Posts by larrylynx

Many thanks for that Master and it all makes sense now, yet another TMD mystery solved. On to the next one I fear

I have noticed two types of aerowings within different aircraft TMD files. One is the same as the one described in the wiki section, ie a single block. The other breaks down stations into separate entries. What is the difference between these?

Also, in the Q400 aerowing the Flap0Area is 0.0 and the Flap1Area is 0.7. These do not seem to make sense as it means the aileron has no area and the flaps are 0.7 sq mtrs, which is tiny. I'm a little confused.

Steve

End of 3D modelling ????

Have you modelled inside of the flaps, spoilers, slats, U/C bays. Detailing for U/C, is it broken down into smaller parts as per the TMD requirements, IE upper and lower parts (difficult to see from pics) U/C doors need to be in closed position.

Area around nose looks wrinkled, maybe a shading issue or polygons not flowing smoothly. What does it look like with polygons and not Blenders modelling techniques.

Ensure all the wheels sit on a level plane, at the moment the nose is higher than the mains. This will cause issues when the model is eventually loaded into FS4 if not corrected.

Not being critical as it look great just passing on the many mistakes I have made along the way.

Steve

My guess, its the tolerances in the auto pilot logic, (if the aircraft goes above this amount then go down, if it goes below then go up,) and time skipping means it simply can't keep up but will eventually correct itself over time.

Of course I might be wrong as I'm no expert on the TMD file just an advanced amateur

Get into the habit of naming everything as you make thing as lots of 'cylinders' don't really help.

Also remember to use Polish notation, (I think that is what it is called ) ie LeftWing or RightWing or SwitchToOperateSomethingReallyCool

Join the words together and use capitals.

No problems, You grab one end of the stick, I'll grab the other and we'll meet in the middle

Master Jan did answer the question.

To covert the model to FS4 you need the original modelling files and not the FS2 converted aircraft files. Files like .tgi and the original bitmaps, in something like .bmp or .png.

who said it was meant to be fun...

Do remember to use layers in your paint program, that way you can add dirt and grime over your lovely pristine liveries etc. Also things like aircraft numbering can be changed with ease.

Easily fixed if users had access to the paintkit, that begs the question, do IPACS have access to the paintkits?

If so, then why are so many paintkits not being released, perhaps its legal contracts that prohibit the release, if so, then please let us know so we stop asking these sort of questions.

As Master Obi Jan said, 'model the exterior parts first. though not necessarily all of them down to the last detail.' My grandad suggested workflow would be.

Model the exterior. NO INTERIOR at all for now as its not needed yet and just wastes time and effort. UV map and texture the exterior, a simple colour would suffice to start with, no need for fancy liveries. Export your model to the intermediate folder, which should ideally not be your working folder. With all textures that you need in that folder try to covert it to show in the sim and that is where the problems start. You will need a workable TMD file in the intermediate folder plus others to make this happen, read up in the wiki. Do remember the config.tmc file.

Getting the model into the sim will be a nightmare to start with as the aircraft TMD (if you plan on just one variant) or aircraft.tmd plus system.tmd (If multi variants) will need to be stripped down variants of, I assume, the A320 files. I think I have that right Master Obi Jan. I might even suggest a single variant tmd until you have it showing in the sim, you can then remove bits and set up a systems.tmd. Look at the A320 tmds for the work flow on multi variants.

So in short, a basic textured model and get it into the sim.

Once it's in, you can then start to add things and build it up. Its then, model, uv, texture, tmd, convert and it keeps on like that, The BIG RED cube will become a constant reminder you cocked things up. The tm.log in \Documents\Aerofly FS 4 will be a great help in tracking down all those errors. I use notepad++ plus Master Obi Jan's language plugin as it makes it look pretty and much easier to read.

As a developer its no good shying away from the TMD files as you really need to understand them, so just get stuck in and work it out. Yes there will be questions and help is never far away.

Liveries are the last thing on the list for a developer and a realistic timeframe is 6 months or so for a new model, if you know what you are doing.

Building the model is the easy bit, (sorry Pilot boy but eventually you will agree with me), getting it into the sim ( and that is just to look at) will take some effort and systems/flying characteristics etc will take a lot of effort. However.....

The joy of sitting in a Virtual cockpit, especially in VR, that you have designed and built is well worth all the effort. and taking it flying., thats where the fun starts.

Its a long and lonely road for a solo developer but I'm sure he will get there with our encouragement and help.and we are always here to help, though at 67, that may not always be the case with me Yes I really am that old

I watch this with interest and I will feel your pain as there will be plenty of that.

Try to do the UV mapping for each item before moving on to the next as UV mapping lots of objects together sucks. If you plan to copy items doing the UV mapping will (or should) be carried over to the copy. If you do not then each item will need to be UV mapped or you learn from your mistake and UV map first. You will need to UV map to a texture map 4096*4096 so you might as well setup your materials at this point and don't let the fuselage take up the whole map, remember there are lots of other objects waiting in the wings for a place on that map. Talking wings, put them on there own texture map and again keep the poly count down, Did I mention, keep the poly count down as the sim does a great job and no one will ever notice whether your fuselage has 32 sides or 64 sides.

Any faces that will never be seen delete them, (be ruthless and don't miss this step) before you UV map (no point UV mapping faces you are going to delete) and do try to keep the poly count down. As I said, your fuselage has perhaps 40% extra. I have never used Blender but check your smoothing as the faces look to be non smoothed at the moment.

Any help needed give me a shout, cant help with Blender but I'm Ok with work flow, textures and TMD (ish). Master Obi Jan Kenobi will become your best friend with regard to TMD. Might not hurt to scare yourself to death and have a look at a TMD file . They look scary but are not that bad, he lied

Steve

My advice would be to keep the external polygons to the minimum required to obtain a pleasing look and use those extra polygons in the cockpit where the count will rise when you are not looking. The fuselage at present has too many polygons around its circumference, let the sim smooth things for you.

You may also have to think about the MFD screens and what it is you are going to use to make them work. Much of the flat screen coding is unique to a particular model so research where you are going to steal the TMD coding before you get much further.

Steve

As a developer, I never really get time to actually fly in the sim, a quick look or check of something then back to the drawing board. I can't actually recall doing a full flight.

I agree about only being VR and to me it should look like the real thing as much as possible and as many systems as possible should be represented as faithfully as possible. I'm not sure IPACS would be too thrilled with a cockpit only variant but I may try as it's quicker to delete stuff than insert stuff. I'm afraid the new project is slightly heavier than 2 ton's by some margin, but then I do go overboard. A book I co-wrote with my brother started life as a theory and ended up being 700+ pages, so we added yet more pages to a total of 1200+ and its now broken up into 4 books. All helps to keep my 67 year old brain ticking over I guess. TMD torture sessions on the horizon.

Hi Jan

When exported the aircraft looks fine on the runway so I assume its the correct scale.

When sat inside (in VR) the width of the cockpit appears Ok as its quite a wide beast, but the gauges, switches radio drum displays etc all look out of scale. The OverHead looks narrow as does the interseat console, I am wondering if things get reduced down too much the closer they are to the camera point of view.

Will PM a link for you to download and check.

I guess the short answer would be twice as much work. You want the long answer too.

It would not be a simple case of replacing a low poly switch with a high poly switch. Both switches would need to be fully modelled and then UV mapped. Simple enough for a single switch but imaging doing this for the pilots seat for example. Building an aircraft from scratch is already time consuming, I have so far been working for some 2 months and I can safely imagine another 6 or 7.

In theory I could build an aircraft with no exterior at all and use all those wasted polygons for more detail in the cockpit, which, let's face it, is where we all should fly from. Its a flight simulator not a fashion show. But, I think the user base might throw a few tantrums if I did. I used to build custom models for P3D hardware simulators which contained only parts of the aircraft that the pilot could see and a landing lights/taxi setup. In the case of the hardware Vulcan simulator, it was landing/taxi light and a refuel probe, everything else couldn't be seen.

Question to Master Kenobi. Why does everything in the cockpit look smaller than it should. For example, a 2 inch gauge looks more like a 1.25 inch gauge.

Thank you Master Kenobi...a million polygons mmmm all those lovely polygons. Perhaps a three legged stool for the pilot and copilot. I do remember sitting on one of those in the Concord flight deck, but that was a lifetime ago.

A well earned break from modelling, time to start the TMD in earnest.......Lots of questions incoming

Yes its a serious question and nothing to do with body size

My latest project is some 442,530 polygons and 1218 objects....so far. I think it may end up being 700,000 polygons. It does load so far but with minimal TMD stuff.

Hence the question....How big is too big.

Hi Steve, are you the Vulcan builder ???

Steve

Its the same coding as for FS2 yet the two versions are very different. FS2 flies well and FS4 is a bit of an animal. Do make use of trim, either on your joystick of the AFCS box itself. Something has changed under the hood of FS4 for sure that I am unaware of