Helios Profile for the F-18 Hornet
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So here it is…
This is the Hornet profile I’ve been working on for some time now and have it to a point that others can use it. It still has some faults / issues but useable. The profile is kind of a mashup of Capt Zeens DCS F-18 profile for the graphics and Linknets awesome resurrected Ice profile for 4.35 (mostly for the backend functions and included charts and checklists). The goal of the profile was to be able to control the jet a little better than using a keyboard or the lack of some switchology within the 3D world for the Hornet.
This Helios profile is “batteries included”. All gauges and MFD rendering are provided by Helios. EZBoards is provided within the profile and “optionally” you can still use Weapon Delivery Planner for the kneeboard.I’d like to thank Capt Zeen for the use of his graphics taken from his DCS F-18 profile, linknet for allowing me to reuse parts of his re-implemented Ice profile for 4.35 and supporting external code
Feature Set
- Working IEFI (as in BMS)
- Working Center Display - EHSI
- EZBoards for Kneeboards on Main Screen
- Weapon Delivery Planner Kneeboard Integration
- Training Labels, So you can learn where all the actionable switches are
- Charts for all the popular theaters (Taken from the Ice profile)
- Callsign Label on Main Panel (I always forget what flight callsign I’m in)
Requirements
- Helios Version 1.6.3504.0 or above (included in the archive)
- Ice’s Falcon BMS 4.35 Images for Helios (included in the archive)
- Ice’s Falcon BMS 4.35 bin folder (included in the archive)
- EZBoards kneeboard creator (included in the archive)
Main Panel
EZBoard On Main Monitor
Main Panel with Training Labels Turned On with Front Left and Right Panels
Right Side Panel With Training labels
Left Side Panel with Training Labels
Breakers Panel with Training Labels
Center Panel with Training Labels
Setup Instructions are contain within the download >HERE<
Check it out and leave me some feedback good or bad…
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Have yet to check this out personally, but wanted to directly Thank You for creating this! I’ve been fretting the attempt to creating this in Helios…you’ve just made my experience 1000’s of times less frustrating! :hug:
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Greetings Wheelchock. I finally managed to fly an F-18 campaign sortie with your helios profile and one word that comes to mind is WOW!!! Beautifully done! :thumb: I have yet to run into any serious issues other than viewing the EZboards on my main screen. Do I need to check an “Always On Top” box to view it?? Other than this, I was able to complete a successful mission with little effort in trying to convert my muscle memory from an F-16 to an F-18! THank you again!
Cheers,
Jolly -
Glad to hear you’re enjoying the profile. The EZBoards on main monitor should already have always on top checked for Monitor 1. Are you running BMS in borderless windowed mode or full screen? I run in borderless window mode and have no issues with it.
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I’m running it in full screen mode due to resolution issues. The games FPS drops with BMS running 3840 x 2160 and Helios running 1080p, so I have to run both at 1080.
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I just did a test with BMS in full screen mode and that indeed is your issue regarding the EZBoard Kneeboards. I had to switch my 4.35 graphic setup to 2560x1440 for main screen and 1920x1080 for helios screen with VSync on in BMS. This gives me some really good frame rate but that is dependent on your hardware. I’m running a GTX 1070 with an AMD 5600x cpu on SSD disks. I get 60 FPS on the deck in the Carrier Launch TE.
I suppose I will have to move the kneeboard to the Helios screen just in case someone like yourself is stuck in fullscreen mode for FPS reasons. I guess I have a new reason to work on the next version now.
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Hi wheelchock. Great job!
I am doing a profile myself and I like how you incorporated EZBoard into Helios. Would you mind telling how you accomplished that? I am Going to do the same :bump2:
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Hi wheelchock. Great job!
I am doing a profile myself and I like how you incorporated EZBoard into Helios. Would you mind telling how you accomplished that? I am Going to do the same :bump2:
Since Helios will only load images from within the Helios/Images directory I had to modify the EZBOARDS.BAT file so that the file it wrote out was into Helios/Images/BMS/Kneeboards then in the Helios Profile I put a carousel image control on Monitor 1 and pointed the image reference at a briefing.png within Helios/Images/BMS/Kneeboards. I then used a button to fire off the EZBOARDS.BAT file. So whenever I update the briefing file within BMS I then just push that button in Helios to update the EZBoard Kneeboards. If you download the profile you should be able to disect what its doing.
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Since Helios will only load images from within the Helios/Images directory I had to modify the EZBOARDS.BAT file so that the file it wrote out was into Helios/Images/BMS/Kneeboards then in the Helios Profile I put a carousel image control on Monitor 1 and pointed the image reference at a briefing.png within Helios/Images/BMS/Kneeboards. I then used a button to fire off the EZBOARDS.BAT file. So whenever I update the briefing file within BMS I then just push that button in Helios to update the EZBoard Kneeboards. If you download the profile you should be able to disect what its doing.
Thanks Wheelchock
I would like your help, if you are willing…
I am going to try an easier approach on this. I am going to use the pilot kneeboard instead of Helios BUT… I would like to create a button in my profile to launch EZBOARD from Helios (Just to avoid leaving BMS area and create a CTD - I run BMS in full screen).
I set everything all right but I keep receiving “argument error” msg saying that the app is not found. The path is correct, the names are correct…Here follows the pics.
and this is the path. I just did what you did in your profile:
As you are much more skilled than I, Do you have any insight?
thanks in advance.
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Yeah the Process Control Interface always seems to show me errors as well but the button still works so the big question is does yours work when run in Control Center?
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Yeah the Process Control Interface always seems to show me errors as well but the button still works so the big question is does yours work when run in Control Center?
Good question… Usually the Helios Control refuses to run the Profile… I will give a try
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Good question… Usually the Helios Control refuses to run the Profile… I will give a try
So if CC still won’t run the EZBOARDS.BAT file the next thing to do is to copy the path to file you have in ProcessControl and hit [WIN]+R on your PC and paste the command in there to see if it runs. If not then your pathing is wrong.
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Process Control generally seems to need the path to be surrounded by inverted commas, especially if there are spaces in the path.
So try this:
“C:\Falcon BMS 4.35\Bin\EZBoards.bat”
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Hi, Wheelchock,
I’m finally getting a chance to work with this fantastic mod, and Before I really get into it I have a question. You mention have have to use your keyfile. How does that interact with the BMS Alternate Launcher? As i understand it, AL only works with BMS-Full keyfile -
If you use AL then take the included key file and rename it but just make sure you also edit the helios profile to reflect the name change.
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If you use AL then take the included key file and rename it but just make sure you also edit the helios profile to reflect the name change.
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Sounds good.
I got everything installed and it looks fantastic. I was wondering if I’ve missed a control panel manual and/or tutorial. I’m still working out what the CP switches do. Right now when I start Helios I get a full screen interactive “demo” of the front panel that I can’t get out of. Also, I keep failing preflight checks, possibly because the backup airspeed and altimeter gauges aren’t showing up? -
Open the profile in the editor and go to the interfaces tab. Are any sections red? Mostly likely you need to reset your monitor layout.
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I have been a little busy these days but I will try everything suggested here ASAP.
cheers :yo:
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Hey Wheelchock (or Linknet if you’re watching this thread)-
Just curious if there are any conflicts with using your “F-18” Bin folder vs. Linknet’s Ice’s F-16 Bin folder?? Or are all the application files pretty much the same?
Cheers,
Jolly -
Somewhere around 4.35-5 linknet changed some of the binaries names but that shouldn’t conflict with the F-18 profile but i haven’t checked it lately so it might. I had started working on making the F-18 profile self contained with no reliance on linknets profile but time is not on my side.
The only part that might be affected is the theater detection for the charts
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