Simviation Forums

smoke.. lights and burners..
adding some great effects can add a lot to what your screenshots look like so
here's a small tute to help you setup smoke and burners to your favourite a/c easily..


so you've d/l a jet and no afterburners have been included..first of all find an a/c that has, then scroll to the lights section of the aircraft cfg and take a look...this is what you might see. or similar

[lights]

//Types: 1=beacon, 2=strobe, 3=navigation, 4=cockpit, 5=landing

light.0 = 3,  -17.00, -17.90,   0.00, fx_navred ,
light.1 = 3,  -17.00,  17.90,   0.00, fx_navgre ,
light.2 = 1,   1.50,   0.00,   -3.50, fx_beacon ,
light.3 = 2,  -17.00, -17.90,   0.00, fx_strobe ,
light.4 = 2,  -17.00,  17.90,   0.00, fx_strobe ,
light.5 = 1,   -0.50,  0.00,    3.20, fx_beacon ,
light.6 = 2,   -0.50,  0.00,    3.20, fx_strobe ,
light.7 = 2,   1.50,  -0.00,   -3.50, fx_strobe ,

here is our burner entries below>>>>>>>>

light.8 = 9, -28.00,  0.00,  -2.30, fx_crusaderF_BURN_ONE
light.9 = 9,  -29.00,  0.00,  -2.30, fx_crusaderF_BURN_TWO
light.10 = 9,  -31.50,  0.00,  -2.30, fx_crusaderF_TORCH_FLAM
light.11 = 9,  -32.00,  0.00,  -2.30, fx_crusaderF_GLITTER

here you see a set of burners and parameters...note the fx file located at the end of the string >> fx_crusaderF_BURN_ONE>>>
you can easily change this to your desired effect..   fx_burner ect...

doing this with the same values might throw the flame out of sync a tad so....

it's these three parameters were interested in just after the 9,
these are what you use to move the flame to the right position

-28.00,  0.00,  -2.30,

the first one moves >>>>> back and forward
the middle >>>>>>>>>>>> side to side
the last >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> up and down
increasing or decreasing for the desired position. can be a bit fiddly till you get the hang.

sometimes you can take the positions for the burners straight from the
[GeneralEngineData] section
engine_type=1
Engine.0=- from here>> 8.333333,-1.250000,-0.833333<<<Engine.1=- from here>> 8.333333,1.250000,-0.833333<<<<<<<<
but this doesn't always work correctly?

once youv'e added your effect you'll need to place a guage in the panel folder
again look through a few a/c panel folders to see what guages they are using
usually near to the end of window00 the first one...
you'll probably see something like this below...

gauge25=rcb-miljet!cannon,  0,0
gauge26=dsd_xml_sound!dsd_xml_sound,  0,0
gauge27=dsbxml!DSBAburner,  1,1,1,1
here's a burner..
...this ones for the dsb burner...get a collection of these and feel free to add them in to your chosen a/c panel cfg
it doesn't hurt anything even if they are not needed.. but you only need the guage for the effect you are using..
be sure to follow numbers as seen......gauge27
                                                                                       28
                                                                                        29
                                                                                             and so on...

you could also create a new entry for a vc at the bottom of the panel cfg to an a/c that doesn't even have one
the guages you add will still work...
like this>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[Vcockpit01]
Background_color=0,0,0
size_mm=512,512
visible=0
pixel_size=512,512
texture=$hud
gauge00=DSBXML!DSBTornadoReheat,  1,1,1,1
gauge01=DSBXML!DSBTornadoContrail25,  1,1,1,1
gauge02=XMLSound!XML-Sound,  1,1
gauge03=DSBXML!CannonEffectControl, 1,1
gauge04=DSBXML!BombEffectControl, 1,1

[Default View]
X=0
Y=0
SIZE_X=8192
SIZE_Y=2600

[Color]
Day=255,255,255
Night=223,86,88
Luminous=246,115,119

adding guages like this will allow the burners to work off the throttle rather than having to hit a key every time..

or to make things even easier just add your effect to the smoke system instead
:note the positioning is a little different..

[smokesystem]
Smoke.0=0.00, -15.00, 2.50, fx_crusaderF_BURN_ONE <<Smoke.1=0.00, -15.00, 2.50, fx_smoke_rx

middle one.... side to side
end one........... back and forward

the first one in this case can't be used so no up and down here.. not as much
control as the lights system,, then just hit the i key to toggle on off,,,

i hope this might help some of you to get the best from the large array of great effects for your aircraft...

Great advice Lemon! Helps me with adding a burner manually to a jet I have...been trying hard to find a tut for that...

Bravissimo..finally. I think smoke and afterburners are one of FS9's great mysteries. Nice effort Pete. I'll see to it that your tutorial heads into the Library shortly.  :)

I've been looking for an easy way to get the afterburners I added to AlphaSim's SR-71 working properly, and now I can!

Thanks Lemoncat!

If one really wants to understand and master light effect I suggest to download nick's prop and dust package here at simV.
he explains the way it works and give example and everything you need to know...

anyway, great job lemoncat... thank you

vince