General Category > Unofficial F/A-18 Acceleration Pack board

Cat launch force

<< < (2/3) > >>

wilycoyote4:

--- Quote from: capthaltli on June 21, 2011, 04:16:59 pm ---......I added the line to my fsx.cfg file and then did a cat launch in the hornet using full Mil power (not burner). My end speed was 189kts. Is this better or more realistic?

--- End quote ---

More realistic than the much higher speeds such as 250 KIAS for the Goshawk or 230 KIAS for the Hornet.

And throttle is at a realistic setting. 

Sludge:
Fellas...

Personally, I dont think we are gonna get much better than what WILY and CAPT just posted.  It seems that the default catapult was OVER-RATED in its strength for wide-public use and I dont know that there's much we can do to change that, being that the catapult system is hard-coded into Acceleration as-is.  Granted with other aircraft (T-45 and F-14), other tweaks are open, but with the FSX Hornet we are stuck with what we are given.  We can tweak as much as possible, but in the end, we are stuck with staying at less than MIL power for a realistic looking and feeling cat shot.  My feeling about this anomaly is FSX adds the jets engine's thrust along with catapult strength to end speed, when it should be the cat force ONLY, until the jet is off the cat.  To test my idea, perform two cat shots:  one with the throttle about 80 percent and one at MAX power (full A/B), and watch the airspeed during the cat shot and you'll see what I mean.

Im sure you've seen this, but this YouTube is visually informative, as far as real world cat shots.

As you can see, it takes about 3 seconds to hit 140 knots INDICATED at the end of the cat stroke (audible THUD and camera shake) and goes past up to 160+ KIAS, assuming the SkyPig (EA-6B Prowler) is on his climbout and clearing turn.

Dont get me wrong though, I could be wayy off on this, so keep looking and searching.  I'm just airing out my opinion from my prior testing... and we all know what that's worth.  A new technique may come up that doesnt involve a whole new set of gauges.  Keep at it, you might dig up something we can all use.  I'd LOVE to cat-shot at MIL power, at the end be at 140 KIAS, and have to stay at MIL on climbout.

Later
Sludge

wilycoyote4:

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/wiki/index.php?title=Catapult/Arrestor_Operations_(FSXA)#Configuring_.28FSXA.29

Configuring (FSXA)
fsx.CFG
In the [Realism] section.
Add/edit to enable -

CatapultForceLimiter=1 - Only fighter type aircraft can be catapulted.
CatapultForceLimiter=0 - Enables the catapult systems to generate the required force for any type of aircraft.

TODO - Find/add info how FSX discriminates between fighter and non-fighter aircraft.
-------------------------------------
fighter and nonfighter----
The Goshawk isn't a fighter so how does FSX make a decision?

Anyway, that's why I'm testing "CatapultForceLimiter=0" rather than the other way.

Letourn:
I tried the new setup

FSX.CFG

[Realism]
CatapultForceLimiter=0   //Enables the catapult systems to generate the required force for any type of aircraft

F/A-18 Sludge / Combat v1.2
35 285 GW / 175 knots with carrier speed at 25 knots
Full military power

T-45 v2 Beta Dino
13 310 GW / 140 knots with carrier speed at 25 knots
Full military power

F-14D Dino
69 426GW / 195 knots with carrier speed at 25 knots
Full military power

Sludge:
Fellas...

Typical, I write something and now have to eat my words.  Still waiting on permission, so I started modding/testing.  Whats new, right?!

Well, I figured out that in the SDK, there is a value called "LAUNCHBAR HELD EXTENDED, bool", so using that as "catapult armed, tension", I used that point to set the brakes (MLG toe brakes, NOT Parking Brake) to max and hmm, sure enough... after killing the wind, I got several launches under 150 KIAS at MIL power.

So now, we have two instances where setting both MLG toe brakes to MAX helps, when the tailhook is down, so you can do a realistic MIL runup even after the "virtual wire" gives way and stops holding.  And now, at "catapult armed, tension", so you can get realistic launch speeds for the Hornet.

Check out these screenies I just made...

Later
Sludge

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page