Engine placement question

[OBIO]

What determines the actual location of the engines on a plane? I know there are engine location settings in the config file and in the air file...but not sure which directly tells the sim that engine 1 is here, engine 2 is here, engine 3 is here and engine 4 is here.

I just got done watching "Flight of the Phoenix"...the 2004 remake with Dennis Quaid. That got me in the mood to fly the Fairchild C-82 and C-119 and C-123. Fired up the C-124K and remembered that I have been wanting to set the plane up to use the two jet engines as well (yes, I know you can't do mixed power types...but I will simply make the two jets as functional piston engines and give them the sound of jets in a dedicated sound pack).

I want Engine 1 to be the Left Radial, Engine 2 to be the Right Radial, Engine 3 to be the Left jet and Engine 4 to be the Right jet. Which entries will get the sim to start the engines in that order?

OBIO

[Milton Shupe]

In the GeneralEngineData section, these statements override the air file parameters.

Engine.0=6.0, -24.5, 0.500 //(feet) longitudinal, lateral, vertical distance from reference datum
Engine.1=6.0, -12.5, 0.000
Engine.2=6.0, 12.5, 0.000
Engine.3=6.0, 24.5, 0.500

Think of of the air file as the runtime holder of all data. It contains the cells for everything including the overrides that come from the aircraft.cfg (whose data gets plugged in at aircraft load time). Then the sim engine works from the air file cells.

You cannot override the engine numbers as they are named in the model file and if you use cntrl+e, they will start in the sequence designated by the naming convention required of the modeler.

[OBIO]

Thanks for the info Milton. I am not sure that the jet engines have any info in the MDL file other than that which is needed to give them form and substance. The plane is set up as a 2 engine radial and the jet engines are totally non-functional. I will see if I can make them function...and hopefully be able to get the engines to fire up in the sequence I want them to...if not, then I'll just adjust the sound pack accordingly.

OBIO

[Milton Shupe]

Simply add their positions and name them anything you want ... experiment ... will not hurt a thing.

Although the two existing engines are named by the modeler 0(eng 1) and 1(eng 2) for animation purposes, you can position them for the FM anywhere you wish. The original two will still animate as normal in the visual model.

[OBIO]

The engine tweaking is done....the C123K now gets power from two Pratt and Whitney R-2800 radial engines and two "turbine" engines...and the start sequence is exactly how I wanted it. Now I just need to do some flight testing to determine how close to the real deal the tweak gets the Provider. Also need to do some serious 2D and VC tweaking to reflect all four engines and to incorporate a 4-engine throttle and starting system so that full engine control is available.

THe new sound pack is nice too....you can hear the twin R-2800s growling and the two jets whistling their little heads off.

OBIO