X-Control Mod (Take Over control of AI planes) - Comunity open mod

[zaelu]

OK... Let's have a thread about having AI planes flyable as long as realistic Modules for them still don't exists. Once such modules are released parts of the mod that activate those planes are taken out of the mod.

 

For now the mod looks like this:

 

Flyable F15E, MiG 31, F-16A, F18C, Tornado IDS, L-39AZ, Su-30.

 

For those to work you need DCS FC3.

 

Also is HIGHLY recommended you install the excellent models for Su30, Su33, And missiles made by Combat Ace.

 

Anyone is free to modify and bring feedback to this mod.

 

This is how the mod looks in main menu:

 

 

 

Here you can download the mod... it requires you to edit some lua files and to really own FC3.

 

 

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Now is in variant beta 3. All planes work with full 3D 6DoF cockpits. Use instructions from archive. Carefully!! Make backups of your files (not many are modified... 2, I think, and some you have to modify yourself)

 

Pease note that I use Maximum FOV 90 in cockpit. That means you will feel closer to dashboard and more visceral inside the cockpit. If you don't like it, you will have to provide your preferred one in server.lua customsnapviews.lua and snapvies.lua for new planes. No modifications for existing planes!

 

F-18C (And I think :D F16A F15E and Tornado) have some A2G capabilities.

 

I will describe how they work now:

 

 

Air to Ground mode has been activated in controls for those planes... although they have at origin F15C avionics that have no A2G.

 

Map it! Default is "key 7"

 

Only free fall bombs and cannon works for now.

 

Make sure you have enough altitude... enter A2G and the Free Fall Line will appear but without the rounded piper on the ground... If the line is dashed you have no approval to release... if is solid... you have... you know the drill.

 

Be smooth and target your desired point of impact with the end (the lower one obviously :) ) of the Free Fall Line. Release when you feel ready... from A-10A experience you should know.

 

If you carry multiple types of free fall bombs... you might not be able to change between them... WIP yet... So launch them as the game allows you to.

 

If you carry GBUs or Missiles... you cannot launch... yet... who knows... I can't. If the missiles are first selected by the game when A2G attack... you might not be able to release the bombs either... logically :D.

 

The gun runs... this is funny.

 

You have to enter A2G mode just to be sure you ar not in NAV.

 

Press Cannon button... The canon piper will appear but is the A2A one... which is kinda useless at strafing...

 

However...

 

Press again A2G Mode button... and miracle!!! The HUD will change to what I've never seen before.

 

You have 2 circles...

 

One is having a little cross in it especially if you are not yet in shallow dive to strafe but rather flying level). This is your gun piper. The circle shows a general fall trajectory of the rounds but the actual calculated aiming point is the little tiny cross... DON'T LOSE IT!! :D

 

The second circle is flying around and it shows the range... it will start to count counter clockwise when you go towards target...

 

Don't forget to pull up!!

 

And remember F-18 have little amount of Flares!! Beware!!

 

Here is a little demo of what looks like F-18C in multi role... role

 

(I recommend 1080p although youtube screwed ground texture... but the avionics looks clear... and lower the sound volume!! its a bit laud)

 

mAtsnZ8-tuo

 

 

Enjoy and help me improve this and we can have some fun with this nice plane... until the real uber F-18C gets released by ED.

 

 

For L-39ZA and F16A

 

You need to map keys and axis only for engine 1 or left engine... Or (which I used) just for all engines.

 

L-39AZ has no flares ECM etc... but has a working Berioza (legacy of the Su25A avionics... it says thanks to the Frog :P )

 

 

F15E and Tornado

 

As I wrote in the readme... don't put anything beyond pylon 11!!! Game crashes when you enter the cockpit with payload on pylons 12-19. That's because F15C avionics which those planes have has just 11 pylons and I didn't want to modify the original planes.

 

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edit 9 August 2013

 

A beta 4 can be tried from this post:

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1832543&postcount=124

 

Main differences are:

 

Now is compatible with 1.2.5.

It doesn't require the file copieing and renaming of cockpits and textures (Thanks to Aussieboy for his findings. more info here: http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1832024&postcount=119)

But... because now avionics/FM/and cockpit are controlled by on single parrameter in F15E when you want to use 12-19 pylons you will need Su27 avionics... which attracts also the FM and cockpit of Su27...

X-Control Beta3.1.zip

Edited August 9, 2013 by zaelu

[zaelu]

I tried what you put and I looked through what you have and copied it with no luck still.. strange. What strange is you have the mod pointing to a folder that doesnt exist and it still works for you...

 

mount_vfs_model_path (current_mod_path .. "/Cockpit/Resources/Model/Shape/F")

 

The folder in your shapes is called "Cockpit_F"

 

Edit: I also think We need to start a new thread for this as its starting to get off of the Su-30 part of this. =P

 

 

 

Yes you are right... it was an error in my entry.lua

 

the path for the shape should have been:

 

mount_vfs_model_path (current_mod_path .. "/Cockpit/Resources/Model/Shape/Cockpit_F")

 

But because it was a previous entry that said:

 

mount_vfs_model_path (current_mod_path .. "/Cockpit/Resources/Model/Shape/")

 

I think it was enough. Because after "shape" the game just reads "Cockpit_F/A-18C.EDM"

 

So maybe that incorrect line is redundant. But I will correct it.

 

And it should work... Mine works very well but no headtracking... :(

[zaelu]

hi hi... I have a little surprise! :D

 

this:

 

FkYfEEgJXBY

[Stratos]

Im out of country, so my question is, can the Hornet and the Strike Eagle use A-A missiles and unguided bombs??

[zaelu]

Not in a proper way.

 

 

They can fire A-A missiles like an F-15C but no A-G weapons

 

or

 

They can fire A-A missiles like a A-10 and A-G weapons but no Radar guided missiles.

[SkateZilla]

F-18C was used more for A2G, it was playing 2nd Fiddle to the Tomcat up till their last deployment.

 

The F-15C pit just fits better due to Canopy frame layout and stuff.

 

Not to mention in DCSW we already have A-10s in the A2G Role

 

 

Glad you figured it out.

[aslttrooper]

Just wondering...if the SU27 allows you to drop bombs and such in the ME if set to CAS, would it allow AC like the f15E be able to do both? I would love to be able to utilize the Strike eagle to its full potential but it seems the bombs are just for looks...I cant seem to drop 'em

[zaelu]

@aslttrooper, as I and many others said before... it can be done but only if you make the plane "inpersonate" in avionics capabilities one of the already flyable planes.

 

Su-27/33 have good A-G capabilities and such Su-30 can act like them and you can launch TV guided Misiles and Bombs and Free fall bombs.

A-10 Has good capabilities A/G but lack A-A

F15C has good A-A capabilities

 

Thus... you could think Su-33 is a good option... it is... but you get Su33 HUD also... :(

 

=======

 

Status update

 

Now all planes have workable 3D cockpit.

Inputs and 6DoF Headtracking works.

 

Still to work on:

 

- F-18C does not want to change weapons... yet (although the others work)

- F15E (and Tornado) has a limit to 11 pylons... such only uneven loadouts can be achieved on the wings... that's due to the fact it has 11 pylons legacy from F15C which it impersonate... Putting something on pylons 12-19 makes game crash when entering cockpit.

- F-18C accept rearming and refueling on Carrier... but starts refueling first and keeps it indefinite... although it wasn't asked to change fuel level neither load more fueltanks.

- I will try to see if I can increase A-G capabilities for F18C/F15E

 

Observation...

 

L-39AZ has a new control in settings that I can't find anywhere... and I copied its default controls from SU25A... strange.

 

All planes have a command to "toggle mirrors"... in rusian planes they are animated and the swing in off position... in US planes the are just turned off... aka... no reflection just a texture with some shading.

 

regarding this...

 

F-18C has a small problem with reflection in the mirrors... look like left reflects what right would reflect and vice versa... I'll look into it.

 

P51 and A-10s don't disable their mirrors at all... that's by design apparently...

 

Also. New commands are added by ED... but they are not saved when mapped... you see the default setting. DCS can't write new commands in you personal input folder from saved games... so you need to delete (rename better) the folder for that specific airplane and the do the settings again in game and it will save another folder with new commands (like the ones for mirrors). Then... you can do a manual merge between old and new if you don't want to edit in game again all your controls.

 

 

I will edit my first post shortly with a new variant of the mod containing all the new fixes.

 

Edit

 

first freefall bombs released from F18C... I have bomb fall line but no impact point... I'll look into it. I tried the AGMs but nothing shows on MFD. On weapons control panel it says it is "Unknown"... this is the reason change weapon don't work... works but only between known weapons... but it selects the unknown first time you enter AG mode... it even says on the HUD: AGM 64D :D

 

gun doesn't enter GND ATK mode... :(

 

I have found how to do rearming... it wants first to do refuel but "hangs" in continuous refueling because it lacks proper fuel quantity measurements (I think)... so after you see you have enough fuel start the engines and it will say "unable to comply"... stop engine startup sequence and ask again for rearm but without touching the fuel slider now. At least in L39 rearms happily.

Edited May 25, 2013 by zaelu

[Evilducky]

As soon as I can get that F-18c to work, ill help you solve some of those problems that you listed. Until then, im stuck doing nothing :( lol Good work on this too by the way :)

[zaelu]

I need to test some ideas and then I will upload a new version... now it has too many "garbage" inside settings for testing :).

 

L39 flies very well... I made a high five with a Hercules... I lost an aileron and he lost a wing (maybe because prior to this I was shooting in it in that wing?)... he rolled and hit me again with the other wing :lol:... I survived again and limped back home. I did this because gun ammo is something around one and a half bullets :D .

[Evilducky]

Nice :) haha ill take a look at what you have when you upload it and see what I can figure out for your issues stated above and see what I come up with :)

[aslttrooper]

Awesome! I was hoping that if you could "trick" the HUD and systems to enter A/G mode that game "Logic" would kick in and be good to go. I dont know how I managed to do it yesterday when I first installed the MOD but only the F-18 allowed me to switch to A/G...unfortunately I had no bombs to test, then spend 2 hours uninstalling and re-installing lol..thanx for keeping us posted with updates :)

[zaelu]

First post updated and archive of beta3 uploaded. I hope you like it.

[Hubris]

Great work!

[Evilducky]

Cool. Ill check it out when I get home.

[aslttrooper]

Oh dear god what have I done wrong??? On a positive note the AG works :)

 

 

Warning missing textures???

Edited May 25, 2013 by aslttrooper

[Mustang]

I tried taking the FA-18C up for a spin with this mod, I followed the installation correctly yet I see this when I enter the pit - any ideas to whats going wrong? (my guess is its not finding the cockpit .edm file and its using the old cabina model, I've named the pit as 'Cockpit_FA-18C.EDM')

Edited May 25, 2013 by Mustang

[zaelu]

most likely. can you make a screen shot on how you arranged the files for the cockpit?

 

it should look like this.

 

Edited May 25, 2013 by zaelu

[SkateZilla]

The F-15C had no A2G Modes. So of course it's systems are gonna be like ""WTF is THis"

[Mustang]

See screenshot below - also note I have correctly entered all the information to the server.lua and SnapViewsDefault.lua and the scripts folders.

 

EDIT: nevermind I got it to work after following the example you shown above, thanks! (you should include that screenshot in the mod package)

Edited May 25, 2013 by Mustang

[zaelu]

it is not correct!! And that is good cause we have no mistery :D

 

 

You have to rename your EDM and ZIP files! Don't let them with the default/usual name!!

 

 

Your EDM is called: "Cockpit_FA-18C.EDM"

Mine is called: "A-18C.EDM"

 

Your texture archive is called: FA-18C-CPT-TEXTURES.ZIP

Mine is called: A-18C-CPT-TEXTURES.ZIP

 

Your really have to name then that awkward so it works...

 

After you named them "awkward" if you look at the "file addres" will look like this:

 

 

EDIT: nevermind I got it to work after following the example you shown above, thanks! (you should include that screenshot in the mod package)

 

Good to hear!! :) I will include them.

 

====

 

I put a movie on the first post where everyone can see how F-18C can attack ground with bombs... then engage aerial target then strafe with guns... 4 minutes or so... quick.

Edited May 25, 2013 by zaelu

[Mustang]

It all makes sense now :) just flew the hornet with the 15C pit, it fits remarkably well also the headpositioning and over place of the cockpit looks fine - I foresee some FA-18C naval ops coming to the 104th server missions in future :)

Edited May 25, 2013 by Mustang

[Evilducky]

Its official... my game hates me.. hahaha it wont pull the new 3D pit even though I have it copied exactly as you do. haha Oh well. I have my Su-30

[zaelu]

Impossible!! :D

 

Put a screenshot, I don't believe you. :)

 

Yesterday I thought I will go insane... My game was creating an F\A-18C folder (that is an F and a A-18C subfolder) in my Input folder from saved games... I instructed it to do this once... but I revert my settings... it didn't want to give up... it even used 2 folders once (meaning conflicting settings). Finally I got the correct name for F18C input (from the old thread with flyables) and the game came to its senses...

 

F-18C still has a bug with Liveries folder... something don't work there and the mirrors shows buggy... but it's.. trivial for now...

Edited May 25, 2013 by zaelu

[Evilducky]

Well... let me say this. It doesnt like me using the F-18C... so I gave up on that for a bit.. but I put the 27 Pit on the 15E... beast mode.. lol! (and your gonna hate me too :music_whistling: ) Full 19 pylon payload on the F-15E and all the weapons work (well the ones from the picture. Thats all I tested so far) =P

 

Edit: Also attached is my file setup for just the F-18C. Its all that should be needed done to get this to work.

Edited May 25, 2013 by Evilducky