Simviation Forums

I was wondering, how does the smoke system work in FS2004? Does it turn on automatically on landing or do I always have to manually turn it on to see effects. Aerodesigns A340 has smoke system and it always turns on landing and the thing is that I can't turn it off. It goes on and off by it self. I was wondering if that is how it is suppose to be and whether or not it happens on all aircraft that have smoke system because I only want to manually turn it on and off as I don't want to see any effects while on landing. I prefer them when my aircraft is cruising at FL300+. Please let me know if any of you know. Thanks alot .

Most smoke systems are turned on and off with the letter I

I believe effects can also be controlled by XML gauges

Thanks for your suggestions people but yes, I do know that they can be controlled by a letter "I". I was just wondering if they ever go on by themselves like on Aerodesigns A340. Effects on those planes always turn on by themsevles on landing without me pressing anything and they can't be turned off once they turn on and I really do not like that as I prefer to control them whenever I feel like it. And like I said I want smoke effects only when my aircraft is in cruise and not when landing as it makes the whole landing unrealistic. I hope you get what I am trying to get at . So the main question is do smoke effects ever go on by themselves or did I overlook something. (at least on Aerodesigns A340 they do turn on by themselves which I really hate) and I was affraid if that happens to other jets, meljet, IFDG, posky as I have added smoke effects to those planes too for more realism while in flight. Hope this is not too much so anyways, please let me know the answer to my question. I'll really appriciate. Thanks!
JVC_systems

P.S.
Andrew, what are XML gauges you mentioned in your post?

P.S.
Andrew, what are XML gauges you mentioned in your post?

Those are gauges that are found in the panel.cfg They are hidden from the panel view. I have a few planes that show smoke only when the engines are at like 60% power. Those only work if you go to panel view atleast once

if your talking bout engine smoke, most 'auto' systems,(not requiring the I key), are controlled by percent of throttle or N1.

Cheers,
Dave

So then how do I get rid of auto smoke system?
loomex,
how do I make it so that I can manually turn them on? I have to delete those gauges or something? Thanks.

JVC,

I would go back into the A340 readme or installation

Thanks guys! I'll try to see what I can do and I'll let you know if I got it fixed. Thanks

I have found by playing around with the effects in FS9 that they are controlled numerous ways. One is to just add entries into the [SMOKESYSTEM] entries in the acft.cfg. These can be tied to XML gauges or not, and if they are, then they usually require panel.cfg entries to be made also. Then there are entries that can be made to the [EFFECTS] section in the acft.cfg. These are usually stand alone entries. Then there are the entries made in the [LIGHTS] section of the acft.cfg. Wow, what a jumble eh? Making heads and tails of what does what, how and when is extremely difficult at best.

I have found that by finding an XML gauge format that has the timing you want (when FX are displayed or turned on and off and how, you can ust that XML gauge switch and just modify the entries in it as to what fx files you want it to use.

Two that I use are Nicks Jet Smoke and Jan Rosenberg's Afterburner FX XML layouts. I then just modified their entries as to which fx files I wanted them to use. Rather difficult to understand I know and I am still learning. But I have come up with some great effects displaying on my acft. Since I am using others gauges, much of which I have done I must keep to myself for personal use. Just use it as a learning experience.

I would like to learn more about XML gauge programming and creation so I can play with even more. If anyone knows of a tutorial or where to get info/utilities to create XML gauges, I would be very thankful.

Fireman,

Its all 'greek' to me but the fs2004 panel and gauges.sdk is available and includes  xml gauge creation. Might get you started.

http://www.microsoft.com/games/flightsimulator/fs2004_downloads_sdk.asp

Cheers,
Dave

Thanks Dave, guessed I missed that sdk. Will check it out.

I was playing around and found out that the panel i'm using for aerodesigns A340 automatically turns on smoke system whenever i'm landing or reducing power. When I replace the panel to a different one, I can manualy control smoke system (just like I want it) but when I'm using that A340 panel, I can no longer do that because it does it by it self . And the other thing is that I don't want to delete that panel because it's the best and the most realistic A340 panel around. Any ideas on how I can remove XML gauges that are probably causing smoke effects to come on automatically? Thanks

As always, make sure you have a backup for any file you edit

You should be able to find the offending lines in the panel.cfg file and 'comment' them out. Place a double slash, //, in front of the line(s) and FS will ingore the line.

By commenting the line, as opposed to deleting it, you can re-activate the line by removing the //, if its the wrong one.

To test your edit you have to re-start FS, or if your multi-tasking, first select a different a/c and then reselect the one your testing to force FS to reload the panel.cfg.

Those smoke systems in a/c that I fly have the lines in a [Vcockpitxx] section. Although *.gau file names are 'cryptic', they generally give you an idea of what their for, or the author may have placed comments near the line.

Cheers,
Dave

p.s. There can also be lines in the aircraft.cfg file, [Effects] and/or [Smokesystem] sections, but from your comments yours would appear to be in the panel.cfg.