• There seems to be an uptick in Political comments in recent months. Those of us who are long time members of the site know that Political and Religious content has been banned for years. Nothing has changed. Please leave all political and religious comments out of the forums.

    If you recently joined the forums you were not presented with this restriction in the terms of service. This was due to a conversion error when we went from vBulletin to Xenforo. We have updated our terms of service to reflect these corrections.

    Please note any post refering to a politician will be considered political even if it is intended to be humor. Our experience is these topics have a way of dividing the forums and causing deep resentment among members. It is a poison to the community. We appreciate compliance with the rules.

    The Staff of SOH

  • Server side Maintenance is done. We still have an update to the forum software to run but that one will have to wait for a better time.

Dcs f/a-18c

The Data Link (D/L) Situational Awareness (SA) page and new radar functions are making steady progress, so I thought I’d make another little update using images. This all very much work in progress and subject to change.
The first image shows the radar format on the left DDI with Latent Track While Scan (LTWS) selected and the TDC hovering over a brick. The brick now displays the selected weapon Launch Acceptable Region (LAR) as well as target Mach (left of HAFU) and altitude in thousands of feet (right of HAFU). The next step would be to designate the target as the Launch and Steering (L&S) target and the ability to set a secondary Designated Target (DT2). Along with a hover over contact, you can get additional information up to three contacts in LTWS mode. With MSI enabled, you’ll also then have D/L information available. Once LTWS is done, then we’ll take care of Track While Scan (TWS) mode.
On the right DDI is the SA page five unknown contacts at the top of the page., They are yellow because they have no ownship IFF interrogation (hover over contact and depress sensor hat switch to interrogate). The staple at the top of the HAFU indicates the player has no IFF on a target, but the lower chevrons indicate friendly donor aircraft (F/F) have set the targets as hostile. Once both the player interrogates the contact and comes back negative, then the HAFU would change to red and be a diamond. In this way, the color and top and bottom of the HAFU tell you a lot about the classification of the contact.
Remember: staple = unknown, chevron = hostile, and semi-circle = friendly. Yellow = unknown, red = hostile, and green = friendly based on ownship.
In the second image the left DDI now shows a target locked in STT with Non-Cooperative Target Recognition (NCTR) enabled. A successful NCTR print of the target depends on range and aspect angle into the intakes of the contact.
On the right DDI we see that the target is identified as an IL-76 and the star HAFU indicates the STT L&S track. It is yellow because no ownship IFF interrogation has been made. Because the radar is in STT, it is not scanning for other targets. As such, all other contacts on the SA page are from F/F and SURV sources over the D/L. The smaller red triangles are SURV tracks from an AWACS that only the AWACS is seeing. The red lower chevrons with the dot is from a friendly donor (F/F) source.

  • Wags
2560×1440 612 KB


2560×1440 607 KB


 
A new datalink / SA page element was added today to support for SAM threat zones. These are determined before hand and are static indications based on Mission Editor settings. If the unit is hidden it will not appear on the SA display, if it is not hidden, it will display. Just like the real system, this is NOT a dynamic indication based on RWR or any sensors. It simply alerts the pilot of a reported SAM threat that was entered in the mission file before they even took off.

  • Wags
2560×1440 537 KB





​
 

***mini update***

"Hey everyone,As mentioned in earlier posts, we are at work on a detailed Aircraft Settings capability through the Options, F/A-18C, Special Tab. This consists of two primary elements: Aircraft Systems and Mission Card. Both will allow you to pre-configure the Hornet before flight in both single and multiplayer. As such, you would be able to setup your own aircraft defaults.
Aircraft Systems include all functions that are NOT specific to mission (.miz) file or Mission Computer settings. This includes such items as lights, bingo fuel, various cockpit switches, altimeter, etc. In this way, you can have your aircraft setup just that way YOU want it.
The Mission Card allows you to set up software options for all missions that includes such items as radar settings, countermeasures, AG weapon programs, and navigation settings.
The third element of mission configuration MUST apply directly to the specific mission file or there will conflict between Aircraft Settings and the mission file… these are the waypoint settings. As always, a mission is created with a set of waypoints and properties when the mission is created by the mission designer. For the Hornet though, we are greatly adapting this to account for a much more realistic Hornet waypoint system that accounts for up to 60 waypoints in the database, of which waypoints can be assigned properties of sequence 1, sequence 2, sequence 3, initial point, A/A waypoint, Pre-Planned (PP), or Pre-Briefed (PB). In the Mission Planner, the player would be able to then adjust these if desired on a per-mission basis. We are also looking to making the Mission Planner available in multiplayer.
This will also include a new waypoint user interface that we’ll share a bit later once it is more solid.
This is all deep in development and very much subject to change. We have no release time frame in mind yet… it will be released to an Open Beta once we feel it’s ready.

 

***mini update***

"I’ll be talking about this much more in the next week or two, but basic JDAM is coming along well. Here is an image of the JDAM in Target Of Opportunity (TOO) mode. This will be in addition to the Pre-Planned (PP) mode. Once the the basic modes are in, we will add the dynamic launch zone indications on the HUD and HSI.In the meantime, we are shooting for (not a promise) D/L SA page and HARM TOO mode for 27 February.
In parallel, LTWS, Aircraft/Mission Card, and wake turbulence are all progressing well.
I will be away for the next week, so there will be no new updates until next week.

  • Wags
2560×1440 537 KB


 

***Mini Update***

"Hey everyone,

After talking with the team today, I’m afraid that we’ll have to push the JDAM back a bit for several reasons:

  • Still some issues to resolve in the flight dynamics and auto-pilot when the bomb is released near or at maximum range.
  • We need more time to test.
  • We need to ensure that this new code will not break any 3rd party aircraft.

We will though still have an Open Beta tomorrow that will include LTWS and other elements.
While we are all disappointed that we can release the JDAM tomorrow, there is just too high a chance of it causing significant DCS-wide problems. If all looks good, we plan to release the JDAM in an Open Bea on 10 April 2019.

In a related matter, we will be moving Hornet updates to a monthly event, rather than generally every two weeks. We simply need more time for proper testing to avoid bugs, break other products, and avoid the need for hot fixes. While waiting is always hard to do, this will ultimately provide a more stable and solid product.

Thanks
 

***Mini update***

"Hey everyone,

While not strictly Hornet news but certainly related, the improved carrier environment is moving ahead quickly:

1- The new Nimtiz-class aircraft carrier is nearing an early access release. There are a few items to first clean up like deck weathering, the bow catapult controller bubble, and elevator rails, but it's coming along great. Once a bit further along, GA will make a spectacular video and we'll discuss the features in greater detail. Once this is done, we'll return to the Kuznetsov and then the Burke.

2- The deck crew animation for the bow cats is about done, and work has started on the waist cat launch animations for deck crew. This will also be using our new skeletal animation system.

3- CASE I radio communications are now working and being tuned. Once that is done, CASE II and III will be coded. All voice over lines for pilot, marshal, tower, approach, LSO, and departure have been recorded with several authentic personalities.

Our goal is to create the most realistic carrier environment ever done for a PC (entertainment and commercial). All in all, the carrier environment is going to be quite cool!

Thanks

- Wags
 

****MINI***UPDATE****


"[FONT=&quot]Hey everyone,[/FONT][FONT=&quot]A little update on the Hornet… as mentioned before, much of the Hornet team’s time is focused on the targeting pod, JSOW, MSI for LTWS, tuning of JDAM and JSOW flight profile and autopilots, and a deep dive on the INS and GPS navigation systems. We are also working on the HARM guidance system in cases where the seeker loses track (it is currently re-targeting to a different emitter, whereas it should continue along the bearing to the assigned target). All these tasks are rather involved and not low-hanging fruit that can be coded quickly. Earlier, we focused on tasks with faster turnarounds, but these current tasks are taking longer. Development of the Hornet has certainly NOT slowed down, rather, it’s simply shifted to tasks with longer development periods.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]We expect to have the JSOW, BRU-55A/A, and MSI for LTWS available later this month, and the targeting pod will start internal testing later this month, with a planned release in June.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]- Wags"[/FONT]
 

***mini**update**new carrier**news**
"This is a work-in-progress test of the new carrier radio communications in regards to CASE I recovery in non-carrier qualification (CQ) conditions. Three approaches are made with differnet number of aircraft in flight and weather conditions.

Not-OK approaches where made to test different LSO responses.

Although this is demonstrated for the Hornet, voice-over lines have been recorded to account for all US carrier aircraft types.

Implementation of Case II and Case III is also in progress."

<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, geneva, lucida, "lucida grande", arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px; background-color: rgb(206, 213, 228);">[video=youtube;llLNMjgLCYU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=617&v=llLNMjgLCYU[/video]
 

***Mini Update***

"Hey everyone,A little update is in order. As most of you know by now, we had to push back OB 2.5.5 to next week in order to give a 3rd party more time to update their code to the new branch (no need to name names). As such, 2.5.5 is slated for 5 June and will include AGM-154A and C. I plan an introduction video this weekend to get you up to speed.
As noted earlier, the Litening targeting pod went into internal test at the of this month and we are currently on track to release it to you in June. We still first release on station 5, but later add option for the cheek station.
The team has also been busy improving the D/L, working on MSI for LTWS, working on Harpoon integration, fixed the HARM seeker when lock is lost, waypoint PRECISE mode, returning to work on the EW page, and implementing the MIDS page. The Hornet guys have been quite busy.
Thanks

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top