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A/C Preview (on the Turntable)

H

hawkeye52

Charter Member
Some of my RAZBAM Skyhawks appear tiny in the FS9 preview window. I remember some posts about a way to adjust the a/c size in the preview ("turntable") window, but I can only find one and it's not applicable (see below).

I searched the Forums & Postings here (SOH) and only came up with a reply that said to use AFCAD. But AFCAD is only showing my AI a/c; it does not show my flyables.

Is there an adjustment in Air Ed?

- H52
 
Nah. Not sure if everyone agrees with my solution, but here goes anyways.

The solution is to adjust the parking radius of the aircraft. I have a freeware program called 'AC Parking Manager" from Project AI which I use frequently. I've only encountered a couple a/c that can't be adjusted.

Typically, I see fighter a/c to about 11 feet. If the default a/c is at 30 feet it will appear really small in the preview window. Larger aircraft like tubeliners and bombers can have higher parking radii.

:ernae:
--WH
 
Thanks for replying, WH. That is AFCAD's solution, but I'm leery of adjusting the "parking radius"...

Will that change the size of the aircraft in the sim?

Are we, in effect, shoe-horning the a/c to fit in a smaller spot? (Or enlarging it to occupy a larger spot?)

- H52
 
No, it does not change the size of the aircraft in the sim.

It does two things. The first is where you are assigned to park after landing. The second is the view distance in spot view.

Let me explain that second sentence to be clear. Let's say you fly the RAZBAM Skyhawk with the default radius. Afte ryou load your flight, go to spot view and notice how far away you are from the aircraft. You can zoom in, of course, the during your flight the spot view will remain at that distance throughout the flight.

Now if you elect to decrease the parking radius, you will find that the next time you fly and switch to spot view you will actually be closer to the aircraft. In a way this really isn't a big deal anyway since you can readjust your spot view by zooming in our out. My default flight always starts in spot view so after I adjust the parking radius, the is always a little closer.

Perhaps to ease your mind, this is how the "AC Parking Manager" works. What it does is make a change to the aircraft model (the *.mdf file). Before it does that it makes a copy of the original, so you can always restore it back. I've never used AFCAD, but you can always make a backup copy of the model files before you modify the radius just in case.
:ernae:
--WH
 
Good one! Is there a device that will allow you to grab hold of the A/C with the mouse for inspecting purposes? Some a/c just cannot be grabbed whereas some can.
 
Actually, I was thinking that if you run it in Windowed-mode, you could use the mouse to flip it around....BUT, that may have been years ago....
 
When I'm running in windowed mode I can 'grab' the model in the preview window, in full screen mode I can't.
 
It's an Nvidia thing

My mouse pointer disappears entirely in the a/c pane, has done for years...
 
Not just a Navidia thing

I have an ATI card and my mouse pointer has always dissappeared in the aircraft select window.
 
Wing_Z said:
My mouse pointer disappears entirely in the a/c pane, has done for years...
Click to expand...

That shouldn't happen in windowed mode - just hit Alt+Enter and you should be able to use the mouse to grab the plane.

Also, if I'm not mistaken, that radius also includes the crash bubble.
 
Thanks for the explanation WH. And thank you Falcon for that very handy RADItor. And Tom C., I know you've made many here happy with Alt+Enter to allow "grabbing". Sometimes a minor question results in a wealth of info. Thanks to all who chipped in! :salute::salute::salute:

- H52
 
You're welcome, Hawkeye.

BTW - I found the program I use on FlightSim.

FS2004 (ACOF) - Misc.FS2004 Aircraft Parking Codes Manager
[SIZE=-1][ Download | View ] [/SIZE]
Name: apcmv16.zip Size: 857,882 Date: 10-28-2003 Downloads: 5,376
[SIZE=-1] FS2004 Aircraft Parking Codes Manager v1.6. Allows you to modify the AI aircraft.cfg and model to match the FS2004 AI parking system using the same data set that uses AFCAD 2004. Also you can modify the radius setting of your .mdl files to match the ProjectAI parking standards released with this version. By Armando Di Francesco.
:ernae:
--WH
[/SIZE]
 
never tried windowed mode

I never tried windowed mode, not a big deal for me ,although I do get tired trying to find the mouse pointer when it's in the black surround of the plane selection panel(the one that has the plane going in circles and gives you the airport name and weather selection and stuff). Also my Mig 21 is also very small in the plane panel , again not a big deal since as I said before ,I try to keep things simple ,I'am not the brightest blub in the lamp, so stuff like that I just leave alone.
No offence to guys that want to change this, though , their much smarter than me.
 
Ok, for those who are having problems getting RADItor to read your aircraft mdl files. . . .after some reading and comparing notes on the FSDevelopers website, it appears that this utility will only read native FSX mdl files. If you've tried an FS9 aircraft, you probably got an error message that said the ". . . .mdl file was not in the expected format", that's because it's looking for the FSX information. Sorry guys.:kilroy:
 
+1 for AFCAD, also in windowed mode horizon line is not so "crooked", but clouds at distance (at last on my pc) seems kinda cut off. ATI users i think can turn plane in windowed mode.
 
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