CJ4 Community Mod by Working Title Released

[cwburnett 1,809]

I am happy to finally announce that we have released a BETA version of the Working Title CJ4 mod (v0.2.0). We want to emphasize BETA! You will find release notes with a changelog, as well as an overview document, included in the release on Github. Thanks to everyone for your patience.

Let me say a huge thanks to everyone that has joined the Working Title team, and also to everyone that has generously contributed content that we’ve included. Our hope is for this to be THE CJ4 mod and we hope that others working on the CJ4 will help out by contributing to our Github repository. And don’t forget to check out the other projects – the G1000 is coming along really well with exciting new features coming soon!

We’ve done a lot of work on the CJ4, but there’s still so much more to do, so please keep that in mind as you explore the new features and capabilities. The change log includes a list of known issues – we’re sure there are more, so please log any issues you encounter in Github under “Issues” and please make sure to tag them as CJ4 so we can filter them separate from our other mods.

This update focuses on the FMC, as well as fixing a few of the more obvious issues with the PFD and MFD. There are also a few quality of life enhancements – you can see the full list below.

Our resident CJ4 pilot K20017/FNAL has prepared a video for the release demoing the features of this release: 

In addition, you will find a few pictures of features included below the change log. Here is a full photo gallery: https://imgur.com/a/6L6s0uV

The install instructions are simple: download the zip file and drag the workingtitle-aircraft-cj4 folder into your community folder. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE REMOVED ALL PRIOR CJ4 MODS FIRST.

Without further ado, you can download the mod here: https://github.com/Working-Title-MSFS-Mods/fspackages/releases/tag/cj4-v0.2.0

Scroll to the bottom of the page to see the Assets, which include a zip titled 'workingtitle-aircraft-cj4-v0.2.0.zip' - that's the mod.

Here is the changelog:

Quote

Working Title CJ4 v0.2.0 Changes

Welcome to the initial and very much beta release of the Working Title CJ4. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this release. We are all very excited to get this release in your hands, which offers a ton of improvement over the stock MSFS CJ4, focusing heavily on the FMC functionality, but with a number of other changes and improvements. There is a lot that has been added and a lot more to do still!

Installation

Installation is easy, simply copy the workingtitle-aircraft-cj4 folder inside the zip file to your MSFS Community folder.

Key Features

• Fixed Direct To routing when attempting to go direct to IAF or enroute waypoints
• Enabled proper EXEC/CANCEL MOD function and removed the 'Activate' logic
• Created Custom Font and implemented across FMC, PFD and FMS
• Updated FMC Layout, Coloring, Keyboard Lighting; added message line and EXEC notification to FMC layout
• Fixed LEGS page listing to include all flight plan and approach waypoints
• Added PERF pages and functions, including takeoff, landing and fuel management
• Added IDX pages and functions, including progress pages, approach details
• Fixed PFD and MFD NAV BAR details
• Adjusted engine performance and fuel flow to more closely reflect reality (much more work to be done)
• Removed reverse thrust
• Eliminated erroneous cabin pressure alarms (will need to be remodeled later)

Direct To Page

• Adjusted waypoint listing to show origin, departure, enroute, arrival and first approach fix
• Added proper handling for activating a direct to the IAF in an approach without causing the plane to fly back to a prior fix and auto activating the approach from present position.
• Added EXEC/CANCEL MOD logic to replace 'Activate' logic

LEGS Page

• Fixed errors in display of flight plan waypoints
• Added approach waypoints to legs listing

IDX / INIT REF Index Page

• Status Page - shows database, time, date
• GNSS Pos Page - shows current GPS Lat/Lon, date, time
• PROG Page 1 - shows last, current, next and destination waypoints, distance in flight plan from current location and ETE
• PROG Page 2 - shows current wind, headwind component, tailwind component, ISA DEV, flight plan cross track deviation and TAS
• Database Initial Page now allows selecting waypoint from database
• Database Airport Page now displays base data for any selected airport
• Arrival Data Page now displays the selected approach airport, runway, runway elevation, approach type, approach name, frequency and approach course.

PERF / PERF INIT

• Added Main Menu
• Added Perf Init Page to set/read weight, fuel and cruise altitude
• Added Takeoff Ref page 1 with working calculator for takeoff data for the selected departure runway, including wind, pressure altitude, runway condition, runway length
• Added Takeoff Ref page 2 with calculated V speeds and calculated takeoff distance, including selectors for Flaps and Anti Ice state. Vspeeds can be sent to PFD and appear in magenta color when set by FMC.
• Added Fuel Management page 1 calculating fuel remaining, displaying fuel flow, allowing setting of reserve fuel, showing endurance, range and endurance to reserve fuel and specific range.
• Added Fuel Management page 2 showing fuel flow in each engine and fuel burned, with added 'reset initial fuel' button
• Added Approach Ref page 1 with destination details, runway details and landing performance calculator, including headwind/crosswind components, runway condition, pressure altitude and temperature variables.
• Added Approach Ref page 2 with calculated Vref and Vapp speeds and calculated landing field requirements and landing field available length. Vspeeds can be sent to PFD and appear in magenta color when set by FMC.

TUN Page

• Updated layout and fields

FPLN Page

• Updated layout and fields
• Enabled first waypoint line management on page 1
• Added EXEC/CANCEL MOD logic to replace 'Activate' logic

DEP/ARR Page

• Added EXEC/CANCEL MOD logic to replace 'Activate' logic

DSPL MENU Page

• Updated layout and established template (to do)

MFD ADV Page

• Updated layout and established template (to do)

PFD

• Removed erroneous display of GS/TAS from PFD Map
• Fixed NAV BAR at bottom of PDF to display current accurate COM1 COM2 ATC1 RAT and UTC
• Set AoA to only appear with Flaps 35
• Added VRef(VRF) and Vapp(VAP) to the speed tape
• Setup PFD coloring so that VSpeeds set by FMC are magenta and when manually set or edited they are set to cyan
• Updated fonts to custom font

MFD

• Removed erroneous display of GS/TAS from MFD Map
• Fixed NAV BAR at bottom of MFD to display current accurate GS TAS RAT SAT and ISA DEV
• Updated fonts to custom font
• Removed bad CAS messages for PITOT and INERT SEP (more to do here...)

Misc

• Added YD functionality (credit: musurca)
• Added/fixed many gear-related warnings (credit: musurca)
• Improved exterior lighting (Landing/taxi light visibility) (credit: Uwajimaya)

Known Issues

• You cannot currently select Direct-To of a fix on your approach that is not the initial approach fix. This is a limitation of the sim flightplan system at present. We are investigating solutions to this issue.
• After using Direct-To, the navigation will not always automatically sequence to the next fix and may enter ROL mode. You can re-activate NAV to navigate to the next fix if you encounter this issue.
• There are cosmetic issues regarding the PFD and MFD (shapes, text, alignments). The PFD and MFD have not gotten a full layout overhaul as of this time.
• The aircraft is still using the built-in MSFS autopilot (for now). All the existing limitations of that still apply. It does behave a bit better with the engine performance changes.

A few pics, more at the gallery (https://imgur.com/a/6L6s0uV)

Many thanks to @MattNischan, @kaosfere, @FNAL, @dga711 and many others!

Edited September 21, 2020 by cwburnett

[tangerine 148]

Amazing!!!

[Steve Dra 7,557]

Fantastic work guys!

A heart felt thank you from me.

[vcarlo 529]

BIG BIG Thanks !!! 😉

 

EDIT :  Are we supposed to remove the cwburnett-cj4 folder from Community Folder ?  That mod and the new mod BOTH have a panel.xml file inside.

Edited September 21, 2020 by vcarlo

[cwburnett 1,809]

10 minutes ago, vcarlo said:

BIG BIG Thanks !!! 😉

 

EDIT :  Are we supposed to remove the cwburnett-cj4 folder from Community Folder ?  That mod and the new mod BOTH have a panel.xml file inside.

Yes remove all prior CJ4 mods.

[vcarlo 529]

2 minutes ago, cwburnett said:

Yes remove all prior CJ4 mods.

Thanks !  Also I notice  >>

• Improved exterior lighting (Landing/taxi light visibility) (credit: Uwajimaya)

So I assume I can remove his previous mod for the CJ4 lights I installed today. 😉

[cwburnett 1,809]

4 minutes ago, vcarlo said:

Thanks !  Also I notice  >>

• Improved exterior lighting (Landing/taxi light visibility) (credit: Uwajimaya)

So I assume I can remove his previous mod for the CJ4 lights I installed today. 😉

Yup other mods of any kind that touch the CJ4 will conflict. And his are included in this package anyhow.

[abrams_tank 7,386]

Nice!

[raymar 969]

Now that the team has the CJ4 looking good and flying better does anyone have a link for some performance documentation?  Maybe even some sort of flight tutorial?  I’m looking for pdf docs not youTube.

I failed to find anything useful that wasn’t at a malware site asking for a credit card.

Thanks guys for all those long hours of tedious and painstaking work. Truly appreciated.

Regards,

Ray

[Flyfaster_MTN002 412]

BZ well done!

[Flyfaster_MTN002 412]

13 minutes ago, raymar said:

Now that the team has the CJ4 looking good and flying better does anyone have a link for some performance documentation?  Maybe even some sort of flight tutorial?  I’m looking for pdf docs not youTube.

I failed to find anything useful that wasn’t at a malware site asking for a credit card.

Thanks guys for all those long hours of tedious and painstaking work. Truly appreciated.

Regards,

Ray

You likely won't it is closely guarded for liability reasons. Both by Textron and Flighsafety/Simcom etc.

[cwburnett 1,809]

22 minutes ago, raymar said:

Now that the team has the CJ4 looking good and flying better does anyone have a link for some performance documentation?  Maybe even some sort of flight tutorial?  I’m looking for pdf docs not youTube.

I failed to find anything useful that wasn’t at a malware site asking for a credit card.

Thanks guys for all those long hours of tedious and painstaking work. Truly appreciated.

Regards,

Ray

I don't know about publicly available docs like that, but remember the FMC has takeoff and landing performance built in now, so takeoff/landing distance and v speeds can all be calculated in the FMC PERF pages.

We will be working on the FADEC and throttle detents in the future as well.

If we ask really nice, maybe @FNAL will write up some SOPs with performance data at some point.

[raymar 969]

4 minutes ago, cwburnett said:

I don't know about publicly available docs like that, but remember the FMC has takeoff and landing performance built in now, so takeoff/landing distance and v speeds can all be calculated in the FMC PERF pages.

We will be working on the FADEC and throttle detents in the future as well.

If we ask really nice, maybe @FNAL will write up some SOPs with performance data at some point.

Yes, we have a bright future with this team. Watch for burnout and see if we can get @FNAL designated a National Treasure. Thanks for heading up the team.

[FNAL 151]

None of the performance data is public and you will have a hard time finding any information on it unless you have direct access to the aircraft.  I suppose you will have to take my word that the performance numbers are accurate to the real aircraft performance charts

[raymar 969]

Just now, FNAL said:

None of the performance data is public and you will have a hard time finding any information on it unless you have direct access to the aircraft.  I suppose you will have to take my word that the performance numbers are accurate to the real aircraft performance charts

Thanks. I am not really looking for Flight Safety manuals, just enough basic info to plan and fly in the flight sim.