Banner release

[jimslost]

I discovered some time ago that I could "release" the banner behind the OXX-6 powered Travel Airs by turning off the lights (unlike TAMO, there is no (obvious) banner release lever in the cockpit), but today I finally noticed that doing so also turns off the exhaust flame and smoke. Does anyone know how to seperate the two functions so I can only disable the banner? Failing that, is there a way to eliminate the banner altogether?
Thanks for the help.
jim

[Admin]

jimslost said:

I discovered some time ago that I could "release" the banner behind the OXX-6 powered Travel Airs by turning off the lights (unlike TAMO, there is no (obvious) banner release lever in the cockpit), but today I finally noticed that doing so also turns off the exhaust flame and smoke. Does anyone know how to seperate the two functions so I can only disable the banner? Failing that, is there a way to eliminate the banner altogether?
Thanks for the help.
jim

Hey Jim, though it is not pictured in the docs, there are controls in the OXX-6 cockpits. In many of Bill's planes, using the "L" key does too many things

Here's a picture.
www.theoldhangar.com/TA1.jpg

[jimslost]

Thanks, Tom, I missed that. I tried it and it does indeed release the banner. Unfortunately, like the "L" key, it also kills the exhaust smoke and flame. That leads me to suspect that either there is a probem in my installations (how could THAT be?) or the two effects are somehow combined. This does not appear to be the case with TAMO; maybe I can figure out how to modify that plane's exhaust flame (it's blue rather than red) and apply it to the OXX-6.
jim

[jimslost]

As Benny Hill said, "Learning, learning, always learning ...." It turns out that the exhaust flame on both TAMO and TA1 will work with the light switch off and/or the banner released. (The float equipped Travel Air has neither banner nor lights and the "L" key activates the exhaust flames; the difference is literally one number in the aircraft.cfg file.) What I ran afoul of is the fact that the flame is tied to the engine rpm. It cuts in at about 1950 rpm; below that speed, no flame. Unfortunately, the max rated rpm for the OXX-6 is 1400 rpm, and for the sake of realism, I modified my Travel Air aircraft.cfg file to reflect that. Now I have an authentic Travel Air 2000 with no exhaust flame. (I also put a 150 hp Hisso A, which turns up to 1600 rpm, in the Phenix version, converting it to a Travel Air 3000, with the same result.) This, in real aviation lexicon, is known as shooting one's self in the foot.

So now I'm back to square one. To solve my problem, I need to know one of two things: how to delete the banner, or how to edit the fx file so that the flame appears above around 1200 rpm. Anyone have any ideas?

jim

[Admin]

You can't delete the banner. It is part of the model.

You can open an effects file in notepad but at that point I am out of my depth. If you're in an experimenting mood... don't forget to back up.

[jimslost]

Oh, yeah. I back up on the hard drive, on floppies, and on paper. I've been burned before!
jim

[jimslost]

I am obviously out of my depth here. Opening the effects file lets me alter the effect's basic properties like color and in what windows it/they appear, but I still have not figured out how to modify the "trigger", (in this case, engine rpm) to turn on the effect at a lower rpm. Moreover, while I have successfully added geographically stationary effects (like the forest fire) using the SDKs, my attempt to add an effect to the system which can then be assigned to a specific aircraft through the aircraft.cfg file end up in the much-dreaded Crash to Disk. I am now officially OOD (out of ideas).

I do not want someone to do this for me, I want to know how to do it myself. If anyone has an idea where I should be looking, please let me know.

Thanks. jim

[Admin]

The official SDK is here:

fsinsider.com/downloads/fs2004_downloads_sdk.htm

effects sdk is near the bottom

[jimslost]

Thanks, Tom; I already have the official effects SDK (though I did download from your suggested site to see if it was a newer version - it isn't). I haven't mastered it, but I did successfully load their example. Unfortunately, I have not been able to use the same format to load a new engine exhaust flame effect because I can't figure out how to define a lat/long location for something that ends up attached to an airplane via the plane's aircraft.cfg file. I have not stopped trying, but it is time for me to admit a deficiency of knowledge and request guidance from others with more experience.

I am in the same place with the effects parameters. Bill Lyons found a way to tie the engine exhaust flame effect to engine rpm, but after reading it at least a dozen times, I only see the parameters section of the SDK addressing randomness and time and date. I do not have the experience and knowledge to translate time and date to engine rpm, but hopefully somebody besides Bill does. This is my request that he step forward and share the secret. (No doubt it is something really basic.)

thanks for your patience.

[Admin]

Good luck with it Jim, You have gone way beyond what I know already

[wuhwuzdat]

The 'trigger' is in the ta13.xml file, inside the xml.cab file. (found either in your main gauges folder, or inside the panel folder of the aircraft)
It's an XML type gauge, triggering the strobes at 2000 rpm and above.

if you edit the panel.cfg file to use xml2!ta13 instead of xml!ta13, AND make a new "XML2" folder (inside the aircrafts panel folder) containing an edited copy of the original ta13.xml file, you will be able to edit the "trigger rpm" by opening the NEW ta13.xml file with notepad, and changing the RPM value.

Jeff
.

[jimslost]

Thanks, Jeff. I'll get on that first thing tomorrow and let you know how many attempts it takes to get it right (they don't call me "fumble fingers" for nothin'!).
jim

[jimslost]

Hot dog, got it to work the first time! Thanks again, Jeff.

[Admin]

Good news Jim.

Jeff, thanks for jumping in.

[wuhwuzdat]

Glad to help, guys!

Jeff