How to Activate Prop Reverse

[Tom/CalClassic]

Hi,

The normal reverse thrust operation in FS (press and hold F2) doesn't work well with piston engines (hard coded?). So we actually use the feather pitch setting to get reverse thrust. Thus the key combination that activates reverse thrust is to press and hold down Ctrl F2. Ctrl F4 brings you back to forward thrust.

Note that all of our common propliners alrady have this activated, so you will find these cfg file edits already done.

For the few that might not, you must edit the propeller section of the plane's aircraft.cfg file.

For the lines with // in them, the first value is the new one for reverse thrust, the second value is the original number, commented out.

[propeller]
propeller_type=0
propeller_blades=3
gear_reduction_ratio=1.0
propeller_diameter=8.8
propeller_moi=26.8
beta_max=65.0
beta_min=15.0
prop_sync_available=1
prop_deice_available=1
prop_feathering_available=1
prop_reverse_available=1 //0
min_rpm_for_feather=700.0
beta_feather=-64 //96.0
power_absorbed_cf=0.1 //0.9
minimum_on_ground_beta=1 //15.0
minimum_reverse_beta=-14 //0
defeathering_accumulators_available=0
prop_auto_feathering_available=1
min_gov_rpm=650.000000
prop_tc=0.010000
fixed_pitch_beta=20.000000
low_speed_theory_limit=80.000000

Note that the beta feather value is -64 and minimum value is -14.

The gauges I use to create this effect have the following (or similar) code (see mouse code first):

<Element> <!-- if flag = 1 (reverse lever has been thrown) and the throttle is advanced above idle, set flag to 2 -->
<Select>
<Value>(A:General Eng Throttle Lever Position:1, percent) 15 > (A:General Eng Throttle Lever Position:2, percent) 15 > || (A:General Eng Throttle Lever Position:3, percent) 15 > || (A:General Eng Throttle Lever Position:4, percent) 15 > || (L:MB,bool) 1 == (G:Var1) 1 == && && if{ 2 (>G:Var1) } </Value>
</Select>
</Element>
<Element> <!-- if throttle is brought back down to idle, normalize reverse lever and bring prop pitch back to full forward -->
<Select>
<Value>(G:Var1) 2 == (A:General Eng Throttle Lever Position:1, percent) 15 < (A:General Eng Throttle Lever Position:2, percent) 15 < (A:General Eng Throttle Lever Position:3, percent) 15 < (A:General Eng Throttle Lever Position:4, percent) 15 < && && && && if{ 0 (>L:MB,bool) 16383 (>K:PROP_PITCH_SET) 0 (>G:Var1) } </Value>
</Select>
</Element>


<Mouse>
<Area Top="0" Bottom="33">
<Tooltip>PROP REVERSE %((L:MB, bool) 1 == ) %{if} ACTIVATED %{else} INACTIVE %{end} </Tooltip>
<Cursor Type="Hand"/> <!-- if plane is on ground and engines are at idle and reverse lever is set to normal, if clicked set pitch to full feather (-4096). If lever is set to reverse, if clicked set pitch to full forward. -->
<Click> (A:SIM ON GROUND,bool) 1 == (L:MB, bool) 0 == (A:General Eng Throttle Lever Position:1, percent) 15 < (A:General Eng Throttle Lever Position:2, percent) 15 < (A:General Eng Throttle Lever Position:3, percent) 15 < (A:General Eng Throttle Lever Position:4, percent) 15 < && && && && && if{ 02 (>L:km_xml_sound_id, number) -4096 (>K:PROP_PITCH_SET) 1 (>L:MB,bool) }
(L:MB, bool) 1 == (G:Var1) 0 > && if{ 02 (>L:km_xml_sound_id, number) 0 (>L:MB,bool) 16383 (>K:PROP_PITCH_SET) 0 (>G:Var1) 0 (>L:MB_TIMER, enum) } </Click>
</Area>
</Mouse>

Hope this helps,