new Big E

[ESzczesniak]

Any word on anyone getting the TACAN/ILS to work on either the VRS bug or the modified Acceleration Hornet.  I suppose I shouldn't hold back just because of this, but would really prefer to have the ILS working.

If anyone has it working, any secrets?

[Tregarth]

In view of all the comments would it not be better to incorporate all the changes into the download and then re-releasing it.  I am very interested in buying it but cannot find how to open .XML files so even if I wanted to I cannot make the changes described in this thread.

We have waited this long for a new carrier, another few weeks are not going to hurt.  Possibly also the time could be used to make the manual in English more user friendly?

Cheers,

Tregarth

[fsafranek]

In view of all the comments would it not be better to incorporate all the changes into the download and then re-releasing it.  I am very interested in buying it but cannot find how to open .XML files so even if I wanted to I cannot make the changes described in this thread.

We have waited this long for a new carrier, another few weeks are not going to hurt.  Possibly also the time could be used to make the manual in English more user friendly?

Cheers,

Tregarth

You can open an XML file using Notepad.  It's simply a text file.

[fsafranek]

We used an AI Carriers cfg file and some boat traffic files in the Enterprise package but as soon as you deviate from a straight line elements of the formation can get out of position quickly.  I've even seen the Sea King bobbing up and down above the deck.

Since Sylvain will be back from vacation soon so I was going to ask him about connecting the plane guard Sea King to the Enterprise for the versions with aircraft on the deck.  That way at least the Sea King will always be in position after the ship turns. 

So, I would like to ask this group where the Sea King should be positioned?  I've read "Starboard D" but don't know where that is.  The easiest way for me to understand where it should be is by viewing the Enterprise and Sea King from above with the Enterprise in the center position of the Sea King position described in reference to the hours on a clock.  Straight out to the starboard would be 3 o'clock position.  And then how far away should it be?  And then how high above the deck?

I appreciate any help you can provide.

[SpazSinbad]

It seems that the Plane Guard Helo has more freedom of movement these days. FIGURE 4.3 to follow:

CV NATOPS MANUAL

http://info.publicintelligence.net/CV-NATOPS-JUL09.pdf (5.7Mb)

"4.6 PLANE GUARD HELICOPTER
4.6.1 Control Authority
A helicopter, when designated primary plane guard, shall be under the operational control of the air officer during launches and recoveries. During Case II or III operations or advisory control, the base recovery course and all course changes shall be provided by CATCC using a frequency monitored by primary flight control. CATCC shall conduct a radio check with the plane guard helicopter at least every 20 minutes during Case III. Concurrent USW/plane guard helicopter operations may be conducted provided a responsive plane guard capability is maintained during launch/recovery.

4.6.2 Plane Guard Station
The designated plane guard helicopter is “on station” when operating within 20 NM (Day) or 10 NM (Night) of the carrier. The helicopter shall remain within UHF range and monitor the assigned air control frequency at all times.

4.6.3 Restrictions
During launch/recovery, no concurrent USW/plane guard operations shall be conducted within the shaded area depicted in Figure 4-3 without the explicit approval of the air officer. The maximum altitudes when conducting concurrent USW/plane guard operations shall be as depicted in Figure 4-3."

[Victory103]

fsafranek, having spent long hours in a wetsuit in the "Starboard Delta" pattern, you have the idea just about right, the 3 o'clock position is fine. Not sure how much the AI model would actually move in game, but we hardly ever spent time in "Port Delta". Many times we would get call to "snuggle up" to the fantail while waiting for the last recovery or if one of the fastmovers had an issue. Once the launch/recovery cycle was complete, we can generally move around as long as the Air Boss knew.

Great job on the model from what I've seen, did my first cruise on Big E in 1996, I realize you guys are limited with how many year periods configs you can do with a ship that has a long service history like Big E.

[fsafranek]

Thanks for the responses.  Based on that image the closest the plane guard chopper comes is one mile.  You can barely see it at that distance.  I'm beginning to wonder what is the point recompiling the models with the chopper attached to the ship.  At that range they are never going to overlap after the turnaround and it would seem perfectly natural for them to be a mile or more apart. 

That said, has anyone redone the cfg file in AI Carriers to position the plane gaurd chopper and/or destroyer to where they should be?  Would be interested in seeing your new location coordinates.

[Sludge]

Any word on anyone getting the TACAN/ILS to work on either the VRS bug or the modified Acceleration Hornet.  I suppose I shouldn't hold back just because of this, but would really prefer to have the ILS working.

If anyone has it working, any secrets?

Will be unable to get this to work with the JR/Printz HUD 'til some revisions can be made. Right now, it works with the provided RFN gauges but the ICLS wont show up on the HUD 'til it gets "coded" into the HUD.XML file. The BigE package did NOT resolve the moveable TACAN/ILS problem in FSX, as all they did was make some more gauges that you ADD to your aircraft that give you ICLS needles and TACAN bearings to the carrier. Oh well, at least we got a carrier launch speed correction AND a carrier model with a 3.5 glideslope. Gotta take the good things as we get them.

Sorry for that news but thats just how it goes.

Later
Sludge

[robertorizzo]

Radius 180 in VRS configurator tactical carrier ops works. TACAN and ILS are ok. The work now is to adapt the vLSO we have for Javier's and  acceleration carriers.

[expat]

Hi guys.  Before installing the BigE and following this great forum I was able to install the JR/Printz HUD in the default Hornet but also for fun in some other a/c, for example, the freeware Alphasim Vigilante (FSX) and had a great time finding the boat in the dark and/or weather.   Great mods.  I also had Sylvain's earlier TACAN gauge working for earlier pre-HUD aircraft which would point to Javier's Nimitz once the frequency was tuned.  Off SoCal this was all the more fun with a number of cv's out their on different tracks and the gauge would shift as you overflew one carrier group and got closer to the next one up the coast.

It may be I lost the HUD symbols for some reason before installing the BigE a day ago, but now:

There is no longer any "TCN" symbol or distance to the Nimitz displayed in the HUD for all aircraft (in which this worked previously). There is however a carrier direction arrow and compass mark;

For the BigE, nothing appears in the HUD (a known issue that everyone seems to have thus far and needs the HUD to re-coded as I understand), moreover, Sylvain's beta v3 gauge does not work at all to find the BigE OR Javier's Nimitz now.  I think I may get beeps when tuning the BigE frequency but that is it, no direction or distance info on the RFN gauge.

Have checked all the panel and air cfg settings, reinstalled the new gauges, etc.  Is it possible that the BigE installer wiped out or buggered the carrier.xml entries somehow?

Left me in a bit of a mess! 

[Johan]

Sorry for that news but thats just how it goes.

Later
Sludge

Sludge,

Thanks to look into this. Too bad it doesn't work as with Javier's. Adding more gauges to my panels is not the best solution...
It's a good looking boat though...

Johan

[Mickey_Techy]

...........................Gotta take the good things as we get them..................Sorry for that news but thats just how it goes............

Sludge

Thank you for the update Sludge. I was (kinda) sitting on the fence on this one. I'm guessing I'll wait a little while, this package is sorted out.

[Essex]

I haven't tried v3 of the gauge but v2.21 does work (all be it imperfectly) on all the carriers I've tried it with.
Try out the 70's Foch as it has the new OLS.

[fsafranek]

Sylvain returned from vacation last week.  I just noticed that he has put the non-beta version 3.0 of his RFN_Tacan gauge on the RFN website: http://royalefrenchnavy.gratisim.fr/RFN-Creations.htm

Main difference from the beta copy is English language documention for installation and explanation of the carriers.xml file (it was already well documented within the file).

[fsafranek]

Radius 180 in VRS configurator tactical carrier ops works. TACAN and ILS are ok. The work now is to adapt the vLSO we have for Javier's and  acceleration carriers.

Correct on the radius and Sylvain confirmed this when he returned. 

I tried to post this information in the VRS forum but apparently you have to have purchased their F-18 to join.  I get that but at the same time it's a little frustrating to not be able to respond to uninformed comments or provide information when no one else has the answer.