+
+ +
+
+
+ +
+
+Most pilots are in a hurry and not interested in the internal workings of their engine. +Similarly, there may be no need to go through all that manual for your first flight with +FlightGear. If you are sure the graphics drivers for your card support OpenGL + +(check documentation; for instance all NVIDIA + Windows and Linux drivers for +TNT +/TNT2/Geforce +/Geforce2 do) and if you are working under one of the +following operating systems: + +
+ +
++ you can make use of pre-compiled binaries +. These as well as +instructions how to install them can be found under +
+
+http://flightgear.sourceforge.net/Downloads/. +
+
+ Just download them, install them according to the description and run them via the +attached script runfgfs or batch file runfgfs.bat, resp. + +
+There is no guarantee for this approach to work, though. If it doesn't, don't give up but +have a closer look into the manual, notably Section 5. + +
+
+
+You already may have some experience using Microsoft +'s © +FS2000 + or any other of the commercially available PC flight simulators. As the +price tag of those is usually within the $50 range buying one of them should not be a +serious problem given that running any serious PC flight simulator requires a hardware +within the $1500 range, despite dropping prices, at least. + +
+Why then that effort of spending hundreds or thousands of hours of +programming to build a free simulator? Obviously there must be +good reason to do so: + +
+ +
+The above-mentioned points make FlightGear superior to its competitors in several +respect. FlightGear aims to be a civilian, + +multi-platform, + open, + +user-supported, + user-extensible + simulator. + +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+At present, there is no known flight simulator - commercial or free - supporting such a +broad range of platforms. + +
+ +
+ The GPL + is often misunderstood. In simple terms it + states that you can copy and freely distribute the program(s) so licensed. + You can modify them if you like. You are even allowed to charge + as much money for the distribution of the modified or original program as you want. + However, you must distribute it complete with the entire source code + and it must retain the original copyrights. In short: +
+
+ +
+The full text of the GPL + can be obtained from +
+
+http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html. +
+
+ +
+ Without doubt, the success of the Linux + project initiated by Linus + Torvalds + inspired several of the developers. + Not only has it shown that distributed development of even highly sophisticated + software projects over the Internet is possible. It led to a product which, + in several respects, is better than its commercial competitors. + +
+
+This project goes back to a discussion among a group of net citizens in 1996 resulting in +a proposal written by David Murr + who, unfortunately, dropped out of +the project (as well as the net) later. The original proposal + is still available +from the FlightGear web site and can be found under +
+
+http://flightgear.sourceforge.net/proposal-3.0.1. +
+
+ Although the names of the people and several of the details have changed over time, +the spirit of that proposal has clearly been retained up to the present time. + +
+Actual coding started in the summer of 1996 and by the end of that year essential +graphics routines were completed. At that time, programming was mainly performed and +coordinated by Eric Korpela + from Berkeley University. Early code ran +under Linux + as well as under DOS +, OS/2 +, Windows 95/NT +, +and Sun-OS +. This was found to be quite an ambitious project as it involved, among +other things, writing all the graphics routines + in a system-independent way +entirely from scratch. + +
+Development slowed and finally stopped in the beginning of 1997 when Eric was completing +his thesis. At this point, the project seemed to be dead and traffic on the mailing list +went down to nearly nothing. + +
+It was Curt Olson + from the University of Minnesota who re-launched the +project in the middle of 1997. His idea was as simple as it was powerful: Why invent the +wheel a second time? There have been several free flight simulators + available running on workstation +s under different flavors of +UNIX +. One of these, LaRCsim + (developed by Bruce Jackson + from NASA), seemed to be well suited to the approach. Curt took this one apart and +re-wrote several of the routines such as to make them build as well as run on the +intended target platforms. The key idea in doing so was to exploite a system-independent +graphics platform: OpenGL +. +
+
+ +
Fig. 1: LaRCsim +'s Navion + is still available in FlightGear. +
+
+In addition, a clever decision on the selection of the basic scenery + data was +made in the very first version. FlightGear scenery is created based on satellite data +published by the U. S. Geological Survey +. These terrain data are available from +
+
+ http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/doc/edchome/ndcdb/ndcdb.html +
+
+ for the U.S., and +
+
+ http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/landdaac/gtopo30/gtopo30.html, +
+
+ resp., for other countries. Those freely accessible scenery data, in + conjunction with scenery building tools included with + FlightGear, are an important feature enabling anyone to + create his or her own scenery. + +
+This new FlightGear code - still largely being based on the original LaRCsim + +code - was released in July 1997. From that moment the project gained momentum again. +Here are some milestones in the more recent development history: + +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ PLIB underwent rapid development later. It has been distributed by + Steve as a separate package with a much broader range of applications in mind, since spring 1999. It + has provided the basic graphics rendering engine for FlightGear since fall 1999. + +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+
+http://flightgear.sourceforge.net/Downloads/world-scenery.html. +
+
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+During development there were several code reorganization efforts. Various code +subsystems were moved into packages. At present, the code is organized as follows: +
+
+On the base of the graphics engine is OpenGL +, a platform independent +graphics library. Based on OpenGL +, the Portable Library PLIB + +provides basic rendering, audio, joystick etc. routines. Based on PLIB + is +SimGear +, which includes all of the basic routines required for the +flight simulator as well as for building scenery. On top of SimGear + +there are (i) FlightGear + (the simulator itself), and (ii) +TerraGear +, which comprises the scenery building tools. + +
+This is by no means an exhaustive history and most likely some people who have made +important contributions have been left out. Besides the above-named contributions there +was a lot of work done concerning the internal structure by: Jon S. Berndt +, Oliver Delise, + Christian Mayer, + +Curt Olson, + Tony Peden, + Gary R. Van +Sickle +, Norman Vine +, and others. A more +comprehensive list of contributors can be found in Chapter 8 as well as in +the Thanks file provided with the code. Also, the FlightGear +Website + contains a detailed history worth reading of all of the +notable development milestones under +
+
+ http://flightgear.sourceforge.net/News/ + +
+
+One important prerequisite for running FlightGear is a graphics card supporting +OpenGL +. If you don't know what OpenGL + is, the overview given at the +OpenGL web site +
+
+
+ says it best: ''Since its introduction in 1992, OpenGL has become the +industry's most widely used and supported 2-D and 3-D graphics application programming +interface (API)...''. + +
+You may be able to run FlightGear on a computer that features a 3-D video card not +supporting hardware accelerated OpenGL + - and even on systems without 3-D +graphics hardware at all. However, the absence of hardware OpenGL support can force even +the fastest machine to its knees. The typical signal for missing hardware acceleration +are frame rate +s below 1 frame per second. + +
+Any more recent 3-D graphics featuring hardware OpenGL + will do. For +Windows + video card drivers that support OpenGL, visit the home page of your video +card manufacturer. You should note, that sometimes OpenGL drivers + +are provided by the manufacturers of the graphics chip instead of by the makers of the +board. If you are going to buy a graphics card for running FlightGear, I would suggest +getting one based on a NVIDIA chip (TNT/TNT2/Geforce/Geforce2) at present. + +
+To install the executable and basic scenery you need around 40 MB of free disk +space +. In case you want to compile the program yourself you will need about 150 MB for +the source code and for temporary files created during compilation. This does not yet +include the development environment, which possibly may have to be installed under +Windows yet. + +
+If you want to hear sound effects + any capable sound card + should suffice. +FlightGear supports a joystick + or yoke + and rudder pedals + under +Linux + as well as under Windows +. + +
+FlightGear is being developed primarily under Linux +, a free UNIX clone +(together with lots of GNU utilities) developed cooperatively over the Internet in much +the same spirit as FlightGear itself. FlightGear also runs and is partly developed +under Windows 95 +, Windows 98 +, Windows ME +, Windows NT +, and +Windows 2000 +. Building FlightGear is possible on a Macintosh and on several +UNIX/X11 workstations, as well. Given you have a proper compiler + installed, +FlightGear can be built under all of these platforms. The primary compiler for all +platforms is the free GNU C++ + compiler (the Cygnus + compiler under +Win32). + +
+
+Concerning the FlightGear source code there exist two branches, a stable one and a +developmental branch. + + Even version +numbers like 0.6, 0.8, and (someday hopefully) 1.0 refer to stable versions, while odd +numbers like 0.7, 0.9, and so on refer to developmental versions. The policy is to only +do bug fixes in the even versions, while new features are generally added to odd-numbered +versions which, after all things have stabilized, will become the next stable release +with a version number calculated by adding 0.1. + + +
+To add a little to the confusion, there usually are several versions of the ''unstable'' +branch. First, there is a ''latest official release'' which the pre-compiled binaries are +based on. For developers there exist nightly snapshots + + of the source code, available from +
+
+ftp://flightgear.sourceforge.net/pub/flightgear/Devel/Snapshots/. +
+
+ While theses are quite recent, they may still be sometimes a few days back behind +development. Thus, if you really want to get the very latest and greatest (and, at times, +buggiest) code, you can use a tool called anonymous cvs + + +available from +
+
+
+ to get the recent code. A detailed description of how to set this up for FlightGear +can be found under +
+
+http://flightgear.sourceforge.net/cvsResources/. +
+
+ Given, that the stable version is usually quite old, while on the other hand + the recent developmental versions may contain bugs (or, undocumented features), + I recommend using the ''latest official (unstable) release'' for the average user. + This is the latest version named under + +
+ http://flightgear.sourceforge.net/News/; +
+
+ usually this is also the version which the binary distributions + available under +
+
+http://flightgear.sourceforge.net/Downloads/ +
+
+ are based on. If not otherwise stated, all procedures + in this Ïnstallation and Getting Started" will be based on these packages. + +
+
+The most important one is the JSB flight model developed by Jon Berndt. Actually, the JSB +flight model is part of a stand-alone project called JSBSim, having its home under +
+
+http://jsbsim.sourceforge.net/. +
+
+ Concerning airplanes, the JSB flight model at present provides support for a +Cessna 172 +, for a fighter F-15 + and for an experimental plane called +X15 +. Jon and his group are gearing towards a very accurate flight model, and the +JSB model is expected to become FlightGear's default flight model some time in the +near future. + +
+As an interesting alternative, Christian Mayer developed a flight model of a hot air +balloon. Moreover, Curt Olson integrated a special slew mode called Magic Carpet, which +helps you to quickly fly from point A to point B. + +
+All these modes can be invoked at runtime via a command line switch + + +
+- -fdm=abcd + +
+ to be discussed later in Section 6. + +
+As another alternative, there is the UIUC flight model +, developed by a team from +the University of Illinois, in the beginning independently from FlightGear (while now +using it for their simulations). This project aims at studying the simulation of aircraft +icing. Its home is under +
+
+http://amber.aae.uiuc.edu/ jscott/sis/. +
+
+ The UIUC provides a host of different aircraft including several Cessna C172 +, a +Learjet 24 +, a Twin Otter + and much more. To get an idea, you may check the +folder Aircraft-UIUC of the FlightGear path. Contrary to the flight dynamics +models named above, the UIUC flight dynamics model is invoked via a command line like + +
+- -aircraft=uiuc - +-aircraft-dir=/usr/local/FlightGear/Aircraft-uiuc/Beech99. + +
+
+There is little, if any, material in this Guide that is presented here exclusively. You +could even say with Montaigne that I ''merely gathered here a big bunch of other men's +flowers, having furnished nothing of my own but the strip to hold them together''. Most +(but fortunately not all) of the information can as well be obtained from the +FlightGear web site + located under: +
+
+http://flightgear.sourceforge.net/ +
+
+ However, a neatly printed manual is arguably preferable over loosely scattered +Readme files by many, and those people may acknowledge the effort. + +
+This FlightGear Installation and Getting Started manual is intended to be a +first step towards a more complete FlightGear documentation + (with the other parts, hopefully, to be written by others). The target +audience is the end-user who is not interested in the internal workings of OpenGL + +or in building his or her own scenery, for instance. It is our hope, that someday there +will be an accompanying FlightGear Programmer's Guide + (which could be based on some of the documentation found under +
+
+http://flightgear.sourceforge.net/Docs; +
+
+ a FlightGear Scenery Design Guide, + +describing the Scenery tools now packaged as TerraGear; and a FlightGear +Flight School +, at least. +
+
+Installation and Getting Started is organized as follows: + +
+Chapter 3, Getting the engine: Installing OpenGL graphics drivers, +describes how to prepare the computer for supporting FlightGear's graphics +requirements. FlightGear is based on a graphics library called OpenGL, so you must +install graphics card drivers that support OpenGL, preferred with hardware acceleration +(unless you have already done so). + +
+Chapter 4, Building the plane: Compiling the program, explains how +to build (compile and link) the simulator. Depending on your platform this may or may not +be required. There will however be executable programs (binaries) available for several +platforms. Those on such systems who want to take off immediately, without going through +the potentially troublesome process of compiling, may skip that Chapter and go directly +to Chapter 5. + +
+In Chapter 5, Preflight: Installing FlightGear, you will find +instructions for installing the binaries + in case you did not +build them yourself as specified in the previous Chapter. You will need to install +scenery, textures, and other support files collected in the base package +. + +
+The following Chapter 6, Takeoff: How to start the program, +describes how to start the program and includes an overview on the numerous command line +options. + +
+Chapter 7, In-flight: All about instruments, keystrokes and menus, +describes how to operate the program, i. e. how to actually fly with +FlightGear . This includes a (hopefully) complete list of keystroke +commands, an overview of the menu entries, detailed descriptions of instrument panel and +the HUD (head up display) as well as hints on using the mouse functions. + +
+In Chapter 8, Landing: Some further thoughts before leaving the +plane, we would like to give credit to those who deserve it, and sketch an overview on +what remains to be done. + +
+I kindly ask you to help me refine this document by submitting corrections, +improvements, and more. Any user is invited to contribute descriptions of alternative +setups (graphics cards, operating systems etc.). I will be more than happy to include +those into future versions of this Installation and Getting Started (of course +not without giving credit to the authors). + +
+I hope to continuously update this document at least for the foreseeable future, but +supposedly will not be able to produce a new one for any single release of +FlightGear. While I am watching the mailing lists, it would help if developers +adding new functionality would send me a short note. + +
+
+A good review on OpenGL drivers + can be found under +
+
+http://flightgear.sourceforge.net/Hardware. +
+
+ Specific information is collected for windows under +
+
+http://www.x-plane.com/SYSREQ/v5ibm.html +
+
+ and for Macintosh under +
+
+http://www.x-plane.com/SYSREQ/v5mac.html. +
+
+ An excellent place to search for documentation about Linux and 3-D accelerators is the +Linux Quake + HOWTO under +
+
+
+ This should be your first aid in case something goes wrong with your Linux 3-D setup. + +
+Unfortunately, there are so many graphics boards, chips and drivers out there that I am +unable to provide a complete description for all systems. Given the present market +dominance of NVIDIA combined with the fact that their chips have indeed been proven +powerful for running FlightGear, we will concentrate on NVIDIA +drivers + in what follows. + +
+
+If for whatever reason this does not work, you may try to download the most recent +drivers from the NVIDIA site under +
+
+http://www.nvidia.com/Products/Drivers.nsf/Linux.html +
+
+ At present, this page has drivers for all NVIDIA chips for the following Linux +distributions: + RedHat 7.1, Redhat 7.0, Redhat 6.2, Redhat +6.1, Mandrake 7.1, Mandrake 7.2, SuSE 7.1, SuSE 7.0 in several formats (.rpm, .tar.gz). +These drivers support OpenGL natively and do not need any additional stuff. + +
+The page named above contains a detailed README and Installation Guide giving a +step-by-step description, making it unnecessary to copy the material here. + +
+
+Again, you may first try the drivers coming with your graphics card. Usually they should +include OpenGL + support. If for whatever reason the maker of your board did not +include this feature into the driver, you should install the Detonator reference +drivers + + made by NVIDIA + (which might be a good idea +anyway). These are available in three different versions (Windows 95/98/ME, Windows 2000, +Windows NT) from +
+
+ http://www.nvidia.com/products.nsf/htmlmedia/detonator3.html +
+
+ Just read carefully the Release notes to be found on that page. Notably do not +forget to uninstall your present driver and install a standard VGA graphics adapter +before switching to the new NVIDIA drivers first. + +
+
+Notably, with 3DFX + now having been taken over by NVIDIA +, usage and +support for these (Voodoo 1, 2, 3,...) cards will continually disappear. Reportedly, +however, XFree86 4.0 supports these cards out of the box, even in accelerated mode. Thus, +if you have got a recent Linux distribution you should be safe. If you are still running +a version of Xfree86 3.X and run into problems, consider an upgrade. Notably the recent +Debian distribution has been reported to work well. + +
+
+With the Glide drivers no longer provided by 3DFX there seems to be little chance to get +it running (except to find older OpenGL drivers somewhere on the net or privately). All +pages which formerly provided official support or instructions for 3DFX are gone now. For +an alternative, you may want to check the next section, though. + +
+
+There is now an attempt to build a program which detects the graphics chip on your board +and automatically installs the appropriate OpenGL drivers. This is called OpenGL +Setup + and is presently in beta stage. It's home page can be found under +
+
+http://www.glsetup.com/. + +
+I did not try this myself, but would suggest it as a last resort for those completely +lost. + +
+ One final word: I would recommend that you test your OpenGL + support + with one of the programs that accompany the drivers, to be absolutely confident +that it is functioning well. There are also many little programs, often available as +screen savers, that can be used for testing. It is important that you are confident in +your graphics acceleration because FlightGear will try to run the card as fast as +possible. If your drivers aren't working well, or are unstable, you will have difficulty +tracking down the source of any problems and have a frustrating time. + +
+
+ +
+ +
+ +
+On the other hand, compiling FlightGear is not a task for novice users. Thus, if +you're a beginner (we all were once) on a platform which binaries + are available +for, I recommend postponing this task and just starting with the binary +distribution + to get you flying. + +
+As you will note, this Chapter is far from being complete. Basically, I describe +compiling for two operating systems only, Windows + and Linux +, and for only +one compiler, the GNU C compiler. FlightGear has been shown to be built under +different compilers (including Microsoft Visual C) as well as different systems +(Macintosh) as well. The reason for these limitations are: + +
+ +
+Finally: You might want to check Section 9, Missed approach, if +anything fails. In case this does not help I recommend sending a note to one of the +mailing lists (for hints on subscription see Chapter 8). + +
+There are several Linux distributions + on the market, and most of them should +work. Some come even bundled with (often outdated) versions of FlightGear. +However, if you are going to download or buy a distribution, Debian + (Woody) is +suggested by most for this purpose. SuSE + works well, too. + +
+Contrary to Linux/Unix systems, Windows usually comes without any development tools. This +way, you first have to install a development environment. On Windows, in a sense, before +building the plane you will have to build the plant for building planes. This will be the +topic of the following section, which can be omitted by Linux users. + +
+
+There is a powerful development environment available for Windows and this even for free: +The Cygnus development tools, + resp. Cygwin. Their home +is under +
+
+http://sources.redhat.com/cygwin/, +
+
+ and it is always a good idea to check back what is going on there now and then. + +
+Nowadays, installing Cygwin + is nearly automatic. First, make sure +the drive you want Cygwin, PLIB, SimGear and FlightGear to live on, has +around 600 MB of free disk space +. Create a temporary directory and download the +installer from the site named above to that directory. (While the installer does an +automatic installation of the Cygnus environment, it is a good idea to download a new +installer from time to time.) + +
+Invoke the installer now. It gives you three options. To avoid having to download stuff +twice in case of a re-installation or installation on a second machine, I highly +recommended to take a two-step procedure. First, select the option Download from +Internet. Insert the path of your temporary directory, your Internet connection settings +and then choose a mirror form the list. Near servers might be preferred, but may be +sometimes a bit behind with mirroring. I found +
+
+
+ a very recent and fast choice. In the next windows the default settings are usually a +good start. Now choose Next, sit down and wait. + +
+If you are done with this. Invoke the installer a second time, now with the option +Install from local directory. After confirming the temporary directory you can +select a root directory (acting as the root directory of your pseudo UNIX file system). +Cygnus does not recommend taking the real root directory of a drive, thus choose +c:/Cygwin (but other drivers work as well). Now, all Cygwin stuff and all +FlightGear stuff lives under this directory. In addition, select + +
+ Default text file type: Unix + +
+ Install For: Just me. + +
+As a final step you should include the binary directory + (for instance: +c:/Cygwin/bin) into your path either via adding path=c:\Cygwin\bin in +your autoexec.bat or via the corresponding tool in WindowsNT/2000. + +
+Now you are done. Fortunately, all this has to be done only once. At this point you have +a nearly UNIX-like (command line) development environment. Because of this, the following +steps are nearly identical under Windows and Linux/Unix. + +
+
+The following steps are identical under Linux/Unix and under Windows with minor +modifications. Under Windows, just open the Cygwin icon from the Start menu or from +the desktop to get a command line. + +
+ +
+cd:/usr/local/ + +
+mkdir source + +
+ +
+
+ http://plib.sourceforge.net/ +
+
+ (at present, this is version plib-1.2.0.tar.gz) to /usr/local/source. Change to that directory and unpack PLIB using + +
+ tar xvfz plib-X.X.X.tar.gz. + +
+ cd into plib-X.X.X and run + +
+ ./configure
+ make
+ make install.
+
+
+Under Linux, you have to become root for being able to make install, for +instance via the su command. + +
+Confirm you now have PLIB's header files + under +/usr/include/plib (and nowhere else). + +
+ +
+
+ ftp://simgear.sourceforge.net/pub/simgear/Source/ +
+
+ Download it to /usr/local/source. Change to that directory and unpack SimGear +using + +
+ tar xvfz plib-X.X.X.tar.gz. + +
+ cd into SimGear-X.X.X and run + +
+ ./configure
+ make
+ make install
+
+
+ Again, under Linux, you have to become root for being able to make +install, for instance via the su command. + +
+ +
+
+ ftp://flightgear.sourceforge.net/pub/flightgear/Source/ +
+
+ and download it to /usr/local/source. Now, unpack FlightGear using +
+
+ tar xvfz FlightGear-X.X.X.tar.gz. + +
+
cd into FlightGear-X.X.X and run
+
+
+ ./configure + +
+
configure
+ knows about numerous options,
+ with the more
+relevant ones to be specified via a with/without switch as
+
+
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+A good choice would be - -prefix=/usr/local/FlightGear. In this case +FlightGear's binaries + will live under +/usr/local/FlightGear/bin. + +
+Assuming configure finished successfully, run +
+
+ make
+ make install.
+
+
+ Again, under Linux, you have to become root for being able to make +install, for instance via the su command. + +
+ Note: You can save a significant amount of space by stripping all the + debugging symbols off the executable. To do this, make a +
+
+ cd /FlightGear/bin + +
+ to the directory in the install tree where your binaries live and run +
+
+ strip *. +
+ This completes building the executable and should result in a file fgfs (Unix) or + fgfs.exe under /usr/local/FlightGear/bin + +
+Note: If for whatever reason you want to re-build the simulator, use the command +make distclean either in the SimGear-X.X.X or in the +FlightGear-X.X.X directory to remove all the build. If you want re-run +configure (for instance because of installing another version of PLIB etc.), +remove the files config.cache from these same directories before. + +
+
+
+http://flightgear.sourceforge.net/Downloads/. +
+
+There should be a workplace for Microsoft Visual C + included in the official +FlightGear distribution. Macintosh + users find the required CodeWarrior + +files as a .bin archive under +
+
+http://icdweb.cc.purdue.edu/ walisser/fg/. + +
+
+If you successfully performed the steps named above, you have a directory holding the +executables for FlightGear. This is not yet sufficient for performing +FlightGear, though. Besides those, you will need a collection of support data +files (scenery, aircraft, sound) collected in the so-called base package. In case you +compiled the latest official release, the accompanying base package is available from + +
+ftp://flightgear.sourceforge.net/pub/flightgear/Shared/ + +
+ as fgfs-base-X.X.X.tar.gz. + +
+This package + is usually quite large (around 25 MB), but +must be installed for FlightGear to run properly. There is no compilation required for +this package. Just download it to /usr/local and install it with +
+
+ tar xvfz fgfs-base-X.X.X.tar.gz. + +
+ Now you should find all the base files under /usr/local/Flightgear in the +following directory structure: + +: +
+
+ /usr/local/Flightgear + +
+ /usr/local/Flightgear/Aircraft + +
+ /usr/local/Flightgear/Aircraft-uiuc + +
+ ... /usr/local/Flightgear/bin + +
+ ... /usr/local/Flightgear/Weather. + +
+
+It you're really into adventures or feel you're an advanced user, you can try one of the +recent nightly snapshots + + under +
+
+ftp://flightgear.sourceforge.net/pub/flightgear/Devel/Snapshots/. +
+
+ In this case you have to get the most recent Snapshot from SimGear under +
+
+ftp://simgear.sourceforge.net/pub/simgear/Devel/Snapshots/ +
+
+ as well. But be prepared: These are for development and may (and often do) +contain bugs. + +
+If you are using these nightly snapshots the base package named above will usually not be +in sync with the recent code and you have to download the most recent developmental +version from +
+
+
+ Klick Download Base Package Snapshot. The next page uses a special automated +download mechanism; if you now double-klick fgfsbase-X.X.X.tar.gz the download +starts automatically. If you for whatever reason have difficulty with this, you may +right-klick the file and use Save as... to download it manually. + +
+I suggest downloading this package fgfsbase-X.X.X.tar.gz to a temporary +directory. Now, decompress it using +
+
+ tar xvfz fgfsbase-X.X.X.tar.gz. +
+
+ In recent versions of fgfsbase-X.X.X.tar.gz this results in a subdirectory +/fgfsbase containing /Flightgear and all of its subdirectories. If you +installed the FlightGear binaries under /usr/local/Flightgear/bin as +described above, move the base package files and sub-directories into that directory and +you are done. Make sure you got the directory structure named above. + +
+
+ +
+
+The following supposes you are on a Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000 + system. +Installing the binaries is quite simple. Go to +
+
+ ftp://flightgear.sourceforge.net/pub/flightgear/Win32/ +
+
+ and download the three files fgfs-base-X.X.X.zip, +fgfs-manual-X.X.X.zip, and fgfs-win32-bin-X.X.X.zip (being provided +courtesy Curt Olson) + from +
+
+ftp://flightgear.sourceforge.net/pub/flightgear/Win32/ +
+
+ to a drive of your choice. I suppose you already have a tool for unzipping them. If not, +I would suggest downloading a free one like POWERARCHIVER, + +which you can fetch from +
+
+http://www.powerarchiver.com/. +
+
+ Use it to extract the files. If you choose drive c: you should find a file +runfgfs.bat under c:/Flightgear now. Double-clicking it should invoke +the simulator. + +
+
+If your Macintosh + is running the conventional Mac OS 9 + or earlier, +download the file FlightGear_Installer_0.7.5.sit (being provided courtesy Darrell +Walisser) + from +
+
+http://icdweb.cc.purdue.edu/ walisser/fg/. +
+
+ This file contains the program as well as the required base package files (scenery etc.). +For unpacking, use Stuffit Expander 5.0 + or later. + +
+Alternatively, if you are running Mac OS X +, download fgfs-OSX.gz from +the same site named above. This can be unpacked with gunzip via + +
+ gunzip fgfs-OSX.gz. + +
+Now you will find a folder Flightgear containing the script runfgfs to +start the program. + +
+
+Download the file flightgear_0.7.6-6_i386.deb (being provided courtesy Ove +Kaaven) + from any of the Debian + mirror sites listed under +
+
+http://packages.debian.org/unstable/games/flightgear.html. +
+
+ Like any Debian package, this can be installed + via +
+
+ dpkg --install flightgear_0.7.6-6_i386.deb. +
+
+ After installation, you will find the directory /usr/local/Flightgear +containing the script runfgfs to start the program. + +
+
+Download all the required files (being provided courtesy Erik Hofman) + +from +
+
+http://www.a1.nl/ ehofman/fgfs/ +
+
+ and install them. Now you can start FlightGear via running the script
+/usr/local/FlightGear/bin/gofgfs.
+
+
+
+There is a complete set of scenery files worldwide available created by Curt +Olson + which can be downloaded via a clickable map under +
+
+http://flightgear.sourceforge.net/Downloads/world-scenery.html +
+
+ Moreover, Curt provides the complete set of US Scenery on CD-ROM + for those who +really would like to fly over all of the USA. For more detail, check the remarks on the +downloads page above. + +
+For installing these files, you have to unpack them under /Flightgear/Scenery. +Do not de-compress the numbered scenery files like 958402.gz ! This will be done by +FlightGear on the fly. + +
+
+Most of the packages named above include the complete FlightGear documentation +including a .pdf version of this Installation and Getting Started Guide intended +for pretty printing using Adobe's Acrobat Reader being available from +
+
+http://www.adobe.com/acrobat +
+
+ Moreover, if properly installed, the .html version can be accessed via +FlightGear's help menu entry. + +
+Besides, the source code contains a directory docs-mini containing numerous +ideas on and solutions to special problems. This is also a good place for further +reading. + +
+
+
+
+ runfgfs - -option1 - -option2..., +
+
+ where the options will be described in Section 6.3 below. + +
+
+In Windows explorer, change to the /FlightGear directory and double-click +runfgfs.bat. + +
+Alternatively, if for one or the other reason the batch file does not work or is missing, +you can open an MS-DOS shell, change to the directory where your binary resides +(typically something like c:/FlightGear/bin where you might have to substitute +c: in favor of your FlightGear directory), set the environment +variable + via (note the backslashes!) +
+
+SET FG_ROOT=c:\FlightGear\bin +
+
+ and invoke FlightGear (within the same MS-DOS shell, as environment + settings are only valid locally within the same shell) via +
+
+fgfs - -option1 - -option2.... +
+
+Of course, you can create your own runfgfs.bat with notepad using the +two lines above. + +
+For getting maximum performance it is recommended to minimize (iconize) the text output +window while running FlightGear. +
+
+ +
Fig. 2: Ready for takeoff. Waiting at the default startup position in Arizona. +
+
+
+Following is a list and short description of the numerous command line options + +available for FlightGear. + +
+If you are running FlightGear under Windows + you can include these into +runfgfs.bat. However, in case of options you want to re-use continually (like +joystick settings) it is recommended to include them into a file called +.fgfsrc + under Unix systems and +system.fgfsrc, + resp., under Windows. This file has to be in +the top FlightGear directory (for instance /usr/local/Flightgear). As it depends on your +preferences +, it is not delivered with FlightGear, but can be created with +any text editor (notepad, emacs, vi, if you like). Examples for such a file (including a +detailed description on the configuration of joysticks) can be found under +
+
+http://rockfish.net/shell/aboutjoy.txt. + +
+
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+
+ +
+
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+
+ +
+
+The following start options work only if you compiled with Oliver Delise's + multi-pilot networking code + enabled, i.e. - -with-network-olk +(see Chapter 4). This is not implemented by default. + +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+
+ +
+ +
+
+The combination of the numerous types of joystick +s, flightsticks, yoke +s, +pedal +s etc. on the market with the several target operating systems, makes +joystick support a + nontrivial task in FlightGear. + +
+FlightGear supposes certain default values for the axes of your joystick/yoke/rudder +as follows (note that numbering of axis starts with 0!) : +
+
+ +
| + | |
| axis 0 | aileron + |
| axis 1 | elevator + |
| axis 2 | rudder + |
| axis 3 | throttle + |
+
These axes settings are valid, for instance for MS sidewinder. However, if you happen for
+instance to use the quite common combination of CH Virtual Pilot (Pro) + CH (Pro) Pedals
+this will not work for you. As a result you may see the plane spin shortly after start,
+for instance.
+
+
+Basically, all these axes settings can be modified via the following command line switch: +
+
+- -prop:/input/name=jsx/axisn/property=value, +
+
+ where +
+
+ +
| + | ||
| x | = | number of device, + |
| n | = | number of axis, + |
| property | = | control, dead-band, offset, factor, + |
| value | = | the corresponding value for that property. + |
+
The number of the device starts with 0, and usually is 0, if you only have one
+joystick. number of the axis characterizes the axis, the property of which is to be
+defined, and starts with 0, as well. The property control can have the values
+/controls/aileron, /controls/elevator, /controls/rudder, /controls/throttle.
+dead-band specifies a range, within which signals are discarded, which is useful to
+avoid jittering for minor yoke movements. The property offset can be used to
+specify a device, the value of which should not be centered in its neutral position. This
+is typically the case for throttle. Finally, factor controls sensitivity of that
+axis. The default value is +1, with a value of -1 reversing the behavior.
+
+
+An example might make this more clear. Let us consider the following entries in +.fgfsrc + or system.fgfsrc +, resp., +
+
+ - -prop:/input/js0/axis0/control=/controls/aileron + +
+ - -prop:/input/js0/axis1/control=/controls/elevator + +
+ - -prop:/input/js0/axis2/control=/controls/throttle + +
+ - -prop:/input/js0/axis2/factor=-1.0 + +
+ - -prop:/input/js0/axis3/control=/controls/rudder + +
+ - -prop:/input/js0/axis3/factor=1.0 + +
+ - -prop:/input/js0/axis3/offset=0.5 +
+
+ These are the settings I use for my CH Virtual Pilot Pro/Pro Pedals (Gameport). The first +2 lines might be not strictly necessary, as they are set by default. However, as you see, +throttle and rudder are exchanged in my case. Besides maximum and minimum of throttle are +reversed. + +
+You should be able to at least get your joystick working along these lines. Concerning +all the finer points, for instance, getting the joystick buttons working, John +Check + has written a very useful README, the most recent version of +which is available from +
+
+http://rockfish.net/shell/aboutjoy.txt. +
+
+ In case you run into any trouble with your input device, it is highly recommended to have +a look into this document. + +
+
+A short leaflet based on this chapter can be found under +
+
+http://flightgear.sourceforge.net/Docs/InstallGuide/FGShortRef.html. + +
+
+While joystick +s or yoke +s are supported as are rudder + pedals, you +can fly FlightGear using the keyboard alone. For proper control of the plane during +flight via the keyboard (i) the NumLock + key must be switched on (ii) the +FlightGear window must have focus (if not, click with the mouse on the graphics +window). Several of the keyboard controls might be helpful even in case you use a +joystick. + +
+After activating NumLock the following keyboard controls + should work: +
+ +
+ Tab. 1: Main keyboard controls + for FlightGear on the numeric keypad with + activated NumLock key:. +
+
+ +
| + | |
| Key | Action + |
| Pg Up/Pg Dn | Throttle + + |
| Left Arrow/Right Arrow | Aileron + + |
| Up Arrow/Down Arrow | Elevator + + |
| Ins/Enter | Rudder + + |
| 5 | Center aileron/elevator/rudder + |
| Home/End | Elevator trim + |
+ + +For changing views you have to de-activate NumLock. Now Shift + + < Numeric Keypad Key > changes the view as follows: +
+
+ Tab. 2: View directions + +accessible after de-activating NumLock on the numeric keypad. +
+
+ +
| + | |
| Numeric Key | View direction + + |
| Shift-8 | Forward + |
| Shift-7 | Left/forward + |
| Shift-4 | Left + |
| Shift-1 | Left/back + |
| Shift-2 | Back + |
| Shift-3 | Right/back + |
| Shift-6 | Right + |
| Shift-9 | Right/forward |
+ + +The autopilot + is controlled via the following controls: +
+
+ Tab. 3: Autopilot and related controls. + +
+
+ +
| + | |
| Key | Action + |
| Ctrl + A | Altitude hold + toggle on/off + |
| Ctrl + G | Follow glide slope 1 toggle on/off + |
| Ctrl + H | Heading hold + toggle on/off + |
| Ctrl + N | Follow NAV 1 radial toggle on/off + |
| Ctrl + S | Autothrottle + toggle on/off + |
| Ctrl + T | Terrain follow toggle on/off + |
| Ctrl + U | Add 1000 ft. to your altitude + |
| F11 | Autopilot altitude dialog + |
| F12 | Autopilot heading dialog |
+
Ctrl + T is especially interesting as it makes your Cessna 172
+ behave
+like a cruise missile. Ctrl + U might be handy in case you feel you're just about to
+crash. (Shouldn't real planes sport such a key, too?)
+
+
+In case the autopilot + is enabled, some of the numeric keypad keys get a special +meaning: + +
+ Tab. 4: Special action of keys, if autopilot is enabled. + +
+
+ +
| + | |
| Key | Action + |
| Up/Down Arrow | Altitude adjust + |
| Ins/Enter | Heading adjust + |
| Pg Up/Pg Dn | Auto Throttle adjust |
+
Besides these basic keys there are some more special ones; some of these you'll probably
+not want to try during your first flight:
+
+
+ Tab. 5: Special keyboard controls. + +
+
+ +
| + | |
| Key | Action + |
| a/A | Speed up/slow down (time acceleration) + |
| b | Both gear brakes + on/off + |
| h/H | Change color of HUD/toggle HUD off forward/backward + |
| i/I | Minimize/maximize HUD + |
| m/M | Change time offset + (warp) used by t/T forward/backward + |
| P | Toggle instrument panel + on/off + |
| p | Toggle pause + on/off + |
| t/T | Time speed up/slow down forward/backward + |
| x/X | Zoom in/out + |
| v | Cycle view modes + + |
| W | Toggle full screen mode + on/off (Mesa/3dfx/Glide only) + |
| z/Z | Change visibility + (fog) forward/backward + |
| , | Left gear brake (useful for differential braking +) + |
| . | Right gear brake (useful for differential braking +) + |
| ] | Extend flaps + + |
| [ | Retract flaps + |
| F2 | Refresh Scenery tile cache + |
| F3 | Save screenshot under fgfs-screen.ppm + |
| F6 | Toggle autopilot target between current heading and waypoint + |
| F8 | Toggle fog on/off + |
| F9 | Toggle texturing on/off + |
| F10 | Toggle menu on/off + |
| ESC | Exit program |
+
Tab. 6: Alternative function key commands accessible via Shift +
+key.
+
+
+
+ +
| + | |
| Key | Action + |
| Shift-F1 | Restore flight from fgfs.sav + |
| Shift-F2 | Save current flight to fgfs.sav + |
| Shift-F3 | Read a panel from a property list + |
| Shift-F4 | Re-read global preferences from preferences.xml + |
| Shift-F5/F6 | Shift the panel in y direction + |
| Shift-F7/F8 | Shift the panel in x direction + |
| Shift-F10 | Toggle data logging of FDM on/off |
+
Note: If you have difficulty processing the screenshot
+ fgfs-screen.ppm
+on a windows machine, just recall that simply pressing the ''Print'' key copies the
+screen to the clipboard, from which you can paste it into any graphics program.
+
+
+
+At present, the menu provides the following useful functions. + +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+
+The instrument panel is activated by default when you start FlightGear, but can be +de-activated by pressing the ''P'' key. While a complete description of all the +functions of the instrument panel of a Cessna is beyond the scope of this guide, I will +at least try to outline the main flight instrument +s or gauge +s. +
+
+ +
Fig. 3: The panel. +
+
+Let us start with the most important instruments any simulator pilot must know. In the +center of the instrument panel (Fig. 3), in the upper row, you find the +artificial horizon + (attitude indicator +) displaying pitch + and +bank + of your plane. It has pitch marks as well as bank marks at 10, 20, 30, 60, +and 90 degrees. + +
+Left to the artificial horizon, you'll see the airspeed indicator +. Not only does +it have a speed indication in knots but also several arcs showing characteristic +velocity rages + you have to consider. At first, there is a green arc indicating +the normal operating range of speed with the flaps fully retracted. The white arc +indicates the range of speed with flaps in action. The yellow arc shows a range, which +should only be used in smooth air. The upper end of it has a red radial indicating the +speed never to be exceeded. + +
+Below the airspeed indicator you can find the turn indicator +. The airplane in the +middle indicates the roll of your plane. If the left or right wing of the plane is +aligned with one of the marks, this would indicate a standard turn, i.e. a turn of 360 +degrees in exactly two minutes. + +
+Below the plane, still in the turn indicator, is the inclinometer +. It indicates +if rudder + and aileron +s are coordinated. During turns, you always have to +operate aileron + and rudder + in such a way that the ball in the tube +remains centered; otherwise the plane is skidding. If you don't have pedals or lack the +experience to handle the proper ratio between aileron/rudder automatically, you can start +FlightGear with the option - -enable-auto-coordination. + + +
+Further below the turn indicator is the manifold pressure indicator +. + +
+To the r.h.s of the artificial horizon you find the altimeter + showing the height +above sea level (not ground!) in hundreds of feet. Below the altimeter is the +vertical speed indicator + indicating the rate of climbing or sinking of your plane +in hundreds of feet per minute. While you may find it more convenient to use then the +altimeter in cases, keep in mind that its diplay usually has a certain lag in time. +Further below the vertical speed indicator is the RPM (rotations per minute) +indicator +, which displays the rotations per minute in 100 RPMs. The +green arc marks the optimum region for long-time flight. + +
+The group of the main instruments further includes the gyro compass + being +situated below the artificial horizon. Besides this one, there is a magnetic +compass + sitting on top of the panel. + +
+Four of these gauges being arranged in the from of a ''T'' are of special importance: The +air speed indicator, the artificial horizon, the altimeter, and the compass should be +scanned regularly during flight. + +
+Besides these, there are several supplementary instruments. To the very left you find the +clock +, being an important tool for instance for determining turn rates. On the +bottom, below the compass, is the flap indicator +. Further below are several small +gauges displaying the technical state of your engine. Certainly the most important of +them is the fuel indicator + - as any pilot knows. + +
+Like in most flight simulators, you actually get a bit more than in a real plane. The +instrument on the bottom below the turn indicator indicates the position of your +yoke +. This serves as kind of a compensation for the missing forces you feel while +pushing a real yoke, for instance. Three of the arrows correspond to the three axes of +your yoke/pedal controlling nose up/down, bank left/right, rudder left/right, and +throttle. (Keep in mind: They do not reflect the actual position of the plane!) +The left vertical arrow indicates elevator trim. The brake indicator above yoke indicator +displays when you are braking. + +
+The right hand side of the panel is occupied by the radio stack +. Here you find +two VOR + receivers (NAV1/2), + + an NDB + receiver +(ADF +) and two communication radio +s (COMM1/2) + + as +well as the autopilot. + +
+The communication radio + is used for communication with air traffic +facilities +; it is just a usual radio transceiver working in a special frequency range. +The frequency is displayed in the ''COMM'' field. Usually there are two COMM +transceivers; this way you can dial in the frequency of the next controller to contact +while still being in contact with the previous one. + +
+The VOR + (Very High Frequency Omni-Directional Range) receiver is used for course +guidance during flight. The frequency of the sender is displayed in the ''NAV'' field. In +a sense, a VOR acts similarly to a light house permitting to display the position of the +aircraft on a radial around the sender. It transmits one omni-directional ray of radio +waves plus a second ray, the phase of which differs from the first one depending on its +direction (which may considered as a ''rotating'' signal). The phase difference between +the two signals allows evaluating the angle of the aircraft on a 360 degrees circle +around the VOR sender, the so-called radial. This radial is then displayed on the gauges +NAV1 and NAV2, resp., left to frequency field. + +
+Below the two COMM/NAV devices is an NDB + receiver called ADF (automatic direction +finder). Again there is a field displaying the frequency of the facility. The ADF can be +used for navigation, too, but contrary to the VOR does not show the position of the plane +in a radial relative to the sender but the direct heading from the aircraft to the +sender. This is displayed on the gauge below the two NAV gauges. + +
+Above the COMM1 display you will see three LEDs in the colors blue, amber, and white +indicating the outer, middle, and, inner, resp. marker beakon. + + + These show the distance to the runway +threshold during landing. They to not require the input of a frequency. Right to these +three LEDs is the autopilot switch, allowing you to set it to hold the heading, a NAV +radial, or the altitude. + +
+A detailed description of the workings of these instruments and their use for navigation +lies beyond this Guide; if you are interested in this exciting topic, I suggest +consulting a book on instrument flight (simulation). Besides, this would be material for +a yet to be written FlightGear Flight School. + +
+You can neglect these radio instruments as long as you are strictly flying according to +VFR + (visual flight rules +) only. + +
+For those wanting to do IFR + (instrument flight rules +) flights, it should +be mentioned that FlightGear includes a huge database of navaids + worldwide. + +
+Finally, you find the throttle +, mixture +, and flap control + in +the lower right of the panel (recall, flaps can be set via [ and ]). + +
+
+At current, there are two options for reading off the main flight parameters of the +plane: One is the instrument panel already mentioned, while the other one is the +HUD + (Head Up Display) +. Neither +are HUD +s used in usual general aviation planes nor in civilian ones. Rather they +belong to the equipment of modern military jets. However, some might find it easier to +fly using the HUD even with general aviation aircraft. Several Cessna + pilots +might actually love to have one, but technology is simply too expensive for implementing +HUDs in general aviation aircraft. Besides, the HUD displays several useful figures +characterizing simulator performance, not to be read off from the panel. +
+
+ +
Fig. 4: The HUD, or Head Up Display. +
+
+The HUD + shown in Fig. 4 displays all main flight parameters of the plane. In +the center you find the pitch indicator + (in degrees) with the aileron +indicator + above and the rudder indicator + below. A corresponding scale for the +elevation + can be found to the left of the pitch scale. On the +bottom there is a simple turn indicator +. + +
+There are two scales at the extreme left: The inner one displays the speed + (in +kts) while the outer one indicates position of the throttle +. The Cessna 172 takes +off at around 55 kts. The two scales on the extreme r.h.s display your height +, +i. e. the left one shows the height above ground while the right of it gives that above +zero, both being displayed in feet. + +
+Besides this, the HUD + displays some additions information. On the upper right you +find date and time. Below, you see latitude + and longitude + of your current +position on the l.h.s and r.h.s, resp. In the lower left corner there is a number +indicating the frame rate + (the number of times the picture being re-drawn each +second). + +
+You can change color of the HUD using the ''H'' or ''h'' key. Pressing it +several times minimizes the HUD. + +
+
+Besides just clicking the menus, your mouse has got certain valuable functions in +FlightGear. + +
+There are three mouse modi. In the usual mode (pointer curser) panel's controls can be +operated with the mouse. To change a control, click with the left/middle mouse button on +the corresponding knob/lever. While the left mouse button leads to small +increments/decrements, the middle one makes greater ones. Klicking on the left hand site +of the knob/lever decreases the value, while clicking on the right hand side increases +it. + +
+ Right clicking the mouse activates the simulator control mode (cross hair cursor). This allows + control of aileron/elevator via the mouse in absence of a joystick/yoke + (enable - -enable-auto-coordination in this case). If you have a joystick you + certainly will not make use of this mode + +
+ Right clicking the mouse another time activates the view control mode (arrow cursor). + This allows changing direction of view, i.e. pan and tilt the view, via the mouse. + +
+ Right clicking the mouse once more resets it into the initial state. + +
+If you are looking for some interesting places to discover + with FlightGear +(which may or may not require downloading additional scenery) you may want to check +
+
+ http://flightgear.sourceforge.net/Places/. +
+
+ There is now a menu entry for entering directly the airport code + of the +airport you want to start from. + +
+Finally, if you're done and are about to leave the plane, just hit the ESC key or use the +corresponding menu entry to exit + the program. It is not suggested to simply +''kill'' the simulator by clicking the text window. + +
+
+
+Did you enjoy the flight? In case you did, don't forget those who devoted hundreds of +hours to that project. All of this work is done on a voluntary basis within spare time, +thus bare with the programmers + in case something does not work the way you want +it to. Instead, sit down and write them a kind (!) mail proposing what to change. +Alternatively, you can subscribe to the FlightGear mailing lists + and +contribute your thoughts there. Instructions to do so can be found under +
+
+ http://flightgear.sourceforge.net/mail.html. +
+
+ Essentially there are two lists, one of which being mainly for the developers +and the other one for end users. Besides, there is a very low-traffic list for +announcements. +
+
+ The following names the people who did the job (this information was essentially taken +from the file Thanks accompanying the code). +
+
+ Raul Alonzo
+ (amil@las.es)
+ Mr. Alonzo is the
+ author of Ssystem and provided his kind permission for using the moon texture.
+ Parts of his code were used as a template when adding the texture.
+ Ssystem Homepage can be found at:
+
+
+ http://www1.las.es/ amil/ssystem. +
+
+ Michele America
+
+(nomimarketing@mail.telepac.pt)
+ Contributed to the HUD
+ code.
+
+
+ Michael Basler
+ (pmb@epost.de)
+ Author of Installation and Getting Started. Flight Simulation Page under
+
+
+ http://www.geocities.com/pmb.geo/flusi.htm +
+
+ Jon S. Berndt
+ (jsb@hal-pc.org)
+ Working on a complete C++ rewrite/reimplimentation of the core FDM
+.
+ Initially he is using X15 data to test his code, but once things are
+ all in place we should be able to simulator arbitrary aircraft. Jon
+ maintains a page dealing with Flight Dynamics under:
+
+
+ http://jsbsim.sourceforge.net +
+
+ Special attention to X15 is paid in separate pages on this site. Besides, Jon + contributed via a lot of suggestions/corrections to this Guide. +
+
+ Paul Bleisch
+ (pbleisch@acm.org)
+ Redid the debug system so that it would be much more
+ flexible, so it could be easily disabled for production system, and
+ so that messages for certain subsystems could be selectively
+ enabled. Also contributed a first stab at a config file/command line parsing
+ system.
+
+
+ Jim Brennan
+ (jjb@kingmont.com)
+ Provided a big chunk of online space to store USA scenery for FlightGear.
+
+
+ Bernie Bright
+
+(bbright@c031.aone.net.au)
+ Many C++ style, usage, and implementation improvements, STL
+ portability and much, much more. Currently he is trying to create a BeOS port.
+
+
+ Bernhard H. Buckel
+
+(buckel@mail.uni-wuerzburg.de)
+ Contributed the README.Linux. Contributed several sections to earlier versions of
+ Installation and Getting Started.
+
+
+ Gene Buckle
+ (geneb@deltasoft.com)
+ A lot of work getting FlightGear to compile with the MSVC
+++
+ compiler. Numerous hints on detailed improvements.
+
+
+ Ralph Carmichael
+ (ralph@pdas.com)
+ Support of the project. The Public Domain Aeronautical Software web site under
+
+
+
+ has the PDAS CD-ROM for sale containing great programs for astronautical engineers. + +
+ Didier Chauveau
+
+(chauveau@math.univ-mlv.fr)
+ Provided some initial code to parse the 30 arcsec DEM files found at:
+
+
+ http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/landdaac/gtopo30/gtopo30.html. +
+
+ John Check
+ (j4strngs@rockfish.net)
+ John contributed cloud textures, wrote an excellent Joystick howto as well as a panel
+ howto. Moreover, he contributed new instrument panel configurations. FlightGear
+ page under
+
+
+
+ Dave Cornish
+ (dmc@halcyon.com)
+ Dave created new cool runway textures.
+
+
+ Oliver Delise
+ (delise@mail.isis.de)
+ FAQ Maintainer, Documentation, Public relations. Working on adding some
+ networking/multi-user code.
+ Founder of the FlightGear MultiPilot
+ Project under
+
+
+ http://www.isis.de/members/ odelise/progs/flightgear. +
+
+ Jean-Francois Doue
+
+ Vector 2D, 3D, 4D and Matrix 3D and 4D inlined C++ classes. (Based on
+ Graphics Gems IV, Ed. Paul S. Heckbert)
+
+
+http://www.animats.com/simpleppp/ftp/public_html/topics/developers.html. +
+
+ Dave Eberly
+ (eberly@magic-software.com)
+ Contributed some sphere interpolation code used by Christian Mayer's
+ weather data base system. On Dave's web site there are tons of
+ really useful looking code under
+
+
+ http://www.magic-software.com. +
+
+ Francine Evans + (evans@cs.sunysb.edu) +
+
+http://www.cs.sunysb.edu/~evans/stripe.html +
+
+ Wrote the GPL'd tri-striper. +
+
+ Oscar Everitt
+ (bigoc@premier.net)
+ Created single engine piston engine sounds as part of an F4U package
+ for FS98
+. They are pretty cool and Oscar was happy to contribute
+ them to our little project.
+
+
+ Bruce Finney
+ (bfinney@gte.net)
+ Contributed patches for MSVC5 compatibility.
+
+
+ Jean-loup Gailly
+ and Mark
+Adler
+ (zlib@quest.jpl.nasa.gov)
+ Authors of the zlib library
+. Used for on-the-fly compression and
+ decompression routines,
+
+
+ http://www.cdrom.com/pub/infozip/zlib/. +
+
+ Mohit Garg
+
+(theprotean_1@hotmail.com)
+ Contributed to the manual.
+
+
+ Thomas Gellekum
+
+(tg@ihf.rwth-aachen.de)
+ Changes and updates for compiling on FreeBSD
+.
+
+
+ Jeff Goeke-Smith
+
+(jgoeke@voyager.net)
+ Contributed our first autopilot
+ (Heading Hold).
+ Better autoconf check for external timezone/daylight variables.
+
+
+ Michael I. Gold
+
+(gold@puck.asd.sgi.com)
+ Patiently answered questions on OpenGL
+.
+
+
+ Habibe
+ (habibie@MailandNews.com)
+ Made RedHat package building changes for SimGear.
+
+
+ Erik Hofman
+ (erik.hofman@a1.nl)
+ Contributed SGI IRIX binary.
+
+
+ Charlie Hotchkiss
+
+(clhotch@pacbell.net)
Worked on improving and enhancing the HUD
+ code.
+Lots of code style tips and code tweaks.
+
+
+ Bruce Jackson + (NASA) +(e.b.jackson@larc.nasa.gov) +
+
+ http://dcb.larc.nasa.gov/www/DCBStaff/ebj/ebj.html +
+
+ Developed the LaRCsim + code under funding by NASA which we use to provide the + flight model. Bruce has patiently answered many, many questions. +
+
+ Ove Kaaven
+ (ovek@arcticnet.no)
+ Contributed Debian binary.
+
+
+ Richard Kaszeta
+ (bofh@me.umn.edu)
+ Contributed screen buffer to ppm screen shot routine.
+ Also helped in the early development of the ältitude
+ hold autopilot module"
+ by teaching Curt Olson the basics of Control Theory
+ and helping him code and debug early versions. Curt's ''Boss'' Bob Hain
+ (bob@me.umn.edu) also contributed to that. Further details available at:
+
+
+ http://www.menet.umn.edu/ curt/fgfs/Docs/Autopilot/AltitudeHold/AltitudeHold.html. +
+
+ Rich's Homepage is under +
+
+ http://www.menet.umn.edu/ kaszeta. +
+
+ Tom Knienieder
+ (tom@knienieder.com)
+ Ported the audio library
+ first to OpenBSD and IRIX and after that to Win32.
+
+
+ Reto Koradi + (kor@mol.biol.ethz.ch) +
+
+http://www.mol.biol.ethz.ch/~kor +
+
+ Helped with setting up fog effects +. +
+
+ Bob Kuehne
+ (rpk@who.net)
+ Redid the Makefile system so it is simpler and more robust.
+
+
+ Kyler B Laird
+ (laird@ecn.purdue.edu)
+ Contributed corrections to the manual.
+
+
+ David Luff
+ (david.luff@nottingham.ac.uk)
+ Contributed to the IO360 piston engine model.
+
+
+ Christian Mayer
+
+(flightgear@christianmayer.de)
+ Working on multi-lingual conversion tools
+ for fgfs as a demonstration of technology.
+ Contributed code to read Microsoft Flight Simulator scenery textures. Christian is working on a completely new weather
+ subsystem.
+ Donated a hot air balloon
+ to the project.
+
+
+ David Megginson
+ (david@megginson.com)
+ Contributed patches to allow mouse input to control view direction yoke.
+ Contributed financially towards hard drive space for use by the
+ flight gear project. Updates to README.running.
+ Working on getting fgfs and ssg to work without textures.
+ Also added the new 2-D panel and the save/load support.
+ Further, he developed new panel
+ code, playing better with OpenGL, with new features.
+ Developed the property manager and contributed to joystick support.
+
+
+ Eric Mitchell
+ (mitchell@mars.ark.com)
+ Contributed some topnotch scenery textures
+ being all original creations by him.
+
+
+ Anders Morken
+ (amrken@online.no)
+ Maintains the European mirror of the FlightGear web pages.
+ Unfortunately this mirror has been taken down due to rules
+ changes including an enforcement to 10 MB space per subscriber limit
+ which was way too small for the ever growing FlightGear Project files.
+ He'd be happy to maintain a new one if he could find a place to put it,
+ so if you have an idea, contact him!
+
+
+ Alan Murta + (amurta@cs.man.ac.uk) +
+
+ http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/aig/staff/alan/software/ +
+
+ Created the Generic Polygon Clipping library. +
+
+ Phil Nelson
+ (phil@cs.wwu.edu)
+ Author of GNU dbm, a set of database routines that use extendible hashing and work
+ similar to the standard UNIX dbm routines.
+
+
+ Alexei Novikov
+
+(anovikov@heron.itep.ru)
+ Created European Scenery. Contributed a script to turn fgfs scenery into beautifully rendered
+ 2-D maps. Wrote a first draft of a Scenery Creation Howto.
+
+
+ Curt Olson
+ (curt@flightgear.org)
+ Primary organization of the project.
+ First implementation and modifications based on LaRCsim
+.
+ Besides putting together all
+ the pieces provided by others mainly concentrating on the scenery
+ subsystem
+ as well as the graphics stuff. Homepage under
+
+
+ http://www.menet.umn.edu/ curt/ + +
+
Tony Peden
+ (apeden@earthlink.net)
+ Contributions on flight model development, including a LaRCsim based
+ Cessna 172. Contributed to JSBSim the initial conditions code, a more complete
+ standard atmosphere model, and other bugfixes/additions.
+ His Flight Dynamics page can be found at:
+
+
+ http://www.nwlink.com/ apeden. +
+
+ Robin Peel
+ (robin@cpwd.com)
+ Maintains worldwide airport and runway database for FlightGear as well as X-Plane.
+
+
+ Alex Perry
+ (arp11@pacbell.net)
+ Contributed code to more accurately model VSI, DG, Alticude.
+ Suggestions for improvements of the layout of the simulator on the mailing list
+ and help on documentation
+
+
+ Friedemann Reinhard
+
+(mpt218@faupt212.physik.uni-erlangen.de)
+ Development of an early textured instrument panel
+.
+
+
+ Petter Reinholdtsen
+
+(pere@games.no)
+ Incorporated the GNU automake/autoconf system (with libtool).
+ This should streamline and standardize the build process for all
+ UNIX-like platforms. It should have little effect on IDE type
+ environments since they don't use the UNIX make system.
+
+
+ William Riley
+ (riley@technologist.com)
+ Contributed code to add ''brakes
+''. Also wrote a patch to support a first
+ joystick with more than 2 axis.
+
+
+ Paul Schlyter
+ (pausch@saaf.se)
+ Provided Durk Talsma with all the information he needed to write the
+ astro code. Mr. Schlyter is also willing to answer astro-related questions
+ whenever one needs to.
+
+
+ Chris Schoeneman
+
+(crs@millpond.engr.sgi.com)
+ Contributed ideas on audio support.
+
+
+ Phil Schubert
+ (philip@zedley.com)
+ Contributed various textures and engine modelling.
+
+
+ http://www.zedley.com/Philip/index.htm. +
+
+ Jonathan R Shewchuk
+
+(Jonathan_R_Shewchuk@ux4.sp.cs.cmu.edu)
+ Author of the Triangle
+ program. Triangle
+ is used to calculate the Delauney triangulation of our irregular terrain.
+
+
+ Gordan Sikic
+ (gsikic@public.srce.hr)
+ Contributed a Cherokee flight model
+ for LaRCsim
+. Currently is not
+ working and needs to be debugged. Use configure
+ - -with-flight-model=cherokee
+ to build the cherokee instead of the Cessna
+.
+
+
+ Michael Smith
+ (msmith99@flash.net)
+ Contributed cockpit graphics, 3-D models, logos, and other images.
+ Project Bonanza
+
+
+ http://members.xoom.com/ConceptSim/index.html. +
+
+ Sourceforge + +
+
+
+ Sourceforge is a free service for open source developers providing a host of different + features. It provides web space, ftp space, the mailing lists and more for our project for free. +
+
+ Durk Talsma
+ (d.talsma@chello.nl)
+ Accurate Sun, Moon, and Planets. Sun changes color based on
+ position in sky. Moon has correct phase and blends well into the
+ sky. Planets are correctly positioned and have proper magnitude. Help with time
+ functions, GUI, and other things. Contributed 2-D cloud layer.
+ Website
+ under
+
+
+ http://people.a2000.nl/dtals. +
+
+ UIUC
+ - Department of Aeronautical and Astronautical
+Engineering
+ Contributed modifications to LaRCsim to allow loading of aircraft
+ parameters from a file. These modifications were made as part of an
+ icing research project.
+
+
+ Those did the coding and made it all work:
+ Jeff Scott jscott@students.uiuc.edu
+
+ Bipin Sehgal bsehgal@uiuc.edu
+
+ Michael Selig m-selig@uiuc.edu
+
+
+
+ Moreover, those helped to support the effort:
+ Jay Thomas jthomas2@uiuc.edu
+
+ Eunice Lee ey-lee@students.uiuc.edu
+
+ Elizabeth Rendon mdfhoyos@md.impsat.net.co
+
+ Sudhi Uppuluri suppulur@students.uiuc.edu
+
+
+ U. S. Geological Survey + +
+
+http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/doc/edchome/ndcdb/ndcdb.html +
+
+ Provided geographic data used by this project. +
+
+ Mark Vallevand
+
+(Mark.Vallevand@UNISYS.com)
+ Contributed some METAR parsing code and some win32 screen printing routines.
+
+
+ Gary R. Van Sickle
+
+(tiberius@braemarinc.com)
+ Contributed some initial GameGLUT
+ support and other fixes. Has done some
+ interesting preliminary work on a binary file format. Check
+
+
+ http://www.woodsoup.org/projs/ORKiD/fgfs.htm. +
+
+ In addition, Gary has set up a ''Cygwin Tips'' site that has been very helpful to many + people in getting a Cygwin Unix-on-Windows build environment set up + so they can build FG effectively. See +
+
+ http://www.woodsoup.org/projs/ORKiD/cygwin.htm. +
+
+ Norman Vine
+ (nhv@yahoo.com)
+ Provided more than uncountable URL's to the ''FlightGear Community''.
+ Many performance optimizations throughout the code. Many contributions
+ and much advice for the scenery generation section. Lots of Windows
+ related contributions. Contributed wgs84 distance and course routines.
+ Contributed a great circle route autopilot mode based on wgs84 routines.
+ Many other GUI, HUD and autopilot contributions.
+ Patch to allow mouse input to control view direction.
+
+
+ Roland Voegtli
+
+(webmaster@sanw.unibe.ch)
+ Contributed great photorealistic textures. Founder of European Scenery Project for
+ X-Plane:
+
+
+ http://www.g-point.com/xpcity/esp/ +
+
+ Carmelo Volpe
+
+(carmelo.volpe@mednut.ki.se)
+ Porting FlightGear to the Metro Works
+ development environment
+ (PC/Mac).
+
+
+ Darrell Walisser
+
+(dwaliss1@purdue.edu)
+ Contributed a large number of changes to porting FlightGear to the Metro Works
+ development environment (PC/Mac). Finally produced the first Macintosh port.
+
+
+ Ed Williams
+
+(Ed_Williams@compuserve.com).
+ Contributed magnetic variation code (impliments Nima WMM 2000).
+ We've also borrowed from Ed's wonderful aviation formulary at various
+ times as well. Website under
+
+
+ http://www.best.com/ williams/index.html +
+
+ Jean-Claude Wippler
+
+ (jcw@equi4.com)
+ Author of MetaKit
+ - a portable, embeddible database with a portable
+ data file format. This software is not GPL'd but the author is kindly
+ allowing us to bundle MetaKit with our code. MetaKit has a liberal
+ X/MIT-style license. Please see the following URL for more info:
+
+
+ http://www.equi4.com/metakit +
+
+ Robert Allan Zeh
+ (raz@cmg.FCNBD.COM)
+ Helped tremendously in figuring out the Cygnus
+ Win32 compiler and
+ how to link with .dll's. Without him the first run-able Win32
+ version of FlightGear would have been impossible.
+
+
+
+At first: If you read (and, maybe, followed) this guide until this point you may probably +agree: FlightGear, even in its present state, is not at all for the birds. It is +already a flight simulator which has a flight model, a plane with panel and even a HUD, +terrain scenery, texturing, all the basic controls and weather. + +
+Despite, FlightGear needs - and gets - further development. Except internal tweaks, +there are several fields where FlightGear needs basics improvement and development. A +first direction is adding airport +s, streets, and more of those things bringing +scenery to real life and belonging to realistic airports. Another task is further +implementation of the menu system +, which should not be too hard with the basics +being working now. A lot of options at present set via command line or even during +compile time should finally make it into menu entries. Finally, FlightGear lacks any +ATC + until now. A glass cockpit needs to be constructed, and there are thoughts on +a 3D cockpit as well. + +
+There are already people working in all of these directions. If you're a programmer and +think you can contribute, you are invited to do so. + +
+ +
+Beyond this I would like to say special thanks to Curt Olson, + whose +numerous scattered Readmes, Thanks, Webpages, and personal eMails were of special help to +me and were freely exploited in the making of this booklet. + +
+Next, Bernhard Buckel + wrote several sections of early versions +of that Guide and contributed at lot of ideas to it. + +
+Jon S. Berndt + supported me by critical proofreading of several +versions of the document, pointing out inconsistences and suggesting improvements. + +
+Moreover, I gained a lot of help and support from Norman Vine +. Maybe, +without Norman's answers I would have never been able to tame different versions of the +Cygwin - FlightGear couple. + +
+Further contributions and donations on special points came from Oliver Delise + + (several suggestions including notes on that chapter), Mohit Garg + + (OpenGL), Kyler B. Laird + (corrections), Alex +Perry + (OpenGL), and Kai Troester + (compile +problems). + +
+
+
+The best place to look for help are generally the mailing lists + +[FGFS-Devel] and [FGFS-User]. Instructions for subscription can be +found under +
+
+http://flightgear.sourceforge.net/mail.html. +
+
+ Sometimes it already helps browsing through the archive under +
+
+http://www.menet.umn.edu/ curt/fgfs/search.html +
+
+ to detect someone had that very same problem a week ago. + +
+There are numerous helpful developers and users reading the lists, and usually questions +get answered quickly. However, message of the type + +
+FlightGear does not compile on my system. What shall I do? + +
+ are hard to answer without any further detail given, aren't they? Here are some ideas on +important information which may be helpful (depending on the problem you have): +
+
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+
+ +
+ HTTP:
+ http://www.menet.umn.edu/ curt/fgfs/
+
+
+ FTP:
+ftp.kingmont.com/pub/kingmont/ftp_fgfs/.
+
+
+A complete list of mirrors can be found under + +
+http://flightgear.sourceforge.net/Mirrors/ + +
+If you have difficulty accessing the Sourceforge ftp server with MS Internet Explorer, +disable ''Folder view for FTP sites'' under ''Internet Options|Advanced''. + +
+ +
+ Second, check if your drivers are properly installed. Several + cards need additional OpenGL support drivers besides the + ''native'' windows ones. For more detail check Chapter + 3. + +
+ Third, check if your hardware driver is called opengl32.dll + or just merely opengl.dll. By the default compilation, binaries are linked against + open gl32.dll. If you require the non-32 version, + consider rebuilding FlightGear with the libraries opengl32.dll, + glut32.dll, and glu32.dll replaced by their + non-32 counterparts. + +
+ +
+ Besides check careful the error messages of configure. In several cases it + says what is missing. +
+
+ +
+ You should also be sure to keep always the latest version
+ of PLIB on your system. Lots of people have
+ failed miserably to compile FlightGear just because of an outdated
+ plib.
+
+
+
+
+ chown root.root /usr/local/bin/fgfs ;
+ to give the FlightGear binary the proper rights or install
+ the 3DFX module. The latter is the ``clean''
+ solution and strongly recommended!
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+If the configure script could not find your Mesa and Glut libraries you should add the
+Mesa library-path (i.e. /usr/local/Mesa) to the EXTRA_DIRS variable in the file
+configure.in (i.e. EXTRA_DIRS=''/usr/local/usr/
+X11R6/usr/local/Mesa''). After this you have to run autoconf. (Please read
+README.autoconf for running autoconf.)
+
+ FlightGear needs to be setuid root in order to be capable of
+ accessing an accelerator board (or a special kernel module as
+ described earlier in this document) based on 3DFX chips.
+ So you can either issue a
+
+
+ chmod 4755 /usr/local/bin/fgfs
+
+
+ FlightGear will display a lot of diagnostics when being started up.
+ If it complains about bad looking or missing files, check that you
+ installed them in the way they are supposed to be, i.e. latest
+ version and proper location. The canonical location FlightGear
+ wants its data files under /usr/local/lib.
+ Be sure to grab the latest versions of everything that might be needed!
+
+
+ Make sure you have the latest (official) version of gcc. Old versions of
+ gcc are a frequent source of trouble! On the other hand, recent versions
+ of the RedHat 7.0 reportedly have certain problems compiling FlightGear as they include
+ a preliminary version of GCC.
+
+
+
+ +
+ Another cause of grief might be you did not download the + most recent versions of the base package files required by FlightGear, or + you did not load any of them at all. Have a close look + at this, as the scenery/texture format is still under development and may + change frequently. For more detail, check Chapter 5. + +
+ Next, if you run into trouble at runtime, do not use windows utilities for unpacking the + .tar.gz. If you did, try it in the Cygnus shell with tar xvfz + instead. + +
+ +
+ +
+Make sure you change to the Main FlightGear directory, e. g. with + +
+cd /mnt/FlightGear-X.X.X + +
+before running Configure and Make. + +
+ +
+
+ ftp://flightgear.sourceforge.net/pub/flightgear/Source/. +
+
+ In principle, it should be possible to FlightGear with the project files provided with +the code. + +
+ +
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ Index (showing section)
+
+
+
+
+FlightGear now supports external views with user-defined 3D models. +Eventually, FlightGear will probably support a single definition file +that specifies a package containing a flight model, engine model, +panel, external 3D model, and sounds; for now, however, users must +specify each of these separately.
+ +FlightGear uses the open-source PLIB library, which (as of +version 1.3.1) includes support for several 3D file formats:
+ +(Note that some of these have restrictions; see the PLIB +documentation for details.) As new formats are added to PLIB, +FlightGear will automatically be able to support them.
+ +First, you need to find a 3D model for the aircraft you want to see
+during an external view. Your best bet is probably to download an
+MSFS MDL file from one of the many flight-simulator Web sites, such as
+www.flightsim.com. You then
+need to install the main model file (with the appropriate extension)
+somewhere under $FG_ROOT, and install any associated
+textures in $FG_ROOT/Models/Textures.
++ +NOTE: if your model appears untextured and you are +using a case-sensitive filesystem, you may need to fiddle with the +case of the texture file names.
+
Next, you need to set the property /sim/model/path to
+the model file's name, relative to $FG_ROOT.
It is possible that the model may not be aligned correctly, and +will appear to fly too high, too low, sideways, vertically, etc. If +so, you can use the additional properties described at the end of this +mini-howto to adjust to model so that it appears to fly +realistically.
+ + +You have downloaded a zip package containing a 3D Cessna model for
+Microsoft Flight Simulator, and you want to use that model in
+FlightGear. First, you unzip the package, where you find a series of
+files, including one with the extension "mdl" and several
+with extensions ending in "af"; you can safely ignore any
+other files for the installation, but you should, of course, read any
+files describing your usage rights.
Change to the location of $FG_ROOT
+(/usr/local/FlightGear on my system) and copy all of the
+*af texture files to Models/Textures/. In
+Unix, assuming you unzipped in /tmp/cessna
+cp /tmp/cessna/*af Models/Textures ++ +
Next, copy to *.mdl file to any location under
+$FG_ROOT; it's probably a good idea to put it inside
+Models/. In Unix
+cp /tmp/cessna/*.mdl Models ++ +
To use the model in FlightGear, use the --prop option
+with the /sim/model/path property:
+fgfs --prop:/sim/model/path=Models/C172SKH.mdl ++ +
Press the 'v' key to switch to external view, and see how it +looks.
+ +If the model does seem to have the correct position or orientation, +you can adjust it using the properties described below. When +everything is correct, you can add the properties to your .fgfsrc file +so that you do not have to type them every time.
+ + +These properties allow you to specify the path of the 3D model for +external views and to adjust the model's position and orientation so +that it seems to fly in the correct position. For example, if the +model is pointing backwards, you can specify
+ ++--prop:/sim/model/h-rotation=180 ++ +
to turn it around the right way. If the model seems to float a +half meter above the ground, you can specify
+ ++--prop:/sim/model/z-offset=0.5 ++ +
to lower it a bit.
+ +| Property | +Default | +Description | +
|---|---|---|
/sim/model/path |
+Models/Geometry/glider.ac |
+The pathname of a file containing a 3D model, relative to
+$FG_ROOT. |
+
/sim/model/x-offset |
+0.0 |
+The backward/forward offset in meters. Positive is backwards, +negative is forwards. | +
/sim/model/y-offset |
+0.0 |
+The left/right offset in meters. Positive is right, negative is +left. | +
/sim/model/z-offset |
+0.0 |
+The up/down offset in meters. Positive is down, negative is +up. | +
/sim/model/h-rotation |
+0.0 |
+The heading rotation in degrees. Positive is counter-clockwise, +negative is clockwise. | +
/sim/model/p-rotation |
+0.0 |
+The bank rotation in degrees. Positive is left bank, negative is +right bank. | +
/sim/model/r-rotation
+ | 0.0 |
+The pitch rotation in degrees. Positive is nose up, negative is +nose down. | +