Realistic Engine Start

[mdeval]

The other day I did a fresh install of FS9.1 and loaded up all my favorite CC planes.
On the CV-240, CV340, and DC 6 panel, activated the realistic engine start lines in the panel CFGs.
Now whenever I try to load these planes, FS crashes showing the window "Microsoft Flight Simulator has stopped working."

I have always used this feature successfully in past installs.
What gives ?

Mike

[Tom/CalClassic]

Hi,

Unfortunately it sometimes causes crashes on certain computers...

Try commenting out (with //) the Aircraft Reload gauge line, then before trying a realistic start reload the plane manually.

[mdeval]

Went ahead and tried what Tom suggested. but had no luck.
The feature has worked great on 2 or 3 previous installs on the same computer. I'm tempted to delete everything and start again with a new install.



Mike

[Tom/CalClassic]

Worth a try, I guess. You can always back up your current installation first (by renaming the FS9 folder) in case it doesn’t work, assuming you have the room

[mdeval]

Think I'll just go for the all new install. Wasn't that far into current one anyway. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Mike

[bobn]

Mike

Just wondering how you made out with that. I had an issue but it didn't crash the sim. The screen would flash for 8 - 12 seconds while loading the flight. After that everything was fine.

There were two places I commented out. One is last gauge entry under Windows 00

The other reload is under vcockpit 02.

Once I did that, it loads up fine ready for taxi. Make sure you bring the throttle up a bit right after it loads or the engines will stall.

[mdeval]

Thanks for the input.
Ashamedly I had to do yet another re-install as I had made some scenery or what I call "environmental" changes I was unhappy with and had not backed up files first.
I'm at the point now where I'm making those additions again and will start in adding aircraft probably in a couple of days.
Also been flying some AC I'd not had before and having some fun with that.

Also have noted in the past that the realistic start feature does not work on ALL aircraft. Fpr example : will work on the Maam DC-3 but not on the default one. Works on the L-1649 and FSDZ 049, but not on ANY of the other Jahn's Connies.

So I'll give it another shot shortly.

Again, thanks for asking
Mik

[bobn]

I've only used the realistic start on the DC-6 and 7 and it's really cool. I just don't like the way it spikes my video card when it's doing the reload. I was looking at the code a couple of days ago but I decided not to delve into it too much. I find myself spending more time fixing stuff than I do flying stuff. Now I limit myself to a few quick tweaks here and there and do more flying.

The more and more I looked at code and modules in the past, the more I realized that there is no payware or freeware sim or add on that compares to a 12 million dollar sim let alone the actual aircraft. I've seen many guys come out of a 8 - 12 million dollar sim and hop in the real one and say how much different they are. Those guys that charge $50 - $80 dollars for an airplane because they claim real pilots try them and say their very close to the real thing. HA HA. Those guys wouldn't be spending years trying to make a $50 add-on work with a $50 sim. They would be working for NASA.

Anyway, all you have to backup is both the texture and textures folder and the scenery folder in the root. I have one installation dedicated to the cal classics and fully backup.

[Tom/CalClassic]

Hi,

The reload of the plane is a pain, but the realistic start doesn’t work on most computers without it (unless you do a manual aircraft reload first).

[connieguy]

It is possible to have a pretty realistic start on the Jahn Constellations, and one performed completely by co-pilot and/or flight engineer, if you use the program Voice Bot (which sends keyboard commands to FS) and Microsoft Speech Recognition. I can explain how to do this if anybody is interested. It takes some time and trouble (and expense) but once it is there you can go to external view and watch a Super Constellation being started in a way which tallies pretty closely with videos of the real thing.

[Defender]

If realistic start works on some of your aircraft then it should work on all Manfred Jahn's Connies if the gauges are there and the cfg's are properly set up. It is possible that some of the release versions were set for realistic 3-4-2-1, others for FS9 default 1-2-3-4.

If you suspect it might be settings then check the following on the Jahn Connies.

1. The main FS9 Gauges folder contains cc_Engine_control.gau
2. The aircraft's panel folder (or the panel folder to which the aircraft's panel is aliased to) contains a folder calclassic which has the ENGINE_AUTOSTART_4.xml and AIRCRAFT_RELOAD.xml. (As Tom says, that gauge may or may not work on certain computers but it works on my desktop with XP and Radeon card and my laptop with W10 and Nvidia card)
3. The panel.cfg is configured as follows,

[Vcockpit01]
…...............

// FS9 only!Remove slashes to activate alternative engine start
gaugexx=CC_Engine_Control!Engine_Control, 8,8,5,5
gaugexx=CalClassic!ENGINE_AUTOSTART_4, 5,5,11,11
gaugexx=CalClassic!AIRCRAFT_RELOAD, 10,10,11,11

(xx will vary between aircraft according to the gauge listing)

4. The aircraft.cfg is configured as follows,

[piston_engine]
…....................
//normalized_starter_torque=0.0185 // standard configuration FS9 and FSX. Comment out to deactivate
normalized_starter_torque=0.075 // FS9 only - remove slashes to activate for optional engine start system

(so the setting for realistic should be 0.075)


I'm not familiar with Voice Bot but it's not an essential requirement. The release versions have a built in "start 1/2/3/4" call if you start manually using the FE panel, but the realistic start option is really suited to spot view (or look around) which do not have calls.


Bill

[bobn]

Aug 19, 2018 0:28:46 GMT -5 Tom/CalClassic said:

Hi,

The reload of the plane is a pain, but the realistic start doesn’t work on most computers without it (unless you do a manual aircraft reload first).

WOW. How nice is that. Yes much better. I'll have to take a look around my other storage drives. I have some cold and dark pre-select code somewhere and a reload string that should do away with all the flashing and make the realistic start work when it first loads up. It's been awhile since I've done any of that. I had a main board burn out on me a couple of years ago when I was in the middle of building KALB and am now just getting things back up. Got the Cal Classic install restored and just started updating the Douglas's to the latest.

I remember I was also in the middle of adding Shockwave lights. I remember all this so now here I am again stuck on the Cal Classics having a hard time switching to the contemporary install.

So here's some Shockwave light's that I spent hours lining up. I think I was working on a cheat to get the VC lights to work even beyond the light limit.

DC-6

[LIGHTS]
//Types: 1=beacon, 2=strobe, 3=navigation, 4=cockpit 5= landing
light.0=3, -2.20, -58.21, 3.45, fx_shockwave_navred
light.1=3, -2.20, 58.21, 3.45, fx_shockwave_navgre
light.2=3, -64.04, 0.00, 2.30, fx_shockwave_navwhi_l_nl
light.3=1, -55.80, 0.00, 20.1, fx_shockwave_beaconb_nl
light.4=1, -55.80, 0.00, 20.1, fx_shockwave_navred
// exhaust flame effects
light.5 = 6, 6.00, -29.00, -1.0, DC-6_HP_L_Flame ; engine 1
light.6 = 7, 6.35, -29.00, -1.0, DC-6_LP_L_Flame ; engine 1
light.7 = 6, 8.65, -15.20, -2.6, DC-6_HP_L_Flame ; engine 2
light.8 = 7, 8.90, -15.20, -2.6, DC-6_LP_L_Flame ; engine 2
light.9 = 6, 8.65, 15.05, -2.6, DC-6_HP_R_Flame ; engine 3
light.10 = 7, 8.90, 15.05, -2.6, DC-6_LP_R_Flame ; engine 3
light.11 = 6, 6.00, 28.80, -1.0, DC-6_HP_R_Flame ; engine 4
light.12 = 7, 6.35, 28.80, -1.0, DC-6_LP_R_Flame ; engine 4
//cargo hold lights
light.13 = 8, 18.5, 2.6, -2.75, fx_shockwave_vclight_l, //forward hold
light.14 = 8, -22.5, 2.6, -2.75, fx_shockwave_vclight_l, //aft hold

light.15=5, -6.80, 20.90, -2.50, fx_shockwave_landing_light_narrow_old
light.16=5, -6.80, -20.90, -2.50, fx_shockwave_landing_light_narrow_old

//extra VC lights
//light.15=4, 32.0, -2.50, 3.0, fx_shockwave_vclight_l,
//light.16=4, 32.0, -2.50, 4.0, fx_shockwave_vclight_l,
light.17=4, 31.5, -2.50, 3.00, fx_shockwave_vclight_l,
light.18=4, 31.5, 2.50, 3.00, fx_shockwave_vclight_l,
//light.19=4, 32.0, 2.50, 3.0, fx_shockwave_vclight_l,

DC-6A (I have the 6B but that's where I started messing with VC Lighting while keeping the flames) Note: Should Work in 6B anyway. Thinking of moving flames off to another effect.

[LIGHTS]
//Types: 1=beacon, 2=strobe, 3=navigation, 4=cockpit 5= landing
light.0=3, -2.20, -58.21, 3.45, fx_shockwave_navred
light.1=3, -2.20, 58.21, 3.45, fx_shockwave_navgre
light.2=3, -64.04, 0.00, 2.30, fx_shockwave_navwhi_l_nl
light.3=1, -55.80, 0.00, 20.1, fx_shockwave_beaconb_nl
light.4=1, -55.80, 0.00, 20.1, fx_shockwave_navred

// exhaust flame effects
light.5 = 6, 6.00, -29.00, -1.0, DC-6_HP_L_Flame ; engine 1
light.6 = 7, 6.35, -29.00, -1.0, DC-6_LP_L_Flame ; engine 1
light.7 = 6, 8.65, -15.20, -2.6, DC-6_HP_L_Flame ; engine 2
light.8 = 7, 8.90, -15.20, -2.6, DC-6_LP_L_Flame ; engine 2
light.9 = 6, 8.65, 15.05, -2.6, DC-6_HP_R_Flame ; engine 3
light.10 = 7, 8.90, 15.05, -2.6, DC-6_LP_R_Flame ; engine 3
light.11 = 6, 6.00, 28.80, -1.0, DC-6_HP_R_Flame ; engine 4
light.12 = 7, 6.35, 28.80, -1.0, DC-6_LP_R_Flame ; engine 4
//cargo hold lights
light.13 = 8, 18.5, 2.6, -2.75, fx_shockwave_vclight_l , //forward hold
light.14 = 8, -22.5, 2.6, -2.75, fx_shockwave_vclight_l , //aft hold

light.15=5, -6.80, 20.90, -2.50, fx_shockwave_landing_light_narrow_old
light.16=5, -6.80, -20.90, -2.50, fx_shockwave_landing_light_narrow_old

//extra VC lights
//light.15=4, 32.0, -2.50, 3.0, fx_shockwave_vclight_l ,
//light.16=4, 32.0, -2.50, 4.0, fx_shockwave_vclight_l ,
light.17=4, 31.5, -2.50, 2.50, fx_shockwave_vclight_l ,
light.18=4, 31.5, 2.50, 2.50, fx_shockwave_vclight_l ,
//light.19=4, 32.0, 2.50, 3.0, fx_shockwave_vclight_l ,

[Erik]

Thanks for sharing those. I'll definitely try them when I get to Six flying again!

Erik

[bobn]

Aug 28, 2018 13:26:57 GMT -5 Erik said:

Thanks for sharing those. I'll definitely try them when I get to Six flying again!

Erik

Very Welcome. Hope you like them. I found a couple of options I was working on to move the flames off to an effect rather than a light effect. I also had the VC lights working right. I was doing some fine tuning so they don't light up the outside of the forward fuse before my old MB fried. Still trying to locate that project.

If you like those, you should really get a kick out of this

B377 Lights (Works on all the 377's)

[LIGHTS]

//Types: 1=beacon, 2=strobe, 3=navigation, 4=cockpit

light.0=3, -6.2, -69.82, 3.35, fx_shockwave_navred
light.1=3, -6.2, 69.82, 3.35, fx_shockwave_navgre
light.2=3, -71.1, 0.00, 8.30, fx_shockwave_navwhi_l_nl
light.3=1, -63.1, 0.00, 31.2, fx_shockwave_beaconh
light.4=1, -63.1, 0.00, 31.2, fx_shockwave_navred
light.5=5, -6.70, 45.02, -0.18, fx_shockwave_landing_light_double_vsmall
light.6=5, -6.70, -45.02, -0.18, fx_shockwave_landing_light_double_vsmall
light.7=5, 38.90, 0.00, -0.00, fx_shockwave_landing_light_narrow_down_22
// exhaust flame effects
light.8 = 9, 1.1, -27.25, -2.50, B377_HP_Flame ; engine 1
light.9 = 7, 1.8, -27.25, -2.40, B377_LP_Flame ; engine 1
light.10 = 9, 2.9, -10.5, -4.0, B377_HP_Flame ; engine 2
light.11 = 7, 3.5, -10.5, -4.0, B377_LP_Flame ; engine 2
light.12 = 9, 2.9, 16.50, -4.0, B377_HP_Flame ; engine 3
light.13 = 7, 3.5, 16.50, -4.0, B377_LP_Flame ; engine 3
light.14 = 9, 1.3, 33.25, -2.50, B377_HP_Flame ; engine 4
light.15 = 7, 2.0, 33.25, -2.40, B377_LP_Flame ; engine 4

light.16=4, 36, 0, 3.5, fx_shockwave_vclight
light.17=4, 36, -2, 3.5, fx_shockwave_vclight
light.18=4, 36, 2, 3.5, fx_shockwave_vclight