New FSXBA Hornet

[jimi08]

Az/Pat,

Did you friend install the aircraft via the auto-installer or manually?  My first hunch is that all of the effects for the aircraft might not have installed correctly.  Please ask him to verify that all of the effects were installed in the right location.

-Jimi

[PhantomTweak]

Thanks guys for the quick responses!

My first hunch is that all of the effects for the aircraft might not have installed correctly.

That was my first guess too. As soon as I can get a hold of him again I'll ask. His PM cache is full so I can't send him any messages atm, but I will

Thanks again, all! I'll let you know as soon as do what's going on...
Pat☺

[RagingBlue]

Back again with another question for Jimi! Any timeline of when you will release the full version of the plane you let me try out? I absolutely loved the way it handled!

Thanks again!

[jimi08]

Blue,

Soon!  Thanks to the help of a few great people, we've been able to make some great strides in the project to include the following:
-Updated and corrected FCS to allow better flight handling (similar to the last one I provided you)

-Finally able to get the Payload Manager to work for both TACPACK and Non-TACPACK users!  You can now customize the way you want to load up your jet in regards to bombs missiles and rockets!  Keep in mind though that you will still need TACPACK to actually fire/drop ordnance from the aircraft.  Same goes for weight and drag values. 
This is good because it will:
     -Significantly reduce the amount of variants that will be needed for installation and thus quicken the selection process when selecting the aircraft from the aircraft menu.
     -Decrease the overall file size.
     -Make actions such as adding new textures to the aircraft easier, since you would only have to complete the action once instead of for each variant.

-Fixed a couple of issues such as:
     -Wing fold issue where only one wing would fold.
     -Pilot head issue where the pilot's head would be rotated 90 degs to the left and seen through the helmet.
     -UA/PA FCS issues where controllability was degraded when transitioning between PA to UA.

-Few things we are still working on before next public release:
     -Re-integrate TACPACK functionality.  I have to adjust some of the coding due to the new Payload Manager structure.
     -Updated aircraft manual.

With all things said, shooting for a June release.

Thanks for the inquiry!

-Jimi

[RagingBlue]

Fantastic, I love all the work you and however many others have put into the planes so far

[marte21]

Jimi, have you been able to solve the boresight only problem for AIM120?

Thank you!

[jimi08]

Jimi, have you been able to solve the boresight only problem for AIM120?

No, not as of this time.

[Azframer]

Jimi I ran across the FA-18C_FSXBA_BA_17.1.20_Test and downloaded and did some flying with it and I love it. High-speed low-speed low altitude high altitude was great all over. I like it more than I did the last test plane, it is harder to get above the speed of sound though. 8 Aim 120's and 2 sidewinders, I thought I had seen you say loadout's don't matter in performance, so I wonder why the struggle to get that speed?

Rick

[PhantomTweak]

Hi Rick!
Hope things are well with you

As to the plane going above Mach: Actually, the different loadouts DO have different drag indices, and weights in the correct positions. So yeah, a bird with that missile load would have more trouble getting above Mach, than say a Training loadout, or a clean one, all else being equal.

Does that help?
Pat☺

[Johan]

Hi Pat,

I know it is still a beta version, but do you have the link to download the latest version 17.1.20? It looks like Jimi's site is still there to load version 16 which I have been enjoying immensely.
Thank you for all the work of Jimi's team.

Johan

[ctec1]

Gentleman,

Quick question regarding the FSXBA Hornet and P3DV4. I've tried using the Hornet in P3dV4 but to no avail. I'm getting a FCS FAIL error across the HUD and no MFD's display. I know that the FSXBA hornet requires the original fsx FA-18.dll file to operate. I have installed it but still no luck. I'm no programmer but my guess is that dll is 32 bit. So my question is, if it is 32 bit can it be recompiled to 64 bit without the original source code?  Better yet, is there any hope of seeing the FSXBA Hornet in P3DV4?

Paddles mentioned on his blog that he thought getting vLSO working in P3DV4 was doable but would take some work. Would be a shame to have vLSO without the Hornet.

I'll sit back and hope for some good news from you guys. \
Thanks

[PhantomTweak]

I am anything but a programmer, especially .dll's. I have no idea how difficult it would be to recompile the Hornet_FCS.dll for 64 bit, or if it's even necessary.
A suggestion, though, if I may be so bold: The Hornet_FCS.dll included in the v16.1 package is a relatively new one, updated by Orion. Try installing it into the correct location, instead of the older, "original" Hornet_FCS.dll from when FSX Acceleration first came out. As far as I know, the auto-installer will install the newer version into the correct location for you. If not, you can point the auto-installer to an empty "Temp" folder, let it install everything, then place the .dll manually.
Also, something I always double check on: The auto-installer will install the correct  Microsoft C++ Redistributable 2015, if you let it, and you absolutely must. It does this after it's installed the rest of the plane. Sometimes, the installer for the Redistributable can take a while. It can appear to be frozen, or locked up. It is NOT. Just let it run. it can take up to 15 minutes or longer. Just let it go until it's finished.
This is required to get the HUD and FCS to function at all, let alone correctly, as much as the .dll is.

Honestly, Orion is the "expert" at all things programming. I'm sure he will ring in eventually on all this. Just give him time
Hope this all helps a little...
Pat☺

[jimi08]

Ctec1,

Yes, there are a few issues here in regards to P3Dv4 and FS World since they both have been coded for 64bit.  One dealing with the FCS coding (Hornet_FCS.dll), and the other dealing with FSDreamTeam's coding (FA-18.dll) that comes with the Acceleration Hornet.

The Hornet_FCS.dll is what is used by the FSXBA Hornet to control the jet's control surfaces to the specifications that we've programmed, while the FA-18.dll provides avionic functionality to our jet.

Updating/recompiling the Hornet_FCS.dll to 64 bit is doable.  Trying to work with ORION to get that accomplished. 

As for the FA-18.dll, that's a whole different and frustrating beast altogether.  My attempts to get anything done with the file in recent history, has resulted in a constant ping-pong game between FSDreamTeam (the company that created the original gauge), Microsoft (the company that bought the code) and Dovetail (the company that brought the rights from Microsoft to redistribute the code).  As it sits, no one seems to want to play ball on releasing, updating or recompiling the dll for 64 bit (as far as I know).  The only other option for avionics is to redo the avionics for the jet ourselves, and due to the limited amount of experience of those currently working on the jet, this might take some time.  Especially considered that they are doing it for free.

Speaking of which, if any of your know anyone that is available to doing some avionics coding, please send them our way.  Definitely could use some help in this area!

Well there you have it, not really any good news, but its news none-the-less.

-Jimi

[virtuali]

My attempts to get anything done with the file in recent history, has resulted in a constant ping-pong game between FSDreamTeam (the company that created the original gauge), Microsoft (the company that bought the code) and Dovetail (the company that brought the rights from Microsoft to redistribute the code). 

Please exclude us from the "ping-pong".

We never had any rights to the F/A-18 source code, because we did a work-for-hire for Microsoft so, they always had the rights to it from day one. Which means, is totally useless keep asking for the code to be released here, because we are not in any position to do so.

So, Microsoft surely has the rights to the F/A-18 source code. We cannot possibly know if Dovetail has the same rights because, while they surely have the rights to sell the *binary* code (since the F/A-18 is included with FSX:SE), we don't know if they have the rights to the *source* code, considering it's not included in Flight Sim World.

And, we don't even know if the only other company which has bought the rights to the FSX source code, which is Lockheed Martin, could have the rights for the F/A-18 as well, but decided not to include it in P3D, because the real plane is made by their competitor, MD/Boeing. Well, at least in this case, I might try to ask them, but of course they would have no obligations to reply or disclose details of the contract with Microsoft.

[ctec1]

Gentleman,

Thanks for the responses. I had a pretty good idea of what the answers would be. I guess I'll just keep my P3DV3 install intact just for the Hornet. Regardless of whatever happens in the future, I just got to say "Thanks" to all involved for the work you've done. The Hornet paired with vLSO , AICarriers and the Nimitz has been a blast.