I'm just gonna dive right in.

[koolaid]

Hi I'm Ian, yes I'm a noob. the first step in getting better is admitting you have a problem.  :)
So I LOVE FSX and have stared adding to my scenery and sim object collection. I just downloaded a F-14D file and am highly impressed with some of the effects that came with it.

I.E. the sound barrier, its great, I love poppin it. and the engine sounds.  but My question is .... how can I apply the sound barrier vapor and sonic boom to all my supersonic jets? would it be difficult or can it be done by file swapping in explorer?

any help is great.

[G-Fire25]

Effects are usually modeled in, so you couldn't unless you modified the source file.

[koolaid]

k. thats kinda what I figured. oh well
thanks

[Daube]

Hmmm I'm not too sure about that.
I would espect this boom effect to be linked to a certain gauge for example. If it's just an effect, then you can try to have a look to the aircraft.cfg of the F14 (you can open it with notepad in windows, it's just text, but don't modify anything) and try to spot the lines which would be linked to the effects. Then, most likely adding the same line to the aircraft.cfg of another aircraft would do the trick... maybe....

[BAW0343]

I think Its linked to the lights:

[LIGHTS]
// feet: longitudinal, lateral, vertical positions from datum
//Types: 1=beacon, 2=strobe, 3=navigation, 4=cockpit, 5=landing        
light.0=3, -25.5,  5.2,  11.0, fx_beaconh  
light.1=3, 7.5, -7.8,  2.9, fx_navredh
light.2=3, 7.5,  7.8,  2.9, fx_navgreh
light.3=3, 28.0, 0.00,  -0.8, fx_beaconh
light.4=3, -20.8, -5.2,  11.0, fx_beaconh
light.5=10, -10.0,  0.0,  0.0, fx_RCB_machenvlop,1    
light.6=4, 21.00,   0.00,  5.0, fx_vclight.fx
light.7=3, 7.5, -7.8,  4.3, fx_navredh
light.8=3, 7.5,  7.8,  4.3, fx_navgreh
light.9= 5, -30.0,-17.0,  0.6, fx_contrail_s ,        
light.10= 5, -30.0, 17.0,  0.6, fx_contrail_s ,        
light.11= 6, -22.7, -4.2,  0.7, fx_F14_Burn1 ,          // Eng1 Afterburner Burn1
light.12= 6, -22.7, -4.2,  0.7, fx_F14_Burn2 ,          // Eng1 Afterburner Burn2
light.13= 6, -25.3, -4.2,  0.7, fx_F14_Burnerflame ,    // Eng1 Afterburner Flame
light.14= 7, -22.7,  4.2,  0.7, fx_F14_Burn1 ,          // Eng2 Afterburner Burn1
light.15= 7, -22.7,  4.2,  0.7, fx_F14_Burn2 ,          // Eng2 Afterburner Burn2
light.16= 7, -25.3,  4.2,  0.7, fx_F14_Burnerflame ,    // Eng2 Afterburner Flame
light.17= 6, -22.0, -4.2,  0.7, fx_F14_Blueflame ,      // Eng1 Blueflame, when engine running
light.18= 7, -22.0,  4.2,  0.7, fx_F14_Blueflame ,      // Eng2 Blueflame, when engine running

Try that.