For those of you who prefer cold and dark starts, but were unable to do so after installing SP2/Acceleration, here is your fix.In Aircraft.cfg go to [piston_engine] and change this line:power_scalar=0.8xx (depending on package) topower_scalar=1.00Your engines will now start using the 2-D panels or crtl-E. Combining this with the provided texture and propeller patches and your babies should be running very smoothly.

The above "fix" is NOT a MAAM-SIM recommendation!I know your advice is well meant, but changing the aircraft.cfg power scalar will alter the carefully tuned flight model to the point where you will no longer be able to attain the real world performance figures that are the hallmark of Rob Young's FDE. The figures in the cfg work in concert with the air file and changing one can throw a number of other factors our of whack. I would advise you to wait for the official FSX version that we hope to have out this Spring.

This is meant to be a question, not an arguement, but; In FSX's SDK, it claims the power scalar "Affects the amount of power delivered by the engine to the propellor shaft." Since scalar quantities have be multiplied by a measured quantity to have any meaning, would it be multiplied against the engine's power output? So, the engine has a maximum power output of 1200bhp with a power scalar of 0.89, would that have a similar effect of having a maximum horsepower of 1068bhp and power scalar of 1.00?

I've asked Rob Young to address this, but please be patient - the holidays, you know. :-)Bill RambowMAAM-SIM http://www.fssupport.com/maam/hgrsm_blkani.gif

HI,If you are doing this tweak in order to make the aircraft work in FSX then it is not a reliable tweak. In answer to the other query about power relative to power scalar the poster is partially correct, but only if the cfg is the sole controller of power output which in this case is not so. In fact power can be set in a number of different ways by using a combination of the coarse settings in the aircraft cfg together with the settings in the airfile, so the values you see in the cfg are not set in stone.If you have problems making a cold start then usually (though I haven't tried this in the way you are doing it in FSX)this can often be achieved by uprating the starter torque value in the same section. Best way is to pause the sim, open the cfg file then slowly increase starter torque in stages, then re-load the aircraft. Repeat until the engine fires up. This normally works but I cannot guarantee this does so in FSX.The notional setting of 1.00 for power will as Bill says overpower the aircraft.Regards,Rob Young

Rob, Thank you for getting back to me, your answers made perfect sense. Unfortunately, increasing the starter torque was the first fix I attempted. I should say this problem only became present in Acceleration/SP2, but it spans two seperate installs on my computer. So, I don't believe the problem is coincidence. After increasing the starter torque (all it did was make the engine turn faster wihtout reaching sustained combustion), I copied everything below the aicaft entries in the default FSX DC-3 to the MAAM DC-3 (Boo hiss, I know). However, the engine did start. I suspected it had something to do with one of three sections of the aircraft.cfg, so I did a similar bit, but this time with just those three sections rather than everything below the aircraft entries. Through successive iterations, I was able to conlclude that the power scalar was the sole contributor (at least on my computer) to failed engine starts. I can decrease the maximum rated horsepower in aircraft.cfg without problem (although this does not reflect the result in simulator, as you said). So, I'll just have to wait for an official fix to be released. Take care Rob, I hope the conversion of the Spitfire isn't giving you too much of a hassle.Best Regards,John

Bill,Have we found a way to start the DC-3 in FSX SP2? Mike

No, Mike. As I said in the pinned topic "BT and R4D FSX Issues" at the top, we have decided to defer any further patches and go for a complete FSX version this summer. We'll begin working on the Douglas as soon as the TBM is released. That is expected in about a month. Then we'll follow up with the B-25.Bill RambowMAAM-SIMhttp://www.fssupport.com/maam/hgrsm_blkani.gif

Thanks, Bill. We shall wait patiently...Mike