F18 pack v1.3 by hudson & pennywise

[Sxep 0]

Great release Hudson, keep up the good work.  How far are you on the SU?  We need somethings to shoot down now that will give us a challenge.

Well i prefer to shoot the Hornet down with the SU

[Hudson 0]

Cool.  Thanks for the tip.  I'll try that.  Yes you are right it is a common problem however I have noticed that the aircraft that have this problem seem to have their point of aim set very high.  I think this is a fundamental problem with the model.   Is it possible to change the "aim point" without changing the model?   If so, you might try lowering the aim point to see if that helps.  

At any rate some airplane addons to not have this problem.  

For example the first F105 Thunderchief addon had this problem.  Where as Footmunch's new F105 beta does not.  

But again, I think it's just the point of aim that determines this.

Chris G.

aka-Miles Teg<GD>

I tried the F105 and actually learned quite alot about this problem. It doesnt seem to be anything that can be fixed. In my tests with the F105 the first bomb allways dropped without the plane doing the nose dive (still cant figure out why) However after the AI turned around and made passes 2-10 he started the nose diving like the other planes....

After seeing this I decided it was time to open the pbo and take a look to see if there was something making the AI drop the first bomb correctly everytime (like a script maybe) unfortunalty there wasnt. So then I decided to open LASERGUIDED.pbo and set the LaserGuidedBombs to target IR targets also, to do a test with a official BIS addon and see how it handled (pics of the A10 test HERE ) . I was very suprised to see it starts with the nose diving the exact same way, maybe why BIS made the descision not to make it IR targetable? Anyway After these brief tests I have come to the conclusion that what is happening is the AI starts its attack run and dosent disengage until its target is no longer infront of it. Which makes the AI dive into the ground on uneven terrain.  I am thinking maybe the reason the faster jets (my F18 and deadsoldiers F15) usually seem to hit the ground is becuse of the speed, they move 2-3 times faster than most (Footmunchs 105 and BIS A10) giving the AI less time to pull out of the dive. Making speed mode slower helps but isnt a true fix as AI will still find the side of the hills on most islands. I have also tested this on DKMs bronco, deadsoldiers F15, and Skaircros F111, all do the same just some not as bad as others because of speed. Im pretty sure this can be fixed thru scripting somewhat and trust me I really dont want my next addon doing this as it is more a bomber than a fighter.

Quote[/b] ]Is it posible that when you get hit that ammo is lost?

Or ehm the Cannon is damaged?

because i was flying a bomber run, got hit and had to flee.

then i wanted to strike again, and noticed that i don´t have any ammo anymore!

Can it even be damaged?

 think it can get damaged, didn´t give 1 shot away.

Very VERY cool stuff.

Yes, thats what happened   Your cannon was damaged. You should be getting damage alarms and text messages when hit that tell you what part of the aircraft has been damaged (engines,fuel,cannon,landing gear...)

Quote[/b] ]Very nice! Although at "low" altidudes it handles real slow, makes strafing hard. And aiming with the CBU's is a breeze just set to 400 meter spread, target whatever needs blowing up. When you come withing 500 meters of the target just fire a bomb off, works everytime for me.

Overall real nice aircraft, although I feel it shouldn't be final just yet, as the AI problems can probably be fixed. As someone said Footmunche's aircraft do not have "the clumpsy bomber syndrome" Also a HUD would be awesome for strafing (it would make it a tad easier) Another thing I noticed is the long delay between missiles, is that on the real F18 aswell? I love this aircraft pack, the mission was very nice indeed. But some small fixes could be made to it to make it even better.

P.S The gear isn't up when you start as flying   D.S

This is the last release we will do until its imported for OFP2    You mentioned a HUD would be nice, do you not see it? I hope you do, please dont scare me like that  The long missile delay was set for AI and to try to cut down on the "invincibility" of the aircraft. In MP imagine how much more deadly you are with an aircraft that can not only jam incoming missiles but can let 10 of its own fly away within 3 seconds   Kinda a balance thing there. The landing gear uses custom animations so thats why you see it as down when you start flying, it is however scripted to raise the gear as soon as the mission starts in this case.

[ruff 102]

good to hear

good luck on the script hope u fix it

then ur plane will b an of first

no nose diving plane of ofp  

[GoOB 0]

Yes I do see the hud Hudson (no pun) I just meant a close up of it (like on DKM's bronco, their RAH66 and the Mi28) all to help aiming. And now that you explained the delay it makes sense, but I discoverd something funny whilst sitting and looking around in the cockpit. One part (just below the canopy) is missing, so it looks like an airhole or something similar. It's not really that noticeable but it's there.

Great work, I love e'm

[thirtyg 0]

Fantastic job!!

The proximity fuse on the AMRAAM missiles works like a charm, exactly what i've been after, no more misses when the AI starts banking.

Nuc is good, just about the right power for OFP, and the various damage settings and scenarios are fantastic.

[4 IN 1 0]

if eject can speed a little bit up would be better

[Rattler 0]

Love the mission, but I seem to get alot of lag. Not bad lag just alot of lag.

[Shashman 0]

Hmm...Really nice aircraft but I don't like the red tipped AMRAAMs Makes them look like missiles on a cheap plastic toy

[pang 0]

*cough* the amraams ARE white tipped...

you mean the HARM missiles, which are actually red nosed  

some of them seem to have a white nose aswell

great update, runs on our server and works very well  

[acidcrash 0]

erm thats not its nose, thats a nose cover (see the strap on the side?)

[pang 0]

yes, mr military is right.

this seems to be be a cover, thanks for advise... now shashman still wants the red nose to be removed

actually i dont care, as long as the missile kicks shilka asses...

but it even makes them look more dangerous

why not make a v1.4 update just for this reason with a missile nose with a shark jar painted on it?

[Shashman 0]

AMRAAM...HARM... it still looks like a cheap plastic toy with that red nose, but nevermind...  

And don't forget,Pang ; it's the little things that make an addon great

In the next version, maybe that could be changed

[r71 0]

Its to bad the dust from the nuke dont kill you. I had a addon before that would launch a scud and as the dust came your way it would kill all in its path. Also I think it had something to make the radiation last a bit. Is there any way I can add that script to it?

[-AL- 1]

This was without a doubt the best add on aircraft for OFP.

Best by looking great, flying great & being generally a well implemented for OFP.

I look foward to trying out this new version.

Al

[Rattler 0]

Ya this plane is great to fly. I made a emergancy landing in the middle of no where after the shilkas and that AA guy(where the heck is he?) took out my fuel, and gears(my nose gear was the only thing that came out) health well into the Red and I still landed it safly, got out and hot footed it back to base.

The F18 is a joy to fly

[Hudson 0]

It has just come to my attention (via denoir) that I made a big ol boo-boo and didnt use the correct readme when I packed up the .zip version of the hornet pack .  The problem is pennywise asked CoC for permission to use their nuke code, in return of course we were to give them full credit for the nuke. It seems I didnt put the correct redme files in the .zip I sent to cervo at ofp.info. The correct readme however was packed in the AAE .msi installer....

Quote[/b] ]================================================================================

Responsibilites and special thanks go to:

 *O2/Textures/Config by Hudson[Produce]

 

 *Config help by Pennywise[Produce]

 

 *Scripting by Pennywise[Produce]

 

 *Research, testing, hosting and moral support :-) by Angry Radish

 

 *Texture help by Tigershark (thanks alot the lettering is excellent!)

 

 *Big thanks to all the radishville regs and admins for any testing and feedback

  they provided.

 

 *Thanks to Wonder, KaRRiLLioN, Cervomix, DeaDMeaT, Scorpio, Harnu, Hurricane,

  Face, GRoman, Aiede,Sseagle, and Warlok for any Testing/Advice/Help they

  provided.

 

 *Big thanks to the DKM mod for showing us all the wonderful things you can do

  when you try.

 

 *Carnege for giving me tips on modelling and textures.

 

 *Very Big Thanks to Col Klink, Brsseb, and Zwadar for their O2 tutorials.

 

 *Big Thanks to the Chain of Command, Denoir, for letting us utilize their nuclear

  blast script. CoC has one extremely Talented Team.

 *Thanks to VisciousDog for allowing us to use an edited version of his "Bird Dog"  

   mission in the new addon pack. Origional mission by VisciousDog can be found at  

   OFPEC at the following link

   http://www.ofpec.com/missions/mission_detail.php?ID=707

, I guess I was paying to much attention to that installer    Once again guys at CoC Im very sorry for this oversight and I promise it wont happen again, Ill see if I cant get cervo to edit the message over at ofp.info where the download is. I also owe a big ol "Im sorry" to VisciousDog as he was left out of the .zip readme also. Sorry guys...

[Mox 0]

I've made a small movie which shows the F/A 18C in action.

Thanks to H&P for their superb addon.

Enjoy!

http://www.euronet.nl/users/mox2002/Hornet4.rar

[rouge1 0]

Well all those that are having bombing problems use the GBU version the ai bombers still dive but the bombs always hits it target and the bomber is not destroyed

[Landwarrior87 0]

i dont understand in the mission.. Y are we using the blue Camo'd planes if they are only used for training?

seems a little unrealistic.. and didnt take much to replace it with the Grey one?

ive never seen an F18 in those camo schemes anyway (In Real Life) only in photo's off the internet. Ive seen a few in the air show.. some of them were still in the defualt navy grey.. others were navy blue painted for the air show.

I have seen F16's painted in desert camo in an airshow once.

[Shashman 0]

i dont understand in the mission.. Y are we using the blue Camo'd planes if they are only used for training?

seems a little unrealistic.. and didnt take much to replace it with the Grey one?

ive never seen an F18 in those camo schemes anyway (In Real Life) only in photo's off the internet. Ive seen a few in the air show.. some of them were still in the defualt navy grey.. others were navy blue painted for the air show.

I have seen F16's painted in desert camo in an airshow once.

Those camo schemes are to simulate what an OPFOR aircraft would look like.For example the blue tones camo is to simulate the Flanker camo and the desert one to simulate desert camoed aircraft,etc...Not very realistic but still nice on the eyes And btw those aggressor F/A-18s and F-16s are fully combat capable and some were used in OIF

[Footmunch 0]

Cool.  Thanks for the tip.  I'll try that.  Yes you are right it is a common problem however I have noticed that the aircraft that have this problem seem to have their point of aim set very high.  I think this is a fundamental problem with the model.   Is it possible to change the "aim point" without changing the model?   If so, you might try lowering the aim point to see if that helps.  

At any rate some airplane addons to not have this problem.  

For example the first F105 Thunderchief addon had this problem.  Where as Footmunch's new F105 beta does not.  

But again, I think it's just the point of aim that determines this.

Chris G.

aka-Miles Teg<GD>

I tried the F105 and actually learned quite alot about this problem. It doesnt seem to be anything that can be fixed. In my tests with the F105 the first bomb allways dropped without the plane doing the nose dive (still cant figure out why) However after the AI turned around and made passes 2-10 he started the nose diving like the other planes....

<img snip>

After seeing this I decided it was time to open the pbo and take a look to see if there was something making the AI drop the first bomb correctly everytime (like a script maybe) unfortunalty there wasnt. So then I decided to open LASERGUIDED.pbo and set the LaserGuidedBombs to target IR targets also, to do a test with a official BIS addon and see how it handled (pics of the A10 test HERE ) . I was very suprised to see it starts with the nose diving the exact same way, maybe why BIS made the descision not to make it IR targetable? Anyway After these brief tests I have come to the conclusion that what is happening is the AI starts its attack run and dosent disengage until its target is no longer infront of it. Which makes the AI dive into the ground on uneven terrain.  I am thinking maybe the reason the faster jets (my F18 and deadsoldiers F15) usually seem to hit the ground is becuse of the speed, they move 2-3 times faster than most (Footmunchs 105 and BIS A10) giving the AI less time to pull out of the dive. Making speed mode slower helps but isnt a true fix as AI will still find the side of the hills on most islands. I have also tested this on DKMs bronco, deadsoldiers F15, and Skaircros F111, all do the same just some not as bad as others because of speed. Im pretty sure this can be fixed thru scripting somewhat and trust me I really dont want my next addon doing this as it is more a bomber than a fighter.

Well, my planes aren't up to this standard, but I'll share what

I came up with about AI bombing during development:

1) The AI cannot be taught about free-fall bombs without

extensive scripting. The only off-beam weapons in the whole

game are grenades, and I guess the built in scripting for those

is not accessible. All AI launched bombs have to have

irLock=1 or laserLock=1 (at least).

2) The AI plane will pretty much miss with the first bomb

every time if you don't reduce the speed beforehand. This

can usually be done by introducing a 'slalom' of waypoints

before the main bombing run or using the behaviour stuff

in the mission builder. Once the plane is turning

and crossing over the enemy units, the speed is usually slow

enough for these problems not to occur.

3) The best way to avoid the plane being blown-up by its

own bombs is to adjust the distance at which the bomb is

released (with m**distance and m**distanceprob). If the

AI drops the bomb at about 750m, then the sideairfriction

of the bomb means that by the time the bomb hits, the plane

has flown over. Note that if you increase sideairfriction, you

have to increase maneuvarability as well, so that the bomb

hits the target.

4) The nose-down attitude is built into the game. The AI pilot

works by putting the aiming dot on the target and pushing

the fire button. If you want a 'level' bombing approach, the

only easy way to do it that I can see would be to rotate the

plane in O2 so that the aiming point is canted down at 10/15

degrees. This is okay for AI, but not ideal for a user plane.

5) In order to avoid the hill-finding that the AI seems to like

so much, one way is to limit the weapon's repeat rate. If the

AI can only drop one bomb every ten seconds, then as soon

as it has launched, it will lose interest, and go back

to flying the plane. The important point here is that as well

as AIRateOfFire =10, we have AIRateOfFireDistance=0.01: this

second bit means that the rate of fire is not reduced as the

plane approaches the target.

Note that this is all conjecture, and I'm more than willing to

be proved wrong on any of this.

PS - I didn't realise at first that there was an F-105 already

built - I don't want to repeat addons and my F-105 has been

put onto the back-burner for now. I'm currently using it as

a test bed for Rockeye's and CBU's that will be added to

the Canberra eventually.

[Guest]

Quote[/b] ]

4) The nose-down attitude is built into the game. The AI pilot

works by putting the aiming dot on the target and pushing

the fire button. If you want a 'level' bombing approach, the

only easy way to do it that I can see would be to rotate the

plane in O2 so that the aiming point is canted down at 10/15

degrees. This is okay for AI, but not ideal for a user plane.

Then why not release 2 versions, one for AI and one for Human?

[One 0]

awsome addon, definetly on of the best plane mods for ofp. my only beef with it is the sidewinder models on the wingtips.....they're not functional

[edc 0]

I don't think there can be multiple types guided missiles on a vehicle in OFP.

[Sxep 0]

Maybe you could make a version only with sidewinders (and the working Wintips) ?