Post by Jorge on Feb 18, 2020 11:08:46 GMT -5
All,
I've been working on modifying the FSX/P3D Weathership gauge for use in FS9. The original author, Finn, gave me permission to work on a change to it a few months back. He has answered a few questions as well in the process. Tom sent me a version that he had worked on which helped me finally figure out what needed to be changed as far as headers and footers to get it to work in FS9 (might seem trivial, but I'm still learning). Anyway, it appears that I finally have something that will work with FS9.
I'm still putting together a readme file for the thing so that all get credit. I'm also including the original readme files and instructions for "chain of custody" value as well so that the original author has proper credit in case I mess something up in the process. So far these are the changes:
1. All Ocean Station ships have been updated with era-specific calls. (i.e. "Able" along with "Alpha", "Queen" along with "Quebec", etc.). These are not "audio" but rather what pops up in the gauge.
2. The ships will "wander" in a 200 square mile grid. This means that you may get a bearing on a ship on the gauge but not see one in the ocean. This is not a glitch, but rather the way it's supposed to work. In real life the ship would drift and still be considered "on station" by the authorities. I would suggest tuning the NDB on your regular ADF radio once you are within 100 nm or so if you want to use the scenery of the ship as the waypoint.
3. Shore stations for HFDF that were added to the original FSX/P3D gauge that are now available in the FS9 version (listed in order they were coded by Finn):
Prestwick
Shannon
Foynes
Gander
New York
Lisboa
Azores
Bermuda
Alameda
Anchorage
Honolulu
Midway
Wake
Guam
Manila
Zygi
Aden
Nairobi
Malta
Bahrain
Baghdad
Skuvanes
Frederiksdal
Battle Habour
Bonavista
4. Range is dependent on the station. Ships reach out to about 250 nm while the ground stations are anywhere from 400 nm to 700 nm, depending on the station.
Things that are still in the works before final release:
1. A "VERY" basic scenery that will include the radio tower from the Classic Objects Library and one of the shacks from the Abacus Library. This will in no way be "custom" scenery, but will at least mark something on the ground for those that are flying low.
2. A readme file that includes all the information and credits that are due to the original authors and those that helped.
What it will NOT do:
1. There will be no navigational scenery. In other words, you can have the same frequency of an NDB already in FS9 because all the station information used in the gauge is contained in two, individual and distinct "update" gauges that are placed in the main panel and are invisible. What this means is that there is no way to "find" the station on the FS9 map or GPS. Because of this, Finn added a "MAP" button on the original gauge. When you click on it, the point is inserted as a "direct to" function and you can see where the station in on the map and the gps. This is more of a convinience in case you absolutely MUST know where the station is. It also means you can use this without the Ocean Station scenery if you wish.
2. This is NOT an NDB/ADF gauge. You have to manually tune the frequency and then, based on signal strength, determine your bearing to the station from the needle you manually move about. This is basically a manual loop antenna simulation similar in function to the gauge released by Dave Bitzer and company a few years back. Finn gets full credit for this version, not me!
3. Because there is no "nav" function, the autopilot "nav" function is useless. Besides, you will be taking bearings manually, so this would be useless anyway.
I should have the basic readme done by today with instructions on how to add this to any aircraft of your choosing. This won't be the final readme, just something to help you get it into the aircraft for testing. I'm using the UPF-7 by Tim Conrad and the Alphasim freeware F3D jet. So far things seem to work well on both.
If anyone would like to be part of the beta testing please send me a message here on the forum with the following info:
- your name (for credit in the final readme)
- your e-mail address (so I can send you the testing files I have so far)
- aircraft you plan on using (just for data to see how diverse the baseline is)
If it wasn't for the real world I probably would have done this sooner!
Thanks for the interest and hope to have some testing soon!
Regards,
Jorge
I've been working on modifying the FSX/P3D Weathership gauge for use in FS9. The original author, Finn, gave me permission to work on a change to it a few months back. He has answered a few questions as well in the process. Tom sent me a version that he had worked on which helped me finally figure out what needed to be changed as far as headers and footers to get it to work in FS9 (might seem trivial, but I'm still learning). Anyway, it appears that I finally have something that will work with FS9.
I'm still putting together a readme file for the thing so that all get credit. I'm also including the original readme files and instructions for "chain of custody" value as well so that the original author has proper credit in case I mess something up in the process. So far these are the changes:
What it has:
1. All Ocean Station ships have been updated with era-specific calls. (i.e. "Able" along with "Alpha", "Queen" along with "Quebec", etc.). These are not "audio" but rather what pops up in the gauge.
2. The ships will "wander" in a 200 square mile grid. This means that you may get a bearing on a ship on the gauge but not see one in the ocean. This is not a glitch, but rather the way it's supposed to work. In real life the ship would drift and still be considered "on station" by the authorities. I would suggest tuning the NDB on your regular ADF radio once you are within 100 nm or so if you want to use the scenery of the ship as the waypoint.
3. Shore stations for HFDF that were added to the original FSX/P3D gauge that are now available in the FS9 version (listed in order they were coded by Finn):
Prestwick
Shannon
Foynes
Gander
New York
Lisboa
Azores
Bermuda
Alameda
Anchorage
Honolulu
Midway
Wake
Guam
Manila
Zygi
Aden
Nairobi
Malta
Bahrain
Baghdad
Skuvanes
Frederiksdal
Battle Habour
Bonavista
4. Range is dependent on the station. Ships reach out to about 250 nm while the ground stations are anywhere from 400 nm to 700 nm, depending on the station.
Things that are still in the works before final release:
1. A "VERY" basic scenery that will include the radio tower from the Classic Objects Library and one of the shacks from the Abacus Library. This will in no way be "custom" scenery, but will at least mark something on the ground for those that are flying low.
2. A readme file that includes all the information and credits that are due to the original authors and those that helped.
What it will NOT do:
1. There will be no navigational scenery. In other words, you can have the same frequency of an NDB already in FS9 because all the station information used in the gauge is contained in two, individual and distinct "update" gauges that are placed in the main panel and are invisible. What this means is that there is no way to "find" the station on the FS9 map or GPS. Because of this, Finn added a "MAP" button on the original gauge. When you click on it, the point is inserted as a "direct to" function and you can see where the station in on the map and the gps. This is more of a convinience in case you absolutely MUST know where the station is. It also means you can use this without the Ocean Station scenery if you wish.
2. This is NOT an NDB/ADF gauge. You have to manually tune the frequency and then, based on signal strength, determine your bearing to the station from the needle you manually move about. This is basically a manual loop antenna simulation similar in function to the gauge released by Dave Bitzer and company a few years back. Finn gets full credit for this version, not me!
3. Because there is no "nav" function, the autopilot "nav" function is useless. Besides, you will be taking bearings manually, so this would be useless anyway.
I should have the basic readme done by today with instructions on how to add this to any aircraft of your choosing. This won't be the final readme, just something to help you get it into the aircraft for testing. I'm using the UPF-7 by Tim Conrad and the Alphasim freeware F3D jet. So far things seem to work well on both.
If anyone would like to be part of the beta testing please send me a message here on the forum with the following info:
- your name (for credit in the final readme)
- your e-mail address (so I can send you the testing files I have so far)
- aircraft you plan on using (just for data to see how diverse the baseline is)
If it wasn't for the real world I probably would have done this sooner!
Thanks for the interest and hope to have some testing soon!
Regards,
Jorge
Miami, FL
PS: I probably don't need to say this, but all I ask is that you please not distribute the beta files. Once we have everything "good to go" we can release a proper package with documentation. Thanks!