Lights

[garymbuska]

I have been trying to put strobe lights on a B727 that I downloaded and I have got them close but not quite where they belong can any one shed some light (NO PUN INTENDED) on this.
Below is the entry inside the aircraft cfg file
by trail and error I know that the -54.20 and the 54.20 are the wing tips and they appear to be correct the problem is they are a little to high and I am not sure which number I should try to adjust
I know that these are from a reference point but I have no idea where that is. I also know that this is all part of the model file and that can not be changed without the original file and some other software to un-compile it and
re-compile it.

light.3 = 2, -96.50, -54.20, -0.60, fx_strobeh ,
light.4 = 2, -96.50, 54.20, -0.60, fx_strobeh ,

Thanks in advance
The reason for all of this was I did not like the panel that came with the aircraft as there was no way to enter an altitude . The strobe lights worked great but when I changed the panel they stopped working and that was the only change I had made
The crazy thing about this was the lines you see above I added as there was no entry for strobe lights so where were they being controlled from?
Someone suggested the model file But I did not alter that folder or file in any way.
Now there were some other folders inside the panel folder that I thought might have something to do with it so I moved them back into the panel folder but no luck so I added the lines you see and I do have strobe lights but they are not quite positioned correctly.
This is where I down loaded it from https://simviation.com/1/download-file? ... leId=55698

[A Hobbit]

The last set of numbers is the up/down axis.

light.3 = 2, -96.50, -54.20, -0.60, fx_strobeh ,
_____

light.4 = 2, -96.50, 54.20, -0.60, fx_strobeh

The -96.50 is nose to tail, with the - meaning the lights are located 96.50 feet back from the CoG axis. ALL of the numbers measure from the aircraft's Center of Gravity

The -54.20 is wingtip to wingtip out from the centerline of aircraft. This is on the left or red light side of aircraft usually indicated by the minus sign.

The -0.60 is your up/down position.

I downloaded the file and think that the strobes are "hardwired" into the aircraft itself...I have NO idea how to change that.

I fiddle with my lights constantly and have found that the numbers are quite tricky with some lights hard to place simply because of the game itself. Good luck and keep simming...lol

[garymbuska]

The last set of numbers is the up/down axis.

light.3 = 2, -96.50, -54.20, -0.60, fx_strobeh ,
_____

light.4 = 2, -96.50, 54.20, -0.60, fx_strobeh

The -96.50 is nose to tail, with the - meaning the lights are located 96.50 feet back from the CoG axis. ALL of the numbers measure from the aircraft's Center of Gravity

The -54.20 is wingtip to wingtip out from the centerline of aircraft. This is on the left or red light side of aircraft usually indicated by the minus sign.

The -0.60 is your up/down position.

I downloaded the file and think that the strobes are "hardwired" into the aircraft itself...I have NO idea how to change that.

I fiddle with my lights constantly and have found that the numbers are quite tricky with some lights hard to place simply because of the game itself. Good luck and keep simming...lol

Thanks A Hobbit you are a life saver I had a hunch it was the last number as I knew that is the way things are usually laid out
This is something that i will make a note of what had me confused was I thought the nose to tail entry would be like the wing to wing entry one number positive and one negative
I know that they all came from a reference point.
So if i want to come down do I make the number smaller like -0.58 say or do i make it bigger like -0.63 i would think that it would be smaller but I can figure that out by trail and error easy enough.

The part that really confused me was I only replaced the panel folder nothing else was changed in any way. But as long as this works who cares
it just a matter of tweaking the numbers to get them where you want them.

[garymbuska]

I just discovered that the aircraft did have strobe lights but were very hard to see and are not quite in the right place as well. But there is no way to edit them. They must be part of the model file but I finally got the other set of lights where I think they should be they are not quite 100% perfect but close enough I would say they are about 97% accurate

[A Hobbit]

Just happy to be of some assistance...lol...When I started out changing things on aircraft in CFS2 back (OMG) 20 or 21 years ago, I screwed up and lost the guns on my favorite Corsair... I was helped, very kindly by a man nicknamed Kanno and I started keeping either copies of what I'd changed or good notes...

If you need to drop the light down, then make the number bigger (.60 should become .61 and so on, until its placement is good) remember that if you are working with a minus number, to move it down means farther from the 0 axis, and vise versa for up. Keep at it and you'll find it quite addicting....lol and no lol if you are placing or replacing all the lights on an aircraft. You have to go into the aircraft cfg file and find the wingspan to have a reference point to start fiddling...wing up and wheels down

[garymbuska]

I am not one for altering things in the aircraft cfg file. Things like the radio section is no problem I got that down pat. And there are some other parts that I am able to edit with no problem The other thing I hate to mess with are the contact points though I am getting better at it as I had a B747 that the nose wheel was off the ground by about 3 feet or so. I finally managed to get it where it belonged.
One thing I did discover is that some of the default aircraft do not have strobe light entries either. But now I am pretty sure that they are part of the model file.
A while back I attempted to make an aircraft (a P38) following a tutorial which told you step by step what had to be done. I thought that it should not be that difficult to do. Boy was I in for a rude awakening it used GMAX and I soon discovered everything used polygons and you had to use different techniques to stretch them into the desired shape. It was easy at first but when it came down to making the fuselage forget it nothing I tried worked I nearly went bald trying to get them into the desired shape but for love or money I just could not get it to work like it was supposed to and I was following the instructions to the T. I finally threw in the towel and said forget it. However I did manage to make what I called a line shack complete with day and night textures. By the way I forgot to mention this was all using FS2004
Thanks again for the help you are a life saver

[A Hobbit]