TCWDT Hellcat FSX Conversion

[gavinc]

A new entry has been added to Add-Ons Library, category FSX Military Props

Description: Conversion package of the FS9 payware Grumman Hellcat from The Classic Warbirds Design Team. Thanks to TCWDT for allowing me to do this conversion.
Complete package with native FSX models. External stores displayed when appropriate weights are set.

To check it out, rate it or add comments, visit TCWDT Hellcat FSX Conversion
The comments you make there will appear in the posts below.

 

[Mike71]

Some may be happy to know that these seem to work perfectly in P3D4.5; I surmise therefore, versions lower as well. Limited testing, but so far no problems --

Thanks for the hard work!!

 

[K5083]

This plane is awesome! Thank you so much for posting this conversion. I can confirm that it works great in P3dv4.5. In addition, several skin packs that Brian Hill posted to the avsim site back in 2007, done for the FS9 version, work fine on this model in P3Dv4, so that gives you lots of paint options.

Having taken it for a spin, I think the flight model feels more authentic than the Vertigo F6F.

The virtual cockpit, for some reason, is a bit of a frame rate killer on my setup. My P3D is pegged at my limit of 30 fps almost all the time, but it drops into the teens in this plane when I look down at the instruments and pedals. As long as I look out the window, I'm okay.

The one other odd thing about the plane in P3D is that there is a weird blue light from inside the engine cowling illuminating the engine, exhaust ports, and part of the front of the plane. After looking at the aircraft.cfg, I think this is the exhaust flame effect, which I guess doesn't translate from FSX to P3Dv4, and which is embedded in the mdl file so we can't turn it off. No big deal, I can live with it for the sake of having this nice plane.

August

 

[K5083]

Update on the exhaust flame issue in P3dv4. After experimentation, I've concluded that the frame rate loss is linked to the exhaust flame effect. The blue glow intensifies at higher throttle settings and engine temps. The pic below shows what it looks like at full throttle. The stronger the blue glow, the greater the impact on frame rates when you are looking toward the engine in the VC, even though you can't see the effect from there. At idle, the blue glow almost disappears, and frame rates are back to normal as well.

Interested whether other P3D users are also seeing this.

August

 

[Mike71]

Agree -I see the same in 4.5 with a good computer i7, GTX970 card. Frame rates restore once zooming away from a close up view that has these exhaust effects concentrated in it. No big deal for me.

 

[K5083]

I can live with it too.

I thought I would be clever and comment out the "CWDT_Hellcat!ExhaustFlame_V2" gauge in the panel.cfg, but it doesn't help. Judging by the xml, that gauge just operates the "taxi lights" via engine parameters, so I guess lights up the tarmac nearby based on the exhaust flame.

The only other tuning I have done on my bird so far has been to add a tailwheel_lock=1 line to the aircraft.cfg and get rid of the gunsight reticle by deleting the Reflector_glass texture.

August

 

[K5083]

Update: Well, I decided I couldn't live with the blue glow. So I hex edited the mdl files a little and turned the flame effects off. It's not easy to make constructive changes by hacking an mdl, but it is easy to break stuff. So now I have no blue glow and no frame rate drop in P3Dv4. The plane is now perfect as far as I'm concerned!

August