Air-Child repaint for FSX B737-800 needed

F

Felix Sieber

Users Local time
Today 4:06 PM
I am flying with Sim Avioncs on FSX. Sim Avionics has it on flight logic, but is using the FSX B737-800 as exterior visual model. Doe's someone has a repaint with the Air-Child livery for this aircraft? I would be a happy user of that repaint. :)
Regards
Felix
 
Hi, if I remember correctly I made a repaint for the POSKY 738. Maybe you could use that as exterior? It's visually better than the default while not heavy on the frames. I know it merges quite well with most FDEs.

If you would like to use it, I could redo the night windows because those from FS2004 often look too bright in FSX(POSKY's planes are texture compatible in FS9 and FSX).
 
Hi Barthe
I think it is worth a try. What I don't know is, how similar the outsides of this two models are. And how the FSX B737 behave with the POSKY 738 dds.
Before you do any works on the windows I would like to try it. Can you send me just the *_T_1.dds and the *_T_2.dds of the repaint you did?
Thank you for your offer.
 
Hi,
What I don't know is, how similar the outsides of this two models are
Click to expand...
Similar enough to me, actually quite a lot more like the real thing. See
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page for examples. The FSX default has problems with mirrored textures(because it uses the same for left and right), the POSKY has separated textures for left and right.
And how the FSX B737 behave with the POSKY 738 dds.
Click to expand...
I don't mean sticking textures on the default. Instead you replace the model(.mdl file) but leave the FDE(flight characteristics) in place.

In case you worry about it; the POSKY model
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.
Can you send me just the *_T_1.dds and the *_T_2.dds of the repaint you did?
Click to expand...
I'll have a search through my old files this weekend and then I'll send you the repaint with some instructions. (Provided I can still find it of course).
 
Hi Barhte
A rainy weekend ahead of us. So I will install the POSKY model and do some testing. Thanks for putting me on the «right» pad.
 
@Felix:

Hello, I have found the repaint and I've redone the night windows(don't like to send people half products). Can you give me your e-mail address so I can send it? Hope that works, it's still 3.4 Mb.

I hope you managed to install the FSX POSKY model. Do you need any help with it? I don't know how you fly, some people use the default VC in the POSKY model. But you fly with external panels, right?

I've send a similar e-mail to you, greetz, Barthe...
 
Hi Barthe
I did send you my email address. There is also a configuration file with the avionics software. So I will install the POSKY 737 and the corresponding configuration file an do some testing.
Thank you and best regards
Felix
 
Hello, for some reason I'm not getting your e-mail. I've found another solution. I've sent you another mail.

Greetz, Barthe.
 
Hi Barthe
Thank you for the repaint. It is installed and visible on the FSX. So now I am doing some testing and a first test flight. I let you know when everything is working.

I did send you an email at the address provided by the forumadmin from Air Child. I got a return message from the server: :think:
The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
(your mail address)
(reason: 550 Host unknown)

So I did send it a second time to your mailbox at Air Child. I don't know what happened maybe your mail address with Air Child is not the correct one?
Regards
Felix
 
Hi,
I don't know what happened maybe your mail address with Air Child is not the correct one?
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I don't know what's wrong with it. I updated it before I mailed you(because the old address indeed expired with the new year). Maybe ACHs e-mail database is kind of slow, don't know. Various things rattle a bit; It seems I had another pm for a repaint in July which I never saw until yesterday.... :wonder:

But at least, now you got the repaint.
It is installed and visible on the FSX. So now I am doing some testing and a first test flight. I let you know when everything is working.
Click to expand...
If you want to merge your old aircraft.cfg(with it's flight characteristics) into the POSKY aircraft, I got the perfect merging instructions for you. It involves changing only a few lines. Then the aircraft just flies like it used to but with a new appearance. I'll look them up on my other pc tonight and post them. Might be handy.
 
Barthe Hogenboom said:
Hi,
I don't know what happened maybe your mail address with Air Child is not the correct one?
Click to expand...
I don't know what's wrong with it. I updated it before I mailed you(because the old address indeed expired with the new year).
Click to expand...

Hi Barthe,

I am getting your emails bounced back to me at the forum admin email address.
Code: 
             The mail system

<ba****@hog*****m-i**.nl>: Host or domain name not found. Name service error
    for name=hog*****m-i**.nl type=A: Host not found

Remember you have email addresses in two places on Air-Child.

[Left Menu] Pilot Lounge > My profile.
[Forum] User Control Panel (top left) > profile > edit account settings.

Updating one won't update the other.
 
Remember you have email addresses in two places on Air-Child.

[Left Menu] Pilot Lounge > My profile.
[Forum] User Control Panel (top left) > profile > edit account settings.

Updating one won't update the other.
Click to expand...
Ah, thanks Andrew. That's the problem then. I'll fix that right away.
 
Ok, these are the things I found out about merging aircraft in FSX. Compiled from various websites and my own experience.

If your setup just uses the default 738's FDE and VC you can find plenty of these ready made on various sites. I can find one for you if you want. Then you can just skip the whole merging process below :phew:

The whole idea behind this is that the outward appearance is just an illusion; you could fly a simple grey cube just as a 737 with the right aircraft.cfg and matching .air file. :lol:

It's all based on this:
Code: 
VMO (model's visual center 0,0,0)
|___ Reference_datum_position (arbitrary x,y.z as an offset from VMO)
     |___ Empty_weight_CG_position (defined as an offset from reference_datum)
     |___ All other x,y,z coordinates (defined as an offset from reference_datum)

The VMO is a zero point used in designing the model in the 3D program. You place the FDE(flight characteristics) on it by choosing the reference_datum_position. The rest just connects to this.

For posky 737:

:arrow: start with the aircraft.cfg that has the FDE that you want(your old aircraft.cfg in this case) as a base.
:arrow: copy the corresponding(old) .air file in your aircraft folder
:arrow: copy aircraft [fltsim.0] etc. into it
:arrow: change the line sim= to your xxxxxx.air file but leave the .air extension off
:arrow: copy reference_datum_position from posky FDE
:arrow: LEAVE empty_weight_CG_position to old setting
:arrow: copy [LIGHTS] section from POSKY
:arrow: [contact_points] -> set forward position of nose gear to POSKY value (for push-back truck)
set all gear heights to POSKY values
:arrow: LEAVE horizontal position of main gear to old settings or aircraft will tumble over
:arrow: [CameraDefinition.000] etc. -> set exterior cameras to POSKY or adjust to your liking

For merging the VC(cockpit):
:arrow: LEAVE internal cameras to old values
:arrow: [Views] -> adjust eyepoint backwards or forwards for new cockpit position
:arrow: make a texture.cfg in all your texture files that have a search path for your cockpit textures
:arrow: copy the panel folder from the old aircraft
:arrow: copy the VC model to the folder with the .mdl file in it(model.W) and add a line interior= with this file(without .mdl extension) or(more advanced) only link to the interior .mdl in another aircraft's folder
:arrow: copy the folders Pky_util and Posky737 in this panel folder
:arrow: in panel.cfg add
Windowxx=Posky_Debug
Windowxx=Posky_Util

and as a last VC section in panel.cfg:

[VCockpitxx]
size_mm=512,512
pixel_size=512,512
texture=$Posky_ACU
background_color=0,0,0

gauge01=Posky737!PkyNosegearheight, 140,80,140,80
gauge02=Posky737!PkyLeftgearheight, 140,80,140,80
gauge04=Posky737!PkyRightgearheight, 140,80,140,80
gauge12=Posky737!PkyNosegearsteerling, 140,80,140,80
gauge25=Posky737!Pky_PB_Towhead, 140,80,140,80

:arrow: this is important for the gear height

If someone knows a more technical approach for this second last step, please let me know :lol:
:arrow: park at a gate and push back :arrow: see if the push truck connects correctly with your nosewheel, otherwise adjust it a little in the [contact_points] section

:arrow: test fly the aircraft, it should fly the same as before

useful sites:

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One note: I always fly with crash detection off(you just know when you've crashed when you land to hard). You might have to adjust the contact points a bit more if you want it on, I don't know.

I might have missed something, just ask away.
 
Hi Barthe
I did some test flights with the POSKY B737-800. First I tried the Posky.cfg-File from Sim Avionics. But it seems that the Aircraft is burning to much fuel (2900 kg/h).
Then I worked on the aircraft.cfg. The first attempt didn't worked out. The next time I only changed the model in the aircrft.cfg, the reference_datum_position and copied the lights section form the Posky config-file into the my config. I didn't know which contact point is the Nose wheel in my aircraft.cfg. With AES the push back is no problem and the GEX truck is a little to close the nose wheel. Maybe you can tell me which contact point to change:

[contact_points]
point.0=1, 40.85, 0.00, -9.85, 1600, 0, 1.442, 55.92, 0.6, 2.5, 0.9, 4.0, 4.0, 0, 220.0, 250.0
point.1=1, -11.85, -9.38, -10.60, 1600, 1, 1.442, 0.00, 1.0, 2.5, 0.9, 6.9, 6.9, 2, 220.0, 250.0
point.2=1, -11.55, 9.38, -10.60, 1600, 2, 1.442, 0.00, 1.0, 2.5, 0.9, 7.1, 7.1, 3, 220.0, 250.0
//
point.3=2, 52.400, 0.000, -3.536, 500, 0, 0.000, 0.00, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 4, 0.0, 0.0 // Fwd
point.4=2, -25.279, -55.909, 4.275, 500, 0, 0.000, 0.00, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 5, 0.0, 0.0 // Left
point.5=2, -25.279, 55.909, 4.275, 500, 0, 0.000, 0.00, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 6, 0.0, 0.0 // Right
point.6=2, -38.123, 0.000, -3.353, 500, 0, 0.000, 0.00, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 9, 0.0, 0.0 // Aft
point.7=2, -75.033, 0.000, 32.700, 500, 0, 0.000, 0.00, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 9, 0.0, 0.0 // Tail
point.8=2, 2.985, 15.944, -6.069, 500, 0, 0.000, 0.00, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 9, 0.0, 0.0 // Leng
point.9=2, 2.985, -15.944, -6.069, 500, 0, 0.000, 0.00, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 9, 0.0, 0.0 // Reng

During the night the logo lights seems to bright. It did notice that on my FSX repaint for another VA as well. And the strobe light is always flashing.
But I am very happy with the solution you brought up.
Regards
Felix
 
Hi,
But it seems that the Aircraft is burning to much fuel (2900 kg/h).
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Yes, it's probably the default POSKY burnrate; there were always complaints about their burn rates on the POSKY forum(when it still existed). You can fiddle a bit with the engine section in the cfg file but the air file also partly dimensions the engines and thus burn rate.

So it's best to use the air file belonging to the cfg you're now using. Doing so ensures that you have the matching engine data.

To my opinion the POSKY and later TDS models are quite good but their FDEs a bit so so.
[contact_points]
point.0=1, 40.85, 0.00, -9.85, 1600, 0, 1.442, 55.92, 0.6, 2.5, 0.9, 4.0, 4.0, 0, 220.0, 250.0
point.1=1, -11.85, -9.38, -10.60, 1600, 1, 1.442, 0.00, 1.0, 2.5, 0.9, 6.9, 6.9, 2, 220.0, 250.0
point.2=1, -11.55, 9.38, -10.60, 1600, 2, 1.442, 0.00, 1.0, 2.5, 0.9, 7.1, 7.1, 3, 220.0, 250.0
Click to expand...

point.0 is the nosewheel, you can tell because the first number is positive, the others negative(behind the wings). Adjust the 40-ish number a bit while testing with the default FSX truck(if you still have it).

The first number is type of contact point; 1 = gear.

The fourth negative numbers are the heights(-9.85, -10.60). Adjust these a bit if your gear's sunk a bit into the ground, starting with the main gear). Obviously the height for the main gear wheels needs to be the same. :) Don't touch the second numbers of the main gear(-11.55), unless it looks really awkward when rotating. You could then experiment with these last numbers, but I mostly got weird tumbling over models when doing this. But first make sure you've copied the gear height XML code into the panel file like I wrote in my earlier post, it has much more impact on the gear height. Otherwise it will look strange when braking.

-9.38 and 9.38 is the width of the main gear, leave these alone.
And the strobe light is always flashing.
Click to expand...
Maybe your panel uses another number for type of light. You could experiment by giving the strobe another light type number. The default is 2. Also see the msdn pages for this. I learned a lot from them.
 
Hi Barthe
Everything is OK now. I am up and flying. Even the FSX pushback truck is finding the nose gear at the right position and the wheels are turning. And the strobes are only flashing when the switch is in the ON position. Once again, many thanks for your help.
Regards
Felix
:)
 
Hi, nice to hear it all works now.

I could make the vertical stab a bit darker in the night texture. This should make the logo light dimmer without altering the light itself. As you might have noticed; I made the windows darker at night but left the stab alone.

I hardly noticed, because I don't have the logo on very often. Of course our boss might disagree because he likes people to see our logo at night. :lol:

I mean, if you want it perfect. 8)
 
Hi Barthe
I did it myself. I copied the tail logo into the night bitmap an reduced the opacity of the tail to 50%. It looks quite nice now. Probably even a opacity of 40% would be enough.
Regards
Felix

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Hi, it looks good this way. I'll make my own stab a bit darker too. Of course it looks a bit different depending on what setup and hardware you have. I have to tune my own settings(lights, shadows, etc.) quite low to run smoothly.

I'm planning on overhauling my 737-700 for FSX in the near future too. I mainly fly the 700. The variations in weight you get in the 800 often surprise me on landing :oops: This happens when the flight plan offers a lot more passengers than I'm used to, with all of their baggage. Then all of a sudden I have a mini whale to land 2 hours later when my only destination should be my bed. That sometimes ends in a simulated aeronautical disaster. :oops:
 
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