Smoke from a Ship Smokestack

[Guest pecrowther]

What do I have to add to the aircraft.cfg file to get smoke to come out of the smokestack of a ship? The stack is about in the center of the ship and is 60 feet tall.Thanks,Phil

[rcbarend 37]

Is the ship the "aircraft" you are "flying" or an AI "aircraft" ??If not: you can't add it to an aircraft.cfg, since then it is a scenery object. (and therefore it's part of the scenery).Rob

[Guest pecrowther]

RobI am asking about the aircraft.cfg file for the ship that I am "flying".For my AI version, I use FSSC to put a smoke macro at the same location as the ship macro, just 60 feet in the air. (Of course, there may be a better way to do this too.)Phil

[rcbarend 37]

Hi Phil,You need to add a smokestack effect in a smokesystem section of the aircraft.cfg.A good effect is the file fx_smokestack2.fx in the effects folder.(I'm not sure if this is a default effect, check if you have this file).In the aircraft.cfg, add:[smokesystem]smoke.0 = 0.0,0.0,0.0,fx_smokestack2,Unfortunately, a bug in FS causes the vertical displacement of the effect origin to be ignored by FS (the first 0.0 coordinate).So in order to get the effect origin at the right place, you need to adapt the effect file itself (instead of the smoke coordinates in the aircraft.cfg file).You can easily do that yourself:- In the effects folder, make a copy of the file fx_smokestack2.fx and rename that to e.g. fx_smokestack_phil.fx- open the file fx_smokestack_phil.fx with Notepad, and find the lines:Y Offset=0.00, 0.00 //this is the verical offset, in feet.(this line occurs twice in the file)- change both occurances of the line into Y Offset=x.x, x.x //x.x = new displacementExperiment a bit with the correct value of x.x.(it's not 60.0, because that's a value for the initial smoke puff)So try e.g. 10.0NOTE: (for exact positioning)In the fx file:X Offset gives the lateral displacementZ Offset gives the longitudal displacementAnd add to the aircraft.cfg:[smokesystem]smoke.0 = 0.0,0.0,0.0,fx_smokestack_phil,This smoke effect is turned off/on via the FS toggle-smoke command (default key: "I" )If you want to make it perfect, you can even make a small XML gauge that automatically turns on the Smoke when the "engine" is running and the "throttle" has a certain minimum value.Cheers, Rob

[Guest pecrowther]

Rob,Very helpful.I now have a setup where I have 3 ships setting next to each other:1. One API ship macro with a API smoke macro at the same place2. One API ship with smoke macro3. One ship model file with smoke activated by pushing "I".Is there any way to make the smoke on the ship model active all the time (instead of when I push "I")?Also, when the ship model starts moving, the smoke on all three ships stops - presumably as the wake is activated. Any way to avoid this problem?Thanks,Philp.s. I have uploaded the ship macros (and source code) to the AvSim files.

[Guest pecrowther]

Rob,I solved half of the problem. The reason the smoke was cutting out was that the fx I chose to use - Steam1 - has priority=4. I changed that to priority=0 and it does not cut out.So the only remaining question is whether I can have the smoke running without having to press "I".Thanks,Phil

[rcbarend 37]

Hi Phil,What's the name of the zip file with the ship ??I'll make an XML gauge that puts the smoke On when the engine is running, and Off when the engine stops.If your email is in the zip file, I'll mail it to you.Cheers,RobUPDATE: Found the ship, gauge is in the mail :-)

[Guest pecrowther]

Rob,It's libertyship.zip and is listed in the files for today. (Note that the zip file does not include all the files necessary to build a model, such as the cfg and air files. I have had to borrow those files and did not to mix them in with my work product.)An XML gauge would be great!Phil

[rcbarend 37]

Hi Phil,Just mailed it to you (to the Email address from your zip file)Cheers, Rob

[Guest PAtom]

hi phil,what aircraft.cfg/....air are you using? ive got several ships in my hangar but the "FDE" of them isnt realy good at all. usualy way too fast and hard to control. ive tried already many months to get a good flight dynamic for ships but the results are not good yet.cheerstom

[Guest pecrowther]

Tom,I am using the cfg and air files (created?) and distributed by Eric Busseau with fs2k2cfs2ships.zip.* I had to adjust the contact points, since I only built my ship to a few feet below the waterline.* It is a bit unrealistic as the ship bobs up and down when at rest in calm water, like a little boat would. I haven't figured out how to stop that. (And it is making me seasick!)* I also need to adjust some other parameters as the ship gets up to speed too quick and probably cruises too fast. In theory, you could probably redesign the aircraft propellor to have many of the characteristics of a ship propellor (the reverse of what the Wright Bros did).Other than these nits, the ship works fine and has not crashed yet - as happens with some of these files.I wonder if one couldn't eliminate a lot of the information. For example, you should not need any information relating to lift or induced drag. You would still need information relating to weight and parasitic drag.Regards,Phil