The United States Air Force Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor Air Dominance Fighter
January 15, 2022: ATTENTION RAPTOR PILOTS!
New update for all of our F-22A Raptor fans. Top Mach Studios is hard at work on a high quality payware version of the F-22A. It will incorporate many exciting and unique new features and capabilities. It will be a massive improvement over the freeware model available here. Beta release is imminent and we will continue releasing work in progress media and comments over the next few weeks. For a small sneak peek take a look at our latest post over on the MSFS Raptor forum page:
January 19, 2022: Update to correct missing lighting effects
CORRECTED MISSING LIGHTING EFFECTS FROM 1.1.0. THE RAPTOR HAS BEEN UPDATED TO FIX COMPATIBILITY ISSUES WITH THE JAN. 6TH 2022 SU7 PATCH - RESTORED HEAD UP DISPLAY FUNCTIONALITY, RESOLVED THROTTLE AXIS ASSIGNMENT PROBLEM FOR PERIPHERAL THROTTLE CONTROL INPUT DEVICES AND INTRODUCED WINGTIP VORTEX VISUAL EFFECT.
PLEASE SEE VERSION 1.1.1 NOTES NEAR THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE AND THE RELATED NOTES IN THE "KNOWN LIMITATIONS AND GAME SETTINGS" SECTION ALSO ON THIS PAGE.
Brought to you by Top Mach Studios, LLC
The world’s most advanced operational air superiority fighter presents a monumental challenge for any flight simulation developer. A passion project of ours, Top Mach Studios dedicated over 9 months of research and development to the creation of this totally custom made scratch built (not a conversion - not based on any previous FSX / Prepar3D meshes or models) model for MSFS 2020 and in doing so we’ve pushed the limits of what’s possible in MSFS 2020. We are proud to present this highly capable, highly functional replica of the F-22A to the MSFS 2020 community. We think you’ll find this aircraft to be an absolute thrill and a true joy to fly. In return, we ask you to show your appreciation by taking a moment to provide your honest review, feedback, and suggestions. We hope you’ll have at least as much fun flying the Raptor as we’ve had making it.
Top Mach Studios
- Evan Burns – Lead developer and programmer
- Adam Burry – 3D modeling and visual effects
- DakFly0219 – Flight performance modeling and tuning, lighting and visual effects, manual and documentation.
Installation, User License, and Manual
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Move the .zip download file to your desktop (to avoid long file names errors some users have reported) and then copy the topmachstudios-f22a-raptor file folder found inside into your Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 Community directory. Don't install the raptor-documentation folder into your Community folder. We strongly recommend you take a moment to review the included user manual .PDF file in the raptor-documentation folder before you take flight in the Raptor to help improve your experience. Start MSFS 2020 and find the Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor in the aircraft selection menu.
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Please review the included 'TopMachStudios_F22ARaptor_License.txt' for user license information and instructions before posting videos or streaming content using this freeware aircraft model.
- We strongly advise you to take a moment to review the included user manual .PDF file (and the notes below on this page) for more details and instructions before submitting support inquiries. Please submit your inquiries on this download page.
Model Features and Capabilities
Simulated Fly-By-Wire control system providing virtually carefree flight control
- Auto-trim / pitch control
- G-Limiter
- Roll rate limiter
- Yaw control limiter
- Exceptional maneuverability and smooth control responses up to 19 degrees angle of attack (the
hard limit within the current game physics model) and controllability at airspeeds as low as 90 KIAS. - Highly resistant to departure from controlled flight throughout the flight envelope.
- Precision high altitude flight control to 60,000 feet and above.
- Takeoff / Approach mode (landing gear down) ensures precise control for virtually effortless
handling during take-off and landing approaches. - Low speed aerobatic maneuvers possible; hammerheads, tail slide, and pedal turn capability
- Thrust vectoring and high alpha flight maneuvering (above 19 degrees angle of attack) are not
simulated at this time due to underlying limitations of the game physics model.
Highly detailed fully custom 3D cockpit modeling
- Highly detailed modeling and texturing of cockpit, control panel, and ICP/HUD module
- Detailed ejection seat model
- Fully functional Head Up Display (HUD)
- Fully Functional MFDs and PFD (using customized Asobo native G3000 instrumentation suite)
including moving map, customized traffic display, and terrain functions - Canopy interior reflections and rain effects
- Many button, knob, and switch animations functional in cockpit
- Full suite of functional essential autopilot controls built into the MFDs
- Functional engine controls in MFDs and in cockpit
- Functional fully customized cockpit lighting and HUD lighting controls
- PFD can be configured to display primary flight information or moving map display
Detailed Custom 3D Exterior Model
- Scale and proportions very close to the real world aircraft
- Custom texturing including metallic and non-metallic surface texturing effects
- Animation of all key flight control surfaces (excludes a number of maneuvering control surface
deflections as seen in the real Raptor due to complexity and sim limits). - Animated landing gear
- Exhaust heat effect and Asobo native contrails enabled
- Custom canopy reflections and tinting
- Customized Exterior Lighting Systems include custom landing and taxi lighting,
electroluminescent formation lighting, navigation lights, and beacons; all modeled after the
actual aircraft, with correct lighting positions.
Engine and Performance Modeling based on Lockheed Martin / USAF specifications
- Accurate weight and fuel quantities (includes additional fuel to simulate 2 x 600 gallon ferry
drop tanks; visual drop tank models and drag model not included) - Optional stores configuration available to simulate 6 x AIM 120D and 2 x Aim 9X missiles
(weapons modeling / animations not included) - Engine model tuned to realistic specifications for thrust and performance.
- Drag and lift model tuned to estimated specifications. Sustained 5G+ maneuvers at 40,000 feet
and above are possible - Mach 2.4+ maximum speed
- Mach 1.7+ supercruise capability
- Supersonic climb to high altitude
- Incredible acceleration rates at full throttle.
- Supersonic capability up to 60,000 feet and above
- Reasonably accurate fuel consumption and maximum range at all altitudes (not based on the
default game turbine model, but customized to greatly improve accuracy of turbine fuel
consumption and thrust).
Known Limitations and Game Settings Recommendations
- We strongly recommend setting all accessibility options settings to the "Hard" setting to provide the most realistic performance and provide the best handling for the aircraft.
- With SU5, Asobo introduced a different/new methodology for computing airspeed that, in particular at speeds above Mach 1 and at altitudes above 30,000 feet, resulted in inaccurately high airspeed readings in your airspeed indicators for all aircraft. The problem worsens as aircraft go higher and faster (supersonic and hypersonic flight in particular is quite severely affected). We have confirmed this affects all aircraft in the game and have reported this to Asobo. With version 1.0.7 of the Raptor, in response, we developed and programmed a methodology for computing, accurately, the calibrated airspeed. All airspeed indications in the cockpit now show the correct KCAS value. We have also re-implemented an overspeed warning at 800 KCAS and the aircraft will reach critical stress levels if this is significantly exceeded (flight will end if you have damage caused by overstress turned on). However, we were not able to update the airspeed value displayed in the external camera HUD view and these values will become increasingly divergent as you go higher and at faster supersonic speeds.
- After SU5 update, for PC users to ensure proper control of switches and knobs in the cockpit with a PC mouse or other pointer controller, you must go to the General Options -> Accessibility -> Cockpit Interaction System and change this setting to "Legacy."
- Remove prior versions of the Raptor, including old pre version 1.x.x.x versions (typically named "evanburnsdev-f22raptor" or similar) before installation of an update.
- Control with keyboards isn't currently possible. We are not pursuing a solution for it as it would be too difficult to fly with keyboard alone.
- Make sure you are using "Modern" flight model.
- If you have no control: Please verify that there is no simconnect.cfg or simconnect.dll located in your Documents folder. These are dead files that are left from an old version of Kinetic Assistant that interferes with the aircraft's Fly By Wire system. Also, this model doesn't work with keyboards as noted previously. You will also see a similar lack of control if you attempt to use your keyboard to control the aircraft.
- If you use rudder pedals or any other rudder input controller we strongly recommend you set your rudder sensitivity curves (found in the game Controls Options menu) setting to somewhere between -50 and -60. The rudder input in the game, at default settings, is very touchy or twitchy, and reducing the sensitivity curve will provide a much more easily managed rudder input and yaw control for the Raptor.
- Do not enable (or turn off if already enabled) the Take-Off Auto-Rudder option under the Assistance menu. Enabling this function will cause oscillation around the yaw axis at airspeeds above 600 knots indicated. If you must enable this function, make sure to disable it after takeoff (and re-enable just before your approach and landing) to avoid this problem.
- The model is highly responsive in the roll axis and some sim pilots may find the default control sensitivity “twitchy” and find fine aileron control modulation difficult when in normal flight mode. If you find this to be the case we recommend a setting of between -20% and -30% for both positive and negative deflections for Axis-X (or whatever Axis correlates to aileron input for your controller) under the Sensitivity menu for your control stick or yoke (found under the Controls Options).
- Make very sure the following value: [General Options -> Camera -> Cockpit Camera -> Horizontal Position] is set at exactly 50. If not, your eye point will be significantly offset from the centerline.
- We recommend you turn off camera shake in the Camera settings under General Options. At high angles of attack, and with the maneuvers this aircraft can perform, you won’t be able to see the instrumentation or outside views very well with your virtual “head” bobbing up and down.
Version History Summary
Update 1.1.1
- Fixes problem with missing lighting effects from version 1.1.0.
Update 1.1.0
- Resolved issue with throttle axis assignment not working for peripheral throttle input controllers after SU7 patch introduced a bug.
Update 1.0.9
- Restored Head Up Display (HUD) functionality.
- Incorporated wingtip vortex visual effect at high angle of attack. A big thank you goes to FlaminFenix for the effect file and assistance with attaching it to the aircraft.
Update 1.0.8
- Restored Head Up Display (HUD) functionality.
- Incorporated afterburning fuel consumption and made other respective modifications to the engine configuration file to retain the performance profile for the model.
Update 1.0.7.1
- Fixed Xbox type controller right rudder control problem
- Corrected Spanish language localization file
Update 1.0.7
- Substantially improved aileron roll response and crispness (incorporating improvements from SU6 update)
- Maximum roll rate increased to 220+ dps.
- Adjusted G-limits to official specs (+9 / -3)
- Customized programming of highly accurate Calibrated Airspeed Calculations (Asobo supersonic airspeed calculations inaccurate after SU5).
- Reintroduced correct maximum airspeed limit (800 knots KCAS) and aural alerting.
- Custom programmed auto-throttle now built into FBW.
- Auto throttle / Auto pilot system speed calculations are now computed in FBW module instead of the sim.
- Blurry scenery as seen through canopy from interior fixed.
- Slightly darkened canopy tint level, improving HUD visibility in bright conditions.
- Shadows now rendered correctly inside the cockpit.
- Streamlined and further optizimed the FBW code.
- Localization files translated for all supported languages (community feedback requested and appreciated - translated using online translation software - not native speaker translated).
Update 1.0.5.1
- Raising the roughness(to reduce reflections) for the interior glass too high caused it to blur the environment with the 1.0.5 update. Lowered it back as little as we could to prevent blurring.
Update 1.0.5
- Fixed bug in PMFD Airspeed
- Adjusted default screen brightness of MFD's
- Lowered reflections on interior canopy glass
Update 1.0.4
- Updated for SU5 Compatibility
Update 1.0.3.1
- Revision to Install Readme.txt file - no need to re-download if using 1.0.3.0
Update 1.0.3.0
- Updated sound file for more realistic engine sounds
- Increased flap drag coefficient to a more realistic value
- Corrected missing flap angles / detents with user flap position selection
- Disabled bugged default auto-spoiler and auto-brake functions
- Updated user manual and documentation
Update 1.0.2.1
- Included additional documentation excluded from 1.0.2.0 update.
Update 1.0.2
- Fixed a bug preventing rudder control for handheld controllers(steam/xbox).
Update 1.0.1
- Fixes a bug causing the Fly By Wire to default to the off position. This update causes it to default to on. To verify, in the FLCS Panel (left side console near seat), the Auto switch should be in the up (away from you) position.
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Rolli7
I like it. There is a problem with the rudder inputs though. If you use seperate Axis for left and right rudder it bugs out. The rudder will always be fully applied and stays in the direction you pressed the pedal. It doesn't center anymore.
topmachstudios 16 minute(s) ago
Thanks for the reported issue. We’ll look at it and respond once we determine if this can be addressed or if there is an alternate control configuration for you to try.
Josephm700
Do you also publish to other market place with the ordinances? I don't wanna buy a fighter without weapons, it's odd.
zameer
Will you present the date of the "entry" to the "M$"-Store entry? Would gladly be a customer.
topmachstudios 1 day(s) ago
Thank you! We will announce the release date once we are well into our beta test period. We are still in development and nearing initial beta testing.
zameer 20 hour(s) ago
I would like to participate 😊
Defender1970
RE-WRITE:: So, this is my quick review of this F22 aircraft. With all fighter aircraft, I do the same thing.. Take off, raise landing gear and climb as fast as I can to 30 or 40 thousand feet. The takeoff in this aircraft is good, next I do a low altitude run to about 500 knots at 100% throttle, and then pull back on the stick and begin to climb. As long as your climb isnt any steeper than about 40 degrees, you'll be able to maintain your speed. More than that and you'll begin to scrub speed at a fair rate. You'll definitely need to turn off auto-rudder, as that will be no good once you hit about 640 or so knots. I'm not sure why, but at around 780 (I think) knots, you'll begin to get a overspeed warning. I know for a fact that this aircraft is capable of damn near mach 2 (at least), and around 700 knots, depending on altitude is Mach1, so it should run faster than that before getting an overspeed warning. Otherwise this is a really nice fighter aircraft to fly. It's certainly a huge step up from the other freeware offering(s).
topmachstudios 1 day(s) ago
You must not have read the usage notes about the autocoordination / auto-rudder. Turn it off and the wiggle will stop. Also, if the only other thing you’re reviewing against (other than a non-animated throttle) to give such a poor review is vertical climb then you could simply go into the engines.cfg file and give it as much thrust as you want instead of the specifications given by the Air Force and Lockheed Martin. Before that though, you may want to read about how time to climb attempts are done, such as for the Streak Eagle, which still holds the records for time to climb from the 1970s. It is not an immediate climb to the vertical. The aircraft is accelerated to nearly supersonic or supersonic on the deck before the vertical pull is performed. Now if that still doesn’t make you happy and you want unreality you could just give the model as much thrust as you want - you want to go Mach 12 and climb at 4000 knots in the vertical? have a blast friend.
Defender1970 1 day(s) ago
You are correct, I had not read about the auto rudder. I will turn that off and retest. And you are correct about the F15. It is one of the only fighter aircraft even today that can take off and immediately pitch straight up and climb while continuing to accelerate. I had not read information about the F22, but having worked on 4001, 4002, 4003 and 4004 during their initial break-in and test period, I guess I just assumed that it could also accelerate from takeoff and into a straight up climb. I mean, It has considerably more thrust than an F15, so I dont see why it couldn't. I will test this out sometime tonight and rewrite my review.
topmachstudios 1 day(s) ago
My my, we do love a good aircraft performance debate. And of course, very little of the F-22A's specific performance capability is public knowledge, so we can only guess just how good it is compared to 4th gen aircraft. From a pure physics standpoint, the F-22A does have more thrust than the F-15, at least 70k lbs at max AB. But it also weighs a lot more than an F-15A, at about 43,500 lbs dry. That's about a 1.6:1 thrust to weight ratio before you put some fuel and/or weapons in it. The Streak Eagle, stripped of just about anything non-essential, weighed somewhere around 25,000 lbs dry and had 50,000 lbs thrust. A 2:1 ratio before adding the minimum amount of fuel needed for the climb attempts. The Raptor's F119 engine is quite advanced and supposedly generates quite a lot more thrust the faster it goes - even more-so than the 4th gen fighter aircraft engines it replaces, but from a standing start into a pure vertical position, without a chance to accelerate, it's likely that a "stock" Raptor would not outperform a lightly loaded Eagle, purely from a physics standpoint. Lower thrust to weight ratio. In our forthcoming premium model we have already incorporated a more aggressive engine output as the aircraft accelerates, especially at higher altitude and as it approaches transonic speeds, where its engine is performance optimized. The acceleration rates from M0.8 to M2.0 will be eye-watering and it will handily outperform some of the Streak Eagle records into the very high altitudes (above 50,000 feet).
topmachstudios 12 hour(s) ago
The aircraft (like almost all modern fighter aircraft) has a maximum airspeed at any altitude of 800 KIAS - this corresponds to the maximum safe amount of air pressure against the aircraft surfaces. At sea level this is approximately Mach 1.2. At 40,000 feet this is well above the safe Mach operating limit of the aircraft. None of the world's fighter aircraft can safely go Mach 2 at sea level (or even close to this). Would recommend you do a little studying up on aircraft flight physics and speed measurements. Additionally the "scrubbing" of speed is happening because as you go higher in the atmosphere the indicated or calibrated airspeed will decrease relative to the true airspeed. At sea level, 800 KIAS is approx. M1.2. At 40,000 feet it's well over M2.5 so you will see a reduction in KIAS measurement for a given Mach number. Even if the Mach number is increasing as you climb, you will likely see a reduction in the reported airspeed on the gauge. Would recommend you watch the Mach number and not the KIAS to determine if the plane is "scrubbing" speed.
misterpilot
hi, can somebody help because I'm using the latest version of this aircraft, and flying it is superb. However, at night when I tried turning on all my lights, it doesn't work, like it's dark, no landing lights, strobe, nav, the floodlights are not working as well. Is there something I am missing?
topmachstudios 2 day(s) ago
Let’s check the obvious first. Did you try to turn on the lights using the “L” key? If so, that won’t work. You’ll need to enable the lighting by using the appropriate controls in the cockpit. If that’s not the issue then let us know.
misterpilot 2 day(s) ago
I've been turning on the lights via the controls in the cockpit and it's still not working. Please help, it would be a bummer if I can't use the important functions of this aircraft.
topmachstudios 1 day(s) ago
Took a look and we're confirming lights don't work in 1.1.0. We'll get a fix out soon. Thank you for the bug report!
kahngrotbo 12 hour(s) ago
Evan forgot to include the effects file in the updated version. I already messaged him to let him know so I am sure there will be a fix soon. If you know how to do it, you can download a previous version and copy the effects folder into the main folder where the html_ui folder is (do not put it in the folder but the same folder where you see the html_ui folder) Then you have to edit the manifest file or the sim will crash when loading. If you do not know how to do this I would not recommend attempting it.
kahngrotbo 12 hour(s) ago
Scratch my comment, there was a fix released to address the lights that I did not notice.
topmachstudios 12 hour(s) ago
Yep. Dakfly here. I updated the missing lighting effects for 1.1.1. Sorry for the inconvenience.
flash132
How much will the premium edition aircraft cost?
topmachstudios 2 day(s) ago
We haven’t finalized this, but it will be reasonably priced and in-line with similar quality military aviation aircraft products currently available for MSFS 2020.
flash132 2 day(s) ago
please make it 20$ or less
Mentosbandit1 2 day(s) ago
if its top quality i wouldn't mind paying 40$ for it
flash132 1 day(s) ago
Well I do...
CaptainAS007
Looking forward to the payware version. I have always thought in my mind that this freeware version is worth paying for! I can't wait to get the payware when it come out!!
topmachstudios 3 day(s) ago
We're excited to get it released so the flight sim community can start enjoying it. Lots of blood sweat and tears have / are going into it so we hope our labor of love is well appreciated.
musicmaker7
This is nicer than most payware, I can't wait for the premium one!!
pikachule1
Weird things happened when I run the latest version (1.1.0). The plane sometimes vibrates and inches forward all by itself in the hangar. When flying, it randomly applies right rudder all by itself too. The problem disappears when flying other airplanes and reappears when loading the F22. Hardware is Thrustmaster T16000M.
topmachstudios 7 day(s) ago
Can you verify that you have all assistance options set to hard/ true to life?
timothyj67
Is there a paintkit for this?
topmachstudios 7 day(s) ago
There is not a paint kit available for this model.
FlightNight81
First of all, this is the most impressive military aircraft mod available for the sim. I love it! I just have one little problem at the moment: The green HUD isn't centered anymore. It's shifted to the top so that half of it is cut off.
topmachstudios 9 day(s) ago
Please re-install clean, removing prior version/installation, and redownloading to ensure you don't have corrupted files. Also, please check that you haven't made any prior adjustments to the mod for the camera / eyepoint that you have retained. And also check in the general options camera menus as there is a default camera position - if you have adjusted this (height and horizontal position) in the past you may have an eyepoint set at the wrong position and the HUD will not appear to be centered.
FlightNight81 9 day(s) ago
Hi, that was it indeed! I had my camera moved about 20 clicks to the top. I was surprised, though, since I had this setting since the beginning and it never caused any problems. Maybe there is a way to fix this? I'd really prefer to have my camera a bit above the default settings vertically, to be honest.
HypePerformanceGroup
Can't wait to see what you guys do next!
-Steve
redheronde
hahah awesome. just downloaded 3min ago. Glad i didnt start the sim yet. 😊 youre fantastic!
topmachstudios
We’re aware of the throttle slider issue on peripheral controllers. It’s a new “feature” / “bug” introduced with the SU7 patch. We are working on a fix and testing. An update should be available in the next couple of days or sooner.
Accutedd
1/10 update works well. Thanks much !
Greenranger
Throttle slider doesn't work with the latest version. I am using a Logitech extreme 3d pro.
Other than that this plane is awesome!
cfhangar18
congratulations. what a fantastic job.
nevertheless I have a bug with the joystick slider: the throttle is stuck in minimal position. I have the same bug with an other aircraft add-on. so it is maybe due to SU7. the throttle can be handled with the keyboard keys as a bypass.
topmachstudios 12 day(s) ago
try setting throttle to throttle 1 axis instead of throttle axis. We've seen this bug reported for some other add-on aircraft models. We'll look into it, but it's clearly a bug introduced by the SU7 patch.
pikachule1
Thanks for version 1.09!
Problem is, my Thrustmaster T16000M Throttle doesn't seem to be recognized by the latest version. It is recognized by MSFS 2020 and works fine with other airplanes, but as soon as the F22 is loaded, it no longer works. It works fine again when switching back to an other airplanes.
Sgt_marc
HUD is dead 😥
topmachstudios 13 day(s) ago
Download version 1.0.9 and replace the prior version.
Sgt_marc 13 day(s) ago
Thank you !!
ponny2oo2
When is the afterburner going to be added?
topmachstudios 13 day(s) ago
Will be added in the premium version.
ponny2oo2 13 day(s) ago
Yes sir, great MOD
Mat11 13 day(s) ago
Its technically already implemented into the engines however the visual effects are not. You can see in the engine configuration file that the afterburner available option is set to 6 I believe. That means that there are 6 levels of afterburners. If you look at the fuel consumption towards the right when you are at high throttle levels and you simply move your throttle up and down, you will see that it goes up and down in increments of 6. All in all I do still wish for visual afterburner effects. It would be such a pleasure to have them.
ponny2oo2 13 day(s) ago
The visual is the thing we all want