DC-4 Skymaster

@Hollister56,
Ed, you can rest assured that I have finally found the culprit this afternoon: 8 options that had been mistakenly inserted into Lines statements linking two elements and that had nothing to do with it.

Now it remains to program the cross-feed, that is, 6 additional junctions, and complete the lever animation to adjust this progress point.
In the end, problems that are the most difficult to resolve are almost always errors ... obvious after we have found them
 
Hello,

Yesterday, after several days of intensive testing, I was able to offer testers a more advanced v0.4.8d version with an almost complete fuel management system. (It remained to implement the cross-feed mechanisms in the flight_model.cfg file, but this version already had animations for all fuel levers: tank selection, carburetor heating, cross-feed; as well as some overhead animations.

The procedure for starting in automatic mode has been validated and is available in version v0.4.8d.
Sometimes during the loading of the aircraft, the external gateways do not have time to be loaded, but under FS2020 when reloading the aircraft (QuickLoad menu in Developer mode), these appear correctly: this is a problem for the simulator, not for the developer ;)

Once in the cockpit, the CTRL+E procedure automates the following phases:
- removal of the GustLock,
- setting up the seat for the Flight Engineer,
- the various levers are set in position: throttle, mixture, pitch propeller, master batterry, avionics, magnetos, etc.
Outdoors, you can see:
- the closing of the front and rear boarding gates, the closing of the luggage hold doors and the removal of external gateways,
- After a few seconds, the pilots and co-pilots appear in the cockpit and open the windows on either side of the cockpit to interact with the ramp agents,
- From that moment, the engine no. 3 begins to rotate very slowly so that it can count between 6 and 9 propeller blades, then the starter is put into motion and starts up.
- Engine no. 4 starts in the same way,
- then it’s the turn of no. 2 and no. 1.
- When all engines have started, the cockpit windows are closed and the GPU is removed.

All that’s left is to release the parking brake to be able to run on the gateway. We must not forget to push the levers controlling the propellers fully forward and to position the flaps at the required level, and the elevator trim (10°~11°). The rest is left to the initiative of the "pilot" :cool:

I am currently making a better video (greater resolution) than the previous one to illustrate this start-up.
Of course, despite this procedure (for people in a hurry) I plan to be able to program the plane so as to achieve a Cold & Dark...

Today, after creating an overall diagram of the different fuel flows on paper, I only had to postpone the latest changes in the [FUEL_SYSTEM] section.
Here is the diagram in question, you can check the consistency of this diagram with the official diagram presented on page 8. I think all scenarios are taken into account.

1777462111353.png

Now all the different cases need to be thoroughly tested to validate this last version and finally move on to the animation of the remaining gauges (OverHead and VC).
 
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Hello,

WARNING: A small correction is needed on the diagram I posted in the last post (above): you can’t have two lines as inputs to a valve, so I had to create four new junctions so that I could join these lines and then route them to the valves.

Once modified as such, this diagram reported in flight_model.cfg works perfectly... provided you have written all the behaviors models to manage the 6 flow selection controllers and the management of pumping, junctions, and valves, of course.

Today I have a fuel system that roughly matches reality, including crossfeed, and the main switches on the overhead panel have been programmed, which allowed me to test a cold & dark start this morning: it’s functional.
Programming isn’t the most difficult thing there is, It’s mostly the tests that are very long and boring... especially when you forget to select the tanks and position the mixture before clicking on the switches for the pumps and starters... without fuel supply, it works less well. :rolleyes:

A check was made on the automatic start: nothing has been degraded and both modes work perfectly. (y)

We will be able to look at the dials (oerhead and VC panel) and other switches that still need to be animated/coded.
A new version for test will be create as soon as possible.
 
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Hello,

First of all, thank you to the Sim-Outhouse team for having restarted this forum so quickly :encouragement: without being addicted, I missed it a bit these last two days. Having been an admin for over 30 years, I know how stressful these operations can be and how difficult they can sometimes be. Therefore, a big thank you for the team. :very_drunk: :very_drunk: :very_drunk:

On the DC-4, he’s made good progress ...
- The VC of the DC-4 model is animated and coded "three-quarters": there are still a few dials or switches but of lesser importance for the current tests as spotlights, lightings, de-ice, hydraulic pressure.
- The overhead is functional to perform a Cold & Dark start : primer, energizer, starter, magetos, ignition, battery, avionic, generators; and the VC has the main gauges to manage a flight : airspeed gauges, attitude indicators, altitude indicators, manifolds, rpms, oil and fuel levels, oil and fuel pressures, suction pressure. Turn ball and compass should be added as soon as possible.

WARNING: the airspeed displayed on the VC is in MPH and the one on the "HUD" that a lot of you use is in KTAS ... ;)

1778575334436.png

- I took advantage of these few days to add personal management for the oil tanks. Each engine therefore has its own 20-gallon oil tank, and in the compartment reserved for the aircraft crew, a 50-gallon reserve has been added to the port side.

1778574283285.png

For now, only the tanks have been declared in the flight_system.cfg.
Afterwards, I will have to add a pump for transfers from the reserve to the engine tanks, then a selector to direct the flow, and a switch.

In fact, I use the ability that fuel tanks have, which means being able to interact with them via the Weight & Payload interface and the fact that they have settable variables: A:FUELSYSTEM TANK LEVEL:x for example.

By creating "these particular tanks" that will not be directly managed by MSFS, I open up other possibilities: MSFS calculates a fuel consumption for each engine according to its use, the consumption of the DC-4/C-54 is known as well as the oil consumption.
By setting a ratio parameter between the two types of consumption (fuel / oil), it becomes possible in a few lines of XML (or javascript) to calculate the oil consumption and to modify in "real time" the level of these oil tanks but also to intervene on the weight of the aircraft (I had practiced this way on the CANSO PBY to manage water/retardant tanks and it function very well.)
It will be possible to apply theses modifications to a FireFighter version ...
 
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