%% %% getstart.tex -- Flight Gear documentation: Installation and Getting Started %% Chapter file %% %% Written by Bernhard Buckel, starting September 1998. %% %% Copyright (C) 1999 Bernhard Buckel (buckel@wmad95.mathematik.uni-wuerzburg.de) %% %% This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or %% modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as %% published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the %% License, or (at your option) any later version. %% %% This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but %% WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of %% MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU %% General Public License for more details. %% %% You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License %% along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software %% Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. %% %% $Id: getstart.tex,v 0.12 1999/03/07 michael %% (Log is kept at end of this file) %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% \chapter{Takeoff: How to start the program\label{takeoff}} %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% \markboth{\thechapter.\hspace*{1mm} TAKEOFF}{\thesection\hspace*{1mm} Command line parameters} \section{Starting under Linux} Under Linux, \FlightGear is invoked by \texttt{fgfs -$\!$-option1 -$\!$-option2\dots}, \noindent where the options are described in section \ref{options} below. \section{Starting under \Index{Windows 98/NT}} In Windows explorer, change to \texttt{$\backslash$FlightGear$\backslash$}. Call \texttt{runfgfs.bat} by double-clicking if you want to invoke the hardware accelerated version of \FlightGear \texttt{fgfs.exe}, or \texttt{runfgfs-sgi.bat} if you installed SGI's software \Index{OpenGL} support. Alternatively, if for one or the other reason the batch does not work, you can open an MS-DOS shell, change to the directory where your binary resides (typically something like \texttt{d:$\backslash$FlightGear$\backslash$bin} where you might have to substitute \texttt{d:} in favor of your \FlightGear directory), set the environment variable with \texttt{SET FG\_ROOT=d:$\backslash$FlightGear$\backslash$bin} \noindent and invoke \FlightGear (within the same shell -- Windows environment settings are only valid locally within the same shell) via \texttt{fgfs -$\!$-option1 -$\!$-option2\dots}. For getting maximum performance it is highly recommended to minimize (iconize) the non-graphics window while running {\FlightGear}$\!$. \medskip \centerline{ \includegraphics[clip,width=12.5cm]{arizona.eps} } \noindent Fig.\,2: \textit{Ready for takeoff. We are at the default startup position in Arizona.} \medskip \section{Command line parameters\label{options}} \index{command line options} Following is a list and short description of the command line options available. In case of Windows 98/NT it is recommended to include these in \texttt{runfgfs.bat}. \subsection{General Options} \begin{itemize} \item{\texttt{-$\!$-help}}: gives a small help text, kind of a short version of this section. \item{\texttt{-$\!$-fg-root={\it path}}}: tells \FlightGear where to look for its data files if you didn't compile it with the default settings. \item{\texttt{-$\!$-disable-game-mode}}: Disables \Index{fullscreen display}. \item{\texttt{-$\!$-enable-game-mode}}: Enables fullscreen rendering. \item{\texttt{-$\!$-disable-splash-screen}}: Turns off the rotating \Index{3DFX logo} when the accelerator board gets initialized. \item{\texttt{-$\!$-enable-splash-screen}}: If you like advertising, set this! \item{\texttt{-$\!$-disable-intro-music}}: No MP3-sample is being played when \FlightGear starts up. \item{\texttt{-$\!$-enable-intro-music}}: If your machine is powerful enough, enjoy this setting. \item{\texttt{-$\!$-disable-mouse-pointer}}: In the future, \FlightGear will feature a mouse interface so that options can be set at runtime. As this feature is not implemented yet it seems wise to disable the mouse interface. \item{\texttt{-$\!$-enable-mouse-pointer}}: Enables another mouse pointer in the \FlightGear window. This is useful when running \FlightGear in full screen mode and will allow access to the - yet to be implemented - mouse interface of \FlightGear\hspace{-2mm}. \item{\texttt{-$\!$-disable-pause}}: This will put you into \FlightGear with the engine running, ready for Take-Off. \item{\texttt{-$\!$-enable-pause}}: Starts \FlightGear in pause mode. \end{itemize} \subsection{Features} \begin{itemize} \item{\texttt{-$\!$-disable-hud}}: Switches off the \Index{HUD} (\textbf{H}ead \textbf{U}p \textbf{D}isplay). \item{\texttt{-$\!$-enable-hud}}: Turns the \Index{HUD} on. This is the default. \item{\texttt{-$\!$-disable-panel}}: Turns off the \Index{instrument panel}. This is the default, as the instrument panel is still in its early beginnings -- but in our opinion you should give it a try. \item{\texttt{-$\!$-enable-panel}}: This will give you the look of a real \Index{cockpit}. \item{\texttt{-$\!$-disable-sound}}: Pretty self explaining, isn't it? \item{\texttt{-$\!$-enable-sound}}: \end{itemize} \subsection{Initial Position and Orientation\index{orientation}} \begin{itemize} \item{\texttt{-$\!$-airport-id=ABCD}}: If you want to start directly at an airport, enter its international code, i.e. KJFK for JFK airport in New York. A long/short list of the IDs of the airports being implemented can be found in \texttt{/Flight Gear/Airports}. You only have to unpack one of the files with gnuzip. Keep in mind, you need the terrain data for the relevant region!\index{airport code} \item{\texttt{-$\!$-lon=degrees}}: This is the starting longitude in degrees (west = -) \item{\texttt{-$\!$-lat=degrees}}: This is the starting latitude in degrees (south = -) \item{\texttt{-$\!$-altitude=meters}}: You may start in free flight at the given altitude. Watch for the next options to insert the plane with a given heading etc. \item{\texttt{-$\!$-heading=degrees}}: Sets the \Index{initial heading}. \item{\texttt{-$\!$-roll=degrees}}: Initial roll angle.\index{initial roll angle} \item{\texttt{-$\!$-pitch=degrees}}: Initial pitch angle.\index{initial pitch angle} \end{itemize} \subsection{Rendering Options\index{rendering options}} \begin{itemize} \item{\texttt{-$\!$-fog-disable}}: To cut down the rendering efforts, distant regions are vanishing in \Index{fog} by default. If you disable fogging, you'll see farther but your frame rates will drop. \item{\texttt{-$\!$-fog-fastest}}: The scenery will not look very nice but frame rates will increase. \item{\texttt{-$\!$-fog-nicest}}: This option will give you a fairly realistic view of flying on a hazy day. \item{\texttt{-$\!$-fov=xx.x}}: Sets the \Index{field of view} in degrees. The value is displayed on the HUD. Default is 55.0. \item{\texttt{-$\!$-disable-fullscreen}}: Self explaining, isn't it? \item{\texttt{-$\!$-enable-fullscreen}}: \item{\texttt{-$\!$-shading-flat}}: This is the fastest mode but the terrain will look ugly! This option might help if your video accelerator is really slow. \item{\texttt{-$\!$-shading-smooth}}: This is the recommended (and default) setting - things will look really nice. \item{\texttt{-$\!$-disable-skyblend}}: No fogging or \Index{haze}, sky will be displayed using just one color. Fast but ugly! \item{\texttt{-$\!$-enable-skyblend}}: Fogging/haze is enabled, sky and \Index{terrain} look realistic. This is the default and recommended setting. \item{\texttt{-$\!$-disable-textures}}: Terrain details will be disabled. Looks ugly, but might help if your video board is slow. \item{\texttt{-$\!$-enable-textures}}: Default and recommended. \item{\texttt{-$\!$-enable-wireframe}}: If you want to know how the world of \FlightGear internally looks like, try this! \end{itemize} %% Revision 0.02 1998/09/29 bernhard %% revision 0.10 1998/10/01 michael %% final proofreading for release %% revision 0.11 1998/11/01 michael %% Added pic from Arizona takeoff