Problems with Ark Royal

Patron7 · Post by **Patron7** » 22 Mar 2007, 01:06

I am using FD4 with Ark Royal, and notice that even when using the ultimate test to see if the wires work (push-back to the rear of the deck, lower the hook, go to full power and release the brakes - you'll trap if the wire system is working) less than half my aircraft will trap. But some DO !!

I also notice that the landing deck on the model is extremely uneven (notice how much the aircraft tires sink into and then rise up compared to the texture on the deck).

All my aircraft that refuse to trap have a great deal of bouncing going down the deck - the ones that don't bounce as much are the ones that DO trap.

ALL my aircraft will pass this trap test on either Abacus's Ronald Reagan, or on AlphaSim's Enterprise.

All my aircraft WILL catapult on Ark (as well as the other ships) - it's only traps on Ark where I experience the problem.

Is anyone else noticing what I am experiencing?

Any comment on my theory that the uneven deck surface is causing so much bounce that some aircraft hooks are no longer in the proper position?

I have looked at the [Tailhook] section in each aircraft's aircraft.cfg file - and can find no common reason why some trap on Ark, and some won't.

Any other theories etc. would be appreciated.

Regards to all,

Bill

Post by **DaveB** » 22 Mar 2007, 01:22

Hi Bill,

I'm not qualified to answer your query but can confirm that I've had similar happen with FD3 and Alpha's CVN-65.. even the carrier that comes with FD3 so it's certainly not restricted to the freeware Ark Royal. Why some aircraft will catch and others won't is something I rapidly lost interest in and never got to the bottom of.

I've managed to get aircraft down onto Ark IV (and stop!!) but haven't noticed the 'sinking' problem you mention :think:

ATB

DaveB :tab:

Motormouse · Post by **Motormouse** » 22 Mar 2007, 08:20

It 'may' be your tailhook, get Rob Barendregt's arrestor hook gauge,(d/l at Avsim) plonk that in your panel, then lower the hook onto the deck,
if the 'light' turns 'green' your hook is contacting the deck.

Usually if aircraft 'bounce' its' because the gear contact points aren't correct, and it may be that the gear contact points are set wrong.

Bob Chilico (?) has re-done several aircraft with corrected contact points,
you can find them at the usual places

ttfn

Pete

sketchy74 · Post by **sketchy74** » 22 Mar 2007, 10:07

Hi Patron,

Firstly thank you downloading the Ark.

Sorry you are experiencing problems trapping with FD4.

As for the "sinking below the textures" problem that is interesting, I dont know of any similiar complaints from when we built and sent her out to many people to test. The textures are mapped as in all models to the deck itself so I would imagine this may be down to an aircraft design issue.

You mentioned Abacus's Ronald Regan and the Alphasim Enterprise, both these releases are Payware.

The Ark Royal was year in the making for 3 people and released for free. I hope you can appreciate that we tried our hardest to deliver an acurate model to the community that we very much wanted ourselves but met as close as possible to the quality of Payware content, circumstances like this do arise, and you have to appreciate that it was impossible to foresee all eventualities.

I hope the wider community with more experience in this can help solve your problem.

Just to note the Ark development team used the 3Wire package to simulate Cats and Traps and experienced no problems with this.

I hope you can continue to enjoy her, she was great fun to develop.

Best Regards,

Sketchy

Patron7 · Post by **Patron7** » 22 Mar 2007, 17:02

Thanks for the responses guys.

Please don't think I don't appreciate all the effort that went into Ark. I was on the ship during her last Med cruise, and have always thought she was a great ship. I am therefore extremely grateful to have a FS Ark to land on.

Regarding the dipping below the texture: take your aircraft and slowly taxi (or better still "push-back") and look closely at the wheels. On mine the lower part of the wheels (that contact the deck) will notible sink lower and then rise up again (as you move along the deck). That tells me that the surface that the wheels are moving along is not flat.

I will check all the contact points - and get the gauge. Thanks for the tips!!

What would life be without a puzzle to solve?

SkippyBing · Post by **SkippyBing** » 25 Mar 2007, 14:37

As a thought, where abouts on the deck do the wheels sink? If it's near any of the spot numbers, the lifts or the 'R' on the roundown then what you're seeing is the decals for them which are a touch above the deck to avoid problems with z-buffering. The deck model itself is perfectly flat, what I'm not sure about is the afcad model because that wasn't my part of ship (that pun courtesy of the Royal Navy, I thank you).

Seaking · Post by **Seaking** » 25 Mar 2007, 21:40

Far as I know the afcads were spot on, to my knowledge of afcad ....afcads can only be flat, so you couldn't for instance "bend" an afcad up a sloping flightdeck like a ski jump.

I'll roll down the deck myself in a buccaneer and see what happens. As Sketchy stated we had not heard another issue same as this one.