Help Needed - FS9 Retractable Landing Light

[pstrany]

Hi;

I'm using FSDS2 to make an FS9 aircraft. On the aircraft I'm currently working on, I have a landing light that retracts when not in use, and was wondering how best to animate and activate the light.

The light normally lies flat against the undersurface of the wing, and when activated, rotates down and forward so that it is suspended beneath the wing.

I normally do CFS2 aircraft, so I don't have much experience with landing lights and such. Any help much appreciated!!

Paul

[Wozza]

Hi;

I'm using FSDS2 to make an FS9 aircraft. On the aircraft I'm currently working on, I have a landing light that retracts when not in use, and was wondering how best to animate and activate the light.

The light normally lies flat against the undersurface of the wing, and when activated, rotates down and forward so that it is suspended beneath the wing.

I normally do CFS2 aircraft, so I don't have much experience with landing lights and such. Any help much appreciated!!

Paul
Hi Paul
FSDS2 ?? that takes me back :)You need an unused fsds2 animation like concord nose or water rudder.
Animate the part to suit then child the landing light polly to the animated part.You will then need to knock up some xml code which will be a hidden 2d gauge that monitors the state of the landing lights and triggers the animation when switched on,then you will need some conditional code to prevent the light from showing when its being retracted.
If you need further help yell I MAY have example code here somewhere (I lost a fair bit from cheap cd backup)....what surprises me is I still remember some of this stuff :)
Wozza

[FelixFFDS]

Wozza: Remember the FSDS2 "lavatory dump valve"?? (okay, so it's basically the water rudder animation, but sounds much better!)

[Wozza]

Wozza: Remember the FSDS2 "lavatory dump valve"?? (okay, so it's basically the water rudder animation, but sounds much better!)
lol Yup :) ....... you dont want to know how many times I wished it was a separate animation, ....in fsds2 you always need one more ;)
Wozza

[pstrany]

Thanks for the info. A question I have though is if I link the light to an animation (say spoilers, or "lavatory dump") does that mean that turning on the lights is a two-step process (say, animate the part THEN turn on the light) or does it become one step (turn on the lights and the light deploys then turns on.)

As part of this question, I have one aircraft with similar lights (a Beech D-18, a beautiful model by Milton Shupe) that casts a light on the engine nacelles when the landing lights are turned on. Is this done through textures (the light shining on the cowlings) or is that the light effect itself that does it? Just trying to get a sense of how all this works......

Thanks again for all your help!!

Paul

[FelixFFDS]

Thanks for the info. A question I have though is if I link the light to an animation (say spoilers, or "lavatory dump") does that mean that turning on the lights is a two-step process (say, animate the part THEN turn on the light) or does it become one step (turn on the lights and the light deploys then turns on.)
Paul

Doing it that way, yes, it is a two part process.

What Wozza suggests, though, is the one part process. A hidden gauge that sense the landing light status, then initiates the animation.

[Wozza]

Hi Paul
have a look at Bills Canberra Jet gafcanberrav2.zip on avsim.com
this was made with fsds2.1 and we did the rotating light using the water rudder on that plus a few other little bits like the xml code used ;)
For the lighting yep use a _L texture but give it I think form memory a _A modifier in fsds2 (light map using alpha channel) the alpha channel controls if the light map is shown when nav lights are switched on or landing lights are switched on if white or black. Can never remember which is which but think an all 0,0,0 alpha is landing lights and 255,255,255 alpha is nav lights
Wozza

[Milton Shupe]

For the D18S, the landing lights are animated (for FS2002 with the flaps key) (for FS2004 with the landing_light tag) and the light hitting the nacelles is simply a freeware effect that you can use in the aircraft.cfg (comes on with landing lights activation). Just give the author credit as you will see in my credits list.

You can also use an the xxxx_L texture to show light on the nacelles or wings or fuse with a pure white alpha that is keyed by the landing light switch. See my Howard 500 as an example.