Tail Number Colours

[Fern]

Hi, All

This question is sort-of aircraft modelling.

This is for FSX

I have a nice plane that has changeable tail numbers but the numbers are black on a red background, something that Transport Canada would not accept and it looks silly anyway. I want the numbers to be white.

I looked at the FS SDK at the Microsoft site and it tells me that the colour of the tail numbers is determined in the aircraft.cfg by the entry atc_id_color=Oxffffffff, where the first six ff following the 0x are the hex value of the colour in RGB.

I also looked at some of the native FS9 and FSX aircraft. The FS9 Cessna 172 Orange has the atc_id_color=0xffffffff and the tail numbers are, indeed, white.

The Extra 300 in FS9 has atc_id_color=0xffff0000 and that makes the numbers red.

I might consider that the SDK gives the order of the ff for RGB wrong, but when I look at the Cessna 172 in FSX, the same combination 0xffffffff makes the numbers black, such as in the "Orange,Black" variation.

There is also a line "atc_id_font=Arial,150,1,600,0". I tried various combinations and the only thing that changed was the size of letters and the inclination for Italics. Deleting this line and leaving the atc_id_color=etc. only made the numbers smaller but no colour change.

Just in case I also changed the "editable=0" to =1. No difference.

So... How do I change the colour of the tail numbers from black to white in an FSX plane?

Thanks

Fern

 

[Bambi_007]

Have you try:

atc_id_color=0x000000

Or try an bmp:
128x64 pixel - Write the tail number in and save them
in the texture folder as DDS Texture with the Name N_NUMBER.dds
Delete the atc_id_color=0x000000 in the aircraft.cfg

 

[Fern]

N_NUMBER.dds doesn't work

Hi, Bambi007

Did what you suggested but it didn't work.
I had tried the colour (atc_id_color=0x00000000) before, with many different combinations.

Then I tried your suggestion, a 128 X 64 dds texture named "N_NUMBER.dds", and I tried different background colours and letter colours, nothing worked.

Still looking for the answer.

Thanks

Fern

 

[Bluebottle]

...........any colour as long as it is black

I think this is one of the many things broken in fsX.

All the default aircraft have black reg numbers, even where it is clearly unsuitable.
Unfortunately the enable parameter doesn't work either so if someone wants to create a repaint for your model they can't switch the numbers off and are stuck with black reg numbers where none exist.

This caused us problems at Dodosim as we have an engine and transmission wear/damage/service/repair model. It is tied to tail numbers so that it persists from one flight to the next. Without working tail number decals each paint scheme can only be used for a single variant (or we would have to bloat the files with new textures for each)

 

[Fern]

Problem solved

Hi, Bluebottle

That is an answer! Thanks.

Killed my question with a bat. I figured it would have to be something like that, but it is nice to know someone has dug deeper than I could and found a solid cause for it.

Thanks!

Fern

 

[Bambi_007]

Have you try:

atc_id_color=0xFFFAFA

it will be snowwhite.

What for Aircraft you mean and from where it is?

 

[capt_x]

it will be snowwhite.

Sandra, is this in FS9 or FSX?

 

[Bambi_007]

It is for FSX,
because the Member Fern want to change the Colour
for a FSX Plane.

And it is a Try - not yet a solution.

 

[capt_x]

Ok, I've tried it in FSX too. And I can only confirm what Bluebottle said. Seems to be broken. That's why Iwanted to know if you had actually tried it yourself and got it working, in FSX(!)

Greetz, Felix

 

[Bambi_007]

I do nothing with FSX - they are only ideas.

 

[capt_x]

Ok, that clarifies for me. I had somehow hoped you have some magic copy of FSX where this feature works... where is my coffee?

Cheers, Felix

 

[lionheart]

Bambi,

It might have worked and saved them.

I salute you for your suggestions.

Salute!







old eyebrows

 

[Bambi_007]

Bill?

Thank you, but
It works for you?

 

[Ripcord]

I recently came across this post during a similar search. It is very old, I realize.

However I want to share some findings.

The P3D SDK states this (which I believe is unchanged from FSX):

Specifies, in RGB hexadecimal, the color of the tail number. The first two characters following the 0x specify the red value in hex, the second two characters the green, and the third set the blue. The final two characters are unused. Each value can be between 0 ff hex, which is 0 to 255 decimal. (Note: custom tail numbers burned into textures will not be modified by this).

THIS IS NOT 100% ACCURATE.

The final two characters ARE USED, but rather the FIRST two characters are UNUSED.

I have been testing this with the Lear 45 (reworked by somebody) in P3D, and it seems to explain the findings of the original poster.

atc_id_color=0xffffffff this gives us WHITE
atc_id_color=0xffff0000 this gives us RED
atc_id_color=0xff0000ff this gives us BLUE
atc_id_color=0xffffff00 this gives us YELLOW
atc_id_color=0xA4A4A4A4 this gives me a very light GRAY
atc_id_color=0xD8D8D8D8 this gives me a sort of SILVER

atc_id_color=0x00000000 is BLACK, but you can also just omit this line altogether and I think it defaults to this (at least it does with the Lear 45).

You can use this resource to experiment with your own:

HTML Color Codes

Get HTML color codes for your website. Color chart, color picker and color palettes.

www.html-color-codes.info