For anyone who loves the F-18 Hornet

[jungle_balloo]

For anyone who loves the F-18 Hornet

2012 FSX BLUE ANGELS BOEING F/A-18 HORNET VERSION 12.3


http://simviation.com/1/browse-Milit...rk=41171#41171

or

http://fsxblueangels.com/hornet%20do...0template.html

[Carvalho]

Thanks!

[hschuit]

Thanks for the HU :salute: This is much better than the stock version !

[Victory103]

Thanks for the HU :salute: This is much better than the stock version !

Highly recommend you hangar the stock Bug and grab either this FSXBA mod or Sludge mod for your Hornets, works on the payware CaptSim family wagon too!

[swimeye]

There are lots of goodies in the Blue Angels version but how does it compare to the Sludge version? Are they similar to fly or are there one that is better than the other?

[skyhawka4m]

A nice plane....too bad they didn't offer weapons load outs. Sure would be nice if MS would offer up the model for someone to update.

[hschuit]

There are lots of goodies in the Blue Angels version but how does it compare to the Sludge version? Are they similar to fly or are there one that is better than the other?

Christian "Sludge" Snow is one of the contributors (Flight Handling and Modeling, Aircraft Lighting, Vapor & Exhaust Effects). It looks like this is the latest evolution of the Sludge Hornet mod.

[hschuit]

A nice plane....too bad they didn't offer weapons load outs. Sure would be nice if MS would offer up the model for someone to update.

The FSX/A stock F/A-18C and the Captain Sim F/A-18D come from the same developer and share a lot of files like the internal (VC) model, FDE and textures. The F/A-18D has a loadout panel which works quite nice.

[Phantom88]

Very Nice

[swimeye]

Ok, i will give it a try then, thank you Hschuit

[StormILM]

Well, this was a very nice surprise. After getting it installed and up for testing in sim, it is amazing! Auto-Trim, improved FDE, G-Limiter, new effects & sounds. This is a must update for the Acceleration & Captain Sim Hornet.

[cortomalteseit]

It's a very good variant of the Sludge one, for what I saw.
Thanks for the advice!!!

[DagR]

Hi,
Thanks a lot for this advice, suddenly the default F-18 bacame highly interesting :-)

[Shylock]

This is not a updated version of the SLUDGE. Sure the FSXBA Hornet has some coding borrowed from the SLUDGE Hornet such as the effects and the carrier and refueling gauges. Same with the SLUDGE Hornet, it has coding borrowed from the FSXBA Hornet. But that's about it, the architecture and coding behind the handling of the two versions are very different. A lot of time went into this bird to give you a true fly by wire Hornet. A lot of people made small contributions but Jimi did all the hard work. Many hours were spent after team practices.

Jimi has been waiting for his membership here to be approved to Member Plus to be able to post in here. He can explain in greater detail.

[Jimi]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to the forums here at SOH, and from the looks of it, you guys appear to be a group of top-notch simmers and developers here. Good stuff!

Thanks for the compliments and feedback on the new FSXBA F/A-18 Hornet. A lot of work has been put into it and I'm very glad most are enjoying it. As my good friend Shylock mentioned, this version of the F/A-18 is a different beast from the SLUDGE variant, despite the fact that it uses a few similar gauges for effects, carrier, and refueling operations.

I consider Sludge a very good friend and there have been many nights where we have worked side-by-side with each other on our own variants. We both share a "if you want it, take it" policy with our designs, therefore, you will notice some of his handy work in the FSXBA variant, just as you will notice some of my handy work in the SLUDGE variant.

All in all, our variants tend to verge in terms of the way our jets achieve their desired flight handling and characteristics. SLUDGE works mainly with his SLUDGE version of the aircraft.cfg and .air file to achieve what he wants with the jet, while the FSXBA variant uses custom xml gauges in addition to our own FSXBA aircraft.cfg and .air files. It's the xml gauges in our jet that acts as the Flight Control System (FCS), helping the pilot to fly the jet and ease pilot workload. One great example of such is the pitch auto trim gauge. While in Up & Away (UA) flight, it constantly monitors the state of the jet and dials in nose up or nose down trim to keep the jet at 1 G flight once the flight controls are released. In Powered Approach (PA) mode, it again uses elevator trim, but to maintain a certain Angle of Attack (AOA), instead of G. And it does this 18 times per second! This is only one of many gauges that work in similar ways to control rudder input, flap operation, throttle handling, and pirouette maneuvering.

Maybe one day, both the SLUDGE and FSXBA variant will be merged into one, but as of now, we have agreed to parallel each other's work and keep our models separate.

Thanks again, I hope this clarifies things a bit, and glad to be one of the FNGs here at SOH!

-Jimi

[DagR]

Interesting reading about the auto-trim ! Would it be possible to incorporate such a gadget in the aerosoft F-16 ?
Thanks again for great work done :-)


Best
DagR

[Jimi]

Interesting reading about the auto-trim ! Would it be possible to incorporate such a gadget in the aerosoft F-16 ?
Thanks again for great work done :-)


Best
DagR

Although I am not very familiar with the Aerosoft F-16, I am pretty sure you would be able to incorporate a pitch auto trim or something similar to that aircraft.

[delta_lima]

Just got this ... in a rare moment when I got interested in something newer than the 70s ...

First - fantastic work by the FSXBA team. This really takes the default F/A-18 to a grand new level. Two quick questions:

First, is there a way to replace the external part of the AB/reheat effect? In today's world of fantastic reheat effects like those from Dino's F-14, the recent Virtavia jets, etc - this has always been a let-down for me in the stock Hornet. I have read that it's actually a part of the external model, and as such can't be removed. I note there is an effect (light) of sorts that lights up the interior of the cans better than stock - but if that funky coloured disk can be removed, that'd be great.

Next, I'm toying with getting the xLoad F-18D. So my question is around repaints - I heard that any of the A/C paints work with the D (and apparently vice-versa) - is this true?

Thanks,

DL

[hschuit]

Just got this ... in a rare moment when I got interested in something newer than the 70s ...

First - fantastic work by the FSXBA team. This really takes the default F/A-18 to a grand new level. Two quick questions:

First, is there a way to replace the external part of the AB/reheat effect? In today's world of fantastic reheat effects like those from Dino's F-14, the recent Virtavia jets, etc - this has always been a let-down for me in the stock Hornet. I have read that it's actually a part of the external model, and as such can't be removed. I note there is an effect (light) of sorts that lights up the interior of the cans better than stock - but if that funky coloured disk can be removed, that'd be great.

Next, I'm toying with getting the xLoad F-18D. So my question is around repaints - I heard that any of the A/C paints work with the D (and apparently vice-versa) - is this true?

Thanks,

DL

It has been a while but I think you need to remove a couple of fx files which are triggered by the MDL (you do not see them referenced in the aircraft.cfg file):

Effects folder: fx_AfterBurnerFire1.fx, fx_AfterBurnerFire2.fx, fx_AfterBurnerFire3.fx
Effects Texture folder: fa18_ab.bmp

And make sure you use the new shared textures from the Blue Angels version: Afterburner_Spec.dds, F-18_Afterburner_T.dds

The only problem I still have is a red and a green light showing up briefly upon activating the burners, no clue how to fix it.

[Jimi]

Hschuit is correct in regards to the afterburner effect.

As for the textures, most of them will cross directly over from the A/C to the B/D. There are a few files in the primary Texture folder that are specific to the B/D though. These files affect the region around and directly behind the canopy area.

[delta_lima]

Thanks to both H and J - all sorted now. Love the B/D merged with the FSXBA mod. This is now my default (and sole) Hornet.

Thanks!!!!

DL

[CG_1976]

Delta_lima, the 440Sq RCAF F/A18 painted by Ray Gagnon works on both FSX/A and CS. Also all his CF18 paints work between both.

[MenendezDiego]

What would be amazing is a collimated HUD

[delta_lima]

Delta_lima, the 440Sq RCAF F/A18 painted by Ray Gagnon works on both FSX/A and CS. Also all his CF18 paints work between both.

Cool - thanks CG! One of the paints (I think it's a VMFA-312) doesn't seem to work - the dorsal spine area has some missing textures - but by and large, I'm happy with what I have. It's all the Hornet I need ...

DL

[Jimi]

What would be amazing is a collimated HUD

Talk to Captain Sim/FS Dreamteam about that. There are a TON of things we can do/fix if we had the source files for the 3-D model, but they're not playing ball. Collimated HUD is only one of many on the fix list....