Author Topic: Sludge/Combat Hornet Integrator - Released  (Read 243797 times)

Sludge

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Re: Sludge/Combat Hornet Integrator - Released
« Reply #360 on: November 02, 2011, 08:54:02 pm »
Fellas...

OK, nothing heard on the Smokes or Panels, so moving that to the backburner. However, last night, in a Skype session with JIMI.. had a few revelations about flight controls and how to make even more crucial, closer-to-real world adjustments in the .AIR file. The next few nights, I will be working exclusively on this, as it will HIGHLY impact the next Sludge release.

To Date:
1- I moved ALL FLAPS back to MANUAL. I loved the LEF (leading edge flaps) in AUTO during UA (up-away) flight, as during high-AoA, they would extend as needed during BFM/ACM. However, during approaches, they would change position too much and make solid approaches harder to accomplish. The jet would fight you more than necessary to stay ON-SPEED and ON-G/S. As well, it was harder to maintain good pattern speeds and final rollouts, as the changing AoA/LEF made the energy management too burdensome.

2- CLEANED UP most of the XMLs. They now are NOT KEY FLOODers. You should get very few stutters and hangups with the Sludge gauges now, with the exception of the effects, such as G-Vapor or Exhaust Smokes.

3- Working on newer, updated flight dynamics/flight control responsiveness curves (FA-18.AIR) and changing the [Flight Tuning] scalars (AIRCRAFT.CFG) back to 1.0 (for the most part), to normalize behaviors. Starting to lean more on the .AIR file, vice the AIRCRAFT.CFG, for flight dynamics/control surface changes from here on out.

For everyone: Do you want me to put the fixed XMLs in a .ZIP file here, so you can test them out? Or would you rather wait 'til I get everything done and upgrade as whole?

Also, I'm considering REMOVING the AUTO-COORDINATED Rudder... but will wait to hear from everyone on that, as I'd like some input from others that have flown and what their experience has been, good or bad? If you dont have the updates and would like to help... when you are flying carrier patterns, enable AUTO-COORDINATION (FSX default CTRL-SHIFT-U). Do several, take a few notes on the handling and how well you were able to maintain pattern integrity. Then DISable AUTO-COORD, fly some patterns and let me know of your personal differences. Easy way to tell if AUTO-COORD is enabled IN FLIGHT is: bring up the ADI screen on right/left DDI. Below the heading/attitude "ball", there are THREE rectangles above ONE rectangle. This is a digital turn-slip indicator. If you have AUTO-COORD ENABLED, the ONE rectangle will stay centered in turns, and obviously, if DISABLED, it will lean into the direction of turn.

Thanks in advance for the people that do this and help me out.

If you have any suggestions, send them my way.

Later
Sludge

IRONDAN

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Re: Sludge/Combat Hornet Integrator - Released
« Reply #361 on: November 02, 2011, 11:14:53 pm »
Is there a way also to change the colors of the MFDs symbology just like the upgraded f/a-18 A+ and to have external payload like Captainsim ?

Dan (big fan)

Orion

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Re: Sludge/Combat Hornet Integrator - Released
« Reply #362 on: November 02, 2011, 11:35:50 pm »
Is there a way also to change the colors of the MFDs symbology just like the upgraded f/a-18 A+ and to have external payload like Captainsim ?
No and no.  The MFD is written by FSDreamTeam and is a compiled C++ gauge, FA-18.dll.  It is not possible to modify a C++ gauge DLL file.  The external model was created by Captain Sim, who later modified it to create their XLoad addon.  It is not possible to modify a compiled model for FSX, either.

Sludge

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Re: Sludge/Combat Hornet Integrator - Released
« Reply #363 on: November 03, 2011, 12:50:05 am »
Dan...

As Orion already pointed out, I cant modify to your requests. Believe me... some of us have even tried to talk to Capt Sim about making a modified Alpha or Charlie Hornet external model, but they absolutely will NOT help us in any way.

Anyway, glad to hear you're a fan... and if you fly some patterns, let me know what you think/prefer of FSX AUTO-COORD rudder.

Later
Sludge

MikeB54

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Re: Sludge/Combat Hornet Integrator - Released
« Reply #364 on: November 03, 2011, 01:13:52 am »
Sludge,

I'm looking forward to the finished product.

My two cents on the Auto Coordination question, according to Chris, the rudder pedals are almost never used in flight.  He flies "feet on the floor".

Mike

Sludge

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Re: Sludge/Combat Hornet Integrator - Released
« Reply #365 on: November 03, 2011, 05:27:57 am »
Mike...

Yeah, I remember you telling us he said that, especially IN THE PATTERN. However, what I'm asking is, have you flown with AUTO-COORD ON and OFF (not using the pedals), but just have it ENABLED and DISABLED, so that I can get feedback. My prior thought process was I thought the ENABLED AUTO-COORD rudder MIMICKED a FBW rudder in turns. Now, from a few flights (will make more tonight), I'm not so sure that leaving it DISABLED, and letting the Hornet SLIP a little in turns, doesn't do a good enough job of emulating a FBW rudder. Thats the reason I need feedback.

Just to be clear, I know in the real world, you dont use RUDDER PEDALS in the pattern, or most of the time in the Hornet. This is test is simply for the FEEL of the AUTO-COORD rudder and how patterns feel with it ENABLED or DISABLED and NOT USING your pedals either way.

Hope that clears things up and not trying to sound condescending.

Later
Sludge

MikeB54

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Re: Sludge/Combat Hornet Integrator - Released
« Reply #366 on: November 03, 2011, 05:57:41 am »
Sludge,

Not condescending at all.  I understand what you are looking for now.  I'll do some test flights each way and let you know what I see.

Mike

lvflyer

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Re: Sludge/Combat Hornet Integrator - Released
« Reply #367 on: November 03, 2011, 02:59:12 pm »
So let me see if I got this straight.  The MFDs are not modifiable by us at all?  If so then how difficult would it be to activate one of the buttons on the MFD to open up and display an addon loadout/ESM/Sensors/IR/AA Refueling/etc screen in the same location as the MFD?  Also can we incorporate more weapons in the Gun control in the HUD.  Reason I ask is that progress is being made in converting the Underway project to all FSX and we are designing specifically to incolude the Sludge modifications.  Within the Underway program we have the ability to deploy sonabouys and target ground vessels that are being piloted either automatically or by another player and they all have their own defenses.  We do need modelers to create explosion and damage effects, but we have the sound and the server indicates how much damage was sustained and will remove it from the radar, which is also a gauge included that needs to be displayed somewhere if we can't use the onboard one.  Right now all controls and readouts are in seperate windows so any aircraft can use the program and participate in the multiplayer scenario.  Sure would be great if we can incorporate the targeting info on the HUD and the control switches somewhere in the existing VC. 

Sludge

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Re: Sludge/Combat Hornet Integrator - Released
« Reply #368 on: November 03, 2011, 04:29:20 pm »
LVFlyer...

That's correct, the MFDs are NOT MODIFYABLE AT ALL, by us... ONLY Microsoft. They have the .DLLs that control the default F-18 which the Sludge is ENTIRELY BASED ON. I'm not saying this to be a kill-joy, I'm saying this 'cause in our original quest to get a truly COLLIMATED HUD, I went and talked to Microsoft about allowing me to get the PERMISSION to decompile and RE-WRITE that .DLL to work on the HUD. They gave me permission 'cause they knew it couldn't be done. I have long since given up on the idea to get a collimated HUD for the default cause its far too extensive for my limited modding skill set.
Additionally, the reason we can't do anything with the VC, is the MFD/DDIs/HUD display are all built into the INTERNAL 3D MODEL/VC TEXTURE as a whole. That makes it EXTREMELY DIFFICULT AT BEST to do a cut/paste with certain effects and have them simply "overlay" the existing VC TEXTURE.
Believe me, I would do it in a heartbeat if I had the slightest idea HOW TO DO IT. In example, the first thing I would start with is the AoA Indexer. I would OVERLAY Serge's BlackBox Indexer OVER the existing VC AoA Indexer, so that we could get HOOK-BYPASS logic incorporated and not have the flashing AoA Indexer in the VC when doing touch and goes. Right now, Serge's Indexer only works in the 2D HUD.

That pretty much sums up the best we can do at this point. Sorry.

Later
Sludge

lvflyer

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Re: Sludge/Combat Hornet Integrator - Released
« Reply #369 on: November 03, 2011, 04:49:12 pm »
Well maybe the minds to do it are finally coming together.  I know Geoff McLean has extensive dll gauge knowledge.  I know how you feel, this is way beyond me.  I've tried to dig into some of the tutorials for C++ and Visual Studio and just can't see the whole picture.  Sure I know basic code logic, but this is like learning Russian.  Some of the words and code make sense, but lots of the characters are backwards.  There has got to be a way to do what was done in the F-111 PIG.  The overlays on that are pretty incredible, even a forward looking terrain radar and a crude terrain following autopilot.  Any chance that your given permission allows us to open up the dlls and modify for freeware distribution only?

virtuali

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Re: Sludge/Combat Hornet Integrator - Released
« Reply #370 on: November 03, 2011, 09:18:59 pm »
I'm saying this 'cause in our original quest to get a truly COLLIMATED HUD, I went and talked to Microsoft about allowing me to get the PERMISSION to decompile and RE-WRITE that .DLL to work on the HUD.

There's no need to modify the F-18 gauge .DLL to get a collimated HUD, it can be done entirely acting on the VC 3d model file and, the nice thing would be that, even if you would prefer to use an alternate HUD gauge you might write yourself even in XML, it would automatically get collimation "for free".

However, this would require modifying and recompiling the VC interior from the original Max source file, so it's not any easier than modifying the .DLL, if you want to do it in the legal way.

I speak with certainty, since I already made a collimated HUD for testing, to prove the concept, and it works just fine. As was already discussed long ago, we could do both C++ and 3d Model modifications, since we have source codes for both, but we don't have any right to distribute it, since that code now belongs to Microsoft.

If I ever had the time to do this, I might research into patching a 3d .MDL file without having to recompile it, so we could distribute just the collimated HUD modifications, which we could probably legally distribute, since it would be something we did now and MS doesn't own, but I would need to find a way how to patch an .MDL file to add additional geometry to it, which is not trivial.

Orion

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Re: Sludge/Combat Hornet Integrator - Released
« Reply #371 on: November 03, 2011, 09:29:27 pm »
Woah, woah, woah, woah, hang on.  You guys originally had a collimated HUD?  Was that during Acceleration development?  If so, why didn't it make it into the final release?  Time constraints?

Anyways, that'd be fantastic if you could!  If you do ever get around to doing that, there's the MDL file format (FSX) article at the FSDeveloper Wiki, which I'm sure you've probably seen.
« Last Edit: November 03, 2011, 09:44:30 pm by virtuali »

virtuali

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Re: Sludge/Combat Hornet Integrator - Released
« Reply #372 on: November 03, 2011, 09:44:39 pm »
Woah, woah, woah, woah, hang on.  You guys originally had a collimated HUD?  Was that during Acceleration development?  If so, why didn't it make it into the final release?  Time constraints?

No, we never had it when when developing the Acceleration pack, although I always wanted to have it, but there was no time to do it, but I've made one to get grips with the method well after the Acceleration pack was released, which sadly can't be distributed.
 
Quote
Anyways, that'd be fantastic if you could!  If you do ever get around to doing that, there's the MDL file format (FSX) article at the FSDeveloper Wiki, which I'm sure you've probably seen.

Yes, of course I know how an .MDL is made, but still writing a patch is not so easy. Also, some very important parts like mouse rectangles are not fully understood, which makes even more tricky to do a patch, since everything should be preserved, a VC without working mouse rects wouldn't be very useful.

MikeB54

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Re: Sludge/Combat Hornet Integrator - Released
« Reply #373 on: November 04, 2011, 04:17:06 am »
Mike...

Yeah, I remember you telling us he said that, especially IN THE PATTERN. However, what I'm asking is, have you flown with AUTO-COORD ON and OFF (not using the pedals), but just have it ENABLED and DISABLED, so that I can get feedback. My prior thought process was I thought the ENABLED AUTO-COORD rudder MIMICKED a FBW rudder in turns. Now, from a few flights (will make more tonight), I'm not so sure that leaving it DISABLED, and letting the Hornet SLIP a little in turns, doesn't do a good enough job of emulating a FBW rudder. Thats the reason I need feedback.


Later
Sludge


Sludge,

I just did a dozen passes, half with Auto-coordination enabled and half without.  In a 30 AoB turn the slip indicator in the ADI stayed centered either way.  It felt the same to me with both settings.  I hope that's feed back you were looking for.

Mike

Sludge

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Re: Sludge/Combat Hornet Integrator - Released
« Reply #374 on: November 04, 2011, 09:43:59 pm »
Mike...

I'm guessing if you have no "slip" in turns, your AUTO-COORD rudder is still active. When I do it, I get about "half a virtual ball" of slip to the direction im banking. I'll get a "test" Base.XML out that makes sure the Sludge Base.XML is not constantly re-ENABLING the AUTO-COORD when you are in a landing config. And yes, this is what I was looking for, as far as feedback.

Now if we can get others to do the same thing, once I get the correct Base.XML out there to test.

Virtuali...
Quote
If I ever had the time to do this, I might research into patching a 3d .MDL file without having to recompile it, so we could distribute just the collimated HUD modifications, which we could probably legally distribute, since it would be something we did now and MS doesn't own, but I would need to find a way how to patch an .MDL file to add additional geometry to it, which is not trivial.

Yeah, I talked with others about something similar, I think, although I didnt know how we could do it. I looked at Capt Sim's bird to maybe try something similar within the INTERNAL model. But I came to find out they simply UNMASKED (in XML, they "make visible") the parts of their EXTERNAL model they wanted (ie. drop tank/AIM-7/AIM-9) that were already part of the external model.

Now, just to be clear on what you're saying... the way to get this done, would be to put up a secondary "display plane" as an add-on to the existing Interior model? That way, once it was done (numbers, focal point, all that stuff), it would then allow for anybody's HUD to go on the default and they'd get COLLIMATION "for free"?

Even after you discussing it, I'm absolutely certain I couldn't do it, so I dont know what I can offer.

Later
Sludge