Community A-4E-C

[LanceCriminal86]

Has there been discussion around adding different helmet options? The current one is spot on for late 80s/90s Aggressor use, but something more like an APH-6 or perhaps an HGU-33 would be a closer fit for the general timeframe of the A-4E.

 

APH-6 Single Visor:

 

APH-6 Dual Visor, aka the Ram's Horn:

 

HGU-33, as seen in the Heatblur Tomcat and in Top Gun. Primary Navy fixed-wing helmet 70s to late 80s & early 90s:

This one possibly from a USMC A-4 Agressor squadron

 

https://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/275108-bought-this-hgu-33-what-squadronaircraft/

 

The HGU-55 or rather converted HGU-33 style presently in the mod came about in the very late 1980s and into the 90s to present.

http://www.salimbeti.com/aviation/images/helmets/hgu34-13.jpg

 

 

One option may be, like the F/A-18, use an animation argument to add on the visor housing model, then control it through the livery file. Alternately set the whole helmet up in animation argument and swap out the pilot helmet or whole head maybe.

[MagicSlave]

I tried to add empty versions of the external fuel tanks to the loadout options of the community A-4E-C by editing some lua files in the mod. All is well otherwise, but I found out that editing the main A-4E-C.lua file in any way breaks the mod! I mean I managed to add the empty fuel tanks so that they are selectable in the mission editor and the AI A-4Es happily fly with them without problems, but the player aircraft does not respond to any control inputs anymore. 

 

Now I noticed that there is a big disclaimer at the beginning of the A-4E-C.lua: "--EDITING THIS FILE WILL CAUSE THE EFM TO FAIL." And it really seems that any kind of edit, even just adding one line of commented text, which actually does not do anything code-wise, causes the mod to break, as described above... So this is the file that is preventing me from adding the empty fuel tanks.

 

Do the makers of this mod follow this thread? Does somebody else know what's up with the main lua-file being so fragile?

 

I attach here the lua files I edited, in case someone wants to see what I was attempting to do, and maybe come up with a workaround. Or if the authors of this mod want to add these as an official update... The A-4E-C.lua is from the main A-4E-C\ folder, the A4E_Weapons.lua is from the A-4E-C\Weapons\ and the weapon_system.lua is from A-4E-C\Cockpit\Scripts\Systems\

 

Edit: you can quickly find the lines of code related to external fuel tanks by searching for "fuel"

 

 

A4E_Weapons.lua A-4E-C.lua weapon_system.lua

Edited February 27 by MagicSlave

[Rudel_chw]

49 minutes ago, MagicSlave said:

 

Now I noticed that there is a big disclaimer at the beginning of the A-4E-C.lua: "--EDITING THIS FILE WILL CAUSE THE EFM TO FAIL." And it really seems that any kind of edit, even just adding one line of commented text, which actually does not do anything code-wise, causes the mod to break,

 

yes, that is correct and prevents tampering with the Mod. 

[MagicSlave]

1 hour ago, Rudel_chw said:

yes, that is correct and prevents tampering with the Mod. 

Ah, okay, I understand. Thanks for the answer!

[DefaultFace]

Am I doing something wrong or is the turn radius of the Nosewheel steering just not that great? Taxiing aroudn on deck is quite a challenge it seems.

[Rudel_chw]

6 minutes ago, DefaultFace said:

Am I doing something wrong or is the turn radius of the Nosewheel steering just not that great? Taxiing aroudn on deck is quite a challenge it seems.

 

Use differential wheel braking, it allows much tighter turns. I don't have a physical rudder with toe brakes, so I assigned the right and left button of a Hotas hat to the wheelbrakes:

 

BTN T5  /I /H Rudder_Trim_Switch-Rudder_Left 
              /O /H Wheel_Brake_Left-ON/OFF 
BTN T4  /I /H Rudder_Trim_Switch-Rudder_Right 
             /O /H Wheel_Brake_Right-ON/OFF 
 

(I use the same buttons, T4 & T5, along with a modifier, as rudder trim for double function)

 

 

[DefaultFace]

I had tried this but not without NWS... I see now that it turns freely without NWS on. Excellent tip thanks.

[Joe1978]

Is it possible to change the background A4e image (on the DCS main screen) to the previous version? It´s the same pinture without the comments.

[JNelson]

On 2/27/2021 at 5:36 PM, MagicSlave said:

Ah, okay, I understand. Thanks for the answer!

It is to prevent low effort clones where people just take the dll.

 

The tools to update the protection for the files are all on the repo so if you are willing to rebuild the dll you can modify it easy enough.

 

The empty tanks are on our radar and it's something that will be added before the official release. 

[MagicSlave]

2 hours ago, JNelson said:

It is to prevent low effort clones where people just take the dll.

 

The tools to update the protection for the files are all on the repo so if you are willing to rebuild the dll you can modify it easy enough.

 

The empty tanks are on our radar and it's something that will be added before the official release. 

Okay, thanks, looking forward to it! And thank you for the great module. I think you guys are doing a remarkable service to the community.

[MagicSlave]

Does anybody have any good tips on “flying the ball” in the A-4? I’m really struggling on keeping her attitude / descent rate under control and making controlled corrections. There is a good bit of lag in the engine response to throttle changes, so it feels like it is easy to overcorrect and end up with the nose pitching up / down more than you intended. Then on the other hand it seems kinda responsive around the “sweet spot” throttle setting for on-speed and desired descent rate, where you are able to make small adjustment and get the jet respond quite quickly. So sometimes I feel like the key to succes is to anticipate: if I'm sinking too fast, get the power on for 1-2 seconds then throttle back down to "the sweet spot". If I'm too high, then get the power off for 1-2 seconds and then back to sweet spot. Then at other times it seems that what ever I do, is too much or too late and the pitch just gets out of control. Then again other times it feels like it is a matter of finding the sweet spot on the throttle and then making just small adjustments. So I am kind of struggling in my head with what would be the "correct" mindset for this?

 

What surprises me is how easily she seems to float with throttle “off”. One would think that with those delta wings it would fall of the sky pretty easily with the power down – or is it just the engine lag and me overcompensating a too high descent rate with too much power and then trying to power off too late?

 

I recently read this article, and I would agree that the A-4 in the mod also feels like it stays pretty well on the yellow doughnut once trimmed on-speed, as long as you don’t end up needing too large throttle adjustments:

“One of the beauties of the TA-4 was that in the approach environment, it flew exactly like what you were taught to think a navy jet should fly like. Attitude controlled airspeed and power controlled rate of descent. So once you got it trimmed in pitch, it pretty much maintained that speed. If you started to see a change in glideslope from the meatball, you simply made the appropriate power correction to return to a centered ball. I loved flying it, and the way that it flew. “ (https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/9599/a-tomcat-pilots-early-struggles-to-tame-the-mighty-f-14) I really would love to get the hang of these "appropriate power corrections" and just return to a centered ball! 

 

So any words of wisdom? What is your tactic with ball flying in A-4?

Edited March 3 by MagicSlave

[PSYKOnz]

Quick question, not sure if it’s been answered before but..

 

what Is the different between “shrike 1 and 2” on the little dial? Are they just volume settings or are they a flight profile?

[JNelson]

17 hours ago, MagicSlave said:

Does anybody have any good tips on “flying the ball” in the A-4? I’m really struggling on keeping her attitude / descent rate under control and making controlled corrections. There is a good bit of lag in the engine response to throttle changes, so it feels like it is easy to overcorrect and end up with the nose pitching up / down more than you intended. Then on the other hand it seems kinda responsive around the “sweet spot” throttle setting for on-speed and desired descent rate, where you are able to make small adjustment and get the jet respond quite quickly. So sometimes I feel like the key to succes is to anticipate: if I'm sinking too fast, get the power on for 1-2 seconds then throttle back down to "the sweet spot". If I'm too high, then get the power off for 1-2 seconds and then back to sweet spot. Then at other times it seems that what ever I do, is too much or too late and the pitch just gets out of control. Then again other times it feels like it is a matter of finding the sweet spot on the throttle and then making just small adjustments. So I am kind of struggling in my head with what would be the "correct" mindset for this?

 

What surprises me is how easily she seems to float with throttle “off”. One would think that with those delta wings it would fall of the sky pretty easily with the power down – or is it just the engine lag and me overcompensating a too high descent rate with too much power and then trying to power off too late?

 

I recently read this article, and I would agree that the A-4 in the mod also feels like it stays pretty well on the yellow doughnut once trimmed on-speed, as long as you don’t end up needing too large throttle adjustments:

“One of the beauties of the TA-4 was that in the approach environment, it flew exactly like what you were taught to think a navy jet should fly like. Attitude controlled airspeed and power controlled rate of descent. So once you got it trimmed in pitch, it pretty much maintained that speed. If you started to see a change in glideslope from the meatball, you simply made the appropriate power correction to return to a centered ball. I loved flying it, and the way that it flew. “ (https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/9599/a-tomcat-pilots-early-struggles-to-tame-the-mighty-f-14) I really would love to get the hang of these "appropriate power corrections" and just return to a centered ball! 

 

So any words of wisdom? What is your tactic with ball flying in A-4?

 

Don't get slow, you will get hammered by they huge amount of induced drag that comes with a delta wing. Keep it on speed or faster. I also find using the airbrakes keeps the engine at a higher RPM which tends to have a slightly faster spool time for power changes. Also don't stop moving your throttle, if you keep it in any one position for too long you are likely going to overshoot what you were aiming for.

[faviou2]

Than you MUD. 

IT WORKED!!!!! Thanks greatings all! Have fun in the skyes

[bC3660]

Hi, I just downloadede this and tried to fly it at Nellis Free Flight and it didnt start me in the air in the cockpit. It was running in AI mode. So I tried to create a mission of my own and selected "player" in the mission munue and same thing happened. Any sugestions?

[Rudel_chw]

14 minutes ago, bC3660 said:

. Any sugestions?

most likely it was installed on the wrong path .. did you follow the install instructions to the letter?

[bC3660]

46 minutes ago, Rudel_chw said:

most likely it was installed on the wrong path .. did you follow the install instructions to the letter?

Yes

I will try to un install and reinstall.

 

[Rudel_chw]

4 minutes ago, bC3660 said:

Yes

I will try to un install and reinstall.

 

the correct path to install is: C:\Users\username\Saved Games\DCS

[bC3660]

I uninstalled it and re installed and still no joy. Dose the same thing as before.

[Rudel_chw]

10 minutes ago, bC3660 said:

I uninstalled it and re installed and still no joy. Dose the same thing as before.

Can you show a screen shot with the location of the mod on your pc? The Mod works fine on my dcs, so it must be something not right on the install process.

[bC3660]

[MAXsenna]

Check that it isn't, for some reason, in the install mods folder as well.
Cheers!

Sent from my MAR-LX1A using Tapatalk

[Copprhead]

6 hours ago, bC3660 said:

Hi, I just downloadede this and tried to fly it at Nellis Free Flight and it didnt start me in the air in the cockpit. It was running in AI mode. So I tried to create a mission of my own and selected "player" in the mission munue and same thing happened. Any sugestions?

 

You need to install VC++ redistributable, link is in the following post:

 

[MagicSlave]

On 3/4/2021 at 4:47 PM, JNelson said:

Don't get slow, you will get hammered by they huge amount of induced drag that comes with a delta wing. Keep it on speed or faster. I also find using the airbrakes keeps the engine at a higher RPM which tends to have a slightly faster spool time for power changes. Also don't stop moving your throttle, if you keep it in any one position for too long you are likely going to overshoot what you were aiming for.

 

Thanks for the insights. I did have the speedbrake open as per NATOPS and also was moving the throttles a lot.. but it seems that not the way the A-4 likes it. I think I have her better under control now that I make a little bit slower and smaller throttle movements and after each correction make a counter-correction. I think you have to give the engine a little bit time to respond to throttle changes. Just the basics of flying the ball, as you said: "don't stop moving the throttles". So.. I guess that I'm saying that getting the feel for the correct amplitude and frequency of throttle corrections with practice and more practice has improved my flying, if that makes sense? Also, I think I have improved in spotting the nose pitching movement earlier and staying ahead of the airframe more than falling behind. I guess that really is the key, that you learn to anticipate how the nose is going to react and stay proactive rather than reactive, getting the nose pitch attitude where you want. And you are absolutely correct, that if she gets slow then she falls out of the sky.. I have had two ramp strikes to prove your point  Now that I don't (usually) have to do so drastic throttle changes anymore, I see that she really stays trimmed steady on the yellow donut on the AOA indexer! Pure throttle for pitch and stick just for bank.

 

So, I don't know if any of this is news to anyone, but maybe some other noob finds it is helpful to read me learn something... 

 

One clip of one of my more succesful traps: https://youtu.be/UgBTIdi7UrM

[DmitriKozlowsky]

Oh Dear Lord Almighty Father in Heaven. A-4EC is the quickest rolling type in DCS. Is the real A-4E empty with guns only and 50 % fuel, rolls so fast?  Thats insane.

Its the only type in DCS that gives GLOC during roll. Not barrel roll. Just straight aileron roll. Real A-4E is a max 7G airframe , correct?