tail hook problem

[jamesjsmith]

Hi I have a problem when landing any type of fighter jet aircraft carries I lower the tail hook it catches the cables but it does not stop I have fsx standard edition with sp1 and sp2 installed.

[mrzippy]

First thing to look for in your panel.cfg file is the COP3 control panel. Is it there? It should look something like this:

 

[Window06]

size_mm=52,12

visible=0

window_size= 0.045,0.015

window_pos= 0.55,0.02

background_color=16,16,16

ident=10080 //DO NOT CHANGE THIS VALUE

nomenu=1

gauge00=COP3!ControlPanel, 0,0,52,12

gauge01=COP3/CarrierZones!dsd_carrier_zones,0,0

gauge02=COP3/Config!config, 0,0,,, ./gauges/COP3/Config.ini

gauge03=COP3/Sound!dsd_xml_sound3, 0,0,,, ./gauges/COP3/Sound.ini

gauge04=COP3!Arrester, 0,0

gauge05=COP3!Catapult, 0,0

gauge06=COP3/SpeedControl!xml2ipc, 0,0

gauge07=COP3!SonicBoomControl, 0,0

 

If needed, then download and install this....rcbco-30.zip

 

If it's there, then maybe some lengthening of the tailhook is necessary. Check the aircraft.cfg for this:

 

 

[TailHook]

tailhook_length=9.658 ;(feet)

tailhook_position=-19.180, 0.0, -3.159 ;(feet) longitudinal, lateral, vertical positions from datum

cable_force_adjust=1.0

[PhantomTweak]

Just a note, if I may. IF you have FSX's Acceleration, AND the tailhook is properly modeled in the aircraft's .mdl file, then you don't need the COP3 entries, just the {[tailhook] section in the aircraft.cfg. If you don't have Acceleration, I won't swear that you can catch a wire on a carrier, even with the COP3 but I may well be wrong. You may need an add-on carrier to be able to do that. Like Javier's Nimitz v2 for example. In other words, I can't swear that the carriers in FSX have functional wires without Acceleration.

As a side note, in the [tailhook] section, just lengthening the hook may not be enough. It must also be placed properly on the aircraft. All three axes need to be at least close to where the hook would really show up on the plane. You can easily find the proper spot to place it bat adding a white NAV light to your lights sections, adjusting it till it's at the aftmost point and centered left/right and up/down on the plane when you look at it in the Sim. Once you get it in the right place, just copy the coordinates to the [tailhook]'s _position line.

You can easily find the right length by looking in the Contact_points section of the aircraft.cfg. the 4th number after the equals sign ( = ) is the length of the gear. Start with that as the length of the tailhook. It will be pretty close.

Also, if the plane tends to very easily drift to one side or the other while slowing on the wire, or even tends to tip over to one side, move the tailhook farther aft. It won't change where it shows on the plane, but if you move it a foot or three aft from it's original position it will decrease or stop that effect.

Of course, I may well be wrong, as usual. I never had the boxed version of FSX, with or without the SPs or Acceleration. I started into FSX with Steam, so I am not certain about the older versions.

Hope all that rambling helps a little bit...

Pat☺

[ScatterbrainKid]

..the tail hook it catches the cables but it does not stop..

 

How do you know it's caught the cables?

The graphics don't show planes catching the cables, so my guess is that you haven't caught the cables at all, it happens to me sometimes if I land too fast and heavily, as the plane bounces a few inches over the cables and I have to go round again and come in more gently next time.

[il88pp]

As far as I know the carriers with cables and the accompaniing f18 with tailhook are part of accel only. Not deluxe plus sp's.

So I think you will need the gauge mrzippy mentioned.

[rcbarend]

Okay, trying to summerise/explain the above posts:

 

Realistic AircraftCarrier operations (catapult launching / cable trapping) is NOT supported in FSX/SP1/SP2.

You need FSX-Acceleration, or FSX-GoldEdition (which includes FSX-Acceleration), or FSX-SteamEdition. And even then works only if both the aircraft AND the AircraftCarrier has modelled it.

 

However, for FSX/SP1/SP2, there are several addons (like my COP3 addon) that adds the launching / cable trapping feature, provided it's added to the aircraft configuration AND you have defined the launching/trapping zones in a special configuration file.

But this works properly ONLY for static scenery carrier objects; NOT for dynamic (moving) AircraftCarriers (although COP3, with some limitations, will work "a bit").

 

Rob

[mrzippy]

has modelled it.

 

However, for FSX/SP1/SP2, there are several addons (like my COP3 addon) that adds the launching / cable trapping feature, provided it's added to the aircraft configuration AND you have defined the launching/trapping zones in a special configuration file.

But this works properly ONLY for static scenery carrier objects; NOT for dynamic (moving) AircraftCarriers (although COP3, with some limitations, will work "a bit").

 

Rob

 

I use AiCarriers and have had many successful traps using the F-14, F-4, S-2 Tracker, and C-1A COD. Works like a champ! Also had many successful Hangar-bay landings and even one Ready-room. Boy, was I embarrassed!:eek:

[rcbarend]

I use AiCarriers and have had many successful traps using the F-14, F-4, S-2 Tracker, and C-1A COD. Works like a champ! Also had many successful Hangar-bay landings and even one Ready-room. Boy, was I embarrassed!:eek:

 

That's why I said "works a bit" ...LoL

If you use the "trap anywhere" feature of COP3, it's just based on tailhook compression.

Anywhere you touch down on whatever surface....

 

As a sidenote: I did consider making a version that would also work properly on moving surfaces as well; I learned how to do that with my "spaceflight" addon, but left the idea since there's no point in re-inventing what MS added in FSX-Acceleration ...

 

Rob