Catapult Hook-Up Question

[TARPSBird]

For cat launches in FSX I was wondering why some aircraft snap into launch position when you hit Shift+I, but the cat doesn't arm and the hold-back doesn't engage. I've fixed it a couple times by swapping out the [launch_assistance] entries in the aircraft.cfg file but I was wondering if there's a trick or some calculation that gets the right settings so the plane locks into the cat every time.

[hschuit]

Imho 2 things are inportant for your aircraft:
1) [launch_assistance] offsets
2) correct positioning of the aircraft on the cat against the shoe

This is a generic calculation of the offsets I use for jets with nose gear attachpoint:

[launch_assistance]
launch_bar_pivot= X1, Y1, Z1
launch_bar_lug = X2, Y2, Z2

X1 = Nosegear lateral pos
Y1 = zero
Z1 = Nosegear vertical pos + 1.4

X2 = Nosegear lateral pos +1.5
Y2 = zero
Z2 = Nosegear vertical pos + 0.4

Hope this helps, Henk.

[ST0RM]

Henk,

Might you have the text for adding the catapult ability to a tail dragger? The A-1 Skyraider or any of the WWII aircraft for instance?

Thanks!
Jeff

[hschuit]

I have no experience with taildraggers but I guess you could try to set up an attachpoint slightly in front of the main gear. Maybe this is worth a try:

First, look for one of the main gear offsets in [contact_points], which could be: point.1= 1, 2.0, -6.0, -7.0,.....

Using the same logic as I explained yesterday, you would set up the [launch_assistance] like this:

launch_bar_pivot= 2.0, 0.0, -5.6
launch_bar_lug = 3.5, 0.0, -6.6

In FSX, you would have to position the aircraft with the main gear lined up just behind the cat shoe.

[TARPSBird]

Henk, thanks for your response. Actually it was the occasional tail-dragger that was giving me problems. I'm going to try your numbers based on the location of the main gear (vice nose gear) and see how that works.

[fsafranek]

Henk's formula works great. So does Aircraft Container Manager if you have an FS9 version of the aircraft (and if it's a portover) -- ModelConverterX probably does the same for FSX version? One of the first things I copy to the aircraft.cfg file is his formula to get things set up.
:ernae:

[TARPSBird]

I wish ModelConverterX had the same features as Aircraft Container Manager does for FS9 and CFS2, unfortunately it doesn't. Or... I wish the clever gentleman who came up with ACM originally would have upgraded it to work with FSX-native aircraft models. Would make it a lot easier to work with contact points, launch assist, tailhook, lights, and other cfg file entries.