Manual installation of our Microsoft Flight Simulator aircrafts - STEP BY STEP guide

Background

While we tried to provide clear and comprehensive instructions to install our aicrafts in Microsoft Flight Simulator, it seems that some customers are having some difficulties during the installation phase.
Depending on where you have purchased our aircrafts, the installation method will vary depending on the distributor.

While the number of users having installation problems is VERY small, we feel we failed to communicate the installation procedure effectively and we think we owe an apology to those customers, along with a better explaination on how to install our product.

First thing, this guide does apply ONLY if your download is provided without an installer.

If you have purchased our Flight Simulator planes from the in-game store ("Microsoft Marketplace" or simply "Marketplace") 

If you have purchased our products from ORBX, through Orbx Central, download and updates are managed automatically by the Orbx Central app.

This guide is intended for users that have purchased our planes from other distributors (such as SimMarket or FlightSim Store) in case the product is supplied without an installer.

Why no installer? 

First, we hear some customer saying "Why didn't you provide an installer with your products? It is not acceptable!"
Of course an automated installer would be easier to use, but we have preferred not to supply one as we felt this gave more control to the user. Also, we after a quick survey, it looked like most of our customers preferred to have a manual installation.

MANUAL INSTALLATION PROCEDURE

The manual installation procedure should not be that hard, basically it is made of two steps:

1) Locate the Community Folder

2) Unizip, Drag and Drop the package into the Community Folder

Let's go step by step through the procedure.

1) LOCATE THE COMMUNITY FOLDER

Unlike Flight Simulator X and Prepar3D, Microsoft Flight Simulator adopts a Virtual File System... that is multiple folders in different locations are "merged" virtually in the Flight Simulator File System.
You are supposed to put your downloaded add-ons in the COMMUNITY folder.

Note that, depending on your installation preferences and MSFS version, there MAY BE MULTIPLE COMMUNITY FOLDERS. However ONLY ONE is the "good" one and the one being watched by the file system.

To be 100% sure you are looking at the "real" Community folder, you can use the following procedure

1A) LAUNCH FLIGHT SIMULATOR - Here is the typical starting screen

1B) ACTIVATE THE DEVELOPER MODE - To activate the developer mode, go to OPTIONS -> GENERAL, then select DEVELOPERS -> DEVELOPERS MODE ON

1C) SELECT VIRTUAL FILE SYSTEM in the DEVELOPER MENU - After activating the Developer Mode, hovering the mouse on the top part of the screen will make the Developer Menu appear.

1D) LOOK AT THE WATCHED BASES - Select the Watched base option and you will get the list of the locations that Flight Simulator uses to work. In particular, in our case, we see that the Community folder is located in M:\MSFS\Community

THIS TELLS US THAT ANY ADD-ON WE INSTALL SHOULD GO, IN OUR CASE, IN THE FOLDER LOCATED AT M:\MSFS\Community 

IMPORTANT! YOUR LOCATION WILL BE DIFFERENT AND THIS DEPENDS ON WHERE YOU HAVE DECIDED TO INSTALL FLIGHT SIMULATOR!

1E) You may now want to EXIT the DEVELOPER MODE

1F) CLOSE FLIGHT SIMULATOR - You must CLOSE Flight Simulator now. Before closing, let's have a look at the Hangar. In our case we have 30 aircrafts (Premium Deluxe Edition)


2) UNZIP, DRAG AND DROP THE PACKAGE IN THE COMMUNITY FOLDER

Microsoft Flight Simulator Add-ons are distributed in PACKAGES, that is folders that contain everything the add-ons need. These must not be altered for the package to work. We just need to copy paste the package folder in the Community folder. We'll use the MB-339 as an example.

2A) First we locate the .zip file downloaded from our vendor. We took the latest version of the MB-339 as an example. The .zip file in this case is called MB339_MSFS_RETAIL_V120.zip

2B) Double click on the .zip file to check its contents. We see it contains one folder named indiafoxtecho-mb339  

2C) We now simply COPY the folder, either by right-clicking and selecting COPY or by pressing Control+C

2D) Then we paste it into the COMMUNITY folder located previously. Here you see the MB-339 along with other add-ons we had in our folder

2E) Restart Microsoft Flight Simulator again... and check the hangar. Now we have 32 aircrafts, as the MB-339 package includes two variants.

WHAT CAN GO WRONG?

Not much in our experience. Most of the cases of failed manual installations were one of the following:

1) User did not properly locate the Community folder, or located a wrong (inactive) Community folder or created a new Community Folder unliked to MSFS

2) Users put the .zip file into the Community folder. This is incorrect - you should copy and paste THE CONTENT of the .zip file, not the zip file itself.

3) Users copy-pasted the SimObjects folder (or other parts of the package) - this was the right thing to do in FSX and P3D, but it is NOT CORRECT in MSFS. You must copy paste the package as a whole.

4) FILE NAMES TOO LONG. This is a special case...and a bug of MSFS. It may well be that you Community folder location is nested so deeply that the file names of the add-ons may be too long and generate errors. You can solve this in two ways:

- rename the package folder (e.g. "indiafoxtecho-mb339" package folder can be renamed to "mb-339" or just "339"

- replace the package with a symbolic link. That is you put the package somewhere else and create a link to it...and then put the link in the Community folder.

MORE DETAILS?

This YOUTUBE video will go into more details on how to install add-ons to MSFS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltT-2YYFlcQ

-

How to have Tacpack weapons to show without Tacpak

One of the most frequently asked question I receive is: "I do not have Tacpack and I do not plan to buy it… can I get the weapons to show all the same in your planes?"

Them this question usually gets even more frequent when we have a P3D update (which ALWAYS breaks the compatibility with Tacpack)

Well… the answer is YES, you can - ALTHOUGH, OF COURSE, WEAPONS WILL NOT BE OPERATIONAL. I sometimes put that information on the documentation or on Facebook… or written as a note in the aircraft.cfg, but I thought it would be better to explain the general case so that you can hava a method that will work for (almost) every Tacpack aircraft.

The first thing is to tell you the way Tacpack works in terms of weapon attachment.
In the folder of each Tacpack aircraft there is a text file called "tacpack.ini" which contains, along with other information, the list of allowable stores for each station and links the store to a specific load station of your aircraft.cfg.

When a weapon is loaded in Tacpack, a specific weight is applied to the station. Then it is the aircraft model which visualizes the weapon depending on the weight. So, the WEAPONS ARE PART OF THE AIRCRAFT MODEL. They are just hidden and they become visible when a specific weight is applied - this is done either with logic only in the aircraft model or though a proxy variable (triggered by a piece of code somewhere else).

The developer can associate an arbitrary weight to each weapon and to each station. This can either be a "token" weight or the proper weight of the weapon.
So, unless there is additional code somewhere else, in general, by applying the right way to the right load station you can have the weapon to show.

Let's take the my Eurofighter as an example:

1) Go to the main folder of the aicraft and locate the TACPACK.INI file and open it with Notepad.

2) Scroll down to the following section:

[Store_Station.0]
offset=-43.1,-14.9,-5.03
num_entries=5
store.0=AIM-9X,188,0,1,0,0
store.1=IRIS-T,192,0,1,0,0
store.2=AIM-132,194,0,1,0,0
store.3=PYLON.SMOKEWINDER,150,0,-1,0,0
store.4=PYLON.SRAAM,1,0,-1,0,0

Store_Station.0 means this is the first load station managed by Tacpack. This MAY NOT be the first station in your list (you can read what is the fust by looking a the StoresFirst parameter in the .ini file  - in this case it is StoresFirst=1 which means the second load station in the list, as the first is zero).

So for the the Typhoon, Store_Station.0 is the second store station in the aircraft.cfg (marked with STA1).

Then… just look at the numbers in red. 188 is the weight associated to AIM-9X, 194 is the weight associated to IRIS-T and so on.
So if you put 194 lbs on STA 1 in the game (you can do this in the VEHICLE -> FUEL and PAYLOAD Menu) you will make the AIM-132 to appear.

The stores starting with "PYLON" are just inhert for Tacpack. They may represent weapon pylons, unsupported weapons or other kind of equipment.

Let's move to Store_Station.1 (which is STA2 in the game...remember, they start from 0).

[Store_Station.1]
offset=-42,-12,-4.8
num_entries=11
store.0=AIM-9X,588,0,400,0,0
store.1=IRIS-T,592,0,400,0,0
store.2=AIM-132,596,0,400,0,0
store.3=AIM-120C,748,0,400,0,0
store.4=METEOR,807,0,400,0,0
store.5=AGM-88C,1133,0,400,0,0
store.6=GBU-10,2464,0,350,0,0
store.7=GBU-12,960,0,350,0,0
store.8=PYLON.EMPTY,350,0,-1,0,0
store.9=GBU-31,2475,0,350,0,0
store.10=AGM-65E,508,0,401,0,0

Note that here we have the AGM-65E listed...but it is not used in the plane. This is because the Brimstone missiles are actually simulated with an AGM-65E as the Brimstone is not supported.
Note also that the weight associated to the A-A missiles are much higher! This is because they take in account that, on the Eurofighter, you also need to attach a pylon and an adapter for this stations.
Hance, to show the AIM-132 we should put 596 lbs on STATION 2.

One last example is STA 3.

[Store_Station.2]
offset=-41,-8.8,-5.5
num_entries=7
store.0=GBU-10,2464,0,350,0,0
store.1=GBU-12,960,0,350,0,0
store.2=FPU-11,731,0,350,0,0
store.3=AGM-154C,3216,0,350,0,0
store.4=PYLON.EMPTY,350,0,-1,0,0
store.5=GBU-31,2475,0,350,0,0
store.6=AGM-65E,508,0,401,0,0

Here we can see that AGM-154C is used as replacement of the Storm Shadow and the FPU-11 is used for the external tanks. Let's use the external tanks...so 731 lbs on STA 3.

….and so on. You will see that there are stations allocated for the GUN and the TFLIR system (which the code uses as PIRATE or LITENING depending on the case) and there are "dummy" stations for multiple racks (like the Brimstone).

So, let's try this to get the configuration in the picture at the beginning of the post:



STA1 - 194lbs -> AIM-132

STA2 - 596lbs -> AIM-132

STA3 - 731lbs -> FUEL TANK

STA4 - 960lbs -> GBU-12

STA5 - 408lbs -> METEOR

STA6 - 408lbs -> METEOR

STA7 - 440lbs -> LITENING POD

STA8 - 408lbs -> METEOR

STA9 - 408lbs -> METEOR

STA10 - 960lbs -> GBU-12

STA11 - 731lbs -> FUEL TANK


STA12 - 596lbs -> AIM-132


STA13 - 194lbs -> AIM-132

The configuration is saved along with your flight, so if you save the scenario you do not need to change it again next time you load it.
Also, you can enter these weights in the aircraft.cfg and they will become the default for that aircraft.

This procedure will work with my F-35, Eurofighter, F-14 and S-3 Aircrafts….and presumably other aicrafts too.
It is not needed by the Skyhawk and the M-346 as they use proxy variables which make the loads to appear even if not weight is applied to a station.

How to Convert your aircraft 3DStudio model from FSX/P3D to XPlane11

It took me a while to undestand how the StepToSky XPlane11 plug-in for 3DStudio Max worked… I had tried to convert some of my models in the past, but could not get the animations to play or they looked wrong. Then, some days ago, I decided to try again and finally understood some of the basic concepts I was missing...and the S-211 is now flying in XPlane 11 too.

So I decided to write a small "guide/memo" to help other designers that may want to convert some of their models to XP11 but were baffled by the lack of documentation on the plug-in and how to use it.

This guide assumes that:
- You know how to develop a 3D model for FSX/P3D
- You have the model ready in 3D Studio Max
- You have correctly installed the Step2Sky Plug-in
- You want to convert your model to X-Plane 11
- You know how to use X-Plane 11 Plane Maker (and you have already prepared a flight model for the aircraft)

You can download the document HERE.

IMPORTANT: NO SUPPORT OF ANY KIND IS PROVIDED - I AM SORRY BUT I WILL NOT HAVE THE TIME TO PROVIDE SUPPORT OR REPLIES ON XP11

You may also want to check the channel JRollon Planes - this guy is amazing and shows you how to build a 3D model from scratch for XP11 in 3D Studio (warning: he uses an older version of the plugin with slightly different interface)

T-45C Goshawk Version 2.80 - and a note on rolling ships in P3Dv3.1

Here is an unplanned update to the Goshawk - as the Goshawk has always been my test vehicle for experiments, I had a number of small improvements that I never released... and I decided to polish them a little and release a new version (although the project is officially "closed")... so here we go with version 2.80...

Also, a quick note on P3Dv3.1:
One cool feature of P3Dv3.1 is that, if water is set on ULTRA settings, boats and ship will pitch and roll according to the waves (which in turn are influenced by the wind). Needless to say, it makes carrier (or helicopter) operations much more challenging. However, unfortunately some visual effects (notably night lighting and fresnel lights) do not follow the boat properly so this LM has DISABLED for standard carriers by default, as it was very confusing at night. You can enable or disable this effect on a per-vehicle basis by using a new parater in the contact points section (if 1 the boat will not roll, otherwise it will):
[contact_points]
always_use_avg_surface=1 //always use the average surface elevation
Anyway, back to the T-45C, here are the release notes. Download from Google Drive from the side bar, as usual.

VERSION 2.80
- New NACES seat 3D model courtesy of Vertical Reality Simulations (same as their Superbug)
- New Control stick model for Virtual Cockpit
- Minor improvements to Virtual Cockpit details
- Added “Remove Before Flight” ribbons (will show/hide with SHIFT+E then 3 control)
- Added HUD, engine intakes and exhaust covers (will show/hide with SHIFT+E then 4)
- Standardized pilot figures to have the same look as the Military Avatars Package
- Added skinned meshes animations to pilot figures (head movement, throttle, stick left/right,
pedals left/right)
- Fixed bug that caused HUD to flicker in P3Dv2 and v3
- Added clickable areas to external model for P3Dv3 (to use in external views or Avatar mode)*:
– canopy opening lever
– crew access steps
– engine/HUD covers (click nearby the engine intake)
– remove before flight ribbons (click on certain parts of the landing gear and tailhook)
- Fixed miscellaneous incompatibility issues and typos in configuration files
- Rationalization of files and duplicates for “WORKING MIRROR” feature...now all the models
are in the main MODEL folder, while you need to install the relevant aicraft.cfg and model.cfg
to activate or deactivate the feature
- Fixed minor animation bugs
- Pilot figures now have automatic or user controllable visibility conditions**
- Improved configurator, now has also crew figure control buttons, as well as ribbons and covers
visibility control and refuel options**

NOTES:

* covers and ribbons are not “individually” controllable... clicking on a cover or a ribbon
will remove all of them. This was basically a test to check how practical it was to have a
virtual walkaround

** By default pilot visibility is set in AUTO mode. In this mode pilot will always show unless:
– The relevant weight station il loaded with 89 pounds or less
– The RPMs are below 5% and the speed of the aicraft is below 5 kts and the aicraft is on the ground and the parking brake is set.
The configurator allows the user to MANUALLY select to HIDE the crew, or show both the student
and the instructor or only the student. MANUAL selection will always force the selected
condition unless CREW AUTO button is pressed (and automatic visibility is restored)

How to create working mirrors for P3Dv2 aicrafts

Just a quick heads-up for aicraft developers (and a quick memo for me) - here is how the working mirrors in my T-45C for Prepar3d V2.0 are done.
This is not meant to be a "tutorial", but just a quick note to show one of the possibilities provided by the new features of Prepar3d V2.
Specifically, Prepar3d V2 has an extended camera system, that allows you to easily render-to-texture any view, including IR sensors etc.
To make a working mirror for you Virtual cockpit you simply create a camera view with specific settings, assign a texture name and then use the texture in your 3D model.
In the T-45 there is a camera set as follows:

[CameraDefinition.11]
Title="$Mirror"
Guid={c028e6d3-362d-4211-97c8-8d469c886842}
Description = Real time mirror
Origin = Virtual Cockpit
Category=Cockpit
MomentumEffect = No
SnapPbhAdjust = Swivel
SnapPbhReturn = FALSE
PanPbhAdjust = Swivel
PanPbhReturn = FALSE
Track = None
ShowAxis = FALSE
AllowZoom = TRUE
InitialZoom = 0.60
SmoothZoomTime = 2.0
ZoomPanScalar = 1.0
ShowWeather = Yes
XyzAdjust = TRUE
ShowLensFlare=TRUE
PitchPanRate=30
HeadingPanRate=70
PanAcceleratorTime=0
InitialXyz = 0, 0.5, 0
InitialPbh = 0, 0, 180
ClipMode=Minimum
HideShadows=1
HideReflection=1
HideModels=0
HideParticles=1
HideUserAircraft=1
HideAutogen=1
HideScreenSpace=0
HideMissionObjects=0
ShowLabels=FALSE
HideSky=0
HideTerrain=0
RenderToTexture=TRUE
RenderToScreen=FALSE
TextureSizeX=512
TextureSizeY=512

This should be enough to generate a $mirror texture you can use in the VC. You will need, of course, to orient/flip it properly. Also, I have made the base material "self illuminating" otherwise the mirror would receive shadows from the rest of the cockpit.
In green are the specific lines that do the trick. You can of course customize the camera angles and the rendering setting to your preferences (but remember that more detail means bigger fps hit).

All the parameters are described in detail in the SDK - the trick works in a similar fashion for IR sensors or with other post processing effects.

I will probably add this to all my other planes (starting from the -D version)... when I'll get the time. Problem then is that you end up having two models (one for FSX and one for P3Dv2)... which takes longer to maintain.

Hope this helps. Ah, needless to say this ONLY works in Prepar3D v2.

How to manage extremely complex 3D models in FSX

One of the issues I had devoping the F-35 was the extreme complexity of the model in terms of polycount - which led to several issues while compiling the model.
The problem I had was related to some of the "undocumented" FSX limitations. It was advertised that FSX models had no restrictions in terms of poly count, making it possible to create extremely complex models - far beyond FS2004 limits.... And this is true, with a catch.

There is still a 64K buffer limit for the draw calls - which in FSX are "grouped" by material. That is, you cannot have a unlimited number of vertices/polygons using EXACTLY the same material - as the polys of every part (even if disconnected) using the same material concur in the same draw calls buffer: this may result in:

• FSX exporter fails to compile
• Mdl is compiled but some parts are not showing correctly in FSX (either do not show at all, or they appear black or they cast shadows and don't show at all... I've seen every kind of weirdness)

SOLUTION:

• Create several slightly different copies of the material in gmax (e.g. Engine_material_1, Engine_material_2, Etc. which may differ just by 1 point of specular power in the basic material proprieties so they will look the same in FSX)
• Assign Engine_material_1 to some of the engine parts, Engine_material_2 to others, etc. so that each engine part goes into a different buffer
• Compile and be happy

This is the magic "trick" that allows extremely complex models in FSX.
ONE CAVEAT: if this is your case, it is likely you have exceeded the visual complexity reccomended by Microsoft. That means you may have users that will complain about the frame rates when compare your model to default ones...

To be honest this was not the first time I've encountered this problem - but I saw that this trick was unknown to some designers and I wanted to share the knowledge. By the way, I'm told that similar issues (and solutions) happen in FS9.

As for the F-35... in Italy we say "appetite comes with eating", meaning that once you started making one thing it may be difficult to stop. In this case, I started a minor rework of the MFD to add some functionality...and it turned into a major remake (which was also helpful to reduce the number of textures). As of today, HSI,MAP,ENGine,FUEL,FCS sub-screens are working and 99% complete... The other functions (COM,ICAWS and WEApon subscreens) are much easier to make - the problem is that I do not have much time to work in
I promise I will post some images tonight.

Reinstalling Windows, FSX and the SDK

Windows 7 performance assessment of my computer - My nerd side is relatively happy but needs a new super-fast hard disk to match the rest (...and I'm pretty sure FSX will still be sluggish :-) )

Unfortunately I had to face the failure of one of my hard disks - I had a backup of most of my source files, but I lost some part of my work on the F-35 and few minor tweaks of the F-14.

On the bright side, this forced a much needed system cleanup (format of the main HD and clean install of Windows XP, FSX and its SDK)... And the reason why I am writing this post is a "pro memoria". It is not the first time I do this, and I always face some difficulties in having the FSX modeling SDK work. It really annoying - and I know that some people approaching the SDK are let down by these issues. On the other hand, other persons do not have this kind of issues - which makes the whole thing even more frustrating for those who coul not manage to make the modeling SDK work.

If you follow the SDK instructions correctly - and they are correct! - you may still be unable to compile a model...for several reasons.
So, I am writing down all the "undocumented" steps you may need to take to make the modeling tools work (either 3D Studio or Gmax) with FSX.

1. In the international options you must have the numbers set in the "American way" that is a "dot" should separate the integers from the decimal, while the "comma" separates the thousands (e.g. 113,123.75) - this is the opposite of the "classic" Italian setting - for example. This may create issues in .xml files
2. Download and install the .NET FRAMEWORK 2.0 - If you do not the FSX exporter DLE will not work (and appears as "missing" in the modeling tools). .NET was not installed after my clean and genuine Windows XP SP2 installation
3. Download and install the DirectX 9.0 SDK - otherwise XtoMDL will not run (Note that the DX9.0 SDK version is NOT the same as the "regular" one)
4. Now you can complile your modeld and be happy

By the way, I've also installed Windows 7 64 bit, just for curiosity, and it seems to work fine. Given that, on my machine (i7920 and X295), Vista 64 bit made FSX run smoother (in DX10) than XP (by almost 9-10 fps with the same settings!), Windows 7 seems to work really good. Time for a OS upgrade? Not sure - may be some of my development tools don't work... Still, the new Windows seems good.

Experiments in specular mapping

F-14D for FSX:Acceleration with added specular mapping - I struggled to get an angle that could highlight the effect most. I gave it relatively "subtle" value so it is barely visible from most angles. I like it....and looks much better in motion.

Sunny weather here in Italy so I am spending most of my spare time on the beach rather than in front of a computer...Therefore my FSX design-work is proceeding veeery slowly. As you may be aware of, I am working on an F-35A model. As there is some chance this may become my first payware project, I am trying my best to make a top notch model - I want it to include every "bells and whistles" allowed by FSX - and so I decided to spend some of my time on testing things I am not really good at or never implemented at all.

One thing I never employed successfully in my models is specular mapping. Basically, for those who do not know, specular map is a texture map which defines what will be the color, the intensity and the sharpness of the reflection of the material on a point-by-point basis. This was not possible in FS2004 and allows some very cool specular effects.

I never implemented it on my models as, in the tests I did, I felt it provided an excessive shininess of the surfaces. On the other hand there are some really coold models out there that use it with extremely good effects - so it had to be there for the F-35....hence I used the Tomcat as a testbed for this effect.

After few attempts I realized what I was doing wrong - and it was the base color of the specular map: to achieve a good looking modern-military-paint reflection you should use a very dark specular map. In the example shown in the pictures, the specular map was obtained by taking the diffuse map. darkening it by 50-70 "units" and applying an uniform alpha channel of 64 value. Obviously, if you are less-lazy than me, you could have tuned both on a per-pixel basis. Specular power was set to 30 (raising it and/or the alpha will result in smaller hotspots - which tend to highlight the mesh defects - better to avoid that IMHO).

The specular model will be part of the next update. And the F-35 will be shown (in pictures) as soon as the main texturing is complete: I am making a 4096x4096 photoreal texture for the fuselage and wings by "assembling" hi-def photos...results are good - but process is slow.

FreeTrack - Freeware Head Tracking!!!

Do you have a webcam? Do you have very basic do-it-yourself skill/attitude? Well, add few euros and you may have everything you need to make a do-it-yourself-thanks-to-a-great-freeware-app head tracking device. The GNU freeware I'm talking about is called "FreeTrack", and the project website is this:

http://www.free-track.net/

For those who don't know, "head tracking", in software, means the ability for the software to know the position/orientation of the user's head and use this information to receive input from the user. Most common usage in simulation games is: you move your head (slightly) and the point of view, in the cockpit, moves accordingly (with some movement amplification - if you think about it, it is necessary to amplify the movement).

There are commercial products that do this. TrackIR from Natural Point is the market leader for games, but it is not really cheap - as it is well above the 100 Euros.

If you want try the do-it-yourself-way, you'll need:

- The FreeTrack sofware from the site above

- A webcam

- Some LEDs and proper resistor(s) and batteries.

- A baseball cap and something to hold the led and attach them to the cap.

How it works: basically, you put three LEDs on a baseball cap in a given (triangular) geometry. You wear the cap and switch the leds on then lauch Freetrack. Freetrack takes the webcam image, processes it and isolates the position of the LEDs -from which it calculates the position and orientation of your head which is then, at your choice, translated into Mouse/joystick/trackIR emulation or SimConnect (FSX) controls.

Before trying this out I was VERY skeptical about its functionality and usability. Now I am a believer. I will post my construction of the device, which was done with a single "LEDstrip" (with regular visible red light LEDs) and a unmodified Microsoft VX-3000 webcam. Try it. It may change your way of experiencing simulations (and, if you do not like it, it is still fun trying it and it is very cheap).

How to fix/avoid the "point of view too far" (Scale) issue in FSX planes

I think the major defect of my Goshawk is that, in "free flight" selection screen and -much more important- in the spot views, the camera is very far away.

This is an issue related to the XtoMdl software (the one that processes the .X file and makes the .mdl), which, in certain conditions makes an incorrect estimation of the plane size and moves the camera away assuming your plane is much bigger than it is. This is caused by animated meshes that have a Uniform Scale applied to object level (e.g. small gear details that you may have drawn in much bigger scale and then you shrunk to right size)

At the moment, there is no workaround for the .mdl (hexediting will not work) - but something can be done in the source file. Most important, there are good practices to avoid it in future projects.

If you have done a model which has that issue, in 3D studio or gmax, you need to:
1) Open the source file and select the parts that may have been rescaled and apply the Reset Scale command (better do this in keyframe 0). You may need to selectively and temporarily delete part of the aircraft and compile them separately to see where the issue is. Important: if the model is not animated the issue will not appear.
2) You may end with deformed meshes or incorrect animations. In some cases it is easier to remake them rather than try to fix them
3) Compile the .mdl and see what happens. If you still see the camera is far away, there are other "guilty" parts. Go back to (1). If the camera position is OK (or close enough) then you're done.

If you are making a new model, in gmax or 3Ds you need to:
1) NEVER apply a scale command to an object as a whole. Always apply a "Edit mesh" modifier an manipulate vertex from there.
2) As soon as you have an animation in you model, export, compile and try what happens. If the model is not animated the issue will not appear.
3) See point (1)
4) Export often
5) Always remember point (1) when you model!!!!!

If you are an end user and have an aircraft with that issue, there is nothing you can do.
Yesterday I've tried to fix the Goshawk. The problem was found to be the front landing gear. The camera is much closer now, even if still slightly far. Maybe I've not found all the defective parts. The whole fixing process took no less than 5 hours :-(

How to animate the launch bar in FSX:Acceleration planes

One of the most trickiest points in modeling a carrier-capable FSX:Acceleration plane is to have an animated launch bar.
This feature is not properly documented in the FSX:Acceleration SDK and there is almost no way you can guess the missing information.
I've found the answer on this post:

http://www.aerodynamika.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?num=1200594224/1#1

Basically you need to:
- delete the "launch assistance" entries in the aircraft.cfg file if any. If they are present the bar will work but will not be animated.
- make the attachpt_Launch_Bar_Lug and attachpt_Launch_Bar_Pivot objects in the modeling tool. Note that their position shall influence the force application during launch. You may need to tweak them a little. In my case, if I put them in the "actual" place, the plane crashed into the deck during launch. I had to raise them a little.
- Assign empty attach attach points launch_bar_lug and launch_bar_pivot (pivot is where the bar connects to the gear, lug is where the bar connect to the catapult).
- Right click on those objects and edit the XML code and remove the suffix "_whatevernumber" - I'm not sure this step is really necessary
- Animate the launch bar keyframes 0 - 200 where: 0 is gear in, launch bar retracted; 100 is gear out, launch bar retracted; 200 is gear fully compressed, launch bar attached.
- Assign the animation launch_bar with Aces tools.

The procedure above should work on both 3D Studio and gmax. I'm sure the link above is much clearer than my description.