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Post by Tom Goodrick on Sept 8, 2008 18:57:46 GMT -5
That is 33 Celsius. ATC always gives the temp in Celsius. This is southern Louisiana in early September. The Baron shows 91 F on the runway with 5 kt wind.
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Post by Tom Goodrick on Sept 7, 2008 19:52:44 GMT -5
All hurricane files are "manageable" until you try to land at some of the airports. Try making a landing at Jackson, Mississippi, KJAN, just a 100 nm or so north of Baton Rouge. I tried it in my Learjet 35 and decided I didn't want to land there. I aborted the approach and flew on to KHSV after my tour of the area near Gustav. The interesting thing is how the winds extend so far from the eye which is on the coast in this file. Flying into and out of Houma should also be interesting but that is near the eye.
I find strong turbulence knocks my plane around just as it should in real life. You can get jerked out of your seat easily if not belted in. That's the kind of turbulence I found on the approach to KJAN. You don't want to get low and slow in winds like that. But you can fly fine at altitude.
Regarding temperature, I did not say there was any validity to the performance of the Bell temp gauge. It is clearly wrong. M$ screwed up. It is handy to read the temp in F when sitting still on the ground. It does a good job of that. But get up and moving and it shows bad info.
That gauge is the one named Bell_206B.Temperature.gau and the one that should be used in all cases is named Digital!AMP_TEMP_C.xml which I wrote. It reads a temperature inthe sim that is not changed by the speed of the aircraft. "Wind chill" does not occur in inanimate objects. You are right that there is a thermal warming effect on the skin of any aircraft moving very fast - at least Mach 2.5. We don't see that effect in FS9. But the Bell thermometer can easily be off by 10 degrees at 150 KIAS.
You didn't say what gauge was showing you 33 degrees on the ground. If the wind was strong and you were using the Bell gauge, it would indicate low. It should be clear what units are used in any case as either a C or an F appears on the gauge.
I reported on this about a year ago and developed my AMB_TEMP gauge so that I could read the ambient temperature during the flight of jets where that temp has an effect on performance.
I recorded a weather file during hanna as well - when the eye had passed inland over North Carolina. It takes a while to find the high winds in the storm area of a tropical storm or hurricane because that area has a diameter of about 500 nm. You mainly find trouble at some airports when you try to taxi and takeoff or land. I don't think your equipment has any significant effect. Of course I seldom fly on manual except for landing and taking off.
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Post by Tom Goodrick on Sept 5, 2008 13:36:43 GMT -5
After more work on this problem, I discovered that the Learjet 45 cockpit light would go off when I turned on the beacon or the nav lights. There is only one strobe and it did not affect the cockpit light. Thiis problem was solved by changing the electrical system to a 24 volt system with specific listings for all components. Here is the fix: (Having a 12 volt system in a LJ45 is silly anyway.)
[electrical] max_battery_voltage = 24.0 generator_alternator_voltage = 28.0 max_generator_alternator_amps = 60.0
;BusType, MaxAmpLoad, MinVoltage BusTypes:0=MainBus,1=AvionicsBus,2=BatteryBus,3=HotBatteryBus,4-7=Generator/AlternatorBus(1-4) avionics_bus = 0, 5 , 17.0 avionics = 1, 5 , 17.0 additional_system = 0, 8 , 17.0 light_panel = 2, 1, 17.0 light_cabin = 2, 1, 17.0 light_nav = 0, 2, 17.0 light_beacon = 4, 2, 17.0 light_strobe = 0, 4, 17.0 starter1 = 2, 20, 17.0 starter2 = 2, 20, 17.0
This works great except for one problem. The beacon causes the cockpit light to blink which would be unacceptable to the pilots. This can be seen in spot view and in VC panel view. The only solution is to turn off the beacon and hope the strobe is sufficient. (The FAA probably would not approve.) I tried isolating the beacon on a separate generator bus but that did not solve the problem.
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Post by Tom Goodrick on Sept 5, 2008 10:49:45 GMT -5
I learned a few restrictions to this solution. They are discussed in more detail on the FS 2004 Forum at: bgaforums.proboards55.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=fs9&thread=60&page=1The main thing is that is seems you can only add four lines for cabin lights before blowing a fuse with the cockpit lights. Incidentally, if you have a real cabin light switch, you can use it by using switch number 10 in the line defining the light: light.11 = 10, x, y, z, fx_vclighth, That way the cabin lights can be turned on separately from the cockpit light to save battery juice before starting.
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Post by Tom Goodrick on Sept 5, 2008 10:41:34 GMT -5
One of the features of real aircraft is the cabin lighting that can be seen at night as they sit on the ramp. I have been encouraged as I walked across a dark, wet and windy ramp to an awaiting King Air to see light spilling out of the open doorway and lighting every window. Adding this feature to your FS aircraft can increase its realism.
There was a brief thread on the BGA side about this but they went off chasing solutions in the GMAX design world. We don't have to go there. Just a few lines added to the aircraft.cfg file can do the trick. We simply add a few lines under [lights] like
light.n = m, x, y, z, fx_vclighth,
where n is the line sequence number, m is either 4 or 10, x, y, z are the position coordinates of the light, and fx_vclighth is a bright light. There is a fx_vclight in the cockpit that is and should remain dimmer for the pilots.
The number m depends on which actual switches you have in the cockpit. If you only have a cockpit light switch or if it is tied in with the nav lights as they often are, you must use m=4 for all the inside lights. But for a realistic electrical system, it is nice to use m=10 which will separately turn on just the cabin lights.
The reason for this distinction is to utilize the electrical system properly. If you get into a cold, dark airplane, you want a light that will not draw down the battery significantly. This is when you want just the cockpit light switch. Then you start the engines. Next you can turn on the cbain lights. After charging the battery, you can shut down the left engine (on the side of the door) so the passengers can board while you keep the cabin lights on. If you don't have separate switches, you have to work fast and hope the engines start before you draw down the voltage. I am putting in a voltage gauge on my aircraft with cabin lights to let you see when you will have trouble and need to start the engines in the dark (with that ever htasty flashlight in your teeth).
There are constraints on how many cabin lights you can set. It seems that four is the magic number but I don't know why or if that is absolutely true. I just added cabin lights to the Learjet 45 and 35 (by Mike Stone) and found this number by trial and error ineach case. I wanted more in the 45 because it has a lot of small windows. I started with eight lights (one for each window) and had to remark them out with // until I got all working that I could. The first one I lost was the cockpit light line (the original light).
Here are the lines that work for the LJ45:
[LIGHTS] //Types: 1=beacon, 2=strobe, 3=navigation, 4=cockpit, 5=landing light.0 = 3, -39.00, -23.6, -0.25, fx_navredm , light.1 = 3, -39.00, 23.6, -0.25, fx_navgrem , light.2 = 3, -63.63, 0.00, 9.20, fx_navwhi , light.3 = 1, -37.00, 0.00, -2.59, fx_beaconb , light.4 = 2, -36.97, 0.00, -2.62, fx_strobe , light.5 = 1, -63.05, 0.00, 9.75, fx_beaconh , light.6 = 5, -29.7, -1.3, -1.71, fx_landing , light.7 = 5, -29.7, 1.3, -1.71, fx_landing , light.8 = 4, -13.00, 0.00, 2.5, fx_vclight, light.9 = 4, -18.00, 0.00, 2.0, fx_vclighth, light.10 = 4, -23.50, 0.00, 2.0, fx_vclighth, light.11 = 4, -29.00, 0.00, 2.0, fx_vclighth, light.12 = 4, -34.00, 0.00, 2.0, fx_vclighth,
Lines 9 through 12 are the ones I added. I also moved the vclight to make it more visible from the outside. I stretched out the positions of the cabin lights to show in all windows. They also shine out onto the wing.
I also added and changed some lines in the [electrical] section:
[electrical] max_battery_voltage = 12.0 generator_alternator_voltage = 13.8 max_generator_alternator_amps = 40.0
;BusType, MaxAmpLoad, MinVoltage BusTypes:0=MainBus,1=AvionicsBus,2=BatteryBus,3=HotBatteryBus,4-7=Generator/AlternatorBus(1-4) avionics_bus = 0, 5 , 9.5 avionics = 1, 5 , 9.5 additional_system = 0, 4 , 9.5 marker_beacon = 1, 2 , 9.0 fuel_pump = 0, 1 , 9.0 light_cockpit = 0, 1, 12.0
I set the current for each light low at 1 amp. I also reduced the amps for the fuel pumps. My understanding from reading the ACSD is that these currents are cummulative for additional items of the same type. I am not sure if this is really necessary. I did it when I was trying to get eight lights to work and still had to cut the lines to four.
Park this plane on the ramp with the door open and it looks great - ready to take you home after a long business meeting.
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Post by Tom Goodrick on Sept 4, 2008 23:26:36 GMT -5
Flaming with regard to the temperatures you saw, you might be reading the temp under the wrong conditions. If you read the temp when the sim is paused, you will not get a valid reading. The tempreverts to the Standard Day temp for whatever altitude you have. You must be active in the sim to get a good reading. But even then you will not get a good reading on the Bell206 thermometer if you are moving. If flying above 1000 ft, expect a significant reduction in the ambient temperature.It will be low because it shows an extreme amount of cooling in the moving air if you are flying. I made a thermometer for use in flight that does not show cooling effects but it reads in degrees C for use with turboprops and jets.
To determine the temperature at a distant airport, go there and park. Then unpause the sim and read the temp in degrees F on the Bell206 thermometer.
If flying at some significant altitude, the temp would normally be reduced substantially from that at the surface. here are some standard day temps:
ALT__TEMP F 0_______59.0 2000____51.9 4000____44.7 6000____30.5 10,000___23.3 15,000___5.5 20,000___-12.3
Reduce these low temps by the speed effect on the Bell206 thermometer and you really have cool temps, even in summer. By the way unless you are using a wet-bulb thermometer, the cooling effect on the Bell thermometer is totally bogus.
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Post by Tom Goodrick on Sept 4, 2008 23:16:48 GMT -5
Just when I think you are going to begin sharing your thoughts with us, you tell us you are going away again. But, this time it does seem like you have a valid and worthy cause.
Have a good trip and say "Howdy" to the grandson for me.
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Post by Tom Goodrick on Sept 4, 2008 9:59:21 GMT -5
« FS Sound Files »
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We should start another thread here to discuss sound files - files we have for various aircraft and how to modify them. I have been developing a new sound file for the C-119 based on components from two other sound files, one from the B314 and one from the DC-3. An interesting thing is that the sound file for the B314 is really made up of old sound files for a C47. I know two techniques. One is simply editing a sound.cfg file to incorporate components from various other sound files anf the other is direct editing of the audio of wave files using a music editing program. Unfortunately I no longer have that sort of audio editing capability since the version of Sound Forge I had years ago is not usable on this computer. There are probably many other sound editors, some freeware that can be used. Essentually, you apply sound equalization software to boost or reduce certain frequencies. I found the B314 files did not have prop sounds. I took the primary pro sounds from the DC-3 and inserted them into the new sound folder for the C-119. I added wind sound from the DC-3. I boosted it a little. The result is an "improved" sound for large radial piston engines. The sound is very complex and interesting. I have not yet made sense of the rparams and vparams portions of the sound.cfg file. I simply copy both the wav files and the portions of the sound.cfg file that name the wav file. 216.180.4.160 Tom Goodrick Administrator
Simaholic
Posts: 3589 Re: FS Sound Files « Reply #1 on: May 11th, 2008, 11:51am » Quote Modify Remove
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have learned a few more things about the sound files. I've been reading the ACSDK. Some things are a bit more clear and other things that have been explained are still mysterious to me. The sound.cfg file controls the sound by giving a list of sounds for various flight events. Each event identifies a wav file, sets flags indicating under what circumstances the sound is to be used and specifies both volume (vparams) and frequecy (rparams) "envelopes" for the application of that sound. It seems that a lot of the flags are set improperly in our commonly used sound files. For prop sounds, flag=2 for max pitch, =4 for min pitch and =8 for reverse pitch. I have not seen this used. I don't understand what they mean by "envelopes." To me, an envelopoe is a rectangle in X-Y space with Y being up and X being across. If that applies here, what is the X axis? The Y axis is either frequency or volume. The X axis values that go with these envelope-defining statements are between 0.0 nad 1.0 and are "generic". Generic what? This is all based on wav files and you can listen to them by simply clicking on the wav files. When you do this, Windows can provide an graphic representation of the audio - an actual spectrum analyzer that is very handy at making some sense of the sounds. My son Scott set mine up and I don't know exactly how he did it but he assigned a basic Windows file to the sound and I use it in various nodes when listening to music. But "Ocean Mists" is a very good spectrum analysis tool without the cumbersome numbers. There are several wav files supplied by Microsoft and listed in the Sound Folder that lies in the main section of the FS9 folder. Several of these can be very useful. For most cockpits the file wind_general.wav is a good one. The DC-3 sound.cfg file shows how to use it. I put it in the B314 sound and played with its levels and speed parameters. The volumn range of this shouls be varied on different aircraft, depending on the windshield design. There is another file called eind_opencockpit.wav that works the same way and should be used for open cockpits. I am going to put it into my Aerobat and P-22 sound folders. My Parafoil and Skydiver can use that too! As for the relation of sound to Prop or to Throttle controls, it is not clear. Here is the sound list from the Baron: [SOUND_ENGINE] number_of_engines=2 eng1_combustion=COMBUSTION.1.00 eng2_combustion=COMBUSTION.2.00 eng1_prop=PROP.1.00 eng1_starter=starterA eng2_starter=starterB eng1_shutdown=shutdownA eng2_shutdown=shutdownB eng1_combustion_start=combstartA eng2_combustion_start=combstartB eng2_prop=PROP.2.00 Now consider these sections: [COMBUSTION.1.00] filename=baron_rpm1_left flags=0 viewpoint=1 rparams=0.000000,0.977000,1.000000,1.682000 vparams=0.000000,49.000000,0.002000,49.600000,0.171000,50.400000,0.23600 0, 9.600000,0.264000,0.000000,1.000000,0.000000,1.000000,0.000000,1.000000, 0.000000 link=COMBUSTION.1.01 [PROP.1.00] filename=baron_prop1a_left flags=2 viewpoint=1 rparams=0.000000,1.000000,0.262000,1.000000 vparams=0.192000,0.000000,0.326000,6.600000,0.481000,8.000000,0.692000, 0.000000,0.697000,0.000000,0.697000,0.000000,0.697000,0.000000,0.697000, 0.000000 link=PROP.1.01 All the combustion file names include "rpm" while none of the prop files do. This may be the source of Cam's complaint aganst some sound files. I don't know which files are keyed to which controls. I found a variety of prop sounds in the various aircraft. But there is one in the general MS sound folder called "prop.wav" that sounds like it should be at least included along with other wav files in a PROP section. Its spectrum had descrete sections where the others had continuous spread over the frequency range. I will experiment with this. « Last Edit: May 11th, 2008, 11:56am by Tom Goodrick » 216.180.4.36 Tom Goodrick Administrator
Simaholic
Posts: 3589 Re: FS Sound Files « Reply #2 on: May 11th, 2008, 11:01pm » Quote Modify Remove
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I made more progress. I found that the prop sound files should all be set with flags 2 and 4. Flag 2 sets the sound for max prop blade pitch and flag = 4 sets the sound for minimum prop blade pitch. Thus it seems the prop sound for a controllable pitch aircraft does not depend directly on RPM but on prop pitch. But prop pitch varies with rpm in a particular way, depending on the prop loading as well as the rpm setting. The best way to experience this is to tutrn on my PowerPanel and watch the blade pitch angle as well as the rpm, prop lever and throttle positions. Do this while listening to a correct and complete sound file and it will begin to make some sense. You may have to use headphones so you can crank up the volume without getting thrown out of the house! The strange thing was that, when I figured all this out, I went looking for a sound folder that had everything in it. The only one I found was the original (default) sound folder for the Beech King Air 350! Of well, a prop is a prop, regardless of what powerplant is turning it. Pick a sound folder for the aircraft you want to work with. The B314 folder or the DC-3 folder are good ones. Then edit the sound.cfg file to contain statements copied from the King Air 350 sound.cfg for the following: engine1 internal prop flag 2 engine1 internal prop flag 4 engine1 external prop flag 2 engine1 external prop flag 4 same for engine2. Make a list of all the prop file names listed in the sound.cfg for the King Air 350 and copy them into the new sound folder. This will go a long way toward creating a realistic sound file for a radial piston twin. I was very surprised that neither the default folders for the Baron or for the DC-3 have all these files. Everyone has heard the sound of prop planes warming up and cycling the props. With these you will be able to do that and hear the results both inside the aircraft and as a bystander on the field. Of course the next step is to fine tune these by adjusting the rparams and vparams. I was going to concentrate on setting this up for a single before doing a twin because you have half the files to transfer. But the prop sounds are quite different for twins compared to singles. But I will try that next. The ubiquitous C182 sound is going to be replaced. Oh yeah. The C-119 sound is now very good and suitably sickening. One question not yet resolved is how a sound set up for a twin-engine aircraft can work in a four-engine aircraft as the B314 sound does. I use it also in a DC-6. « Last Edit: May 11th, 2008, 11:02pm by Tom Goodrick » 216.180.4.65 Tom Goodrick Administrator
Simaholic
Posts: 3589 Re: FS Sound Files « Reply #3 on: May 12th, 2008, 11:15am » Quote Modify Remove
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That special sound file I use to "see" wav files is none other than Windows Media Player which all of you have. You might have to assign it to read wav files. "Ocean Mist" is the visualizer that duplicates the function of an audio spectrum analyzer. It shows the relative volume of sound components at all the audible frequencies. I just used it to listen to music. That is a good thing to do to calibrate your mind before using it to look at FS wav files. High trumpet or piano sounds tickle the middle frequencies while higher harmonics from violins or reed instruments will tickle the upper frequencies. I just listened to Henry Mancini & His Orchestra Greatest Hits. The tenor sax on Unchained Melody was particularly well done. That's the way I try to play it. I've also played many trombone solos like the one on Till There Was You. No matter how "high" the trombonist plays, he can't tickle the high frequencies. Another album that is good for spectrum analysis is Kenny G's Paradise album. Note the soprano sax on many pieces such as Ocean Breeze and compare to the tenor sax he plays on Midnight Magic. Both have high frequemcy harmonics. « Last Edit: May 12th, 2008, 11:48am by Tom Goodrick » 216.180.4.162 216.180.4.14 Tom Goodrick Administrator
Simaholic
Posts: 3589 Re: FS Sound Files « Reply #4 on: May 12th, 2008, 7:02pm » Quote Modify Remove
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, instead of playing Wii golf, I spent the afternoon flying and tweaking sound files. I have gone around and around with various ideas and am back at square one. The way this sound system is set up makes no sense to me. The main sound we here in an airplane, or just out side is caused by the prop an should be related to the rpm. Inside we get both the propslapping air agains the fuselage in a twin and air influenced by the prop coming back around the fuselage and wings and feeding prop sound into the aircraft. for a single. So all they give us to work with are two prop sound files, one proportional to the blade angle for low angles up to the max angle, and one proportional to the blade angle above the minimum. The only files that are proportional to the rpm are the COMBUSTION files. The blade angle varies with prop load, not with rpm. I'll make up a table of steady state blade angles at various speeds and power angles. The other thing that bothers me is that, while we are working directly with wav files, I don't think the wav files are supposed to have much to do with the sound we hear. The frequency and volume "envelopes" - still don't know what those are - seem to take portions of the sound, run it back to us as the short bursts of sound repeated preiodically so it becomes a new sound that we hear - unrelated to the wav files. Time for some other minds to get involved here. 216.180.4.128 Tom Goodrick Administrator
Simaholic
Posts: 3589 Re: FS Sound Files « Reply #5 on: May 13th, 2008, 11:48am » Quote Modify Remove
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here is a set of data from a nominal flight in the Beech Bonanza showing how blade angle varies as other conrols are adjusted. Obviously, there is no direct control. Note that the range of prop blade angle set in the aircraft.cfg file is 15.0 to 43.0 degrees. Max angle is 28.2 degrees at cruise when RPM is reduced and throttle is increased for a "quieter" cruise at 75% power. BLADE PITCH CHECK AIRCRAFT: BONANZA V35B SOUND: C182 MODIFIED THROTTLE_ PROP_ MIX_ POWER_ RPM___ BLADE_ KIAS__ ALT__REMARKS ___0.5______100____100____8.3_______962__15.0_______0___ 630___parked KHSV __12.2______100____100___36.0______1603__15.0______15___ 630___taxiing _100_______100____100___284_______2698__19.0______33___ 630___start takeoff _100_______100____100___285_______2700__20.2______80___ 630____rotating _100_______100____100___278_______2700__20.8_____102___1160____reducing power _100_______87.5____100___249.9_____2500__22.4_____111___2260____climbing _100_______87.5____74.2__244.3______2500__22.7_____118___3110____leaning _100_______87.5____61.3__231.9______2500__23.0_____124___4600____leaning more _100_______87.5____61.3__227.5______2500__24.8_____144___5030____levelli ng off _100_______87.5____58.9__228.6______2500__26.3_____164___5000____80% cruise 175 KTAS __94.1_____87.5____58.9__214.1______2500__25.6_____161___5000____75% cruise 24 in MAP __97.7_____75.0____58.9__214.1______2300__28.2_____160___5000____75% cruise quieter?! __79.3_____75.0____58.9__171.5______2300__25.9_____148>__5000____slowing for descent __54.3_____62.1____58.9__113.4______2093__26.1_____148>__4000____descend ing __54.3_____62.1____58.9__118.4______2093__24.6_____135>__3000____gear __75.4_____61.3____100__170.0______2081__24.9______114___1500____flaps __59.0_____100_____100__157.3_____2700___16.3_____102____1100____400 agl __38.3_____100_____100__95.2______2413___15.0______81_____800_____ __0.5______100_____100__11.3______1172___15.0_______9_____640_____on ground Notes: prop range 15.0 to 43.0 Landing at KBHM: 76.11 kias, -86 fpm 216.180.4.233 Tom Goodrick Administrator
Simaholic
Posts: 3589 Re: FS Sound Files « Reply #6 on: May 13th, 2008, 7:59pm » Quote Modify Remove
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I guess we can all discard my old turboprop sound folder. I looked at the sound.cfg file to see how it handled the prop sounds and IT DOESN'T! So I looked at the new King Air 350 osund file (the one that came with our copies of FS9). It has all the right elements including six different wav files for props for each engine and four different prop sounds as COMBUSTION sounds for each engine. That's kind of wild. listen to the four wav files: kan21, kan22, kan23 and kan24. These are all wav files of props yet they are in the COMBUSTION section, not the PROP section. In the COMBUSTION section they will change with the RPM. Yet each of those files has a prop sound at different frequencies increasing from 1 through 4. It must be possible, by messing around with the vparams, to reduce the volume on some of the sound components we don't like and bring out the ones we do like - notably those related to the prop but varying with the RPM. I haven't listened to that original sound folder for a long time. Today I did it with earphones. It has components I like but much of it is too noisy - machinery sounds that drown out the prop sounds. That doesn't seem right. It should be possible to fix things by lowering the volume in the vparam statements for the sounds that should not be so loud. I'll give it a try. 216.180.4.123 Tom Goodrick Administrator
Simaholic
Posts: 3589 Re: FS Sound Files « Reply #7 on: May 13th, 2008, 11:04pm » Quote Modify Remove
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am having good success. It will take a while to tweak everything just right. I found another King Air sound folder in the King Air C90GT I recently downloaded. The sound.cfg file is done by Leon Medado. He did essentially what I was starting to do. I think he has reduced the volume of some things a bit too much. He put some of the prop files developed for the combustion into the Prop sections. This creates two identical files, one that changes with prop beta angle and one that changes with RPM. That seems to be a conflict. I am finding it is easy to make noise. It is hard to make the right sound. If you want to try, take one of the Combustion statements in in the sound.cfg file such as: [COMBUSTION.1.02] filename=kan23 flags=0 viewpoint=1 rparams=0.000000,0.831000,1.000000,1.569000 vparams=0.285000,0.000000,0.424000,19.200000, 0.523000,43.600000,0.731000,50.000000, 0.801000,17.600000,1.000000,0.000000, 1.000000,0.000000,1.000000,0.000000 link=COMBUSTION.1.03 The vprams= line contains eight pairs of values. In each pair the first is a generic position, 0 to 1, along the width of the wave envelope. Each of the second values in a pair is a volume level that can be 0 to 100. Try reducing the volumes by a half and see what happens. Note that if you change 1.02 you must change 2.02 for the engine on the right side. I still have no idea what the "generic position numbers really stand for" and therefore can see no sense in changing them any particular way. I think, like the rparams, you only need two pairs with a position of 0 and 1. 216.180.4.85 Tom Goodrick Administrator
Simaholic
Posts: 3589 Re: FS Sound Files « Reply #8 on: May 14th, 2008, 11:40am » Quote Modify Remove
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I made a major improvement in single-engine sound and figured out how to use the rparams at the same time. I've had the ide for a day or two to make a single engine sound from half the Baron sound because that is a pretty good sound. I did it this morning for the Beech A36 which makes sense because it is half a Baron. I wrote a new sound.cfg file by copying only the left engine sounds (and the general sounds) from the Baron). I copied all the wav files from the Baron into an A36 sound folder and then deleted all pertaining to the right engine. That worked pretty good. But it was still missing any significant dependence on the RPM. So I added an extra COMBUSTION section that uses the prop.wav from the general FS9 Sound folder. I set it up with moderate volume level across the "envelope" (0 to 1). It added an interesting character to the sound. But I had made the frequency envelope straight across with an rparams line of 0,1.0,1.0,1.0. So, on a hunch, I changed that line to 0.0,0.7,1.0,3.0. The idea was that, if the frequency of combustion files does vary with RPM, let it go up by three octaves. That corresponds to the ratio of high to low RPM. BINGO. It works and sounds great. I also beefed up another Combustion section that was only partially used. I do not understand why the vparams would be used to silence about two thirds of the wave. This change brings more of the engine hum into variation with RPM. The result is pretty darn good. Start it up and let it rumble a bit. you can feel the power there. Do a takeoff and hear the full authority of the 300 hp roaring down the runway. I also reduced the sounds of the flaps and gear. I don't think you can hear them too well with that big engine roaring up in front. This one is ready to go. You can use it in any large single. I will revisit the Cessna 182 and give it an individual adjustment. I made some changes the other day but now I can do better. I have emailed the sound.cfg file to many of you. If you do not get it in a day or so, let me know. I found the whole folder zipped down to 6 megs with most of it wasted on Baron wave files you already have. So with this sound.cfg file you ahve only a small amount of work to make a usable sound folder. Once installed in an aircraft, you can alias it for other similar aircraft. « Last Edit: May 14th, 2008, 1:14pm by Tom Goodrick » 216.180.4.173 216.180.4.177 Allen_Peterson Member
You gotta Keep a-Goin'
Posts: 157 Re: FS Sound Files « Reply #9 on: May 14th, 2008, 7:01pm » Quote Modify Remove
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for the sound file, Tom, I'm leaving in in a folder in my email. I'm using a borrowed laptop because my computer developed a nasty virus, even though I'm very careful about downloading and have - and use - the the latest version of my antivirus program. I could boot the computer to C:\ from the CD ROM but when I looked at the folders in the root directory they all showed 0 files. My computer guy - he set it up originally - has it now and I'm hopeful that he can restore them. I haven't heard back from him, it's been 2 days and I'm going crazy. I'm bad about backing up, though. The last time I backed up my fs files was July '07, so even if he can restore them I still have a lot of work to do. And I was just getting into VLJs... So wish me luck. 98.145.87.244
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Have a good day. Allen Tom Goodrick Administrator
Simaholic
Posts: 3589 Re: FS Sound Files « Reply #10 on: May 14th, 2008, 7:33pm » Quote Modify Remove
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Good luck, Allen. Boy I hope that doesn't happen to me. I backed up FS on a CD a while ago. I'll do it again soon. I have developed a version of the sound file for the Baron that uses the same technique. It sounds pretty good to me. Of ciorse most of my twins use the Baron files by alias. That promted me to wonder "Do we really want all our twins sounding like Barons and all our singles sounding like the C182 or the A36? The answer is "Of course not!" So I came up with a good way of revising the FS setup on my system so that I can customize the sounds for each individual aircraft without carrying a whole big bunch of duplicate files. FS9 carries sound wav files for use in the aircraft sound in two places - the sound folder in the aircraft file and the sound folder in the FS9 folder. Yes, there is a general sound folder for FS9 that most of us have been overlooking. The sound.cfg file must reside in the aircraft folder. But it can list files both in the same aircraft file or in the general sound folder for FS9. When we load an aircraft, just as in making up a temporary folder holding all the gauges for the panel, the computer gets all the listed wav files from either source and puts them in the same temporary file. Then when the sim runs, it can quickly use all the files it needs from those temporary folders. To customize our aircraft sounds for all twins using the baron-type sound and for all singles using the A36-type sound, all we have to do is copy the entire sound folder from the Baron into FS9 so that the contents of the Baron sound folder all go into the general sound folder. Then delete the Baron sound folder. (I saved mine just in case this didn't work.) make a new empty baron sound folder and go into the general sound folder and find the sound.cfg file that was in your baron folder - hopefully my new version - and cut and paste it into the new blank baron sound folder. You can then revise all the sound folders in all the aircraft that use the baron sound and copy the new sound.cfg folder into each of them. Finally, you can tweak each sound.cfg file to suit the personality of each aircraft. If it has less power, reduce the volume of all sections a little bit. Increase or decrease the volume of the wind sound. These changes will be in effect only on the aircraft into which you have put the tweaked sound.cfg. Not all twins will sound alike. The A36 sound uses a subset of the baron wav files. Once you make this change of location for the baron wav files, you will not have to worry about keeping that specific subset in the aircraft sound files. You just need a sound.cfg file there too. I just put panning statements into each of the lines in my revised sound.cfg for the baron so engine 1 sounds like it is on your left and engine 2 sounds like it's on your right. The sound.cfg file in the A36 file has none so in the A36, the engiine sounds like it is ahead of you, as it should. Indeed the panning numbers (currently panning=-5000 for left and =5000 for right) could be changed to give personality to each aircraft. The only "problem" that can occur from doing this is that it will take a little longer to load an aircraft. For most of us that is 3 blinks of an eye rather than 2 blinks. We might do the same kind of thing for turboprops and fanjets. By the way, this still works with aliasing. If you make this change, you don't have to rush around doing anything to the dozens of aircraft that alias the baron sound. Those aliases will operate just as they did. The sim looks into the file you aliases (ie- the baron) and gets the sound.cfg out of there. Then it goes looking for all the wav files listed in the sound.cfg file and finds them all in the general sound folder for FS9. « Last Edit: May 14th, 2008, 7:48pm by Tom Goodrick » 216.180.4.154 216.180.4.32 Tom Goodrick Administrator
Simaholic
Posts: 3589 Re: FS Sound Files « Reply #11 on: May 15th, 2008, 4:35pm » Quote Modify Remove
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Just as I thought I knew what I was doing, a strangeness has occurred. Last night I made a nice sound for the Baron, essentially two A36 files working together with panning for the left and right engines. I set up my files as I had suggested - all Baron wave files in the main FS sound folder and then put individual sound.cfg files in the sound folders for each aircraft. Then i began tweaking the sounds for two of the Commanders I have: the AC560 with geared props and the Rockwell Shrike with direct-drive props. But I encountered the strangeness. The sound starts fine on takeoff getting loud as we reach full rpm and then the prop sound goes away at 50 KIAS and stays away until we reach 110 KIAS during climb. At that point it comes back and stays through the remainder of the flight. I have been trying very hard to figure out what I did. I went back to the Baron and repeated a few takeoffs and found the prop sound stays firm through the takeoff and the rest of the flight. Then I put my developed sound file for the Baron back into the Shrike. The prop sound still cuts out at 50 kias! So we have one sound file behaving differently in two aircraft. There's a strangeness about that! 216.180.4.102 Hans_Petter Member
Posts: 424 Re: FS Sound Files « Reply #12 on: May 16th, 2008, 4:08pm » Quote Modify Remove
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I've got all the files you sent us and I'll test them all when I get time. I may even get time for some tweaking. However, since my sim time is limited I'm going to wait until you've resolved the issues before I delete local wave files and move them all to the "global" sound folder. Regarding the unwanted silence at 50 kias, here's my thoughts: Various wave files are called as the engine rpm and speed change. There might be a missing or corrupt file that should have kicked in at 50 kias. Or, it might be that there's a glitch in the command segments that leaves a a phase of flight with no sound file being called. For instance, if sound A goes from zero to 40 kias and sound B from 50 - 60 kias we'll get the sound of silence from 40 - 50 kias. A third option might be overlapping sound segments with two wave files cancelling out of phase. 80.203.56.17
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- best regards,
Hans Petter Tom Goodrick Administrator
Simaholic
Posts: 3589 Re: FS Sound Files « Reply #13 on: May 16th, 2008, 7:01pm » Quote Modify Remove
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Why would it lose the sound in the Aero Commander and not in the Baron. The exact same sound file was used the last time. There is one sound that could be doing the deed here. It is the wind sound. It kicks in at 40 KIAS. It could cause an overload where the system can only handle a certain volume level and kicks out until the level drops back to accepeted limits. But again, the fact that the same file works differently in two different aircraft is astonishing. This file has everything - the prop sounds, the engine sounds, the gear, flaps, wind and even gyro sounds. You can go ahead and rearrange the files. It makes no difference what sound.cfg file is used. It will make it easy to use the Baron and the A36 with the new sound.cfg files. There is no problem with those installations. Of course, if we come up with a fix like a different wind function, it will have to be changed everywhere we have the new sound.cfg file. The situation could very well be like I have in my music synthesizer. I have 8 tracks and can put several instruments (generally up to four) on each track. But only 16 different voices can be heard at once. So it's easy to get into a situation where the trombone, trumpet and violin sections are playing and then the piano plays a solo and pushes two or three of the oldest voices "out of business" for a while. « Last Edit: May 16th, 2008, 7:19pm by Tom Goodrick » 216.180.4.149 Tom Goodrick Administrator
Simaholic
Posts: 3589 Re: FS Sound Files « Reply #14 on: May 16th, 2008, 11:31pm » Quote Modify Remove
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I should clarify what the sound does in the Aero Commander. It does not cease. The new prop sound becomes lost in the hum of the engines so that the overall sound goes from a wop wop prop plus a machinery hum to buzz and then a louder hum at 50 KIAS and then picks up the buzz again about 120 KIAS. Tonight I checked that the problem did not happen in the baron but did happen in the Aero Commander and the Shrike. I changed the wind files and there was no difference. I made the Shrike prop sound louder and the loss of the buzz still happened at 50 but it came back at 120 and stayed for the duration. I put the Baron sound.cfg in the Aerostar 700 and boosted the volume. It worked fine like the Baron with no loss of the buzz. But you do notice the sound in the Aerostar. This is the way it is supposed to work. So now with only one copy in memory of all the Baron wav files, I can get different sounds in the Baron, Aero Commanders and Aerostar. Plus I have two different sounds in the Bonaza A36 and V35B. They all use the same core wav files. 216.180.4.129 Pages: 1 2 3 Reply Notify of replies Send Topic Print
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Post by Tom Goodrick on Sept 4, 2008 9:55:52 GMT -5
On the old Forum, we had a significant discussion about the sound files. I looked into them in some detail and came to some conclusions:
1. The parts that one would think are related to RPM - such as "prop" files are not. The "combustion" files change the frequency with RPM.
2. In order to make files equally accessible to all aircraft for minor tweaks to obtain sound peculiar to an aircraft, it is best to put all basic sound files from aircraft that are commonly used to represent a type, in the central folder called Sound within the FS9 folder. Then only the sound.cfg file has to be modified to get a characteristic sound for a particular aircraft. Files in this large group do not have to be duplicated. This is a better use of memory and makes it much easier to customize sounds for a particular aircraft.
This is a summary of what resulted from our discussion which is copied into position below.
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Post by Tom Goodrick on Sept 3, 2008 22:11:41 GMT -5
OK. There has been more confirmation of the validity of the equation and of my spreadsheet and assumptions. The most surprising thing predicted by the equation is that, at each altitude, there is a minimum sustainable level speed that is well above stall speed. This shows flight possible in descrete bands as you climb in altitude. Consider the following test results with the LJ4:
At MSL: Sheet: 192 to 317 KTAS. Test: 178 to 320 KTAS (limit VMO)
At 20,000 ft: Sheet: 243 to 436 KTAS Test: 245 to 440 KTAS
At 30,000 ft: Sheet 288 to 468 KTAS Test: 293 to 470 KTAS
The minimum speed seems to be a valid characteristic of jets. Remember this is caused by a difference under a radical going negative and causing imaginary numbers!
One other thing is that in the test it became clear that the jet has poor speed stability. Here we mean that, on autopilot with heading and altitude hold with thrust set manually, This is something I have found with many jets doing cross-country flights. I usually would set just HDG and ALT mode, put the power at a desired level and ignore the flight for a while. But I have found it works better to set SPD mode. With auto throttle enabled, it will hold the speed well and will thus perform in a predictable fashion. Otherwise the speed can wander and the aircraft can get into trouble.
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Post by Tom Goodrick on Sept 3, 2008 10:02:55 GMT -5
Late last night - a particularly dumb time to start a gauge project - I made a gauge that shows Thrust/Weight in percent as a twin-engine jet flies. When the bugs were out of it, I took the LJ45 to 20,000 ft and levelled off. At takeoff (from 640 msl) I saw a max of 35.39%. Level at 20,000 ft in steady cruise I saw 10.00% with 275 KIAS and 361 KTAS. The Excel Sheet shows 363 KTAS at T/W=10.52%.
One reason I made the gauge was to check the value of T/W at the same throttle setting at different altitudes. That will come today. I am encouraged that it was so close.
When I finish up a few little things with the Sheet, I'll send it to anyone who requests one by email.
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Post by Tom Goodrick on Sept 3, 2008 9:47:46 GMT -5
Here's a better way to do Cabin lights. It's better because it is easy. Just add a line like this to your [Lights] section in the aircraft.cfg file:
light.11=4, 10.00, 0.00, 2.50, fx_vclight,
You can add several of these lines at different X positions in the cabin. If your windows are transparent or translucent, the lights will be seen from outside the aircraft. Note the "type" number is 4 and the position is X=10 ft (back) and Z=2.50 ft. Adjust these coordinate values as needed.
These lights turn on with the panel/cockpit light switch.
I checked the stock DC-3 and found one light already in the back. I added a few more and it looks pretty good sitting on the ramp. I am not sure how good it looks in flight. These are not extremely bright lights. I found that adding vlight did not work as well as using vlighth. These seem to be brighter. This was what was used in the original.
light.5 = 4, -15.00, 0.00, 4.20, fx_vclighth, light.6 = 4, -21.00, 0.00, 4.20, fx_vclighth, light.7 = 4, -27.00, 0.00, 4.20, fx_vclighth, light.8 = 4, -33.00, 0.00, 4.20, fx_vclighth,
light.8 was the line already there, numbered .5.
The DC-6B I have has great window lights but these were put in by the original designers in the GMAX code. The lights above work with what is inside an aircraft already (empty seats in this case) without the work by the original designer in GMAX.
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Post by Tom Goodrick on Sept 2, 2008 16:29:11 GMT -5
I decided to play with the "fancy" equation for cruise speed. There is a text I picked up just 20 years ago (one of my most recoent acquisitions) that presents the equation in a concise form. I had derieved it independently but in a form that was a little more messy. This time I looked at the equation and saw a better way of stating it than either the author or I had done previously. It shows indicated airspeed as a function of design constants and the parameter T/W or thrust weight ratio. That's nice and would seem to make it independent of altitude. I simply backed up a step in the derivation by the author, Francis J Hale, to where he had the equation solved for the dynamic pressure at cruise and then I incerted the indicated airspeed and solved for it. That removed the dependency on the density.
But when we look at the thrust/weight ratio, that is highly dependent on the altitude because it decays with the pressure ratio at altitude. So while we can get indicated airspeed at a value of the thrust/weight ratio, we must look at altitude to see how much thrust is available from the engine.
The equation as stated is mainly useful for jets although it is possible to go back into the equation's derivation and introduce the power for a piston engine. But then the solution for a velocity becomes much more complicated. I'll do it later when totally lacking for excitement.
I put the equation into a spreadsheet and then added a section where the thrust is adjusted for the pressure ratio at certain altitudes and also put in the correction to true airspeed that can be made for the selected altitudes. Hale had noted that the equation gives results that tend to go astray of Mach constraints. I put in an upper limit in the table for Mach 0.8 which is just below the limit for most bizjets and airliners.
The result is a rather interesting set of curves. I ran curves at sea level, 20,000 ft, 30,000 ft, 40,000 ft and 50,000 ft - the extent of normal bizjet altitudes. There is a minimum acceptable thrust/weight ratio at each altitude to keep the eqaution from getting into imaginary numbers. Also, of course there are two solutions - one slow and one fast - as commonly found in aircraft performance relations. We need only worry about the high speed solution as those are most interesting.
I also had to invent a new term while making these plots. It is MSLET or Mean Sea Level Equivalent Thrust. It is on the absissa of the plot. Instead of plotiing with the actual thrust, this shows the sea level thrust that would be equivalent or would occur at the same throttle setting as the actual thrust at altitude. It simplifies the plots.
The performance curves show that the best speed can be obtained at sea level. This seems a little strange as most jets try hard to fly high. here are some peak values for the Learjet 45 using the design values I have in my FD file for it: MSL: 528 KTAS (Mach 0.8) 20,000 ft: 491 KTAS (Mach 0.8) 30,000 ft: 468 KTAS (at T/W=0.4 which was the max I allowed) 40,000 ft: 384 KTAS (at T/W=0.4) 50,000 ft: no solution.
I am going to run some flight tests with the existing FD files to see if FS shows any of these values.
There are some practical considerations that get a little complicated. First the weight changes significantly during flight. It is far from a constant. The limit of 0.4 for T/W is with half the allowable fuel. It could be higher with less fuel. indeed the LJ45 "book" says it can only climb to 51,000 ft when low on fuel near the end of its cruise. "Why bother?" is a good question.
So, let's see if the LJ45 really can go faster at sea level. I suspect it can. I think the fly high rules were developed to save fuel, not to go fast.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, tests backed up these results, but they turned up another problem. I'd forgotten jets also have a dynamic pressure limit in addition to the Mach limit. For most jets this limit is about 350 KIAS. So we have to eliminate all conditions where the KIAS is beyond 350. This will be the limit for most conditions below 30,000 ft. Also, when running fast on the deck (offshore east of Miami), almost all my engine parameters were in the red when I got to 350 KIAS. So, the equation works but ....
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Post by Tom Goodrick on Sept 1, 2008 19:22:27 GMT -5
I could send you a zip of the weather file from this morning at 9:30 if you wish. I intend to get another one now that it is entirely over land. It is still a Cat 1.
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Post by Tom Goodrick on Sept 1, 2008 11:18:45 GMT -5
Flying in Gustav's winds taught me something. All these years I have been flying with the GPS map in my panels I missed the fact that the number at the top of the map is TRK for ground track! It took the strong wind field around southern Louisiana geneerated by Hurricane Gustav to teach me this. I got RW at 9:30 this morning as the eye of Gustav was on the coast just south of Houma, LA. I took off in the Merlin III and flew south at 9,000 ft in HDG mode on the autopilot. I had 180 set in the HDG window. But the number on top of the GPS map was indicating 190 degrees. The winds at 9,000 ft were 52 kts from 86 degrees. I thought something was wrong with the airplane. I switched to the Beech 350 in which I have a lot of confidence, having flown it for over 100 hours all over the world. It showed the same heading. Then I hitched up my bifocals and leaned closer. The letters TRK began to mean something. I turned around to fly HDG of 360 and saw 349. OK, adjusting HDG to 011 gave me exactly 360 for my ground track. It made sense. I thought TRK only had significance when the autopilot was in NAV mode.
Gustav taught me something new. We can use TRK in HDG mode to compensate for wind to fly a desired track.
Now to fly the eye and then land at Houma.
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