The landing gear in 1.0 is great, but I seriously think it needs improvement..

[Columbia]

I was delighted by the arrival of new landing gear in 1.0 which solved a ton of problems for plane builders. It was of sufficient height and was in one piece. There were many new options, such as small and medium and large.

However, there were many problems (and this applies to the majority of the new gear:)

1. The landing gear pops out of most wings:

This could be easily worked around by offsetting it to be outside the wing, but still:

It looks ugly to see popping out:

Suggestion: remodel the gear's pods to make it flatter, or at least change the collision mesh so that it connects to the actual very top of the bogie.

2. The landing gear doesn't have animated rolling.

This is mildly disturbing but not too irritating.. I trust that this will be changed given the much more realistic wheel physics in 1.0.

3. But to be honest, the one i find the most irritating is the lack of steering and lights.

Compared with the Small Gear bay, which doesn't have any of the mentioned problems, the Medium and Large Gear Bay seem to lack in this.

The function is available on most landing gear, but not these two, which, IMHO, require it even more, especially steering (Aircraft need ground maneuverability, too!)

The light is coming out of the Small Gear Bay.

Well, that's all. Thanks for reading, and tell me what you feel about these suggestions!

[Bloody_looser]

You forgot about suspension.

Currently all landing gears are plane-tearing sliding sticks. But the worst thing for me is lack of steering, so Small Gear Bay is a way to go and all my planes look like they skipped leg day.

Hopefully gears will get fixed in 1.1 wheel remaking, since all in-game 'wheels' are currently sliding cubes in fact.

[Red Iron Crown]

Hopefully gears will get fixed in 1.1 wheel remaking, since all in-game 'wheels' are currently sliding cubes in fact.

Apparently the new wheel handling is being applied to all landing gear, so the landing legs will be wheels with the brakes permanently on.

++ to Columbia's suggestions, and hopefully the small landing gear will have its model/texture updated (I remember a small gear being teased).

[Val]

...

3. But to be honest, the one i find the most irritating is the lack of steering and lights.

Agreed! This is what bugs me, too. I've learnt to deal with the steering to a degree. I can return to the runway if I land off it, but I can't turn onto a taxiway. And to solve the lighting I clip a small gear, that is removed from Gear Action group, into the bay of bigger ones.

How it attaches to other parts don't bug me at all. I always attach gear directly to the fuselage, for extra stability. So I always need to offset them anyway, to make them sit right.

[michaelsteele3]

+1

And don't give us rubber stoppers used on roller skates either, otherwise Columbia needs to edit his post and ask for a funeral service feature as well.

[The Aziz]

All of the above.

..and maybe I'm getting too far into science fiction, but can we get something like.. dunno, skis to land on snow/ice or something? Then using these would make a plane slow down faster than on wheels.

[Capt Snuggler]

the lights don't work, the wheels don't turn, suspension is rigid, ride hight is fixed.

all this needs to be fixed for v1.1

[Starwhip]

These are great suggestions, they pop up every now and again. I agree with them all. I would append the want of suspension on the two larger gear as well.

Personally, I'd love to see something like Adjustable Landing Gear in Stock. If it doesn't get integrated at some point, but the changes above are integrated, it won't be that bad. (I'll keep using the mod though.)

Especially suspension. It's hard to make something land softly when it lands like a brick hitting concrete.

[Azimech]

Adjustable suspension on all wheels and landing gear as well.

[Wjolcz]

I'm pretty sure most of those will be fixed in 1.1 with the new wheel module. They just didn't bother fixing the old module because they were already working on the new one, which in my opinion is understandable. I can struggle for some more time if I'm promised something that actually works as wheels, not skids.

AFAIK the remodeled small gear bay is coming in 1.1.

I agree that having adjustable landing gear in stock wouldn't hurt.

[Alshain]

The landing gear in 1.0 is great

I have to disagree. Sorry PorkJet, I love everything else you have done, but the stock landing gear is just absolutely terrible and should be removed and replaced*. The models are bad, if they functioned better they might be fine for large atmospheric planes but this is a space game, shouldn't we have gear for shuttles? Functionality is bad, no lights, no steering, action groups are seriously screwed up.

I use Adjustable Landing Gear exclusively now and even go as far to remove the stock landing gear it is so incredibly bad. Quite frankly the worst parts in the game by far, even worse than the micronode that I never use. At least the micronode does what it is supposed to do.

There are occasions where it would be easier to start from scratch than try to fix something so disastrous, and I think the landing gear is it.

EDIT: *With exception to the fixed wheel landing gear (LY-01, LY05), those are perfect, don't change them.

- - - Updated - - -

AFAIK the remodeled small gear bay is coming in 1.1.

I'm not saying it isn't being remodeled, but they haven't said it is to the best of my knowledge.

Edited September 18, 2015 by Alshain

[Columbia]

I have to disagree. Sorry PorkJet, I love everything else you have done, but the stock landing gear is just absolutely terrible and should be removed and replaced*. The models are bad, if they functioned better they might be fine for large atmospheric planes but this is a space game, shouldn't we have gear for shuttles? Functionality is bad, no lights, no steering, action groups are seriously screwed up.

I use Adjustable Landing Gear exclusively now and even go as far to remove the stock landing gear it is so incredibly bad. Quite frankly the worst parts in the game by far, even worse than the micronode that I never use. At least the micronode does what it is supposed to do.

There are occasions where it would be easier to start from scratch than try to fix something so disastrous, and I think the landing gear is it.

EDIT: *With exception to the fixed wheel landing gear (LY-01, LY05), those are perfect, don't change them.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm not saying it isn't being remodeled, but they haven't said it is to the best of my knowledge.

Yeah, to be honest, I think those two were rushed to get out the door. It's mediocre compared to the Small Gear Bay.

[Alshain]

Yeah, to be honest, I think those two were rushed to get out the door. It's mediocre compared to the Small Gear Bay.

Which is really quite sad since the Small Gear Bay is so old and looks so bad next to the new plane parts.

[waterlubber]

The Small Gear Bay is my friend.

[Bloody_looser]

With exception to the fixed wheel landing gear (LY-01, LY05), those are perfect, don't change them.

Cessna called and wants them back. Fixed landing gear don't belong not only to space, but even to jet planes altogether.

And they are really wonky and planeshuttering.

[Alshain]

Fixed landing gear don't belong not only to space, but even to jet planes altogether.

Meanwhile, in the 1960's...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceplane#/media/File:Gemini_paraglider.JPG

But you are correct they do behave a little strange when physics loads and cause the plane to bounce so they aren't completely perfect I guess.

[BudgetHedgehog]

There's no suspension on the larger gears?! That.. explains a lot. I thought I was just rubbish at piloting (well, I am, but not as bad as I thought)!

[TMS]

Used them once. Never again.

They were rushed (like so many things through the 'beta') and should probably be scrapped. I never quite got over the tear drop shape either which just doesn't look the least bit 'spacey'.

The Adjustable Landing Gear mod more-or-less does it right. Automatic wheel alignment, great shape, great animations, lights, customisable length, adjustable suspension dampening... all giving the end-user a range of options - something that stock likes to eschew.

We can but hope that Baha receives the call...

[Hagen von Tronje]

The small gear bay at least is great. Best light in the game for stock, sit flush with wings, low profile, my only complaint is that it makes other landing gear look bad by comparison. Even most mod gear don't have inbuilt landing lights (and none as powerful, surprisingly), so the design on that one is A+++.

If more gears are made/brought up to that level then I'll be very happy.

[Columbia]

There's no suspension on the larger gears?! That.. explains a lot. I thought I was just rubbish at piloting (well, I am, but not as bad as I thought)!

Hah, me too. I swear I was landing aircraft too hard!

Thanks for the support, guys. Let's hope they do get suspension and such as well!

[Guest]

Devs said that we will be getting brand new wheels physic with unity 5.

The current wheels are terrible yea

[klgraham1013]

This all makes sense if you pretend we're still in beta.

[Columbia]

This all makes sense if you pretend we're still in beta.

The landing gear still seem to be stuck in a beta mindset..

[DocMoriarty]

The landing gear still seem to be stuck in a beta mindset..

Beta already? Are you sure?

[Columbia]

Beta already? Are you sure?

As if it were still in Beta. To be honest, using it is like attaching bricks to an aircraft that don't even take the force properly. Even steering, even lights.. even rotation animations.

If anything, I'm sorry to be snarky, but Porkjet seems to have modeled it hurrying up. Sorry, but I highly agree with Alshain now. The only benefit it has over the Small Gear Bay is.. height.