Alphasim Crusader goes native FSX

[findus]

Thx a lot Henk, it´s always a great pleasure to fly this iconic fighter in FSX.

[hschuit]

Agree with Cees, just trapped her on the Big E and Oriskany and it is all very silky smooth. Couple of nits - one click of the button gives you full flaps rather than incremental settings. Also struggling with finding the texture causing this when adding some of my favorite repaints. They all fit fine except for the view from the VC - think it is a glass texture somewhere but have not tracked it down. Have added the texture.cfg that maps to the main texture folder but that did not solve it.

1. If I understand the NATOPS manual correctly, the F-8 did not use incremental flaps settings. For take off and landing, the pilot pulled the wing incidence lever which tilts the wing, droops the ailerons and leading edges in one go. In the sim this is assigned to the flaps key.

2. The native FSX VC model uses a different glass texture: F8_CanopyINTERIOR_t.dds. So, if you want to import FS9 model repaints, 1st you have to remove the old F8_CanopyINTERIOR_t.bmp glass texture from it. If you don't, the old file supersedes the new F8_CanopyINTERIOR_t.dds file and you get what you showed in your screenshot. EDIT: Good to see you sorted it out while I was typing this.

[Cirrus N210MS]

using it in P3D aswell looks amazing

[expat]

Is the radar in the VC supposed to work? I have a black screen and don't see any click spots to operate it. 2d panel has the original AS radar functioning.

[expat]

1. If I understand the NATOPS manual correctly, the F-8 did not use incremental flaps settings. For take off and landing, the pilot pulled the wing incidence lever which tilts the wing, droops the ailerons and leading edges in one go. In the sim this is assigned to the flaps key.

2. The native FSX VC model uses a different glass texture: F8_CanopyINTERIOR_t.dds. So, if you want to import FS9 model repaints, 1st you have to remove the old F8_CanopyINTERIOR_t.bmp glass texture from it. If you don't, the old file supersedes the new F8_CanopyINTERIOR_t.dds file and you get what you showed in your screenshot. EDIT: Good to see you sorted it out while I was typing this.

Thanks Henk for the explanation and great work on this aircraft!

[gray eagle]

I found a freeware F-100 (also used the J57) and sounds close to the J57 engine I remember when I was stationed with F8's (VF-24).
https://flyawaysimulation.com/downlo...per-sabre/get/

[JensOle]

Back in the FS9 days I did a makeshift RF-8A out of the F-8E. Without any missile rails the biggest difference is of course the cannon ports and lack of camera ports. As long as the textures are remade without any canon port details and adding the camera ports in the texture it is possible to at least get something looking like a RF-8. I'll see if I can dig out the RF repaint.

[Bone]

Another nice job, thanks

[expat]

Does the radar in the VC work for others?

[hschuit]

Is the radar in the VC supposed to work? I have a black screen and don't see any click spots to operate it. 2d panel has the original AS radar functioning.

Does the radar in the VC work for others?

The radar is inop, what I did was change the early model round scope modelparts to the E/J model square scope and updated the texture. Of course you could try add a working radar gauge, there are several around like the Dietmar Loleit ARS4 radar.

[fsafranek]

1. If I understand the NATOPS manual correctly, the F-8 did not use incremental flaps settings. For take off and landing, the pilot pulled the wing incidence lever which tilts the wing, droops the ailerons and leading edges in one go. In the sim this is assigned to the flaps key.

2. The native FSX VC model uses a different glass texture: F8_CanopyINTERIOR_t.dds. So, if you want to import FS9 model repaints, 1st you have to remove the old F8_CanopyINTERIOR_t.bmp glass texture from it. If you don't, the old file supersedes the new F8_CanopyINTERIOR_t.dds file and you get what you showed in your screenshot. EDIT: Good to see you sorted it out while I was typing this.

Just looked at the NATOPS with Wings of Gold and you are 100% correct Henk. It's all or none. Which would make for some interesting transition. Alphasim (Jay or Carl back in the day) incorrectly have 5 flap/slat steps.

[mal998]

I have several manuals for the F-8 series. I am going to have a look at re-working the FDE and will correct some of the more glaring errors. Henk did a terrific job on converting the Crusader. I still have quite a few paints from the FS9 version but haven't been able to get them working on this version.

[gray eagle]

Recommend a nice AB (Burner) This project (FSX convert) was done before a few years ago but the textures were still bmps ; I believe it was Tufun that made a burner for
another chap that put one of these conversions together I think it was Don Bodenstedt.

http://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/fslib....rchid=42364411

[PRB]

Henk, you have done a fine job on the F-8. I like the afterburner noise. In the late 70's/early 80's the RF-8G Crusaders of my squadron (VFP-63) were the only F-8's remaining in the fleet. With the RA-5C Vigilantes being retired we ended up putting photo detachments back aboard the larger CV's which hadn't had Crusaders aboard in years. Flight deck personnel (especially newbies) always got a scare, first time one of the RF-8's went to burner on the cat and all that fuel lit off with a BANG!

My first cruise was 1982, which was the first deployment for our air wing (CAG-11) without the RF-8s. I heard all about the "BANG" many times but didn't get to experience it until we went on a det to an Air Force base, Holloman, I think it was, where they were testing QF-100s, which, apparently, had the same sort of single stage AB the F-8 had. Working on the flight line we could hear the QF-100s running some distance away. Every now and then came a very "bass" "thump", which we could almost feel more than hear. It was Super Sabre's AB popping off. That was cool!

[ejoiner]

Agree with Cees, just trapped her on the Big E and Oriskany and it is all very silky smooth. Couple of nits - one click of the button gives you full flaps rather than incremental settings. Also struggling with finding the texture causing this when adding some of my favorite repaints. They all fit fine except for the view from the VC - think it is a glass texture somewhere but have not tracked it down. Have added the texture.cfg that maps to the main texture folder but that did not solve it.

Im having this same problem with the glass in the VC. Makes the plane unflyable. Great work otherwise. I have FSX

[Bone]

Im having this same problem with the glass in the VC. Makes the plane unflyable. Great work otherwise. I have FSX

If you use one of your fave FS9 Crusader paints, you have to update the VC glass textures. Henk explains in section 2 of the following:

1. If I understand the NATOPS manual correctly, the F-8 did not use incremental flaps settings. For take off and landing, the pilot pulled the wing incidence lever which tilts the wing, droops the ailerons and leading edges in one go. In the sim this is assigned to the flaps key.

2. The native FSX VC model uses a different glass texture: F8_CanopyINTERIOR_t.dds. So, if you want to import FS9 model repaints, 1st you have to remove the old F8_CanopyINTERIOR_t.bmp glass texture from it. If you don't, the old file supersedes the new F8_CanopyINTERIOR_t.dds file and you get what you showed in your screenshot. EDIT: Good to see you sorted it out while I was typing this.

[expat]

FYI - Don B.'s "XE-169" panel works in this native FSX model - I just need to change slightly some of the gauges' coordinates. 2D panel gauges fit fine.

[hschuit]

FYI - Don B.'s "XE-169" panel works in this native FSX model - I just need to change slightly some of the gauges' coordinates. 2D panel gauges fit fine.

Nice , good to see you took the time to test Don Bodenstedt's panel on the converted VC model, with some tweaking in FS Panel Studio it will look great.

[TARPSBird]

Henk, a texture question. I have the AlphaSim F-8 in my FS9 install. Am I correct that I can copy a texture folder for, say, a VF-111 paint job over from the FS9 jet to your FSX plane and it will work OK with the exception of having to remove the canopy glass .bmp file as already mentioned?

[expat]

with some tweaking in FS Panel Studio it will look great.

As I don't have FS PS (am a cheapskate!) I will need to do it the old fashioned way, trial and error but not that many gauges need moving!

Am I correct that I can copy a texture folder for, say, a VF-111 paint job over from the FS9 jet to your FSX plane and it will work OK with the exception of having to remove the canopy glass .bmp file as already mentioned?

Have moved FS9 paints that way and it works.

[hschuit]

Henk, a texture question. I have the AlphaSim F-8 in my FS9 install. Am I correct that I can copy a texture folder for, say, a VF-111 paint job over from the FS9 jet to your FSX plane and it will work OK with the exception of having to remove the canopy glass .bmp file as already mentioned?

Sort of yes. Just make sure you remove these files before you import the repaint:
- F8_CanopyINTERIOR_t.bmp (VC canopy glass)
- F8_VC_EarlyF8_Page_12.bmp (VC E/J model square radar scope - as a matter of fact I would advice not to use any of the old FS9 VC textures)
- F8_Canopy_t.bmp (exterior canopy glass)

A good way to judge which FS9 textures you need to port over from your repaint is to compare the DDS filenames in the new FSX repaint folders (e.g. "texture.VF24") and then only pick their FS9 equivalents. I did put all the common textures in the "texture" folder, best is to leave that folder alone and not over write those textures unless you know what you are doing.
Another complication with this model is that the original designer (Carl Edwards) used texture file names which are specific for one particular model. This means that if you have a repaint which was made for one of the US Marines models, it will not work on the FSX conversion because I only did the US Navy F-8J and the French F-8E(FN). There is a workaround: Rename the repaint textures, e.g. F8J_DeathAngel_Body_Left_B -> F8-J_Body_Left_B.

[DaveWG]

In addition to the above, don't forget to copy the texture.cfg from one of the FSX paints into any other repaint folders you may add.

[rsgunner]

I did several textures for the Alphasim F-8 when it was released.

I don't know if they will work in the Native FSX file

If you are interested do a search at flightsim.com for " Crusader" without the quotes scroll thru the files until you find the ones done by Russel R. Smith.

They might be worth while.

I lost all of my efforts do to a HD failure awhile back so I can't rework them.
IIRC there was a simple bat program that when run converted the bmp files to dds files.

Currently all the textures are black.

Now if I could figure out the panel changes I would be set.

Russ

[DaveQ]

A great big 'thank you' for this upgrade Henk. Flies beautifully and looks brilliant.

However, getting extra paints on is more difficult because there are four other models and really only ones for the F-8J or French bird will work properly. If you have time and patience to do the other models, Henk, that would be brilliant. But I do understand why you've stuck with just the two, the file/folder architecture is very complex, nay a nightmare!

DaveQ

[MDIvey]

Henk... thanks for this.

Matt