FSX Carrier Free-Flight

[Panther_99FS]

Is this possible - if so, what are the carrier's IDs:ques:

[Laughingterror]

No id you have to go and find them :) The locations are listed here somewhere.

[stovall]

Ed, I have uploaded five free flight carriers to SOH. The carrier I.D.'s are
CVNS in the US, CVNH in the US, CVNB in the United Kingdom, CVNP in Kuwait, and CVNY in Vietnam. Hope this is what you were looking for. You will need to downloan and install the scenery and use a utility to allow launch and capture.

Tom

[Killbilly]

Search for aicarriers1.zip at Avsim. It places moving carriers (with meatball, trapwires, and launch capability (the same carrier that's in the mission) and landable destroyers in several places throughout the world. It comes with a GoogleEarth .kml file that shows you the exact routes. I have been using it, and it's great!!

Here's a pic of the one that travels up and down the coast near San Francisco.

[Panther_99FS]

Alright,
Thanks folks! :applause:

[bluediamond]

Go to KNGU.Set local time to 11:30 a.m. and take off runway 28.You'll see two carriers off to your right side.The one with planes is a default carrier and the other is the Acceleration carrier


Michael

[samusi01]

The Norfolk based carrier schedule is as follows:

Departs Tuesdays 0330, runs down the coast 10-20 miles offshore, turns around near Wilmington, NC around 1445, and arrives Norfolk Wednesdays 0125
Departs Fridays 1540, turns around near Wilmington around 0240 Saturdays, and arrives back at Norfolk around 1325 Saturday


If you have the SDK installed, you can use the traffic map utility to find the carrier.


-Sam

[Butcherbird17]

Thanks for that info Sam. Was doing traps off the NC coast last night on the netwings server. Now i know the times, that will help even more.:applause:

Joe

[GypsyBaron]

Search for aicarriers1.zip at Avsim. It places moving carriers (with meatball, trapwires, and launch capability (the same carrier that's in the mission) and landable destroyers in several places throughout the world. It comes with a GoogleEarth .kml file that shows you the exact routes. I have been using it, and it's great!!

Here's a pic of the one that travels up and down the coast near San Francisco.

Another package by the same author and also available in
the avsim library is "aicarriers2.zip".

This one also uses the FSX enhanced carrier model and
lets you create a moving fleet at your current aircrafts
position. You use a dropdown menu on the menu bar to
select the fleet composition ( 1,2,3 carriers and various
escort combinations ) and the fleet will appear below you.

You can then further use the dropdown menu to change the fleets course
or just let it steam on while you make your approaches,
traps and re-launches.

Saves you the need to know where the default carriers
are located and it also lets you position them properly,
sailing into the wind, which greatly aides in making successful
traps!

Paul

[Panther_99FS]

Okay...
So if I want to practice traps with any plane, I've got to use a mission and then switch aircraft....Correct:ques:

[marbmxer]

The Norfolk based carrier schedule is as follows:

Departs Tuesdays 0330, runs down the coast 10-20 miles offshore, turns around near Wilmington, NC around 1445, and arrives Norfolk Wednesdays 0125
Departs Fridays 1540, turns around near Wilmington around 0240 Saturdays, and arrives back at Norfolk around 1325 Saturday


If you have the SDK installed, you can use the traffic map utility to find the carrier.


-Sam


is that default in fsx acceleration, or it that with the aicarriers2.zip

[marbmxer]

and sam the times you posted, are they zulu times?

[Butcherbird17]

Panther and marbmxer you can use the default (acceleration) carrier in free flight. Use the times that samusi01 posted and make sure your ships slider is set to atleast 10% for the carrier to show.

Joe

[marbmxer]

what about im multiplayer

[Butcherbird17]

Yes it works in MP.

Joe

[simkid22]

the aicarriers2 is wonderful!!! It allows you to place the carrier AND "drive" it remotely! I just tried it in SF bay. I put it in east of Alcatraz and had it steam out of the bay north of the island like it was actually in the real shipping lanes. I was on the deck on the left bow cat as it steamed under the Golden Gate. I got impatient an launched as soon as I got out from under the bridge. I was lining up for final between the uprights! Its a great carrier package because you can put it any where!

[Dain Arns]

With some editing of the AI Carriers config file, any ship, boat, etc can be added to a fleet. The owners of the ships from Seahawks/Jayhawks could add those ships to a fleet as well, except the LHD because it is comprised of many different models put together, as I understand it.

Very good stuff. :applause:

[marbmxer]

I tried in free flight, worked good....tryed the exact same settigs in MP and the carrier did not show up.

[MartinM]

Ed, I have uploaded five free flight carriers to SOH. The carrier I.D.'s are
CVNS in the US, CVNH in the US, CVNB in the United Kingdom, CVNP in Kuwait, and CVNY in Vietnam. Hope this is what you were looking for. You will need to downloan and install the scenery and use a utility to allow launch and capture.

Tom

Cool stuff. Now, could you, maybe, add these carriers to 3wirex.com configuration library?

Cheers
Martin

[samusi01]

Sorry about the delay - had to take a aircraft down to SAT yesterday. All the times are local, FSX+Acceleration, no addon carriers. Times are approximate, but usually w/in about 5 minutes.

Some others:
Honolulu (12 hour voyage)
Depart Pearl Sundays 1645, returns Mondays 0300 after running counterclockwise around Lanai, Maui and Molokai.
Depart Pearl Thursdays 0445, returns Thursdays about 1600, reverses previous route

Everett (KPAE) (33 hour voyage)
Departs Fridays 0715, Arrives San Francisco Saturdays 1800
Departs SFO Mondays at 1915, arrives Everett Wednesdays about 0630

San Francisco (18 hour voyage)
Departs SFO Saturdays 1730, arrives San Diego Sundays 1115
Departs SAN Wednesdays 0515, arrives SFO Wednesdays 2315

Most of the routes are w/in about 20nm of the shore, sometimes a little further out.

-Sam

[Panther_99FS]

Sorry about the delay - had to take a aircraft down to SAT yesterday. All the times are local, FSX+Acceleration, no addon carriers. Times are approximate, but usually w/in about 5 minutes.

Some others:
Honolulu (12 hour voyage)
Depart Pearl Sundays 1645, returns Mondays 0300 after running counterclockwise around Lanai, Maui and Molokai.
Depart Pearl Thursdays 0445, returns Thursdays about 1600, reverses previous route

Everett (KPAE) (33 hour voyage)
Departs Fridays 0715, Arrives San Francisco Saturdays 1800
Departs SFO Mondays at 1915, arrives Everett Wednesdays about 0630

San Francisco (18 hour voyage)
Departs SFO Saturdays 1730, arrives San Diego Sundays 1115
Departs SAN Wednesdays 0515, arrives SFO Wednesdays 2315

Most of the routes are w/in about 20nm of the shore, sometimes a little further out.

-Sam

I was just going to ask about Hawaii - Thanks! :applause:

[vora]

Ed, I have uploaded five free flight carriers to SOH. The carrier I.D.'s are
CVNS in the US, CVNH in the US, CVNB in the United Kingdom, CVNP in Kuwait, and CVNY in Vietnam. Hope this is what you were looking for. You will need to downloan and install the scenery and use a utility to allow launch and capture.
Heya Tom,

as a fleet positioning workmate:costumes:, have a look at this wonderful little tutorial (http://mysite.verizon.net/tdgsr/downloads/weffect.zip)... it's about adding wake effects to static ships and works just grrrrrrreat in FSX.

Cheers,
Volker

[Panther_99FS]

Okay,
I still haven't found the ones in Hawaii....:costumes::isadizzy:

[samusi01]

Are you referring to the default Acceleration AI carrier or one from some other addon?

[Panther_99FS]

Are you referring to the default Acceleration AI carrier or one from some other addon?

The default Acceleration AI one...:redf:

[IanP]

No addons, just starting at PHNL, 16:42L, 09 Dec 07 (that's tomorrow, but hey... :icon_lol:), taking off and heading for Pearl Harbor. Thaaar she blows, skipperrrr! Oooh arrrr!

The A-6 is RAZBAM's test model. A minute or so after these shots, I proved once again that my carrier landings without gauges still suck big time! :censored: :censored:
:costumes:

(Edited to add: No CARRIER add-ons, anyway, as the Megascenery is, umm, somewhat obvious... <whistles innocently and wanders away>)

Ian P.

[Panther_99FS]

No addons, just starting at PHNL, 16:42L, 09 Dec 07 (that's tomorrow, but hey... :icon_lol:), taking off and heading for Pearl Harbor. Thaaar she blows, skipperrrr! Oooh arrrr!

The A-6 is RAZBAM's test model. A minute or so after these shots, I proved once again that my carrier landings without gauges still suck big time! :censored: :censored:
:costumes:

(Edited to add: No CARRIER add-ons, anyway, as the Megascenery is, umm, somewhat obvious... <whistles innocently and wanders away>)

Ian P.

Mine isn't there! :banghead::banghead::banghead:

[samusi01]

Panther,

Your AI ships up and operating? Otherwise, try forward/back one hour (can't recall which way it goes). The schedules actually run in Z time. I'm on the road - Oklahoma at the moment - and when I get back home I'll try and post a flightplan that has the routing and times. The Hawaii carrier leaves Pearl at about 1645 (again, plus one or minus one hour) on Sundays and 0445 on Thursdays.

[Panther_99FS]

Okay now I'm upset!

The only carrier I can find is the one at Norfolk....:banghead:

[Panther_99FS]

Panther,

Your AI ships up and operating? Otherwise, try forward/back one hour (can't recall which way it goes). The schedules actually run in Z time. I'm on the road - Oklahoma at the moment - and when I get back home I'll try and post a flightplan that has the routing and times. The Hawaii carrier leaves Pearl at about 1645 (again, plus one or minus one hour) on Sundays and 0445 on Thursdays.

Yeah I got AI running - do I need a certain % to see them?
Ships & Ferries=26%
Leisure Boats=30$

I'll try 1645z...

[samusi01]

Don't know what the percentage is - I have mine at 100% for ships and ferries, zero for the leisure boats.

I know the times that I posted a while back where local... I don't recall when they were with respect to daylight savings or not. Try setting your date to any Thursday in June, then go back in and change the time - for some reason, you can't accomplish both at once. Set your local time to 0500 and you should see a carrier just south of Pearl. If that doesn't work, just move the time forward one hour or back one hour.

Alternatively, set your date to a Sunday around 1400 local at Honolulu. You should see a carrier just north in Pearl. Advance your local time an hour at a time and eventually you'll see the carrier at the top of the hour around 10 nm S of PHNL. You can also use the traffic map in the SDK - the carrier moves at either 25 or 35 knots and at an altitude of -1.

[haggis57]

I experimented with the default Acceleration carriers and found that they are visible at different settings of 'Ships & Ferries':

Norfolk Carrier - 10% Ships & Ferries
Everett Carrier - 50% Ships & Ferries
San Francisco Carrier - 90% Ships & Ferries
Honolulu Carrier - 100% Ships & ferries

I haven't been able to find schedule of the default carrier that is supposed to be near Boca Raton.

Ken

[samusi01]

As far as I know, the Boca carrier is a mission-only carrier and not a scheduled AI carrier.

Panther, have you been able to find it yet?

[GypsyBaron]

It behoves me to know why folks are intent on searching
for those elusive FSX default AI carriers when they can
have the very same AI carrier models anywhere they are and
at any time. Simply download Lamont Clarks "aicarriers2r2"
package or get his "AI Boat Utility". The first package lets
you place a "user defined" fleet of moving FSX Ai ships
at the current location of your aircraft or 5 or 10 miles
in front of you. You can change the course as necessary.

The second package allows you to create "permanent" moving
fleets and use Google Earth to define the routes the fleets
will sail.

It just makes no sense to me, with these packages available,
why anyone would spend time trying to "catch" the
default FSX CV's. Unless, of course, you are one of those
that also goes looking for the animals, etc....

Paul

[IanP]

It just makes no sense to me, with these packages available,
why anyone would spend time trying to "catch" the
default FSX CV's. Unless, of course, you are one of those
that also goes looking for the animals, etc....

Paul


Because finding a needle in a very large and wet haystack is part of carrier operations? ;)

Seriously, I usually use the carrier placement app. I just go off looking for the default ones occasionally for no better reason than "they're there, so why not try to find them?"

Actually, I rarely have time to go looking at the moment. That flight to find the one at Hawaii lasted, according to my logbook, 0.1hrs. And that was my flying time for the day. Bah. I need a 26hr day and an 8 day week (three day weekend, of course) at the moment.

Ian P.

[Panther_99FS]

It behoves me to know why folks are intent on searching
for those elusive FSX default AI carriers when they can
have the very same AI carrier models anywhere they are and
at any time. Simply download Lamont Clarks "aicarriers2r2"
package or get his "AI Boat Utility". The first package lets
you place a "user defined" fleet of moving FSX Ai ships
at the current location of your aircraft or 5 or 10 miles
in front of you. You can change the course as necessary.

The second package allows you to create "permanent" moving
fleets and use Google Earth to define the routes the fleets
will sail.

It just makes no sense to me, with these packages available,
why anyone would spend time trying to "catch" the
default FSX CV's. Unless, of course, you are one of those
that also goes looking for the animals, etc....

Paul

I'm not quite ready to run the Java program on my rig, that's why I'm still in the "chase for the defaults" :engel016:

[Panther_99FS]

I experimented with the default Acceleration carriers and found that they are visible at different settings of 'Ships & Ferries':

Norfolk Carrier - 10% Ships & Ferries
Everett Carrier - 50% Ships & Ferries
San Francisco Carrier - 90% Ships & Ferries
Honolulu Carrier - 100% Ships & ferries

I haven't been able to find schedule of the default carrier that is supposed to be near Boca Raton.

Ken

Ah....
This is why I can't find them then.......

Thanks!:applause:

[aerofede]

Great! NIce to know that I can use them for free flight.
Are they usable with aircraft different from Acceleration FA-18?
Or I need to modify the aircraft?

[IanP]

A bit of both. The Captain Sim "XLoad" pack aircraft work automatically. They built the Accel Hornet, so know how.

Any other aircraft can be used, provided it has a tailhook, by adding some code to the aircraft.cfg to enable the assisted launch functionality (catapult, basically!).

If you check the main FSX forum, you'll find a thread about the Abacus Flight Deck 4 aircraft, which discusses the code required.

Cheers,

Ian P.

[gromitvt]

Found the carriers in free flight - and landed using the arrestor cables just find - but for some reason - I can't launch on the catapult. I taxi in and drop the launch bar just like in any of the missions - but it does not connect - the JBD's don't come up. Any thoughts on this. I tried multiple carriers - always using the Acceleration's F18. Thanks!

[IanP]

Are you in the right place on the cats? You have to have your nose wheel and the launch bar (on the Hornet at least - other models differ) inside the "box" at the rear of the cat.


Ian P.

[GypsyBaron]

Found the carriers in free flight - and landed using the arrestor cables just find - but for some reason - I can't launch on the catapult. I taxi in and drop the launch bar just like in any of the missions - but it does not connect - the JBD's don't come up. Any thoughts on this. I tried multiple carriers - always using the Acceleration's F18. Thanks!

Are you also enabling the cat? I believe the default key combo
is "Shift I". Check your control assignments to insure that
these new commands are assigned.

I belive I've had a case where I had assigned the keys
( I didn't let Accelertion overwrite my originals ) and
I checked again a few days later and the assignments
had disappeared. This may be because I also have a
FSX-SP1 installation as well as the acceleration\SP2
on the same machine. I may have run SP1 in between
and lost the accel. assignments.

Paul

Paul

[gromitvt]

Yep - Shift-I or in other words - I already knew that - but completely forgot given the time spent away from the computer lately. Thanks for the refresher!

[F/A-18E Super Hornet]

My solution to that is to simply fly the tutorial mission.:d

[N332DW]

found this and thought i would pass it on -

flight plans that can be downloaded to make finding the AI Carriers in single player easier ...

down the page a little => http://www.simtours.net/defaultaircraftcarrier.php

[Daube]

Found the carriers in free flight - and landed using the arrestor cables just find - but for some reason - I can't launch on the catapult. I taxi in and drop the launch bar just like in any of the missions - but it does not connect - the JBD's don't come up. Any thoughts on this. I tried multiple carriers - always using the Acceleration's F18. Thanks!

I have a similar issue.
I modified the detailled carrier to fly it and record myself in recorder.
Then I loaded my record as Ai traffic while I was flying the Acceleration F-18.

The cables were working fine, but the catapult was inactive. I am able to launch in the trainning mission and I know the procedure, so I keep wondering why this catapult is inactive...

[N332DW]

not completely sure but, if you look at the sample carrier mission in the SDK , it appears the catapults are tied to a catapult area, also catapults use attachpoints which I believe, in the mission, is tied to a mission script, which simply doen't exist in multiplayer, so no catapult

the default acceleration F-18 has enough power to make it of the deck from a catapult without the use of an actual catapult {barely}

[IanP]

If you are using a carrier with catapult attach points, it works fine in any mode, free flight, mission or multiplayer. The attach points are part of the model, not a mission or flight.

The critical point is that it has to be one with attach points such as the default Accel carriers. If it is an FSX carrier with static aircraft on the deck, that is not an Accel carrier and has no wires or cats. I quite happily used the new Ark Royal model with Razbam's Intruders in free flight, no problems whatsoever. :)

Ian P.

[Daube]

If you are using a carrier with catapult attach points, it works fine in any mode, free flight, mission or multiplayer. The attach points are part of the model, not a mission or flight.

The critical point is that it has to be one with attach points such as the default Accel carriers. If it is an FSX carrier with static aircraft on the deck, that is not an Accel carrier and has no wires or cats. I quite happily used the new Ark Royal model with Razbam's Intruders in free flight, no problems whatsoever. :)

Ian P.

Well I'm not too sure about that.
I have made a simple test: I "flew" the Acceleration carrier and recorded myself with Recorder. Then I jumped into the Acceleration F-18 and played my carrier as AI:
- the cables worked
- the catapults refused to work.
So I don't really know ifit's really just bound to the model...

[SkippyBing]

Well put it this way, the cats on the Ark work in free flight, and they work on the Acceleration carrier in free flight 'cos I just tried them. However I don't know if playing it back as AI traffic in recorder might have an effect.

[Daube]

Well put it this way, the cats on the Ark work in free flight, and they work on the Acceleration carrier in free flight 'cos I just tried them. However I don't know if playing it back as AI traffic in recorder might have an effect.

I just wanted to check something with the catapult.
When the catapult is armed, the aircraft stop moving as if it was "fixed" to the ground. I wanted to check how much "fixed" it was by making a flyable carrier on which I would land right before the carrier performs a barrel.

Unfortunately, I could never connect to the catapult of my "recorded" carrier.

[SkippyBing]

I think you tend to come unhooked from the carrier. The FSX Ark runs on a 10-20 mile racetrack, with a rather sharp turn at the end (basically a 180) and if you're hooked on when it happens you tend to unhook and start rolling across the deck! Fortunately the parking brake seems to solve the problem.

[cheezyflier]

found this and thought i would pass it on -

flight plans that can be downloaded to make finding the AI Carriers in single player easier ...

down the page a little => http://www.simtours.net/defaultaircraftcarrier.php


ok, you guys can laugh, but when i try to download those flights all i get is text. what am i supposed to do with it?

[Dangerous Beans]

Right click on them and choose save as.

When you've downloaded them they will have a double extension on them .PLN.xml
Delete the .xml part so they just end .PLN

[cheezyflier]

ok, then what? i can move them to the saved flights folder?

btw, thank you

[Dangerous Beans]

Oops sorry forgot about that bit.
Put them in "My Documents\Flight Simulator X Files"

[cheezyflier]

thanks :wiggle: