More realistic height from the ground when taxying the

[Guest CHRISH]

Is there any way of raising the B767 off the ground, so that it looks higher off the ground when looking out of the cockpit window, whilst taxying. In FS98 I had a united B747 which had a superb AIr File, which made it look more realistic when looking out of the cockpit window.Best Wishes to all,chrisEGBB

[michal 44]

Chris,Is it really sitting too low above ground ?Being a physicist and mathematician I once decided to calculate the best zoom setting. This was quite a feat to do it right. I was also curious about the height above ground. But this one is actually easy to verify. You can pull right next to another 767 parked on the tarmac and "eye ball" position of her windows in relation to yours. You can also do it with other type of aircraft A320, ERJ-145, etc - pick only the ones that have excellent outside model. I have done it many times and see no major discrepancy. The height above the ground does seem correct. Of course there are plenty of other things that are "wrong" - a natural limit of what can be done on a limited amount of sceen space - for example the perspective of the panel in relation to the outside world may look incorrect (in real 767 pilots sit higher in relation to the panel and enjoy better overall view). Also, make sure your zoom setting does not go outside the .60 - .80 range.Michael J.

[Guest]

Sound interesting. What zoom setting do you recommend then?Greg

[michal 44]

Depends on the panel (I haven't done it for any VC). For the PIC I personally use 0.71. However anything in the 0.65 to 0.75 would be in the 'ballpark'.Michael J.

[Guest B1900 Mech]

I use a setting of .70, Is there a way to make that default on startup? I also go to each window veiw and reset each one to .70, a real pain!:) Thank's From JD

[Guest]

Hello there, I think this works - go to your FS2002/pilots directory (wherever your default flight is located) and open up the .flt file in notepad. A little way down you'll find:[Window.1]Order=0Active=TrueUndocked=FalseMaximized=FalseScreenUniCoords=0, 0, 8192, 2623UndocCoords=0, 0, 0, 0ViewMode=CockpitViewDir=ForwardCockpitZoom=001.00 <-------------change that to 000.71 or whateverVirtualZoom=000.50TowerZoom=008.00TrackZoom=004.00SpotZoom=001.75MapZoom=011.00SpotDirection=090.00SpotDistance=+000492SpotTransitionType=RollSpotFastTransition=FalseSpotAltitude=+000010PanHeading=360.00PanPitch=360.00PanBank=360.00ChaseTarget=0think that works.Take care,Lex

[Guest]

I have been playing with zoom lately after 1.5 years of PIC at 1.0 zoom....my eyes are opening to new details every day...now they are open a little wider at .82 zoom which I have been using of late....I will now try your recommendation for .71 zoom. Excellent information Michal, thanks.Now for the $60M question, what effect does zoom .7-.8 have on frames as compared to 1.0 ??? Anyone tested this?Rob.

[michal 44]

Yes, your frame rates will suffer .. slightly. (don't recall however exact "price").Michael J.

[Guest]

Slightly is ok with me....I can't say I noticed any difference from 1.0 to .82 zoom, so .74 ish should be fine too.The zoom out really helps with the takeoff and final approach, the angles look much better / real out the front window.Thanks,Rob.

[michal 44]

The best zoom was calculated based on what you can see out the windows. The main principle being that what you see through the windows sitting in a normal position in a real 767 should match with what you see in this sim. If you see too much - zoom is too wide, if you see too little the zoom is too telephoto. But computing all the angles in a sim and then in real aircraft was a challenge.Michael J.

[Guest GiZBUG]

By changing this with the default flight, will all my cockpit views (for all my aircraft) be changed? Do you fly all your aircraft with .71 zoom?