SimHQ.com - Air Combat Zone - Feature: Jane's F/A-18 Simulator Revisited

After the release of Jane's F/A-18, a modding group was formed called TSH (Team Superhornet). The TSH team at the time was headed by "Hornit", current SimHQ administrator and former F/A-18C pilot. Around the time of the TSH formation, Electronic Arts shut down its flight sim division, making Jane's F/A-18 the last flight sim to carry the "Jane's Combat Simulations" marketing label. This meant that TSH was the only group pursuing major development of Jane’s F/A-18.

It is very important to note that, unlike some other sims that have survived for many years in part due to third-party add-ons and modifications, the source code for Jane's F/A-18 has never been released. TSH has on multiple occasions pursued the acquisition of this source code, but efforts have proved unsuccessful so far. Nevertheless, over the past 5+ years TSH has delivered four major add-ons: TSHv1, TSHv2 (the "Iraq Paq"), WarfareFix, and the Ultimate Patch. These add-ons increase available screen resolutions and views; add new objects, flyable aircraft, and theaters; update weapons data for realism; and increase TrackIR functionality.

TSHv1 and TSHv1-compatible additions

Flyable A-10A and F-14D with clickable cockpits; switch between these and the F/A-18E cockpit in flight
F/A-18E cockpit using high-resolution textures
Realistic loadouts for the F-14, including AIM-54s
Loadout screens for the A-10 and F-14
Screen resolutions of 1280x960, 1280x1024, and 1600x1200
Wide-view cockpits for the stock F/A-18E as well as the A-10 and F-14, similar to a "fisheye" camera lens
New aircraft and ground objects

TSHv2 additions

Import of a large portion of the Iraq theater from Jane's F-15
Historical missions from Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm.

WarfareFix additions

175 ships and subs
80-100 new missiles for ground and sea targets
New SAM/GCI objects
Subs can attack with light SAMs and missiles
Air launched torpedoes
New cluster weapons like KMGU and JP233
An attempt to model airborne gun platforms such as the Apache, Harrier, or Tigre
Enhanced SAM modeling

Ultimate Patch additions

Enhanced TrackIR support
New framework for future add-ons

The F/A-18 "Dance"

As TSH add-ons grow in number, and the various combinations of working add-ons grow, installing Jane's F/A-18 becomes more and more complicated. This installation is not nearly as complicated as the Falcon 4.0 process has been in the past, but it is by no means clear to the uninitiated. To that end, the TSH Add-on Installation Guide exists to explain in detail what each and every TSH add-on is, where it can be downloaded, how it works, and when in the installation sequence it should be installed. This guide should be required reading for anyone returning to Jane's F/A-18.

If you have any questions about this guide, please post in the TSH Forums or the SimHQ Jane's F/A-18 Forum.

Go To Page 4

Click here to go to top of this page.