Repaints of Default B747

[hawkeye52]

I have attempted to add a repaint of the FS2002 default B747 following the instructions provided by Doug Attrell in the HELP section of Simviation.  The aircraft appears in the Sim as a "whitetail" (no livery).  I note that the MS default textures contain 5 or 6 .bmp files...the repaint I am adding contains 29.  Is this the problem?  HOW do I go about fixing it?  Your recommendations are appreciated.  Thanks!

[Hagar]

Hi Hawkeye. If it has 29 textures it's almost certain that the repaint you downloaded is not for the default B747_400. In this case they won't display. I believe there are several 3rd party versions of the 747. Read the included instructions carefully to find out which one. You would need to install the original aircraft before adding other textures.

Hagar aka Doug Attrell

PS. I'm sure there are plenty of repaints posted here for the default aircraft.

[hawkeye52]

Thanks Doug.  I pursued the repaint approach only because I could not get the a/c I wanted, to display properly in FS2002.  It is a British Asian 747-436 on which I flew.  It is an FS2000 bird which I put into FS2002 via the Editor.  It displays on the turntable 'way too big, and on the tarmac it is buried up to its belly!  Additionally, it displays only the 2-D panel.  I re-installed several times and played with the .cfg files and panel .bmp's.  Having exhausted everything I could imagine, I tried the repaint approach.  Have you ever seen the "'way too big" or the "buried" phenomenon?
- Rudy

[Hagar]

Have you ever seen the "'way too big" or the "buried" phenomenon?
- Rudy

Hi Rudy. These are all  common problems with FS2000 aircraft in FS2002.

It displays on the turntable 'way too big,

You can fix the size of the model in the preview window with a handy little utility named Tcdfsview. http://www.simviation.com/fs2000utilities_ess2.htm
It's very easy to use. Run Tcdsfsview & open the MDL file of the offending aircraft. Experiment with the Zoom settings. Higher Zoom factors will  make it smaller. Try something in the 12 - 16 range for an aircraft the size of a 747. You might need to go higher but this is a good guide to start with. Getting this right has other advantages in the sim itself.

and on the tarmac it is buried up to its belly!

This will be the most difficult to explain. It can be fixed by tweaking the [contact_points] entries for the gear in Aircraft.cfg. The exact tweak will vary considerably so there's no standard fix. It all comes with experience & could take 5 minutes or several hours to get right.

Additionally, it displays only the 2-D panel.

Very few 3rd party aircraft for FS2K have a DVC as this feature is not really suited to the FS2000 graphics engine. None of the FS2000 defaults have a DVC.

[hawkeye52]

I suspected the "buried" had something to do with the contacts, but was chicken to mess around with it.  But now I feel up to it.  Great info--I'm gonna try all your suggestions.  Thanks.

[Hagar]

I haven't messed around with this for some time. Give it a go. If you have problems tell me the page the file is posted on & I'll try it for you.

[hawkeye52]

Hello again Doug....

I fixed the turntable-size problem: eaaasy!
I have opened the aircraft.cfg and located the [contact] notations.  Can you please guide me in their meaning?
There are 6 contacts; I'll list just the first 4 entries in each...
point.0=1.000000,36.000000,0.000000,-8.8333333
point.1=1.000000,-4.750000,-8.583333,-9.083333
point.2=1.000000,-4.750000,-8.583333,-9.083333
point.3=2.000000,-14.166667,-47.333333,0.000000
point.4=2.000000,-14.166667,-47.333333,0.000000
point.5=2.000000,-54.000000,0.000000,2.833333
point.6=2.000000,42.666667,0.000000,-3.750000

If you can clue me to what the points refer to and an idea of what the #s represent, I'll take it from there.
Thanks in advance!
- rsa

[Hagar]

Hi Hawkeye. Open any default Aircraft.cfg for a guide to the relevant entries. These are the remarked (invalid) entries prefixed by //. I copied this from the default b747_400.

[contact_points]

       //0  Class                        <0=none,1=wheel, 2=scrape, 3=float>
       //1  Longitudinal Position        (feet)
       //2  Lateral Position             (feet)
       //3  Vertical Position            (feet)
       //4  Impact Damage Threshold      (Feet Per Minute)
       //5  Brake Map                    (0=None, 1=Left, 2=Right)
       //6  Wheel Radius                 (feet)
       //7  Steer Angle                  (degrees)
       //8  Static Compression           (feet)  (0 if rigid)
       //9  Max/Static Compression Ratio
       //10 Damping Ratio                (0=Undamped, 1=Critically Damped)
       //11 Extension Time               (seconds)
       //12 Retraction Time              (seconds)
       //13 Sound Type
       //14 Airspeed limit for retraction     (KIAS)
       //15 Airspeed that gear gets damage at (KIAS)

Note that the entries in each line are numbered from 0 after the =. The ones you will be concerned with will be the gear vertical positions. These will usually be defined in point.0 (nose/tailwheel) + point.1 & point.2 (main gear). Try increasing the -8.8333333 & -9.083333 values in your example. This defines the position of the wheels below the reference point. This varies on each aircraft model & will usually (not always) be somewhere near the fuselage centre line. You will need to experiment to get it exactly right. I suggest changing the values by small increments until you get used to it.

If you change these vertical positions by an appreciable amount you will need to edit the static_cg_height = value accordingly. This defines the vertical position of the aircraft in Slew mode & when the sim loads.

[hawkeye52]

I was successful in adjusting the contact points.  All I did was increase the first three, each by -6; didn't have to touch the static cg.

Thanks for your assistance.

-rsa