AICarriers In-Flight Refuelling

[shmbry]

As there is an absence of In-flight refueling in FSX I've often wondered if it would be possible to use the excellent AICarriers program.

After all the easiest way to do it would be to follow an aircraft travelling at a constant speed in a straight line.

So I thought I'd give it a try, here are some of the results;











To achieve this I've done the following;

Add an entry to the aicarriers.cfg file

[formation.9]
title=Scimitar
unit.0=Scimitar, 0, 0

Create a folder named 'Scimitar' in the Boats section of SimObjects.

This folder contains the sim.cfg file containing the following entry;

[fltsim.0]
title=Scimitar
model=
texture=

[General]
category=Boats

[contact_points]
static_pitch=0.0 //degrees, pitch when at rest on the ground (+=Up, -=Dn)
static_cg_height=20.0 //feet, altitude of CG when at rest on the ground

[DesignSpecs]
max_speed_mph = 350
acceleration_constants = 0.5, 0.4 //Time constant (effects responsiveness), and max acceleration (Gs)
deceleration_constants = 2.0, 0.5 //Time constant (effects responsiveness), and max acceleration (Gs)
SternPosition = 42

[Effects]


( I removed the wake effect )


Also in the folder are the model and texture folders

The model folder contains the model.cfg file which contains the following entry;

[models]
normal=ALPHA_Scimitar_tanks
//interior=ALPHA_Scimitar_interior//

The model folder also contains the ALPHA_Scimitar_tanks.MDL model

( This pattern can be followed with any aircraft )

The texture folder contains ALL the textures associated with the model including any shared and bump textures.

The texture.cfg file was unaltered.

Any alterations to the aicarriers.cfg file will only take effect on re-starting FSX.

Any alterations to the sim.cfg file will take effect on deleting and re-loading the item in the aicarriers menu.

All the screenshots where taken using 'user position' in the aicarriers menu which works on land and at sea. The Scimitar bobs up and down a little when over water.



What I have not been able to do is get the aircraft to move ! But I'm working on it !

Any ideas very welcome

All I need then is an tanker, and it need not be an AI aircraft as there is no drop in frame rates ! YET !!

All the above was done in FSX SP2 acceleration with DX10 enabled.

[spatialpro]

First of all a very warm welcome to CBFSim shmbry!

This is a very interesting development. Keep up the good work!

Great shots too. Its always good to see the classic Scimitar. What Environment addon are you using? Is it REX? It looks great and I'm trying to get a similar appearance... what is your setup?

cheers

Andy

[TSR2]

Hello and Welcome!

Was someone not doing work ages ago with a tanker where by that if you got within an area near the hose it fueled you up? I may have been reading about it on a dev forum somewhere, but it was at least 3 years ago.

[SkippyBing]

I'm fairly sure there's a payware package (RAZBAM A-6?) that has AAR in a mission. It should also be possible to add the functionality through a SimConnect plug-in, i.e fly within a certain area behind another aircraft and your fuel level goes up. Not sure how much work it'd take as I'm something of a neophyte when it comes to SimConnect programming...

[shmbry]

My set-up is;

FSX SP2 Acceleration with DX10 enabled. I do have REX 2.0 ( After a struggle ) but it wasn't running at he time of the screenshots ( Using real time weather which produced very low cloud )

I have picked up on a couple of threads regarding aicarriers and how people have introduced land vehicles. I also know it can be used to place The FLOLS trailer;

http://www.simplanes.net/index.php?opti ... nfo&id=155

However the Scimitar still refuses to move, I have also found that Ark Royal and possibly other ship come to a grinding halt on reaching land ( despite Ark Royal doing 150mph at 500 feet ! )

I'm now wondering if it's something to do with how the model is compiled ie as an aircraft or scenery object. It may be how aicarriers is written. I did try to contact Lamont Clark who wrote it but without success.
I've tried numerous changes to the .cfg files and even tried inserting parts of the aircraft .cfg file into the Scimitar 'Boats' sim.cfg file, but that had no effect. The only major change I have noticed is that if you put the Scimitar into the 'Hard Deck' .cfg file of aicarriers it appears with the wings folded, hook and gear down and canopy open.

I'm sure there is good possibility of this working and the first step is to get an aircraft moving over land and water. I think a refueling pod shouldn't be too difficult, I've seen the weapon package for FSX which adds objects to a model that has already been compiled, therefore I assume it would be possible to add a pod by adjusting it's position in a .cfg file to suit a particular aircraft. If the pod has an animated drogue with an attachment point then that attachment point my be able to support a re-fueling trigger.

It's all very hypothetical at this point, but it's a start.

[TSR2]

I don't think it would work quite like that, but I'm not sure. i was thinking (If we take the curren VC10 as an example and pretend it was FSX native) When the hose is out, create a hidden object the coresponds roughly where the drogue doesn't actually have any functionality, but the area where it ends up does? Rick or DG would probably have a good idea if its technically feasible.

[shmbry]

Another interesting thing I have found.

If I choose an aircraft other than the Scimitar for my flight the Scimitar-Boat appears with the control surfaces fully deflected. This is typical of the sim not picking up the animations. That is usually a result of the compile stage of model creation failing ( As I have found many times with my Bristol Freighter model )

However if I choose the flyable Scimitar then the Scimitar-Boat appears as normal. This means that FSX is driving the animation of the Scimitar-Boat from the Scimitar aircraft, at least to put them in the neutral position.

Unfortunately moving the aircraft does not move the boat ! But it does prove an interest line of communication exists, and despite what I thought might happen initially, you can have the same model loaded twice at once.

[shmbry]

I was thinking that the drogue and not the entire hose would have an attachment point. Then if a matching receiver point could be added to the aircraft .cfg file in the same way as the tail hook point, then you would have to keep them within a certain distance for fuel to flow ?

[TSR2]

I was thinking that the drogue and not the entire hose would have an attachment point. Then if a matching receiver point could be added to the aircraft .cfg file in the same way as the tail hook point, then you would have to keep them within a certain distance for fuel to flow ?

i think we're talking cross purposes. I don't think it will be possible to get something as acurate as you suggest. To my knowledge the only way this could be done is if the recieving aircraft entered an invisable fuel box behind the tanker. I don't think that a point on the probe could be tied to a point on the drogue to make fuel flow... a bridge too far for FSX.

[shmbry]

Having selected a different aircraft in the same session the Scimitar-Boat animations remain in place, very confusing !



A few more screenshots for good measure, this time with REX running. It's raining at Yeovilton.







Ground textures are Horizon GenX 2 VFR.

My set-up ( I thought afterwards you probably mean hardware ) is;

2 x AMD Opteron 2218 dual core

ASUS KFN32-D SLI server motherboard

2 x ASUS 8800 GTX in SLI mode

2 x ASUS 1818 DVD/CD drives

AKASA Eclipse 62 case

AKASA 21 in 1 card reader and fan controller

AKASA fans

ASUS VW222U 22" Monitor

1.12 TB storage SAS and SATA raid ( Seagate and WD )

Enermax Galaxy 1000EWL PSU

Enermax Aurora keyboard

Saitek Aviator AV8R-01

TrackIR Pro

Windows Vista Ultimate 64 bit

We don't have the radiator on in the office !!