Nav Lights on Folding Wing - FSX and FSDS

[Guest pecrowther]

I am working on a FM2 Wildcat which has folding wings. I would like to attach nav lights to the wings that will stay attached to the wings while they are folding (although in real life they probably turned off the nav lights before folding the wings).From what I have read, this will involve modifying some FSX and FSDS files and creating attach points (whatever those are).I am not a newbie (I designed several ships for fs9 that had a variety of lights, including aimable searchlights made using landing lights), but this is an area I have never explored, especially with FSX. Is there a tutorial that I have overlooked?Thanks,Phil

[n4gix 4,540]

The only question that exists at this point is this:Do you have the source files for the aircraft? If not, there's no point in pursuing this further, as it can ONLY be done in the model's source file(s), .fsc, .gmax or .max.

[Guest pecrowther]

The only question that exists at this point is this:Do you have the source files for the aircraft? If not, there's no point in pursuing this further, as it can ONLY be done in the model's source file(s), .fsc, .gmax or .max.

Yes. I am building it from scratch using FSDS 3.5.1.Phil

[Guest pecrowther]

Here is what I have done so far:I added the following to PartDataDefs.txt, which is in the FSDS 3.5.1 folder:attachpt_nav_1 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?> <FSMakeMdlData version="9.0"> <Attachpoint name="attachpt_nav_1"> <AttachedObject> <Effect effectName="fx_navred" effectParams=""/> </AttachedObject> </Attachpoint> <Visibility name="nav_light"> </Visibility> </FSMakeMdlData>attachpt_nav_2 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?> <FSMakeMdlData version="9.0"> <Attachpoint name="attachpt_nav_2"> <AttachedObject> <Effect effectName="fx_navgre" effectParams=""/> </AttachedObject> </Attachpoint> <Visibility name="nav_light"> </Visibility> </FSMakeMdlData>I added the following to modeldef.xml, which is in the SDK: <Animation name="nav_light" guid="54647384-cff6-479c-a654-9b9cd33e4f0b" length="100" type="Sim" typeParam2="nav_light" typeParam="AutoPlay" /><PartInfo> <Name>nav_light</Name> <AnimLength>100</AnimLength> <Visibility> <Parameter> <Sim> <Variable>LIGHT NAV</Variable> <Units>bool</Units> </Sim> </Parameter> </Visibility></PartInfo>In the FSDS model, I created two boxes, one off each wing. The left is nav_light and the right is nav_light.1.When I assemble the model, the left box will appear and disappear which I press the "L" key. The right box is visible all the time.Neither is glowing - but that may have to do with my selection of textures?Thanks,Phil

[Guest pecrowther]

All,I figured out the problem. In the FSDS model, I needed to name the parts attachpt_nav_1 and attachpt_nav_2.Thanks,Phil

[n4gix 4,540]

All,I figured out the problem. In the FSDS model, I needed to name the parts attachpt_nav_1 and attachpt_nav_2.Thanks,Phil

Well, yes you would have to have the parts named to match the attachpoints. In Max/GMax the Attachpoint Tool does the renaming automatically. In fact, it prepends the attachpt_nav_1 to the current partname, but the end result is the same.Not to take anything away from this forum, you may find any future questions regarding FSDS can be obtained more quickly and reliably from the Freeflight Design forums at http://www.aerodynamika.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi since that seems to be where most FSDS heavyweights seem to congregate... :(