Glider question..

[Zaphod]

Hi All.
Just trying my hand at some gliding.
Is there any way to get the tow plane to bank and change course while towing? Would be nice to climb to altitude while staying near an airfield instead of following the runway heading.

Zaphod.

[Daube]

Hi All.
Just trying my hand at some gliding.
Is there any way to get the tow plane to bank and change course while towing? Would be nice to climb to altitude while staying near an airfield instead of following the runway heading.

Zaphod.

Make a search for a freeware utility named "Aerotow". It's exactely what you are looking for

[Zaphod]

Thanks for the prompt reply Daube.
I'll check it out.

Zaphod

[Zaphod]

Thanks again Daube for the heads up.
It's a really useful program and it does exactly what I asked for, but what would really be nice would be some way of controlling the tow plane so that long distance tows are possible. I would love to be able to take off from an airfield in the UK and land a Waco Glider on the shores of occupied France as in the WW2 campaign.

Zaphod.

[dave3cu]

Zaph,

I haven't tried Aerotow yet, but a look at the developer's forum topic at FSDeveloper.com indicates that is possible using a Flightplan.

link to Aerotow topic-http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6497

Dave

[Zaphod]

Hi Dave.
Thanks for the link.I checked it out and I don't get any inflight menus as shown on the website. I appear to have the current version of Aerotow so I'm not sure what's going on.

Zaphod (the confused)

[Fozzer]

Don't forget, Zaph, if you still have FS 2004 under your belt, and you fancy a spot of Gliding in thermals.....

..this will give you loads of fun, (and fill your Thermals with much needed excitement... ...)....>>>> http://simviation.com/1/search?submit=1 ... ry&x=0&y=0

Adds special "thermal clouds" in your scenery, everywhere in the World.

Makes flying in all types of planes much more realistic...(bumpy!)...!

Paul....getting all excited in my "Winter Thermals"..... ...!

[Daube]

Hi Dave.
Thanks for the link.I checked it out and I don't get any inflight menus as shown on the website. I appear to have the current version of Aerotow so I'm not sure what's going on.

Zaphod (the confused)

The menu should appear when you call the tow plane, and only at this moment. It will not be callable again, unlike AICarriers.
What you have to do is to setup a flight plan before calling the tow plane, while you seat on the runway (or before you launch the flight).
Then, when you call the two plane, you will get the little window (like ATC or AICarriers) giving you the choices:
- fly left circles
- fly right circles
- fly straight
- follow active flightplan

If you choose the last one, the tow plane will takeoff and follow the waypoints that are in the flightplan. With this method, I managed to get my tow plane follow a narrow valley, by setting several waypoints in my flightplan in the correct places on the map

[dave3cu]

Zaph,

The latest version download, along with instructions, is in Paavo's follow up post of 26 Feb, 2008 in the original topic I linked above. This is the link to the download-http://lennundus.orgkaos.org/failid/workinprogress/aerotow/?M=D
If you check the properties for Aerotow.exe is should be; File Ver. 1.0.3.728; Product Ver. 2.0.

After you installed the files and edited the exe.xml file did you get the 'Trust....' dialogue when you started the sim? If not your problem may be with edit of the FSX 'exe.xml' file. His instruction were to simply add the 'code' to the exe.xml file. In reality you have to 'insert' it into the file

<SimBase.Document Type="Launch" version="1,0">
<Descr>Launch</Descr>
<Filename>exe.xml</Filename>
<Disabled>False</Disabled>
<Launch.ManualLoad>False</Launch.ManualLoad>
<Launch.Addon>
<Disabled>False</Disabled>
<ManualLoad>False</ManualLoad>
<Name>Aerotow</Name>
<Path>Aerotow\Aerotow.exe</Path>
<CommandLine></CommandLine>
<NewConsole>True</NewConsole>
</Launch.Addon>
</SimBase.Document> <--move this line down , before inserting, so it remains the last line in the file.

[dave3cu]

Just noticed that the line indents did not carry into my example above. Hope it doesn't cause confussion. Though they're not essential, they help readability.

[Zaphod]

OK It's official. I'm a Muppet!
I completely missed the "edit exe.xml" Stage. Who reads "read me" files anyway?
I now have the latest version but what do I need to use to edit the exe.xml file?

Zaphod

[Daube]

The EXE.xml file is a simple text file. Notepad will be the perfect tool

[Zaphod]

OK. So I've edited the xml file which now looks like this;
<SimBase.Document Type="Launch" version="1,0"><Descr>Launch</Descr><Filename>EXE.XML</Filename><Disabled>False</Disabled><Launch.ManualLoad>False</Launch.ManualLoad><Launch.Addon><Disabled>False</Disabled><ManualLoad>False</ManualLoad><Name>AICarriers</Name><Path>C:\Program Files (x86)\AICarriers\aicarriers.exe</Path><CommandLine>-nogui</CommandLine></Launch.Addon>
<SimBase.Document Type="Launch" version="1,0">
<Descr>Launch</Descr>
<Filename>exe.xml</Filename>
<Disabled>False</Disabled>
<Launch.ManualLoad>False</Launch.ManualLoad>
<Launch.Addon>
<Disabled>False</Disabled>
<ManualLoad>False</ManualLoad>
<Name>Aerotow</Name>
<Path>Aerotow\Aerotow.exe</Path>
<CommandLine></CommandLine>
<NewConsole>True</NewConsole>
</Launch.Addon></SimBase.Document>

I've moved the "Aurotow" folder from the download into the main FSX folder.
When I start FSX not only do I not get the "trust" dialogue warning but I also loose my AI Carriers.

Can anyone spot where I'm going wrong, only life is short and I might just give up on it

Zaphod.

Edit...
Is it me or is this line wrong??
<Path>Aerotow\Aerotow.exe</Path>

[Daube]

The "structure" of the document (the hierarchy of the tags '<xyz>...</xyz>' is not good.
Here is how it should be:

<SimBase.Document Type="Launch"version="1,0">
<Descr>Launch</Descr>
<Filename>EXE.XML</Filename>
<Disabled>False</Disabled>
<Launch.ManualLoad>False</Launch.ManualLoad>
<Launch.Addon>
<Disabled>False</Disabled>
<ManualLoad>False</ManualLoad>
<Name>AICarriers</Name>
<Path>C:\Program Files (x86)\AICarriers\aicarriers.exe</Path>
<CommandLine>-nogui</CommandLine>
</Launch.Addon>
<Launch.Addon>
<Disabled>False</Disabled>
<ManualLoad>False</ManualLoad>
<Name>Aerotow</Name>
<Path>Aerotow\Aerotow.exe</Path>
<CommandLine></CommandLine>
<NewConsole>True</NewConsole>
</Launch.Addon>
</SimBase.Document>

The problem was that in your version, the "SimBase.Document" was duplicated.
With the structure above, it should work correctly and you should get the popup asking if you want to allow Aerotow to run when you launch FSX.
Please note that your Aerotow folder should be located in your main FSX folder. So for example, if your FSX is installed in d:\FSX\, then your aerotow.exe file should be in d:\FSX\Aerotow\
From what you wrote above, you have done this move correctly already

[Zaphod]

Daube, thanks again for all the help.
I'm sorry to say that despite cutting and pasting your revised text into my EXE.xml after deleting what was there I still don't get the "trust" warning and I also lose my AiCarriers which is part of the XML file. I had backed up the original XML file and the AiCarriers is working fine after replacing it with the original.
I'm at a loss.

Zaphod.