Focke-Achgelis FA-223 no sound

[SgtT]

So this must be my day for issues. I installed the Focke-Achgelis FA-223 but have no sound. The sound works in FSX but not in FS2004.

Thanks,

Rob

[Priller]

You could look into the sound folder of the model and have a look at the sound.cfg file. It probably points to a model that is not present in the sim.

Priller

[AndyG43]

Are you using Golden Wings SgtT? If so Priller is spot on, as the Fa 223 is aliased the the Bell 206 which the GW3 installer removes.

[SgtT]

Thank you both.

Yes, I'm using Golden Wings, I'll find another aircraft. I was thinking of using the sound from the Flettner Fl 282.

Thoughts?

[AndyG43]

Thank you both.

Yes, I'm using Golden Wings, I'll find another aircraft. I was thinking of using the sound from the Flettner Fl 282.

For anybody else needing it, the Fl 282 rotor blade texture is now in the Library.

Thoughts?

If you have another FS9 installation just copy across the 206b sound folder to the Fa 223, that will do in the short term. Personally I think both need better options, I'm having a root around to see if I can find them.


At present I have 5!! Stock FS9, stock GW3, a Calclassic setup, a GW3 modded to a WW 2 timeframe and a stock FS9 retro-modded to cover the late '70s-mid '90s. It means I can make the aircraft mix & AI more time-specific, as well as keeping the scenery & aircraft folders at a manageable size; it'll increase to 6 when I have my stock install tweaked to my liking (MAIW etc) at which point I'll be setting up a mod to cover .... well, now. I think I'm getting as much enjoyment out of this building phase as the actual flying.

[Mick]

... At present I have 5!! Stock FS9, stock GW3, a Calclassic setup, a GW3 modded to a WW 2 timeframe and a stock FS9 retro-modded to cover the late '70s-mid '90s. It means I can make the aircraft mix & AI more time-specific, as well as keeping the scenery & aircraft folders at a manageable size; it'll increase to 6 when I have my stock install tweaked to my liking (MAIW etc) at which point I'll be setting up a mod to cover .... well, now. I think I'm getting as much enjoyment out of this building phase as the actual flying.

I "only" have four: GW that depicts the early years through the end of WW2, depending on where in the FS world you go; classic era from the end of WW2 through the fifties; the jet age of the sixties into maybe the early the seventies; and a not very developed FS204 for the later years. Setting up the scenery and AI for three sims (haven't done much in the modern one except for my local area) and building them up has been fun but time-consuming.

Between setting up scenery and painting airplanes (mostly David's but others too) the only flying I ever get to do is the occasional brief test flight on the current project. Maybe if I could have thirty-two hour days and ten day weeks I might get in some actual flying once in a while.

[SgtT]

OK, I was able to copy the sound folder from the 206b and that worked. When I tried to do the same with the Flettner Fl 282 I had no sound. I thought it would have worked but no luck.

Rob

[huub vink]

The Focke-Achgelis was powered by a Bramo 323, a 9-cylinder supercharged air-cooled radial engine. I'm convinced this didn't sound like an Allison 250-C20B turboshaft engine from a Jetranger in any way.

Cheers,
Huub

[AndyG43]

Spot on Huub, but that is what the Fa 223 is aliased to. I'm no sound guru so putting one together myself is a non-starter. I'm scratching my head to come up with alternatives, the Flettner Fl 282 uses a Bramo SH 14A (which is used in the Jungmeister, Fw 44 Stieglitz and many others) so that is an option, but would there be any sort of rotor sound with an autogyro? I took a look at Craig Richardson's Cierva C30 but that offered no guidance (aliased to the Curtiss Jenny).

I'm open to suggestions folks, and guidance would be appreciated.

Edit _ I'm being an idiot. It was, of course, a helicopter not an autogyro so obviously there would be rotor noise. Which makes it even more complicated.

[huub vink]

There are many sound packages for 9 cylinder air cooled engines. However the rotor sound, which definitely must have been present, is something which is not included in theses packages.

As the larger rotors must have interfered, therefore I would consider to look for a sound set for a Chinook. Personally I think the rotors must have made more noise than the (humble) engine.

Cheers,
Huub

[SgtT]

I guess I don't fully understand why I can't use the sound folder from the Flettner Fl 282. I even tried editing the sound cfg file to to alias it to the Flettner Fl 282 but that didn't work either.

Rob

[AndyG43]

There are many sound packages for 9 cylinder air cooled engines. However the rotor sound, which definitely must have been present, is something which is not included in theses packages.

As the larger rotors must have interfered, therefore I would consider to look for a sound set for a Chinook. Personally I think the rotors must have made more noise than the (humble) engine.

Cheers,
Huub

The only other helicopters I know which use intermeshing rotors are the Kaman HH-43 and 1200 K-Max, which is no great surprise as Anton Flettner became their chief designer! Mike Stone's K-Max is aliased to the Bell 206 but the Lasse Lindh model has it's own sound pack, so I've downloaded that & will look at it later. I'd also like to have a look at Paul Dee's Huskie but at the moment I can't find it.

Back in the day I would have sought help & advice from Nigel. Ye gods, I miss that man, he was one of the good guys.

[Sbob]

With helos in FS2004 and FS2002, you need to pay attention to the ENGINE TYPE line in the aircraft.cfg file and the similar lines in the sound.cfg file.
Sometimes you just need to make sure the sound types match, sometimes it just doesn't work.


Here's an example from the Virtavia Helix aircraft.cfg file-

The line you want to identify is shown below:

[GeneralEngineData]//0=Piston, 1=Jet, 2=None, 3=Helo-Turbine, 4=Rocket, 5=Turboprop
engine_type = 3
Engine.0 = 0.0, 5.3, 3.0 //(feet) longitudinal, lateral, vertical distance from reference datum
Engine.1 = -0.0, -5.3, 3.0 //(feet) longitudinal, lateral, vertical distance from reference datum
fuel_flow_scalar = 75.0
engine.0 = 0, 0, 4
min_throttle_limit=0.000000


This needs to match* the following lines (all or most of them) in the sound.cfg file:

[JET_ENGINE]
type=3
flags=8
viewpoint=1
filename=KA27cockpit
link=ENGINE_EXT



*-Most of the time.

This is normally an easy fix once you know what to look for. Still, sometimes it can be a real bear.

[SgtT]

Thank you very much. I'm playing around with the aircraft and sound config files and think I have a decent sound by using the Flettner Fl 282. When flying the FA-223 I'm now getting a message saying my fuel mixture is wrong.Then it says press CTL-X to correct but it's on going. Is there a setting in the aircraft.cfg file I can change to fix it?

[AndyG43]

Okey doke. I'm making some progress with the Flettner sound, still needs some tweaking and I'll need to contact the original modellers to ask their permission. When I've got this one sorted I'll look at the Fa 223,using the lessons I've learned on this one.

Bob, you may be interested to know* that the method I've used is to add a second engine into the .cfg files, specifically for the rotor sounds. There may well be a more effective or elegant way to do it, but this seems to be working.


* But you probably know that already.

[Sbob]

It can also depend on the .air file.
It really depends on when the aircraft was created. Check the .air file for "engine type" entries.
While most helos ignore the old "FS convention", it did say that helos have to be limited to ONE engine.

Just for S&G, try using the sound folder for the Alphasim Sikorsky S-55 and see (or listen to) what happens.
The S-55 runs a single piston engine. You can grab the S-55 here:
http://www.virtavia.com/Freeware/

Its also a very handy chopper for doing scenery work, the center of the main rotor lines up with the COG which means its also the "center point" for the model.

Like I mentioned above, adding a sound folder to a helo can be a bear.

[AndyG43]

Just for S&G, try using the sound folder for the Alphasim Sikorsky S-55 and see (or listen to) what happens.
The S-55 runs a single piston engine.

Like I mentioned above, adding a sound folder to a helo can be a bear.

Go on, have a guess as to which helicopter the S-55 is aliased? Looks like another one that needs attention, I'll add it to my list.

Re. the airfile suggestion, to be honest it has been so long since I've looked one of them that I've completely forgotten how to do it.

I've had permission from David Wooster to use his rotor sound, I'm just waiting on permission for the main engine file and then we'll be good to go.

[Jorge]

Late to the party, but the SDK does have some info on the helos. Not much, but it's something.

There is also a full rework of the Sikorsky by Greg Pepper here at SOH, as well as a "piston conversion kit" for the Bell 47 by Jean-Marie Mermaz. They may be of some help as a reference as well?

My guess is that you could also look at the default R-22 "aircraft.cfg" and change out what you would need, then use the R-22 air file with the new cfg entries in the Focke?

Just guesses, though.

Jorge
Miami, FL

[AndyG43]

There is also a full rework of the Sikorsky by Greg Pepper here at SOH, as well as a "piston conversion kit" for the Bell 47 by Jean-Marie Mermaz. They may be of some help as a reference as well?

Just guesses, though.

Jorge
Miami, FL

D'oh! Completely forgot to check those two, efficient & elegant without a doubt. Sadly I just don't have the knowledge to create the new .wav files that would likely be needed, so I'm going to have to stick with my 'quick & dirty' method; the Project Mercury approach to flightsimming?

Obio's revamp of the Sikorsky S-51 will certainly bear further study and his sound file could well be a perfect solution for the Alpha S-55.

No start time set for this party, that has given me a lot of food for thought Jorge.

[rohan]

Obio's revamp of the Sikorsky S-51 will certainly bear further study and his sound file could well be a perfect solution for the Alpha S-55.

Obio has already posted a file called "s55_rotor_sound_update.zip" in the library here . . .

but perhaps you already know that . . .

[AndyG43]

Obio has already posted a file called "s55_rotor_sound_update.zip" in the library here . . .

but perhaps you already know that . . .

To be honest I didn't know until I went looking after Jorge's post yesterday. Popped it into the sim, a vast improvement, so a massive thank you due to Obio.

I've got all the permissions I need for the Flettner set, just want to do a little tweaking & then it'll be up in the Library. After which I shall take a look at the Fa 223 (although I've got few repaints ahead of that which I want to finish), that setup deserves something better than an alias to the B206B.

I almost sound as though I know what I'm doing ....