Team SBD Enterprise - Issues

[expat]

Great looking boat and escorts - and this is certainly no criticism - but this add on seems to have disrupted my previous nicely working install of i) Sylvain's great (earlier version) TACAN gauges and ii) the "Sludge" Hornet derived HUD - BOTH of which I have used in a number of FSX and FS9 ports to very satisfyingly "find the boat" at night and weather.

Since installing the FSX "E" however my Sludge HUD does not show the TCN and associated distance to the boat anymore, even when not using the FSX E. More troubling is that using the link to Sylvain's v3 TACAN and associated gauges, I cannot get a functioning TACAN gauge (or audible calls from the boat - or the yellow or green banner messages) and the rest of the stuff I should. Have checked i) v3 install, ii) panel cfg. mods all where they should be and iii) air.cfg radio mods look correct. What is frustrating is that I get the direction arrow and marker on the compass in Sludge HUD for the Javier boat (ie at 112 hz) but not the new E, and also when I add the FSX E with AI Carriers and tune it to the correct channel I seem to then get audible beeps but the gauge remains lifeless. Any help or suggestions appreciated.

A VERY devoted FSX Navair enthusiast. :)

[fsafranek]

Are you using the v2.21 RFN_Tacan gauge or the v3.0 beta version. As it mentions in the manual using anything prior to v3 probably won't work.

I was going to direct you over to the Team SDB support forum over at glowingheat.co.uk (http://www.glowingheat.co.uk/) but I see you've already been there.

Once Sylvain returns from a much deserved vacation he will update the version at the RFN website and be able to address issues.

[expat]

Frank, many thanks. Some kind of gauge conflict I suspect but Sylvain I am sure will sort it out. Having fun in the meantime with this very handsome carrier.

expat

[fsafranek]

I was going to suggest that you might download and install this "Microsoft
Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package (x86)". At one point during development I had v2.21 of the RFN gauge working but then suddenly it quit due to some change Sylvain made and I could not get v3.0 to work either. Sylvain suggested I install the above mentioned file set and after that it worked like a charm. It won't hurt to install it in any case as you may already have it and it just needs a refresh.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5555

Have you tried it with an aircraft that did not formerly have the v2.21 RFN_Tacan gauge installed?

For v2.21 these files are used:

//---TACAN Gauges Utilisation de Nav1 ---
gauge71=NavOps!Init_Nav1, 0, 0,
gauge72=NavOps!Carrier_Ops, 0, 0,
gauge73=Carrier!ParserXML, 0, 0,
gauge74=dsd_xml_sound3!dsd_xml_sound3, 5, 0, 5, 5,.\gauges\dsd_sonsRFN.ini
gauge75=NavOps!CustomCatapult, 0, 0,
gauge76=SpeedControl!xml2ipc, 0, 0,
For v3 we use these files:

//-------------Gauge Carrier Operations-------------------
gauge81=RFN_CarrierGauge!TACAN_Nav1, 0, 0,
gauge82=RFN_CarrierGauge!CustomCatapult, 0, 0,
gauge83=RFN_CarrierGauge!Approach_Ctrl, 0, 0,
gauge84=DSD_Sound_Gauge!Sound, 0, 0,
//--------------------------------------------------------

As you can see they don't use the same files anymore.
V3 also now uses SimConnect and not FSUIPC any longer.

And of course the frequency must match the carrier:
Early 80s - 115.00 MHz - West Coast Saved Flights
Late 80s - 116.00 MHz - East Coast Saved Flights
Early 80s Empty Deck - 115.50 MHz
Late 80s Empty Deck - 116.50 MHz

[sparouty]

Hello,
Back after few weeks off, I'm looking at your issue.
First I want to clarify one point: your issue is not due to the USS Enterprise which doesn't impact directly or indirectly any plane's feature. To my point of view, your problem is fully due to the RFN gauge V3.


... I cannot get a functioning TACAN gauge (or audible calls from the boat - or the yellow or green banner messages) and the rest of the stuff I should...
If you don't see text showing up the screen when you change nav frequency (Nav1 or Nav2, depending on the gauge declared into the corresponding panel.cfg), it can caused by 2 issues :
1) there's issue into the panel.cfg => so check that it matches to what Frank posted previously
2) the gauge dll is not ran by your system => check that the VC++ 2010 Redistributable package is well-installed into you system

Once you'll see these texts showing up, you'll be sure that the RFN gauge is working...

Regarding the Sludge HUD, there's another point that need to be clarified. As moving carrier Tacan/ILS feature is not a FSX feature, developers had to code some workarounds to allow navy simmers to have homing/ILS-like system. It exists different kind of workarounds used but, all of this workarounds are included into plane's gauges => it is not a system included into ships unlike airports which have their navaids for VOR/ILS into their bgl...

You can find different gauges with carrier TACAN/ILS feature, Sludge HUD (done by J.Rusev aka Neutrino) is one of the very first who did it, but VRS or FlyingStations have also same kind of system.

The point with Neutrino's gauge is that the list of carriers is hard coded into the gauge, so you can't easily add the BigE (for instance) into the list. I had some exchanges with him to see if his HUds could use the RFN dll variables but we were quite busy these days (btw Neutrino if you read me ? :icon_lol:).

Last, note that the main difference between the previous RFN Gauge V2.21 and this last V3 version is that carrier are non longer identified by their "Radius" (which is a variable build by FSX for any AI object and approximatively based on the model size...). The gauge is now using the the ship's sim name (the name given by the sim.cfg file and unique for all the objects managed by FSX) to identify it.

Why? Because I think I is a better ID (:icon_lol:), and because I found stupid to increase the size of Foch in order to allow V2.21 gauge to see Foch and Clemenceau (who are sister ships) as two different ships ...

Other benefit, you can have traffic files that put Nimitz Carrier Qualifications (CVN68_8) in the North East of NAS Pensacola and USS Eisenhower (CVN69_3) in East, the V3 gauge will clearly make the difference in between both carriers (if you had declared this two versions into the Carrier.xml file...) when the V2.21 see only 2 occurences of the same carrier (same radius...) and so always lock on the closest one...

Let me know if you have some news with your issue?
Regards,
Sylvain

[expat]

Frank and Sylvain,

Many thanks for all this help and advice. Most appreciated. Off now to do some testing!!

Expat

[expat]

One question: The BigE comes with some of the same gauges as are also in RFN TACAN gauge download v.3. Do I just overwrite the BigE ones with the RFN gauges? Also, with version 2.1 I think I could not get the TACAN to work with the gauges in the main gauges folder and moving them to the panel folder got them to work. Does it matter where they go?

expat

[expat]

OK, I have triple checked everything and also have downloaded the 02 Aug v3 (non beta) gauges from the RFN Design web site. Also installed the C+++ program. I have all the gauges in the panel folder of a plane I have not used the TACAN in before (VS Panther). I get a simconnect active message. I also now when tuning the Nav1 near the correct frequency a "TACAN Turned On" message in the upper left of the screen, but unfortunately the TACAN gauge does not come to life or point to the carrier. Really stumped.

[expat]

Thanks for your help and sorry to have been a pain. I am not sure exactly what sorted it in the end but it looks sorted!!!!!!!:jump:

[sparouty]

Hi,
Good to read it works!
Now, the most important point is the carrier.xml file: adding/removing carriers and/or variations, manage the frequency numbering plan, etc... My coding skill is far from VRS guys one so I'm not able to built a Graphic User Interface to manage this file like they did... (btw If anyone around here has some knowledge in GUI coding, I'm interested !)

It seems that you're using Iris Tomcat, I made a customization for the Iris F-14 HUD in order it takes into consideration RFN gauge variables: no need for Tacan indicator windows. I didn't release it so far because I have some difficulties to join Iris to have their authorization... If anyone knows how to contact Iris?

Regards,
Sylvain

[expat]

Sylvain,

Woud be very keen to get your IRIS HUD mods as would some other recent posters at SOH! IRIS is run by David Brice (he posts here as "IRIS"). I was unable to get their forums from the product web site but found this different site from his member details here at SOH. If you haven't already, you could try the contact options here.

Regards,

expat


http://www.irissimulations.com.au/ (http://www.irissimulations.com.au/)

[expat]

What is interesting and cool is that I can get the JR/Printz HUD to show the full TACAN symbols in other aircraft, for example, the Alphasim RA-5C (see last post in link below - working now again with lastest v3 gauges). Maybe it's because it is the 2D panel it doesn't need all the coding the way the IRIS F-14A does?

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?66463-RA-5C-Vigilante

[Essex]

I'm perplexed by this.

I've got v2 of the Tacan gauge working quite well. If I switch back and forth to 111.00 on Nav1 but use Nav2 for Tacan I can get the ILS bars to come up on the JR/Printz HUD. It even uses the glide slope setting from the carrier.xml file (this doesn't work with the 70s Foch). The localiser is fixed however.

Because I was pretty happy with this setup I had no reason to try the new gauge. But reading this thread persuaded me to try it.
I've now got the v3 gauge working but can't get any indication on the HUD that it's found the carrier. Is it possible to get the ILS to come up with the new v3 gauge? Or do we need to wait for a customised HUD to get the full benefit of v3?

BTW Sylvain thank you for all of your creations, I havn't tried all of them out, but all the carrier related stuff is excellent.