MSFS20 Landing effects

[Bazzar]

Would somebody be kind enough to point me in the right direction for applying the new landing effects, tracks and wake etc. to a model? Are they hard-coded on or is there something I am missing?

 

[B21-soaring]

tbh this doesn't fit in the 'Flight Dynamics' forum - I guess 'other' would make sense. Anyhoo:

The SDK is here - but 99% of that is how to CREATE an effect from scratch which seems not what you need. EXISTING effects are much less work.

For an EXISTING effect, there are two options really - in both options "all you have to do is"™ find a stock aircraft that has the effect you want, and copy the entry in the model XML file (Behaviours section) that applies the effect you want, changing only the "contact point" or "node" reference to the number/name of the part of your model you want to attach the effect to.

(Option 1) - there are already Model Behaviour templates pre-coded to do tire smoke & similar (browse through the Asobo aircraft model XML files). In this case you copy that section & change the contact point / node parameter to your own. Look in the A320 (and probably 747) for effects first as not all planes have them.

(Option 2) - you can use the lowest-level template "ASOBO_GT_FX" which is what's called by the other templates anyway - basically you give this template your contact point / node name, plus the GUID of the effect (so you still need to find that from another aircraft) plus some code that turns the effect on and off. The advantage of (Option 1) is they contain pre-written code that switches between different effects (i.e. a landing effect template might pay a different effect if you land on grass or concrete). The disadvantage of (Option 1) is sometimes you'd rather just deal with the underlying effect without layers of Asobo code messing you about (hence this Option 2):

Here's an example code block for the model XML Behaviours section - the actual GUID is nonsense (I think, it's from an SDK example) -you have to find a real GUID by searching the Asobo aircraft. All you are doing is 'attaching' a pre-defined effect (with GUID) with a node or contact point on your aircraft. The <FX_CODE> section is evaluated on every 'Update' step (multiple times per second) and if it evaluates to 1 the effect will be shown, if it evaluates to 0 the effect will not be shown. Simples.

<Component ID="PLANE_TIRE_FX">
    <DefaultTemplateParameters>        
        <FX_GUID>{7E68323C-E75D-4F5B-988E-65DD4956F6BA}</FX_GUID>
        <FX_CONTACT_POINT_ID>2</FX_CONTACT_POINT_ID>
    </DefaultTemplateParameters>
    <UseTemplate Name="ASOBO_GT_FX">
        <FX_CODE>1</FX_CODE>
    </UseTemplate>
</Component>

If you have never written any model behaviours code, then you most likely should stick with Option 1.

 

[mariopilot]

For the landing effects alone (may not be what you want for amphibians / seaplanes):

<Include ModelBehaviorFile="Asobo\Generic\FX.xml"/>   
    
    (...)
        
    <Component ID="LANDING_FX">
        <UseTemplate Name="ASOBO_LANDING_FX"/>
    </Component>

Provided your landing gears are contact points 0, 1 & 2 this will add tire smoke effects.
This goes into your external model XML.

 

[Bazzar]

Thanks guys. I discovered that I had left out the includes at the header of the modeldefs. All working now.