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Operating on grass

N

NigeF-51

Messages
24
Country
england
Hi,
I hope this is the right place to ask this.
In FSX, when operating from grass runways/taxiways, it always seems that the aircraft is churning up large chunks of earth/grass and dust at all but the very slowest of speeds. Is it possible to either tone down this effect or remove it altogether? If so, how do I go about it?
Whilst trying to research this just now, I came across several references to editing sim1.dll in FS9 to improve ground friction. Can this tweak be applied to FSX as well?
TIA
Nige
 
Hi,

The the dynamics parts I am not sure, but on the scenery side the ground can be adjusted to be smooth. There are some commands for this. This would however mean you have to make some scenery for each airport, while you might be looking for a more general solution.
 
Hello:

In the Aircraft.Cfg file for FS9 or FSX aircraft one can edit the type of visual effect for "groundroll" on non-paved, non-water surfaces: :idea:


[EFFECTS]
dirt=fx_tchdrt <-- Change to name of another effect file in [FS install path]\Effects sub-folder


...or you can do this:


[EFFECTS]
// dirt=fx_tchdrt <-- Disable this visual effect entirely with a double "slash" and space at start of line



Alternatively, you might try substituting some 3rd party effects ex: Nick Needham's:

http://library.avsim.net/search.php...needham&Sort=Author&ScanMode=1&Go=Change+View


NOTE: 'Some' of Nick's FS2004 effects do not work in FSX; I'm not sure whether this is due to some of his effects being used in conjunction with a gauge programmed for the FS9 code base, or the design of the effect file itself; testing would be necessary to see if they would cause a crash or kill frame-rates (they look/work great in FS9 though !). ;)


One could also use the FSX SDK "Visual Effects Tool" to interactively edit a copy of the default "fx_tchdrt .fx" file to one's personal satisfaction, and substitute that effect under the same file name for the original effects file.


Be aware that nearly all aircraft use the "dirt=" variable and associated "fx_tchdrt .fx" file, so changing that specific effect file for one aircraft would likely also affect how others appear during "groundroll" on grass runway surfaces.


PS: I am not familiar with editing a FS system DLL file for changing flight / handling dynamics, but I would recommend leaving that up to experts only (and personally wouldn't do it even if I knew how, as it would change behavior of all aircraft in FS, IIUC). :eek:

What you are trying to change here is a visual "effect", and can be resolved entirely via the above options mentioned thus far in this thread.


Hope this helps ! :)

GaryGB
 
Last edited:
Hi GaryGB,
That sounds like what I am looking for. I'm away from my FSX machine for a couple of days, so I'll try it as soon as I can.
Many thanks to you & Arno,
 
Just one useful little thing I discovered, Nige (and Gary).

Commenting out , or even deleting, an entry in the [Effects] section doesn't usually work (in FSX at any rate). The sim just seems to revert to using a basic set of default effects irrespective of whether they're defined in the Effects section.

Better way to cancel an effect is to specifically use an effect called fx_dummy.fx (which I think is natively available in FSX). Thus:

[EFFECTS]
dirt=fx_dummy
 
Hello:

Thanks for sharing that insight regarding FSX aircraft behavior as far as effects are concerned. ;)


I have been so busy recently with the scenery SDK aspect of FS in both FS9 and FSX, that I have not done much tinkering with the "Aircraft.cfg" files since FS9; I did some work shortly after FSX-RTM with the new aircraft "Sound.cfg" file parameters, but that's about all I had time to test for aircraft so far in FSX.

Nige might not have been able to get the desired result using my suggestions in FSX if you hadn't made us aware of that new FSX "quirk". :o


It's always good to learn something new ! :)

GaryGB
 
Hi,
Thankyou all for your help. I'll try the 'dummy' route.
I had found that the double-backslash & space didn't seem to work when I tried it a couple of days ago and was about to ask if anyone knew anymore when Voodoo posted the alternative way. I had managed to achieve a bit of success by removing the fx file from FSX (copied, not deleted), but obviously this completely kills the effect for all aircraft.
Once again, many thanks,
 
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