Question regarding ODS Panavia Tornado

[ChrisBV 30]

Ok, it's like 2 in the morning so, to cut a long story short... I'm trying to mod a weapon station on AD/Sundonwer/AmokFloo/USAFMTL/Bunyap's (did I miss anyone?) Tornado, specifically the Left and Right CenterlineStations so to position laser-guided bombs more accurately as in RL:

 

Basically what I want to do is for LGBs to be loaded in the forward hook-up points (there are three: forward, middle and aft; currently laser-guided bombs are set to be attached to the middle station, like fuel tanks and ALARMs; I'd like to correct this moving them forward one station) of each shoulder pylon. I add "LGB" to the aforementioned stations, deleting them from the other hardpoints but when I go to the sim, although the weapons seem to be correctly positioned, the shoulder pylons where the bombs are supposedly attached to are missing:

 

Any ideas on how to correct this?

[Wrench 9,429]

The pylon or the rack missing??? If it's the rack (i disremember the name) you have to add the rack type/name what ever it's called, to the loadout ini, like the Phantom (cause it's the easiet example to find this late at night ) :

 

Loadout[01].WeaponType=CBU-24B

Loadout[01].Quantity=6

Loadout[01].RackType=MER <--specified rack type

 

 

like I said, I disremember it's name...but looking at the ODS Toro came up with this: (yeah, you made me look for it!)

 

Loadout[06].WeaponType=Mk18_1000_LD

Loadout[06].Quantity=2

Loadout[06].RackType=TSC <---

 

haven't played it in a while, so ...hopefully this'll help

 

 

wrench

kevin stein

[ChrisBV 30]

Hey Wrench, thanks for the reply... but it turned out to be a simple error in the stations' ModelNodeName entries. It's fixed now:

 

Funny thing though... the pylon seemed to vanish only when laser-guided bombs were loaded. No problems with iron bombs or double racks

[+JSF_Aggie 1,291]

Chris,

 

Can you post your INI change? Thanks

[ChrisBV 30]

Yes, of course!

 

[LeftCenterlineStation]
SystemType=WEAPON_STATION
StationID=6
StationGroupID=5
StationType=EXTERNAL
AttachmentPosition=-0.60,1.000,-1.278
AttachmentAngles=0.0,-3.3,0.0
LoadLimit=2050
AllowedWeaponClass=LGB,BOMB,2BR,LP
AttachmentType=UK
ModelNodeName=pylon_center_left
PylonMass=31.75
PylonDragArea=0.02
LaunchRailNodeName=
MinExtentPosition=
MaxExtentPosition=
FuelTankName=
LengthLimit=4.0

[RightCenterlineStation]
SystemType=WEAPON_STATION
StationID=7
StationGroupID=5
StationType=EXTERNAL
AttachmentPosition=0.60,1.000,-1.278
AttachmentAngles=0.0,-3.3,0.0
LoadLimit=2050
AllowedWeaponClass=LGB,BOMB,2BR
AttachmentType=UK
ModelNodeName=pylon_center_right
PylonMass=31.75
PylonDragArea=0.02
LaunchRailNodeName=
MinExtentPosition=
MaxExtentPosition=
FuelTankName=
LengthLimit=4.0

[LeftCenterlineStationRear]
SystemType=WEAPON_STATION
StationID=8
StationGroupID=5
StationType=EXTERNAL
AttachmentPosition=-0.60,-1.750,-1.150
AttachmentAngles=0.0,-3.3,0.0
LoadLimit=2050
AllowedWeaponClass=BOMB,2BR
AttachmentType=UK
ModelNodeName=pylon_center_left
PylonMass=31.75
PylonDragArea=0.02
LaunchRailNodeName=
MinExtentPosition=
MaxExtentPosition=
FuelTankName=
LengthLimit=4.0

[RightCenterlineStationRear]
SystemType=WEAPON_STATION
StationID=9
StationGroupID=5
StationType=EXTERNAL
AttachmentPosition=0.60,-1.750,-1.150
AttachmentAngles=0.0,-3.3,0.0
LoadLimit=2050
AllowedWeaponClass=BOMB,2BR
AttachmentType=UK
ModelNodeName=pylon_center_right
PylonMass=31.75
PylonDragArea=0.02
LaunchRailNodeName=
MinExtentPosition=
MaxExtentPosition=
FuelTankName=
LengthLimit=4.0

[LeftCenterlineStationMid]
SystemType=WEAPON_STATION
StationID=10
StationGroupID=5
StationType=EXTERNAL
AttachmentPosition=-0.60,-1.000,-1.160
AttachmentAngles=0.0,-3.3,0.0
LoadLimit=2050
AllowedWeaponClass=FT,ARM,ASM
AttachmentType=UK
ModelNodeName=pylon_center_left
PylonMass=31.75
PylonDragArea=0.02
LaunchRailNodeName=
MinExtentPosition=
MaxExtentPosition=
FuelTankName=Tank1500_Tornado

[RightCenterlineStationMid]
SystemType=WEAPON_STATION
StationID=11
StationGroupID=5
StationType=EXTERNAL
AttachmentPosition=0.60,-1.000,-1.160
AttachmentAngles=0.0,-3.3,0.0
LoadLimit=2050
AllowedWeaponClass=FT,ARM,ASM
AttachmentType=UK
ModelNodeName=pylon_center_right
PylonMass=31.75
PylonDragArea=0.02
LaunchRailNodeName=
MinExtentPosition=
MaxExtentPosition=
FuelTankName=Tank1500_Tornado

 

I removed LGB from Left/RightCenterlineStations, added them to Left/RightCenterlineStations and fixed the ModelNodeName entry on both of them.

 

PS: backup your original Tornado_GR_DATA.ini, just in case

 

PS2: do you know how to make individual stations appear in the Loadout screen? I'd like to load a targeting pod in the left one and two LGBs in the centre and right ones but in the loadout screen the option is set to select ordnance on both left and right hardpoints...

[Wrench 9,429]

If there's enough groups left (max of 6), split the hardpoint by creating (ie: copy/paste) another one with the same locations and whatnot, different ID number and group id number, and adding the SystemName= for whatever component (Fuelsege, etc), and adjusting the loadout ini to match.

 

I do it allllll the time!!

 

wrench

kevin stein

[ChrisBV 30]

Only 6 groups are allowed? Hmmmm... seems I ran out of groups, then; the 6 fuselage stations (except the centre one which is independent) are grouped (groups are: (1) underwing jamming pod (2) underwing countermeasures pod (3) 2 underwing drop tanks & weapons (4) 2 Sidewinder stations (5) 6 fuselage and (6) 1 centre fuselage). Too bad, I would have loved an assymetrical configuration such as this one:

 

 

But in the light of the events, I think I'm going to have to settle for something like this:

[+malibu43 142]

You can get that assymetric loadout by specifying it in the loadout.ini and leaving the weapons groups alone.

 

When the game loads a loadout using the loadout.ini file, it ignores weapon station groupings. Basically, you won't be able to manually load out the plane like that in game, but it can be a default loadout if you want it to.

[ChrisBV 30]

You can get that assymetric loadout by specifying it in the loadout.ini and leaving the weapons groups alone.

 

Fantastic, I'll try that sometime later and report for results. Thanks!

[+malibu43 142]

Fantastic, I'll try that sometime later and report for results. Thanks!

 

I should add that that assumes the laser pod type is allowed on that weapon station. I minor edit to the data.ini may be necessary, but no group changes.

[ChrisBV 30]

Well, guess what... it worked!

 

 

Thanks malibu. Now all I need is a rear cockpit to deploy those beauties from...

[Svetlin 478]

Another way round the 6 group limit is to choose 1 group, assign group number 7 to it, thus making it a default load.

Then all you need to do is just specify the weapons for that group in the loadout for the type of mission they are applicable to.

You will not be able to select these weapons manually, but the game will load these automatically as specified in the loadout.ini

This way you get 1 free group to assing to another weapon station and load it manually. I think this is great trick for getting assymetrical loadouts.

 

I'd say, a good choice for a Tornado would be to number the wing outer stations group#7 and group#8 (by default they are #1 and #2), thus you will have 2 free groups to work with. You can place the BOZ107 and Skyshadow pods as default weaponry for each type of mission in the loadout.ini. So the game will automatically load these pods in every type of mission. If these are not used for some type of mission, just remove the entries from the loadout.ini for that type of mission.

 

I am very fond of using this trick and in fact on a Su-22M-4, I have entered as many as 11 station group numbers, 6 manually loadable and 5 only automatically loadable.

 

Hope that helps.

[ChrisBV 30]

I had thought about keeping the BOZ107 and Sky Shadow pods as default loadouts for all missions but I think I'd rather go for a modified "strike" loadout instead. Anyway, you can always change that to the stock loadout (I think it's 8 1000lb iron bombs in double racks) if you like in the loadout screen or revert to the new default one I'll be modifying (2 LGBs and targeting pod for precision strikes).

 

I also take advantage of the ocasion to ask if anyone's interested in making a backseat cockpit for the GR/IDS Tornado. AmokFloo did a very cool and smart thing with his Mirage 2000D so you can have the two cockpits: simply select "caged mode" for your gunsight display mode and, boom! There you go, you're in the back seat!

 

 

 

I think a rear cockpit would be very cool in order to deploy PGMs properly and so forth.

[ChrisBV 30]

Ok, one last question (I promise!): do you know how to turn the smoke effects from the engines OFF, after the aircraft has touched down?

 

I've noticed the effects kick in only after the aircraft has reached a certain airspeed on its takeoff roll but I'd like them to be turned off once the aircraft is back on the ground again. Seriously, because this looks like some sort of "Pig Pen effect" and I really, really don't like it

[bwild 5]

Only way I know of is shutting down the engines with Ctrl+I.