Sinking Porter

[lefty]

I've come back to FSX after a long time away. Fresh install, Acceleration, a couple of add-on sceneries, and a few new aircraft, including my old payware FSD Porter, one of my favourites. I even managed to get through the minefield that is FSD installation.

However, a curiosity has arisen - my floatplane Porter is lying very low in the water - even with no load at all.

Attachment 95039

FSD say they've seen nothing like it and it's probably my add-on scenery causing the problem. But the stock Beaver floats fine in the same scenery, as do other aquatic add-ons.

I know I can tweak the .cfg, but am hesitant about doing this and feel I shouldn't have to anyway - this never happened in previous installations. Any ideas for keeping my tootsies dry, fellows ?

[Roger]

I have the version that was made to be an FsX port-over and on the whole (even in Dx10) it seems to float reasonably well so I'd guess it's a contact points issue so some editing of the aircraft.cfg should help.

[lefty]

Thanks, Roger. I thought so. Not being familiar with this, I presume these are the appropriate settings - what would you suggest ?


// Scrapes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
point.4=4, 8.85, -5.4, -7.80, 1600.0, 0, 0.00, 0.0, 0.85, 2.5, 0.65, 0.0, 0.0, 0, 0.0, 0.0 //float L FWD
point.5=4, 8.85, 5.4, -7.80, 1600.0, 0, 0.00, 0.0, 0.85, 2.5, 0.65, 0.0, 0.0, 1, 0.0, 0.0 //float R FWD
point.6=4, -17.50, -5.4, -6.10, 1600.0, 0, 0.00, 0.0, 0.95, 2.5, 0.65, 0.0, 0.0, 2, 0.0, 0.0 //float L AFT
point.7=4, -17.50, 5.4, -6.10, 1600.0, 0, 0.00, 0.0, 0.95, 2.5, 0.65, 0.0, 0.0, 3, 0.0, 0.0 //float R AFT

[Roger]

Hi Lefty,
Just checked mine and at the lowest point as it bobs up and down, the floats are almost completely covered. I'm not sure what contact points need changing though.

[Roger]

Just Googled the issue and found this in a Flightsim archive post:

// Scrapes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
point.4=4, 8.85, -5.4, -8.95, 1600.0, 0, 0.00, 0.0, 0.85, 2.5, 0.65, 0.0, 0.0, 0, 0.0, 0.0 //float L FWD
point.5=4, 8.85, 5.4, -8.95, 1600.0, 0, 0.00, 0.0, 0.85, 2.5, 0.65, 0.0, 0.0, 1, 0.0, 0.0 //float R FWD
point.6=4, -17.50, -5.4, -7.25, 1600.0, 0, 0.00, 0.0, 0.95, 2.5, 0.65, 0.0, 0.0, 2, 0.0, 0.0 //float L AFT
point.7=4, -17.50, 5.4, -7.25, 1600.0, 0, 0.00, 0.0, 0.95, 2.5, 0.65, 0.0, 0.0, 3, 0.0, 0.0 //float R AFT

[Roger]

Here she is with the new contact points:

[lefty]

Thanks again - those settings have done the trick. Unfortunately, I now get showers of sparks from the floats when taking off from a runway (with gear down!) Ah well.........

[srgalahad]

Lefty,

Floats are dependent on having sufficient air in the volume of the floats to provide buoyancy. Reduce the amount of smuggled single malt beverage and you'll probably find the beastie rides higher ( and reduces the fire risk if you get those sparks)

[Roger]

Thanks again - those settings have done the trick. Unfortunately, I now get showers of sparks from the floats when taking off from a runway (with gear down!) Ah well.........

It would probably require some adjustments in the "wheels" section and I might experiment with the cfg later.

[Roger]

Hi Lefty,
Had a play around with the contact points and I think I've found a good compromise:

// Scrapes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
point.4=4, 8.85, -5.4, -8.75, 1600.0, 0, 0.00, 0.0, 0.85, 2.5, 0.65, 0.0, 0.0, 0, 0.0, 0.0 //float L FWD
point.5=4, 8.85, 5.4, -8.75, 1600.0, 0, 0.00, 0.0, 0.85, 2.5, 0.65, 0.0, 0.0, 1, 0.0, 0.0 //float R FWD
point.6=4, -17.50, -5.4, -7.5, 1600.0, 0, 0.00, 0.0, 0.95, 2.5, 0.65, 0.0, 0.0, 2, 0.0, 0.0 //float L AFT
point.7=4, -17.50, 5.4, -7.5, 1600.0, 0, 0.00, 0.0, 0.95, 2.5, 0.65, 0.0, 0.0, 3, 0.0, 0.0 //float R AFT

[lefty]

You cracked it this time. Many thanks again, Roger.