Hi All,

I've downloaded and installed a static aircraft carrier scenery but it's flight deck is not hard, which keeps resulting in any opened flight having it's chosen aircraft sitting on the sea below the carrier's flight deck.

The carrier's Afcad flight deck is at the correct elevaion and a "flatten" of any size/combination does not seem to want to work either.

Ideas anyone ?

Regards

Hans

 

Can you specify which scenery you're referring to? I have several carriers with AI traffic installed, and your approach seems perfectly correct. That's why it's so puzzling and would need to be checked using the specific scenery.

Bernard

Bernard,

The file name of the freeware carrier is: CVN65_off_Puerto_Rico.zip and is downloadable from this site. It resides under Puerto Rico scenery.

In the file description it says that it has a "hard deck" --- BUT ---- mine does not seem to have that.

Thanks for your reaction and willingness to help.

Hans

Hi Hans,

Meanhwile I installed the carrier and could found it thanks to the manual of Team SB Scenery. Faxct is, that I got a hardend deck. And the traffic Afcad doesn't need to be flattened. 

The aircraft in front is used as AI, the second one behind is a flyable model. I'm rather surprised that no Afcad has been created and released for this freeware. Eventually you should reinstall the scenery. I got it from the library here.

Bernard

Bernard,

I will re-install this carrier soon and will report back if it's flight deck has then suddenly become hard. Very strange problem because I have not changed anything on my existing carrier.

Do your AI aircraft work well on this carrier or on any of your other carriers ? Do you use Rob Barendregt's catapult and cable trapping systems for your flyable carrier based aircraft ?

Greetings

Hans

 

Well, what should I say? I added the AI aircraft more to see whether it would be shown correctly on the deck. As often, it needs a very long way to take off. Mostly due to the fact the it only begins the start at the island. It´s definitely too short. While landing, it approaches too low and don't reach the deck. 

Even if i created some traffic on other carriers, I never tried to incorporate catapults. IMO, carrier traffic depend too much of aircraft behaviors. Eventually I will place some aircraft as a static AI traffic and add than a more easier helicopter traffic Roosevelt Field to the Enterprise.

 

Best regards,

Bernard

Bernard,

Yes, I agree with you that AI flights to and from carriers remain problematic, and that's putting it mildly.

My only really reallistically working carrier is named "Waikaito" and is positioned somewhere near New Zealand's North Island. It was made by an extremely talented and pioneering New Zealand's developer named "Rewetti", is extremely old and is programmed using the antique SCASM system. Could therefore even be specially made for FS2002.

It does not cater for AI aircraft either but uses animated aircraft/helicopters instead. I hope you can still find it somewhere.

I have added Rob Barendregt's catapult and cable trapping systems myself but you also need to add his tailhook lowering and catapult launch gauges to the panels of any of your flyable carrier based aircraft.

Regards and LONG LIVE FS2004 !!

Hans

 

 

Bernard,

I tried a backup version of this "Puerto Rico" carrier and also the newly downloaded one but their flight decks somehow remain "soft" ??

I've now given up trying to find the cause and have decided to remain with Mr. Rewetti's trusted Waikaito carrier.

Regards and thanks for your reactions.

Hans

Solution...Guaranteed hardness:

39 minutes ago, charliearon said:

Solution...Guaranteed hardness:

Thanks for this extremely helpful contribution. That's why we remain on AVSIM site!

Bernard 

@Hans

You got a PM.

Bernard

Charliearon,

Can you please advise me on how to feed Viagra to an aircraft carrier.

Thanks and greetings.

Hans

Bernard,

After much hair pulling I finally found out what the basic "soft deck" problem is with this otherwise very realistic looking CV65 (Enterprise) carrier.

Only the very narrow designated runway area which is positioned according to the active "AF2_CV65.bgl" file, is actually hard, which therefore means that initiating any flight outside that runway area, e.g. at any available parking spot, will cause your aircraft to immediately "fall" through the flight deck to the sea level immediately below it. Taxiing from any parking position to e.g. the catapult area for take off, is for the same reason not possible.

Therefore in my mind, a possible overall solution COULD therefore be a very large and wide "runway" covering and overlapping the total flight deck area but with a totally transparent texture, which sadly, the Afcad program doesn't offer.

All in all, a great pity for such a well made and extremely realistic looking carrier, unless of cause any of you experts out there has any other solution.

Regards

Hans

 

 

 

Runways do not "harden" the surface, there must be something else in your AFD file that does that - an apron area or taxiway perhaps.

Are you using AFCAD? That is dark ages stuff, and will actually destroy features added by more modern editors. Use ADE, and create a flatten polygon for the area of the carrier. 

John

During all my efforts in trying to harden this CVN65 carrier's flight deck, I took another good look at my other carrier's (Waikato) construction in order to find out why this carrier's flight deck has remained "hard" since it's installation about twenty years ago.

It has a single wide and very basic Afcad runway, which covers almost all of it's flight deck, without any parts of it sticking out outside the carrier's deck perimeter and is positioned only a few inches below it's visible deck surface. This Afcad runway is devoid of "start locations" and any other standard Afcad parts, only the runway's concrete texture is used because it isn't visible anyway and doesn't even have the real function of a runway but only a hardening function.

Not only that, but this Waikato carrier also has a number of added soft scenery Navy escort vessels around it, of which three have rectangular rear heli decks. These have my own created very short and wide Afcad runway textures in order to fully cover their rear decks and to make them hard for flyable Navy Helicopters. Works great but these Afcad runway textures automatically now need them to receive  a (fake) airport code and therefore to be seen by the game as being a real airport. However, an added advantage of this is that I can now "Go To" these Navy "airports" from the game's drop down menu.

The Afcad program may be old but it's definitely not dead and still does what it's supposed to do, even although such a very specific "hardening" function was most probably not something which the original author(s) had actually planned for it to be capable of.

I've tried "flattens" during all my testing procedures but these do not work in any way, at least not for hardening any flat surfaces.

I will now proceed to (test-)create more "hardening" runways on this CVN65 carrier to see if taxiing around on it's deck and parking along it's edges becomes possible.

Hans