Author Topic: F/A-18 C/D aircraft mod and textures (FSX/P3D)  (Read 212492 times)

hd764jvgd843

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Re: FA-18 C/D texture pack and aircraft mod (FSX, CS and NH)
« Reply #15 on: January 19, 2015, 03:22:00 pm »
Update v1.4.1

Changelog:
- Folder structure has been changed once more and hopefully finally, so no more annoying file copying of model files and gauges will be necessary - assuming corresponding FSX- and/or CS- 'FA-18' installations being present in the airplanes folder. See readme...
- texture.USN_VX-31_5210 'Dust Devils' China Lake added
- texture.USN_VFA-122_25 'Flying Eagles' Centennial of Naval Aviation added
- airfile entry no. 1534 'Wing Aerodynamic Center' (Longitudinal Offset=0) added. "If R1534 is omitted in the AIR-file, MSFS tries to calculate an 'appropriate' offset itself based on parameters in the AIR-file and aircraft.cfg." that seemed to be the cause for erratic pitching behaviour.

I stumbled upon this very useful document that can be download from the AVSIM library: 'Flight Dynamics in Microsoft Flight Simulator' (2012) by Yves Guillaume
Link: http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/fsx-flight-model-documentation-available.332348/
Direct Link: http://library.avsim.net/download.php?DLID=170811

Peter
« Last Edit: January 19, 2015, 03:23:53 pm by hd764jvgd843 »

hd764jvgd843

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Re: FA-18 C/D texture pack and aircraft mod (FSX, CS and NH)
« Reply #16 on: January 30, 2015, 01:36:11 pm »
Update v1.5

Changelog:
- Due to some issues between aircraft.cfg and .air file leading to irregular flight behaviour, I had to revert back to the old folder structure requiring files to be copied.
- Finally finished sifting through the textures collection. For the CS/FS versions there are now more than 140 textures available, uncompressed size is more than 1.4 GB for each version. Although I am not quite finished tweaking some minor issues and irregularities I noticed, it is good enough for a general release.
- added new USMC_VMFAT-101_222 'Medal of Honor' version texture of my own
- For the NH version I have slightly adjusted the Blue Angels color saturation, and integrated the new textures FIN-AF, RAAF, RCAF and VMFAT from 'Kea' and 'Azframer'. Thanks again.

Peter
« Last Edit: January 30, 2015, 01:42:16 pm by hd764jvgd843 »

PhantomTweak

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Re: FA-18 C/D texture pack and aircraft mod (FSX, CS and NH)
« Reply #17 on: January 30, 2015, 10:20:02 pm »
A question, and a side  note, if I may be so bold:

Does v1.5 replace or add-to the v1.4 folder?

And the side note: I worked at VMFAT-101 back when they were the F-4N training squadron at MCAS Yuma, Az. They had 32 birds, give or take (lost 1 to the elevator problem...). BIG squadron, plenty of work, especially with the AWG-10A, which was horribly unreliable...
I was AIMD AVI W/C 630 (I-level radar repair, from the Aero-1A up through the AWG-10C) from Jan 01, 1980 through Oct 27, 1987. Rank of Sgt (E-5), which I held from Oct '81 till I was discharged (Honorable) in Oct. 87. I was, literally, the senior Marine Corps-wide E-5, by date-of-rank. Had it's perks :) The reason was a lack of slots in our MOS. During my 6 years as a Sgt, they promoted a total of 4 persons to SSgt (E-6). I won't go into the politics of that little fiasco. I had 4.0 Fit-Reps almost the entire 6 years, and no disciplinaries, so the lack of promotions wasn't my fault.

Anyway, enough of my whining. Thanks for throwing in the '101 textures. I appreciate it!
Pat☺

hd764jvgd843

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Re: FA-18 C/D texture pack and aircraft mod (FSX, CS and NH)
« Reply #18 on: January 30, 2015, 11:24:57 pm »
Pat: You are welcome, v1.5 is a complete replacement otherwise I would have left prior v1.4.x versions in the downloads. Thanks for asking.

The reason behind it for not releasing lots of incremental updates is that in order to avoid conflicting names with duplicate or similar textures, I often adjust tail numbers and corresponding folder structures, in order to keep them both. Because I do not want to discriminate between one texture and an other for various reasons and because one might prefer one over the other or vice versa. Second, I often realize some changes that need to be addressed throughout the list for each texture, so a complete replacement is the most elegant way to do so. Simple updates would leave unused/old folders and files on the system, cluttering it over the time.

hd764jvgd843

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Re: FA-18 C/D texture pack and aircraft mod (FSX, CS and NH)
« Reply #19 on: February 01, 2015, 10:14:26 pm »
Update 1.5a

Changelog:
- warning tone for overspeed removed
- shockcone effect temporarily disabled, because it triggers gunfire and smoke effects inadvertently at speeds above mach 1.0
- some more changes to .air file and aircraft.cfg in order to improve flight dynamics

Peter

PhantomTweak

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Re: FA-18 C/D texture pack and aircraft mod (FSX, CS and NH)
« Reply #20 on: February 02, 2015, 07:01:46 am »
Thanks for the answer :) As they say, the only stupid question...Although I tend to have a plethora (big word for the day...) of questions on nearly every subject. I would rather ask, than stay in the dark...

Pat☺

Azframer

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Re: FA-18 C/D texture pack and aircraft mod (FSX, CS and NH)
« Reply #21 on: February 17, 2015, 04:12:51 am »
Curious of your thoughts on this Peter, still no spill ducts yet. Pilot is missing his textures too. Getting close, I have to be done in 3 days because it is all I have on my trial. I really like the Corel now that I am starting to get used to it.

hd764jvgd843

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Re: FA-18 C/D texture pack and aircraft mod (FSX, CS and NH)
« Reply #22 on: February 17, 2015, 09:22:35 am »
Nice work, Azframer.

Do not worry about the pilot textures, these 'should' be placed/found in the general folder 'texture' because they are usually identical for all models apart from a few exceptions, e.g. Clean/Blue Angels loadout.

In general one needs to address only five files: CP_F18_x_T.dds, x=1,2,3,4,6 in order to finish a complete texture.

As I do not have the original photos you are basing this texture repaint on, here is what I noticed so far - some of these may not be applicable. These are just small issues and could be addressed later, too, in case you run out of 'trial days':
- transition areas between surface colors on different .dds files
- numbering
- non skid surfaces
- port side spill ducts

You should focus your effort on the transition areas between surface colors on different .dds files because they are usually the most difficult ones to address to, and the numbering in case you still have time.

Best regards, Peter

(Having marked, what I noticed in the screenshots you provided below. Thanks again for your effort, much appreciated!)
« Last Edit: February 17, 2015, 09:39:10 am by hd764jvgd843 »

Azframer

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Re: FA-18 C/D texture pack and aircraft mod (FSX, CS and NH)
« Reply #23 on: February 17, 2015, 04:25:09 pm »
This is what I have been trying to work off of. Something that gives me all views. The Splinter version I was lacking some views so I improvised a little on it, even found a model of same plane to give me some what of a top view of it. I did find a real picture of another plane from VFA-12 in same color scheme and there are numbers on outer vertical stabs, small but they are there, even the diagram I've posted I can now see them but I overlooked them being blurred really bad.
Picture can be seen here: http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/1/1/7/1600711.jpg

hd764jvgd843

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Re: FA-18 C/D texture pack and aircraft mod (FSX, CS and NH)
« Reply #24 on: February 17, 2015, 10:26:21 pm »
Update 1.5.1

Changelog:
- finished adjustments/corrections of textures for FSX/CS versions
- incorporated latest textures from 'Kea' and 'Azframer'

Have fun! - Peter
« Last Edit: February 17, 2015, 10:58:22 pm by hd764jvgd843 »

Azframer

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Re: FA-18 C/D texture pack and aircraft mod (FSX, CS and NH)
« Reply #25 on: February 18, 2015, 01:45:37 am »
For the life of me I can not find the cause of the strip of dark blue in between the wing and aileron on right wing, I completely painted the gap to the point of no gap being there and it is still darker blue. The grey area at hinge point I have not been able to find where that is as of yet. I am working on transitions of colors and different surfaces on the dds, boy do I wish this was made easier, we need a editing tool that allows you to do editing in full model format. This is a lot harder than some of the Boeing 777 that I have done in the past for sure.
« Last Edit: February 18, 2015, 04:43:03 am by Azframer »

hd764jvgd843

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Re: FA-18 C/D texture pack and aircraft mod (FSX, CS and NH)
« Reply #26 on: February 22, 2015, 08:13:16 pm »
Texture update 1.5.2 for NH version:

Changelog:
- added three new textures (Hornet_Test, USMC_VMFA-225_01, USMC_VMFAT-101_222)
- added Azframer's latest aggressor texture with some modifications (USN_VFC-12_06)

Peter
« Last Edit: February 25, 2015, 12:21:55 pm by hd764jvgd843 »

hd764jvgd843

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Re: FA-18 C/D texture pack and aircraft mod (FSX, CS and NH)
« Reply #27 on: February 25, 2015, 12:21:01 pm »
Texture update 1.5.2a for NH version:

Changelog:
- added two new textures: Hornet_Prototype1 and Hornet_Prototype2
- small texture adjustments throughout the entire pack

Have fun!

Peter
« Last Edit: February 25, 2015, 12:24:08 pm by hd764jvgd843 »

hd764jvgd843

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Re: FA-18 C/D texture pack and aircraft mod (FSX, CS and NH)
« Reply #28 on: March 02, 2015, 05:01:35 pm »
Update 1.6.0

Changelog: CS and FSX versions
- small texture fixes throughout the pack
- hi_alpha flight dynamics adjusted a bit
- smokesystem adjusted, removed need to rename certain effects file names
- sonic boom effect reintegrated

Changelog: NH version
- small texture fixes throughout the pack
- hi_alpha flight dynamics adjusted a bit
- smokesystem adjusted, removed need to rename certain effects file names
- original NH VC reintegrated, HUD position and size adjusted, eyepoint adjusted
- VC mirrors adjusted
- weapons textures for Mav and Zuni changed
- sonic boom effect reintegrated
- wing flex effect reintegrated

Have fun!

Peter
« Last Edit: March 02, 2015, 05:19:31 pm by hd764jvgd843 »

PhantomTweak

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Re: FA-18 C/D texture pack and aircraft mod (FSX, CS and NH)
« Reply #29 on: March 05, 2015, 05:45:58 am »
I don't know how y'all keep this up. It amazes me how you manage to improve on perfection, but you all seem to keep doing it! Thank you for another pack. I am running out of room on my HD just with all these updates coming so fast-n-furious! Oh well, that's what DVDs are for!
Never slow down guys!
Pat☺