of these cards to NOT fully support DX8.1.

(AkSt-pilgrim): Could you please make it possible to add more skins instead of only being able to change the existing ones? Perhaps having a dedicated where you can put new skins without overwriting default ones?
Matt Wagner: I have already discussed this with the team, they'll see what they can do. No promises.

(Shirazi): how come you can land at very high speeds and such hard landing is it that easy in reality as well?
Matt Wagner: Strange... when I have hard landings, my gear fails and I'm skidding across the runway. Please make sure you do not have Easy Flight on.

(Phantomski): FlightModel: it's very good, as I would expect from Flanker sequel...could you please be more specific about physics and techniques incorporated?
Matt Wagner: That goes above my head, but I suggest you post your questions of the official site. I know that the flight programmers read those boards.

(Vang): Will there be a look forward view while in padlock like IL-2 and Jane's F18?
Matt Wagner: already in there, KP Ins.

(ddocg): At this early stage, how does LOMAC’s future look
Matt Wagner: So far so good :)

(ScHiZ0): Realizing of course that no promises can be made as of now, do you have any guesstimate on how much work it will take to fix the track-IR centering issues?
Matt Wagner: Already fixed in the patch.

(Roskov): will the patch (or any future ones) fix the MP problem where players are sometimes seen as on the ground but are in fact flying around?
Matt Wagner: such issues are generally a function of someone’s connect / ping / dropped packets and not so much the game. Also, the NForce board issue has been a problem. However, patch tests have shown the NForce problem has largely been fixed.

(JZG_Hypno): Is the multiplayer code brand new or just imported from Flanker and adjusted? I noticed some instability while playing, joining or taking off from a carrier, that seemed very Flanker-like. Is multiplayer code going to be revised? Also, I know that the FM is great but what about the onboard systems? (engine start-up, shut-down procedures, fuel selectors etc) they seem a bit simplified. Am I wrong?
Matt Wagner: The MP code and interface is all new. Like other aspects of the game, the MP will be improved with the upcoming patch and will likely evolve with the project. It was never the goal to create laborious engine procedures.

(EchoPapa607): Do you think Lock-on will evolve into some kind of FS2K? Like using the great game engine so that people can fly more planes (perhaps from 3rd party software), helicopters and even ground based units in-game?
Matt Wagner: It is a great engine and I would imagine that anything could be possible, but that's not my call and I cannot speculate.

(BadKarma): Are the HUD graphics in the aircraft accurate? I was under the impression that the F15 HUD had a different setup than is currently modelled in LOMAC.
Matt Wagner: the F-15C HUD mode is quite accurate, check a HUD video or image of the Charlie HUD and you'll see they are almost identical. You're probably confusing the E HUD with the C HUD.

(ddocg): any plans for clickable pits?
Matt Wagner: none, we are quite happy with the current cockpit technology.

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