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Why the back seat?

PostPosted: Fri Jul 05, 2013 2:54 pm
by gordie3640
I have downloaded many many planes and enjoy almost all of them. Quite some time ago, I downloaded a Beechcraft Bonanza BE35 in two liveries. they fly just fine. That is, until I got a yoke and started flying everything in virtual cockpit. Imagine my surprise when I loaded one of the v tails, clicked on virtual cockpit, and found myself in the back seat. It's a little hard; no, impossible to fly from there. Why would a designer even go to the trouble of making a backseat version? This had to be a practical joke, right? I'm stumped. I tried to find a different BE35 with no success.

Re: Why the back seat?

PostPosted: Fri Jul 05, 2013 4:49 pm
by dave3cu
I doubt that it was done as a 'joke'. It's possible there is an error in the aircraft.cfg.

If you've already cycled thru the Cockpit views to make sure there isn't a view from the pilots view....then it's possible the eyepoint for the pilot (Virtual Cockpit) is wrong..

In the aircraft.cfg file, scroll down and find the [Views] section. It sets the eyepoint for the pilot.
Note: the values below will likely not be relevant to your aircraft as they measure from a reference point set by the designer that varies from ac to ac

[Views]
eyepoint= -3.95, -0.85, 1.9 //(feet) longitudinal, lateral, vertical distance from reference datum

Longitudinal-(more) positive moves eyepoint forward ( i.e.- change -3.95 to -2.95 moves 1 foot forward )
Lateral-(more) positive moves right
Vertical-(more) positive moves up

It's a good idea to back up the aircraft.cfg before editing

Re: Why the back seat?

PostPosted: Fri Jul 05, 2013 5:47 pm
by OldAirmail
Thanks for that info Dave. I'd always thought that "it" was set in stone by the a/c designer.

While I've never had such problems as gordie3640, I do have a few planes that I wished to tweak a little (mainly for a little elevation in the cockpit).

Little by little, I'm becoming a little bit smarter than poop.

Re: Why the back seat?

PostPosted: Fri Jul 05, 2013 5:57 pm
by Jetranger
I add and Change Views all the time in many Aircraft.

How I do it , is, just copy & Paste another view from some other aircraft, comparable to the one you have,,, lotta of em' out there,, that's the simpliest and easiest way to change or correct views.

Re: Why the back seat?

PostPosted: Sat Jul 06, 2013 12:50 pm
by gordie3640
I learned a lot about the aircraft.cfg file. I backed up the original and then stepped the longitudinal down. I got closer and closer to the back of the front seat, until at -0.00 I was flush against it. I notice as I pan around the cabin, the control panel and sides are all black. This is happening on two separate downloads of V35s. They are a beautiful plane to fly. I just wish there was a better virtual cabin. Any other suggestions would be welcomed.

Re: Why the back seat?

PostPosted: Sat Jul 06, 2013 2:17 pm
by dave3cu
I got closer and closer to the back of the front seat, until at -0.00 I was flush against it


If you need to move further forward, keep going forward (+) from 0.00. The + sign is not used with positive numbers, the sim assumes it's positive if no - sign is present.

Don't know about the black panel and sides. If you can give us the links to the downloads we can check them out.

Re: Why the back seat?

PostPosted: Sun Jul 07, 2013 9:47 am
by dave3cu
Did some checking and I think you're using Mark Rooks fsx update of Chuck Dome's fs2004 Bonanza. The 'black' is apparently the result of not finding the required textures.

Here is a nice Bonanza that is designed for FSX by Brett Henderson and Alejandro Lucena-http://simviation.com/1/search?submit=1&keywords=beech_p35.zip&categoryId=&filename=Y

Re: Why the back seat?

PostPosted: Tue Jul 09, 2013 1:27 pm
by gordie3640
Hey, Dave.

Talk about joking around. I went to the link you gave me and downloaded the Beech P35 you suggested. Everything seemed to go normally. When I restarted FSX and clicked on the P35, what to my wondering eyes did appear, but a lonely pilot pivoting in mid air. What could I possibly have done to cause that?

Re: Why the back seat?

PostPosted: Tue Jul 09, 2013 2:26 pm
by dave3cu
According to the 'installation.txt' file (....\Beech_35\Documents\) the textures may not render properly if you haven't installed the FSX SP2 upgrade. You can check in the sim by clicking on Help>About....
More likely, many aircraft do not display properly if you've enabled the 'Preview DirectX 10' option on the Graphics tab of the Display settings.