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Object Placement Gauge

R

Rick Tobin

Messages
18
Country
us-virginia
I got really bored, or tired of trying to figure out near exact direction. Either way this was the outcome.

It loads, slews, (and can even fly if you're really bored) like a regular FS A/C. It's semi-transparent so you can see the ground through the "X" in the center. I used it to get a better reference for direction rather than continually adjusting the heading, regenerating scenery, reloading FS...

Interested in hearing opinions, good or bad, if it seems like something anyone would be interested in using, and/or is there something like this already out there.





 
The right tools for the job?

Interesting. Do the little square dots on the 45's have a further measurement function other then just the "45's"? How do you get a percise reading from it? I'm currently using FS in sat/slew mode, zoom to within 200' agl then place the a/c higher then my view (F3 then F2, outa my way) and I'm left with the red "+" crosshair. Then rotate the 12-o-clock view and look at slew's compass heading read out.
 
Hi Tachy.

Don't use the heading from the FS9 window... it is magnetic. TCalc2004 would give you an accurate readout that can be cut'n'pasted.

Dick
 
...the square lines are only marking the 45° increments for now. I can't really say that it's precise, it just gave me a better indication of direction. I suppose I could add more degree increments to get a better heading determination.

For some reason my FS heading at the top of the screen is always out-of-whack when compared to the GPS or A/C compass, and rather than moving the A/C around and not being able to see through it or around it, the transparency seemed to work better for me.
 
Don't use the heading from the FS9 window... it is magnetic
Click to expand...
won't that cause problems with my monitor?? :rotfl: (I kid, I kid). TCalc huh....is that FSconnect or FSUIPC linked to the sim?
 
I just use a normal aircraft as well. If you zoom in close enough and place the altitude at an altitude only a cross will show. After that my ObPlacer XML tools reads the coordinates and heading directly from FS.
 
Hi Rick,

My reaction, and I the others as well I guess, were not meant negative or so. It is just that for me using a normal aircraft has been sufficient in placing objects. But I am sure there are also designers who would like to use your placement aircraft.
 
Hey Arno, no problem at all. I appreciated you guys taking the time to comment on it. I had to laugh though thinking maybe I asked people at the wrong site seeing as how it's not a "code" complicated tool.

I was thinking about something though...

making a gauge for each object group, mainly groups that contain large objects, and on the gauge say for "Airport Buildings and Facilities" you would see a transparent, labeled (small_tower1, large_tower2) outline of the base of each object that would show the exact location, space that would be occupied by the object, and directional orientation.

Thanks again guys for the comments...

Rick
 
Hi Rick,

I am sure if there would be an easy way to let this plane/gauge show the correct shape of the object, then it would become very popular :).

The main problem would be to show the size of custom objects for example. That would require reading the MDL at runtime, not sure if that would be possible.
 
I actually discovered a blank MDL in the FS aircraft folders that can be used for locating things... I think it's in one of the "fsconv" folders or whatever that hold the data for 3rd party aircraft...

If youi take a search through your aircaft folder for something like FSConv or something like that you should be able to just copy the MDL to the C172 folder (creating a new MDL folder and aircraft.cfg for it) and away you go, a red crosshair and nothing else... Means you can zoom fully in to find the precise co-ords for any given point in FS...
 
Crosshairs only

If youi take a search through your aircaft folder for something like FSConv or something like that you should be able to just copy the MDL
Click to expand...
I checked my FSCONV folder and all i had was panels. could you post that mdl. I really need one. Tnks.
 
Although it's a nice try to simplify object placement you'll probably want to take a look at following tool available at avsim.com:
sendfile.php

chplus.zip
 
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