NOW AVAILABLE: Community A-4E-C Mod

[Slug72]

[...] maybe with the release of the f-14 add a "jester" and "viper" skin to the naval fighter weapon school with matching helmets :P

 

Bo_Nidle has the former covered.... "Jester 55" Top Gun

 

Also if you have the time and idea could be to add a Top Aces and Draken private company skin

 

There are a couple of Draken skins already available;

 

Draken Int'l A-4K Skyhawks

 

A4E-C "Draken"

[Nealius]

I think all that needs to be done is adding {USAGR} (or whatever the code is) to the description.lua files of the skins. Users can do it themselves, but it often breaks the skins for some reason.

[Dkraver]

I think all that needs to be done is adding {USAGR} (or whatever the code is) to the description.lua files of the skins. Users can do it themselves, but it often breaks the skins for some reason.

Exactly. All you need to do is add which sides the plane should be useable for in the description file. It wont increase size. Give me a pm If you want me help with it :)

[Baco]

Does anybody have trouble mapping the Throttel and rudder?

Never mind, i dont knw what the glitch was but its gone..

Edited March 17, 2019 by Baco

[blue281269]

After the latest beta, it does not appear in dcs open beta, i installed the aircraft in my users open beta mods folder and it does not appear????

[Andrew8604]

Yes. It appears to be a bug. Probably a mix up in the material settings when exporting as it wasn't an issue before. I'll forward this to Merker to update. Thanks for the report.

 

 

 

One more light bug (a little one). The Wingtip position (or nav) lights consist of a low-intensity filament light and a high-intensity gas-discharge light, as you know. The first lights in the DIM setting and the latter lights at the BRT setting...all good, except: the port-side high-intensity light lens is invisible or missing when the Master lights switch on the throttle is turned ON, until the first activation of the position light BRT-OFF-DIM switch. Once that switch is selected to any position, it all works as it should for the remainder of that mission. (or, I think it does - I'll have to test again)

 

 

Also, the Fuselage Lights are missing. These are round, semi-flush (they have a slightly convex lens), white, high-intensity gas discharge and low intensity filament wing lights under the leading edge of each wing, just aft of the outboard end of the wing slat on the underside wing surface. The NATOPS manual says (new - a change) that they are turned off automatically when the anti-collision lights are turned on. It says, "Wingtip, tail, and fuselage lights are actually double lights, as both filament and gas discharge types are provided. The BRT (bright) position directs power to the gas discharge lights; the DIM position directs power to the filament lights." --- or will this not be possible without the DCS developer kit?

The A-4E/F NATOPS calls the high-intensity wingtip lights "gas discharge lights". The A4D-1/2 (A-4A/B) NATOPS calls these same lights "formation" lights in the same color as the wingtip lights. It's kind of confusing, maybe the A-4A/B didn't have gas discharge lights? The early examples of the A-4A did not have rotating anti-collision lights. In place of the upper anti-collision light was a white, semi-flush fuselage light. They were called fuselage-wing lights and referred to as "standard". When the top fuselage light was replaced with a rotating beacon, I think the associated under-wing lights were simply called fuselage lights from then on. The F-4 Phantom II's had these same semi-flush, white fuselage lights, but mounted on the underside of each engine intake, not out on the wings. The F-5E has them, too, on the underside of the fuselage just aft of the cockpit area. Yes, they are missing from the DCS F-5E. I suspect some other aircraft of the era had them, too.

 

 

BUT...I'd rather have rotating beacons that visibly flash than to have this little, tiny bug fixed. :) Although, it may be really hard to get them to flash just right. Here's an example of a back-and-forth rotating beacon in action on YouTube. Not-necessarily one from an A-4, but it sure looks familiar. I used to watch A-4's and TA-4's flying PAR approaches through a 40x telescope when I was a kid.

Edited March 17, 2019 by Andrew8604
Add another point.

[qcheck]

I'm fairly new to DCS, and I love the A-4 mod! It's one of my fav planes if not the favorite right now. (three gun pods are so much fun!:)

 

with the new 1.3 update, i am sooo happy with the new axis wheel brake!!! I needed this badly.

 

REQUEST: could the option for "clickable mouse cockpit mode" allow for mouse button 3? at the moment, it is blanked out in the options and won't allow any mouse button binding there.

-

I much prefer tapping mouse 3 to go into cockpit click mode, like the other DCS planes allow you to do.

 

Also for some reason i cannot get the a-4 to "catapult ready" no matter where I put it near a catapult chuck. It just keeps saying "You are not close enough to any catapult". I tried different catapults and it still won't work. My stennis carrier has no waypoints, and is going at a constant 11 knots. If it is something I am doing wrong, I am sure I will figure it out soon.

 

Anyway, love this 1.3 update guys, and I can see my cockpit canopy now when it is open yes!:D

[Andrew8604]

Does anybody have trouble mapping the Throttel and rudder?

Never mind, i dont knw what the glitch was but its gone..

 

 

 

I had trouble yesterday when I over-wrote 1.2 with version 1.3, like I thought the "read-me" file told me to do. Yes, Throttle and Rudder would not map and seemed to be highlighted in pink or red like something was detected wrong or conflicting.

 

 

So, what's the standard thing to do with a hardware issue in a Windows PC? Reboot. LOL I exited DCS and rebooted my Win 7 machine--even though the controllers were all working fine according to "Devices and Printers" in Windows. When I launched DCS again, the problem was gone. Throttle and rudder were mapped just as I had them in version 1.2. Glad I didn't go through the pain of deleting the bindings or mappings like I think some others did. I think I had tried just an exit and re-launch of DCS, and that didn't solve it.

[20thBG_Blackwolf]

We have seen that with the Alpha version of 1.03. The way I used to fix it was: Copy the saved games A-4E-C folder to a safe place then remove it from saved games, install the new version. I didn't lose my bindings and nothing was red in controls.

[tmansteve]

Carrier works a treat. What is the Shoot Catapult command? I just Rev up and she goes like a rocket. I gave the carrier some waypoints with the same speed, was this wrong?

[Nero.ger]

I gave the carrier some waypoints with the same speed, was this wrong?

50% wrong, the carrier needs to have one waypoint and needs to be at the same speed at this Waypoint and its Spawn . There are some pictures in the guide if you have issues.

 

the shoot catapult command is from an earlier version and no longer in use.

It now behaves like the FA18, ones you have enough thrust, its launches the catapult

Edited March 17, 2019 by Nero.ger

[heclak]

NOW AVAILABLE: Community A-4E-C Mod

 

One more light bug (a little one). The Wingtip position (or nav) lights consist of a low-intensity filament light and a high-intensity gas-discharge light, as you know. The first lights in the DIM setting and the latter lights at the BRT setting...all good, except: the port-side high-intensity light lens is invisible or missing when the Master lights switch on the throttle is turned ON, until the first activation of the position light BRT-OFF-DIM switch. Once that switch is selected to any position, it all works as it should for the remainder of that mission. (or, I think it does - I'll have to test again)

 

 

 

 

 

Also, the Fuselage Lights are missing. These are round, semi-flush (they have a slightly convex lens), white, high-intensity gas discharge and low intensity filament wing lights under the leading edge of each wing, just aft of the outboard end of the wing slat on the underside wing surface. The NATOPS manual says (new - a change) that they are turned off automatically when the anti-collision lights are turned on. It says, "Wingtip, tail, and fuselage lights are actually double lights, as both filament and gas discharge types are provided. The BRT (bright) position directs power to the gas discharge lights; the DIM position directs power to the filament lights." --- or will this not be possible without the DCS developer kit?

 

The A-4E/F NATOPS calls the high-intensity wingtip lights "gas discharge lights". The A4D-1/2 (A-4A/B) NATOPS calls these same lights "formation" lights in the same color as the wingtip lights. It's kind of confusing, maybe the A-4A/B didn't have gas discharge lights? The early examples of the A-4A did not have rotating anti-collision lights. In place of the upper anti-collision light was a white, semi-flush fuselage light. They were called fuselage-wing lights and referred to as "standard". When the top fuselage light was replaced with a rotating beacon, I think the associated under-wing lights were simply called fuselage lights from then on. The F-4 Phantom II's had these same semi-flush, white fuselage lights, but mounted on the underside of each engine intake, not out on the wings. The F-5E has them, too, on the underside of the fuselage just aft of the cockpit area. Yes, they are missing from the DCS F-5E. I suspect some other aircraft of the era had them, too.

 

 

 

 

 

BUT...I'd rather have rotating beacons that visibly flash than to have this little, tiny bug fixed. :) Although, it may be really hard to get them to flash just right. Here's an example of a back-and-forth rotating beacon in action on YouTube. Not-necessarily one from an A-4, but it sure looks familiar. I used to watch A-4's and TA-4's flying PAR approaches through a 40x telescope when I was a kid.

 

 

 

Thanks for the report. I'll look into that. The wing tips light is the same material/animation issue but I'll see if there are any bugs in the code as well.

 

Edit: Vanishing left wingtip light was an init code error. Fixed for the next patch.

 

 

 

The fuselage lights are a known missing element. It's on the todo list but we're having trouble finding out where would the light be pointing towards. That's why it wasn't added yet. More research is needed.

 

The logic for the fuselage and wing tip lights is not an issue. It might be simplified for AI models though.

 

 

 

We're currently finding new ways to do the external lights, there wasn't enough time to finish that in the previous patch.

 

 

 

I'm actually streaming my bug fixing session now, do drop by if you are interested in talking about the bugs.

Edited March 17, 2019 by heclak

[tmansteve]

Nero.ger, many thanks. I will remove that command from my list and take a look at the guide. Guide is great, thanks

Edited March 17, 2019 by tmansteve

[heclak]

I'm fairly new to DCS, and I love the A-4 mod! It's one of my fav planes if not the favorite right now. (three gun pods are so much fun!:)

 

with the new 1.3 update, i am sooo happy with the new axis wheel brake!!! I needed this badly.

 

REQUEST: could the option for "clickable mouse cockpit mode" allow for mouse button 3? at the moment, it is blanked out in the options and won't allow any mouse button binding there.

-

I much prefer tapping mouse 3 to go into cockpit click mode, like the other DCS planes allow you to do.

 

Also for some reason i cannot get the a-4 to "catapult ready" no matter where I put it near a catapult chuck. It just keeps saying "You are not close enough to any catapult". I tried different catapults and it still won't work. My stennis carrier has no waypoints, and is going at a constant 11 knots. If it is something I am doing wrong, I am sure I will figure it out soon.

 

Anyway, love this 1.3 update guys, and I can see my cockpit canopy now when it is open yes!:D

Sure, I'll fix the mouse binding for you. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

 

Edit: It's done. Scheduling it for the next patch.

Edited March 17, 2019 by heclak

[tmansteve]

Just completed a takeoff and landing with stennis. Still getting used to things. Can someone tell me if my Viacompro works with the A-4E-C. Sorry to be a pain !!!!

[qcheck]

Sure, I'll fix the mouse binding for you. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

 

Edit: It's done. Scheduling it for the next patch.

 

Thank you!!!:)

 

Also, I figured out what I was doing wrong for the carrier launch... I needed to put one waypoint for the carrier. Now it works perfectly! This is so awesome!

 

(also i love the addition of wheel chucks)

[AngelGames]

Does anyone have a bug that makes your plane explode on the ground?

[norbot]

Does anyone have a bug that makes your plane explode on the ground?

 

It's a bug inside DCS World with all SFM aircraft. Has been corrected by ED with last open beta update. Will probably be corrected in the stable version with the next update (maybe next week?).

[Marcq]

Guys!! What is that tinted glass in the front of the radar that can be flipped up or down in the real thing?

 

Marc..

[norbot]

That's a coloured filter for night flight.

[LevelPulse]

Just completed a takeoff and landing with stennis. Still getting used to things. Can someone tell me if my Viacompro works with the A-4E-C. Sorry to be a pain !!!!

 

No wouldn't work with it.

[Marcq]

That's a coloured filter for night flight.

 

Ah!! Cool thanks

 

Marc..

[warbirdguy1]

I am thrilled with these improvements! I am looking forward to when my A-4 Simpit is complete and I can play on it with this.

 

An observation. The new catapult system does not seem to work if you have other dissimilar type aircraft launching from the deck. Is this a problem or user error?

 

If I do the same steps WITHOUT other aircraft types it seems to work fine.

 

Thanks a million!

[Nero.ger]

do you have a trackfile ?

[dFlow]

I am thrilled with these improvements! I am looking forward to when my A-4 Simpit is complete and I can play on it with this.

 

An observation. The new catapult system does not seem to work if you have other dissimilar type aircraft launching from the deck. Is this a problem or user error?

 

If I do the same steps WITHOUT other aircraft types it seems to work fine.

 

Thanks a million!

happened to me as well, can confirm