FSXBA Hornet (ver. 17.30)

[speedy70]

It is in the aircraft file under extras.

Cheers Chris

[jagl04]

Can anyone please tell me where I can locate the manual for this bird.

Bill

Youn can find it in the folder "Extras". There are no instructions tu use weapons, but it is easy: Cap 7 to select the payload. Use the upper left button in any of the screens of the cockpit to select the weapons screen. The button to arm you bird is on your left, together with ground and air buttons. Click one of them and your will see the weapons (air or ground) in the upper side of the weapons screen. Click the button and fire.

[PhantomTweak]

You do need TACPAC to actually fire/drop weapons.
They have the drag settings for the different weapons loads, but not the weights. Yet. Jimi and team are working on it though. I know they have the basic information needed, because I sent it to them.
An update to the v17 is due shortly.
Pat☺

[WarHorse47]

Pat.

Would you know what happened to texture.AAAtest under [fltsim.51]?? It doesn't appear to be included with the install.

[PhantomTweak]

No, I don't. I didn't even see that. Good catch. Give me a day or so to see what's what, and I'll get back to you asap, ok?
Pat☺

Edit: Posted this situ over on the FSDT F/A-18 forums, and expect a response pretty soon.
Pat☺

[RobM]

This looks interesting but how do you access the FSDT Forum? Do you have to buy something first? When I try yo pgo to the forum, the message
says "An error occurred. Sorry guest, you are banned", and the register button doesn't work. I've never been to the FSDT web page before,
much less their forum.

Thanks - Rob

[PhantomTweak]

This looks interesting but how do you access the FSDT Forum? Do you have to buy something first? When I try yo pgo to the forum, the message
says "An error occurred. Sorry guest, you are banned", and the register button doesn't work. I've never been to the FSDT web page before,
much less their forum.

Thanks - Rob

No, you don't have to buy anything. You do need to register, though. You have to give them a valid e-mail, and it has personal problems with some for some reason. If one doesn't work, try a different one. Like it doesn't like my e-mail, that I've had forever, Midspring.com. It did take my wife's however. My user name, her e-mail. Don't ask me, I don't understand it either.
The forum's main index page is here: http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php , and the specific to the F/A-18 is here: http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php/board,4.0.htm .
You should be able to register on either page, but register before you try to get into the forum or make a post or you'll get locked out, I think for 24 hours, but I may be wrong. It might just be an hour, or something.

I hope this helps a little...
Pat☺
.

[greenie]

For those that are having trouble - found the a source to download this . Downloading now and can't wait !


http://www.fsxblueangels.com/fsxba-f-a-18c-hornet-17-1

[RobM]

Thanks loads for the replies and suggestions! You're probably right Pat, it's my old as the hills email account. And thanks
for that alternate link Greenie. It's no big deal, I was just curious.

Sorry for the interruption everyone, now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Thanks again - Rob

[PhantomTweak]

Glad to help, Rob. I used my lovely wife's GMail account. Well, one of them. She loves this kind of thing
I hope it works for you.
Enjoy!
Pat☺

[Ganter]

No, I don't. I didn't even see that. Good catch. Give me a day or so to see what's what, and I'll get back to you asap, ok?
Pat☺

Edit: Posted this situ over on the FSDT F/A-18 forums, and expect a response pretty soon.
Pat☺

Hi Pat,

I'm missing some textures too. The chief annoyance is this one; ENG_POI_RB_GLASSN.dds

The lack of it is making big black squares around engine smoke. (Only in DX10, FSX)

Like this:

[PhantomTweak]

Does it only happen, the engine smoke thingy, in DX10? I don't have the DX10 fixer so I can't test it. I don't see it myself, but I'll post that pic over on the forums to see what they have to say.
Pat☺

[Wings of Gold]

I like this latest version a LOT. Flies well and gets aboard very well - however (at least for me) there is one fatal flaw. When I get on the cat, select shift U and I, see the holdback alert and SLOWLY add power - the aircraft moves forward (No holdback). JBD goes down etc. I have gone out immediately and replicated the exact same scenario with a different bird (in this case the Alpha/Virtavia A-3 Whale). No holdback problem what-so-ever. Rock solid in place until I initiate the shot. Wentout again with the Hornet and had the same issue. Any comment would be appreciated. Gauge interaction problem??

Bill

[Ganter]

Does it only happen, the engine smoke thingy, in DX10? I don't have the DX10 fixer so I can't test it. I don't see it myself, but I'll post that pic over on the forums to see what they have to say.
Pat☺

Thanks Pat. I appreciate that. Would be great to get sorted.

I like this latest version a LOT. Flies well and gets aboard very well - however (at least for me) there is one fatal flaw. When I get on the cat, select shift U and I, see the holdback alert and SLOWLY add power - the aircraft moves forward (No holdback). JBD goes down etc. I have gone out immediately and replicated the exact same scenario with a different bird (in this case the Alpha/Virtavia A-3 Whale). No holdback problem what-so-ever. Rock solid in place until I initiate the shot. Wentout again with the Hornet and had the same issue. Any comment would be appreciated. Gauge interaction problem??

Bill

Bill, I've never had that problem. When ready to go (already done Shift+U), I hit Shift+ I, apply full power swiftly, hit Shift+Space and I'm away.
I think I read in the instructions that applying power too slowly would cause a release rom the Cat.

I'm sure Pat will clear things up.

[PhantomTweak]

I'm sure Pat will clear things up.

I'll try my best

When I get on the cat, select shift U and I, see the holdback alert and SLOWLY add power

Once you hit Shft+U, do you wait a second or two, then hit SHFT+I to hook up? Are you sure the launch bar indicator light is lit? Do you have your flaps at 1? Do you move the stick a great deal while hooked up? do you have any crosswind over the deck? Do you have ANY wind over the deck? That can cause the plane to bounce, or move around enough to disconnect from the shuttle. Do you set your parking brake, or press the brakes after you're connected? Are you sure the green banner is indicating ready to launch, and that your nose wheel is in the little hook-up box? Do you set the pitch trim as needed (IE press the button on top or the rudder trim dial)? Do you see the plane bounce, lean over, or make any other motion while on the cat? Do you advance the throttles smoothly but smartly up to 100%? Not full AB. The Hornet doesn't use AB's for launch unless you have a very heavy payload aboard, and then you light them during the cat stroke, not on the cat. Are you using the default carrier, or Javier's? Do you have heavy sea-states some-how? Pitching Deck software, for example...
Lastly, do you have your realism settings full right, and the catapult setting in the FSX.CFG?

I hope something in there helps...
Pat☺

[Wings of Gold]

Hi Pat, Thanks for the response. Sorry for slow answers, but the "Real World" has had me totally occupied until today.

The answer is that you MUST depress the button atop the Rudder Trim Dial - or you will not get the normal holdback. As that was Not something that I am used to doing as part of my "pre-launch checklist", I neglected to do it. Everything works fine now.

Bill

[PhantomTweak]

Hi Wings
Glad you got her flying. I'm not sure what the Pitch Trim button on the Rudder trim knob has to do with the hold-back, I really don't. As far as I knew, all it did was set the pitch trim properly for take-off, whether on-shore or asea, depending on the gross weight of the plane, and the launch-bar position. It's the same as the "real-world" plane. You can read the NATOPS and see that. Or just read the checklist that's on the lower center MFD. I think Pitch Trim is on there, and that's what it means: Push the button.
That's the point to all the work Jimi and team are doing, especially with the FCS. They're trying to make the FSX Hornet behave exactly, or as close as the sim permits, to the real world plane. Orion, the Hornet_FCS.dll author also works o the simulators the Navy/MC use, and also spends a lot of time with real Hornet drivers, so they've got kind of an inside track on the whole affair, which is really handy!
How pushing the button affects the boat's hold-back system I don't know, but I'll look at what goes on. I still suspect that the plane "wobbles" some how, enough to break the hold-back anywho. But hey, I've been wrong before! Often

Sorry, I ramble. Enjoy the bird, I sure as heck do!
Pat☺

[PhantomTweak]

Hi Wings
Ok, I did some testing today. I used Javier's Nimitz v2, and the FSX BA v17.1 Fleet aircraft (Not one of the BA planes). I placed the carrier with AICarriers.NET, and set it motion. I made a landing on the boat, then taxid to the #3 cat. I hit SHFT+U, then SHFT+I, and got the Ready for Launch message. I left the flaps up, and button not pressed, and advanced the throttles to 100.14%. The holdback didn't break after 1 min. I put the flaps to 1, still with the throttles advanced, and the hold-back didn't break after 1 min of that configuration. I then "wiped" the controls, Flaps 1, throttles 100.14%, button NOT pressed, and the hold-back broke. I re-set on the cat again, Flaps 1, throttles 100.15%, this time I pressed the pitch trim button. The Hold-back again held for 1 min. I wiped the controls, and again, it broke.
The plane leans with wind over the control surfaces if the stick is moved off center, and having the boat in motion gives you 25 kts of WOD, thus giving you enough wind over the control surfaces to make the plane lean if the stick is moved. If you do this with the plane hooked to the cat, the motion of the plane on the cat is enough to break the hold-back. Could this be whats happening to you Wings?
I couldn't make the hold-back break, even at full AB, with the button pressed or not, until I moved the stick about 40% off-center. Again, this is with the boat in motion. If the boat is not moving, the plane doesn't lean, so the hold-back doesn't break. Again, the button made no difference to the hold-back.

All this is, of course, just MY system. Something in yours that I don't know about may be affecting the whole situation.
I hope this helps somewhat
Pat☺

[Wings of Gold]

Well, it's possible that it was something else, but that's the ONLY thing that I added to my "normal" FSX launch procedure - and it works beautifully now. I know it had nothing to do with the Hornet breaking lock because of instability on deck. For what it's worth, I'm retired Navy. What did you mean earlier about getting the green banner?

Bill

[Bjoern]

Planned to give the new Hornet a try this week, but in my infinite wisdom forgot to transfer the installer from my PC to the external hard drive before leaving town.

Might really have to beg Jimi for a "Light" version, e.g. just the prototype or fleet testing schemes.

[xpelekis]

[PhantomTweak]

What did you mean earlier about getting the green banner?

Hi Bill
When you have the plane in the right place on the deck to get launched off a cat, whichever cat you desire, and you've hit SHFT+U, dropping the launch bar, then SHFT+I to get hooked up to the shuttle and hold-back, you should get a green banner across the top of the screen saying Ready For Launch! (or something like that, I don't read it any more ), the plane will be on the shuttle, the hold-back engaged, and the JBD will raise up. SHFT+SPACE BAR will then send you on your way. Real good idea, once the banner appears, to go through the pre-launch checklist on the lower center MFD. Wings unfolded (don't laugh, it's darn embarassing to launch with them folded!), flaps 1, Pitch Trim button pressed, etc etc.
A little quirk about the FCS I figured out: Don't retract the gear until the correct pitch attitude is captured after you launch. If you do, it appears to confuse the FCS, and the pitch will keep climbing until you stall out. Once the pitch rises to +10° or there about, depending on the weight of the plane and the end-speed off the cat, it will capture and hold there, and you can then retract the gear. Once the speed increases above about 200 kts, you can set the flaps to auto, and fly away.
Whatever was the trouble, I'm glad you've got it squared away! Thank you very much for your service, by the way.

xpelekis,
Great video! Nice shooting. Splash 1!

Have fun all!
Pat☺

[Wings of Gold]

Hi Pat,
I get the same affirmation in the upper left side of the screen - but mine is in red (hence the confusion)
OK, here is a weird topic (but not entirely off topic): I have an earlier version (FA18_2012_FSXBA FX) which is only of interest because of the many different squadron textures by "Ray 'svicar' Gagnon". Question 1/ Is mine the last version still available with these textures? 2/ I have tried to 'update" this old version using your newer panel and Sim (but without success). I would have used these textures with the present models - but the model mapping has changed. 3/ Knowing what I am trying to do (use some of the older textures), is there a better way than just using the old folder as is?
I'm also REALLY interested in when some "D" version is available. I don't see the previous version available for download. Has it been removed from download?

Best,

Bill

[PhantomTweak]

Heyas, Bill!Wow, I wasn't expecting all this Let's see here, 1) as far as I know, yes, the paints for each version, to a point, are unique to that version. If you were to want to move the 2012 textures to the v7.3, it would take some adjustment to make them fit properly. I know less than nothing of modifying textures, so just how to is entirely beyond my abilities. I either enjoy the paints that come with, or ask a couple friends I have on the FSDT forums to make one for me. In the v16.1, for example, there is a paint for VMFAT-101, with whom I stationed for a long time. Same with '333, my last squadron.I guess, in answer to all your other questions, which are along pretty much the same lines, I would say to get a good set of pictures of the squadron/paint you want, and ask Azframer over on the FSDT forums to make it for the v17.1.30. Which comes with quite a large number of different textures, by the way As to the D-model, to the best of my knowledge, since the original dev who made the model is gone dark, there are no plans to release it in the v17 series.If by the previous version you mean the 2012, yes, it's gone. I don't even think you can find the v16.1 any more. As they move forward with this whole project, they tend to get rid of previous versions as excess baggage. They only have so much room for their planes, as most of the FSDT web space is taken up by their sceneries, which are very good, and very numerous. I am sure Jimi still has the v16.1 stored someplace, and would put it up if you asked him, but as far as I know it's no longer available.Does this answer your questions adequately? Hope so!Pat☺

[Wings of Gold]

Thanks Pat,

How/where do I get in contact with Jimi?

Best Regards,

Bill