Razbam A-7 vol. 3 issues

[piperarcherpilot]

Regarding the The A-7 Vol. 3 (vers. 1.1) from the flightsim shop, I'm having some very strange issues... I think the A-7 has some outstanding features and the model, VC, and sound is absolutely beautiful. :salute:

Attachment 48790

Let me preface this by saying some of these issues are strange, and I havent encountered them before with add-ons in my FSX sim (inc. Virtavia, PMDG, Aerosoft, IRIS, CaptSim, Nemeth, VRS, Carenado, Flt1, etc). I've also tried installing it as an administrator, it doesnt help. I'm really confused.

Issues:

1. Scrape Point? Does anyone know why theres a scrape point at -65' behind the plane in the contact points section? Just a mild rotation on takeoff causes this scrape point (well aft of the airplane model) to hit and stop rotation. Also, this obviously causes issues on landing too. Manually removed this line from each cfg.

2. GPWS? There are default Boeing GPWS sounds with the A-7? Not sure, but I dont think they had that. I added the GPWS inhibit text manually to each cfg.

3. Flickering Smoke? The engine smoke constantly flickers and disappears and reappears. Dont know how to fix.

4. Core FSX files corrupted? I found that installing this jet broke FSRecorder2. Upon further file diving, I found the A-7 installer created a new "dll.xml" file (and backed up the old) but it didnt add any new entries to it, it just corrupted it. I had to reinstall FSRecorder and then manually fix the dll.xml file from a backup. Not cool...

5. No Engine Damage? One of the major selling points for me was the realism with engine damage. However, I cant stall the engine, and I cant cause any damage to it no matter how long I run it at full power. Dont know how to fix.

6. Acceleration? But perhaps the most shocking thing is how quickly the jet accelerates. The engine at least feels about twice as powerful as it should be. The A-7 out accelerates the VRS F-18E?! Reduced power scaler in the .cfg to 1.00, from 1.25. Seems to help a little...

I read through all 36 pages of the release thread on SOH and no one mentioned this stuff. Forgive me if I missed something...the search feature on this forum doesnt always pick things up. But I tend to think maybe I have a bad file from flightsim pilot shop? I looked through the manual and couldnt find anything. Are these known bugs or should I contact RAZBAM in email?

PS. Ron, I hope your financial situation turns around. I know what that feels like, with my major student loans and all.... So please dont feel I'm being picky or insensitive to your products - have had the A-6 since its launch and I love it! But, regarding this A-7 experience, I would feel pretty upset if I had paid $35 for this product. $5 is still a little annoying. I'm just scratching my head on this one...looking for advice.

[ZEUS67]

The dll.xml should have this lines:

<launch.addon>
</launch.addon>[Launch.Addon>
[Name>A7 Ordnance Weight Manager[/Name>
[Disabled>False[/Disabled>
[ManualLoad>False[/ManualLoad>
[Path>Addon Modules\A7_Ordnance_Mngr.dll[/Path>
[DllStartName>module_init[/DllStartName>
[DllStopName>module_deinit[/DllStopName>
[/Launch.Addon>

Changed the < to [


If it doesn't please install it.

That aircraft engine's did not give out smoke except when accelerating. Every time you change the throttle setting a puff of smoke will be seen.

[piperarcherpilot]

Thank you for that! Yeah, thats definitely not in there. I'll add it and see.

Regarding the smoke, I see the smoke at higher power settings, but whats happening is the entire stream of smoke is flickering on and off very rapidly. It doesnt do this with any other add-on's smoke.

The dll.xml should have this lines:

<launch.addon>
<name>A7 Ordnance Weight Manager</name>
<disabled>False</disabled>
<manualload>False</manualload>

Addon Modules\A7_Ordnance_Mngr.dll</path>
<dllstartname>module_init</dllstartname>
<dllstopname>module_deinit</dllstopname>
</launch.addon>

If it doesn't please install it.

That aircraft engine's did not give out smoke except when accelerating. Every time you change the throttle setting a puff of smoke will be seen.

[piperarcherpilot]

Something else I noticed is the ASCU (EA-7L version) reports the gross weight about 12000 pounds less than FSX's loading window does...? With the flight I"m doing now, it shows the fuel as 17692, and the gross weight as 17892. Its saying the aircraft weighs 200 lbs. Maybe just an ASCU error.

I cant get the TOT to exceed about 580 C (at over 10,000 ft) no matter what. Maybe thats why the engine wont record damage...

[Mach3DS]

Funny you mention that. Because I will get "////" flash on my HUD and if I don't decrease the power my engine will quite. Infact, my engine quits every flight no matter what after about 5 mins worth of flying.

[ZEUS67]

Funny you mention that. Because I will get "////" flash on my HUD and if I don't decrease the power my engine will quite. Infact, my engine quits every flight no matter what after about 5 mins worth of flying.

The "////" bars in the HUD is the master caution warning.
The A-7 engine is a tricky one. DO NOT go full throttle for more than 3 - 6 minutes, or it will overheat. Max throttle for normal flight is 96%.

Keep an eye on the TOT gauge. If it rises above the limit, you will lose the engine.
Read the manual, the aircraft limits are there.

[piperarcherpilot]

Funny you mention that. Because I will get "////" flash on my HUD and if I don't decrease the power my engine will quite. Infact, my engine quits every flight no matter what after about 5 mins worth of flying.

Im still playing around with it, but heres a good example. At Mountain Home AFB (KMSO), standard day. I set the parking brake, and push the throttle up to max. After 10 minutes, the TOT is at 527 C and steady, no advisories on the hud or panel. Release the brake, at rotation speed, its at 536 C. Level off at 200 ft agl, and accelerate. At 280-300 kts, the master caution light comes on, HUD ////, with a TOT of 555 C. Still no annunciation. About 20 seconds later at 500 kts, TOT is 604 C and still no annunciation. 10 more seconds, and at 600 kts, temp is 630 and finally the ENG HOT Annunciation comes on. At 650 kts, full power, 105% N1, TOT of 645, I trim it out, extend the air brake slightly so as not to overspeed, and it flies like that indefinitely (I'm still flying, at 11 minutes now). No engine failure, despite being over 640 C.

UPDATE: The engine failed at 14 minutes.

Hmm...? Does it matter that I was flying through rain?

[fallenphoenix1986]

I picked up the first pack a while back and I've had the same issues with the lack of engine damage and accelertaion, 800 knots on the deck is a tad much. Never really tried to fix it though, was burried under a stack of uni work at the time and kinda forgot about it until I read this. Looks fantastic but like Piper I'd appreciate any insight into the wierd behaviour when you have the time. Hope things start to look up for you soon Ron.

Craig

[piperarcherpilot]

Did some more investigating, and I find that I only have smoke visible when I'm applying throttle. Once I take my hand off the throttle (either controller or keyboard F3) the smoke instantly goes away. So, by changing the throttle in normal flying, it looks like the smoke is flickering randomly.

Also, the fx file referenced in the .cfg of each plane, fx_dsb_smoke.fx, does not exist in my Effects folder...? Is it somewhere else? Or is this why its not working right?

EDIT: After opening the file and reading through it, maybe the file fx_dsb_heat.fx controls the heat effects and smoke? But it isnt working right...?

I think I'm going to just take a break from this.

[ZEUS67]

Did some more investigating, and I find that I only have smoke visible when I'm applying throttle. Once I take my hand off the throttle (either controller or keyboard F3) the smoke instantly goes away. So, by changing the throttle in normal flying, it looks like the smoke is flickering randomly.

Also, the fx file referenced in the .cfg of each plane, fx_dsb_smoke.fx, does not exist in my Effects folder...? Is it somewhere else? Or is this why its not working right? I substituted the smoke from the AlphaSim EA6B, and then it works fine without flickering.

Considering that the installer butchered my dll.xml file, and now apparently didnt install the smoke, I think maybe a lot of these issues seem to be from the installer not working correctly?

Change in throttle will bring out the smoke. It is the same effect as if you accelerate your car, a puff of smoke will come out of the exhaust.
The engine is smokeless.

[piperarcherpilot]

Change in throttle will bring out the smoke. It is the same effect as if you accelerate your car, a puff of smoke will come out of the exhaust.
The engine is smokeless.

I understand...I'm just not sure how to convey what I'm seeing. Maybe I'll make a video of it. Whats happening isnt a puff of smoke. Its more like a strobe effect where the smoke instantly snaps on and off...flashing.

I dont mean to keep adding to the oddity list, but I think maybe the EA-7L has a payload store location issue. Using the ASCU, when I add tanks or bombs to one wing, the plane tips to the opposite side as the added weight (as if its adding the physical weight to one wing, and the graphical weight to the other). The other models animate correctly.

[Mach3DS]

Thanks Zeus67. I'm totally at fault for sure...that was simply my 10 mins worth of flying. Haven't read the manual yet. Once I do, I'm sure things will make sense. However I did notice that the FSrecorder needed to be reinstalled. Which I did. I'm going to check the other dll thingy tonight.

Piperarcherpilot, the Smoke thing happens on purpose. It's an effect of the Fuel being injected into the engine when you accelerate engine RPM. I asked Ron, the same thing happens in the C201A. It's supposed to happen.

[piperarcherpilot]

Heres a quick flickering smoke video to help highlight the issue. By the way, it makes no difference if I use a joystick throttle or F1 - F4 keys. I just cant imagine this is intentional...



OK, going back to the issues at hand:

1. Scrape Point? Still dont know why there was a scrape point forty feet behind the tail...removed it from the cfg's.

2. GPWS? I added the GPWS inhibit text manually to each cfg.

3. Flickering Smoke? The engine smoke constantly flickers and disappears and reappears. Dont know how to fix.

4. Core FSX files corrupted? I had to reinstall FSRecorder and then manually fix the dll.xml file from a backup.

5. No Engine Damage? Seems like it does work, but its sorta intermittent.

6. Acceleration? Seems like changing the thrust_scalar to 1.10 is a decent trade off between way too much thrust with a setting of 1.25 and not being able to take off at higher gross weights with a setting of 1.00

7. EA-7L has a payload store location issue. Using the ASCU, when I add tanks or bombs to one wing, the plane tips to the opposite side as the added weight (as if its adding the physical weight to one wing, and the graphical weight to the other). The other models animate correctly.

[rayhere48]

I really hate to add to this but I have the same issue with smoke. The plane is great so I just over looked it. I wish it did not happen, but I know that everything will not be perfect so I just lived with it. If some one comes up with a workaround that would be great, but I can live with it.

[piperarcherpilot]

I really hate to add to this but I have the same issue with smoke. The plane is great so I just over looked it. I wish it did not happen, but I know that everything will not be perfect so I just lived with it. If some one comes up with a workaround that would be great, but I can live with it.

I feel the same way. It really is a nice aircraft...so I hope I'm not coming across as trying to pick it to pieces. My intent is to try to help make it better. I'd prefer no smoke at all over the flickering.

[Mach3DS]

I feel the same way. It really is a nice aircraft...so I hope I'm not coming across as trying to pick it to pieces. My intent is to try to help make it better. I'd prefer no smoke at all over the flickering.

Yeah, I didn't say i liked the look of it. I don't really do, but it is intentional. Mine does the exact same thing. I would honestly like to change the smoke effect out for the Sludge hornet smoke. the best smoke I've seen yet. But I've heard it's a smokeless engine. The flickering is quite annoying though. i think it was a well planned idea, that in practice didn't turn out probably in the way they had hoped.

[Mach3DS]

Where do I find the dll.xml? thank you. not a newbie to editing, but never heard of this one before. thanks again!

[warchild]

Well, i did the flight model, and well, you caught a mistake we missed when we made it.. Truthfully, i dont know whether i did the contact points or not as sometimes I do them, and sometimes the studio i'm working with does them.. What can do is this, and hope it helps . Thanks for catching that, and my apologies for the inaccuracy.
Pam

point.3=2, -15.576, -35.00, 2.000, 1500.4, 0, 0.0000, 0.0, 0.0000, 0.00, 0.0000, 0.0, 0.0, 5, 0.0, 0.0
point.4=2, -15.576, 35.00, 2.000, 1500.4, 0, 0.0000, 0.0, 0.0000, 0.00, 0.0000, 0.0, 0.0, 6, 0.0, 0.0
point.5=2, -29.2125, 0.00, -2.3075, 1500.4, 0, 0.0000, 0.0, 0.0000, 0.00, 0.0000, 0.0, 0.0, 9, 0.0, 0.0
point.6=2, -14.00, 0.00, -4.32, 1500.4, 0, 0.0000, 0.0, 0.0000, 0.00, 0.0000, 0.0, 0.0, 4, 0.0, 0.0

[piperarcherpilot]

Hi Rick,

The dll.xml is here (with Win 7 and Vista):

C(or other drive):\Users\YOURUSER\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\F SX\dll.xml

Pam,

Thank you very much for the new points - I just caught it by watching a takeoff from the outside view and saw sparks behind the plane...!

[Bone]

Hi Rick,

The dll.xml is here (with Win 7 and Vista):

C(or other drive):\Users\USER\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX\d ll.xml

Pam,

Thank you very much for the new points - I just caught it by watching a takeoff from the outside view and saw sparks behind the plane...!

There's also a folder in the FSX root, called addon modules, which contains the A-7 ordnance manager dll. That's were I found stuff relating to this, although a text file.

[Launch.Addon>
[Name>A7 Ordnance Weight Manager[/Name>
[Disabled>False[/Disabled>
[ManualLoad>False[/ManualLoad>
[Path>Addon Modules\A7_Ordnance_Mngr.dll[/Path>
[DllStartName>module_init[/DllStartName>
[DllStopName>module_deinit[/DllStopName>
[/Launch.Addon>

Changed the < to [

[Bone]

Although, this has become a little bit confusing. Replacing the "<" with "[" doesn't really make sense, considering every other addon in the xml is using "<". It makes sense in the text doc in the addon module, but not the xml. I may need a little more explaining from someone who knows.

[piperarcherpilot]

Heres the entirety of my dll.xml file. Note that the only relevant part is the last section - the rest is specific to MY fsx install...so dont copy paste. It just shows the proper formatting.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="Windows-1252"?>
<SimBase.Document Type="Launch" version="1,0">
    <Descr>Launch</Descr>
    <Filename>dll.xml</Filename>
    <Disabled>False</Disabled>
    <Launch.ManualLoad>False</Launch.ManualLoad>
    <Launch.Addon>
        <Name>Object Placement Tool</Name>
        <Disabled>True</Disabled>
        <ManualLoad>False</ManualLoad>
        <Path>..\Microsoft Flight Simulator X SDK\SDK\Mission Creation Kit\object_placement.dll</Path>
    </Launch.Addon>
    <Launch.Addon>
        <Name>Traffic Toolbox</Name>
        <Disabled>True</Disabled>
        <ManualLoad>False</ManualLoad>
        <Path>..\Microsoft Flight Simulator X SDK\SDK\Environment Kit\Traffic Toolbox SDK\traffictoolbox.dll</Path>
    </Launch.Addon>
    <Launch.Addon>
        <Name>Visual Effects Tool</Name>
        <Disabled>True</Disabled>
        <ManualLoad>False</ManualLoad>
        <Path>..\Microsoft Flight Simulator X SDK\SDK\Environment Kit\Special Effects SDK\visualfxtool.dll</Path>
    </Launch.Addon>
    <Launch.Addon>
        <Name>Captain Sim 767 Menu</Name>
        <Disabled>False</Disabled>
        <Path>Captain_Sim\Captain_Sim.b767.menu.dll</Path>
    </Launch.Addon>
    <Launch.Addon>
        <Name>Captain Sim 727 Menu</Name>
        <Disabled>False</Disabled>
        <Path>Captain_Sim\727\Captain_Sim.p727.menu.dll</Path>
    </Launch.Addon>
    <Launch.Addon>
        <Name>Captain Sim Menu</Name>
        <Disabled>False</Disabled>
        <Path>Captain_Sim\Captain_Sim.b757.menu.dll</Path>
    </Launch.Addon>
    <Launch.Addon>
        <Name>PMDG Options</Name>
        <Disabled>False</Disabled>
        <Path>PMDG\DLLs\PMDGOptions.dll</Path>
    </Launch.Addon>
    <Launch.Addon>
        <Name>PMDG Events</Name>
        <Disabled>False</Disabled>
        <Path>PMDG\DLLs\PMDGEvents.dll</Path>
    </Launch.Addon>
    <Launch.Addon>
        <Name>PMDG Sounds</Name>
        <Disabled>False</Disabled>
        <Path>PMDG\DLLs\PMDGSounds.dll</Path>
    </Launch.Addon>
    <Launch.Addon>
        <Name>FSUIPC 4</Name>
        <Disabled>False</Disabled>
        <Path>Modules\FSUIPC4.dll</Path>
    </Launch.Addon>
    <Launch.Addon>
        <Name>Captain Sim 520 Menu</Name>
        <Disabled>False</Disabled>
        <Path>Captain_Sim\520\cs.sound.dll</Path>
    </Launch.Addon>
    <Launch.Addon>
        <Name>FS Recorder</Name>
        <Disabled>False</Disabled>
        <ManualLoad>False</ManualLoad>
        <Path>C:\Program Files (x86)\FS Recorder for FSX\FSRecorder_FSX.dll</Path>
    </Launch.Addon>
    <Launch.Addon>
        <Name>A7 Ordnance Weight Manager</Name>
        <Disabled>False</Disabled>
        <ManualLoad>False</ManualLoad>
        <Path>Addon Modules\A7_Ordnance_Mngr.dll</Path>
        <DllStartName>module_init</DllStartName>
        <DllStopName>module_deinit</DllStopName>
    </Launch.Addon>
</SimBase.Document>

[Mach3DS]

Bone, do the opposite. Replace "[" with "<" that's it. from the dll.xml file. Not sure about the other file you mentioned. I also changed the smoke effect and reduced the thrust scalar as did piperarcherpilot.

[collensr]

hi - did anyone ever find a solution to the exhaust smoke issue please?

[hschuit]

hi - did anyone ever find a solution to the exhaust smoke issue please?

Quick & dirty fix: Remove/rename the fx_RAZBAM_smoke2.fx file (which lives in the .\Effects folder).