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Smoke Parameters

Helli

Helli

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germany
Hello !

I have searched the forum for similar postings to my problem, but could not find any match. Therefore I open this new thread for the following question:

I am talking FS2004.

I have a GMax-Object, a country inn with an outside fireplace for barbecueing.
This grill emitts smoke (standard FS9-smoke).

Problem:
This smoke goes through the whole house, just as if the smoke origin was at ground floor inside the house.

(1) Is there a way to keep the smoke outside?
(2) Is there a way to keep the smoke from rising ? (in most barbecue grills it hangs around the grill)
(3) The Effects-SDK-Doc lists a few "parameters" but they are basically time dependent. Are there other parameters available?
(4) Is there a more extensive documentation on the use of effects parameters available? (more extensive than the SDK doc)
(5) Is there a quick and easy way to "test" the various smoke-types in the FS9\Effects-folder (rather than attaching each one in GMax and exporting) ?

I know, this askes a lot, but just a few hints would be highly appreciated.

thanks

Helli
 
The smoke going through the house sounds like a draw order issue which seems to be a common problem with "attached things" in Gmax. I haven't noticed this problem with an attached chimney smoke effect I'm using, but my smoke does go behind clouds which looks really stupid. You might possibly have better results by simply placing the effect over the BBQ grill with XML compiled with bglcomp rather than attaching it in gmax.

<SceneryObject
lat="N00 00.0000"
lon="W000 00.0000"
alt="0.0000M"
altitudeIsAgl="TRUE"
pitch="0.00"
bank="0.00"
heading="0.00"
imageComplexity="NORMAL">
<Effect
effectName="[fx_smoke effect]"
/>

You can make smoke rise less and hang there or even go downward by messing with the TempK= and TempRate= values in the particle attributes section. Mostly a matter of trial and error, but TempK=107 is supposed to be neutral where higher numbers cause smoke to initially rise and lower numbers cause it to initially descend. Decreasing the value of TempRate= to a slightly negative number (I have -0.06 on one of mine) will make the smoke "cool off" and descend after the initial rise.

To test/preview effects I attach them to the default Skyhawk as a light. In the aircraft.cfg find the [lights] section and add the following line:

light.6 = 2, -2.27, 0.00, 5.00, fx_woodsmoke

This places the "light" a few inches above the cabin and defines it as a strobe meaning you'll be able to turn the effect on or off with the "O" key. You can then change the name of the effect on that line, save the aircraft.cfg and reload the aircraft to test out different effects without restarting the sim.

Jim
 
Hello Jim,

thanks a lot for your speedy answer.

What you wrote does make a lot of sense to me. I'll try it out over the weekend.

One small matter of translation.
What does your expression "draw oder" mean in detail?

sincerely yours

Helli
 
Draw order meaning the way things are layered in the sim, let's say you taxi your aircraft in front of a hangar, the graphics engine would then "draw" the aircraft on top of the hangar, making the hangar invisible in the areas obscured by the aircraft. Likewise, the hangar should be drawn above the mountains behind it, making any mountains obscured by the hangar invisible.

Here's what I was talking about with my attached smoke effect "going behind the clouds", it's diffucult to see because the smoke is approximately the same color as the clouds, but look closely and you'll see the clouds drawn on top of the smoke. Also look at the beacon on the roof of the hangar (an attached object also) and notice that it's also partially obscured by a cloud that should be being drawn behind it.

draw_order1.jpg


It's hard to demonstrate this effect with a still screenshot, the problem is a lot more obvious in the sim when things are dynamically moving about, it's also more pronounced at different times of the day under different lighting conditions.

In retrospect, clouds are really the only thing I've noticed this draw order issue with. I've never noticed any draw order oddness with other scenery objects, so maybe the problem you describe with "smoke going through the whole house" is something totally different (post a screenshot perhaps?).

If I make it sound like I know what I'm talking about, I assure you I do not :D . I'm certainly no expert on 3D computer graphics, this is merely my perception based on my own casual observations and what I've read in various forum postings and such.

Jim
 
Hello Jim,

over the weekend some testing took place.
Your advice, namely playing a little with the values for TempK and TempRate was absolutely right.
Now the smoke does not rise any more, distributes nicely around the grill and irritates the neighbours!

The effect, that attached effects appear behind the clouds is well documented as a bug even in the effects SDK. So I guess nothing can be done about that.

Jim, thank you very much for your help!!

yours truely

Helli
 
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