FSXBA F/A-18C HORNET

[RivasSim]

Ok, first time posting, I think I find out a way to display the TACAN Neddle, alone or with the ILS LOC/GS, in the HSI page CSEL need to be HIGHLIGHTED, will be the bottom between DATA and SCL on the top part.

Now I have a problem, the radar is not working for me I don't get any targets and the ground mapping is not working like it did in the prior version, I did check without the selectors just using the soft keys, and using the selectors above the master arm, also I try the Master Arm, safe and armed and noting happened.  In the SA page I got the TCAS to work. I am using the FSX boxed version.

any help will be great, thanks

[PhantomTweak]

In addition to my previous post, I placed the F18 at YWLM and did several tests with the TCN 80X and ILS 110.50 frequencies of this base.

I went to YWLM, and unless you have an add-on scenery I don't, there's no TCN station at this airport. There's a DME, but it's not a TCN transmitter. There's an ILS, 110.50 as indicated, which works fine.

As to the rest, I went to MCAS Yuma for testing. It has a low-level TCN freq., 84X. I picked it up at 60 nmi. The arrow on the HUD I believe you're talking about is matched in azimuth to the CSEL line on the HSI, NOT the direction of the TCN station. That's indicated by a hash mark up on the compass rose on the top of the HUD. And it indicated correctly, with TCN boxed on the HSI, allowing me to get lined up for a nice straight-in from about 45 nmi out. I lined up the TCN indicator, on the compass rose top of the HUD, with the runway direction (211°), and used the CSEL arrow on the HUD to line me up exactly, left and right, with the runway.

I included some pictures for easy reference.
In the first picture, you can see, on the HSI, I am flying towords the line-up I want, with the statin 24 miles away. I am traveling about 80° relative to the runway, so I am flying towords the the airport, slightly, but mostly across the heading the airport will show up ahead of me.
In the second picture, taken further away from the airport, but using it for illustration, you can see what I described in picture one, but on the HUD. As you can see, the HUD and HSI indications match up. You can see the TCN directional hash mark on the HUD's compass rose, just off 270°. It matches the TCN's directional indication on the HSI: A large triangle on the outside of the HSI Compass rose.
In the third, I have come close to line-up, and am turning directly towords the TCN station. On the HSI, TCN is still boxed, and the large Triangle, indicating the direction to the TCN station chosen, is nearly lined up to the CSEL arrow, indicating runway heading. The smaller triangle on the inside of the HSI's compass rose is the "flight plan" directional indicator, that I plugged into the GPS real quick. On the HUD, you can see the hash mark over on the left of the compass rose, matching the HSI indications, You can also see the course (CSEL) arrow, also matching the HSI, approaching the line-up I've chosen.
In the fourth, getting to final line up on the runway, with ILS for Yuma, 108.30, now boxed on the HSI, and indicating the ILS needles on the HUD. Notice the TCN arrow is off the one side slightly, as the TCN transmitter is not directly ON the runway. But it's still there, and indicating the direction I've dialed into the CSEL line, the runway heading. If you look, you can see the hash mark on the HUD's compass rose, also off center. As it should be, given the location of the transmitter and my proximity to the airport.

In other words, the TCN, ILS, HUD indications, and all the rest appear to be functioning normally. At least at MCAS Yuma, AZ. I'll take a low-pass over my house I lived in for almost 30 years another time 

To answer Rivas, I locked on, and shot down, an AI aircraft on my way over to Yuma. A CRJ-700. It showed up on the radar display fine, scan 90°, 4bar scan pattern, starting at 40 mi range, and selecting shorter ranges as I approached the target, and locked up just as it should, with the proper lock indications. I pumped some gun rounds into it, then did a 360 to gain separation, and fired a AIM-9X to finish it. In any event, it showed up on the radar correctly, as well as on the SA screen on the center DDI. The HUD indications all showed up as they should. I also placed a SAM site on the desert, on the way into Yuma, and it showed up as it should on the AG radar display. I'll double check the AG radar SEA functions tomorrow. I tested them yesterday, and they worked fine.

To Jimi: Would it be possible to add the AGM-88C HARM missile to the armament? It's listed as being carried by the F/A-18C, and would keep me from getting nailed by SAMs I've place near as often!
I've been looking into this, and have modified the tacpack.ini to include it. Everything I added is commented out, but it's there!  Working on the rest, but this is all new. Steep learning curve ...

ALL the above tests performed on FSX:SE, with TacPack running.

Good luck, all!
Pat

[lowery]

Thank you all for your help. However, I'm still confused. RAAF Base Williamtowm (YWLM) has ILS 110.50 (IWM), NDB/DME/TAC 365/113.30/80X (WLM). I suspect my scenery of the area in P3Dv4.3 is ORBX. I'm 78 and obviously retired but, having been a RAAF fighter pilot and combat instructor, I flew the Hornet back in the early 90s and don't recall having all this trouble just to get the right frequencies inserted and the navaids to display!
Reference my comment on trims: Today, after starting up P3Dv4 and loading the Hornet the trims are all working in the correct sense now but I'm getting the dreaded FCS FAIL warning (I know how to fix that).
So, I'm not certain what's causing these differing, apparently random problems, P3Dv4 may have some input, left over files from previous F/A-18 versions probably contribute as do yet to be finalised issues and the absence of up to date instructions.
I take my hat off to all you guys who put so much effort into this great FltSim aircraft - I feel that your job now is much more difficult than my old job of just having to fly her!
Please keep up the good work which I follow with great interest.
Cheers, Roger

[jimi08]

Roger,

Copy all and thanks for the feedback. I'll take a look once I get back home.

Pat,

As usual, appreciate the help.

[D5turbi]

I went to MCAS Yuma for testing. It has a low-level TCN freq., 84X.

I tried to redo your demonstration on YUMA.
I entered the 84X frequencies in the TCN and 108.300 in the ILS.

The HSI does not show the same as your picture # 1 while I am about 25 Nm from NYL. No indication under DATA or left of GPS.

Is it due to P3D v4? Or did I make a mistake?

Regards
Jean

[PhantomTweak]

I suspect my scenery of the area in P3Dv4.3 is ORBX.

Either one of those may be the difference. I am sorry, but I can't check things out in P3D. I just can't afford to buy it. Same for ORBX.
Did you get the Radio/NAV off the sim's map feature, or did you drag it out of your memory? In the first case, I'd be willing to wager that it's ORBX causing the difference. Maybe the P3D database. Remember that FSX is older than P3D, so there may well be differences in the database of airports and their information.
In the second case, and thank you very much for your service, sir, I would double check on the map included in P3D. Make sure their information is the same as in your cranial vault's database  
I am not trying to be insulting. I have trouble remembering my friggen name from day to day. Glad I have a driver's license so I can verify it...

So, I'm not certain what's causing these differing, apparently random problems, P3Dv4 may have some input, left over files from previous F/A-18 versions probably contribute as do yet to be finalised issues and the absence of up to date instructions.

You might try searching the entire sim for previous versions of the HornetFCS.dll file. A safe thing to do, and I've had to do this in mine a couple times, is go on a search-n-destroy for any HornetFCS.DLL file you can find in P3D, other than the one in the latest installed version of the Hornet. Including the one currently residing in your ...\P3D\Gauges folder. Then copy the HornetFCS.DLL file from the folder P3D Specific Files, if it's still there in the P3D version, to the sim's \Gauges folder. In any event, I am certain there's a copy of the latest HornetFCS.dll file in the latest install. Copy it to your sim's Gauges folder, and see what works better/worse/not at all.
Alternatively, delete every HornetFCS.dll you can find anywhere in the sim, delete the plane, and re-run the installer and see what shows up now. That way, you pretty much get a clean install, no previous .dll's causing problems.
By the bye, did you allow your installer to install the .NET Framework properly, and completely? Even if you already have it installed, let it run again. Removes any possible corrupted files, and installs the latest, or at least the most correct, one. Just to be safe kind of thing.

Is it due to P3D v4? Or did I make a mistake?

Jean, it might well be that P3D doesn't use the same information in it's airport information database as FSX. Check the sim's map feature and see what it says about MCAS Yuma. It should show any TCN/VOR information. I'm sure Yuma has, at the very least, a VOR and ILS, by default.
At the very least, use the BARD VORTAC. It's just a hair NW of MCAS Yuma, just inside the California border. Yuma's weird. Go north to hit Cali, west for Mexico. Weird place. Miserable, too.
If not, check other bases, until you find one that meets our requirements. Edwards AFB in California, North Island NAS, Vandenburg AFB, Moffet Field, Whidbey Island NAS, Pensacola, Oceana NAS, SOMEplace, I am sure, has what we need to verify what's going on. Use the sim's map to see what each has. If using the TCN number, like 84X in the UFC's input doesn't give the desired result, try punching in the actual frequency , like 110.50 or whatever, instead. Not the ILS freq, the VOR or TACAN frequency.
By the way, in your first picture, you don't have TCN boxed on the HSI. Try it, and see if it gives any different indications. Maybe not at Yuma, but someplace must have a TCN station at it. And it's pretty much restricted to military bases, so just check those. Civilian airports probably, probably I say, have VOR's, but not TCN. The plane will treat them the same, though. If you need, just plug a VOR's freq into the UFC, and treat it as a TCN station, as a last resort. The plane should, SHOULD treat them the same.

I'm sorry I can't be of more help, but without P3D, I obviously have to go with what I have available to me. I wish I could be of more help to you guys.

Jimi, I'm glad to be what help I can  
Obviously, not a lot without P3Dv4, but I do what I can. Somebody has to test things in FSX after all  

Have fun, all! I know it can be frustrating, but it's well worth it once it's going as i should, believe me!
Pat☺

PS: Jean, here's a scenery add-on for MCAS Yuma: https://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/fslib.php?do=copyright&fid=181855.
Maybe it has a TCN station? It is specifically for P3D. I don't know if V4 is going to be a problem for it, though. Just a thought...

[jimi08]

OK All,

Back home from Marrakesh, Morocco!  Highly recommend the place if you have the change to go.

First, thanks for all the feedback!  All has been constructive.  I'll dig into what I can in the next few days and push an update if I can before heading out to the next trip.

As warned on page #1, there has been both a lot of new work and a lot of rework on this new release.  That being said, I did expect a higher than average amount of bugs on this one.  Never the less, we'll continue to hammer on and will eventually will get them knocked out.

A few things to note:
1.  NAV RADIOS: The day before the release, I did a short X-country from KNPA to KMSY via VOR to VOR.  During that flight I tuned up the needed NAVAID using both their VOR/VORTAC Frequencies as well as using the listed/converted TACAN Freq.  I ran into no issues.  I then proceeded to do an ILS once at New Orleans International with no issues. 
A couple of quick notes about the NAV RADIOs  and Displays:
***  Unlike the previous version of the radios, the radios for this jet MUST BE TURNED ON FIRST before it will dial and tune in the selected freq.  You can turn the radio on and off by using the ON/OFF button, located on the right side of the UFC.  The letters "ON" will be displayed indicating that the radio is on.  This needs to be done for both the TCN radio (NAV Radio 1) and ILS radio (NAV Radio 2).
***  Only the ILS radio can be used to tune in ILS frequencies.  The ILS needles are tied to NAV Radio 2 and only 2.  The needles will not reflected AZ/GL info from freqs tuned in on TCN Radio (NAV Radio 1).
*** Use the TCN, WPT, ILS, and CSEL soft buttons on the HSI display to display the nav information you want.  If you want to display TACAN/VOR info, select the TCN option.  If you want GPS info displayed, select the WPT option.  Same goes for the ILS option and the needle displays for the HUD.

2. TACPACK WEAPONRY:  Have received some feedback in regards to weapon functionality in the new version.  A few things to note here as well:
***  This version is the first in which the user has the option to cycle through which air-to-air target he/she would like to fire upon.  All previous version consisted of "Boresight", in which the radar would just lock onto whatever was directly in front of the jet at the time of weapon configuration/activation.  Although the new version gives the user a little more flexibility, it still new (for me anyways lol) and with that, bugs will be discovered and ironed out.  What I'll probably do for now is release a "hybrid" version for the next release.  This will revert air-to-air functionality back to boresight mode for ACM while keeping the new features for the air-to-ground stuff.
***  I've also had requests to add new/additional weapons to the jet such as the HARM as well as dumb bombs such as cluster bombs.  While these are great requests, the immediate answer to this question is "we'll see".  Adding new weapons require changes to the 3D model, which takes cooperation, coordination and time from busy volunteers.  Add to that all the work/rework that has to be done for avionics/systems integration.  PLUS with all of the other things on the fix list/hornet-do-list (...and it's a long list...) adding the new weapons falls pretty far down on the project tasker.  We might get to them in the future, but don't expect them in the NEAR future.

3. TRIM:  Thought I had the aileron trim issue fixed.  Didn't realize it reared its ugly head again.  Good catch and I'll fix that soonest.


That's about it for now.  I know with this new version, things can be frustrating with some of the bugs.  I ask for a little patience.  We'll get things right (eventually lol).  Just give us a little time.....and patience.

P.S. For whatever reason, you want to revert back to any of the previous versions of the late 17 series and 18 series jets, the links to them are all posted on the 1st page of this tread.

Jimi

[lowery]

  The plot thickens! After turning on my computer and P3Dv4 this morning I selected a previously saved F-18 flight (previously saved as in 'before this new release'). The aircraft appeared WITHOUT the FCS Fail, FCS Hot, etc; but with the reversed aileron trims! and, for love or money, I cannot get a frequency to activate a navaid. The freq. appears, but no result.
When I set up a flight from basic selections, I now get the same result.
The YWLM freqs that I quoted are from AIP Australia and are correctly entered into Navigraph and ORBEX. They work in all other aircraft I use at that location.
Boy! am I glad I was just a fighter pilot and not into IT!
Cheers, Roger

[micpni]

Be carefull with a previous saved flight.
In the previous flight files, some particular technical situations of the aircraft  are saved.
If the plane is not the same after an update, so P3Dv4 may not start.
It is the same with a scenery. Don't save a situation with a specific scenery before an update in this scenery.
So, it is always better to begin a flight with a basic aircraft in a basic scenery.

[D5turbi]

New test today.
When I started P3D, I used the airplane and the default scene.
After that, I went on Cambrai-Epinoy ('LFQI) which has an ILS 109,300 and a VOR / DME 112,600.
By doing so, I have all the functions active and correct in the HUD and the HSI.

Thanks micpni for reminding me, for the hundredth time at least, the right way to launch the simulator.

Also, thanks to Pat for the scène of MCAS Yuma.

Regards
Jean

[PhantomTweak]

When I started P3D, I used the airplane and the default scene.

I forgot about that little detail, sorry bout that. It's a habit with me. Default flight, default location, default plane. THEN I change it out

By doing so, I have all the functions active and correct in the HUD and the HSI.

I see that from the pictures! Great news. I'm glad you got it worked out 

Also, thanks to Pat for the scène of MCAS Yuma.

Glad I could help. Wish I had been of more assistance. Not always easy to get things trouble-shot across platforms sometimes.

Have fun!
Pat☺

[simaddict]

Hello, Jimi! I love this jet! I don't even use my Superbug anymore! My only issue is I can't get the FLIR to work. Followed the description as you outlined on page 1: Loaded the pod in tacpack, I get the air to air and ground radar ok in the right DDI, but when I turn the FLIR on (lower right side), it goes black. P3D V4, using your latest version with the auto installer. Any files I have to move as in the 18.3 version?

Thanks in advance!
Mike

[jimi08]

Hello, Jimi! I love this jet! I don't even use my Superbug anymore! My only issue is I can't get the FLIR to work. Followed the description as you outlined on page 1: Loaded the pod in tacpack, I get the air to air and ground radar ok in the right DDI, but when I turn the FLIR on (lower right side), it goes black. P3D V4, using your latest version with the auto installer. Any files I have to move as in the 18.3 version?

Hey Mike, thanks for the good words, I'll be sure to pass them along.  As for you issue with FLIR, please go to TACPACK Manager (TPM) and ensure that you have "D3D Experimental Features" checked.  If not, check it, save TPM and restart FSX.  If you've download the correct version for your rig and ran the auto-installer, you shouldn't have to shift any files.

Let me know if this works.  Thanks.

Jimi

[simaddict]

Hi, Jimi. Wow, thanks. I never thought of that. Hope it works. Trying it now, let you know soon!
Thanks!
Mike.

[simaddict]

That is checked in the Tackpack manager, but it seems to be for FSX not P3DV4. It mentions DX10, DX9? Maybe uncheck it?

Thanks, Jimi.
Mike