FS2002 Scenery ....HMNZS WAIKATO Version 3.0 ( Her Majesties New Zealand Ship Waikato ) of the Royal New Zealand Navy ( RNZN ) - Nuclear Aircraft Carrier ( newly commissioned ) ( S.Reweti@massey.ac.nz ) Please read the entire contents of this text file thoroughly !!!! Version 3.0 Well there were a few bugs in Version 2.0 but I am hopeful that I have eradicated them all.I always welcome feedback so let me know if there is a problem with my scenery. Usually I wont answer your email if it is a genuine bug, however please be assured I note it and start fixing the problem.. however you will generally have to wait for the next version to come out for it to be rectified, otherwise it is too much work for me dealing with everyone individually.Some bugs are tricky for example a french simmer told me that the french version of fs2002 wont let you select shift F9 to arm the catapult ?? Instructions Unzip the zip file into your fs2002 addon scenery directory or wherever you put your scenery.make sure the "use folder names box" is ticked in winzip Make sure you copy the contents of the flights/myflts directory of waikato into your fs2002/flights/myflts directory Then go into your scenery library and activate waikato.... Some people had problems getting to my carrier in version 2.0 .. if so then in version 3.0 use the goto airport function and search for HMNZS Waikato and press ok . This will place you in the hangar of the carrier under the top deck .. I have placed an aircraft and tug and some crew down there just for realism.. have a look around. to get to the top deck from the hangar press the Y ( slew ) key then F3 ( to go up ) and then F1 to lower yourself onto the top deck.. dont forget to to press Y again to get out of slew Alternatively just select the flights from the fs2002 flights menu ...either catapult 1, catapult 2, catapult 3, catapult 4 or the other two deck flights that you have copied into your fs2002/flights/myflts folder ( Please note I am assuming at this point you have downloaded Arrestor Cables V2.2 from www.flightsim.com or www.avsim.com and have installed it as per Richard Hogens instructions ) Also dont forget to replace the arrestorcables.dat file in the arrestor cables directory with my modified one ( which includes HMNZS Waikato ) and is found in the utility files folder of my waikato scenery directory Anyway I would like to thank Richard Hogen who was extremely helpful to me in tidying up my aircraft carrier I have installed and configured his excellent pop up blast shields ( they are night lit also ) . They will only appear when your aircraft is at the following locations ( a few metres in front of the catapults ) S36 30.03, E174 55.15 S36 30.03, E174 55.13 S36 29.98, E174 55.16 S36 29.97, E174 55.16 ... please note they dont activate for my dynamic aircraft. Set your aircraft into slew mode and use spot view to get a good look at them.... Also I tidied up the navaids here are the new frequencies. The ILS only works on the magnetic heading of 153 not the reverse heading because the arrestor cables are only at one end. ILS 112.1 (landing deck heading is 153-4) .. had to be changed to new freq as the version 2.0 freq was same as nearby Auckland ( range 25 NM ) doh! VOR 108.1 ( range 50 NM ) NDB 232.0 ( range 80 nm) Also the flights in version 2.0 were totally stuffed. These new catapult flights will set you up at the catapults in the default cessna with the following setup... 1. engine on 2. throttle idle 3. Brakes PARKED ( important ) . otherwise you start moving forward and will fall off the end of the carrier 4. Slew is OFF All you have to do is then select your favorite carrier aircraft and resave the flight ( a good idea before you do is to adjust the weather and add some headwind ( 5-10 knots -the direction would be 333 degrees.. this will be saved in the flight ) . Then after selecting your own aircraft or own catapult flight follow these steps... 1.minimize fs2002 2.start Arrestor cables( a message in fs2002 should appear saying Arrestor cables enabled ) 3.select flaps down , press numlock and then the keypad 2 key to look behind you and see if the blast shield is up then press numlock again. 4. press Shift F9 5. a message should appear that says catapult armed ( if you get an error message such as "catapult cannot arm -refer to docs" IT MEANS YOU HAVE ACCIDENTALLY PLACED THE AIRCRAFT IN SLEW MODE - PRESS Y and get out of slew ) 6. Increase throttle to full power ( hold for at least 10 seconds ) .. the nose should drop and the aircraft should start inching forward .. then press the full stop key to release the brakes ...you should catapult off the carrier ... remember adjust flaps if you dive into the sea at the end of the carrier or better still increase the acceleration factor in the arrestor cables software Do a circuit .. follow the dynamic aircraft and then try and catch the arrestor cables .. or if that is too hard then adjust your aircraft.air file as per instructions below and give it superspoilers .. see below for more information.. Also you will note in my scenery directory a folder called hi-rez textures. These contain some of the main hull textures ( but they are about 256k therefore much higher resolution ) . In the waikato texture directory there are identical hull textures but only 66k in size ( really helps the framerate ). If you have a high spec PC and arent afraid of a frame rate hit ( and want the carrier to look real good! ) then you might want to copy over the 66k textures with these hi-rez textures of the same name... OTY ( over to you ! ) Version 2.0 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.avsim.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 flightsim.com and FSUiPC version 2.83 also available from flightsim.com 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: -- 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 F9 -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.flightsim.com" 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 flightsim.com ) 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?).