FS2002 Scenery ....HMNZS WAIKATO Version 2.0 ( Her Majesties New Zealand Ship Waikato ) of the Royal New Zealand Navy ( RNZN ) - Nuclear Aircraft Carrier ( newly commissioned )
Intro
Well I was extremely pleased with the positive response that my aircraft carrier Version 1.0 received ( with almost 3000 downloads from avsim and flightsim combined ). Also i was more than flattered with the Bear! Award it received for March 2002 from www.SurClaro.com. However it would be remiss of me to not acknowledge Javier Fernandez (jafergon@hotmail.com) who produced the FSDS aircraft carrier of which my carrier was based on. His model is quite excellent and I was able to modify the night textures and other features without much difficulty. Also I would like to acknowledge Richard Hogen and his excellent arrestor cables utility which provides the carrier with that inter activity that flight simmers enjoy.
Therefore I feel the major credit for this Bear award should go to these fine authors.
Version 2.0 fixes a few bugs namely a hole in a corner of the hardened runway surface which allowed a small aircraft to slip through and crash into the sea ( definitely off putting ). Also tidied up some night textures and reduced the size of the texture directory by a couple of MB to assist the framerate
However the big change to this scenery is the addition of some dynamic scenery to give the carrier some life.
I have added three F-18's in the circuit and a Sea King doing some maneuvers around the carrier and finally after the third F-18 has completed its circuit there is a low level simulated attack on the carrier by four A4-K Skyhawks.. this adds a little excitement to the scenery
PLEASE NOTE that to see the dynamic scenery you have to go to the fs2002 menu click on Options- Settings-Display and set Dynamic Scenery slider to maximum...ie extremely dense and then click on the dynamic scenery box..
If you DO NOT see the dynamic scenery then you might have to copy the aircraft carrier scenery textures into the main Fs2002/texture directory. However this is only as a last resort i have extensively tested the dynamic scenery and textures and it should work fine ...
Let me know about framerate issues as i have tried very hard to ensure that the dynamic scenery does not impinge too much on framerate. I have reduced texture size , used only simple models for dynamic scenery ...also I have used model libraries so that static and dynamic scenery contains carbon copies of aircraft rather than individual copies of aircraft which can really impact negatively on frame rate...
If you have a high spec machine I have included some hi-res textures which you might want to use instead of the standard ones. Just copy over the standard textures with the same name ... again only do this if you have a grunty machine as these textures are 250k each rather than the standard 66k
History
The original HMNZS Waikato was a frigate in the RNZN which gave sterling service for 35 years and then was retired, sunk at Tutukaka in Nov, 2000 near where HMNZS Tui was sunk in 1999 and is now a world renown tourist attraction ( artificial reef - sunken ship ) for recreational divers...it was only fitting that this brand new nuclear aircraft carrier will now carry the name and proud heritage of the original ship into the 21st century ..
The HMNZS Canterbury our last leander class frigate is going to be retired and sunk in 2005 possibly near christchurch.
Now you might be forgiven in thinking that the New Zealand Navy has a lot of clapped out frigates which are only good for artificial reefs.
Also its last major purchase the HMNZS Charles Upham ( a naval troop carrier ? ) had a chequered history ....
The previous government bought the former cargo vessel in 1994 and spent another seven million dollars on an initial upgrade. The ship was never used as a troop ship because of stability problems. "First (during) sea trials it broke down, it rolled alarmingly... it was going to take at least $40 million to bring it up to scratch and no guarantee at that point," Defence Minister Mark Burton says. The test run also made the crew seasick. Burton says the ship was always a lemon. The vessel, which was bought for $14 million, has been sold for $8.6 million to Spanish shipping company Contenemar SA, which had been leasing it to transport citrus fruit for the past three years.
However we do have a couple of new ANZAC german made frigates ( Te Kaha & Te Mana ) and some new seasprite helicopters, however one is always in port for repairs/ refit or shore leave so that leaves the NZ Navy at any point in time with only one operational frigate on the high seas ...( a frightening show of force )
Lets compare that with the Indonesian navy
Troops - 40,000 (including 1,000 Naval Air and 13,000 Marines)
2 SSK submarines , 17 frigates , 36 patrol and coastal combatant ships, 12 mine countermeasure ships
26 amphibious warfare ships, 18 armed helicopters for Naval Air
....Hmm I think they might kick our a__...............
To top it off the Govt squashed the F-16 purchase, disbanded the Air force's combat role , made all the fighter pilots and technicians redundant and are trying to sell the clapped out skyhawks and relatively new Macchi's to any banana republic that will buy them ....... I recently heard the Phillipines may buy them as spare parts..
Meanwhile the $9 million Macchi jet simulator sits at Ohakea Air force base gathering dust ... any offers !!!
Obviously this new nuclear powered aircraft carrier ( which has been rented from the United States..the deal was negotiated through Hertz rentals... we pay $10,000 a day -unlimited kilometres ) is a huge step back in the right direction....
NOTE: It is important that you read all of this readme.txtfile to ensure you install this scenery correctly and get the maximum benefit from it !!! I get many emails from people who have had problems with installation of my scenery only to discover !! they DIDNT READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!!
Nevertheless if you do find a genuine bug or want to suggest an improvement dont hesitate to contact me ( S.Reweti@massey.ac.nz )
This scenery ONLY WORKS with fs2002.... and works BEST with the default microsoft NZ scenery , the NZ 150 mesh, the new NZ landclass, and the Auckland scenery developed by Dean Baunton activated .. These sceneries are available from the following site :
http://www.massey.ac.nz/~avweb/papers/fltsimdesign/
However it can work without any of these sceneries activated ..
.
Also it needs ArrCabs v2.2 ( Arrestor Cables Utility by Richard Hogen ) available from SurClaro and FSUiPC version 2.83 also available from SurClaro IF you want to use the arrestor cables or use the catapult. If you dont!! then use an aircraft with superspoilers to stop in a hurry... ( read below about modifying an aircraft)
The aircraft carrier in this scenery is situated in the Hauraki Gulf near Auckland and is based at the Naval Base at Devonport in Auckland , the aircraft and aircrew are seconded from the Royal New Zealand Air Force Base at Whenuapai, West Auckland
The Aircraft carrier has a full complement of F/A 18A's, Grumman E-2 Hawkeye AWAC aircraft and Sea King Helicopters and has a crew of 5000..
Refer to Navy document for current disposition of the current battle order of the RNZN
and HTML document for history of HMNZS Waikato
FRAME RATE :
Please note the scenery is scaled so if your frame rate is taking a hit then reduce the scenery complexity to normal or sparse.
I have used an f14 model bgl for the static aircraft to help in lowering the framerate.....
This Nimitz class aircraft carrier was built to complement
ArrestorCables, the freeware utility that provides seamless cable
trap and catapult capability by Richard Hogen . I was very pleased to find that he provided a FSDesign model on the net for general use. I have used this model to construct the newly commissioned HMNZS Waikato-- the first kiwi nuclear powered aircraft carrier.....
FEATURES
========
-- landable flight deck, elevators and hangar deck
-- Arrestor Cables .dat file for working trap and cat
-- detailed model, with mules, crane, crew on deck, mast,
radar tower, etc.
-- rotating radar dish
-- Hornets, Hawkeye and Sea king on deck
-- nav aids: ILS 111.1 (landing deck heading is 154)
VOR 108.0
NDB 222
-- refueling zone (see fuel pump)- this works fine and has night lights
--- helipads ( night lights )
-- night lighting
--
I have incorporated the excellent Arrestor Cables V2.2 program into my NZ aircraft carrier scenery this program needs to be downloaded from
http://www.speakeasy.org/~rhogen/arrestorcables.htm
It needs to be installed in its own directory and please read the documentation to fully understand its operation and how it interacts with the carrier
The catapults work fine ( please refer to Arrcab docs ). However remember the EXACT catapult sequence is important.....
Run flight simulator 2002
Click on Arrestor Cables.exe ( activate it then minimize it ) then go back to flight sim 2002
Select Carrier01 flight which puts you on the middle of the carrier in slew mode
Click on World and then Scenery Library and then press enter. This ensures that the flatten file activates underneath the aircraft carrier ( see explanation below about problems with Area 16 commands in fs2002 )
then
Select Flight......
Catapult 1 or catapult 2 or catapult 3
then after it loads the aircraft will jump forward slightly....
1. Then make sure the throttle is closed ( the brakes will already be parked )
2. Then activate AARCAB catapult by pressing SHIFT 9 -check that sign comes up saying catapult activated
3. Then slowly increase the throttle - wait 15 seconds for it to spool up... the nose should dip down slightly
4. Then press F7 to ensure flaps are fully up
5. Then press fullstop key or brake button on joystick to release brakes
6. You should catapult off at about 140 knots ... raise nose slightly and you should be away....
7. If you have any problems like falling into the ocean .. then lower some flap .. wait a bit longer for full throttle.. or goto arrestor cables menu and increase acceleration factor
A good aircraft to use is the
"FS2002 Aircraft Grumman F-14A Tomcat VF-202 "Superheats"
by Paolo Trabucco p.trabucco@al.nettuno.it
Aircraft, model, panel by Dino Cattaneo
Available from www.SurClaro"
I would like to suggest you download this excellent aircraft to use with my aircraft carrier. I have enclosed a modified air file ( with superspoilers) so just replace the original as I didnt have the patience to keep trying to hook the arrestor cables. If you do catch them.... all well and good....if you dont catch it ....then just use the superspoilers ( use backslash key ) ....they will stop your aircraft in its tracks.
You can use the program AirED ( available at SurClaro ) to modify any air file of any carrier aircraft to include superspoilers....just search for the entry Spoiler Drag and increase the value to somewhere between 30 000 to 40 000 then save the modified air file.
As I said the catapults work fine but I tried to hook the arrestor cables on many attempts but never had much luck .. if somebody could have a look at the arrestor cables.dat file they might be able to tweak the values to make it work better for my carrier .. let me know if you have any success.....
Instructions for installation
just unzip the files to your fs2002/aircraft directory. make sure pkunzip has the check box use folder names ticked. activate the scenery directory aircraft carriers or use the directory Arrcabs if you have other aircraft carriers installed
copy the flights from the /flights/myflts subdirectory to the myflts subdirectory in fs2002
Download Arrestorcables version 2.2 and install ( optional )
Download FSUIPC 2.83 and place in fs2002/modules folder ( optional )
Download "FS2002 Aircraft Grumman F-14A Tomcat VF-202 "Superheats"
by Paolo Trabucco p.trabucco@al.nettuno.it and install
Replace air file with my modified superspoiler one
Start flying ...
KNOWN ISSUES
============
I used Area 16 commands to harden my helipads in my Maui Oil rigs scenery and they seemed to be ok and i used them initially to harden my runway on the aircraft carrier. However there was obviously a problem with this as highlighted by other scenery developers ( read information below ) ... so i switched to invisible hardened runways BUT there is a catch....
There's something about FS2002 and these add-on runways that
requires the user to manually refresh the scenery library
if you fly far enough away and then return to the carrier.
You should do this: when returning to the carrier, as soon as you
pick up the VOR signal on 108.0 press ALT-W-I, UNCHECK AND
THEN RE-CHECK any scenery, then hit OK. That should refresh the
scenery and "wake up" the landable surfaces.
Add a reminder to your approach checklist.
If you dont do this the carrier looks like it is sitting on a sea blue hill which looks ridiculous. Its because the flatten file is not activated and the scenery tries to suck the sea up to the level of the hardened runway which in this case is at 66 feet ..
A more detailed explanation of this phenomena is explained below :
Known Elevated Helipad/hardened elevated runway Issues in FS2002:by J Morgan
In FS2000 and Prior, elevated helipads could be reliably made and used
with the commonly known SCASM Area16 syntax in routines as published by J.
McNulty and D. Barnes (Re: Helopad.api). FS2002, however, seems to have a
"refresh cycle" or something of that nature that periodically "dumps" the
Area16 elevated surfaces. Further confusing is the fact that the period
of this "dump" cycle seems to be random. Hopefully, if and when we get
a FS2002 Scenery SDK you C++ guys can enlighten us as to the reason for
this damnedable feature. Or, if there are any "sympathetic" MS scenery
engineers reading this, maybe you could help explain these "new
natures" and clue us how to design around it.
This FS2002 issue has forced the use of elevated invisible (small of course)
runways for use as helipads, which technique is used here. This seems to
work good, however, it requires a small (or any size appropriate to your
scenery project), FLATTEN AREA be located directly under the elevated hard
surface. If the flatten area is not placed under the elevated hard
surface, the elevated invisible runway literally "Sucks" the ground
terrain up to it's own altitude. On tall buildings, this is impressive
(Not).
Another "Quirk" to be dealt with: When originating a flight from the
scenery area and then flying approx 0.6 to 1.0 degrees away from the
area and then returning, the flatten areas will sometimes become
inactive, resulting in the above described condition where the ground
surface level terrain has been sucked-up to altitude of the elevated
helipad.
A quick fix for this is to simply select the Scenery Library
and click on and press the key.
If you have properly activated the scenery in the Scenery Library as
directed above, this refreshes the flatten areas back to their proper
ground level altitudes and brings everything back into place.
As mentioned above, this only occurs in FS2002 (and maybe CFS2?).
