Turbines Gauges and CFS2

[dvslats]

Hi all,
It’s been a while since I have posted here. Looks like the ol’ place is still kicking out some really nice goodies. Congrats and salute to the creative who still find ways to keep this sim spruced.

I was reading the thread by Col_Wolf about his turbine questions and it reminded me of an old project that fell by the wayside. A conversion of an F-4.

What stalled it was an issue I had locating gauges for the panel. Engine monitoring gauges ie, fuel flow , exhaust gas temp, and believe it or not, a fuel quantity indicator. 1 and 2 types because of the twin turbines.

I also prefer the spooling up start sequence type air file, but it seems the gauges I did try were a no go because of this type of air file and cfg.

So my main question is has anyone here had any luck with this issue? Something stored away on CD or backup hard drive.

Thanks In Advance, Dave

 

[Fibber]

Dvslats........

I am not a guru but rather a squirrrel. I recently,suffering cabin fever and in a fit of boredom, spent some time hunting out just about every gauge I could possible find through the various sims that might pertain to CFS2. I did find that there are several gauges that have a "fsd..r4.."heading. Also that Mike Hambly and Skysound soundworks have some F4 sounds available. I don't have the plane (yet!) but they might be some help. Also, had some sounds for a E3c around here somewhere with a panel graciuosly forwarded to me by a member. That plane I do fly and it sounds and looks great!

 

[bearcat241]

DV, attached is something of interest perhaps....

 

[dvslats]

Hey Fibber and BC,

After I looked in BC's zip Fibber it seems that these will pretty much cover what I was searching for.

Thanks BC.

Time for a little experimentation.

 

[bearcat241]

You're welcome

 

[dvslats]

Finally!

Hi Guys,

Well I couldn't get all of your gauge to function BC. The exhaust nozzle and fuel are fine. Every little bit helps.

But I did manage to use the Concorde gauge for EGT and FF. They did not work initially, so I downloaded the fs2000_std_update2b which has this gauge file in it.
Another little item discovered was in the panel .cfg format. Concorde gauge shows only one Concorde!EGT, and also one Concorde!Fuel-Flow in cfg.edit.
To have them assigned to turbine 1 & 2 these red entries must be added to the panel.cfg manually.

gauge24=Concorde!EGT, 624,553,39,38,1
gauge25=Concorde!EGT, 669,554,39,38,2
gauge26=Concorde!Fuel-Flow, 624,472,39,38,1
gauge27=Concorde!Fuel-Flow, 668,471,39,38,2

Viola! separated per turbine. I never knew this But I do now.

So it looks like things are rolling again.
The Concorde gauge are a nasty color but I think Gauge_bmp should help.
Lots of things to do yet....loose nuts and bolts to clean up.

Btw, here some shots of what the conversion is. The Virtavia F-4J. Marines.

View attachment 4127

And a panel pic, 1680 x 1050.

View attachment 4128

Cheers All, Dave

 

[kelticheart]

I put my paws on them!

DV, attached is something of interest perhaps....

I got 'em, too! These will be great on my Vietnam install, fair distance future project of mine.

Thank you, BC!
KH

 

[bearcat241]

Well I couldn't get all of your gauge to function BC. The exhaust nozzle and fuel are fine. Every little bit helps.

Sorry to hear of your trouble with the gauges Dave. I've had no trouble with them over the years...oh well.

Meanwhile, you inspired me to play that Phantom myself. Here's my USS Coral Sea CAG mount with panel.

 

[bearcat241]

 

[dvslats]

Sweet bearcat. J These are some nice looking F-4s. Poly’s up the ying yang but I’m not worried about that. Still nice for a Sunday morning drive with a wingman and an initial point.

Yeah, the gauges. I know it’s something in the air file that I stole from another. And man…I suk at air files. Too cryptic and I’ve little experience with them. Maybe I’ll take the dive and get the airwrench.

Btw, have you had any success animating the spoilerons? I’ve activated them in the air file but now the air brake (Spoilers) move along in unison with them. In a way I guess that makes sense.

If not probably one of them will have to go. I’m thinking this is why lever stick l & r were added to the mdls. Some old fs 98 planes will show this just fine in CFS2. But as I have been reading, they were animated with abucus aircraft animator. That’s a completely different mdl format. I realize mdlc was not set up for the earlier type fsds.

Thanks, Dv

 

[bearcat241]

Haven't started on the spoilerons yet. I wanted to get all the key components done first, i.e. panel, flight dynamics, dp, etc., which can be applied across the board to all the models in the package. Regarding the spoilerons, as you've seen, the air file is definitely not the way to go. Its gonna be a scasm job, since the animation link to the ailerons was lost in the conversion. The trick here is to locate the spoilerons in the scasm file and reconnect them to the aileron animation so the two work in sync. The RIO's canopy also needs re-animation as well...no prob. They're such awesome models up close and its just plain fun to fly at Mach 2 in this sim

 

[dvslats]

Hi bearcat,

Here's some info from an older post by Moparmike answering a similar question regarding gauges.

(By Moparmike)
It usually happens with FS98-gauges being used with an FS2000&up-airfile, or vice versa. It also may be due to some missing sections from the airfile.

Fs98 airfiles use a different type of "engine" in the airfile...and some of the token variables that read the operating parameters are different...that's why some gauges work but some don't.


Open the airfile up and check to see which Section the engine is listed under.
Sec. 500 = FS98 piston engine (also used by CFS1 AI planes)
Sec. 600 = FS98 turbine engine (also used by CFS1 & CFS2 AI planes)
Sec. 505 = CFS1 and newer piston engine (FS2000, CFS2, FS2002)
Sec. 150? = FS2000 turbine (sorry, I'm not on an FS-equipped puter right now and I forget the exact numbers...there are several sections dealing with this type of engine.)

If you have an FS98-airfile, do some scrounging around for some old FS98 gauges and try it out.
Another alternative would be to sub in an FS2k airfile and see if the existing gauges work.
(End)

Just throwing it out here as a resource.

Dv

 

[bearcat241]

Good info DV...i'm sure it'll be useful down the road when i finally hit a WTF moment with one of Mike's gauges

 

[kelticheart]

Good info DV...i'm sure it'll be useful down the road when i finally hit a WTF moment with one of Mike's gauges

Do you mean that the above shots ARE CFS2? With the Tomcats parked on the carrier deck and everything else?

Total beauty, BC!

Cheers!
KH

 

[bearcat241]

Do you mean that the above shots ARE CFS2? With the Tomcats parked on the carrier deck and everything else? ...

Yeah, i know, how 'bout that?!...and check the Sundowners of VF111 here. The previous shots feature the Enterprise CVN-65. The ship in these shots is the Stennis CVN-74 with its deck crew:

 

[kelticheart]

Holy Phantoms.....

Weren't this a forum dedicated to CFS2, I would have thought those were shots taken from aviation history documentaries like Discovery Channel's "Wings" or "Great Planes"!!

Perhaps with a computer touchup of the colours.....

I imagine none of the above is freeware, both ships and aircrafts look too detailed and finely modelled to be simple hobbyists' products, for as beautiful as some freeware models are. Even the jet blast shield on the carrier deck raised!

Truly beautiful, it makes me feel there's still abundant room for improving CFS2! Thank you for posting them!

Cheers!
KH

 

[bearcat241]

I imagine none of the above is freeware, both ships and aircrafts look too detailed and finely modelled to be simple hobbyists' products, for as beautiful as some freeware models are. Even the jet blast shield on the carrier deck raised!

All freeware...the ships are native CFS2, but the jets are of course FS9 conversions from the Alphasim/Virtavia_F-4_Phantom_II_FS9 package of their freeware site.

 

[kelticheart]

And...

All freeware...the ships are native CFS2, but the jets are of course FS9 conversions from the Alphasim/Virtavia_F-4_Phantom_II_FS9 package of their freeware site.

... ...again!

Are those carriers available here at SOH? Even if I haven't put together a Vietnam install yet, I am collecting material for this future project.

I have aircrafts, choppers, weapons, SAM rockets, the C-47 and C-130 gunships, sceneries (I found lots o' them for FS8 at Avsim), troop figures and vehicles, but very few modern ships. I think I even have the above Alpha/Virtavia F-4B/C for FS9 stashed away, I would have never imagined it is so beautiful, since I never opened the pack!

The only two modern carriers I have moored at my docks are: VN's USS Midway and USS Coral Sea. Then, I have Shipyard's Korean War carriers, but those are not equipped with modern decks, just the straight WWII-era flight deck. Where should I look for the above beauties?

Please, do leave me a stinging curiosity: what key activates the jet blast shield on the deck before takeoff?

Cheers!
KH

 

[bearcat241]

The starboard blast shield is static. The port shield is down and the starbord is up. You have to taxi or slew into a position forward of it (slew is better). I can email you the ships if you like. Its easier than trying to remember where i got them from. A few years ago, i went on a shopping binge for proper carriers to compliment the fleets of my Modern install. Got tired of tooling around with the many static imports available with FS8 and FS9 - all nice to look at but as scenery objects they are useless in dynamic CFS2 mission building.

DV, i'm still working on the spoilerons for the Phantoms. It appears that scasming the mdls also wipes out all entries for the parts, so there's nothing there to edit. I'm gonna have to take a more creative approach as soon as i figure out what that will be.

 

[Blood_Hawk23]

Hey!!!

Ok we are talking about F-4s and we have no VF-84 paints...



The 70's and early 80's had the best paint and tail feathers.