F/A-18 turning off

[Assamita]

Hi everyone,

 

I don't know what's sometimes happening, but when I'm cold starting the F18, sometimes it turns itself off. I've noticed that sometimes the throttle goes off out of the idle position, and it's not an issue with the mapping, as sometimes it happens with me not touching anything.

Any idea of why could this be happening?

Also, when in a tutorial mission, is there any way to skip the messages? I've repeated some of them several times and I would like to go faster, but I need to wait for the narrator to finish talking.

 

Thank you

[TimRobertsen]

Left control-Z

 

As for the auto-off: could be if you have mapped "Throttle idle/off" in a weird way

Could be some noise from a controller/keyboard, maybe. It sounds a bit odd.

[Harker]

For speeding up the tutorials, use LCtrl+Z to speed up game time and LShift+Z to come back to normal. LAlt+Z slows down time. You can speed up or slow down more, if you repeat the command.

As for the throttle going to Off, make sure that you don't have any double bindings for the IDLE/OFF position. Maybe they've been set up automatically for one of your input devices.

[Assamita]

Hi both. Sorry, I have the "Follow topic" on, but I didn't receive any notification.

 

Thank you for the LCtrl+Z tip, I'll try it next time.

 

Rregarding the throttle, I don't have any abnormal binding, as far as I can see, and this happens without touching anything in the keyboard, so it should be something in the joystick. But the Throttle off is bound to two spring loaded buttons, and I'm not even near that area when this happens. I'll try a cold start with an instant action instead of the tutorial, see if that does any difference.

Thank you anyway

[LeCuvier]

I just tried the auto-start in Open Beta, Instant Action "Cold and Dark". My TM WH throttle levers were both in the "IDLE" position at mission start. I have the option "Synchronize Cockpit Controls with HOTAS Controls at Mission Start" enabled.

Since the sim software has not "seen" a throttle switch event from OFF to IDLE, the cockpit does not show any movement of the throttle levers when I move them physically.

When the auto-start macro executes, these messages are of interest:

1. "Throttles - OFF".  

2. "ENG CRANK SWITCH - R"

3. "RIGHT THROTTLE - IDLE (15% RPM MINIMUM)"

4. "ENG CRANK SWITCH - L"

5. "LEFT THROTTLE - IDLE (15% RPM MINIMUM)"

I did not touch the throttle levers at all, and both engines started up correctly.

At the time of message 3. the cockpit showed my movement of the right throttle lever.

Same at the time of message 5. for the left throttle lever.

So somehow the autostart macro seems to emulate the throttle events for left and right throttle OFF and IDLE.

But somehow this does not seem to work all the time. I suggest you try this based on the messages listed above:

1. push the buttons for left and right throttle OFF

3. push the button for right throttle IDLE

5. push the button for left throttle IDLE

 

The message sequence is rather fast, so you must be focussed.

 

Note: Some other aircrafts (e.g. A-10C II) have the same issue. So when I run the autostart, I make it my standard procedure to move both levers to OFF at mission start, and move them to IDLE when the messages prompt me.

PS:

The auto-start and auto-stop sequences are defined in the file "Macro_sequencies.lua" in "...Mods\aircraft\FA-18C\Cockpit\Scripts".

 

 

 

Edited March 12, 2021 by LeCuvier

[Assamita]

the thing is that I'm not using the auto-start, so it should not be the issue. Don't know why it's happening, but it's happening every time. I'm sure that if I was to do it "quickly", without the tutorial, it wouldn't have time to turn off, but since the tutorial is so slow, it stays a long time on and idle, and at some point it's like it run out of fuel.

[LeCuvier]

On 3/16/2021 at 7:12 PM, Assamita said:

the thing is that I'm not using the auto-start, so it should not be the issue. Don't know why it's happening, but it's happening every time. I'm sure that if I was to do it "quickly", without the tutorial, it wouldn't have time to turn off, but since the tutorial is so slow, it stays a long time on and idle, and at some point it's like it run out of fuel.

But it can be the same issue: the sim needs to "see" the throttle levers move from OFF to IDLE. And it does that more reliably if it has seen the move from IDLE to OFF at the beginning of the mission.

I think the test would be that you see the throttle levers in the sim moving when you move the throttle levers on your game controller. If you don't see that movement, the sim "sees" the throttle levers in OFF. The engine will start to spin up with the bleed air from the APU, but it will stop after a short time.

Edited April 9, 2021 by LeCuvier

[Assamita]

On 4/9/2021 at 9:46 AM, LeCuvier said:

But it can be the same issue: the sim needs to "see" the throttle levers move from OFF to IDLE. And it does that more reliably if it has seen the move from IDLE to OFF at the beginning of the mission.

I think the test would be that you see the throttle levers in the sim moving when you move the throttle levers on your game controller. If you don't see that movement, the sim "sees" the throttle levers in OFF. The engine will start to spin up with the bleed air from the APU, but it will stop after a short time.

 

The sim throttle levers do move when I set the idle on. However, that's bound to a switch in the throttle quadrant of my HOTAS. The levers also move when I slightly raise the rpm (up to 68 or 69%). That seems to keep the engine running.

Next thing I'll try is to move the levers up and down first thing in the mission, even before turning the batteries on. Maybe the sim needs to know where the actual levers in the hotas are.