Where are external view definitions?

[ryanbatc 12,819]

I want to change Mick Posch's H21C helicopter spot view to a closer-in distance. If you've tried this file you know that the spot view is very far away. I want to set a permanent value in some sort of CFG file. Where is that file?Thanks

[n4gix 4,947]

Look in the aircraft.cfg file first...

[Guest fbnweoghnwd]

I wouldn't mind knowing myself. The aircraft.cfg lists camera views, as well as the VC eyepoint. But what determines the initial external camera position when you first load the aircraft?BTW, I just noticed today that this issue caused someone to slam me in the file rating on one of the flight sim sites. He said the helicopter was too small! This was right after another guy gave it a 5.4 out of 10, saying only "I don't like" - then going on to explain that he won't be downloading any more aircraft because they slow down FSX and the only way you can get rid of them is to reinstall FSX!:-lol

[spokes2112 179]

I believe (from memory, FS2000 days) that the initial view size is all contained within the .mdl - need to get a hold of the designer to change.Regards,Roman

[n4gix 4,947]

>I wouldn't mind knowing myself. The aircraft.cfg lists camera>views, as well as the VC eyepoint. But what determines the>initial external camera position when you first load the>aircraft?That is calculated by the compiler when exporting the model from Max/GMax/FSDS and is based on the distance of the furthest vertex from the model's origin (0,0,0)In the case of models that appear too small in the preview window, this may often be the result of a rogue vertex that's somehow been overlooked by the modeler. This condition may be determined easily in the modeling program itself, if you see a "small model" in the Viewport when clicking on the "Zoom Extents" control... ;)In such a case, finding and zapping the rogue vertex will fix the problem...In any case though, you can use AFCAD's "Aircraft Editor" to read and reset the radius in the .mdl file. This is probably the least known feature of AFCAD... ;)

[Guest fbnweoghnwd]

Max isn't showing any stray vertices in the scene.I just downloaded AFCAD - I'm trying to figure out how to get it to recognize FSX aircraft - the aircraft list comes up blank. It's designed for FS9, so I'm thinking it might be looking for files using the FS9 folder names? There doesn't seem to be a way to point it in the right direction.Have you ever tried modifying FSX Mdls with AFCAD? I'm a little leary of editing an mdl just to fix a camera problem...I'm wondering if anything else gets changed around.

[n4gix 4,947]

>Have you ever tried modifying FSX Mdls with AFCAD? I'm a>little leary of editing an mdl just to fix a camera>problem...I'm wondering if anything else gets changed around.Put the model in FS9 if you have it, otherwise make a dummy folder structure for it. I've used it quite a bit for certain models that have a lot of "eyecandy" (like a ballistic parachute!) that otherwise make the model 35 meters instead of 10 like it should be... ;)

[Guest fbnweoghnwd]

No luck yet, Bill. I tried making a folder called "AFCAD_Test" - with a "Model" subfolder below that, containing the mdl - and put it in the Flight Sim 2004 installation's Aircraft folder - hoping that Afcad would find it there. But AFCAD is definitely looking for files in the FSX installation, not FS9. Do you know any way to change that? I also tried making an "Aircraft" folder in the FSX installation, and put AFCAD_TestModel below that - but it won't find it there either.

[n4gix 4,947]

AFCAD should only be looking at the Registry to determine the location of where FS2004 (FS9) is installed. It then will scan the entire ..Aircraft folder and read all of the aircraft.cfg files it finds.It will then display a complete list of every variation of every aircraft in a list.

[Guest fbnweoghnwd]

>>AFCAD should only be looking at the Registry to determine the location of where FS2004 (FS9) is installed.It doesn't know that...it thinks it's supposed to be looking for FSX :-newburn If I delete all the files that were created when I unzipped the AFCAD download, then unzip the file again and re-open the program, it creates a new "FileList" file. This consists of a big list of bgl files - all from the FSX installation. There doesn't seem to be any way to point it to FS9.

[Jim Robinson 122]

FlightSim Manager v2.8.5 also has the capability of editing a .mdl's radius. It allows you to choose the FS root folder, but you'll have to put a dummy fs9.exe in there for it to find. As a test I just put a .txt file into a temp folder and renamed it fs9.exe, then made an aircraft folder and installed an (FS9) aircraft in it. FSM successfully modified the radius.Also, you'll have to set your computer's clock back to some time before Dec. 2006 to get FSM to run.FlightSim Manager 2.8.5][/bJim

[Guest fbnweoghnwd]

That program looks like a good find, Jim. But it doesn't seem to do the job on an FSX aircraft. It lets me change the radius of the default FS9 Jet Ranger with no problem, but not the FSX H-21C.

[Guest fbnweoghnwd]

I did some more testing and found that if I reset the transforms then re-export, the problem goes away. But it doesn't work for every variation; so far I've only gotten it to work on the Canadian version. And each variation has its own set of objects that can't be reset without screwing up the animation, so the problem has to be fixed on a case by case basis.So as you can see, Ryan, it's a heck of a lot easier for you to keep hitting (ctrl) minus than it is for me to fix the problem in each variation, test for the inevitable animation bugs, then re-upload a new version! :-(I'll probably do an upgrade at some time, but it's way to early to predict when or if. This is #1 on the tweak list!

[Guest fbnweoghnwd]

A footnote to all this:I also had this problem in my latest project. I still think that our suspicions are correct that this is caused by objects that have been re-scaled at some point in their history, but in this case re-setting the xforms in Max did absolutely nothing. (I work in games, and I've heard programmers say that Max doesn't properly reset xforms.)The fix that worked was to first find out which objects are causing the problem. There's no easy way to do this. I had to start out with a new Max scene, then merge objects back in a few at a time - each time doing a new export and testing in the sim.Once I identified the problem objects, I found that if you attach them to a known good object then detach, whatever weird history they're carrying gets purged out and the problem goes away. That means, of course, that if the object was animated (and I think the problem only happens on animated objects), you need to re-do the animation. It helps if you attach/detach a copy of the object rather than the original, because then you can use the Align tool to match the pivot point to the original's, use the original as a positioning guide when you animate the new object, then delete the original.Pretty convoluted...but I don't think there's an easier way. !:-mad It's definitely better to deal with the bug as soon as it crops up, rather than wait til later on when you don't know which objects are responsible!

[n4gix 4,947]

>I also had this problem in my latest project. I still think>that our suspicions are correct that this is caused by objects>that have been re-scaled at some point in their history, but>in this case re-setting the xforms in Max did absolutely>nothing. (I work in games, and I've heard programmers say that>Max doesn't properly reset xforms.)Ah yes... Never scale anything at the object level unless you add an X-Form modifier to the object's stack first, then collapse the stack after scaling.Better still, if necessary to scale at all, only do so at one of the sub-object levels: vertex, edge, poly, face, element...As for the attach/detach method; I've been there and done that too... ;)