Aircraft Config And Air File

[Brother23]

After climbing over problems and succesfully helped by the comrades
in the forum I have an additional question.

Now that I have the MDL file....and testing it in FSX..there is nothing
to see.

I´m technically seen a total newbie to flightsims.

But I saw that every plane has to additional files beside models
and textures:

AIRCRAFT CONFIG AND AIR FILE

How to I create this both.

In the starting lines of sime AIRCRAFT CONFIG I had the feeling that
there could be a program to puts out this data.

So how can I get the bird flying?

Greetings

[Nodd]

As you're just starting out, like me, I'd suggest using one of the existing FSX aircraft as a starting point. Choose an aircraft that is similar to your project aircraft then copy its entire folder. Rename it to whatever your project aircraft is called.

In the model folder replace the MDL file with yours (ignor the _interior.mdl for now). Edit the model.cfg file & change the following field:

[models]
normal=youraircraftmdlname

Save the model.cfg file.

Next edit the aircraft.cfg file & change the names in these fields:

[fltsim.0]
title=youraircraftname
ui_manufacturer="youraircraftmanufacturer"
ui_type="youraircraftname"

Most default FSX aircraft have multiple versions each with a different paint scheme. For now you should remove these by deleting the following sections of the aircraft.cfg file:

[fltsim.1]
[fltsim.2]
[fltsim.3]
etc

Stop deleting stuff when you get to the [General] section. Save the aircraft.cfg file.

Run FSX & you should find your aircraft in the airplanes list. Note that its thumbnail image will not look like your aircraft yet (you can fix that later by replacing the thumbnail.jpg in its texture folder). This will let you fly your MDL & is a good start point.

From there you can begin to edit the aircraft.cfg file. My advise is change only one or two things at a time between tests. The following file found in the FSX SDK is very useful & will explain what all the aircraft.cfg variables are:

...SDK/SimObject Creation Kit/SimObject Container SDK/Aircraft Configuration Files.htm

Until you have some experience editing the aircraft.cfg file I'd suggest leaving the air file alone. Have fun.

[Brother23]

YOU MAKE ME ABSOLUTELY HAPPY!

THE BABY IS SHOWING UP NOW IN THE FLIGHTSIM!!!!

YEAH!!

I DANCE AROUND MY ROOM!!!

I RAN OUT ON THE STREET, YELLING !!!!!

RAN BACK INTO MY ROOM TO WRITE YOU.

I started the sim and my plane already made a belly landing.

I think the sim doesnt know were the collision zone for the tires is.

How can I fix that?

Greetings :0)

[bruin]

And one more addicted has born, thanks Bill:)

In your case you have to make changes in the contactpoints-section in the aircraft.cfg.

For Example:

[contact_points]
point.0 = 1, -25.0, 0.0, -17.2, 1600, 0, 2.0, 70.0, 0.5, 3.5, 0.900, 9.0, 8.0, 0, 220, 250

In your case:
Search for the points.x that represent the wheels of the airplane (in most cases the first three points.x.)
Of every wheels-representing points.x the fourth parameter (-17.2 in the above example) must be changed to a higher negative value.
It's just a matter of trial and error to get the right value for your airplane.

In the earlier mentioned SDK you can find what the other parameters stand for.

Good luck,
Bert

[Nodd]

I'm very happy for you Brother23. Nice to see you finally got your project off the ground & into FSX. Now the real challenge begins...

As Bert mentioned above, you tell FS where your wheels are in the [contact_points] section of the aircraft.cfg file. Actually this is only part of the story. There's a couple of things you should set before...

Reference Datum Position
This setting is found in the [WEIGHT_AND_BALLANCE] section of the aircraft.cfg file. From this point all other locations in the cfg file are measured. There are a few schools of thought about how this should be set. I'm going to offer this one which seems to be the simplest although there are reasons for setting it differently. Here's how I set it up...

[WEIGHT_AND_BALLANCE]
reference_datum_position = 0, 0, 0
empty_weight_CG_position = 0, 0, 0

I then position my aircraft model in MAX with the aircraft's CG at the center of the MAX coordinate system (darker black lines on grid). Here's a very basic example:

http://www.scipie.com/games/fs/images/contact_points.gif

Next we need to work with the [contact_points] section & first set our vertical distance from the reference_datum_position & the runway. To figure out this distance I look at the three coordinate boxes in MAX as I move my cursor around the Left viewport. If I position my cursor at the bottom of my nose wheel the Z: axis readout will show me how far below our reference_datum_position the wheel is. In this example its -3.5 feet. So with that number we look in the [contact_points] section & enter the following:

[contact_points]
static_cg_height=3.5
static_pitch=0

This will position our aircraft model's center point 3.5 feet above the runway placing our wheels exactly on top of the runway. The static pitch angle is used to set what angle the plane sits at. For this example we're going to have the plane sit perfectly level but for planes like tail draggers this is how you set that initial angle. Next we need to tell FS where the wheels are.

Go back to MAX & move your cursor around in the Left viewport & position it at the bottom of the nose wheel. Note the Y: & Z: values. For this example Y:=4.5 & Z:=-3.5 To get the X: value goto the Front view & again position the cursor at the bottom of the nose wheel. As your nose wheel is almost certainly centered on your aircraft it should be X:=0.0.

Head back to the aircraft.cfg file & enter your values for Longitudinal, Lateral & Vertical positions:

[contact_points]
point.0 = 1, 4.5, 0, -3.5, 2500, 0, 0.5, 22.0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.7, 5.0, 5.0, 0

So point.0 is our nose wheel. You may be wondering what all the other points are. point.1 is generally the left main gear & point.2 is the right. The other points are things like wing tips, fuselage nose & tail etc. For now lets concentrate on the gear though. Head back to MAX & gather the coordinates for both of the main gear. Enter those values & save your cfg file. Run FSX & if you did everything right, your aircraft should be sitting pretty on the runway.

Here's a list of common contact point locations but you can set them up however you like:

point.0 Nose Wheel
point.1 Main Gear Left Wheel
point.2 Main Gear Right Wheel
point.3 Wing Tip Left
point.4 Wing Tip Right
point.5 Fuselage Rear
point.6 Fuselage Nose
point.7 Rudder Top
point.8 Fuselage Belly

Just above the [contact_points] section is a listing of what each number is. The first is Class. As I understand it, 1=landing gear 2=aircraft part. The next three vaules are the contact point's location.

I had a pretty hard time with this originally so I'm hoping this helps. Again, this stuff is covered, perhaps not quite so clearly, in the SDK. Good luck.

[Brother23]

I will try that next week. First, my daddies 60th birthday waits for me next days.


Greetings