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Sinking Feeling

PostPosted: Thu Sep 30, 2004 5:57 am
by crocker
I've just downloaded an AI aircraft but the  undercarriage, nose and main wheels have sunk into the tarmac (more nose than main). I know there's a aircraft cfg modification/adjustment you can make to solve the problem but can I find it, can I hell as like!
Any one help please to point me to a 'tip' or time served engineer?
Thanks guys.

Re: Sinking Feeling

PostPosted: Thu Sep 30, 2004 7:00 am
by thebadman
crocker

This has come up a few times in Flightsim.com firums.  Have you tried there?

Re: Sinking Feeling

PostPosted: Thu Sep 30, 2004 7:03 am
by commoner
There's a post on page three of this forum.......have a butchers there. ;)

Re: Sinking Feeling

PostPosted: Thu Sep 30, 2004 7:50 am
by garymbuska
You need to adjust the contact points. They can be found in the aircraft cfg file. There is a post here as to what all the numbers stand for and the order that they are listed. It is a easy fix once you find out which points to edit. 8)

Re: Sinking Feeling

PostPosted: Thu Sep 30, 2004 9:05 pm
by elkinallen
I have been working on this as well.  My plane was sunken all the way to the top of the tires. I adjusted it to where the wheels were not even touching the surface!! I kept messing with it until I got it where I wanted it.
At one point, The nose wheel would not come down to the surface. I replaced the entire contact point with one from another aircraft. . It did it.

If anyone knows the specific values of the numbers, I love to know!!!!

Re: Sinking Feeling

PostPosted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 4:54 am
by elkinallen
Well I figured it out.  All those numbers in the contact info? Well, they are all the numbers that define each individual gear and maybe even wheell, oleo and ground contact.  Changing the nubers is like putting air in the tires or nitrogen in the struts.  I was able to tune the suspension where the plane sways and rocks back and forth. The center gear on the 747 were not smoking on touchdown, now they are.

Re: Sinking Feeling

PostPosted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 5:53 am
by crocker
Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I've played around with the contact points but I still can't get this bird out of the tarmac.
Apparently the three key points for the landing gear in the cfg file are 1,2 &3. eg Point1=n, x.xx,y.yy,z.zz etc etc. It seems that it is the y.yy values which effect the landing gear. (not my solution). By increasing the negative value it should raise the aircraft. (Like putting air in the tyres etc!). This particular aircraft I downloaded has the same contact points as the default Lear. No problem with the latter, it sits just perfectly.

Re: Sinking Feeling

PostPosted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 6:07 am
by dave3cu
Look at th aircraft.cfg of any default a/c. Just above the [contact_points] is a commented section that defines all the parameters.

For more detail on the aircraft.cfg file and other components that make up an a/c the 'aircraft container sdk' may be useful.

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


Note: After adjusting your contact points you may have to tweak 'static_pitch' and static_cg_height'.  These control how the a/c is initially drawn at rest. If off, the a/c might initally appear out wack but will settle onto the proper contact points when first moved.

Cheers,
Dave

Re: Sinking Feeling

PostPosted: Sat Oct 02, 2004 12:50 am
by elkinallen
Right!
One of my 747's has 1 contact point for every tire.