SuperCarrier adjusted launch and recovery routes.

[VanVogt]

Hello all,

Here's a little clip that I hope some will find entertaining.  I've been doing a bit of testing to see if USS_Nimitz_RunwaysAndRoutes.lua can be successfully edited (without DCS crashing) to provide significantly better deck movements. I found it really annoying I could not create a realistic deck layout without the AI crashing in everything and the directors directing me into statics.

I'll be happy to share once complete. 

 

 

[Mistermann]

Oh heck yeah!  I admire your initiative.  Best of luck.  Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

[fagulha]

Yes  please!

I ihave a old file with edited routes so i can start from the fantail (as example) but no longer works and crashes DCS, so, this will be most welcome!

[VanVogt]

Hi all. Version 1 is ready. Here's a video showing the launch and recovery sequence of 16 AI planes with the edited file.

The file is at the bottom of this post.

 

This modified/adjusted RunwaysAndRoutes enables fluid and collision-less flight ops on the SuperCarriers. Parking spots are not changed, some are adjusted for realism/collision avoidance. My goal is that any and every mission should work better with this than the original RunwaysAndRoutes. I've tried to be thorough in my testing but hey, the world is large and complex, and I'm just a guy wanting his pretend planes not to crash in everything. Please let me know if you come across problems.

Here's what's different from the original:

Launch:
The four 6-pack Tomcats do not collide in each other anymore on initial movement.
All planes now taxi clear of the Island/Hummer hole and the Junkyard, allowing proper placement of static Tilly, Helos, E2-C, etc.
Simultaneous queue lines to Cat1 and 2 (the original had all airplanes wait in single file for both cats, fouling the LZ)
Adjusted several spawn positions for a more realistic placement.
Adjusted taxi routings to remove collision occurrences namely:
 -Elev1 P1 now goes straight to Cat1 instead of taking a stroll over JBD 2
 -Elev1 P2 now comes out straight instead of rolling towards Corral
 -Patio planes now taxi clear of each other.

Recovery:
Both Point parking routes are edited so that the incoming planes don't plow through the Elevator 1 spots. I've modified the final post-spin position for both. It may foul cat1.
Routing to forward parkings (El1, El2, Corral) edited for realism and collisions.
I've disabled the elevators, the incoming AI planes park and stay there (they despawn after about 45-50 minutes).
I've disabled the 3 minutes despawn at the Point and Elev 1-2 spots. When the parkings are all full, the landing plane despawns on the runway. If all the forward parkings are full when you land, you'll be teleported to an available rear one.

For mission creation, I very highly recommend (as have many others) putting a blocker static object (I use a E2-D, as seen in the above video) on parking spot 9 to disable traffic going back towards the fantail after landing. This setup leaves 7 parking spots at the front. Without a blocker, the landing planes will always fill the parking spots starting at the stern and move up from there. On top of it, this eventually fails, as the plane trying to go to P10 (elevator 2 P2) will be blocked by the recently parked plane at P9 (this behavior is in the default file, my modifications do not change this.)
This is assuming Tomcats, I haven't tried Hornets.

I've been looking at the other files (crew.lua, etc) and I think there could be some sweet setups (like disabling Cat1 and having all landing AC going to the front on 1 row and 2 row.), etc. Unfortunately, with the way SC is currently setup, the configurations can not be changed ingame so that would mean to swap the RunwaysAndRoutes files. 

Known issues:

 -F14 AI planes still taxi too far forward behind JBD 2 while in queue (original behavior). I'd love to find for the root cause, still searching.
 -This modification breaks MP IC.

Installation:

Use an Addon manager or:

To install manually:
1. locate your "install point"\Eagle Dynamics\DCS World\CoreMods\tech\USS_Nimitz\scripts folder
2. Backup your USS_Nimitz_RunwaysAndRoutes.lua file (I renamed mine to USS_Nimitz_RunwaysAndRoutes.luaoriginal)
3. Make sure you have in fact backed it up.
4. Copy my version of USS_Nimitz_RunwaysAndRoutes.lua in the above folder

5. Start DCS and fly NAVY!

Just about all of you already know that, but just saying it for the odd chance a less experienced pilot comes across this post... Do keep in mind that this file will get erased upon installation of a new version of DCS.

This is version 1, and it works with DCS World version 2.9.20 in November 2025.

USS_Nimitz_RunwaysAndRoutes.lua

Edited 3 hours ago by VanVogt
typos and clarifications

[BarTzi]

Well done! The movement towards cat 1 and 2 is way smoother than the default.

[draconus]

4 hours ago, VanVogt said:

Make sure you have in fact backed it up.

No tragedy here. DCS repair and you have vanilla version in minutes.

[Mistermann]

Thank you @VanVogt.  I'll download and drop into a mission I'm working on.