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AI landing fun

M

merlin2

Charter Member
Hi everyone: I know that AI landings are a problem at the best of times; tweak, tweak, tweak.

I've got my Beaufort AI to actually land without crashing and to slow down to a stop, BUT, once it comes to rest it starts a little dance--flip flop back and forth, side to side, as if it thought it were a bucking bronco, or maybe a disco dancer.

any suggestions?

with thanks
merlin2
 
Two things come to mind that you can try:

1) Reduce yaw_moment by 25%, or (if this doesn't work, return it to orig value, and)
empty_weight_yaw_MOI =123456 (This may be around 1.2 times the pitch value but varies depending on aircraft)

2) Change the contact point suspension parameters to lessen stiffness.

a) You can try simply reducing damping to around .7, or;

b) Ensure that the static compression is at least 40% of total suspension animation, and up to 70% is okay. You can change this by changing the max-static ratio to 2.5 or less. Less = less stiff suspension. However, 1.0 is "bottomed out" suspension.

So as not to destroy "wheels-sitting-on-the-ground" appearance, whenever you change either static compression or max-static ratio, you must change the other parameter to maintain the same suspension movement and realism.

How?
Example: static compression shows as .3' and max-static ratio shows as 3.0 so ... total animation= .3 times 3.0 = .9'.

point.1= 1, 3.6, -10.31, -8.8, 1575, 1, 2.108, 0.000, 0.3, 3.0, 1.0, 7.000, 7.000, 2, 193.8, 219.9
point.2= 1, 3.6, 10.31, -8.8, 1575, 2, 2.108, 0.000, 0.3, 3.0, 1.0, 7.000, 7.000, 3, 193.8, 219.9

To decrease stiffness and maintain suspension movement, the changes you make must equal .9'.

So let's say we want compression to soften to 50%, or max-static ratio of 2.0.

Set static compression to .45 and max-static ratio to 2.0. (.9 divided by 2.0).

point.1= 1, 3.6, -10.31, -8.8, 1575, 1, 2.108, 0.000, 0.45, 2.0, 0.7, 7.000, 7.000, 2, 193.8, 219.9
point.2= 1, 3.6, 10.31, -8.8, 1575, 2, 2.108, 0.000, 0.45, 2.0, 0.7, 7.000, 7.000, 3, 193.8, 219.9


This gives you a very comfortable ground experience, even on gravel or dirt runways.

If all this makes no sense, post your first 3 contact points and I'll recommend the changes for you.

Not sure either of these will solve the issue but they are likely candidates assuming that CoG is in the neighborhood of 25% MAC.
 
Wow; thanks; it will take me a little time to work through all of this, but its great!

many thanks; I'll let you know what happens
 
file modifications

Hi there, I did some playing around with the file, but to no avail; The basic problem is that I haven't had either the basic or the advanced course in air files and cfg files, so I am really just messing around.

If you, Milton, or anyone else wants to have a go and try to make it fly well as an AI, I would be grateful, and would love to know if you have success. All my beauforts are up on the Sim-Outhouse.

While working at this I tested out a number of the default CFS2 aircraft; generally the fighters to a great job of landing, but the larger aircraft tend to overshoot unneccessarily. I am guessing that the main factor that is working into the equation is the overall weight of the aircraft.

On the other hand, I found a similar plane that does a beautiful job of AI landing, Thicko's Blenheim Mk IV. I borrowed the air file and the cfg file, modifying the latter to my contact points. And it did a beautiful job.

What is really neat about Thicko's, and I can't imagine how he does it, but the aircraft does a few partial turns on the way in--looks more "alive" than a perfectly straight landing pattern.

So I will write to Thicko and see if he minds me borrowing his great stuff!

If its OK with him then I will test the Beaufort AI with Blenheim airfile to see that it will behave properly as a torpedo bomber.

thanks for your help!
 
When I read this thread...

I think about all the little tweaky issues we all have had now, and in the past.

Have you ever wondered why someone hasn't taken all this kinda stuff and put together a download package that has fixes, patches and stuff to fix it?

I recall some of the flight model tweaks I use, along with all kinds of workarounds on AI aircraft,etc.

Guess it's probably not a good thing, since most of us probably can not
agree on what is or isn't a fix. LOL
 
tweaking

Up to a point, tweaking is fun; gives you a feeling of being in tune with the program. But I suspect most of us have an upper limit to tweaking skill. When its way over the top of my ability then I either call for help -- thanks Sim OUthouse -- or I get frustrated and let it die.

I agree, that it is time for a team to synthesize all the past experience and knowledge, and build a CFS2 Encyclopedia from the bottom up. If it were done piece by piece it would not be too bad. It would be a summation and a gatheing point for the accumulated skill and knowledge of the community and a great entry point for new comers.

merlin2
 
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