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Added missing nav lights to wings of stock 747 but flex messes it up

PostPosted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 9:15 pm
by Tech Diver
The stock 747 in FSX has no strobes or red/green nav lights on its wings. I added them in the [LIGHTS] section of "aircraft.cfg". They look great and function with the VC switchs, but after you leave the ground and the wings flex, the position of the light no longer match that of the flexed wing. Is there any way to compensate for this?

Peter

Note, this is my addition to the CFG file:

light.6 = 8, -149.60, -103.80,  -2.55, fx_navredm ,
light.7 = 8, -149.60,  103.80,  -2.55, fx_navgrem ,
light.8 = 2, -149.60, -104.00,  -2.55, fx_strobeh ,
light.9 = 2, -149.60,  104.00,  -2.55, fx_strobeh ,

Re: Added missing nav lights to wings of stock 747 but flex messes it up

PostPosted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 3:30 am
by garryrussell
You are adding the lights to a fixed point that matches the correct poisition of the wingtips. However they are not attached to the wing so won't move with the flex.

I would think they need to be modelled on the wing for this to work.

Not wishing to model the lights may be the reason why they are not there in the first place..that is, deliberatly left off the cfg.

Garry

Re: Added missing nav lights to wings of stock 747 but flex messes it up

PostPosted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 8:06 am
by Felix/FFDS
Gary is correct - if you have a moving component, any light (effect) attached to it MUST be attached in the model file.

Adding lights, etc in the aircraft.cfg file only place it in space.

Re: Added missing nav lights to wings of stock 747 but flex messes it up

PostPosted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 4:11 pm
by Tech Diver
Thank you both for your replies. I have not yet worked with a model file. Can it be modified or is it in some sort of "compiled" state?

Peter

Re: Added missing nav lights to wings of stock 747 but flex messes it up

PostPosted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 4:18 pm
by Felix/FFDS
The MDL file is in a compiled state, and not easily modifiable.

While there are ways to decompile an MDL file, for practical purposes, you can't do much with the result.  Animations, effects, let alone part names, aren't carried over, so although you can "add"  stuff, you practically have to rebuild and reaniamte pretty much everything.