Information on A/G avionics

[+Bunyap 0]

I have been helping folks out with setting up aircraft lately so here are some notes on setting up the air to ground portion of the avionics. If you are familiar with modifying .ini files in the sim, there is nothing here you will not find familiar. The same format is used here as with everything else in the sim.

 

If you are not familiar with it, here is a chance to learn. The data seen here is very intuitive so if you want to know what something does, try it and see. There are a lot of possibilities.

 

TV/IR Display:

 

Aircraft equipped with radar:

 

If the aircraft is equipped with a radar screen nothing special is really required here. The display is set up to replace the radar screen when the appropriate weapon is selected.

 

Add this to the aircraft's xxxx_avionics.ini:

 

[TVDisplayData]

UseRadarTexture=TRUE

DisplayLimitLeft=8

DisplayLimitRight=119

DisplayLimitTop=6

DisplayLimitBottom=121

ApplyFilter=TRUE

FilterMaterial=DTVFilterMaterial

OverlayTexture=

 

[DTVFilterMaterial]

DepthBufferCheck=FALSE

DepthBufferWrite=FALSE

RenderedInOrder=FALSE

AlphaTestEnabled=FALSE

CullMode=NO_CULL

LightEnabled=FALSE

SpecularEnabled=FALSE

EmissiveEnabled=FALSE

FogEnabled=FALSE

AmbientColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000

DiffuseColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000

ZBufferOffset=0.000000

PriorityLevel=1

BlendOp=MODULATE

NumTextureStages=1

TextureStage[01].TextureName=GreenTVFilter.bmp

TextureStage[01].MipMap=FALSE

TextureStage[01].FilterEnabled=FALSE

TextureStage[01].StageColorOp=TEXTURE

TextureStage[01].StageAlphaOp=DIFFUSE

 

Aircraft not equipped with radar:

 

If the aircraft has no radar screen you can still add the display. The cockpit will, of course, need a screen of some type. The screen will need the following lines added to the xxxx_cockpit.ini:

 

[TVScreen]

Type=TV_SCOPE

NodeName=TV_image (or whatever it is on the model)

 

The same lines as above will need to be added to the xxxx_avionics.ini except use "FALSE" for the "UseRadarTexture? line like this:

 

UseRadarTexture=FALSE

 

Adding CCIP:

 

This requires changes to two files.

 

The CCIP function requires use of the Avionics70.dll. You assign this .dll using the xxxx.ini file for the aircraft.

 

AvionicsDLL=Avionics70.dll

 

The only catch is that the A/G radar will not function. If you still want the radar, use the Avionics60.dll. You can not have both.

 

Next, you add the CCIP information to the xxxx_avionics.ini file. The CCIP is tied into the HUD so you must first enable the HUD feature. To do this, add the following lines to the xxxx_avionics.ini:

 

[HUD]

HUDColor=0.0,1.0,0.0,0.7

BoresightOffset=0.0,0.0

ViewportTopLeft=-0.125,-0.080

ViewportBottomRight=0.125,0.230

GunBoresightAngle=-2

RocketBoresightAngle=-5

 

[HUDFont]

TextFontName=Arial

TextSize=11

TextBold=TRUE

 

There are three HUD modes available, Nav, A/G, and A/A. You select the symbology for each by adding the following lines:

 

[HUDModeNav]

Symbol[01]=HUD_FlightPath

Symbol[02]=HUD_AttitudeBars

Symbol[03]=HUD_HeadingScale

Symbol[04]=HUD_AirspeedText

Symbol[05]=HUD_AltitudeText

Symbol[06]=HUD_PitchText

Symbol[07]=HUD_RadarAltText

Symbol[08]=HUD_LaserTarget

 

[HUDModeAG]

Symbol[01]=HUD_FlightPath

Symbol[02]=HUD_AttitudeBars

Symbol[03]=HUD_HeadingScale

Symbol[04]=HUD_AirspeedText

Symbol[05]=HUD_AltitudeText

Symbol[06]=HUD_PitchText

Symbol[07]=HUD_RadarAltText

Symbol[08]=HUD_LaserTarget

Symbol[09]=HUD_CCIP

Symbol[10]=HUD_Guncross

Symbol[11]=HUD_MavSeeker

 

[HUDModeAA]

Symbol[01]=HUD_FlightPath

Symbol[02]=HUD_AttitudeBars

Symbol[03]=HUD_HeadingScale

Symbol[04]=HUD_AirspeedText

Symbol[05]=HUD_AltitudeText

Symbol[06]=HUD_PitchText

Symbol[07]=HUD_RadarAltText

Symbol[08]=HUD_LCOS

Symbol[09]=HUD_Guncross

Symbol[10]=HUD_SRMSeeker

 

You will want the CCIP to be assosciated with the A/G mode so make sure the "CCIP" entry is in that section as seen above.

 

Each of these symbols must be set up with information on the .tga file used, size, position, format, etc. This information is also placed in the xxx_avionics.ini as seen here:

 

[HUD_FlightPath]

SymbolType=FLIGHTPATH_MARKER

ImageFilename=cockpit\flightpath.tga

ImageSize=0.025

 

[HUD_AttitudeBars]

SymbolType=ATTITUDE_BARS

ImageFilename=cockpit\attitude_bars%d.tga

ImagePosition=0.0,0.0

ImageSize=0.20

StepInterval=5

StepHeight=0.25

 

[HUD_HeadingScale]

SymbolType=HEADING_SCALE

ImageFilename=cockpit\hdg_scale_caret.tga

ImagePosition=0.0,0.204

ImageSize=0.0125

ScaleImageFilename=cockpit\heading_scale.tga

ScaleImagePosition=0.0,0.190

ScaleImageSize=0.08

Scale=20.0

TextPosition=0.0,-0.118

HorizontalAlignment=CENTER

VerticalAlignment=CENTER

ScaleTextInterval=10

ScaleTextUnit=10

ScaleTextPosition=0.0,0.178

ScaleTextFormat=%02.0f

DisplayUnit=DEG

 

[HUD_AirspeedText]

SymbolType=AIRSPEED_TEXT

TextPosition=-0.090,0.048

HorizontalAlignment=RIGHT

VerticalAlignment=CENTER

TextFormat=%.0f

DisplayUnit=KNOTS

 

[HUD_AltitudeText]

SymbolType=ALTITUDE_TEXT

TextPosition=0.105,0.048

HorizontalAlignment=RIGHT

VerticalAlignment=CENTER

TextFormat=%.0f

DisplayUnit=FEET

 

[HUD_RadarAltText]

SymbolType=RADAR_ALT_TEXT

TextPosition=0.105,0.158

HorizontalAlignment=RIGHT

VerticalAlignment=CENTER

TextFormat=%.0f R

DisplayUnit=FEET

MaxValue=1500

 

[HUD_PitchText]

SymbolType=FLIGHT_PATH_TEXT

TextPosition=0.105,0.064

HorizontalAlignment=RIGHT

VerticalAlignment=CENTER

TextFormat=%.0f

DisplayUnit=DEG

 

[HUD_CCIP]

SymbolType=CCIP

LaserRanging=TRUE

FallLineImage=cockpit\FallLine.tga

ImageSize=0.100

 

[HUD_LCOS]

SymbolType=LCOS

 

[HUD_Guncross]

SymbolType=IMAGE

ImageFilename=cockpit\guncross.tga

ImageSize=0.025

 

[HUD_LaserTarget]

SymbolType=TD_LASER

ImageFilename=cockpit\laser_target.tga

ImageSize=0.025

 

[HUD_MavSeeker]

SymbolType=TD_EO

ImageFilename=cockpit\mav_seeker.tga

ImageSize=0.050

 

[HUD_SRMSeeker]

SymbolType=TD_HEAT

ImageFilename=cockpit\srm_seeker.tga

ImageSize=0.050

 

Any .tga files called for in this section will, of course, need to be built and placed in the aircraft's cockpit folder.

 

As you can see, there are endless possibilities for the look of the avionics. The images and format seen here is not what needs to be used every time. It is only an example.

 

The gunsight:

 

The last thing to worry about when setting up the A/G avionics is the gunsight. This is very similar to the way it used to be set up except a few more options are added.

 

The information is located in the xxxx_cockpit.ini and looks like this:

 

[GunsightFront]

HasGunsight=TRUE

GunsightMilSize=50

GunsightName=sight.tga

AGGunsightName=AGsight.tga

LeadComputing=TRUE

MinLeadRange=182.88

MaxLeadRange=1828.8

DefaultLeadRange=300

MaxDepression=250

DefaultDepression=50

 

We can now set two different sights, one for A/A and one for A/G. The A/G sight will be used whenever the A/G mode is selected and will be the one displayed when CCIP is used. The .tga files go into the cockpit folder. If the pipper is smaller or larger than you want, adjust the "GunSightMilSize=" to whatever setting you would like.

 

We can also set default values for the LCOS function used for A/A gunnery. I'm assuming the values are in meters.