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FSXBA Hornet

Yes, there's a new update in the pipe-line, but Jimi and team have a LOT of things to work out. ATM, they're concentrating on the TacPack system, and getting it fully integrated with the plane.

Jimi has also correct the COM and NAV radios to properly utilize ILS and TCN setups. Including the TCN and ILS for carriers.

I can't give any details, other than what Jimi posted, though. Suffice it to say, it will be a huge improvement to the entire plane. Including the FDE, Avionics systems, TacPack, the whole nine.
He's also included an auto-installer for both FSX/P3D v3, and P3D v4 and up. Should prevent the current confusion with what goes where when. :encouragement:

It will probably be finalized and released about the end of September/middle of October.

Have fun all!
Pat☺
 
Two-holer tweaks

So I've been playing with the v18.6 D model, where, for simplicity' sake, I simply dropped the A-G model into the main v18.3 C FSXBA folder.

I aliased to the C model panel, added the C model vc interior model to the D model's model folder / model.cfg.

The results:

  1. Model displays reasonably well.
  2. Canopy is not quite invisible, shows up like Skyhawk's, though not as nicely finished as the C.
  3. Weapons - most show up when shift+7, except for wing tanks. Those refuse to show up.
  4. But there's a funky code issue: as weapons are added, the air brake begins to extend; the more weapons are added, the more extends, to a max of approx. 30% extended.


Anyone else got this? I could live with the canopy and weapons issues, but the air brake is a bit of an issue. Any tips are greatly appreciated.

cheers,

dl
 
I'm fairly sure that'll be the drag gauge.
If you're familiar with using MCX you may be able to change the animation of air brake to the one that displays correctly. Presumably you'll also need to swap in the relevant air file entry's for the virtual air brake(weapons drag).
Not easy.
 
Essex said:
I'm fairly sure that'll be the drag gauge.
If you're familiar with using MCX you may be able to change the animation of air brake to the one that displays correctly. Presumably you'll also need to swap in the relevant air file entry's for the virtual air brake(weapons drag).
Not easy.
Click to expand...

Thanks Essex. Have never played with MCX, so not sure where to start. But I’ll go back to the D .air, since that’s about the only permutation of variables I’ve not yet tried.

Cheers.

DL
 
The reason for that drag gauge is to add drag to the aircraft as you add weapons and/or tanks. Weapons and tanks do add drag to the aircraft, depending on shape and size, and that's what it's simulating.
The actual speed brake shouldn't SHOW as being deployed until it's commanded open by the pilot. It won't deploy past 30° until commanded by the pilot with the / key. It will retract, if deployed by the pilot, under certain conditions. Like during the transition from UA to PA modes. It will remain deployed to a certain point relative to the weapons/tanks still loaded, however.
It shouldn't SHOW as deployed for weapons and tanks, though.

You can disable this feature by simply opening the Panel.cfg, in the Panel.Fleet folder, with NotePad. Make a back-up before you do ANY editing, naturally. Once it's open, look down through it till you find a section labeled [Vcockpit01]. Under that, look for two lines, in a section labeled //AVIONICS > WEAPONS, that read

gauge39=Avionics\Weapons!Dragmanagement, 0, 0, 1, 1
gauge40=Avionics\Weapons!BallastStation, 0, 0, 1, 1

Just comment them out by placing two slashes (//) in front of each line.
Save the file, close it out, and the weapons ill no longer add drag, or weight, to the plane as you add them with the SHFT+7 menu.

A small note about the SHFT+7 menu, BTW: BEFORE selecting any weapons, select GUNS ONLY, then go on the select the weapons you desire. It will ensure that the pylons show properly.

Hope this helps a little...
Pat☺
 
Thanks Pat,

There is no issue with the v18.3 C model. The question is how to adapt as much of that one's "guts" to the v18.6 D model.

I think I better understand what's going on. The drag effect uses a "virtual" airbrake input to introduce weapons drag that doesn't visibly show the actual airbrake moving on the C. When I port that functionality over to the D, that call to the airbrake is both virtual AND physical.

So my choices are either

1) to remove the drag realism by the panel edits you suggest, or
2) what I was originally trying, which is to modify the model to decouple the drag input from the virtual airbrake to the physical airbrake.

In pursuing 2), I mucked about with MDX last night - it kept crashing from low memory every 5 min or so, so didn't get too far in familiarizing myself with the tool. Specifically how to get the movement properties for that surface.

For now, I'll maybe just live with the drag feature removed, as I don't add a lot of weapons to the D.

If anything, I'd love to figure out how to change the canopy material to something that looks as good as the C canopy. That may be a simpler introduction into MDX.

I'll try the panel edits tonight and advise.

dl
 
Essex said:
Rob Barendregt pioneered this innovation on Dino's F-35,
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php/100895-Update-for-Dino-s-freeware-(V2-41)-F-35-package

I've just checked his air file edits, there's only one;
FIELD 0x1101 0x36 INT16 250 <36h> Spoiler Drag (Cd_ds)
instead of
FIELD 0x1101 0x36 INT16 122 <36h> Spoiler Drag (Cd_ds)

The animation reassignment in MCX looks relatively simple so I need to try these mods on something myself.
Click to expand...

Thanks - so are you saying I need to make the change to the .mdl in MCX and the .air file too? I've never edited one of those either. Is AirWrench the tool for that job? Will the freeware version work?

Am travelling at the moment - no access to my flightsim pc till later tonight.

thx,

dl
 
Hi, dl :)

If I were you, which I'm not, I would leave the .air file entries alone for now. Try just the model animations.

The speed brake controls and functions, as well as the automated retraction of same, and so on, are all controlled by xml files in the Panel.cfg. I don't know, yet, what the entries in the .air file are for, but I'll look and see.

If you don't have TacPack, I would either get it, all headaches adding missiles aside, or simply comment out the two gauges I pointed out. But really it was a lot of calculating and testing, and re-testing...and re-testing...:dizzy:
You get the idea. It wasn't easy getting the .air file right, and matched up to a) how the real plane actually flies, and b) the FCS' PID controller settings. There's another complete headache subject all on it's own.

I'm just trying to keep your copy of the plane flying as best it can. I'll take a look at those .air file entries and make sure I'm not talking out my tail-pipes. I would stick to the model file for right now, though. Can you maybe compare the animation to the C model model file? It might tell you why the D model animation doesn't work right with the TacPack files.

Speaking of, does the D model use the Panel.Fleet folder, or does it have it's own? You probably said something about it already, but I am getting senile, and forget easily. Have you tried using the Panel.Fleet folder for the D model's cockpit? It shouldn't show the speed brake extension until commanded by the pilot, regardless of the weapons load. Even the gauge Rob created has provisions in it to keep the speed brake from showing extension due to the weapons. That's what makes me wonder why the D model you've got does show it.

Just some thoughts. I get so very few of them...:indecisiveness:

Pat☺
 
PhantomTweak said:
Hi, dl :)

If I were you, which I'm not, I would leave the .air file entries alone for now. Try just the model animations.

The speed brake controls and functions, as well as the automated retraction of same, and so on, are all controlled by xml files in the Panel.cfg. I don't know, yet, what the entries in the .air file are for, but I'll look and see.

If you don't have TacPack, I would either get it, all headaches adding missiles aside, or simply comment out the two gauges I pointed out. But really it was a lot of calculating and testing, and re-testing...and re-testing...:dizzy:
You get the idea. It wasn't easy getting the .air file right, and matched up to a) how the real plane actually flies, and b) the FCS' PID controller settings. There's another complete headache subject all on it's own.

I'm just trying to keep your copy of the plane flying as best it can. I'll take a look at those .air file entries and make sure I'm not talking out my tail-pipes. I would stick to the model file for right now, though. Can you maybe compare the animation to the C model model file? It might tell you why the D model animation doesn't work right with the TacPack files.

Speaking of, does the D model use the Panel.Fleet folder, or does it have it's own? You probably said something about it already, but I am getting senile, and forget easily. Have you tried using the Panel.Fleet folder for the D model's cockpit? It shouldn't show the speed brake extension until commanded by the pilot, regardless of the weapons load. Even the gauge Rob created has provisions in it to keep the speed brake from showing extension due to the weapons. That's what makes me wonder why the D model you've got does show it.

Just some thoughts. I get so very few of them...:indecisiveness:

Pat☺
Click to expand...


Hi Pat,

Great input - thanks.

So we're clear, my C version works just fine.

My D model has the air brake issue. So as I mentioned earlier, I did exactly what you just described - I added the D model to the C aircraft folder, and pointed it to a copy of the latest C model panel.fleet (I called it "panel.fleet-D") and aliased the D fltsim panel entry to that, with that particular panel .cfg edited as per your suggestion. That left C fleet panel unaffected, and allowed my D to show correctly.

Now the air brake on the D stays closed unless commanded. So while aesthetically, that's sorted, I acknowledge that I've also now lost the aforementioned performance accuracy on the D. Unfortunately, given where my initial efforts with MDX led me, I concede I'm not able to address the problem correctly by figuring out how to disable the "physical" air brake response and only have the dynamic response. Basically to do for the D what Jimi et al did for the C.

I'm not giving up on MDX yet, I just think I need to explore a simpler problem to fix with MDX than the animation. For example, I'd like to see if I can change the D canopy texture to something a bit more accurate, glass-like. I'll see where that bit of exploration takes me and if I make meaningful progress, will advise.

Thanks so much to all.
 
delta_lima said:
Thanks - so are you saying I need to make the change to the .mdl in MCX and the .air file too? I've never edited one of those either. Is AirWrench the tool for that job?
Click to expand...

Yes, a recent development release of MCX for the MDL, AirEd or AirUpdate I assume are fine for the air file.

I totally accept that it's very easy to upset the delicate balance of a FDE with minimal effort, but I've got a couple of ideas how to experiment with this, perhaps have a look at the 18D also.
 
Essex said:
Yes, a recent development release of MCX for the MDL, AirEd or AirUpdate I assume are fine for the air file.

I totally accept that it's very easy to upset the delicate balance of a FDE with minimal effort, but I've got a couple of ideas how to experiment with this, perhaps have a look at the 18D also.
Click to expand...


When we stop innovating and improving on SOH - then we're dead in the water.

However, I have to say - with this particular bird - I think you'll genuinely struggle to make any improvement to the FDE. It is - how should one put it? - Aah yes...Perfect.

But go ahead - Damn it! - I'll fly it. Mind you. I'd fly a house brick if I could get reliable IAS from it.
 
Hi, guys!

Just a quick HU about the .air file: I looked at R1101 Line 20. The Cd_ds line. Spoiler drag. I used AAM v2.2. There's a note that reads thus: CAUTION: If CD_ds is set in REC 1540 too, this entry will be ignored
There's no R1540, so THAT's covered.

It also says: Maximum Cds = Cd_ds * Max_Defl(rad) Sec 320

No R320, either, however it will use the entry in the aircraft.cfg, the section [airplane_geometry], line spoiler_limit = 60.0 //Degrees . Notice that the line in the aircraft.cfg is in Degrees, but the formula requires radians.

Given the values involved, it wouldn't take much of a change to either value to have a pretty good effect.
I remember when we were working on setting the value of Cd_ds, it didn't take much of a change to have a rather hefty effect.

Just a quick note, to recommend caution when changing Cd_ds values. :encouragement:

A small note on testing things like this, too: If you use the Reload User Aircraft key combo, ensure ALL the AI traffic is totally off. All the sliders full left. If AI traffic is present when the Reload User Aircraft key combo is used to reload the aircraft to test a change, some of the .air file, Aircraft.cfg, Panel.cfg, etc may not be read, so the changes may or may not take effect. This means Aircraft, ships, road/airport traffic, all the AI.
If you absolutely must leave AI Traffic enabled, it's best to End Flight, exit all the way out to the Free Flight page, and reload the plane from there. Alternatively, go to the Select Aircraft menu on the top menu bar, select a totally different aircraft, like a C172, or whatever, allow it to load all the way, then select the test plane again.
No matter what method you choose, the trick is to ensure FSX dumps all the data from a particular plane, and reloads it fresh.

BTW: The original designer of the plane's model has been absent for several years now. Without being able to receive his permission, publishing any change to the model files is not legal.

Good fortune! I wish you all the best. :encouragement:

Pat☺
 
How to load Weps?

hi guys, How do I load weapons on the P3Dv4 version? I am using latest build of the FSXBA P3Dv4 version.
 
I'm not absolutely certain you need TacPack to see the weapons, but I think so.
If not, have you tried SHFT+7 to call up the Configurator? It's a small, 2D pop-up window, upper left side of the screen. It will have lines with little squares, showing what stations you can load that particular weapon onto.
Note: ALWAYS click on the Guns Only square FIRST, only then go on to select the weapons and fuel tanks you want. This ensures that the BRU pylons will show. If you don't, it will look like the weapons are floating along with the plane, a little below the wings, but not attached in any way.
Creepy! Ghost weapons! AHHHHHH!!!!! :rocket:

Hope this helps a little....
Pat☺
 
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