New FSXBA Hornet

[hd764jvgd843]

Just stumbled upon something:

When I created my NH mod back last year, I renamed panel.Fleet from FSXBA to panel and changed all paths accordingly (aircraft.cfg).

Now when I rename the folder 'panel' back to 'panel.Fleet' in my mod, without correcting the paths in aircraft.cfg, guess what, HUD will not work (as expected), but Shift+E, 3 suddenly works!? Engines are running and I can extend ladder, covers and blocks.

But when I adjust the paths in aircraft.cfg to 'panel.Fleet', so that the HUD will work again, guess what, Shift+E, 3 will not work anymore, but the HUD does again.

In order for Shift+E, 3 to work, does the plane need to be powered down? Are there any prerequisites I must follow? How do I shut down the engine manually? As I remember Ctrl+E starts them but I never powered them down.

The other way around it does not work, e.g. when renaming panel.Fleet to panel from original FSXBA, the aircraft does not even show up in order to be selected.

Any clues?

[Azframer]

All I can honestly answer is that once I did a carrier landing without shutting down engines and was able to deploy ladder with intakes covers. The rest I will not be any help on.

Rick

[Orion]

How do I shut down the engine manually? As I remember Ctrl+E starts them but I never powered them down.

By default Ctrl+Shift+F1 shuts engines down (by sending the MIXTURE_LEAN event).

[Ah-Menace]

Yea guys its tricky,I messed my folders up,but once I figure it back out I'll inform you guys.

[jimi08]

How do I shut down the engine manually? As I remember Ctrl+E starts them but I never powered them down.

By default Ctrl+Shift+F1 shuts engines down (by sending the MIXTURE_LEAN event).

You should also be able to shut them down by right-clicking on each throttle lever once they are at idle.

[hd764jvgd843]

Hi guys, I'd like to report that I found fixes to most of the issues encountered:

- Model C Training version, pilot looking always to the left: Sifting through prior FSXBA versions I found within version 2014.5, folder 'new stuff', a working model file where the pilot looks straight ahead.
- Shift+E, 3 (ladder, covers and blocks): I have got it working once, but don't yet know where it is triggered exactly. I am quite sure that the issue is located within folder 'Panel'. Will investigate further.
- Model D version, blue cockpit issue: Renaming/deleting CP_F18_4_N.dds will fix this issue but it will also mess with the canopy bump map. So instead of deleting, I found that blackening everything but the canopy texture achives the same result without causing further issues.
- Model D Clean/BA version, default lowered tailhook: This is caused by incompatibilities between the model file and the current tailhook.xml from folder Panel. Once an older xml file is used the issue is gone with this model file.

I'm going to release new NH C/D version mods including these fixes within the next days, so you can all have a look at it, if you want to. I will also separate the C from the D version model to simplify further modding and addressing of panel folder issues and customization of textures.

Peter

[hd764jvgd843]

Just found what is causing Shift+E, 3 not to work. It is caused by the Pirouette.xml in the FCS foler within the Panel folder.

I do not understand why that is, but once you rename the file Shift+E, 3 will trigger the ladder, blocks and covers as expected. Commenting 'gauge24' out from panel.cfg will also work, instead of renaming the xml file.

[hd764jvgd843]

I'd like to share some of the insights I gained over the last few weeks trying to improve flight dynamics of the legacy hornet.

1) Moments of inertia: In the current setting I think the roll_MOI is way to high. When stick input is released the bird tends to continue rolling for a short period of time. As a starting point I looked at the MOIs of different fsx fighter airplanes (F-15, F-16, FA-18E) and set them in relation to the aircraft empty weight. All of them showed significant lower roll MOI.

Here is what I've come up so far, and I like to suggest as new MOIs for the legacy Hornet:

empty_weight_pitch_MOI   = 115407
empty_weight_roll_MOI    =  24690
empty_weight_yaw_MOI     = 137376
empty_weight_coupled_MOI =  -1467

These will give much better roll authority, and facilitate exact maneuvers.

2) Pitch auto trim: In my efforts trying to adjust the empty weight CG position more backwards (-34.2ft) where it should be, I always ran into the problem that after these changes pitch auto trim would not stabilize/balance the aircraft at AOAs above seven degrees. As a solution, I found that introducing table 1534 (wing center of lift offset) into .air file and adjusting the longitudinal offset to any value that will balance/stabilize the aircraft (e.g. -4.7ft) will do the trick, and seems to work without having any side effects.

3) When trying to fine tune lift and drag I noticed that it is possible to set additional lift/drag/pitch _scalars for each Flaps.N section. These may help in fine tuning the bird. How to is described in the FSX/P3D Aircraft Configuration File (online documentation).

I hope you may find that information as useful as I did.

Best regards, Peter

[PhantomTweak]

3) When trying to fine tune lift and drag I noticed that it is possible to set additional lift/drag/pitch _scalars for each Flaps.N section. These may help in fine tuning the bird. How to is described in the FSX/P3D Aircraft Configuration File (online documentation).

I did a lot of work with this part of the aircraft.cfg file of Dino's F-14B and Team FS KBT FA-18F (both in FS-9) a few months back. Just for myself, and the fun of doing it. It really made a huge difference in how the plane reacts to the flaps. Bear in mind there isn't an flap extension automatic feature like in the FSXBA FA-18C, pretty much 1/2 or full is all there is. Although the F-14B does have the whole autosweep thing as part of the flaps settings. Additionally, in the Primary Aerodynamics section of hte air file (1101), there is two sections, the Drag and Lift parts, that interact with the mentioned lift and drag scalars in the flap sections of the aircraft.cfg file.
Once the interaction is properly balance between the .air file and the aircraft.cfg file, you get, as near as I can tell, a very much improved aircraft. You do have to be careful about overdoing the air file settings, as there can be secondary and tertiary (at least) effects of those sections, but if one is carefull...
I meant no offense to Dino or KBT, and will never upload my efforts any where, but it sure made those two planes a lOT more accurate on slow-speed/high AOA flight characteristics. For me. As near as I can tell.
I am not a pilot (any more) nor have I ever even gotten to sit in a '14 or '18, but I can read and interpret the information available on those birds, and from what I could tell, I made an improvement in a small part of the flight characteristics.

Just thought I'd offer my little bit of info...
Pat☺

[Dman]

Does anyone know exactly which files need to be installed to get Ahmenace updated cockpit textures..? The file pack seems to be everything, but it's not zipped...isn't it easier to install the few texture files needed?

Thank guys!

[PhantomTweak]

To get just the cockpit textures? No. Not a clue. And yes, it'd be easier if they were zipped. But they aren't. I just downloaded every file listed in "Texture" folder one at a time, put them into a  folder named, oddly enough, Texture, and then replaced the folder in whichever plane I wanted them in, entire. The latest version Peter came out with, airplane_v1.8.0_FA-18C_NH.7z and textures_v1.8.0_FA-18C_NH.7z, utilized them so doesn't need the main Texture folder replaced with AHMenace's ones, just so you know. I used in them in the 15.2, however, and they made a great improvement. In my opinion.
The only problems I found were that the gear and flap indicator lights, down on the lower left of the main instrument panel, stay on at night when the panel lights are lit. So does the Hook light, right above it's handle, and the Spin Recovery light above that, which should only come on when the Spin Recovery system is activated with it's switch. Not during the day, even with the panel lights on.
If that's the worst problems I can find with them, though, I'll live with them The crispness and clarity of the cockpit are worth it. My vision isn't the greatest any more, and every little bit helps, so if for nothing else, I heartily thank AHMenace for that.
Sorry I'm not a great deal of help, Dman, but that's the info I have. I have never messed with textures and painting, so I have to rely on others for this stuff. I play with Panel.cfg files, aircraft.cfg and .air files, but never done any textures. I just don't have the patience, I guess. Wish I could offer more.
Pat☺

[jimi08]

Finally got to check out the new cockpit textures.  AHMenace, Awesome work man.  They look great!  Thanks again.

BTW: Here is an updated version of the PROTOTYPE bird that is still a work in progress.  Still a lot of stuff to work on with it, but it's coming along.  Got AHMenace's cockpit textures in there as well.

Link:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3So3WwTLPRZODVvalVtbWdLM3M/view?usp=sharing

Happy hunting and thanks again!

-Jimi

[Orion]

Looks good.

[Ah-Menace]

Thanx Jimi!,and sorry fellas I didn't zip the textures but I will zip the Blues.

[jc005e]

Okay guys im still having problems with the autoflap feature.   So as i start the game and load in the f-18 , i hit the flap switch to full and nothing happends an then i switch back to auto and nothing still happends.  I go take off and retract the gears and flaps still wont go up.  i even done the oppisite and still nothing happends..    how do you get the auto flaps working correctly?    I accepted all the dlls and im up to date on my fsuipc.   The flaps will only work when i press the flap key on my joystick and that key assignment was removed.    When back into the flight and tried the flap switch agian and nothing happends. I dont understand why it wont work.