Aircraft Lights/Smoke problem

[martinlest2 58]

I have a problem with the PM2 Concorde. Can anyone kindly advise me?When I increase the throttle, I get quite reasonable afterburner flame effects, but the tail/logo light also comes on, flashing on and off every second or so. When I turn the throttle down, the logo light goes out.I thought I'd be able to fix this somewhere in the lights section of the aircraft.cfg file, assuming that a strobe light somewhere was the cause, but I can't find a relevant entry and even deleting the whole lights paragraph doesn't make any difference to the tail light.Anyone know where the logo light is defined and how I can detach it from the throttle? The lights section of the cfg file looks like this - I assume only 0-18 are active? (The fanengine entries give me better smoke than the default - which latter I have disabled, BTW):LIGHTSlight.0 = 1, 34.006, -5.242, -2.362, fx_Conc_beaconb ,light.1 = 1, 34.006, 5.242, -2.362, fx_Conc_beaconb ,light.2 = 1, -100.395, -0.069, 2.400, fx_Conc_beaconh ,light.3 = 2, -37.619, -37.877, -6.327, fx_Conc_strobeh ,light.4 = 2, -37.619, 37.877, -6.327, fx_Conc_strobeh ,light.5 = 3, 33.906, -5.311, -2.383, fx_navredm ,light.6 = 3, 33.906, 5.311, -2.383, fx_navredm ,light.7 = 3, -37.619, -37.877, -6.327, fx_navredm ,light.8 = 3, -37.619, 37.877, -6.327, fx_navgrem ,light.9 = 4, 45.667, -15.000, -15.400, Conc_burn_2 ,light.10 = 4, 45.667, -15.000, -15.400, Conc_burn_2 ,light.11= 7, -58.00, -19.85, -5.70, fx_fanengine_heavy_idlelight.12 = 7, -58.00, -15.45, -5.70, fx_fanengine_heavy_idlelight.13 = 8, -58.00, 15.45, -5.70, fx_fanengine_heavy_idlelight.14 = 8, -58.00, 19.85, -5.70, fx_fanengine_heavy_idlelight.15 = 9, -58.00, -19.85, -5.70, fx_fanenginelight.16 = 9, -58.00, -15.45, -5.70, fx_fanenginelight.17 = 9, -58.00, 15.45, -5.70, fx_fanenginelight.18 = 9, -58.00, 19.85, -5.70, fx_fanenginelight.19 = 4, 64.000, 0.000, 1.539, Conc_cabin_light ,light.20 = 4, 54.000, 0.000, 1.539, Conc_cabin_light ,light.21 = 4, 44.000, 0.000, 1.539, Conc_cabin_light ,light.22 = 4, 34.000, 0.000, 1.539, Conc_cabin_light ,light.23 = 5, 56.000, 8.000, -5.400, Conc_splash_1 ,light.24 = 5, 56.000, -8.000, -5.400, Conc_splash_1 ,light.25 = 4, 74.900, 0.000, 2.139, fx_vclighth ,light.26 = 4, 74.900, 0.000, 2.139, fx_vclighth ,light.27 = 4, 52.000, 0.000, 2.139, fx_vclighth ,light.28 = 4, 52.000, 0.000, 2.139, fx_vclight ,light.29 = 4, 12.000, 0.000, 2.139, fx_vclighth ,light.30 = 4, 74.900, 0.000, 2.139, fx_vclighth,light.31 = 2, -101.195, 0.069, 3.038, fx_navwhih ,light.32 = 3, -101.195, -0.069, 3.038, fx_navwhih ,Thanks for any suggestions,Martin

[martinlest2 58]

One extra thing (and annoyance!): when I have zero thrust, the afterburner effect is off, as it should be of course. But if I increase the throttle slightly, the 'low' afterburner effect flashes on and off with the logo light. At full throttle, the tail keeps flashing, but the full afterburner flame is steady.It's all very confusing!!!

[MachTwo 386]

martinlest2,Are any effects listed under the SMOKE section in the Aircraft.cfg?

[martinlest2 58]

Yes, these (under Smokesystem)://smoke.0 = -3, -80.00, 20.00, fx_concsmoke//smoke.1 = -3, -80.00, 15.20, fx_concsmoke//smoke.2 = -3, -80.00, -15.20, fx_concsmoke//smoke.3 = -3, -80.00, -20.00, fx_concsmokesmoke.4 = -26, -55.00, 20.00, fx_concburner1smoke.5 = -26, -55.00, 15.30, fx_concburner1smoke.6 = -26, -55.00, -15.30, fx_concburner1smoke.7 = -26, -55.00, -20.00, fx_concburner1smoke.8 = -26, -78.00, -5.00, Conc_burn_2smoke.9 = -26, -78.00, 5.00, Conc_burn_2I tried deleting them all yesterday, but that doesn't change the flashing logo light. (I have the first 4 disabled anyway as I don't like the smoke effect produced - which also comes out in 1 second puffs).Clearly, as the afterburner flame and the logo light flash in unison, thay are somehow linked, but I have run out of places to look now!Thanks,Martin

[martinlest2 58]

(The throttle control turns the logo light on and off too !! ....)

[martinlest2 58]

Well, partly solved. I disabled these two lines:smoke.8 = -26, -78.00, -5.00, Conc_burn_2smoke.9 = -26, -78.00, 5.00, Conc_burn_2But I disabled all the lines yesterday, to no avail. Doubt I'll ever get to the bottom of what's going on.Now, the logo light doesn't come on at all (which is fine); the afterburners still flash when on low setting, but at high throttle they look fine. I think this is the best I am going to get.

[MachTwo 386]

Hi Martin, I worked on the PM2 Concorde effects; though this was over 5 years ago now. Remove the Conc_burn_2 effect files from the smoke and light sections. This is an effect which illuminates the tail when the reheats are in use. I remember the model has some 3D effects within the secondary nozzle of the engine

[martinlest2 58]

Andrew, Thanks for the reply. I did in fact earlier today find that removing the references to Conc_burn_2 stopped the logo light from flashing, so that problem was solved. Wish I'd posted this here yesterday - it would have saved me many hours hunting for the cause! What I am left with now though (and maybe this will ring a bell with you?!) are two (I think) separate engine flame effects: one comes on at low increases of throttle and the other comes on superimposed on top of that on full high & full throttle. But the former flashes on and off, like the tail light did until I deleted the Conc_burn_2 entries. It's pretty much covered up by the full effect if you go to full throttle, but otherwise looks very odd.I have no idea at all why the 'lesser' flame effect flashes in that way! If you have any leads on this, it's be good to hear them!Thanks again for the reply,Martin

[MachTwo 386]

Hi Martin, I have a feeling these are the 3D effects Herv

[martinlest2 58]

Hi Andrew. Yes, I tried removing all references to Smoke and lights in the aircraft.cfg quite early on in my experiments - it made no difference to the tail logo light flickering.Now however, disabling the references to smoke and lights as I've copied to the bottom of this post only leaves me with the small problem of the low afterburner flames flashing on and off, as I described. I suspect that it works now because I have changed the model file in the interim. Before I had SSTAF.mdl dated 10/12/2002, 4.63 MBs; now I have replaced this with SSTAF.mdl dated 01/10/2002, 4.88MBs, which gives me (apparently) 3D afterburner effects, and moving windshield wipers in the VC. This second model file (earlier than the first, oddly), which I downloaded from the FsFrance PM2 site, seems to solve the flashing tail logo, but still leaves the problem of the flashing afterburners: you are probably right that the effect is in the model and not in any of the cfg files, which is why I haven't been able to rectify it.Maybe you know of other mdl files for theHere are my current cfg settings then (square brackets don't come out when posted). Thanks again for the help.Martin------------------------------------------------SMOKESYSTEM//smoke.0 = -3, -80.00, 20.00, fx_concsmoke//smoke.1 = -3, -80.00, 15.20, fx_concsmoke//smoke.2 = -3, -80.00, -15.20, fx_concsmoke//smoke.3 = -3, -80.00, -20.00, fx_concsmokesmoke.4 = -26, -55.00, 20.00, fx_concburner1smoke.5 = -26, -55.00, 15.30, fx_concburner1smoke.6 = -26, -55.00, -15.30, fx_concburner1smoke.7 = -26, -55.00, -20.00, fx_concburner1//smoke.8 = -26, -78.00, -5.00, Conc_burn_2//smoke.9 = -26, -78.00, 5.00, Conc_burn_2LIGHTSlight.0 = 1, 34.006, -5.242, -2.362, fx_Conc_beaconb ,light.1 = 1, 34.006, 5.242, -2.362, fx_Conc_beaconb ,light.2 = 1, -100.395, -0.069, 2.400, fx_Conc_beaconh ,light.3 = 2, -37.619, -37.877, -6.327, fx_Conc_strobeh ,light.4 = 2, -37.619, 37.877, -6.327, fx_Conc_strobeh ,light.5 = 3, 33.906, -5.311, -2.383, fx_navredm ,light.6 = 3, 33.906, 5.311, -2.383, fx_navredm ,light.7 = 3, -37.619, -37.877, -6.327, fx_navredm ,light.8 = 3, -37.619, 37.877, -6.327, fx_navgrem ,//light.9 = 4, 45.667, -15.000, -15.400, Conc_burn_2 ,//light.10 = 4, 45.667, -15.000, -15.400, Conc_burn_2 ,light.9 = 5, 56.000, 8.000, -5.400, Conc_splash_1 ,light.10 = 5, 56.000, -8.000, -5.400, Conc_splash_1 ,light.11= 7, -58.00, -19.85, -5.70, fx_fanengine_heavy_idlelight.12 = 7, -58.00, -15.45, -5.70, fx_fanengine_heavy_idlelight.13 = 8, -58.00, 15.45, -5.70, fx_fanengine_heavy_idlelight.14 = 8, -58.00, 19.85, -5.70, fx_fanengine_heavy_idlelight.15 = 9, -58.00, -19.85, -5.70, fx_fanenginelight.16 = 9, -58.00, -15.45, -5.70, fx_fanenginelight.17 = 9, -58.00, 15.45, -5.70, fx_fanenginelight.18 = 9, -58.00, 19.85, -5.70, fx_fanengine

[martinlest2 58]

"Maybe you know of other mdl files for the" ... ??for the PM2, of course!M. :-)